Chapter 3: A light that Pierces the Darkness

At the moment, Alex really couldn't determine if those two 'people' he'd just eaten were hallucinating crackheaded mutants, or that Heaven, Hell and all manner of supernatural shit actually existed. Well, he hoped that they were just crackheaded mutants, but the memories and experiences he'd received from eating those two mutant…things said otherwise. There was a whole different world out there that somehow coexisted with our own world. Demons, Gods and Angels were probably all real and living among us, which brought another very important question to Alex….

Is bigfoot real? Seriously though, he'd even thought about actually going to Tibet just to try and find that thing.

'I certainly hope so' He thought, sighing in defeat and scanning the room for anything of use. Namely: The paperwork of whoever owned the place. From the memories of….whatever that thing was, the real owner of this place died roughly 3 weeks ago and that Mr. Duncan person took over his persona. Those rich millionaires, who wanted to buy this place? All of them got eaten by the newly departed Mr. Duncan and his manservant-ish Jax. 'I think I'd need to find a safe of some sort'

If there were some good things he'd gained from eating those two, it was the fact that he now had a big-fucking-estate…oh and he got 'slight' boost to his physical strength too. The slight boost to his physical strength probably came from the new DNA strands he'd just acquired from those….things.

'Now where's that safe?'

From the memories of that 'thing', it did remember seeing some kind of safe that was placed in the basement.

'Oh good' Alex thought as he began walking towards the stairs, which descended to the basement. Due to the fact that those two devils exploded, the memories Alex acquired from them was vastly incomplete and some were even tangled due to brain matter getting mixed up. So the memories he did retain from them were their latest memories, which weren't really anything conclusive enough to say if devils and angels are in fact real, but then he didn't believe in car-throwing, people-eating monsters when he was young either, and here he was. 'I'm not even gonna try to think about that for now'

The halls became gradually darker as Alex slowly descended to the basement of his soon-to-be home. Dried blood stained the dark brown walls, and there were even some pieces of broken down human bones scattered along the floor.

'The owner of this place died roughly three weeks ago right?' He asked himself, despite already knowing the answer to the question. Alex then took a bone fragment from the floor and began to examine it. Just as his suspicions had told him, the bones were definitely a lot older than three weeks. 'So why are there bones here that're older than three weeks? Why are there human bones here in the first place for that matter?'

Maybe the original owner of this house was a cannibal? Or maybe he was a psychopath, who just placed his victims in the basement? One thing was for sure though; there was only one way to find out. Alex took the bone fragment into his hand, crushed it, and absorbed it into himself as additional bio-mass. It turned out his first guess was correct; the previous 'human' owner was a cannibal.

But then…

'Who am I to judge him? I've probably even killed a lot more people than this guy ever did' That statement, which came from his own mouth, actually caused him to stop walking and start reflecting on the fuckton of murdering he'd done. Back in New York, when he was still an edgy emo virus man, he murdered so many people that it actually became something of a hobby, which scared him now that he thought about it. 'Yeah…it was definitely a lot'

'Now where's that safe….'

THE NEXT DAY:

"So did you buy the house?" Dana asked, completely oblivious to the events that had just transpired the other night, violent events to be exact. Of course, she herself had no idea about the fact that people were getting eaten inside that mansion when she heard about it. Then she noticed that Alex, or 'John', had spaced out, so she asked: "What happened?"

"Oh?" Alex said, as he shifted his attention to Dana. He then recalled her earlier question and gave an answer. "Oh yeah, I bought the mansion. It belongs to me now."

Of course he did not mention that he had to clean the mansion of its human bones by means of eating them and killing two demon-things, but ignorance is bliss and Dana was better off not knowing about the things he'd learned yesterday evening. She had enough of that kind of life, and, being the older brother that he was, he didn't want to bring her to all that chaos again. That said, it didn't mean that he himself couldn't investigate on the matter of the 'supernatural' more on the future, it was simply too interesting for a scientist like him.

"What time is your class today?" Diana's question brought Alex out of his musings.

"Oh… It's after lunch so I'd probably have some free time when we arrive in the school" Alex answered, and then suddenly stopped moving. The word 'school' ticked something that he'd forgotten to remember. 'That red-head wasn't human…is she a demon too?'

'This is all too interesting!' The scientist within Alex was simply too astounded to let this one pass. The possibility of discovering an entire species of super-powered intelligent lifeforms was something that he could not simply let fly. How did they evolve and why do they look similar to humans? Perhaps a common ancestry? There were too many questions and he knew only one way to find out. 'I need to talk to her some time….'

