Zephyrus of the School Gate Entrance

Life.0

(I want to be happy.

And so does everyone else— they strive everyday, looking for happiness.

Without a doubt— that's the end goal of every living organism, human, Devil, Angel, and whatnot.

However, everyone's own definition of happiness is different. To one, it may be as personal as scoring well on a test or beating their own personal record on the track field; to another, it may be becoming a world class athlete or devoting oneself to their religion.

But of course, life isn't as easy as that. No matter what one tries to do, I learned that roadblocks are often there to deter one from achieving their goal— in this case, happiness. In my own case, my former goal of dispelling shame of my family was disrupted by the roadblock that came in the form of my physical defect, the inability to move my legs.

I don't consider this a big problem to my own happiness though. Certain people definitely experience more hardships than others. Other than the immediate example of myself, the proof was right in front of me. There was a boy, who lapsed into apathy and doubt about himself. He was just a normal boy longing for happiness just like everyone else. Even so, his circumstances didn't allow him to go on the path that he so desperately wanted to. To others, merely using their own inherent power to activate their own ability was as simple as breathing— to him, it was nothing short of a miracle.

I pitied that boy, my peer so much. But I didn't feel bad for him, he had a will after all.

So why?

Why am I crying?)

Arusbaal Belial.

Also known as Ars, a young devil-boy who spent the majority of his days sitting on a wheelchair. Black hair, unbefitting of the Belial name but he was undoubtedly the cousin of the Champion himself— Diehauser Belial. Being a young boy at the adolescent age of six years old, he had an immature face plastered on his head. Because he was so young in comparison to his celebrity cousin, the relationship between Diehauser and Arusbaal ended up becoming more like one of an uncle and his nephew.

Of course, since Arusbaal himself was confined to a wheelchair most of the time, he lived a very sheltered life.

Thus was the fate of the recent generation who were born with the blood of the Great King Bael. Sairaorg Bael, the rightful heir of the clan, was born without his clan's signature ability or demonic power, and Arusbaal Belial, whose mother was a former member of the Bael clan, was born without the use of his legs.

Similar to the relationship between Diehauser and Arusbaal, the relationship between Sairaorg and Arusbaal was friendly, like family. They were the two kids who could relate to each other the most, after all.

Arusbaal and Sairaorg both empathized one another. Sairaorg pitied Arusbaal because of his weak body and Arusbaal pitied Sairaorg because of the constant verbal taunts and abuse that he would receive.

The friendship between these two was definitely unbreakable…

— or so it was thought.

At the age of nine, it all ended. They didn't end their friendship in a spat, and they didn't even consider their friendship over. But as Sairaorg began to almost masochistically train his body in order to achieve his goal, Arusbaal couldn't do anything to keep up with his distant relative. Could one still consider a relationship were the two participants didn't so much as wave to each other as friendship?

Sairaorg got stronger and Arusbaal stayed the same. That was all there was to it.

Age ten, Arusbaal Belial could be called the epitome and definition of "Worthlessness."

But on the night before his eleventh birthday—

"Ars-sama, the sun is bright today."

"Yes."

"Ars-sama, do you want to go outside today?"

"Yes."

Arusbaal replied without a care in the world, to say the least. The one speaking to him was an old butler-devil who served the Belial clan. He was the same extra-demon that served the Belial family for the past three generations and the Lucifer family before that. Known as the Immortal Butler, his name was Eras Pheles. He was easily identified by his old face which he didn't cover up with magic and the butler uniform that was uncharacteristic of such a distinguished devil.

"Ars-sama." Despite of Eras' own status, he still treated devils from the Seventy-Two Pillars with respect.

"Yes…?"

Arusbaal could only look at the sky of the underworld when he was brought outside by Eras.

"... Do you long for it?"

"Of course I do."

Arusbaal was quite mature for his age. Without much to do, he spent most of time in the library. Other than being knowledgeable, he could also be considered a magic talent.

It was not a surprise that these two could communicate with such vague words, Arusbaal had been relying on Eras for his entire life due to the butler's servitude of the family going back to decades.

"Then, you need to keep trying." Eras gave these vague words and Arusbaal did not reply. Trying was a term he disliked. The word itself meant little to nothing for the boy. No matter how much he tried, he found that birth circumstances held more weight than effort.

The old Pheles continued to push the boy along the road. Arusbaal's eyes were tired-looking.

They arrived at the edge of the Belial family's territory. It cut off the moment they reached a forest that was considered to be under the jurisdiction of Tannin, the Blaze Meteor Dragon. Normally, Arusbaal would not be allowed so far away from the Belial manor, but because a well-known servant such as Eras was present, a special exception could be made.

