The Middle Realm

The sweet sound of the school bell, signaling the end of the day, was the only thing Rin was looking forward to right now. They had just had a practice exam for the upcoming midterms and by the talks he had after the test it was obvious he would have to study his ass off if he wanted not to fail the real one.

The bell finally struck and he left the room, sprinting through the hall, when he heard a stern voice behind him, causing him to freeze.

"Miyata Rin, what are you thinking, running in the halls like that?" it was the student council vice-president, Shibuya Kameko. She was the most beautiful girl in school, with straight black hair flowing down to her chest and dark-blue eyes that pierced your soul like ice. However, she was born in a family of rich magnates and lived a pretty sheltered life, causing her to view rules as an absolute authority and regarded rule-breakers the same as another person would treat a robber after he's been caught. Because of this, almost no one dared to go against her.

"Sorry miss I-love-rules, won't happen again" Rin turned back towards the exit and started walking towards the exit, leaving her a bit flustered, before she headed back to the student council's room.

In front of the gate, he saw his friends Minato and Kurou waving at him.

"Dude, where were you" asked Kurou when he went to them.

"The vice-president scolded me for running in the halls" he explained "anyway, we should get going if we want to catch the train" they went to a vending machine to get a drink and began walking to the train station.

"Rin, have you heard of the new game console coming out in a couple of months, the one where you put on a headset and you play with your mind while sleeping" asked Minato.

"Yeah, I've been saving up for it for the past couple of weeks, hopefully I'll have enough around the time it releases" it was the most hyped console for the past couple of years so of course he had heard of it "What about you guys, do you plan on buying it?"

"I asked my father about it, he said if I helped my grandparents around during summer vacation, he might buy it for me" said Kurou. In his family, new things were a rarity, so even the chance of him getting something was great news.

"Well, I've already pre-ordered, so suck it!" Minato was from a fairly well-off family, which meant that if he asked his parents for something, they'll most likely buy it for him.

"OK fancy-pants, why don't you buy it for us too, huh?" Kurou laughed and turned to Rin "What do you think? When should we get together again?"

"This week's probably fine, we did our mock exams aft-" the sound of his phone stopped him and he picked it up.

"Ring ring" It was his mother "Hey mom, what's up?" 

"Well sweetie, my boss wants me to stay for a couple more hours, so I have to ask you to go through the post office to get a package for me." it wasn't uncommon for her to stay late, but he was still a bit upset "If your friends haven't gone home already, they can come over and you can order pizza, how's that sound?"

"Fine, I guess I'll go get it." While slightly annoyed that she wanted him to get it, he understood and at least she allowed Minato and Kurou to stay for a bit "Love you."

"Love you too, byeee!"

He put his phone away and looked up "guess I can host you today, what do you say, but we'll first have to pick something up on the way" the sun was still in the sky, but for some reason after talking with his mom, there was something different about it.

"Guess today's our lucky day, right Rin~." Kurou nudged him and smirked "it just so happens that my family's been out for a couple of days, so I this works perfectly for me."

Rin rolled his eyes and they continued to chat for a while until reaching the post office. "Any one of you want to accompany me?"

"Nah, your mom asked you, we'll just wait here for you." Minato laughed and him and Kurou continued to talk.

Rin sighed and opened the door. The receptionist inside was a woman with a fiery-red hair and some black stripes on it. Even though she was wearing sunglasses the most confusing, at least for him was the uniform she was in. It wasn't the first time he had come here, since school letters and packages for both him and his mom came here, and her attire was something he'd never seen before. She was wearing a black coat with a little pin on it that had the initials "LL". The woman seemed to be scrolling on her phone, but when he entered the door she almost jumped in surprise, like she didn't expect anyone to come in.

"E-excuse me, ma'am. I am here to get a package that was delivered." He hesitantly went to her desk and pulled up the parcel number. The woman seemingly regained her composure and smiled at him, although for some reason he felt a bit like she was baring her fangs.

"Of course, let me just check and get it from the back." She typed a few things on her phone and went in the backroom, coming out in a couple of minutes, holding something like a book, covered in a white golden-ish wrap, came back to the front desk and put it on the counter.

"Thank you." Rin picked it up, took out a bag from his backpack and put the package in it.

"No problem, have a good day!" while leaving, he heard the woman talking with someone over the phone, but didn't pick up on anything.

He left the post office and headed for Minato and Kurou.

"Any idea what it is?" Minato was looking at the bag.

"Maybe a book about databases or whatever it was your mom did." Kurou obviously wasn't as interested as Minato to know what the package contained.

As they were a couple of turns from the post office, Rin tripped and the bag slipped out of his hand, going forwards before brushing off of a sharp rock and seemingly tearing both the bag and the wrap.

"Shit, you okay?" Kurou stretched out his arm and helped Rin get up. The school uniform was a bit torn, but he was going to ask his mom to stitch it up tomorrow, since it was the weekend.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. As long as there's no blood, I'm fine" Rin stood up and chuckled.

Following that, the three of them looked at the bag, standing a meter or two in front, with a small tear in it. Rin went over to pick it up and looked at the tear. Inside the package was a black object in a dark color, with nothing other than that being able to be seen or felt inside.

"Looks like the bag's also fine, just a small hole, I'm sure your mom won't scold you for something like this." Kurou seemed relieved, however Rin wasn't as calm as him. What if the object was something delicate and the package falling had broken it? Just because the damage was negligible didn't necessarily mean that the thing inside it was fine.

