Kashima Naoki let out a yawn as he found himself entering a small town in England.
According to the sign it was called Little Whinging and was located in Surrey, not that he really cared about that, he was just travelling through after all.
It had been over a decade since the Conception and despite stopping the worlds rebirth and living in a world where survival was the only objective, he found himself growing restless and craving adventure.
So he decided to wander between the countless worlds in search of anything interesting, honestly he was contemplating leaving this place soon, not much had really caught his attention since he accessed it through the Amala Network. It had taken him several years but he had eventually learned how to access it directly instead of having to use a terminal to jump locations.
Sure he still had trouble sorting through the information contained within the multiversal database, but it wasn't like he was aging, not now that he had reached his prime.
That was one of the advantages of being a demon, they don't really age like humans do.
But that wasn't what was important, what was important was that this world was so far rather boring and nothing was really catching his attention.
"Ow…" he found himself blinking and looking down to see a small child with dark hair and a strange scar on his forehead laying on the ground near him while a group of other children of similar age to him were looking at him like wolves would when faced with a bleeding deer.
It was quite obvious from the positioning of the dark haired boy that he had probably ended up running into him, he wouldn't notice such a thing, after all, Masakados tended to nullify everything that wasn't almighty in nature.
What caught his attention however, was that the young boy that had clearly ran into him possessed at least some magical potential, with that on top of the fact that the three other kids were clearly chasing him, the demonic man decided to have a shot at seeing if anything abnormal was going on.
"You three," he started in perfectly fluent English, it was one of the perks of being a demon, the ability to communicate in any language, even if only demons like Forneus could pass that talent onto humans, "leave."
He didn't bother trying to sound intimidating, his aura would do more than enough to make the children fear him and sure enough, the three children that were looking at the dark haired boy scurried away at that command, leaving him alone with the boy with glasses and a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead.
"W-who are you?" the boy was obviously nervous, he didn't blame him, he would be too if he was a normal human meeting a god slaying demon for the first time.
"Hitoshura," his response was perfectly normal for him, he had long since discarded the name Kashima Naoki when he started travelling through alternate worlds… after all, Kashima Naoki was a presence unique to his own reality and he was most certainly not.
"That's a funny name," the green eyed boy commented with a completely innocent expression… ah how nice it would be to once again be a naïve child.
It would be interesting to see if this child knew anything or could give him any hints as to anything interesting that might be happening in this world, so he decided to do something he was quite used to by now.
"So, do you know any good places to have a rest?" he asked the little child, idly wondering if children were never taught to not talk to strangers in this world or if he had just forgotten.
"There's a park over there," the bespectacled child pointed easily, earning a soft smile off the demon.
"I see, would you come with me? There are some things I want to talk with you about," his smile was warm and caring but on the inside, there was only the cold, dark heart of a demon that had once been human.
"Uh, yeah," the complete lack of understanding in the child's eyes made it clear to him that this boy was ignorant of the danger he was in, then again, he was hiding his less human features, namely the glowing tattoos and the sensory horn on the back of his neck.
Silence reigned as the two walked towards the park, Naoki, wearing his standard capris and a leather jacket he had 'procured' on his first trip to another world.
He noted how the young boy seemed extremely jittery and kept looking around as if he was expecting someone to jump out on him at any moment.
"So, why were those boys chasing you?" he asked as he took a seat against a tree, making the scarred boy flinch at the noise.
"They just do, it's one of their hobbies," the way the young boy made that statement made it clear to the near invulnerable demon that he was telling the truth.
"And why aren't your parents doing anything about it?" the question was simple but the young boy flinched as if he had just been hit with a rock.
"They're dead," the Hitoshura simply nodded at that statement, not bothering to fake human emotions at that titbit of information.
"So what about the people you live with?" he noted the way the child looked completely shocked at his casual dismissal of his parents death but that didn't really matter as far as the demon was concerned.
"…" the young boy seemed hesitant to say the next piece of information but eventually spoke, "they encourage it."
Ah, child abuse, not a sin he normally encounters in his travels but still nothing new either.
"Any idea why?" he doubted the boy would be ignorant of why they hated him, even if it was likely that he would be told it in an unrelated context so as to make his tormenters feel superior.
"They call me a freak, that my parents deserved to die how they did and how I should be grateful they let me sleep in their house," the tears that were threatening to spill from the younger persons eyes were obvious but once again, the demonic man found himself completely unmoved by such a blatant display of emotional trauma.
What he was taking note of however, was the fact that the boy was magical, his guardians called him a 'freak' and didn't explain why.
Those were definitely ingredients for the possibility of a secret society of magic users existing in this world.
And with that in mind, he made his decision.
"Well, I suppose it's safe to say that today is your unlucky day," the grin he wore upon saying that made the dark haired child freeze before finding a hand clasped around his neck.
"You see, I'm rather bored right now and you're looking like something I can use to entertain myself for awhile," he decided it was a perfectly valid method of finding entertainment and besides, Lucifer had never said he couldn't do this.
Putting his other hand to the air, he pinched his fingers together and pulled, making the young boys eyes widen in fear.
Marogareh.
A magatama, a source of demonic power and the first of the demonic archives he had possessed.
And he was now going to pass it on.
"Welcome to the ranks of demons," and with that, he let the worm like beast burrow into the poor boy's head and change his life forever.