Arusbaal gave a wry smile, "... Why are we so far away from the manor?"

Eras' expression couldn't be determined from Arusbaal's position.

"Ars-sama."

"..."

"Let's change you."

And with those three words, the universal clock situated at Lucifaad's hand struck 12:00.

Arusbaal was definitely confused, so he turned around, "Eras, what do you mea—"

Eras had already disappeared.

And while Arusbaal was an intelligent boy, he only just realized… He wasn't at the border separating the two territories anymore.

Around him, he could only see a luscious green forestry. However, despite the plants flourishing in the territory, there was not a single sign of life around him. The boy's first instinct was to locate where he was, but since the tall trees were so gargantuan, Arusbaal found himself unable to even look over them to figure out his relative position.

Surprisingly enough, the boy was quite calm. Even though he was in a wheelchair, he didn't panic. Obviously, getting pushed around was more convenient for him, but he wasn't completely helpless.

He applied his own demonic power to the wheels of his wheelchair and propelled himself forward. While he couldn't see over the trees to get his position, he also found himself not wanting to just sit still.

(Eras… What's the point of this?)

To Arusbaal, it was obvious that he was in the Blaze Meteor Dragon's territory. The trees were ones that produced the Dragon Apples that Tannin became a devil for in the first place.

—The Great Forest of the King. This forest was both under the protection of Tannin and the Four Great Maou. Arusbaal knew that such a forest wouldn't have any inherent danger to it. There was no way that a place like this would have any stray devils or any other hazard in it. Although it led into Grigori territory, it was clearly illegal for the fallen angels to enter devil territory. If they were to be discovered, it would develop into a situation where the terms of the non-fighting contract would be breached. The repercussions for those that break the law would be death at minimal— and eternal damnation in Cocytus at worst.

The boy of the Belial family— Arusbaal Belial— sighed in exasperation. He thought the situation as one of annoyance. Like solving a mathematical problem while having the formula, he had the tools to escape; his wheelchair and his demonic power.

The direction he chose to move into was without reason. However, if the time were to pass a bit, he would be able to know what direction to go to. The artificial sun in the underworld always dropped north as time approached night and would rise from the south. If this was truly the territory of the Devil Dragon, then he would only have to go south to find his home.

But until the sun moved significantly, Arusbaal would just have to hope he was moving in the right direction.

Arusbaal had a talent. His movement with his wheelchair indicated that. Without an outside source of magical power, he himself could still output a steady and stable stream of magic without effort at all. To some, this was extremely difficult. A conscious effort to maintain this would be needed for most, but to Arusbaal; this was as simple as breathing.

Unfortunately for him, the assumption he had made about his location was completely wrong.

This was not the Blaze Meteor Dragon's territory. This was the one other place that still housed the Dragon Apples. Situated in the Norse Faction's territory— Asgard.

Or more specifically, this was the Dragon Fruit Forest, east to the entrance of Valhalla.

So as Arusbaal traveled— with his lack of experience in the outside world, there was no way possible for him to notice the two trolls that were sneaking up on him.

Even though he was tired, whether he was fully awake or not wouldn't have made any difference, he was simply too oblivious to the ways of the world. Why would Eras, such a well-known devil, risk his reputation by sending him to territory that was not in devil jurisdiction?

Murius Belial, the uncle to Diehauser Belial and the father to Arusbaal simply deemed his son unworthy.

Eras Pheles' own wishes had nothing to do with the orders that his liege had given him. Due to Murius Belial's marriage with Elyia Bael being one that was completely loveless on Elyia's side, Murius Belial saw no use in a son that was a cripple. To him, it was a waste of resources.

If Arusbaal could survive this and return to the underworld on his own power, then he would prove himself worthy of spending resources into and his potential.

But if he did not survive this… It would be no loss to Murius Belial.

…

"▂▂▃▃▅▅ーーー！！"

Trolls were not dangerous by any means—, most people found them easy to deal with. For any supernatural creature with some semblance of sentience, they would find it as easy to deal with as if a human had to deal with a few insects.

However, to Arusbaal, who had no usage of his feet which lead to meagre mobility… The trolls were serious danger.

Even though weak in supernatural standards, they would be above normal humans in the food chain. Unfortunately for Arusbaal, even normal humans would be considered "superior" to him in the mobility department.

The troll's deafening screams were then the only things that the boy could think about.

He muttered to himself, "... Fuck."

