"you damn bitch!!" the man roared, the bottle swinging in his hand as he struck at his wife and sent her to the floor.

  The children shrank back behind the staircase, fingers dug into each other's sleeves as they watched their mother curl in on herself, trying to make the blows stop.

  He took another swig of the alcohol, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he kicked her in the stomach, causing blood to flow from her open jaw. staining the floor.

  "You had one damn job! I work hard for this family, I provide for you and put a roof over your head! And what do I get in return!?! A goddamn picture of you and your baby daddy in bed!" He spat, venom in his voice.

  It was then that he noticed the children on the stairway, flinching back from his gaze.

  Red-faced, reeking of alcohol, he staggered closer, a crooked smile twisting his lips as his eyes locked onto them.

  "So," he slurred, "there you are. Thought I told you brats you weren't allowed out of your room at night."

  One of the kids bolted for the steps. He didn't make it far.

  A rough hand caught the back of his shirt and yanked him off his feet.

  "Now get over here, you little shitstain" he grunted, grabbing the other kid by the neck.

  "Leave them alone!" The woman yelled trying to push herself off the ground. "Please, leave them alone" the woman pleaded only to be kicked back down to the ground.

  His boot on her face as he kept stomping, harder and harder, causing blood to pour from her various holes.

  "This is the last damn time woman! I let you off with a damn warning before, but now you come and do this? Damn bitch"

  The woman's eyes were shut.

  At this point she had accepted her fate, she was going to die.

  She was going to die and there was nothing she could do about it.

  In this moment, She felt a myriad of emotions. Envy at people who got to choose better husbands, guilt for partially bringing this upon herself. But more than anything?

  Wrath.

  Before she knew it, the sensation of slowly getting her head crushed into a fine paste was gone.

  In fact she didn't feel anything in this moment. It was like she was floating in some kind of inky black pool of tar.

  She couldn't hear anything, she couldn't see anything, she couldn't smell anything.

  Was this death? Did she really die like this?

  Will you really let him do this?

  The woman was in shock as the voice came out of seemingly nowhere. "Wha- what was that?"

  Will you really allow yourself to die by his hands? Are you not enraged?

  The voice was melodic and harmonious, like a legion of people with the most beautiful voices speaking in unison.

  "Y-youre one of those demon things aren't you? Here to take over my body?"

  You are quite a perceptive woman, you know very much. And since you know so much. You know that I can help you accomplish your two greatest goals, as long as you sign the contract, you'll have more than enough power to do it.

  "N-no, I'd never do that! Get away from me!" The woman breathed erratically, refusing the voice.

  Is that so? Then that means you're willing to die correct? You're willing to die with all this anger? Do you not want him dead? After everything he's done to you?

  After years of being treated like a rat? After years of bending to his will yet never being given the respect you deserve?

  Will you really let this be the end?

  The woman paused.

  The question lingered, heavy and unavoidable, sinking into her like a stone dropped into deep water.

  She thought of all the nights spent, flinching at anything and everything.

  Of apologies whispered through split lips. Apologies said for no other reason to appease a man who never cared.

  she thought of her children's eyes on the stairs, wide, terrified, already bracing for a world that would hurt them the same way it hurt her. Was she really setting a good example as a mother? Was it really right for her to just let this continue?

  Her breath steadied.

  No

  Back in the real world the man's foot had never stopped stomping.

  Though after a few more seconds of this, the woman grabbed his foot, and he found that he couldn't remove his leg.

  He looked down at her, seeing her now inky black sclera and milky white pupils, his eyes widened in terror.

  She started squeezing away at his leg, and he could feel as the muscles And bones cried out in agony. He stretched over, grabbing a knife from the pantry.

  He slammed the blade down into her head as hard as he could,

  It snapped against her skull, not even leaving a mark.

  Because of that, she pulled, first the pants tore, the cloth ripping with ease, the the skin tore showing off the bloody red muscle beneath, before eventually bone snapped and muscle fiber came apart easily enough.

  His leg had been completely ripped off, as blood poured out like a hose.

  The man, terrified, started running away, limping, no hopping away from the woman who stood up, with a terrifying smile on her face.

  He hopped his way to the back door.

  The back door was only a few feet away when his strength finally betrayed him. His hands slipped on the handle, slick with sweat and blood, fingers scrabbling uselessly as his body sagged against the wood.

  He dropped to the floor, trying to get back up.

  He found his head being smashed into the floor, the woman had started stomping him out with a smile.

  "Do you know how long I've wanted to do this!" The woman yelled, slamming her foot down, over and over and over.

