Hiatus is officially done! Highschool DxD is not mine.

I was still skeptic about using my eyes. Okay, they were useful and effective. But they used too much energy as payment.

Ugghhh…

I should've skipped school today.

My head was throbbing like it had a mega-speaker inside. My sight was hazy and I could barely walk straight, having to rely on my natural instincts to do so.

" Whoa, easy there." Tamamo grabbed me before I fell.

" Thanks…."

" Those eyes sure ate a lot."

We walked to school like that, with her supporting me when I was too tired to walk properly.

By the time we arrived at class, I was able to at least walk by myself, more or less. Although I had some occasional buzz in my ears, my feet weren't as wobbly as before. My mind wasn't that prone to blacking out anymore, but I was obviously not in my best condition. My head had this buzz that made it want to split apart, along with my very, very heavy eyes.

Lucky me, I could use this as excuse to stay in infirmary for today.

" Chigusa-kun, where are you going?"

The teacher looked at me with a funny look on her face, along with about half of class was practically dying to laugh at me.

" Infirmary, ma'am. My head is killing me."

" The infirmary is that direction."

He pointed at the other direction of me walking. Hey, I could see you sighing from there, Tamamo. Stop it, my sense of directions wasn't that bad.

" Thank you, ma'am."

I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly, and went to that direction. Moments later, I saw Tamamo jogging towards me.

" Sensei said you might spend an entire hour walking around and end up collapsing somewhere because you SUCK at directions, so I came here."

" Gee, thanks for your little faith in me."

" Your sweetest welcome, Hiiro. It's nice that you've cheered up already."

How kind of her, I thought.

Even though my head felt pretty much broken, my instincts were not impaired at all. As soon as I felt a cold chill on my neck, I had already put myself right in front of Tamamo and hardened my left side's blood vessels.

It might be a little too overboard, but against an assassin capable of giving off that kind of chill, you could never be too careful. This kind of bloodlust was preserved only for psychopaths or experienced killers.

I still acted like I didn't know someone was watching me, but my pupils eyed the bloodlust's place. He was skillful, he didn't even let me catch a glance at him, yet his bloodlust was still apparent. At the very least, he was a high-ranking hitman, whose job records involved stealth killing, terrorization, or even international espionage. His hiding skill was obviously top-notch.

Being alone right now might be the worst idea.

But, a skilled assassin was capable of striking victims no matter what the conditions. I'm sure he had plenty experience of killing someone in a crowd. Holing up inside his a room would be nice, but it opened the possibility of lateral destruction, which meant the infirmary would get blown up along with him.

What to do, what to do.

" Tamamo, you go back to class. I'm going to sleep and rest for a while."

" Okay, but make sure to rest, okay?"

5 minutes after she'd gone, the light had been turned off, like a power outage. Oh, this assassin didn't waste time. Nice quality he had. After I assured that his eyes were on me, I got up without suspicious movements, acting like a sleepy high school guy. I tore a blank page off a random book and started folding.

Slow, slowly, and as attracting as I could, I created something similar to a child's prank tool.

My efforts paid quite well, as his eyes were locked in my hands. Once it was done, I raised it high. This was merely a child's tool, so I expected him not to know about this little trick. If he knew, then I'd be as good as dead. My powers would be overkill when used in place as small as this, and it would trigger the devils' reaction. Then, I'd have to flee again.

Gremory and Sitri wouldn't be much problem, but the Devil Kings and other clans would be more than troublesome.

The devils in this school harbored good relations with me, but all factions always had eyes somewhere. Moreover, two sisters of Maou were here, so double that chance.

" Flash."

A loud popping sound was emitted from the paper's folds. It was some kind of prank that copied a firework in terms of sound. In this case, a more effective version of nekodamashi. Bring up the opponent's consciousness to highest level, than break it down with a shock. Once it was a success, one's nerve system would be temporarily paralyzed.

It looked like my strategy could at least be called a success.