As a devil heir, he was usually quite soft-tongued and didn't speak out of turn. That was the case in public anyways. Because he was a cripple, he had to rely on others. Quickly, he learned that the only effective way to gain favour with others was to be polite. However, here where he was by himself and without anyone near, he could let out his true vocabulary without any inhibition.

Salivation from the two green trolls was impossible to miss.

In a panic, the Belial's grey magic crest appeared in front of Arusbaal, his intent obvious.

"... ▂▂▃▃▅▅ーーー！！"

The incomprehensible roar of the two monsters echoed out loudly throughout the forest. In fact, the scream was enough to alert the surroundings of what was about to happen.

Despite the Belial's demonic power blast being sent towards the troll in an alarming speed, the simple fact that Arusbaal was inexperienced prevented Arusbaal from aiming properly at moving targets.

The taller of the two quickly dodged to the left of Arusbaal's vision, and the shorter one to the right. In his brief moment of surprise, Arusbaal had dropped from his position on his wheelchair onto the ground.

Had Arusbaal actually landed his blow, the trolls would have been obliterated in an instant, as if a member of the Bael family had blasted them with the Power of Destruction.

But of course, since Arusbaal did not land his attack and his lack of mobility holding him back from running away effectively…

(… This isn't good…!)

…

However, without any warning, a golden flash entered Arusbaal's vision.

And with overwhelmingly power and speed, the trolls were instantly cut down.

Without even a moment's delay, the heads of the two trolls flew off of their bodies— they were decapitated.

However, it was not a blade that had done the deed, it was simply the speed and precision of a single strike done by the gold streak.

The owner of those hands which had mercilessly clawed down the two creatures was none other than a blonde-haired girl with wing-shaped hairclips, around the same age as Arusbaal himself.

"... Are you fine?" A melodic, gentle voice came from her mouth.

...

This was Arusbaal's first encounter with Silmeria Hrist.

— Kuoh Academy. A formerly all-female high school for the rich. Presently, it would be an ordinary private school— if not for the strict enrollment requirements and the seven-to-three female-to-male ratio.

(This is where Cleria…)

A midnight-black haired boy gazed at the school from a distance. Dressed in casual clothing, if one were to look at him, their opinion of him would certainly be one of moderate respect. He continued walking, his next destination was the nearby church of the town.

The church that had been so abandoned by the previous owners the point where the exterior had a look as if it would collapse any moment.

The church that was rumored to be cursed with the lingering spirits of a forbidden love.

The church where Cleria Belial had been accused of treason and sent to be killed.

(Why was she killed…? There was no reason.)

In truth, the boy who looked as if he had bed hair knew. Cleria Belial had been in a relationship with a priest of the Christian church. Of course, as Cleria was a devil, this was naturally a forbidden love. But was that all there was to it?

Cleria was not a prominent member of the Belial clan and was only a branch member of the clan.

The boy— who called himself Ren Yaitai trudged down the stairs. He passed by a corner and suddenly was dressed in the Kuoh Academy's uniform.

He had obtained permission from the Four Great Maou to come here. This was granted on a whim as a favour to the Champion, whom Ren had ties with. However, this was under the condition that he reported to them about how the Gremory and Sitri heirs were doing.

That's simple enough.

(Sona should already know about my arrival.)

Ren walked into the school and he head straight for the teacher's lounge to get his documents signed and approved.

"Ren Yaitai, seventeen years old and transfer student from Tokyo." Yatsumura-sensei, a middle-aged man with a slight bald spot that was slowly occurring on top of his head said.

"Yup."

He raised an eyebrow, scanning the boy and his information for any inconsistencies. "Why you decided to transfer in the middle of the year… I don't know, but it says family circumstances here." Yatsumura-sensei pointed at the bottom of the sheet.

Ren let down a downcast look and Yatsumura-sensei immediately knew he overstepped some bounds.

"Well, don't let it bother you too much. Get to your homeroom and introduce yourself to your peers and class."

Ren walked out of the teacher's lounge, bowed and departed for his classroom.

(That went smoothly… Though I hope something happens soon.)

Walking up the stairs to the third year's classroom, he entered to meet the gaze of the various devils who immediately sensed his presence.

There was nothing he could do to hide his presence after all. He wasn't THAT skilled.

With subtle nod to Sona Sitri, he walked in the room as the teacher prompted him to introduce himself.

"Erm… Hi guys, I'm Ren Yaitai." He looked around to see a few gazes on him. Those gazes were not those of "Kyaa~ he's so cool!" or anything like some anime. Sure, he was moderately good looking, but at this point, he was just "interesting" at best.

