The City in Permanent Ground Zero

"This place looks an awful lot like Tengu City." Tsumijuichi remarked walking through the empty streets.

Tenka simply hummed. Tsumijuichi checked his phone curiously, aside from the single crack in the screen it looked completely fine but he couldn't turn it on. Powering it completely on after a minute of silent panic he learned it would come on but displayed the 'no signal' notification.

He couldn't call anyone. So much for his plan of 'noping out' of this situation.

The Spirit they stole the invitation from, whatever her name was acted as a guide glowing their way to the objective which looked to be a school.

"Hey that's --" Tsumijuichi started.

'Raizen High school?' he wondered.

Tenka raised an eyebrow. As if to say "it's what exactly?"

a little awkward, Tsumijuichi changed the subject

"Speaking of which why didn't you fly like before when you were destroying my home?" Tsumijuichi asked suddenly.

"You can't fly, even if that fragment you absorbed was of any use to someone like you, you can't control a Spirit's powers.

"uh c-carry me?" he asked stupidly.

Tenka scoffed 'I don't wish to waste my strength. I will need it for the game should it be worth my time,"

"yeah that's fair," he sighed as they walked through all the empty hallways, passing many equally empty classrooms.

"Ugh what room even is it?" Tsumijuichi blurted and kicked down the nearest door.

"...that one .." Tenka remarked as the invitation disappeared upon entry.

Tsumijuichi looked inside, nothing but girls as far as he could see. And being a sensible person he could also see the sense of bloodlust in the room.

"I'm in hell" he remarked.

Tenka appeared behind him.

"Your enthusiasm before seems to have vanished," she remarked disinterestedly. "much like the invitation, I assume that is because it has fulfilled its role." Tenka stared calmly.

"with that last invite, all participants are present it seems" the blonde haired tomboyish looking doll said shutting what looked to be a large box.

"took long enough," a girl in the back of the classroom muttered.

"very well we may begin, " the doll said simply.

"Participant Number 1 Akai Makoto."

"Fifth type Spirit, Akai Makoto . Weapon is Unsigned Angel <Hephaestus> (Master of Instantaneous Creation). Astral Dress: Flaming Forge Spirit Dress number 22. < Allium>"

"Participant Number 6 Ibusuki Panie." the doll said.

"Fourth type Spirit, Ibusuki Panie. Weapon is the Unsigned Angel <Talos> (Bronze Monster). Astral Dress is Old Thread Spirit Dress no. 52 <Victoria>. Thank you for your consideration, Onee-chan."

"Ay .... " he half remarked half mused.

"This one is too nice. She scares me more than Tenka does," he muttered. If Tenka heard him she didn't show it, too busy examining her opponents. Most of them weren't even worth fighting.

"Participant Number 7 Kozue Megan ..."

"Right here! Eighth type Spirit. Kozue Megan"

The list droned on and on, so it was understandable that Tsumijuichi started to doze 'ever so slightly'.

His head tested on her shoulder. For a moment she saw a flash of a memory but then it was gone. She let him stay that way hoping the memory would come back.

It didn't.

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After a time passed Tenka took note of an extremely interesting opponent. Her shift in position caused Tsumijuichi to wake up, they both ignored the fact that he'd been asleep as now was not the time to address such a matter.

"participant number 49, ..... Tsuan?" the doll asked.

"Tsuan.Weapon is Unsigned Angel <Lailaps> (Celestial Wolf). Astral Dress: Extreme Death Spirit Dress number 15. < Brinicle>"

'This one... something tells me she'll be a problem in the future.'

Immediately Tsumijuichi dismissed his worry.

'nah! Tenka can handle it.'

"participant Number 50. Kawachima Mami" Tenka's head swiveled blankly, wondering why Mami hadn't stepped up.

"Ah that must be the one whose invitation we stole." Tsumijuichi decided.

"clearly," muttered Tenka realizing that was likely the case herself.

"I'm not like you," Tenka stared them all down, a few girls flinching nervously.

"I'm not this manner of being you call a "Quasi-spirit, rather I am a full Spirit, Yatogami Tenka My weapon is the Demon King Nahmehah, Astral Dress--"

however before she could finish a chorus of gasps flowed at the words "demon king".

"Pardon me but how did you replace Kawachima?" Kiko asked.

A glance at Tsumijuichi as if weighing a decision.

"She opened a possibility for me to become closer to something I want, to gain that effectively I'm fulfilling a selfish request,"

her gaze hardened on Tsumijuichi who pretended not to notice.