He staggered, obviously surprised that I saw through his hiding and managed to incapacitate him, albeit for a few seconds. Now, I hated stealth assassins very much, mostly because I also sucked at it. So, in order to bring ruin to them, I created some methods to defeat them. One of them was perception. No one could get into my range of 5 meters without me knowing.

Another was well, instincts. You couldn't exactly dodge a mach-speed bullet from 5 meters, after all.

He was already standing behind me when I sent a shock straight to his brains. As expected of a veteran, no noticeable sound at all.

" What-the-hell…"

And seriously, as expected of a veteran. He avoided full paralysis from my shockwave earlier by biting his own tongue. Now, he dropped his gun, but immediately caught it with another hand then pointed it at my direction.

Such skill deserved nothing short then a royal praise.

I back-handed his gun, changing its course. His shot landed on the table, but I paid no mind. My fist was connected with his jaw. I heard a satisfying crack, and smirked a bit. Even the slightest of advantage I had might decide between win or loss.

Heavens decided to annoy me once again.

The assassin stood up, grabbed his jaw, and put the dislocated bone back. He twirled his gun and knife, ready to fight again.

" That punch was quite something. You broke one or two, I guess."

This man… Was he really a human? My punch could've put a crack on a stone, and he took it right to the jaw so casually?

Right, no time to be pondering. He's pointing the gun right at me. I quickly ducked and ran with low stance. My body was nearly touching the ground, and when he aimed down again, I leapt up by using momentum of my movements and cocked my fist back.

He blocked it. NOW!

I grabbed his arm and pulled, then roundhouse-kicked his head. He tried to block with his other arm, but his body had been twisted a little too much to do that.

My kick fully impacted with his neck, although he jumped aside a bit, so the damage was mitigated a little, but that much should already incapacitate him.

This time, the crack sound was louder. I bet he'd have troubles setting his head straight after this battle.

Before he could use those weapons again, I robbed the knife off the hand I caught and kicked the other hand with the pistol. It slid quite far away, and turning my back against the opponent would be unwise.

Oh well, I got a knife, anyway. That's a plus.

After receiving a generous kick from me, he could barely stand. Even with the table's support, standing up proved to be a challenging task. Well, that strike was aimed at his central balance after all, if he managed to get up like nothing happened, that would be scary.

" Should I just dispose of him and be done with it?"

While I was thinking on how to deal with this man, he suddenly spun and spurted a liquid from a small vial in his hand. Once the substance came in contact with air, it turned to a huge red smokescreen. As a reflex, I held my breath. Who knew if the gas was venomous or not? It's better not to take chances.

As if on cue, my instincts screamed for me to escape from this situation. I had no time to calculate chances right now, so I obliged. However, the range was huge, and my speed could barely get me out of there when the gas ignited.

*BOOOMM*

A great explosion occurred and hot flames charred my skin. Blut vene blocked some damage, but it wasn't like it could become a perfect shield. As people said, even metal yielded under flames. I only got some minor burn marks, luckily.

I could feel his presence, entering my radius.

Even if my body was capable of healing physical injuries, burns were a little difficult. Those wounds needed more… delicate treatment. But, as long as it didn't impair my battle stats, I wouldn't even be concerned.

But, my sense, one of my most prized skills, was weakened by those wounds. Burns hurt very much, to the point I couldn't concentrate very well. The flames itself couldn't pierce through my skin, but the heat alone made my blood churn in agony.

Blood…

Need more…

BLOOOD!

My body felt hot, but not because of that pesky napalm gas from before. It was like my body was an overheating furnace, on the edge of exploding.

{Hooaahhmm… What happened, part-NER!}

Alduin was snapped out of it by something, but I honestly couldn't care less. My body was too hot to bear, and this smell... so sweet, so nostalgic… Like my whole self was drawn into that smell.

The moment my eyes gazed upon the red liquid from his head, I snapped. The whole world suddenly slowed down for me, as if trying to persuade me to just absorb all that precious energy coming out from his life itself.

{ PARTNER! STOP, THIS ISN'T YOU!}

What's that annoying scream inside my head? I'd silent it.

Phew, much better. Now, how should I make his blood come out without being dirtied?