"I enjoy calligraphy, piano and gardening." He stated, "There aren't that many interesting things about me; but I look forward to the next year together with you guys!"

There was a quick, brief and momentary burst of chattering. It left as fast as it came however.

"Go pick out any seat that's available."

Ren smiled and picked out the nearest seat as instructed, the one to the left of the middle, hugging the wall.

And to his disappointment, nothing interesting had happened at all.

Sure, he found the thought of a class wide instructional faculty to be interesting and found that even with so many students, everyone was relatively well-behaved. Kuoh Academy may be unique in the sense of having a Perverted Trio of such. Though those people were Ren's underclassmen.

DING~ DING~ DING~

And so, the bell of dismissal had rung. Sona Sitri, or Sona Shitori as she went by, called Ren to come with her to the Student Council's office. This, of course, was under the pretense of Ren needing to fill in more documents for his transfer into Kuoh.

"Did my sister send you here?" The Sitri heir asked.

And without hesitation at all, Ren smiled at her. "It was one of the conditions in order for me to come here."

That obscure reply had not escaped Sona, "So then, what's your motive to come here?"

"Well... " Ren scratched his head, he doubted as whether Sona would believe him or not if he told the truth.

So instead, he told a half-truth.

"I'm just interested in the human world!" He made sure to do a dramatic gesture around the plain Student Council room, which was littered with documents that had yet to be finished.

"Stop lying. "Ren Yaitai" clearly indicates that you're a reincarnated devil. Seeing as my sister, the Great Maou Leviathan, has sent you, you shouldn't have any malicious intentions, but I don't like the fact that you're in our territory without knowing your plans."

"Geh… Seen through so easily... " Ren mock face-palmed, "Well, I promise it won't affect you too much!"

Sona was puzzled, but a hint wasn't long in coming.

"Kaichou, do you know who "ruled" over Kuoh before you and Rias Gremory arrived?"

She shook her head side to side, "Can't say I have, Yaitai-kun."

It was not a surprise that she didn't know. The higher ups of devil society had covered up all details regarding her anyways. Young devils in Ren, Sona, and Rias' age group would have no idea about Cleria.

With the flow of information regarding the existence of Cleria being cut entirely, Kuoh had went on just like normal and before anyone even knew it, Cleria had already disappeared from this world.

As there wasn't anyone prompting a talk about Kuoh before the two heiresses of Gremory and Sitri arrived, everyone's excitement about the topic quickly subsided. Everyone was too afraid to garner the attention of the higher ups, and those that did have the authority to question already knew the truth.

Ren let out a regretful smile and headed for the door, "Her name was Cleria."

A few of Sona's peerage members, that is to say, her fellow Student Council member,s saw the raven-haired boy run off from the Student Council room, laughing.

"Kaichou? Who was that?" Momo Hanakai, one of Sona's Bishops asked. Sona shook her head before muttering—

"A major headache."

「Sacred Apostles」.

The dark side to the church. A force to be reckoned with so much that the weakest of them could be considered as strong as the stronger half of the high-class category of devils. In fact, the most renowned exorcist himself, The Church's Device of Violence— Vasco Strada had emerged from there.

These 「Sacred Apostles」 were truly dangerous. In the past during the Great War, they were the main commanders of the human side in God's faction. However, in recent history, they slowly faded into ambiguity and were even rumored to not exist anymore.

Despite this, they still definitely survived.

Enter— Aleksandor Quarta.

A prodigy with the same level of talent in combat as Dulio Gesualdo. Compared to Dulio however, he did not have the luck of being born with Sacred Gear. Nonetheless, he did have the fortune to be personally trained by the Cardinal Priest.

And thus, with the status of "Natural Holy Sword" wielder, he took the holy sword known as Ascalon and moved on to create a name for himself.

Of course, he was quickly scouted out by the Ten Divine Apostles, the leaders of the 「 Sacred Apostles」, after his mentorship with Vasco Strada was completed. Aleksandor then began to live a life of relentless devil-hunting and became known as the "Executioner of the Vatican."

…

In an obscure little town known as Dylus, an interesting development had occurred. Stray devils seemed to have gathered abnormally and had developed a network bent on hunting for humans. With only a meager amount of four mid-class exorcists being available for deployment, the Vatican had seen it right to send a 「Sacred Apostle」 instead.

And fate would have it to have Aleksandor Quarta to be the one sent. His performance met expectations perfectly.

Fifty-two stray devils, four of them high-class in strength had been slain— in a single night.

