Welcome to 'Soul of a Demon'. This story involves an Original Character therefore some parts of the canon will be changed. It shouldn't affect the story too much though. Thank you for reading.
'Italics' – OC's thought
Episode 1 - Arrival
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Black clouds sprawled across the sky, the heavy rain within dragged it down to the tip of the mountains below. The weight being too much of a burden to bear the clouds quickly gave in and the rain poured down upon the landscape with a roar, drowning out the sound of a nearby waterfall on the largest mountain within the vicinity. With the air chilled and the ice cold water drops raining down, many creatures stayed hidden and dry in their homes. Then purple streaks of light struck the tall the mountains, only a few seconds later a loud boom echoed throughout the land, followed by another, and another, the process repeated itself constantly. It's almost as if the Heavens are punishing the beings living in the world below them. From the black clouds two shadowed figures burst through, heading straight for the waterfall. Piercing the curtains of the waterfall the two figures disappeared through the heavy downward flow of water.
Behind the waterfall was a long narrow cave and at the end, light. The two figures kept flying until they broke through the light, entering a gigantic cavern. The cavern, created in an elongated dome shape, was so far in the mountain that the sounds of the storm outside seemed only like whispers. Crystals of various colors formed in random places in the space, but enough to illuminate the area. Surprisingly lush green plants filling in the empty spaces. A small pool of water in the middle of the cavern, in it existed a school of koi fish. At the back of the cavern was a medium sized natural stone pillar, the top of the pillar seemed to replicate a throne.
The two shadowed figures landed next to the pillar. One stepped towards the pillar, biting his thumb to draw out some blood. He then rubbed it in his hand and placed his palm on the back of the pillar. The bottom of the stone pillar started to disintegrate, forming an entrance to a hole just beneath it. The first figure jumped in followed by the second. After a short drop they arrived at bottom of the hole. Another cavern, although more compact then the one above it, this cavern was much more spacious. In the center was a large fire orange crystal.
When the figure that opened the entrance to this cavern started his approach, the second figure put his hand on his shoulder, stopping him from moving. "Are you sure about this?" he asked.
The first figure brushed off the second's hand and responded, "I've been thinking about this too much, I'm sure." Their tone of voice being identical.
"But you're so close to the end, why not finish it?"
"I trust you to finish it for me,"
The second figure sighed and nodded, "I'll take care of the others for you."
The first figure had a sad smile on his face but didn't let the second see it, "Thank you."
The second then stood with his back straight with his feet together, still facing the first. His right hand clenched into a fist and the left hand in a palm, then connected the two in front of the middle of his chest, around the distance of two fists from his chest to the hands, shoulders relaxed and elbows raised to just below the wrist. The first figure turned and returned the gesture.
1000+ Years Later, Underworld, Gremory Territory
Storms were rare in the Underworld but they would happen every so often, the wind making the rain fly in different directions every few minutes. The majority of devils that would walk outside during this time usually donned raincoats as umbrellas would be sent flying. Zeoticus Gremory, a handsome middle-aged devil with long crimson hair and bright blue eyes, also a short beard the same color as his hair. The current leader of the Gremory Clan, one of the surviving thirty-three pillars. With the storm still active there wasn't much for him to do, his wife Venelana Bael was currently looking after their one year old daughter, the maids and butlers doing their daily routine within the castle. He sighed and opened the door to his study room, he went over to one of the large bookshelves connected to the wall and hovered his hand over the selection of books. Finally selecting a book on ancient stories older than himself, he went over to his desk and sat down. The rain creating a soothing noise as it collided with the tall window behind him as he started to read.
After an hour of reading about an event noted down as 'The First Heavenly War', the storm seemed to get more intense than before, lightning flew across the clouds like eels chasing fish through the water, the thunder being so repetitive that it soon seemed more like a drum band than a natural event. Placing a bookmark on his current page, Zeoticus closed the book and stood up. Looking out the window, he gazed at the territory he ruled, in the corner of his eye he saw something in the clouds. Within the eggplant purple clouds was a speck of red. Zeoticus locked his gaze on the speck, the longer he looked at it the larger it got, until it dyed clouds in the area it was in crimson. Then something punctured through the clouds, the Head of Gremory's eyes widened at the sight.