" Electricity? Yeah, that should do it."

50 megavolts. That was my current limit. When hit by that, no matter what he was, he'd go ker-splat in a pool of blood.

My leg crashed against something slightly hard on his body. Ceramic armor, and enhanced magic robe? Meh, not enough against my kick.

" Guhaaa!"

Not only the front was destroyed, I drilled a hole through the back with the aftershock of my kick. By now, his organs should already be nothing more than a pile of pink gooey mush. Good for me. Blood would be easier to absorb, then.

His body functions already ceased to work, and he was barely conscious. My body felt refreshed, like I'd just taken energy pill. My eyes were very clear, and everything slowed down except for me.

Whoa, this tension made me feel so hyped up, damn it!

I raised my hand, gathering electricity and compressing them into a single destructive spear. I was already absorbing blood that leaked out from his wounds, and was about to completely destroy him to receive full-amount of his life energy.

" Hii…ro…"

Huh? Who the heck was that?

If I remembered right, my name wasn't Hero. Hell, I was nothing but a hero. More like, I was the ultimate enemy of a hero.

But, what made me cringe in fear was that tone. It didn't carry hatred, fear, or enmity at all. That beautiful voice was warm and it made my insides boil somehow. Who in the world had the gall or insanity to call me with such voice? I was a bloodthirsty monster who'd bite off enemy's windpipe to feast on their blood without remorse.

Unless…

I turned around, only to face boundless energy radiating from her. She was just a frail girl with long silver hair and unearthly beauty, if you counted that terrifying amount of power out, of course. Basically, she could crush me like a measly insect as easily as breathing.

Not only that, her aura was that of a divinity! Those with that kind of aura were revered as immortals, and those people were, well, immortal. How are you supposed to kill someone immortal, anyway? That would certainly make dictionaries be revised.

Instinctively, I jumped back to gain distance, although that would mean nothing when I faced her stats.

Eh?

My legs wouldn't obey me. My leg tripped, and I fell flat on my butt. Damn, move! If I don't, I'll…

Die?

Why? There wasn't a speck of killing intent in her eyes.

" Geez, you have to wake up, I'm not taking you home with blood splattered on your uniform."

She was so close already, and I'd already reached dead end. At this rate, this place would be my very grave… or not. My instincts were still unable to conclude what was so dangerous about her.

" Who… are…you?"

" Hmm~ You can think of me as a random goddess who happened to go to the same school as you."

She giggled, as the distance between us became non-existent. Breaking the wall sounded like a nice idea, but what the heck. I could do squat in this distance. In this position, she called checkmate already.

Not… yet.

Warm, her hands on my cheeks…

Eh, this isn't a good time for that! I'd had enough with those kinds of smooth death kind of threats, and this might as well be one of them.

No good…

My body was already immobilized by some unknown circumstances… For some reason, the hot burning wounds from the explosion earlier felt kind of numb now…

" Damn."

I literally lost all sense of myself and succumbed to whatever substance inside my body.

" Well, this feels nostalgic."

She grabbed me and put my body into a better and more comfortable position. Then, she put her palm on my chest, channeling her fox flame inside my body.

" Do you remember that time? You were still ten, and you already loathed everything that had to do with this stupid world. Those people… even though they had no imaginations and just turned everything into grey, stagnant life, they 'persevered' and went through with that kind of boring, guided life."

The flame didn't hurt, but it somehow fought against the irritating heat inside and wrestled its way through. I may sound weird, but I wanted those blue flames to win instead of that blood-red flames tainted with black inside me.

" That time, you just said, screw it all, I'll live as I please, and do as I want! Pretty cool, you know? You ended up realizing those reckless words."

Without my permission, my mouth responded, followed by a trail of liquid wetting my cheeks. My eyes were sort of blurry, too, but still, her presence didn't even shake from me.

" I'm going to change this world, this shitty world that loathed me and forgot all about you. Every inch of it, mark my words! Stay with me, or you'll miss it…. Funny that you think about it now."

Okay, when did I say something so embarrassing like that? Kill me now.