  Before eventually stopping.

  She opened the door and let the man out. She watched with a smile as he crawled away into the back alley, desperate, like a dog.

  She eventually grabbed him from behind, putting him in a headlock as she lifted his body off the ground.

  "Beg, beg me to keep you alive" the woman whispered into his ear vindictively as she slowly crushed his wind pipe.

  "Please" he croaked, voice breaking. "I-I'm sorry-"

  She laughed softly.

  "Sorry?" she echoed. "You don't even know what that word means."

  Her grip tightened. Ready to kill him before.

  BANG!

  The sound bounced off all the walls of the alleyway.

  A hole was put right through the man's head as a bullet ripped not only though him, but also the woman behind him, leaving her with a hole in her shoulder.

  The woman growled angrily as she looked infront of her to see a dark skinned boy walking out of the darkness with a set of twin pistols in hand. "Who the fuck are you!?"

  The boy didn't say a word, he just pulled the trigger and let another bullet fly, then he did it again, and again, and again. Shooting her till she was full of holes

  20 meters away, on a rooftop overlooking the fight, liun stepped forward slightly, ready to jump down. Though he was quickly stopped by ash, who had put his hand on the boy's shoulder.

  "Just wait a minute. Let him handle this, I took you guys out here to test your mettle and I can't do that if you jump in to help him" ash said to the Chinese boy.

  "But sir, he broke protocol by killing an innocent person, is that not a punishable offense?" liun asked the older man. Not in defiance, he would never dream of it, but more so in search of understanding

  "Well not exactly." The man explained, he didn't seem to care too much about the man's death, he knew an abuser when he saw one. "Sure it's against protocol in china, but if it's a necessary action it's allowed here in Japan. Also please stop calling me sir."

  "I would not consider that necessary action sir" the white haired boy said.

  "You know how sin contracts work right? Like the three phases and all that junk?" he asked the teenage boy who nodded his head affirmatively.

  "Of course I do. When a human forms a contract with a demon they become a vessel called a sin, there are three phases of sins that progressively get stronger until at phase 3 the vessel is gone and the sin fully incarnates" the boy said.

  "Yeah exactly" ash rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, he kinda thought he'd have to explain it, tho it's common knowledge. "Umm yeah so when a demon forges a contract they have to fulfill a condition to reach the next phase like a goal that the person had. Which is why it's sometimes necessary in order to stop them from reaching the next phase, they can't complete the contract if the person they were supposed to kill is already dead"

  Liun nodded in understanding, focusing back on the battle happening below them.

  The Sin clutched the spots where the bullets had pierced, black ichor mixed with red blood as the bullet holes started being stitched back together until there wasn't a single hole left

  "You little punk!" she snarled. The Sin rushed him, a blur of red, black and more red, she swiped the air with her sharp claw, however he dodged by just a breath.

  Malik slid sideways on the concrete like he was sliding on ice, and fired twice without looking. That doesn't mean he was firing wildly though as each shot hit a joint, a tendon, an eye. It was pretty clear he was mainly trying to cause as much pain as possible.

  Quickly after he did this, the sin retaliated, sending it's leg upwards, striking him across the face and sending him skidding back.

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  The sin hissed as one knee buckled, flesh knitting back together almost instantly. "You think that hurts?" she spat, bringing her leg back down. "I don't feel pain anymore! I bet they didn't teach you that in school"

  Bang!

  A bullet slipped right between the eyes, putting a hole in it big enough that she could probably slip a couple fingers through. The hole quickly patched itself tho, so cleanly you wouldn't even know a bullet went through it.

  He holstered one pistol and flicked his free hand forward. The air cracked-bang-as he fired point-blank with the other, the recoil rolling cleanly through his arm. The bullet tore through her throat, punching her backward into a brick wall hard enough to spiderweb the mortar.

  She clawed at her neck, gargling black ichor, and red blood which was coming out of her neck as it regenerated.

  Malik sprinted towards her at a speed that was not normal for someone his age, he launched himself off the ground sending his heel into her sternum with a flying kick that cracked ribs and sent her flying back. The wall behind her caved, bricks collapsing as she was driven through it and into the adjoining alley.

  She roared and pushed herself upright, swinging her arm at him.

  Malik caught it.

  Her strength was monstrous, but he wasn't trying to meet strength with strength.

  He used her momentum to pull her towards him, before putting his gun to chin and firing up. Blowing the top part of her head clean off.

  After that he holstered his guns and started walking back towards the three who were watching him.