.

Ara Gremory casually walked through the university halls, enjoying the sunlight that hit her skin as she did so. The students and staff, who knew her, instantly greeted her and she, being the kind person that she was, returned these greetings with a calm and cool demeanor, which only served to enhance her already regal appearance, despite only wearing a teacher's uniform. Yet if one were too look closely, then one would notice a slight faltering with each stride she took towards the Chemistry Laboratory.

Ara Gremory, professor of Physics and sister to the school's founder, was almost shaking in fear. It wasn't very noticeable of course, and only the most trained of eyes could've probably noticed her aura of fear and tension, but it was most certainly there.

'That John Mercer is dangerous…' Ara said to herself as she sat down on her chair inside the teacher's lounge. Her class doesn't start until after lunch, which was – unfortunately for her – in the Chemistry room, since her students were scheduled to have an experiment about momentum. While she still hadn't figured out exactly what creature this John Mercer was, she was sure that he definitely wasn't human and that he was very dangerous. She'd told her brother, Brennus Gremory (AKA Rias' dad), about John Mercer and his very strange inhuman aura, that she'd never felt before, and the only response she got was: "Maybe you're overreacting? Just check again and see if his aura is still the same, and if it is, then you should tell Sirzechs about it since I'm in no position to do anything, and warn Rias about it too. She's only a highschool student, but extra information never hurts."

'Just because I prefer living as a human doesn't mean my senses have lessened….jeez' Ara thought, with mild annoyance as she placed her bag beside her and took out a cellphone. Unbeknownst to her, the person whom she knew as John Mercer had just entered the teacher's lounge and was sitting right across her, drinking coffee.

"Hey you're that new chemist right?" The voice of one of her coworkers instantly alarmed her. Turning her face to the direction, from which the voice originated, she had to stop herself from slapping her own face at that instant. Across the room was her own brother, the lord of the Gremory House, but is commonly known as the founder of Kuoh University, was talking to the exact person, whom she identified to him as extremely dangerous. "Do you have a moment to chat?"

"A moment? I have 4 hours before my classes start." Alex answered as he stood up and followed the red-haired gentleman to the exterior portion of the lounge, which was more of a large balcony that overlooked the school grounds. Alex – or John in this case – went outside and saw the large buildings of Kuoh University; the College Department, where he was stationed now, and the High school department, which was across the College Department, separated by the school's large jogging track for the athletes, and then there's the old abandoned building near the dormitories. 'What a freakishly large University'

He stood there for a few seconds, admiring the school's ambience, before sitting down on a nearby chair. The red-haired man smiled and sat down on the chair by the table across him.

"So what did you want to talk about mister…uh….wait what's your name?"

"Forgive my manners, my name is Brennus Gremory, I am the founder of this school." The man said. "I normally introduce myself to all the new teachers of the school. It's a habit I've developed over time."

"Well my name's John Mercer, I'm Dana's brother" Alex said. "So what did you want to talk about? You did seem quite serious back there…."

"Oh yes, straight to the point are we? I wanted to ask if you were interested in teaching the highschool students seeing as you have a lot of free time" Brennus said politely, placing a sheet of paper on the table between them. "You'd get extra pay of course, and you'd still be teaching chemistry…"

'Eh….More pay does sound good but I already have more money than some states' Alex mulled over in his head, trying to come up with a decision. On the one hand, he really had nothing else to do but investigate on this new devil thing after class. On the other, he was also in dire need of something else to do. "I'll give it a try. To be honest, I've never really taught teenagers before. I taught in Harvard for a few years, but my students were already adults."

"Oh it's no hassle. Our students here in Kuoh are as disciplined as they could get!"

….

Highschool Building: Female Shower Room

"Kehehehehehehe" Hyoudo Issei snickered as he, and his 2 male friends, peeped through a small hole. The other side of said hole was the female athlete's shower room, which was, of course, filled with bathing athletes. Issei, and his two friends Motohama and Matsuda, patiently hid in one of the large unused lockers, which overlooked the entire bathroom – giving them one heck of a view. "Didn't I tell you guys I'd get us a five star seating?"

"You're a master Isse- hah hah"

"Ah shit"

"Hachoo!"

"Who's there!?"