"How does it feel to bask in the blood of those accursed creatures?"

A booming voice dissipated the sound of silence in the shadow covered hall.

Ten pedestals— three of them empty, seated seven hooded figures dressed in complete and shining white. Those seated stared down at the dark-clothed blue haired boy who kneeled in front of the seats.

"My personal feelings do not have anything to do with my mission, your Eminences."

A shrill, soft spoken voice echoed in the chamber.

"And yet, you seem to be enjoying yourself." The one seated to the second seat next to the middle stated.

"As is the pleasure of completing the assignments assigned to me by the Lord."

As much as the boy disliked admitting it, he had a fondness for using the sword. He was obsessed with the thrill of battle after all.

"That's excellent."

"Your Eminences," For the first time in this conversation, Aleksandor was the one to initiate the conversation. "What is my next holy duty?"

The hooded figures looked pleased. "There's been a sudden emergence of a particular devil peerage that had been causing havoc to our exorcist cells."

Aleksandor raised his eyebrows. Wouldn't such actions of a devil be a breach of the treaty between the two factions?

"However, this is all just speculation." The tallest of the bunch and the leader, "First", boomed. "We only have knowledge that a devil is behind all of this, whether this devil is stray or not is unknown.

At first, we thought that the devils were the stray devils that you recently slew two days ago, but yesterday, the same incident happened in one of the Sacred Apostle」 training sectors."

That was a concern for Aleksandor, as those children undergoing training could be called "younger siblings" to him.

"And even then, the only knowledge of the devil we know is that it isn't just a mere stray as it's supported by four members."

"And their appearances?"

"The leader appears to be a young man whom surviving children identify as having black hair and red eyes." "Second" announced.

"His main support is a young woman around your age. She has blonde hair." "Fourth" announced.

"And the last two are unknown except for the fact that they use blades." "Seventh" stated.

"They only strike under the cloak of the dark." "Fifth" finished as a mask-wearing attendant walked up to the still-kneeling boy to pass on a document.

One man, one woman and two unknown blade users with pictures of their silhouettes.

"As a 「 Sacred Apostle」, dealing with these devils to avenge your "siblings" should be an instinctive motivation, no?"

"Of course, your Eminences."

"Then as such," "First" announced, "You will begin to depart to Kuoh Town in order to make contact with two devil heirs who you will question for intel."

Another document was passed on to Aleksandor, this one detailing two females.

Rias Gremory and Sona Stiri, both heirs of their respective devil clans and siblings of two out of the Four Great Maou.

While Aleksandor was not just a throwaway pawn for the Church, he was still just a cog in the system. If word came out that the two siblings of the Great Maou attacked a Church member, then it would not be surprising to have both Grigori and the Church work together to attack the devils' faction.

Aleksandor simply nodded and with one great sweep of a turn that caused his cape-like jacket to flap, departed immediately for Kuoh.

…

"First, was it right to tell him that the children were slain?"

"First" held his bored looking face with his palm which was supported by his armrest.

"It would be counterproductive to tell him that those devils had not killed a single child and only eliminated the training facilities. A man—

...needs motivation to slaughter after all."

Ren Yaitai found himself forcing himself to sweat again in the middle of the night.

In his humble abode of a room —which was lent out to him by Sona—, Ren found it prudent to immediately decorate his room with a useless amount of training gear, all put up to devil standards.

While he was not a muscle-builder, he found it too important to miss out on daily training, especially that to do with his legs.

(Never skip leg day, after all.)

*CH-LUNK, CH-LUNK*

A girl walked into the room.

"Hey! It's time to sleep! Get in here!" She motioned towards the bed.

"Alright, alright. After I shower though."

They bickered a bit before Ren finally walked into the shower.

The girl called herself Silmeria.

Silmeria Hrist, in fact.

Sunshine-haired and with nordic-valkyrie origins, she possessed otherworldly beauty. Her job was to escort Ren around Kuoh and her objective was the same as his.

Find out the truth of Cleria.

*RING~ RING~ RING~*

Silmeria's cellphone went off. The display of the caller ID read out, "Chibi-chan." She smirked before answering the call.

"Oi~ where are you guys!?" A rather high-pitched voice that fit a young girl more than a teenager emerged from the cellphone.

"We're at Kuoh right now… Yes, I know we have a job soon, but that's in two hours, we can still get some sleep in."

"Yeah… But you gotta come back soon! Especially you! We need your head to negotiate with these corporate big heads!"

Not even mentioning the fact that the loli-esque voice was one filled with immaturity and energy, the voice was uncharacteristically lourd today. Silmeria reassured her, "Then I'll be coming back now, just give me a few minutes."