"A meteor?" he gasped as he watched the object descend in a diagonal direction towards the ground. Zeoticus was not about let his territory to face possible destruction from the mysterious object, he rushed out of the room and out of the castle, several guards accompanying him out of request. The Gremory Head was usually laid back and rarely ever called on the help of the castle guards so the selected guards knew that this was serious. The meteor now descending at a strangely slower rate, caused a commotion within the devil population, now that every being in the Underworld had a good look at it. The fire surrounding the head was a deep orange, then coating the orange and extending all the way to the tail was a bright red mix of electricity and fire, around the length of three football stadiums. The heat emitting from it made the devils grateful of the icy rain upon them. Zeoticus sighed in relief as he saw that the meteor left Gremory territory and headed towards the mountains on the outskirts where no devil lived, however curiosity got the better of him and dismissed the guards as he continued chasing after it himself. Sweating from the distance he ran and the heat of the meteor, he saw his first child and only son Sirzechs Lucifer flying above the trees, Sirzechs resembled his father in almost every way apart from the beard and also looked to be in his early to mid-twenties. Activating his own wings he flew up beside his son. Sirzechs greeted him with a nod and the father-son duo raced after the fireball.
Then came the moment the devils were dreading, impact. The meteor crashed into the ground making it look like a volcano eruption where it landed, smoke circling the explosion like a whirlpool. Although the two were far enough from the impact zone to not take serious damage or be blown away from the sheer force of the collision, they still had to create small barriers around them to not be burnt by the waves of heat spewing in every direction. Soon after a fifteen minute struggle, everything became calm again. Sirzechs dismissed his barrier first and flew towards where the meteor struck, as one of the Four Great Satans he felt that it was his duty to be at the area first to make sure that it wouldn't affect the regular day lives of the Underworld's main inhabitants. Zeoticus soon followed his son. Soon the two arrived at the crash site.
The other three Satans were also present, Serafall Leviathan, a beautiful girl that seemed to be in her late teens with black hair tied in twin tails, cyan eyes and a child-like body but large breasts. Ajuka Beelzebub, a handsome but slightly feminine looking devil appearing in his early twenties, crystal blue eyes and slicked back olive hair. And Falbium Asmodeus, a man that seemed to be the same age or slightly older than Sirzechs, completely bald with the only area of his head with hair being his goatee. The three devil leaders standing together next to an enormous crate that split a small mountain-like hill in two. The Gremory duo landed next to them, Ajuka greeting them with a simple nod, as the five devils were too speechless at the event that just occurred. Smoke still rising from the crater the Leaders and Zeoticus just stared at the crater not knowing the right course of action to face this problem as nothing like this ever happened, even if it did it was most likely way before their time.
After a long silence, Sirzechs spoke up, "I'm going down to take a look."
"Wait! Son!" Zeoticus tried to stop him but his son was already sliding down to the bottom.
The devils at the top of the crater held their breath as Sirzechs approached the middle of the crater, smoke still being emitted from the center. Dispelling the smoke with magic, Sirzechs stood astonished at the sight in front of him.
He turned around and signaled the others to come down, "All of you, you must see this."
The desperation in his voice caused the other devil's curiosity to reach its peak, the Satans and Zeoticus made their way down to Sirzechs. And as soon as they saw the object up close, their eyes widened until they couldn't widen any more.
"What is that?" Ajuka asked, wanting to touch the object but hesitating at the thought that it is still an unknown object and may potentially cause harm to him.
In the ground in front of them was a large smooth cracked boulder, from under the boulder neon orange light broke through the cracks, making it look like a trapped sun. Shortly after the cracked areas started to break off and crumble on the ground, revealing half of an orange deltahedron crystal.
"The other half is still in the ground," Falbium suddenly stated.
"What do you mean?" Serafall replied, Falbium pointed at the cracks created by the impact and Serafall's gaze followed his finger. The same neon orange lights leaked from the ground beneath.
"Let's take it out," Sirzechs ordered, "That way we can get a better look at it."
Soon afterwards, the five managed to get the entire crystal out of the ground using magic and their own physical strength. The entire thing being almost twice their height.
"It's so pretty," Serafall said as she stared at the crystal, mesmerized.
Sirzechs nodded in agreement, "A shard of this could fetch a high price anywhere."
"Look! In the middle!" Serafall suddenly shouted while pointing at the crystal. The others directed their gaze towards the center of the crystal.
"Is that a-?" Zeoticus began staring at the crystal in disbelief.
"Child?" Ajuka finished, looking as bewildered as the rest.
An infant no older than a month seemed to be frozen in the very center of the crystal, beside was a green flag of some sort that was also frozen.
"Quick get it out…Now!" Zeoticus yelled, his paternal instincts overtaking him for that moment. Sirzechs nodded and charged a ball of destruction in his hand. Then firing it towards the crystal. All of them became astonished as the crystal seemed to take no damage from it.