  Tho he didn't get too far before yui yelled.

  "Look out!"

  He barely dodged out of the way of the clawed fist that came from behind him. He didn't have much time to react before that same fist quickly swung around, slamming him in the face as he was thrown into the wall.

  "Shouldn't we help him now?" Yui asked ash

  "Hold on," ash said continuing to watch.

  Malik's arms felt like they were breaking as he held up his arms to protect himself and the woman kept slamming her fists at him, trying to break his guard.

  Malik's back hit brick hard enough to rattle his teeth. Dust shook loose above him as the Sin's fists came down like piledrivers, each blow cracking stone, each miss gouging chunks out of the wall inches from his head.

  This strength is monstrous, and you're telling me this woman is just a phase one? He noted in his mind as the attacks came down.

  Her face twisted into something feral. "What's wrong?" she hissed, as she continued hammering away. "You stalled my contract, so you should at least be willing to pay the price should you not?!" The woman yelled as she went for one more punch to break his guard, one much heavier than the others, which also meant it was slower than the others, which allowed him to barely dodge out of the way and kick her in the chin, getting her off of him.

  He fell to the ground, kicking one of his guns into the air.

  As she ran at him to finish the job, he dodged out of the way, kicked her off her feet and watched as she caught herself to rush him once again. That's when he caught the gun he'd sent flying and sent a bullet ripping right through her skull.

  After that there were a few seconds of peace before he dropped his gun, his arms were in so much pain he couldn't keep holding it.

  Before long he heard clapping, ash and the other two had jumped down, well ash and liun jumped down, yui had to take the fire escape. "that was awesome, haven't seen a fight as good as that in a while, you're better at this than I expected." Ash praised, though the boy only grunted and walked past him.

  Ash sighed, he hadn't expected anything else, Malik seemed to not really like him, but he couldn't really blame him, it was pretty obvious he had no idea what he was doing yet

  He looked down at the dead sin, whose body didn't have enough energy to regenerate.

  It'd been a day since these three came to him and told him he'd be their division conductor, and so far he'd figured out how the two boys of the group fought, liun was a martial artist with gloves made out of some special metal that changed density, and Malik was a more nonsense ranged fighter, though he did seem to let his guard down which would need to be curbed.

  He picked up the boys two guns as the pink haired girl came up to him, "um, so now that you've seen what those two can do, when do I get to go" the girl asked the question that was on her mind. She was very eager, having been the first to volunteer to show him her mettle, then after liun went and made it look easy, she volunteered after him, and now she seemed a little bit less eager, but still eager.

  "Oh, well, that's gonna take a little while to get prepped." The older man said

  "But, it didn't seem to take you all that long to find sins for them to deal with, so why is it gonna take longer for me?" The girl asked

  "Well that's pretty simple. unlike the guys you're a special case, can't just throw you into the lions den like I did them" the man explained.

  "Is it because I'm an angel gear?" She asked.

  "Exactly,"

  He started walking away and she followed.

  "But I mean, I haven't been able to really use that power from before, is-" the girl was cut off by ash

  "Trust me, I get that. I know kind of a lot about angel gear, so trust me when I say, I can't just let you fight a sin right off the bat."

  Yui looked down at her hands for a second. It was probably best to just take his word on this

  --a couple hours later--

  Yui and Malik sat inside the giant monolith building, yui' looking around the place in excitement while Malik's arms were placed on the table, still very sore.

  "Haven't you been here before?" The boy asked her, a little bit of annoyance infiltrating his tone.

  Yui blinked at him, then laughed under her breath, swinging her legs where she sat. "Yeah," she said, grinning, eyes still darting around the cavernous room. "Doesn't mean it ever stops being amazing"

  "You're a damn child." The dark haired boy said, rolling his eyes.

  "Oh come on, this place is great."

  Yui leaned forward over the table, resting her chin in her hands, elbows planted like she owned the place. The lights overhead hummed softly, casting long reflections across the polished black floor.

  "plus, i don't really think there's anything wrong with it" she said lightly. "Being impressed is better than being bored."

  Malik didn't answer right away. His jaw was tight, eyes half-lidded as he flexed his fingers, testing the dull ache running up his forearms.

  "Yeah yeah whatever" he said.

  Yui looked at her fingers for a second then flexed them. She hadn't been able to replicate what she did at home two days ago, nothing she did seemed to pull that power out of her.

  Malik leaned back further into the padded seat, rolling his shoulders back and cracking his neck. "You sure do get excited over the simplest of things..." he mused, his annoyance still evident in his voice.