"We're going to need some bandages and some ice after this"

"Agreed"

"They're in the locker!"

"Ay lmao"

….

"Well most of the students are disciplined anyway" Brennus continued with a sigh as he remembered about Rias' newest pawn, whose existence inside the school contradicted his earlier statement. It wasn't that the kid was a bad person, on the contrary he's actually a good kid, just too much of a pervert. "Will you give it a try?"

"Well I guess I could try teaching chemistry to teenagers…" Alex finally answered after much contemplation. Really now, the only reason why he accepted was because he really didn't have much to do, and he had a ridiculous amount of free time on his hands. He'd probably just send his earnings to Dana's account since he really had no need for any more cash. 'Yeah, that'd be nice."

"Will it be okay for you to start next week?" Brennus asked. "I mean, it's only your first official day of work here. I don't want to burden you too much."

"Yeah that'll be just fine"

"Well it was a pleasure speaking with you Mister John Mercer." Brennus said, extending his right hand for a handshake, signifying their agreement. Alex took Brennus' hand and shook it; they now had a deal.

"Likewise friend"

"I'll take my leave"

Brennus left the balcony, leaving Alex there to ponder on the most recent developments. He wanted to live as a human, and now he could. Spending time as a teacher wasn't the worst thing that could happen, but then he remembered about the most recent thing he'd discovered.

'The redhead isn't human too' He thought as he stared into the palm of the hand, which he used to shake the red-haired man's own. 'What's going on here?'

….

"That was real subtle of you brother" Ara commented as Brennus approached her after exiting the teacher's lounge. Ara stood there, leaning against the railings, with a slight scowl on her face and her arms crossed against each other.

"Hey I had to somehow confirm what you said" Brennus said defensively as he held up both his arms in an 'I give up' motion. "Besides, the High school department does need a chemistry teacher."

"So do you think he's a threat?" She finally asked, getting to the main topic of their conversation. For an instant, Brennus seemed to truly ponder on an answer for such a question. When he touched John's hand, he felt a power he'd never felt before, but it was also similar. Whatever it was, it also held some slight demonic energy and a hint of magical energy. But was the man dangerous? He really didn't have an answer for that at the moment.

"I'm honestly unsure about that…" He answered. "The best thing to do would be to monitor him constantly and see if anything happens. As of right now, treat him with suspicion, but never attack him unless he does something harmful, or attempts to do so, to you or the students. He has a strange, but familiar power. I'll have to investigate on this when I have the time. For now, you know what to do"

"Of course, brother"

"Has Rias been notified of this?" Brennus asked.

"Yes, but she's still overconfident as always"

"That's my little girl! Hahahaha!"

….

Many Hours Later:

"Make sure to wash the test-tubes and flasks properly" Alex said to his students, who had just finished doing their experiment. All around him, the students were cleaning their spillage or just cleaning whatever laboratory instrument they'd used. Some were washing the glass equipment, and the others were simply returning the heavy instruments used for measuring or weighing. For Alex, it was a whole new experience. 'This is okay I guess'

He walked to his table and took out a sheet of paper to account for all the chemicals and instruments used. Suddenly, he heard a scream from one of the students. He laid the paper on the table and stood up, and walked towards the student who screamed.

"What happened here?" He asked the other students, who were trying to help with whatever had happened. He then saw a weighing scale on the floor, one of its plates was broken, and then he saw the girl's foot. "Oh"

"She tried carrying the weighing scale by herself, but she slipped on this…" One of the students explained and pointed out to a piece of paper on the floor, which apparently caused the girl to fall. "…and the weighing scale fell on her leg."

"Okay" Alex said with a sigh. "You boys take that weighing scale to where it belongs. I'll take her to the clinic"

"Yes teacher"

"Take my hand" Alex said as he bent down on one knee and extended his left hand for the girl to take. He then placed his other hand on her back to help her stand up. With the girl now upright, he then took her arm and placed it around his neck area for support. "Hold on to my neck you hear?"

The girl only nodded as her eyes squinted from the pain. Without warning, he then hoisted her bridal style, and began walking towards the clinic. What he did earlier was so he could ascertain what damage had been done and how bad the damage was. Judging from the way the girl needed a lot of support from his arm, then her right leg was most definitely injured.

….

When he entered the clinic room, Alex noticed four other people inside the clinic. There were three boys, and a girl with bright red hair; all of them had the high school uniform. All three boys look like they'd been beaten to within an inch of their life, and only one of them was awake. This boy seemed to be getting scolded by the girl with red-hair. Alex shrugged since it was really none of his business, and walked towards the head physician.

