Chapter 1: Arrival
"There are in fact many worlds. Earth and Ente Isla are only two grains of sand in a desert."
It was a slow day at the MgRonalds Sadao worked at. It would be this day his life would change yet again, for the worst. Dealing with small things as if they meant the end of the world, such as malfunctioning kitchen equipment or days like his in where he simply has little to do but stand around. But now bigger problems were about to hit.
Sasukuza district, Tokyo, Modern Day
A man with white hair yet appearing in his late 20s was staring at an advertisement for a new item at the fast food place, that item being strawberry sundaes.
Clad in a red trenchcoat with a black leather vest and a large guitar case on his back, to his right was another man in his early 20s with black hair and effectively the same trenchcoat and leather vest, only he was lacking a guitar case on his back. He spoke, saying "Dante, I thought we were here for business, not sightseeing." Dante, the white haired male smirked and replied "Kid if you don't relax once in a while you'll be so stressed you'd probably have a heart attack in the middle of a fight. Just relax and get something to eat, it's not like there's a lot of buildings we could use for the expansion around here." The black haired male replies as Dante begins walking into the restaurant, saying "Nero may not mind being called kid by you but don't irk my anger, I have a name." Getting no response from Dante the man sighed and walked into the MgRonalds as well.
After ordering strawberry sundaes the two found a place to sat, but Dante's companion seemed uneasy which prompted Dante to say "Didn't I tell you to relax Ray?"
Ray Zenji, his companion, replied with a low voice "I thought you'd have noticed by now." Dante replied "At that level of power he's just another small fry, he's not doing any harm right now so I'll just leave him alone, besides I don't want to add the damages of this place just for fighting a bottom feeder to my already insurmountable debt and we're here for the big guy, our informant said he once ruled a large portion of another realm and is hiding around here somewhere."
Ray sighed and finished his sundae rather quickly compared to Dante who was leisurely enjoying it. Ray got up and said "Yeah well you don't have enough to even rent out an apartment here without going bankrupt so I'm going to investigate the old fashioned way, by getting involved with the community and listening for rumors, this isn't the first time I've been to Japan, or Tokyo for that matter." Dante replied "And remember what happened last time? You got sucked in some kind of portal and went missing for 4 years." Ray shrugged and said "Even if I get sucked into a worldgate like last time I can just open up another and come back, I learned a few things in that world and I know who our target is, he's not a small fry so you should be taking this job more seriously." Dante chuckles slightly and says "Well if that kid can give him a run for his money than I don't see why I should bother getting serious." Ray shrugged his head and said "Don't underestimate Emilia, she is one of the few who can make me enjoy a fight, and she nearly killed me. She's not just a half-demon she's also a half-angel, although she thinks her other half is human and not demon blood." Dante replies "Hey kid, I have no need to fear a Nephelim, remember that alter-ego version of myself someone cooked up who tried to trash my shop? Hell Vanguards can fight better than him." Ray shook his head and walked without saying anything else, Dante's only experience with Nephelim was with the weak ones, someone along the lines of Emilia Justina could put up an equal fight with even the son of sparda, provided she was at full power.
After nearly half a day of paperwork, Ray had managed to find a place to reside for the time being, although the landlady was definitely not an ordinary human, possessing powers similar to a more notable demon and unlike Dante, he didn't have a large crate of debt on his back and could take his time taking care of jobs, afterall most don't realize that Tokyo is crawling with lesser demon varients called Youma and if you know the right contacts, and Ray indeed does, you could make a healthy sum in taking them down, lesser demons like that are no burden to Ray and he would honestly have a harder time adjusting to a civilian job like a cashier or phone operator, desk jobs just do not suit him and it is one of the few things he has in common with Dante.
After getting his room in order, Ray decided to just take a leisurely walk about the area, there were no jobs at the moment and it was honestly unusual to him, usually there were at least 4 youma waiting to die in Sasukuza every week and yet there wasn't a single incident for the past week according to his contacts.
No more than three minutes into his walk he felt a magical presence and turned his head in it's direction.
He couldn't believe his eyes, she was supposed to be presumed dead...
Emi continued to ponder in her thoughts about whether or not spying on Sadao will do any good, and the aftermath of his fight with Sariel left her even more confused as to how the demon king could act so human. Then someone came into view and the sight alone interrupted her thoughts. Flashbacks can be swift indeed.
3 years ago, Ente Isla
Ray sighed as he pulled his longsword, Hunter out of yet another demonic creature attacking the town he was staying at, he had been trapped here for a year and he still saw no end to the bloodshed caused by either inter-human conflict or the demon invasion. It was no different from Earth except for the increased magic and decreased technology.