"I-It took a hit from Zechs," Falbium stuttered.
"Let's try again," Ajuka said, charging his own element attack. The other's including Zeoticus following his actions.
For the next ten minutes, the Leaders and Gremory Head attempted to break open the crystal to free the child with demonic magic, but only putting enough power in it to not injure the child inside. Falbium started to get slightly annoyed at the crystal and started to charge an attack with both hands, creating a large ball of electricity.
"Wait! That attack might ki-," Serafall started but got cut off when a low rumble was heard. The attention being directed back to the crystal, the top started to melt.
Melting to just about a quarter of the crystal, it started to crack after the melting stopped, the amount of cracks in the crystal made it look like an army of spiders decided to weave their webs around it. Then it shattered like thin glass. Only a small slab remained under the infant slowly hovering down. When the slab landed safely on the ground the devils approached. The devils now getting a better chance to examine the boy, nothing too unordinary. He had black hair but with his eyes still closed, there was no chance to see the colors of his eyes.
"It's a boy," Sirzechs said, looking at the child, then it hit him, "Is he alive?"
Serafall who crouched beside the boy placed two fingers over his chest and then in front of the nose, sighing in relief she turned her head towards the crimson haired Satan and nodded.
"What's this?" Ajuka murmured when he picked up the flag on the ground, shaking the dirt off it and inspecting it carefully.
The flag itself is emerald colored, in the center is a symbol of some sort. A peach with the tip pointing up and two leaves growing from the bottom, one pointing left the other pointing right. Then behind it is five petals, one pointing up, two pointing left and right, and the last two pointing diagonally downwards on each side. Behind the petals is a triangle with a smaller triangle connected to it, symbolizing a mountain with two peaks. The peach's color is black with a white outline, the petals white, and the mountain black.
Ajuka folded the flag and handed it to Sirzechs, "You keep it, I'll hurry back and calm the citizens,"
Sirzechs nodded and grabbed ahold of the flag, Ajuka spread his wings and gestured towards Falbium to go with him. The two Leaders flew away, heading for the closest city. Meanwhile Serafall who was holding the boy in her arms, walked over to them.
"What shall we do with him?" Sirzechs asked, glancing back at the crater one more time, the slab that the boy laid upon disappeared.
"My family could look after him," Serafall suggested, "We all have dark blue or black hair so he shouldn't have too much trouble fitting in, appearance wise anyway."
Sirzechs was about to agree but Serafall continued, "While I don't doubt that my parents would look after him like their own child, but…it's just that they're busy with Sona right now and they want to focus more time on her, I don't think it would be the best idea for him to come with me."
Zeoticus rubbed his beard as he said, "Very well then, until we find his parents or find parents for him, the Gremory Household will keep him."
Sirzechs seemed a little surprised at his father's answer but still agreed that it's the best solution as of now. Soon the three devils went their separate ways, with the Gremory Head holding the boy in one arm.
"Now…how am I going to explain this?" he murmured.
2 Hours Later, Gremory Castle
After the news of Zeoticus returning with a young black-haired boy, Zeoticus, his wife Venelana, and his son Sirzechs, now sitting around a small bed in one of the castle's many spare rooms. The boy now clothed and lying down on his back asleep. Zeoticus with the help of Sirzechs managed to get Venelana to understand the current situation.
"There are many couples that want kids but still haven't succeeded, if we put him up for adoption I' m sure there will many offers," Sirzechs suggested.
"But how many of them want non-devil children?" Venelana asked.
Silence once again engulfed the room for a minute before Zeoticus broke the silence, "Say, don't you sense something demonic from him?"
"Now that you mention it," Sirzechs leaned closer to the boy, "It's not strong but I do sense some type of energy, doesn't feel like a devil's though."
"Maybe another type of demon, like a Youkai?" Venelana suggested.
"It is possible," Zeoticus said rubbing his beard remembering the meteor from earlier, "That still doesn't explain how he got here,"
"Or this," Sirzechs added pulling out the flag that accompanied the child. After a few seconds of silence Venelana excused herself to check on Rias leaving the two males of Gremory.
"Maybe one of the elders know about this flag," Sirzechs said while laying out the flag on the bed, "I've never seen this symbol before, but they might know,"
"Let's hope so," Zeoticus walked forward and picked up the flag as he headed towards the door.
"Are you going now?" Sirzechs asked, his father nodded a response, "I'll come with you,"
When the door closed the boy's eyes started twitch, then finally opening revealing fiery orange irises and black pupils. The boy looked around before flipping onto his front, falling asleep again.