"Her leg's injured" He said. "A weighing scale fell on it"

"Understood"

….

With that over Alex left the clinic.

Rias sighed. When she'd been scolding Issei for peeping in the women's bathroom, the man, whom her aunt told her to be careful of, suddenly stepped inside the clinic; carrying an injured student. She tried sensing his aura, to see what all the fuss was about, but found that she couldn't sense it. Perhaps her sensor abilities were getting dull? Whatever the case, this only deepened the mystery of this man's presence. Her aunt, whom she knew to be a powerful magic user and Ultimate class devil, warned her to be careful of this person, and she will do just that.

"Buchou why are you spacing out like that?" Rias was brought out of her thoughts when Issei's voice rang through her ears. She turned her attention back to him, and noticed something was amiss. Issei looked quite frightened, and that wasn't because she was scolding him. No, he was frightened of something else, something only he could've detected. "Are you alright?"

"Issei, meet me in the clubroom later" She commanded and turned around. "We need to talk"

Issei gulped in response as he watched Rias walk away with a serious looking face.

'Something's not right' He thought. 'That presence I felt earlier….. it felt like the presence of thousands of people screaming out in pain and anguish…..what the hell was that?'

He could hear thousands of voices. As if they were being tortured and couldn't escape the pain, the moaning and groaning of men and women. It brought an unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach. He might've been a devil, but there were things a person simply couldn't stomach, and that was one of them, plus he'd only been a devil for three days. Who knew, maybe this was a regular occurrence for devils? He really didn't know…

'I need to speak to her about this…'

Maybe he was hearing the souls of sinners in hell? In fairness, there was a big chance that hypothesis was correct. He was a devil after all.

….

Alex leaned back against his chair as he waited for his next class. Well it wasn't technically his class since he would simply be assisting in the experiments that this particular class would be doing. They were under that non-human girl he'd met the other day, Ara Gremory, if he wasn't mistaken. Obviously, he couldn't just ask her what she was during a class and he honestly wasn't in the mood for investigating this stuff at the moment. He could just eat her, but that would be a stupid decision if he wanted to remain anonymous. Besides, he himself wanted to experience a normal life as a human. While that was obviously impossible for someone like him, he could at least try right?

The bells rang, signaling the beginning of a new class. Not a minute later, the next batch of students did arrive on time with their red-haired teacher, who smiled at him as she entered the room. Alex, being the gentleman that he was(lol please), returned the smile with his own.

"So what instruments will you be needing for your class?" And that was how the class began.

….

Later:

Alex simply sat on his chair as he watched Ara give instructions to her class on their experiment. She was a curious individual, he surmised. She had the aura of a shy and timid person, but she spoke like an expert speaker. She didn't lack in confidence, and neither was she boring. Heck he even enjoyed listening to her speak, it was a subconscious enjoyment of course.

Alex turned his face to the window as she finished giving her instructions to the class. With her done talking, the outside seemed that much more interesting to look at. He noticed that she seemed to be walking towards his location, but he didn't care right now. Of course he'd do his job if she asked for some instruments or chemicals, but if she didn't ask for any of those, then he really couldn't care less about her as long as she kept her distance.

Ara promptly sat on the chair right beside him. Now that he thought about it, why'd he put a chair there?

"You alright there?" She asked, causing Alex to scowl a bit, just a little bit of course. Alex turned away from the window and turned his attention to the redhead. "You looked like you were spacing out."

"I'm alright" He answered, leaning back against the leather of his chair. "I'm just new to this whole thing. I'm still not used to it is all. I never ate a teacher before now that I think about it…."

"You'll get used to it eventually" Ara said with a sigh, as she too leaned back. "When I first started teaching, I couldn't stop myself from stuttering and I would often run to the comfort room because I hyperventilated a lot."

"Well this isn't really my first time teaching, per se. I taught in Harvard for some time…."

….

"Ah Lord Gremory" Ajuka Beelzebub, one of the great Four Satans of Underworld, said in greeting. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I need your help in examining something interesting" Brennus answered with a smile as he handed out a thin transparent plastic bag to Ajuka, who took it with a raised eyebrow. He shook it for a few moments and noticed that whatever was inside was incredibly small.

"Eh what is it?" He asked with fascination as he shook the transparent bag more. "They look like cells or something that resembles them."

