Meeting up with Big Sis!!?(Dar)

The swarm of shadow demons tried to overwhelm the boy, but fell two at a time to the Dark Katana. Even if a group, they were clearly no match for the half-demon hybrid.

And yet, they kept coming. How many of these demons were there? They seemed willing to throw their lives away upon Toji's sword. Most beings had a reason for their actions.

There. Behind Toji was an invisible demon. Normally, Toji probably would have sensed it, but with the horde in front of him, he had no time to beware his own shadow. To all but the trained eye, the assassin would have been completely unseen. Fortunately for Toji, Grace had keen eyes, and the demon's shroud of invisibility was not flawless. Slight distortions gave it away.

A figure clad in black jumped down from the rooftops and landed behind Toji. The demon assassin saw the sabre in Grace's hand before realizing it had already been cut. Losing it's cloak of near-invisibility, the demon fell to the ground in two pieces.

Grace turned to face the demons who were still facing Toji. The battle was very one sided now, and the demons had lost any chance of taking the half-breed's life. "I hold no compassion for your kind," Grace said. "I am Black Ice. Depart now, or I shall cut you all down. Nobody messes with my little brother."

Grace chuckled as the demons retreated before Toji's threats. She returned her sabre to its sheath. "I've been doing well, Toji." Grace raised her eyebrows at the term 'Ice Chuckers.' She knew Toji didn't mean anything bad by it. He was simply unaware of the pride of the Koori Tribe. Most of the world was.

"The village is doing just fine. Will and Argo have been doing most of the work. I've been focusing on my training. My magic is still gone. I don't think it will ever come back." Truthfully, Grace couldn't even remember being an ice-mage. The time-shift that she had experienced had altered her past. Although others had memories of her crafting ice with her mind, she possessed no such memories. All her life, she had lived as a normal girl in a village of magic ice users. She had stood in the long shadow of her brother, Argo, who was by far the strongest mage of all Koori. She had spent a lifetime learning the way of the sword in order to combat the demons that pestered the village.

"My new code name reflects who I am now. Black is to show that I am a warrior, and Ice is to honor my heritage."

Toji said that he was a rapper. Grace giggled. She had not heard that style of music until she moved down to Jump City. She found it amusing. "We don't have a radio, actually. You should sing for me some time."

Grace looked into the shadows that the demons had disappeared into. "Why were those shades here? Why were they after you?"

Demon gangs in Steel City? Did demons really skulk in the shadows of that large city? If so, it was bad news. It surprised Grace that they were so organized. It also surprised her that these Shrieking Serpents had hired out another gang to kill Toji. Why did they want Toji eliminated so badly? There were stronger Titans, and possibly stronger solo heroes in Steel City itself. If they wanted Toji gone, then it meant they expected him to be the only one who cared.

Grace wasn't about to let them have that satisfaction. Besides, if this was actually a trap, she wanted to be able to protect her little brother.

"Are you sure you want me to go with? I'm not a Titan anymore." She smiled. "Of course I'll go with. You'll need to carry me there, though."

Steel City. That was where EM had been released. Grace doubted that the monster would show itself just yet. But still...

"One thing, though. If I ever tell you to run, you have to do it. I know you are very strong, but I know you have limits. I will only tell you to run if we face something I know we can't beat."

Seedy was right. There were plants growing on some of the walls, not to mention the thick lines of weeds in the cracked pavement. Grace wondered what kind of establishment would put 'poison' in its own name.

Time to find out.

Grace walked through the front door. It seemed to be a pub of sorts. Not surprisingly, nobody asked Grace for ID upon entering.

She didn't see any snake demons, or any demons at all. There were just men in suits trying to watch a football game on a static filled TV. But demons were deceptive, and if Grace had to guess, she would say that Snake Demons were the most deceitful of all.

Grace walked up to a man downing a pure black liquid. "I'm looking for the Shrieking Serpents."

The man coughed a bit, but managed not to spit his drink out. He turned to the young girl with a look of surprise. "Well, you're in the right place. And by that, I mean the wrong place. Get out of here, kid. You're not old enough to be in a bar anyways."

"Someone tried to kill Toji Okami. They will answer to me." Grace turned around, looking at the half-demon who had entered behind her. "So, little brother, which ones should I kill?"

"Toji, no!" Grace didn't have time to tell Toji not to worry about her, and it cost her. The boy took a bullet in the shoulder. Toni was in pain.

"That's it. You will all die today."

The man Grace had been talking to laughed as he likewise transformed into a half-snake. "Oh please. You think you can take us? Who do you think you are?" He pointed a gun at Grace. An instant later, his hand was severed from his arm and the gun fell to the floor. "Wha?" The demon hadn't even seen Grace unsheathe her sword. "How did you..." His head was cut off before he could finish the question.

A guard started shooting at Grace from across the room. She deflected his bullets with a few quick slashes of her sword and ran over to him. Taking a step backwards, the demon found himself up against a counter. He tried to block the stab that was aimed at his face, but at the last moment, Grace moved the tip of the blade to go through his chest instead.

Grace turned to the demon that had shot Toji. He had reloaded his gun and shot several bullets at her. She dodged one and deflected the other two. Grace was not about to lose to such a dishonorable weapon. The demon turned and ran into the stairs. Grace wanted to follow, but she needed to make sure Toji was okay.

"Toji, how bad is it? Can you still fight? You don't have to protect me, brother."

"I'm not a dummy, Toji. The reason you don't have to protect me is because it's my job to protect you. I may not have my powers anymore, but I am not weak."

Toji somehow made the bullet fall out of his arm. The small piece of cursed metal fell to the floor and sizzled. According to Toji, it would kill any human who touched it. Grace could think of a few situations where such an item could come in handy. Besides, she couldn't just leave it lying around. What if someone else came in to clean up? She would return to this room later and retrieve all these deadly bullets. Something that evil had to be contained.

But first, the evil that had created them needed to be crushed. The snake demons had attacked Toji twice now. Grace wasn't going to forgive them for that. Running up the stairs with Toji, Grace found herself facing a small army of snake demons.

Ten minutes later, Grace wiped the demon blood from her blade. They hadn't been very good fighters, but had relied on their speed and strength to win the fight. As a result, Grace had cut many of them down before they realized she had anticipated or parried their attacks. Thanks to Toji taking most of the attention, Grace had emerged completely unharmed from the fight. He had tried so hard to protect her. It was kind of cute, really.

Now they were standing in front of a large, iron door. Grace wondered if even Toji had the strength to break down such a door. He didn't seem worried, though. Toji said he wanted to fight the leader of the gang alone.

"No deal. Their kind is my sworn enemy as well." It was true, she had been fighting demons all her life. "We'll take him together, as a bonding experience."

"Actually, he's not alone," Grace said, walking through the door with her sword ready. This demon was huge. Although Grace still thought they could defeat him, she couldn't help being a little afraid of the massive weapon he was holding. One hit from that and she would probably die. She would just need to not get hit, then.

The demon mentioned Toji's mother. Was he claiming to have killed her? True or not, it looked like he was trying to throw Toji off his game.

"And he's not a pipsqueak, either. He's strong enough to beat you alone, but I won't give my little brother the chance."

The giant snake demon slashed his blade at the girl, who side-stepped just in time. Her blade flashed, leaving a thin trail of demon blood dripping out of the monster's hand.

"I don't take kindly to people threatening those close to me. You mess with them, you mess with me." The demon brought his sword crashing down towards Grace's head. She dodged out of the way, being wary of the large blade, but still trying to look confident.

"And I kill those who mess with me."