Silmeria, the white-adorned girl, cast magic over herself in order to dress for "business talks" and departed using a magic circle.

And just as she left, Ren finished his shower.

"Yo, do you know where my— Ah. She left again."

"So it's here."

Aleksandor Quarta moved under the darkness of the night.

"I guess I'll make contact with them tomorrow mornin—"

An immense pressure exuded out of the apartment that sat in the corner. The pressure given off was not one that stopped one's breathing or even one that gave out intimidation.

Instead, the pressure given off simply shouted out like a radar, "I'm here!" really loudly. It was so obvious that anyone above the mere minimum to be considered high-class could detect it without any trouble.

(Is someone coming out…?)

Aleksandor raised his hand to his hip, light sword ready. Because it was in the middle of human civilization where the supernatural was relatively unknown, he didn't carry Ascalon with him on his hip. Instead, Ascalon was hidden away in a separate dimension.

(This feeling… It has to be a devil. But it can't be those two heirs, they should be sleeping…! Will it be a stray? A powerful devil? A demonic sword user?!)

And sure enough, someone walked out… That destroyed Aleksandor's expectations.

Messy black hair, drooped eyes and a smell which even the grace of heaven couldn't cover up— Ren Yaitai.

The boy yawned before looking around and met eyes with Aleksandor.

"Hey bud! You going to swing that light sword at me or something?"

Aleksandor was put on guard, his grip tightening, "... Why are you here?"

Ren looked puzzled, "What do you mean? Last time I checked, this was devil territory…"

"... Perfect timing. Anyways, you don't seem hostile."

Tilting his head, Ren asked, "Hm? It's rare to see an exorcist that doesn't immediately want to cut off my head."

"Have you done anything to deserve the punishment of the Lord?"

"Of course not! I'm just a meager reincarnated devil after all."

(Ah so… He's one of the two heirs' servants, and a newbie at that… Considering he doesn't hold any battle stance and that he can't hide his signature well…)

(An exorcist now? Great timing. I get to ask some questions about the church.)

"So, do you know anything about the devils that have been wreaking havoc in violation of the treaty recently?"

(They're finally doing something about it… After a whole month too.)

This got Ren interested, so much so that he didn't even feel like asking about the abandoned church anymore.

"Two identifiable devils, both on high-class levels of strength. One blonde-haired and one black-haired."

"Hm… I don't know much, maybe it would be better to ask another devil?"

"But your smirk is telling me otherwise."

Aleksandor hadn't let the smirk of Ren go by unnoticed. It was very apparent that Ren knew something that a simple reincarnated devil shouldn't know.

"Hm… I think I can show you some information in two hours about your query… Just make sure to come to Kyoto south park in that time. That being said—

I'll see you later, ciao!"

The devil ran away. This was a common occurrence to a member of the 「 Sacred Apostles」. To Aleksandor, even an inexperienced, newly reincarnated devil, would run away at the sheer holy aura of an apostle. In Aleksandor's perspective, it was a miracle in itself that the devil boy even stood around to converse with him in the first place.

The black-haired boy disappeared into a grey circle. Leaving no more indication of his presence there other than the door still open from the apartment complex.

"Two hours huh… At Kyoto south park… That's the territory lent out to the Church by the Kyoto Faction…"

Aleksandor muttered to himself before thinking any harder on the subject. And then— !

"Is he exposing those devils?"

Aleksandor could only ponder to himself about that. The boy seemed inexperienced for sure, but the look in Ren Yaitai's eye said otherwise. As a first-class exorcist, who had been trained from childhood to now, Aleksandor could deduce such just with a glance.

Or perhaps— the black-haired devil was one who valued justice and just didn't have the means to do it. If anyone could sympathize with that thought, Aleksandor would be the one— that feeling is why he became an exorcist in the first place.

(If that's the case… I can't let this opportunity slip by!)

Aleksandor started running at that realization…

—Down to a nearby restaurant to have much needed grub.

Black hair was groomed as the owner walked into the small office. The office eluded a small purely of coffee, and it was evident that it was the workplace of several people that had way too much time on their hands.

"Finally you arrived…!" The pipsqueak voice from Silmeria's phone rang out once again, but this time in the real world, with the owner of the voice possessing a face and body that was evidently younger than her peers. While she was definitely not a child, as she was the age to be a first-year in highschool, Futaha Fujiwara was definitely lacking in the maturity sections. She didn't curve in the places where she was supposed to curve, but she didn't curve in the places that weren't supposed to curve either.