Lilith, Capital of Satan Territory
Lilith a large circular city with the buildings getting taller as they reach the center, as the capital of the Underworld it maintains a bustling environment with devils and their familiars doing everyday tasks. Currently the Gremory father-son duo made their way towards the capital's library a large and tall stone structure with over a hundred floors, one of the oldest buildings in the Underworld, storing important archives of the past and present. Older devils would usually visit this place as some of the items inside would remind them of their youth. Once they were inside, they were directed to the Head Librarian on floor seventy who was one of the oldest devils currently in the Underworld.
Sirzechs and Zeoticus approached the Head Librarian who was currently writing something in a book with a quill. The librarian's attire showed the laid back life he had, a simple brown robe and glasses, in his mouth he held a pipe. Looking up he stood up and removed the pipe from his mouth, exhaling small puffs of smoke. "Lord Lucifer, Lord Gremory, what can I do for you today?"
Zeoticus handed him the flag, "We are hoping that you know something about this,"
The Librarian adjusted his glasses as he took the flag, unfolding it, "Ah, now let's see here,"
After a few moments of studying the flag, he turned to the two crimson-haired devils and took a deep breath and pulled two chairs over, gesturing for the two to sit. "I know this symbol,"
The two Gremory devils leaned forward, wanting to pay attention to the Librarian so they can receive information about the boy's origins.
"I've never seen it in person, but my father told me about it. He said if I was ever in a forest or a battle, and I see a green flag with a peach, a flower, and a mountain on it, too flee as fast as possible and not turn back," he began, "You both know about the Great War between Angels, the Fallen, and us. But before that was something even more horrid. A war so bloody that the Gods had to erase the memory of the surviving soldiers. A war where the world almost ended."
"Ragnarok?" Sirzechs asked, only receiving a head shake from the elder devil.
"No something different, Odin was alive during that point, that war is called The First Heavenly War,"
The realization hit Zeoticus, "I was reading on that just before the meteor hit! Is it a coincidence?"
"Maybe, but if I may continue?" the elder requested, the crimson-haired duo quieted down, once again focusing on what the elder was going to say. "During this war several events took place, but the one that shadows over all is a demon's rebellion the Heavens and the laws set by them,"
"And who was this demon?" Sirzechs asked.
"I'm getting to that," the elder replied, Sirzechs shrunk back into his chair, even if he is a Satan he still respected his elders, "When this demon went to war with the Heavens, the ruler sent down an army of Heavenly Soldiers to deal with him, only for them to be defeated by the demon's own army. From that day, the flag with the peach symbol, became feared across the Heavens. That demon withstood everything the Heavens threw at him, he didn't stop the destruction until everything was destroyed. But later he got a chance to atone for the destruction,"
"That still doesn't explain where the flag came from," Zeoticus stated.
"Then let me tell you something else," the elder, "During the Great War do you remember when twenty devils of different households thought that it would be a good idea to capture some land of the human world?"
Zeoticus nodded along with his son, "Those households are part of the thirty-nine extinct ones,"
"Correct, Lord Gremory, when they attacked a small area of the human world. Overnight their respective clans and they themselves were destroyed, and according to the Old Satans, this flag was found at each of their territories."
The old devil took a deep breath and told them the rest of the information, about the flag's origins, and the name of the demon. The name caused Sirzechs and Zeoticus to almost fall off their seats. Retrieving the flag the two thanked the elder and left, no words were exchanged on the way back as both of them were left in deep thought.
Next Day, Gremory Castle
"We're keeping him," Zeoticus said facing his wife, the statement leaving her shocked at her husband's decision. The two stood in front of the desk in the Head of Gremory's study with Sirzechs entering as soon as he finished speaking.
"T-This is a bit sudden don't you think?" Venelana stuttered.
"It's for the best mother," Sirzechs added, "Only the Satans, father, and you know about him, if word gets out that a child came crashing into the Underworld, I'm certain that some people will take the news negatively. So I think he should stay until this incident is forgotten,"
"It's not that I'm opposed to this," Venelana said looking at the ground then looking up at her husband and son, "How will we explain this to everyone else?"
"Originally I was thinking about making him a butler, or a guard, but" Zeoticus now heading towards the door, signaling the other two to follow him, "But it feels like he's meant to do something for this world, whether it's good or bad depends on his childhood experiences,"
The three devils now headed towards the room that the boy was housed in, opening it the doors they saw that nothing had changed from the previous time the entered the room.
"Maybe we could say that he's one of your brothers in arms' child, and that he died recently so he gave you his son to raise," Sirzechs suggested, "Or maybe something like-"
"We need to give him a name," Venelana said as she started to stroke the child's hair as if he were her own flesh and blood.