"Well, nothing we can do now, let's just go ho-" While Minato was talking, something strange happened. The streets and alleys all around them darkened, and the sky became a blood-red color, and mist started to gather all around. That same moment a strange echo was heard. It was as if countless of people were screaming, the tones forming something of a deathly melody. Too stunned and petrified to speak, Rin instinctively held onto the package, as if to protect it from whatever it was that was surrounding them. Suddenly, countless blades, formed from the mist appeared over them. With nothing else to do, he just closed his eyes and tensed up. However, as he closed them, a feeling of warmth was felt emanating from his hands, or more accurately from the bag in them. A golden dome was erected around the three friends, and the mist blades evaporated upon striking the dome.

"Interesting~" A voice was heard from outside. He looked at both Minato and Kurou, and they looked just as petrified, but it was clear they had also heard the voice. "Good thing I set up the Isolated Isle, or those fucking angels would be all over my ass after this leak of holy energy."

The dome dissolved in an array of bright golden particles, that were all sucked back into the object in Rin's hands. The golden dome had done something to the wrap, because it was turning into dust as well, falling all over his hands and ground. In its place stood a black, furry book with golden letters on it. After somewhat recovering from the shock, but still in cold sweat, Rin looked up from the book and saw that leftover mist around was converging into a humanoid figure in front.

"W-w-who a-are you?" The voice of Kurou echoed through the empty streets.

"You aren't important enough to know my name, just know that you aren't leaving this place alive. Someone among you has a Holy Artifact and it has apparently reacted to you little mortals, so I'll get it and exterminate the potential threat. Nothing personal~" The figure finally took shape, and a horrifying realization had occurred to Rin, and it was that the look of the person in front of him was almost exactly the same as the woman before. The one here however had black hair and was wearing a red coat with the initials "LR" on it. 

"B-but, if it's just one of us, why must you also kill the others, why not just let us go?" Kurou, still trembling, and looking to have peed his pants, was looking straight at the woman in front. Rin also asked himself that question, however something told him that even if she lets the others go, he wouldn't as lucky. Hugging the book in his hands, he continued looking forward. 

"Sure, if you want, go past me and never return, how does that sound?" The woman was smiling, but it was more of a mocking smile, rather than an understanding one.

Kurou started to walk towards her, when Minato grabbed his arm. "Don't go, I'm sure she isn't planning on leaving us alone."

"Better to risk it and try to call for help" It seemed like some of his color had returned to his face, even if the wet spot between his legs was betraying his true emotions. Minato reluctantly stepped back and looked as he was getting closer and closer to her, her smile unchanging. She stepped back and let him go past.

"See, she let me go. Don't worry. I'll find help." Even if that was his intention, Rin was sure Kurou would not be able to go through with it, because the sight him and Minato were seeing was telling them something else. There was a gaping hole, as if by a sword going through him, and the woman was standing behind him. But he wasn't killed by a sword. A disgusting smell was all around us, because the sight in front of us was just so grotesque and bizarre, that someone's lunch came back in their pants. There was a pair of pitch-black wings coming from her back, one of them in Kurou's chest.

"One down, two more to go." The woman looked at the two boys left, with something like a crazed hunger in her eyes and dashed towards them. Rin wasn't sure when or how, but he had moved in front of Minato with the book still in his hands.

"So you're the one with the Artifact? Well that just makes my job easier, I'll just kill your little friend over there and deal with you~" Her smile widened, looking more unhinged now.

"No! You won't get to him!" Rin mustered up all the courage and energy he could and shouted at her.

"Oh, I won't do anything, I'll let him do all the work." He looked behind him and instinctively made a couple of steps backwards, before realizing and stopping. Minato's eyes were empty, no pupil nor anything. However, in a moment they began filling up and turned into the same color as the black sky above us. He then extended his arm and the same mist that flew at them before started gathering at his hand, where it formed a blood-red blade, and before Rin could do anything, both of his best friends were gone, just like that. They couldn't even defend themselves or realize how their end came. Moreover, he stayed like a statue, just standing there comprehending what had just happened. Blood sprayed from his neck, some of it falling on his clothes, yet he didn't notice or care. Rin turned back around to look at the person, responsible for this. At that moment, there was only one thought on his mind: even if he was to share the same fate as his friends, he was going to land at least one hit on her, to do something for both their sakes.

"Uhoo, so scary~~~" The woman laughed and her wings extended "I've taken down people way more powerful than you. Don't think that just because you have one measly Artifact you suddenly stand a chance against the third most powerful in the Underworld's 9 Domains. Don't make me laugh" The mist gathered around her and shot at him, the book reacting and summoning the dome again, absorbing the mist. "Looks like it is a little more powerful than I thought." She furrowed her brows before summoning more of the same mist, this time creating a giant axe right above him and crashing down. The book reacted once more and the energy gathered in the shape of a disk, stopping the axe just before it crashed down.

"Why are you doing this?" He couldn't help but ask "Were we really that big of a problem"

"Shut up! You would be long gone without your little toy there. If you give it up to me, I might consider letting you go" hugging the book tighter he shouted "NO!"

"Then prepare to die!" Two more mist blades formed and attacked on each side. The book managed to stop them just in time. However, just as he was breathing a sigh of relief, a sharp sense of shock and pain was felt in his chest. When he looked down, the same wing had impaled both the book and his chest. More accurately, the former was driven through the latter, barely penetrated. With this, Rin realized it was the book that the woman was fighting, not him. He was just standing there, doing nothing, and thinking he could do something in this situation was just crazy talk. he felt his limbs numbing and the world darkening. It seemed this was the end. All of this had caused three people, including himself to die. But strangely, the time of complete darkness never came. He was engulfed in a feeling of warmth, and heard a gentle voice all around "One time." What did that mean? "You are still not ready."