Ugh, this numb body rejected my idea. Deactivate already, inconsiderate body.

" Hmmh, but this isn't the kind of change you want, right? There's nothing you can change in this state, Hiiro, no, Delitor El Sanguinis."

Oh, so that's my name. But, that name went along with an infamous cold-blooded assassin who took impossible orders. I wasn't very proud of that.

" So, come back. You've still got to show me more how you change my world."

The blue flames extinguished my dark-red flames, and swirled inside. Any kind of impurities left behind was cleansed completely.

"…Yeah. Thanks, Tama-chan."

" Your welcome."

It was like waking up from a bad dream. I shook off the remaining dizziness from my head and looked at her. Not that I thought I could even scratch her, but better safe than sorry, right? As expected, not even her kimono was damaged.

" By the way, how did you know that name?"

I didn't even spare a glance to the pile of human meat lying nearby. His body was already half-buried in the wall, anyway. He was no threat. Tamamo giggled and refined her sitting position. As expected of a goddess. Her etiquettes were impeccable.

" Delitor El Sanguinis… The Blood Avenger, huh? That was your birth name, isn't it? The question is, why would I not know that? What kind of girlfriend am I if I didn't even know your real name?"

" Maybe because I never told you that…"

That name was just a stupid relic I buried, along with my heritage as a demon. Enacting a massacre so casually without remorse… just didn't feel right. But, then again, this girl just blew up my expectations to pieces again.

" Maybe you don't remember, but your former orphanage owner often called you that if nobody had been there."

" That's how I knew in the first place."

" There goes your question."

We were in comfortable silence until my instinct screamed like a failed singer.

" Hiiro, wait, what are you—"

I hugged her thin body and jumped to the left.

A huge, sharp gust of wind shaped like arrow suddenly pierced through the stone wall where I laid my back on before. I didn't know it was luck or not, because I'd look like a major idiot had it not happened, but honestly, I'd be okay if that didn't happen.

" Hiiro! We're getting away!"

" Roger."

We shared one thought, if this kept on, the school would be wrecked. I didn't want to make further paperwork trouble for that STC president, and besides, there wasn't nearly enough room to fight.

Before I exited the room, my eyes caught faint sight of a cloaked figure leaping from trees. That must be the target, huh? We jumped down from the closest window out of her line of sniping. If we jumped down from that room's window, the enemy would just turn us into porcupines.

I'd better arm myself first.

" Alduin, weapon."

{ OK, partner! Go wild!}

In my hand, a steel gun blade materialized. I felt the comfortable weight and put it on my shoulder. But, just as I was about to feel cool, a huge wind lance sailed through the air, threatening to skewer us both.

" Tch! Tama-chan, hold on!"

I stabbed my sword to the wall, effectively stopping our descent. I jumped away from the wall straight to the ground, followed by Tamamo.

Bastard wouldn't let us rest.

A rain of green arrows turned the ground into a flat pincushion. My huge sword was big enough to cover us both, lucky for me.

And by luck, I meant he exposed his position. I pointed the muzzle at the direction of those arrows came from and shot several rounds. Honestly, that gun fixed on the middle of my great sword was no plaything. It fired enchanted bullets to all direction like a shotgun.

A rustle, aside from my bullets.

I managed to smoke him out, that's a good thing.

A figure clad in leather robe leaped from above and landed about 5 or 6 meters from me. In his hand, a green rune bow could be seen. It was made of quite tough material, it seemed, and moreover, the aura it gave off… surely it was at least the same level of magic weapons like Durandal.

In one fluid motion, he plucked an arrow, and shot it straight at my direction. It wasn't something avoidable by just tilting or side-stepping. I had a feeling I'd get more than burns if I dodged it by narrow margin.

So, I brandished my blade, and faced its flat side against the incoming projectile. As I thought, this sword killed the momentum after making a loud bang, letting the broken arrow fall to the ground.

The sword itself was barely damaged, not leaving even a crack. As I thought, hybrid metal used for this sword was superb!

" Hiiro! Don't let him escape!"

" Of course!"