"Sirzechs, what is our territory's counterpart in the human world?" Zeoticus asked.
"East Asia, I believe," Sirzechs replied, "Why?"
"Well considering that he crashed here in a ball of fire from the sky," Zeoticus explained, "I thought it was only fitting for him to have a name from the world above,"
Sirzechs glanced at the boy and responded, "How about, Tatsu Yoruno,"
"Not a bad ring to it," Zeoticus stated, "Easy to pronounce too,"
Venelana nodded, eyes still focused on the sleeping boy, "Then it's decided, your name shall be Tatsu,"
After a moment of observing Tatsu, the three devils left him to sleep, Sirzechs then asked his parents as they were closing the door, "What are you going to tell Ria?"
"We'll just say that she has a younger brother now, nothing more until she turns twenty," Zeoticus replied, "By then she should be mature enough to understand,"
Sirzechs nodded and whispered in his father's ear, "Have you told mother, about Tatsu's possible origins?"
Zeoticus shook his head and whispered back, "For now we should keep this to ourselves, Ajuka and the others may know later on but that's it,"
6 Years Later
Tatsu, now six years old, ran through the halls of the Gremory Castle, with his older adoptive sister receiving lessons on magic control and other things to help her become the perfect heiress for the Gremory clan, he himself didn't have much to do. Although his adoptive parents never told him that he was not originally from their household, he has always known that he was different but he never mentioned it to anyone, his adoptive father Zeoticus would usually tell him to not leave the castle's perimeter. As a result, to cure his boredom he started to train in martial arts, he would often watch guards spar with or without weapons in the courtyard and imitate them in private
Focused in his thoughts he didn't notice Sirzechs in front of him and would have collided into him if the older devil didn't step to the side and grab him by the collar as he ran past.
"And where are you going in such a rush?" he asked amused at the baffled expression on the young boy's face.
"U-uh…to w-watch…the birds?" Tatsu stuttered.
Sirzechs sighed putting the boy back on the floor, "The guards are taking a rest today so there won't be any entertainment for you,"
"Aww, but I don't have anything else to do," Tatsu complained, "Nee-sama is always taking lessons and I'm not allowed to go anywhere,"
Sirzechs ruffled his spikey black hair, "Well then do I have news for you, in two days I'm sending you to the human world"
This shocked him but peaked his interest as he eyed the crimson-haired devil with wide eyes.
"Both father and mother were against it at first but, they eventually gave in," Sirzechs replied looking a little proud, "You'll be going to a place called Carrot Leaf Elementary School in Kuoh Town, Japan"
Eventually Sirzechs left the boy to his own devices, but there was only one thing on his mind.
'Do Carrots have leaves?'
Carrot Leaf Elementary School, Kuoh, Japan
True to his word, Sirzechs Lucifer sent Tatsu to the human world, although he was never told why he never opposed the idea of going. His curiosity gave him the needed push to attend the school where he has already been studying at for a whole month. Everyday taking the train to and from the Underworld to get to his destination.
Like the other thirty students in his class, Tatsu was scribbling down notes from the blackboard. Suddenly the door opened, startling the young boy causing him to impale the tip of his pen into his notes. Looking up, he saw the teacher walk in with a boy around his age. The boy had brown spikey hair with two short locks of hair behind his head, and light brown eyes. He wore a red t-shirt and white shorts.
The teacher cleared his throat, "Class, sorry to interrupt but we have a new student joining us today,"
"Hello everybody, I'm Issei Hyoudou, nice to meet you all," the boy said, ending with a bow. The class silently applauded as the teacher scanned the classroom for a spare seat.
Pointing at the empty desk next to Tatsu, the teacher said, "Issei, if you would please sit over there next to Tatsu. Tatsu please raise your hand,"
The black-haired boy raised his hand as Issei made his way next to him, sliding into the seat as the teacher turned around and started to continue the lesson.
Tatsu started to write down notes in his notebook again, he flinched when Issei whispered in his ear.
"Hi, my name's Issei Hyoudou,"
'He's already said that'
The black-haired boy quickly scribbled something in the corner of his page, ripping it off and handing it to the boy next to him. On the paper it read: I'm Tatsu Yoruno, the teacher gets really angry if we talk in class so don't talk.
Issei quickly wrote something on the ripped page and passed it back. Tatsu glanced at it quickly, the brown-haired boy replied with a drawing of a thumbs up, stuffing the paper into his pocket and refocusing on the lesson.
Episode 1: Finish
Thank You For Reading
Next Episode: Devils
