The first judge’s weapon disappeared, he turned back to the group.
”Are you hurt?” he seemed to ask only Ryuusei and Dushi, not paying much attention to the sixth judge and his apprentice. It was obvious why, they could heal themselves after all.
"Mn, i'm okay." the boy answered, reaching out his hand in an attempt to catch his returning weapon - he had yet to master it therefore controlling its movements was a little hard.
His gaze moved towards Dushi, checking for any casualties, and then moved to Kaito and the sixth judge, who were pretty injured.
”Those things have been roaming around a lot these days… I wonder what’s happening in hell” the first judge brought up before he turned to the sixth judge, helping him up from the ground.
”Come on, use your ability, don’t waste any time” the first judge spoke with a commanding voice rather than a reassuring one as the sixth judge used the remaining of his energy to summon and waft his fan at everyone, healing them quite quickly.
”Clearly those aren’t normal demons, otherwise you would’ve taken care of them easily” Dushi brought up to the sixth judge.
”That’s what I’m afraid of” the first judge turned back and added with a thoughtful tone.
The wolf had sniffed Koki’s hand before licking it. The creature eventually got on the bench at laid there. The seventh judge smiled at the interaction a bit before her face had turned serious. She looked in the direction of the door, sensing that something bad had happened to someone she cared for…
It took Koki one look to figure out at least the Judge's mood, so she tried to distract her. "I know this is a bit strange, but could you tell me more about what I am? I've been studying Italian mythology for so long and I just started studying Japanese and Chinese mythology."
(I'll bump this back up for you so you don't have to try and find it when you respond. :) )
(Thanks)
The judge shook her head, looked at Koki before she sat back down.
”You are a Zashiki-warashi, or as I would call a living room child. Your presence brings luck to humans and will give them a unnatural sense of security” she explained as easily as she could. She was still worried as to what was happening outside but wasn’t willing to show.
Ryuusei was a little worried now, approaching the judges while stuffing the crescent moon in his pocket.
"Not normal demons?" he questioned, with a frown. "Then what were they?"
The stories in the human world had started flooding back in his mind, speed recaping the traditional bestiary. Either his memory wasnt good enough or the informations he had weren't enough, but he was curious to know more about what these things were and where had they come from
"That is… Hard to pronounce. Cool, but hard as hell to pronounce." Koki muttered, laughing a bit. "So, what can I do?" She asked, tilting her head in question. Distract, distract, d i s t r a c t.
”You know how cursing or blessing an entity changes their behavior? That’s what those things were; cursed demons” the first judge theorized with a confused look.
”With that said… cursed demons don’t tend to attack us…” he followed, arguing his own words.
”We don’t know yet—“ Dushi brought up ”—but one thing’s certain, they mean no good” he finished his sentence as the other two judges nodded.
”We never know when and where they will appear next, perhaps we should be on the lookout” the sixth judge mentioned.
”Well… teleportation is definitely one of your perks, another might be that you heal others’ mental state when you’re near them” the seventh judge answered with a happy look on her face as she patted the wolf’s head.
Koki looked stunned.
"I can teleport? I c a n t e l e p o r t!" She exclaimed, punching her fist in the air with a giddy smile. "The pranks I will be able to do!"
Cursed demons. Just the name itself sounded like bad news. Could things get any worse? He probably shouldn't be asking himself that question in case fate found a way to actually make it worse.
"Uuum, may i ask another question? How come they were not hurt by our weapons?"
The thought of the demon catching the sixth judge before he had even managed to attack properly and the fact that they had flicked his lance away like it was a toothpick gave him chills. That kind of power was worrisome, especially in the hands of such beasts
(>.>)
(Don’t kill me but I’m kinda experiencing a writer’s block on this one… srry ;-; I’ll get my reply up when I have something)
(It's okay boi, we understand u, don't worry about it q3q i was worried smth happened to u or smth, das all)
(speaking of which I just healed from a fever but thank you for worrying QwQ)
(yoink)
(Okay, this is just my bad. I thought I’d already replied to this, sorryyyyyyy~~)
The smile the seventh judge gave to Koki was similar to that of a parent to a child. Perhaps Koki was bringing some memories for her.
”Yes, that are somethings you’re definitely allowed to do” she mentioned.
She soon looked down, as if she was thinking of something or… perhaps someone.
The judges all turned to Ryuusei, their faces were thoughtful.
”Right… why weren’t they harmed…?” the sixth judge was perhaps thinking of a reason but she couldn’t think of one on the spot.
”In all honesty, we don’t know— never before have our weapons been stopped like that” the eighth judge added, giving a slightly worried expression.
Ryuusei could tell from the judges' facial expressions that they too were worried about the demons, and the fact that they defended themselves so easily when they should have not.
"Does this 'cused' part stand for anything?" he questioned, curious to know more.
”Well—“ the first judge started ”—usually when something is ‘cursed’, it’s from someone else’s force. Same case here. Some greater being must’ve cursed these demons… but since I’ve been working here, I’ve never heard of a thing as a curse that negates the effects of the judges’ weapons…” the first judge claimed. The two other judges nodded in agreement. They’ve probably never heard of such a thing.
(ayy, i left sum space for UnseelieKing, but it looks like they're not on.)
What kind of greater being could have cursed these demons to make them immune to the judge's weapons? To Ryuusei, it felt like the most likely suspects would be another judge or someone higher than that. It was probably too early to start pointing fingers, especially from his behalf, who was nothing more than just a small apprentice. It still made one ponder though; who could have cursed these creatures?
The judges around Ryuusei all made quite… uncomfortable expressions. They exchanged looks before coming to the conclusion that they were most likely thinking about the same thing.
”Hey Ryuu—“ Dushi spoke up ”—you’ve got any thoughts on this particular topic?”
The boy snapped out of his thoughts once he was adressed, turning his gaze towards the judge with the serious look in his eyes.
"Well, since my lords already stated that only something with a high grade could curse demons to such extent, would it be possible to have been done by someone from the High Court…?"
He knew full well he was proposing treason but right now, it was the only option that seemed valid to him
(Okay, this is just my bad. I thought I’d already replied to this, sorryyyyyyy~~)
The smile the seventh judge gave to Koki was similar to that of a parent to a child. Perhaps Koki was bringing some memories for her.
”Yes, that are somethings you’re definitely allowed to do” she mentioned.
She soon looked down, as if she was thinking of something or… perhaps someone."Are you alright Miss?" Koki was very excited, but she did look pretty concerned for the Seventh Judge. Her leg was bouncing and she put her hand on her knee to make it stop, all while keeping her eyes on the judge.
”That…” Dushi was a bit taken back by the answer he received. Ryuusei was being logical with the situation; to beat a judge, you’d need a judge.
”Then we have nine suspects…” Dushi said, scooting over to beside Ryuusei and looking at the two other Judges in front of him.
The Sixth and the First Judge nodded, knowing full well that they couldn’t get away with not being one of the suspects.
”Let’s start interrogating, shall we?” Dushi asked his apprentice.
”Hm—?” the Seventh Judge looked up again and gently wave her hand.
”I’m fine dear, I was just… thinking of someone from my past” she claimed. She then stood up.
”Well, there’s no use loathing around—“ she stated ”—let’s go see your abilities in action, shall we?”
Ryuusei looked at the judge as he scooted next to him, seeming slightly surprised. He knew the man was taking the logical course of action, but in his mind, no one was safe from being a suspect, not even Dushi.
Of course he felt bad for thinking such things, but one can never be too weary.