It had been four weeks since Derrick joined the hunters. Immediately he joined, Finch assigned him under Nicollo who, according to Joshua, was a well accomplished Demon hunter.
Nicollo was tall, a bit over six feet tall with long brown hair that flowed wherever it went, deep brown eyes and a smooth skin. He had a rough and rugged appearance and a quite handsome face.
Finch had speculated that the best path for Derrick was to learn how to fight with a weapon since he didn't have a heavenly pact.
Nicollo however was skilled with all weapons so he trained Derrick.
The first thing Nicollo and Derrick did was to spar against each other. When that happened, Nicollo defeated Derrick thoroughly before agreeing to train him.
Four weeks later, Derrick said he was ready to face Nicollo and challenged him to a duel.
The first time they dueled, Derrick used a real sword while Nicollo used a wooden staff. Now however, Derrick retained his sword but Nicollo used a one and a half meter spear.
"Are you ready?" Nicollo asked, pointing the spear at Derrick.
"Of course I am-" Derrick said. Just as the last word left his mouth, Nicollo dashed towards him, planted his foot in the ground a couple of feet away from Derrick, spun around while gracefully twirling his spear then thrust it in stabbing motion against Derrick.
Seeing this, Derrick swiftly used his sword to deflect the spear.
"That won't work on me now." He said with a grin.
"Bravo!" Nicollo exclaimed excitedly.
From a standstill, Nicollo spun around targeting Derrick's cheek with the tip of his spear. He stepped back to avoid it, then swung his sword in Nicollo's direction.
Even while recovering from his spin, Nicollo predicted Derrick's move and smashed the base of his spear against the floor holding it erect like a pole to block Derrick's slash.
He spun his sword in his hand and aimed higher for Nicollo's face. Nicollo predicted it once more and tossed his spear into the air, pulled a back handspring, kicking Derrick's sword out of his hand and catching his own spear on the landing.
"Jeez. Are you trying to kill me?" Nicollo said lazily drawing out his words.
"If you don't want to be killed, don't move so sluggish." Derrick responded as he used the moment's conversation to retrieve his sword.
"Is that so?" Nicollo said with a smile that was both cheerful and belligerent. He crouched and spread out his hand with his spear held parallel to the ground and his other hand softly touching the floor.
"Care to continue?"
"Sure." Derrick responded also getting excited.
Without first straightening up, Nicollo dashed towards Derrick. Just as he reached striking range he disappeared from Derrick's line of sight.
He was faster than Derrick had anticipated.
From out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nicollo appear behind him. Nicollo twisted the spear, arcing the blade to strike Derrick's neck.
His timing was impeccable. Even though he could see it coming, he couldn't dodge it.
Just before the spear would strike him, a hand appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the spear.
"That should be enough for today." He said, appearing as the owner of the hand.
"Jeez. Are you actually trying to kill me?" Derrick asked, slightly shocked by what had just happened.
"If you don't want to be killed, don't move so sluggish." Nicollo said using Derrick's words against him.
"You dare." Derrick said with a smile tugging at the edge of his lips.
"At least this isn't as bad as the last time." He said.
"Don't remind me about it." Derrick said in response.
The first time Derrick dueled Nicollo, he spent most of the fight stumbling around and getting tripped rather than actually fighting.
"Derrick, come with me to my office." Finch said, already walking off.
Derrick obeyed and followed him to his office; then Finch closed the door just after he entered.
"Let me make this brief." He said, tuning into his corporate tone, "I have a mission for you."
"A mission?" Derrick asked, the surprise warming into his body as the excitement slowly built up.
This was going to be his first mission. Even though he had been a hunter for a full four months.
He spent most of his time training and the next significant portion of his time trying to avoid running into his sister at The Garden.
He knew she would freak out if she found out so he felt it was best not to talk to anyone, specifically her about it.
"What is it?" He asked
"Holmes Private School." He said as a large projector screen appeared on the wall behind him with the image of a large five story school building projected onto it.
"We received some information that there's a demon that has taken the school as its own." Finch said.
"It's own?" Derrick asked to ascertain.
"Demons are territorial. They take a place and prefer to stay there, just like this one did."
"Oh I heard something about that." He said just remembering.