In the distance, outside the town he noticed a large reptilian demon who seemed to have the power to turn ordinary people to stone with poison claws, though one person wasn't affected. Ray sighed and decided to assist, even if she had high affinity in magic, she was not looking too good, Ray's heightened perceptions allowed him to know she had a bad head injury and if it wasn't treated soon, she would pass out, and in the middle of a fight means she would be lizard food.
Just as the silver haired woman evaded a strike from the creature's tail, the said tail was sliced clean off by another weapon, his approach was in the blink of an eye, there was no way he could be human and do such a maneuver. Ray had just air tricked to strike down the creature and without it's tail, it lost it's strongest weapon.
The demon however was unwilling to give up and quickly dashed at Ray with it's claws only for a loud thundering sound accompanied by several lead projectiles slamming into the creature faster than sound, Ray had crafted pistols similar to Dante's before being trapped in Ente Isla although he preferred his sword more often in Ente Isla, as gunfire could attract the wrong attention, he had already made that mistake once and got a name for himself in the process, the Thundering Demon.
Ray continued to fire his two pistols as if they were limitless in ammo, both were silver in color unlike Dante's Ebony & Ivory which had opposite colors, the design was also slightly different, having longer barrels and laser sights attached beneath the barrels.
After effortlessly killing the creature with his guns he holstered them in concealed positions in his trenchcoat and turned to face the woman who had just collapsed, having taking a heavy blow to her head no doubt.
Today
Emi obviously knew there was more to the story but she wasn't going to dwell on old memories, only settle old debts as she began to approach Ray with a serious face.
Ray sighed in annoyance and scratched the back of his head and said aloud "Do I really have to deal with this now?" Emi was close enough to hear and when she got slightly closer she began to talk, saying "Raymond Zenji, what are you doing here?" Ray sighed and replied "I came from here, well not specifically Japan but I am Earthborn. My question is why are you here or better yet how are you here? You were declared to have been killed in action." Emi shook her head and said "I followed the devil through the gate and ended up here. So this is the other world you came from, it makes sense actually considering the weapons you used to use." Ray replied "I still use them, Ente Isla isn't the only place with a demon problem, they're just more careful and secretive on Earth, except some cases, though the demons in Ente Isla are nothing compared to the ones here." Emi replied "Well at the very least you haven't changed how you dress. But don't for one moment assume I've forgotten your betrayal." Ray sighed and said "For the last time, I was not responsible for that incident, believe it or not I was not the only one in Ente Isla with firearms, just the only one with repeating firearms." Emi shook her head and said "No, I was there, and it was definitely your work." Ray replied with a more serious tone "In either case, do you really intend to fight me in the open here? Two people dueling in the streets of Tokyo with swords is not exactly inconspicuous."
Emi replied "I'll be keeping an eye on you either way. But seriously, why are you here?" Ray scratched the back of his head and said "Oh well I suppose I'm here to do your job. Find the Demon King and disprove the notion that demons are immortal. I learned how to form worldgates a year after you disappeared and reconnected with old acquaintances here. I am not here alone, keep this in mind and he is more than capable of doing this job alone."
A moment of silence brushed between the two of them before Emi broke the silence, saying "Well, he is here but, going directly after him will cause problems, it's difficult to explain." Ray sighed and said "I knew it, the guy at the MgRonalds. Ente Islan Demons rely on despair for their powers, but not the ones here. Since there is very little despair in Tokyo, it would be logical to assume he is weak now. Is there anyone with him?"
Emi nodded and said "Alciel and Lucifer, but going after them would be just as difficult. Don't do anything rash, this isn't Ente Isla and don't forget we still have a score to settle." Ray shook his head and said "I won't take rash action, fine. But there is no score to settle here, I did not betray you period, if you want to spar once in a while then be my guest, but don't assume it will be like last time, I've learned a few new tricks from the last year I spent in Ente Isla before coming back."
Emi said nothing and gave no response other than walking away, a combination of anger and regret boiling inside her, emotions that Ray knew were present.
3 years ago, Ente Isla
Emilia woke up with a headache, grabbing her head only to feel a wrapped bandage around it, looking over to a nearby table there were some blood soaked bandages in a bin, implying the bandage was changed now and then. Her surroundings seemed to be a modest room, wooden construction, a window showed that she was in the town, smoke in the distance implied a fight was going on in the outskirts.
Just as Emilia sat up, the room's door opened and in walked the man who she remembered had killed the lizard who ravaged her group, dressed in a red trenchcoat with a black leather vest, his hair black and his eyes a dark brown shade. He spoke first, saying "Oh good, you're awake. My name is Ray Zenji and well, I saved your life. You've been out for three days."
To be continued...