Tsumijuichi had occupied himself with looking for a different glare, coming from a different girl hidden by the myriad in the room. He didn't find her but would have like to know why she was glaring at least.

"And what of your companion?" the tomboyish doll who has been quiet up to this point asked.

"I will be away from the battles observing, my job is to be very quiet and unnoticeable to the point of invisibility."

Then he laughed "I'll also make sure Tenka doesn't wipe out your home should her temper flare inconveniently." the other girls looked as though they doubted Tsumijuichi could do anything to stop a true Spirit. but they also wanted the prestige and title that would no doubt come with defeating the real spirit before their eyes.

Tenka looked at Tsumijuichi.

"so then we should split up. I will take the brunt of the work while you look for that person," Tenka stated.

"Good point even a small clue like a name will help," Tsumijuichi remarked.

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"how's the search game going?" Tenka asked as she landed on a building, having found Tsumijuichi again three days later.

"depends, how's the killing game going?" Tsumijuichi asked over the crumbling buildings. Whoever was fighting certainly had a very destructive Weapon or Unsigned Angel, whatever they were called.

Tenka looked sorely disappointed.

"Not worth the time," she muttered.

"Ditto" Tsumijuichi responded equally disappointed.

Suddenly her eye caught something familiar in the distance and of course she charged for it.

"wha--?! d-don't run ahead -" Tsumijuichi startled.

Tenka ignored him practically becoming the wind with her speed.

She stopped abruptly, at a house.

'It will of course be like all the other places in this city... empty.' she thought dismally.

A few moments later Tsumijuichi caught up with her, panting heavily.

"if you're gonna blast off like that at least warn me!" he gasped "dammit it's moments like these I wish I skipped less of my gym classes " he mumbled.

"warning?" Tenka asked like it was a foreign concept to her.

"Yeah just let me know if you are going to do something rash, I'm not going to stop you depending on what it is but at least tell me"

Tenka processed that reasoning.

"Itsuka. I take this or was the itsuka family residence. Wonder if we could

"This is the first helpful thing so far--!" Tsumijuichi started then stopped seeing Tenka's mournful expression.

"it is empty, isn't it?" she asked.

"uh--" Tsumijuichi opened the front door. Tenka was right.

"It is empty, still you know of this place. I'm guessing the person who you are looking for used to be here." He said calmly walking inside. Completely oblivious to Tenka who was starting to glow dark purple with rage.

"sure looks like he packed up and left. maybe it was because of all the killing games," Tsumijuichi remarked as he looked around the house.

Tenka settled down subduing her anger. "So... if I get the killing games to stop, he'll come back?" Tenka asked slowly.

"huh? oh I suppose, I mean in theory that could work but we'd need a way to contact that person and tell them it's safe to come home again -- wait did you just say 'him'?" Tsumijuichi asked.

immediately a huge blade sliced off the upper portion of the house. Tenka looked momentarily stunned. "The .... house..."

"Alright now that I've found you, you runaway spirit I can kill you in vengeance for my friend!"

a girl yelled, approaching from the left. Her entire outfit was orange. her long black hair held in a high ponytail and her brown eyes glowing with fury.

"I too would like to take part in this battle," a girl voiced, he recognized the low voice as the dangerous girl from before. Tsuan. She approached from the right. Tsumijuichi sulked.

"fighting you will help me, to get stronger. Facing someone such as you Spirit Tenka," Tsuan said. it sounded like both a compliment and a challenge.

"that is sadly the most non questionable thing I've heard come out of the mouth of any of the denizens here so far," Tsumijuichi sighed.

Then he looked down among the wreckage and rubble was a pearl skinned girl, obviously unconscious. "Uh... there's a girl, before any of you say anything I didn't touch her in fact I swear she wasn't there till the house was destroyed," Tsumijuichi remarked.

"Don't pay attention to it, it is just a newly formed Empty," the other girl remarked with a shrug.

"Empty?" Tsumijuichi stared at the girl.

Her entire ensemble was white. her clothes were white, her hair was white. White, white, white, save for the eyes which he saw when she weakly opened them. They shined like red garnet stones, which was a relief to Tsumijuichi who was close to strangling her for the strain on his eyes.

"This girl ---" Tsumijuichi started to say.

"Keep her safe, Tsumijuichi" Tenka ordered.

"she could be of use to us," Tenka reasoned.

then she remembered what Tsumijuichi asked earlier, "the goal hasn't changed, but I need to clear the obstacles in my path before proceeding." she stated her voice cold.