Ren went to sit down on the sofa as he took a sip of one of the coffee cups laying around.

"Bleh," He made a creeped-out expression, "I see you like your coffee with too much milk and sugar… Are you a kid?"

"It doesn't matter! You need to hurry up and stop lazing around! Everyone has gone already and you're here judging my taste on coffee!" Despite her saying so, she had not prepared either and was scrambling around on the nearby computers to get ready for the large-scale operation that they were about to perform.

"Geez, I'm getting ready already… How hard is it?" With a flick of his wrist, demonic-powered magic instantly changed the clothes of Ren from convenience store-bought jersey to a respectable noble devil attire. The clothing was predominantly black in clothing, just like a suit but with blue highlights all around.

"As expected, I can never get used to that sight."

Ren turned his head to see a bored-looking expression on his younger peer's face. It wasn't that Ren never dressed formally or anything, but there were just way more cases where Ren dressed casually over when he dressed formally. She wasn't used to it, plain and simple.

"Well, I don't like dressing like this either, but it's a necessity after all."

"Eh… Wait…! You need to hurry up, the operation is about to start!"

Thankfully enough, Ren was finally ready.

"Then I'll get this show on the road—"

Silmeria was used to killing.

Like many other children who were born from supernatural origins, she was used to the notion and thought of death. As such, the girl was more comfortable with the act of killing than sparing.

Of course, that wasn't to say she was a killing machine or such— just because she was used to killing and found it easier, it did not mean that she particularly enjoyed the act.

However, when her only adversaries were children, there was no excuse for her to not go easy.

"Grgh..!"

The young boy in front of her slashed at her with a mass-produced holy sword. The sword that was oh-so-poisonous was easily avoided with a twirl to the right and the boy that swung the blade had been knocked out by a simple chop to his neck in one swift motion.

Dead in the middle of the night, Silmeria sighed as she looked at the only non-child in the room— the exorcist dressed in black.

It was a simple exorcist who wielded a light gun and holy sword. To Silmeria, he was clearly no threat— he slacked his arms, his legs were too close together and he was shivering only a little bit less than the children.

To the children, she would be the villainess and the exorcist would be the hero.

"Nii-san…! You can do it!"

The children who were unaware in the gap of their powers cheered on the exorcist without knowing that he was shaking in his boots.

"Ah, you finished before I arrived."

Dressed in noble attire, Ren Yaitai had appeared beside Silmeria, who was dressed in similar noble attire but for females.

"Of course, you were a whole ten minutes late."

…

The additional presence of a devil only added to the fear of the exorcist. However, for better or worse, the exorcist had already made up his mind— to flee and let the children fall into captivity.

Ren, who sensed the exorcist's intentions before the exorcist could put his thoughts into play spoke, "Oi… We aren't children traders… I don't know about blondie here, but I'm not a pedophile."

Silmeria just laughed in jest. The two of them were completely in synergy as if attacking exorcists were normal play to them.

However, as the two laughed, a fourth presence entered the room at a blinding speed—

*KE-CH-LING*

"He finally appeared." A claw-like appendage was barely parried by Ren's usage of a pitch-black sword of the same shade as his hair.

In front of Silmeria and Ren, a single stray devil stood.

The stray devil was not grotesque— at least from the waist up. Upper body wise, the former devil could be considered human-looking, while his bottom resembled more like a snake than anything.

"A-AAH…!"

Seeing the monster before his eyes show such blinding speed— to the point where it was barely blocked by his adversaries who were out of his league, the exorcist had already abandoned reason and started sprinting.

"Wait! Don't run over there…!"

Without a clear mind, the exorcist had not even realized the fact that the only exit in the church was blocked by the stray devil. Silmeria shouted out to the exorcist… But it wasn't worth her breath.

Silently, the stray devil already saw an opportunity to simply strike at his goal— the "protector" of the children exorcists who were lying on the ground.

That was the stray devils' goal— to eradicate the church members. Ironically, it was also his fellow devils— Silmeria and Ren's goals to prevent this. In fact, the reason why Silmeria had gone to such lengths to knock out all the children was because unconscious bodies who stood still were easier to protect than scrambling and panicking children.

A brief flash of lightning instantly cut through the arm of the stray— Silmeria's "claws" had followed through with her goal. A blue light-like aura covered her arms.

"Grhh…!" The grunt of the stray devil was the only audio in the church.

And in a blink of an eye, Silmeria had already decimated the foe.