  Yui looked at him, a small smirk on her face. "You're just mad because you're too cool to admit that this place is actually pretty neat."

  Malik let out a scoff. "Please, I've been to places a lot more impressive than this."

  "Yeah well, that's you, not me. I've dreamed of coming to this place since I was a kid. Being a sin hunter? I've never wanted anything more in life" the girl explained

  "Yeah and why is that?" The dark skinned boy asked.

  "Huh what do you mean?"

  "Well I mean, out of everyone I have ever met, you are by far the most excited about becoming a sin hunter, why is that? Why do you wanna become a sin hunter so bad"

  "Well..." Yui said, her gaze drifting back towards the towering walls of the building, admiring the intricate carvings etched into the dark stone. "I guess I've just always wanted to do something important, y'know? Being like those heroes I see on tv saving us from inevitable doom, maybe even better than that... That's really all I've ever wanted out of life.

  And then after recent events, I was given the opportunity and now I'm here, about to live my dream."

  Malik let out a chuckle.

  "What? What's so funny?" Yui asked.

  "I'm laughing at how stupid that is" Malik said

  Yui's expression shifted from curious to annoyed at Malik's comment, "well what's so stupid about it?"

  "Just your whole naive fantasy of becoming a sin hunter." Malik said, as he rolled his eyes "I mean surely you know what becoming one entails right?"

  "W-well"

  "Being a sin hunter is not a job anyone should want." The boy said. "Especially not a Japanese person like yourself."

  Yui's eyes narrowed, a mix of confusion and irritation. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean? Why does me being Japanese make a difference?"

  Malik leaned forward, a smirk creeping onto his face "let me spell it out for ya since you don't seem to understand what I mean."

  "There is no profession in this world with a higher mortality rate than sin hunters. Sure a lot of people join these organizations but that's because they have no other options, homeless people, people who flunked highschool, people who have no chance at getting a job and all the other undesirables, y'know what they do with their life? they come to the HAS, they come to SEVENs, they come to the esu. Y'know why they get in?" He asked her "because no one in their right mind would ever wanna be a sin hunter when they have other options. Especially in Japan, I mean the HAS is infamous for overworking it's employees"

  "Overworking...?" She said, now even more confused.

  "Yeah, you really haven't looked into this stuff have you?" Malik asked, raising an eyebrow. "The sin hunters are basically like indentured servants. You do know they have a 90% mortality rate right?"

  "Well I knew that" she whined

  "And yet you still wanna be one?"

  "I'm.. well I'm different" Yui said.

  "Pfft, Yeah right"

  "Alright then, since you seem to hate sin hunters so much, why are you here? Huh?" She asked.

  ...

  "That's none of your damn business" he said, smirk dipping off his face.

  "Since you seemed to be so deep in my business I assumed we were sharing everything now" the girl said

  The two were currently glaring daggers at each other

  Maliks face twisted, a look of annoyance and anger flashing across his features. "You really don't know when to shut up, do you? I don't owe you any kind of explanation"

  The girl leaned back in her chair. "バカなハンサムな嫌な奴" the girl grumbled in Japanese that he didn't understand.

  "Um hey, what did we miss?" Ash and liun walked up to them. Liun had a clipboard in hand.

  "Nothing" the girl said.

  "Alright yui, get up. We've got something for ya."

  Yui blinked. "Huh? Something... what?"

  "Your evaluation." liun explained.

  "Uh yeah, what he said." Ash said.

  Malik snorted softly from his chair. "Good luck."

  "You know you're coming right?" Ash said which caused the dark haired boy to glare at him.

  He got up anyway.

  The four made their way outside, to a marked field.

  Yui blinked at the open field, squinting in the harsh sunlight after the dim monolith. "So... what exactly am I supposed to be doing?" she asked, bouncing on her toes despite the tension still buzzing under her skin.

  "You'll be facing me in a fight"

  She turned around to see a boy walking up to her. He looked to be around her age probably just a year older. His hair was black fading into green and styled in a bowl cut. He wore a skin tight suit that hugged his short but compact frame, he stood a head shorter than her at 5'2.

  "Uh, who are you?" Yui asked

  "This is konchuu, a senior rookie on the verge of graduating to a full fledged sin hunter" ash introduced the boy "I'll be using him as a measuring stick" he said.

  "And, um, what exactly does that mean?" Yui asked, her gaze shifting quickly between ash and the short boy standing in front of her.

  Before she could get a full explanation she had to duck before a knife cut her head off, the boy had rushed at her with blinding speed.