I shot to several trees surrounding us, making conductors for an electric cage. I was really lucky I found that old man's gun and brought it with me.

" Alright!"

I sent out fork lightning to those bullets, and let the high-voltage electric sparks form between them. This way, once something or someone tried to get through, that deadly fence of electricity would turn them to overcooked… stuff.

Forget it. Let's hope he wasn't idiotic enough to try.

He once again nocked an arrow, this time releasing a cluster of energy blasts from one shot. Of course, the most dangerous one was the arrow itself. It was right at the center, going far faster than others. Normally, you'd ignore the others and block the primary attack, but as if that trick was going to fool me.

I caught the primary strike, hurting my hand a little in the process. The cluster shots hit the barrier's keys, but they were simply deflected.

" Did you think I'd let my cage break that easily? Naïve."

The red veins that usually covered my body when I used blut vene blinked on their surface, and glowed red. Of course, simple attacks would have no effect on that barrier.

Underestimating me, huh? That wouldn't end well.

Seriously, this pride of mine might become a thorn later on.

" … "

As he was stunned for a second, I dashed forward and slashed wide. Without being fully conscious yet, the enemy's body reacted and jumped back. The loose robe was caught and torn off by my blade. Well, this stuff was made durable, not sharp.

Amazingly, the person I'd been lashing out on wasn't a male, unless a male could have long blonde hair tied in ponytail, thin and supple body, and some curves only fairer gender possessed.

Well, that didn't change the fact that she tried to murder me, but I'd tone down my strength just a bit. Women were better in techniques. Using too much strength would be advantageous for her, as strength types were easy to counter.

" Hiiro, your wounds are still dangerous. Let's finish this quickly."

My body was in full agreement with her suggestion. It didn't even hold back in showing protests. Moreover, my adrenaline had dropped to intolerable levels and returned everything it held in place without mercy.

The wounds I got from that cursed liquid explosion and my overexerting strength…

I swallowed another blob of blood back into my system. My regeneration might be a little good, but for some reason, those burns healed very sloppily. Perhaps, because of a special brew? Or because of my going wild?

Nevertheless, I was on a time attack mode, only without game-like buffs.

" You're right. I'd rather not lose anymore blood."

Surprisingly, she threw her bow away. That motion drew my complete attention to the thrown weapon and slowed down my reaction to what she did next. She clapped her hands together and chanted so fast, it sounded a little more than a murmur. The language itself was foreign. Not foreign in terms of country, but foreign, well… foreign.

" Druid language…. How on earth an elf…"

I heard Tamamo mutter beside me. Well, whatever spell she was executing, it couldn't be anything good. I wanted to dash and cut her down before she could finish the spell, but somehow that idea sounded ridiculous.

Because a forest far thicker than the Kuoh academy's swallowed the whole area, blocking the sunray with a tent of branches and leaves.

" Druid language? Shouldn't that be natural for elf to master druid magic?"

" The fact that one of them is here is outrageous. Mages are highly forbidden from leaving their sacred grounds, and elves are famous for their strict rules."

" Oh, so she should be stuck in their land. But, you know… she looks kind of… familiar…"

Tamamo frowned a little, but took a closer look. Then, her frown disappeared.

" Isn't that one of the orphans from that place? I thought all of them were moved to another once you ran away."

" Really? Hmm, I don't remember."

We broke out of our lovely banter when a lot of thick branches swooped in and stabbed the ground we stood on. Bad news, there were a lot more where they came from. As nimble as we were, there was a limit. Those fat healthy wooden projectiles were living. They seemed to lock on at us and attacked without rest.

Tamamo used her divine flames and projected a blaze shield that destroyed any branch brave enough to get near her. I, unfortunately, had no such power and was separated quite far from her while dodging.

" Blut vene!"

Red circuit-like lines extended from my body to the ground. Once it had formed a full circle, a glowing red sphere erupted from the borderline and acted as a barrier.

*BAM*

They collided against my barrier, shaking what's inside as well. Since this barrier was connected to me, I also felt pain when they received damage over maximum quota. This barrier could mitigate heavy damage that could kill to nothing more than an itch, but those branches sure had some power.