"The demon took over the school two days ago. There have been at least 30 people killed by the demon. Apparently, there are people stuck in the school, too afraid to come out. We've already sent a hunter there with instructions not to enter before you arrive." Finch said. "Your mission is to slay the demon and free those stuck."
"Okay. How do I get there?" He asked.
"Oh that. The door behind you had been converted to a doorway just after you walked in." Finch said as though he was prepared for that question.
From beneath his desk, Finch pulled out a long katana style sword in its sheath and handed it to Derrick.
"Do your best." He said as he handed the sword to him. "Hunter."
He didn't know why but he was glad to be called that, a hunter.
He exhaled deeply then walked through the door. The door led him out through the front door entrance of Holmes Private School. He saw himself at the top of a set of stairs at the entrance of the school.
At the bottom of the stairway was a girl with long black hair dyed blue at the edges, hazel eyes, average height and a slim waist.
She wore a black crop top with a similarly black skirt and a white shirt beneath the crop top.
"Are you the new guy that's supposed to help me out?" She asked, finally acknowledging his presence.
"Huh..um..y-yes I am." Derrick stuttered, unable to produce clear words. "I'm Derrick Angels."
"Rosalind Grace." She responded coldly as she walked up the stairway and walked past him.
Derrick followed her into the school and tried his best to make small talk but all his attempts were futile.
He knew his sense of perception had improved greatly so that must have been why he could sense where the people were hiding.
"The people are on the ground floor. We should evacuate first." Derrick said.
"That's not my problem." She said without even looking back at him.
"What the hell." Derrick said, pulling her by her arm. They were on the first floor already. "We can't just leave them, they've been here hiding for days, terrified."
Without warning, she pulled out a switch blade and held it against his throat. Derrick was surprised as there was nothing in her hand just a moment earlier.
"Don't tell me what to do." She said coldly. "I'm here to kill demons; everything else is extra-curricular, even saving my own life, or that of my partner." She said coldly, although Derrick felt like she added the last part just to scare him.
Derrick slapped her hand away. He opened his mouth to say something and then closed it suddenly.
Something large and ominous was coming for them and in the moment before it appeared, he sensed it perfectly.
The floor on top of them broke through and a demon jumped through. While it was still in the air, he noticed the extra large sickle and chain the demon held in its hand.
Before it landed, it thrust the sword towards them.
Derrick pushed Rosalind away, took his new sword out of its sheath, turned it upside-down, faced the flat side of it towards his face and used his other arm as support to block the attack.
Impact of the sickle caused a ringing sound to reverberate onto the walls. The force at which it was thrust was insane. Even as he tried to block it, it pushed him back quite the distance.
The demon was huge, at least 8 feet tall. It had thick brown skin and wore shogun armor. It had a really intimidating presence; like that of a warrior who had survived many battles.
Although Derrick hadn't come face to face with many demons, this was definitely the most intimidating demon he had come across.
He charged at it and tried to cut off its hand before it could pull back its sword. Unfortunately, the sword lodged in without going through.
He pulled out and wanted to attack a different spot but the demon pulled back its weapon with the chain and Derrick had to move out of the way to avoid the sickle.
The demon cast it again and Derrick moved to dodge it then dashed towards the demon. Just before he could strike, Derrick moved away to dodge only to be hit by a follow up punch from the demon.
He flew back and hit the wall, dropping his sword in the process and causing cracks in the wall.
When he got back up, the first thing he saw was the demon's large fist heading towards him. He just narrowly dodged it by rolling to the side. The demon kept trying to punch him and he kept running along the wall leaving many holes meant to be him.
He pushed off the wall and attempted to punch the demon but it caught his hand and delivered a punch to him.
Derrick used his free hand to block it. He was surprised his hand didn't break considering how strong the punch was.
He managed to release his hand from the demon's grip then using the force he could muster, he punched the demon.
The demon responded punch for punch. Their fists clashed multiple times and each time, an intense shockwave went through the air.
It truly was intense; however, Derrick knew he couldn't keep up. In terms of speed, they were evenly matched but when it came to strength, the demon had the upper hand.
He could feel his stamina reaching its limit and for a moment, the thought popped up in his head. "Am I..going to die?"