It would not be an exaggeration to call it a speed of godlike proportions, the sheer finesse of the slices done with her ethereal claw showed her precision and accuracy in the technique.

"Hey… Are you ok— ah… He went unconscious… Why is someone like him even an exorcist…?"

"Who knows? At least, we finished our "job" for tonight."

「Dark Contract」.

A specific type of requests that certain peerages would take. The name 「Dark Contract」 came from the fact that it was usually done undercover and could not be submitted as an achievement were one try to gain a promotion to Mid-Class or High-Class.

This was, of course, was because the contractor of the requests were typically black-listed people.

The request this time in particular— 「Save the children in the Church from the Stray Devils」. Came from a mysterious man with the identification of a Fallen Angel.

Thus, it was deemed a 「Dark Contract」.

Its reward was simple; a huge wad of cash. So obviously, this was a rare opportunity for Silmeria and her party, who were unfortunately struggling in the financial department as a collective.

"We should get going back."

"But I didn't even do anything this time! All I got to do was to parry a stupid claw…"

"Fufu… That's your fault for taking too long to arrive!"

The bickering of the two devils was the only thing that could be heard in the night...

… That is, until a certain Holy Sword came flying down towards the duo with impeccable speed.

""...!""

"... So it was you."

Aleksandor Quarta stood about a dozen meters away from the entrance of the church where the two were exiting. Ascalon was drawn and it pointed directly towards the two.

"... So you wanted to do something… Your wish was granted, it seems."

"Yeah… Well…"

(I might have something to do with this… Ah-ha-ha-ha…)

A little bit of sweat dropped from Ren's face.

To Aleksandor, the only problem here was the high-class queen who stood beside the seemingly reincarnated Devil.

"Since I wished for it…"

Aleksandor tensed up, feeling an outburst of the same uncontrolled demonic energy he felt earlier when he first met the black-haired devil.

"... I'll begin then…!"

A speed easily surpassing the speed of sound was achieved as Aleksandor's opponent flew head on.

"...Ugh..!"

Simple clings and clangs were heard as the obsidian-colored sword of the devil clashed with the dragon-slaying sword of the apostle. The swings of the two could easily surpass normal human kinetic vision with the relentless assault of black against the tireless parries of the white.

And moments afterwards their exchange, any fighter worth their bite would notice— the Ascalon user was the superior swordsman.

Aleksandor laughed, "So you rush head on… To show me this?"

In the exorcist's head, it was time to finish off this meager roadblock and get to the real challenge of the blonde devil behind him who stood there with a smile.

"I'll end this quickly! 「Holy Sacred Fist!」"

A redundant name, but a powerful move. Deriving itself of off Vasco Strada's usage of the church standard Holy Fist, 「Holy Sacred Fist」was an Aleksandor-original move which involved using the aura of the Holy Fist and sending it outwards towards the opponent.

With Aleksandor's previous usages of the technique, he found it easy to obliterate low-class Devils, incapacitate mid-class Devils and stun high-class Devils.

So with the target giving off a low to mid-class vibe around him, Aleksandor was positive that this would be the deciding factor of the battle.

The Holy Aura flew past the distance between the two combatants that had just been created with a final sword clash, directed straight at the unfortunate devil.

*DOOOOONNN*

A quite mute explosion of victory resounded in the area.

"Hahahahaha!"

However, a familiar voice echoed out of the smoke and dust that the explosion had created.

"Worthless."

A grey magic circle was the only thing that was new in the appearance of the supposed reincarnated devil.

"Phew, that was quite close! If you hit me with that, there would've been no doubt that I would be the loser in this fight!"

"... Magic Neutralization…?"

Another of Vasco Strada's common techniques. To detect weak points and instantly destroy a magical spell or technique by applying force into specific sections.

However, this was not Magic Neutralization.

"No… This is…"

The magical circle that appeared from "Ren's" hand made it even more abundantly clear.

A grey circle, with the appearance of demonic horns and a cross as it's emblem.

The power to immediately turn his Holy Aura that was so feared within the Church and the Strays into absolute garbage.

And finally, the spellphrase, "Worthless."

"How… How can a reincarnated Devil like you use the Belial's clan trait…?"

"Ren" looked confused for a second before realizing.

"Ah, that's right. I haven't introduced myself."

The black sword beside "Ren" was joined by a pure white sword which materialized in his left hand.

"Ren" made eye contact with Aleksandor and spoke, "A Devil— from the Belial house,"

The two swordsmen pointed their blades at each other, one with the Holy Dragon Slayer, and one with the white blade that shone like a star.

"Arusbaal— Arusbaal Belial."