Because the blow was hard enough to shake me internally.

" Hiiro!"

" I'm fine, stay where you are!"

Just after I said that, my barrier shattered to pieces and thick branches slammed to me. Hits after hits damaged me hard, until I finally laid sprawled, unable to even move.

The branches didn't stop even though I was already down. This was the perfect example of the dark world I lived in. Once you're unable to fight, you'd die, no questions asked.

As a last ditch effort, I poured blood magic into my eyes. My eyes turned red with bladed pattern instead of pupils inside. With my willpower, I slowed down the area by interfering with the separate dimension my eyes controlled.

Cool power didn't come without a deadly price.

My eyes bled, and I had to close it before my head exploded. But, I bought enough time to roll away. Luckily, I only used my right eye's power, not my left's so my sight was not completely deactivated.

{Dark Liberation}

Alduin's voice echoed from inside the gear. My gauntlet materialized, and fashioned a black sphere that blocked out even light.

{ I forcefully opened the second stage of this gauntlet. Remember what I taught you!}

I tried to recall Alduin's Spartan training. My mind searched quickly and scanned the archives inside my memory, hoping to find something useful.

" Idiot. Why'd you use that outer energy, when you've got a whole lot of them just below? Bust 'em all out! Squeeze it out!"

" Kid, there's a lot more power inside this frail body that you can ever imagine. Do you know where?"

" Mind?"

" The heart."

Right. Maybe that teaching of that old orphanage keeper would finally make sense. I focused on the deepest place inside my heart. Power was treasure, right? No treasure would just be placed on the outer layer of a labyrinth.

" Reach deep…"

Mothers could lift car to get her baby. A scared person could outrun even a car. There were so many examples on how emotions gave people strength. As for how to attain this kind of strength right here and now… That's something I needed to find out fast.

Now, what kind of emotion that would give me most strength?

{ Umm… Partner? You've got the wrong idea here…}

Alduin, that lizard should've just told me. I was dying here, and he wanted to play puzzles? I couldn't remember all those stuffs he drilled mercilessly, except for some bits and pieces here and there.

That's it!

Demonic power equaled evil, evil equaled dark emotions! And my darkest emotions came from my early days! Alright, I hated recalling that time, but both Tamamo and my lives were at stake, so time to ponder.

" Demon freak! Just die already!"

" Freak!"

" Freaky guy!"

" Weirdo!"

" Enough."

I wasn't seeing any color except red. The only difference was light or deep red. However, there's a hazy projection of the more colorful world all around, like this world was actually just a red mantle wrapped on the real world.

Strangely, I felt more at ease here. Like someone inside his own habitat, his personal dwelling he knew best.

The vines that were going tear holes in me only hit thin air, as they all phased through me without giving any damage.

Wasting no time to think about something so trivial, I walked straight to the attacker. She flinched, and sent one of the biggest branches. The world flashed to the normal one in split second when it almost reached me, and my hand somehow caught the sharp end.

The hot feeling from when I beat down that old assassin returned in full force, only this time my anger fueled it, making my head clear.

Virtual vector manipulation and acceleration.

The virtual world my eyes projected could affect the real world a little, but it would be a very different story once I used them to affect something inside my 'world'.

" What?"

I only brought the elf inside, as Tamamo would face possible danger in all of these mess.

" We're inside my world, elf. In here… I reign supreme."

As if responding to my words, new feeling rushed through. There was this calmness, like my mind was imagining how to completely eliminate this impudent bastard here.

Her spell wasn't activated here, and her control couldn't go over the borders. This dimension was very close to the real world, but nevertheless, they were still separated. I knew for a fact that the AoE spell she used earlier was very taxing, not only from its power, but also her extremely ragged breathing.

Well, not like I wasn't treading on a dangerous line here too.

I accelerated without restraint and moved in a straight line. I know, that was a move available only for powerhouses with abnormal strength. She swiped her hand like a blade, but I arched my back to avoid getting my throat slit.