"It's something I got from a suspicious person in Kuoh University." Brennus answered. He took these samples when he shook Alex's hand, using a tiny bit of magic to absorb some cells on his palm. "Indeed, those are cells from his hand. I need you to use it to ascertain what kind creature he is…"

"Well I have plenty of time!"

….

"Wait, you're telling me you've met Mark Zuckerberg?" Ara asked, utterly curious about Alex's life apparently. He'd told her about his days in Harvard, and she was quick to listen. "Did you two know each other?"

"We talked once, but it wasn't really something worth remembering." Alex answered, reminiscing on his short time spent teaching in Harvard before he started working for GenTek. "He asked me if he could be a bit late in passing a project since he was so busy with other things. I ended up extending the deadline of the whole project altogether."

Ara giggled at Alex's tale. Despite everything, she did find that he wasn't such a bad guy to talk to; in fact he was rather interesting as a person.

"That was an interesting talk Mister Mercer" She said, preparing to stand up and check on the progress of her students.

"Just call me John, I don't like formalities that much anyway."

"Let's talk again sometime…..John"

….

"Well this is very interesting…." Ajuka commented as he observed the cells from his own microscope, which was magically enhanced to see beyond what could be seen by other microscopes. "This energy type is…human"

"What?" Brennus said in slight shock and mild curiosity. That guy was human? That's incredibly interesting. Of course, he'd heard of many magically attuned humans before, so this wasn't exactly a rare thing; having said that, it was still interesting. "Are you saying it's from a human?"

"Yes and no…"

"What do you mean?"

"The energy type is no doubt human, but the cell itself isn't" Ajuka began, taking a step back from his microscope and taking out a chart for Lord Gremory to see. "Do you remember the New York incident?"

"Everyone knows about the New York incident"

"Well, during the outbreak I took some samples from the infected and kept the samples for further study" Ajuka said, taking out a sheet of paper from his drawer. "These cells you've brought me are very similar to what I have, but it's also very different"

"How so?"

"It has very similar behavioral patterns" Ajuka answered. "The cells I recovered from the outbreak had the ability to assimilate and reprogram existing cells. These samples you've given me seem to exhibit the same properties, except for one very important thing. The virus I recovered from New York was very vulnerable to magical energy. The ones you brought, however, seem to be very resilient to any magical energy and in fact are able to assimilate it in the way it can assimilate and reprogram other cells. These cells and assimilate and reprogram magical energy, and that's something I've never seen from a human-made cell do before."

"Well that's curious"

"Indeed. I would love to meet whoever you got these samples from" Ajuka said before standing up and placing the samples into a clear container. "I'll look more into it when I have the time."

"I thank you for your assistance Ajuka"

"It was no problem"

….

"So how was your first day being a teacher?" Dana asked her brother, who stood by the school gates waiting for her. "Did anything interesting happen?"

"It was a fairly average day I guess." Alex answered, thinking back to the things that had transpired in the Chemistry laboratory. "I got to have a conversation with that Ara Gremory person. She seems nice"

"Oh I can't tell you how many male teachers would love to take your place" Dana said with a snicker, thinking back on the time she found out that almost half of the male populace in the College Department had the hots for Ara Gremory due to her ridiculous attractiveness. They continued walking down the stone pavement outside the school before she asked again. "Anything else happened?"

"Well, one of my students from an earlier class had an injury. She slipped on the floor and a weighing scale fell on her leg"

"Huh talk about serious bad luck"

"What about you? Did anything interesting happen to you today?" Alex asked as they turned towards a corner and into an empty street.

"Well I got to witness three guys being chased by women and then getting beat up. It was hilarious!" Dana answered, laughing at that last part. "Other than that, no. Not much happens in that school, which is something I'm really grateful for."

'Yeah…about that' Alex thought, but then decided against telling Dana about the non-humans in the school.

The due continued walking until they reached a small bridge, and that was when Alex noticed that something was wrong. It was quiet, a little too quiet for a place that was filled with people yesterday.

"Dana walk faster, I think we're being followed" Alex said in a tone that meant there was no room for argument, and so Dana followed what he said and began walking faster, before she suddenly fell to the ground. Alex rushed to her and checked her pulse. He sighed in relief when he felt the familiar pulsating vein that all living beings had.

He stood up and immediately noticed black feathers falling from the sky….

AAAAAN CUT!