  "W- what the- when did he move?" Malik was stunned at the speed of this new guy.

  "Sir are you sure this is a good idea? I'm not sure miss hoshino can handle a fight at this level" liun asked ash, his blue eyes scanning the unfolding fight

  "Absolutely, I have faith that his division conductor trained him well." Ash said to assuage the boys worries.

  "I don't doubt that, but would it not be more optimal to put her against a weaker opponent?" The blue eyed boy asked.

  "I know what I'm doing"the older man said as he watched the fight along with the teens.

  Yui was currently doing everything in her power to not get cut to ribbons. The boy used a set of butterfly knives, small but terrifying.

  "Okay we can talk about this!" She pleaded, but it fell on deaf ears as a swing grazed her cheek, not deep enough to spill blood but it still hurt.

  Another knife came in low, Yui hopped back, heel skidding in the dirt, and a second blade barreled up toward her throat immediately after.

  "Hey-!" She twisted her whole body, barely avoiding a shallow cut that sliced a few strands of hair free. "I said we can talk!"

  He didn't respond. His eyes were locked on her centerline. He pivoted, foot moving out to sweep her legs.

  Yui jumped again, arms flailing as she barely kept her balance. She landed awkwardly, palms scraping the ground, and the knives were already there.

  She threw herself sideways. Steel kissed air where her ribs had been a moment before.

  "Crapbaskets!" she gasped, scrambling up.

  He closed the distance in a blink, blades swinging in a tight cross meant to trap her arms.

  That was his mistake, as it allowed her to grab his arm and pull him towards her.

  The sudden grab stunned him, he hadn't expected her to figure him out like that, nor had he expected her to take advantage of it, which is what allowed her to slam a right cross into his Neck.

  Konchuu's head snapped sideways, feet lifting briefly off the ground as the force drove through his neck. He skidded back several feet, boots carving lines in the dirt before he managed to catch himself in a crouch.

  Yui stumbled back a step herself, shaking her hand. She didn't expect to actually be able to do anything to him, she just kinda.. knew what to do at that moment she didn't know how. "Ow. Okay. Wow. That actually-"

  "Behind you!" Malik barked.

  Too late.

  A knife slammed into Yui's shoulder not deep, but enough to bite. She screamed, more in shock than pain, as Konchuu wrenched it free and followed with a spinning kick aimed straight at her spine.

  She threw her leg back on instinct, heel smashing into his grounded shin.

  The impact didn't take him off his feet, but it ruined the kick.

  His strike cut through empty air as Yui stumbled sideways, clutching her shoulder, blood warm against her fingers.

  The boy didn't press immediately, he stood there for a second.

  "I hadn't expected her to be able to fight back" liun observed from the sidelines. "It's like she's learning as she fights"

  "That's cause she is" ash explained, watching the interaction, very entertained. "do you know what an angel gear is?"

  This question shocked both of the boys to their very core as they looked back at their division conductor.

  "W-What!?"

  "No Way!"

  Ash chuckled at that, this was about the reaction he had been expecting. "Yup, she's an angel gear"

  "You mean the people born with superpowers? She's one of those?!" Malik looked at their conducting in shock.

  Liun meanwhile had to take a minute to compose himself. "Now I understand why you put her up against such a powerful opponent sir."

  "Yup. I was as surprised as you guys when I learned that little nugget of information. I mean do you know how rare angel gears are? Even America, the most powerful country in the world only has seven, and you wanna know how many Japan had before? Three. We only had three identified angel gears before yui joined, and yet that was still more than enough to make Japan the worlds second greatest superpower" Ash said, explaining the true importance of someone like yui "W- wait have you been calling me sir this whole time?" He asked liun who, along with Malik were in their own little worlds.

  Liun understood of course, even if you lived under a rock you probably still knew what an angel gear was.

  Konchuu walked forward slowly, before dashing ahead attempting to hit her again. He wasn't going for anything lethal of course, but that didn't mean he was going to go easy, as an angel gear she was definitely capable of taking that punishment.

  Though he didn't land his attack, not because he missed or hesitated, but because his attack was blocked, by some kind of force field.

  Yui froze.

  She stared at the faint shimmer in the air in front of her, like heat distortion, barely visible, curved around her body in a loose oval. Her breath hitched. And then she smiled.

  She hadn't actually been able to use her ability again since that moment at home. "I- I did it," she breathed. "I actually did it."

  Tho, it didn't take long before the thing shattered, and when it did, the boy's fist went straight into her jaw, knocking her unconscious.

  She had lost