Using that momentum, I raised my left food and flipped while kicking her chin. In split seconds before my back touched the ground, I took out a steel pachinko ball from my pocket and aimed at her airborne body.

" Second time I use rail gun this month… What a city."

I'd never had to use such high-end skills repeatedly in one month. Even this virtual world I projected, how many times I'd used it since acquiring it? I had practically no rest ever since coming here.

My aim was stable, and I didn't even flinch when I set the power enough only to break some of her bones, not kill. The metal ball flashed before gaining velocity that broke through her defensive vines and smashed to her body.

She lost altitude along with her consciousness, and fell flat to the ground with a loud thud. Just before I blacked out, I sent her out and deactivated my eyes, unable to maintain them even a second longer.

" Phew, you've finally woken up. Sleep well?"

I felt my head lay on something soft. Having had my hopes up, I rolled around, only to see Tamamo sitting on a chair nearby. My expectation of man's paradise was mercilessly crushed immediately.

" Mm-hm. Although I'm a little disappointed about this way of waking up…"

The last part was said internally, of course. I wasn't so bold to demand a lap pillow out of the blue from her. Getting charred by napalm brew was nothing compared to Tamamo's divine fox flame.

She smiled and helped me get up. Admittedly, my body was horribly sore from all the fighting that I might be okay with skipping school for a week. Hey, health should be prioritized, you know! We went to the living room, where Tamamo had kept the still unconscious assailant caged and tied up.

" Your rail gun had too much oomph in it. That was like getting hit by a cannonball in size of a pachinko ball." She crossed her arms under her considerable assets.

" Ehehe~ in the first place, rail gun should make at least a fist-sized hole in her body. I held back a lot that time."

But according to common knowledge, elves had rather frail body. Maybe socking her with a rail gun was a bad choice, after all.

Meh, all is fair in love and war. Besides, she tried to turn me to an unrecognizable pile of meat, so she couldn't complain even if I made a hole or two.

Um, judging by Tamamo's pissed look, I'd just keep my mouth shut.

She wasn't really staring at me, but at the cage of blue flame behind me. Her eyes were cold and arrogant, much like when we first met. She walked to the kitchen, grabbed a glass of water, came back, and splashed the liquid on the unconscious elf inside.

" Puhaa~ That was refreshing."

Instead of gagging in shock, the elf just yawned like waking up daily. She flailed her hair back by swaying her head, mostly because her hands were cuffed. Her face was unchanging, still expressionless.

Almost like… a doll.

" Start talking, elf, before I burn that skin off your flesh."

Indeed, as gentle as she normally was, Tamamo had lived for thousands of years, looking at death left and right. Someone like her who understood the meaning of mortal life would be hesitant to let someone die meaninglessly, or even die in the first place.

Thus, her rage was fully directed at the elf, who had casually attempted to murder me.

" In the first place, what is there to talk about?"

The elf, still emotionless, tilted her head to side.

" To start with, your name and where you're from."

" Name? If you mean my serial code, I am elf subject number 7 arch. If you mean my birth name, I am called Ferris Greenwood. Where I'm from is… classified."

My eyes widened at the revelation of her name. I shot forward and thrust my arms through the flame barrier Tamamo created, earning a surprised yelp from said person. My slightly burnt arms grabbed hold of her shoulders, focusing her attention to me.

" Ferris? Do you remember me? Hiiro Bloodreaver, Hii-chan?"

At first, she was indifferent. But, after hearing the nickname she used to call me back in my younger days, her face showed some signs of pain. I could feel magic power at work, even though those cuffs should've nullified any kind of mana activation.

It meant there was a spell causing pain preemptively planted inside her head.

No, perhaps some spells with their effects chained to prevent intervention, exposure, or failure of the main one were planted too.

" Tama-chan. Do you have any dispel techniques on your arsenal?"

She was a little angry by my actions, I would have to get her something later, but this was a pressing matter. The divine fox unchained her, but kept the cage intact. She walked through the cage and pressed her white palm to the elf's forehead.

She concentrated or a while, until a frown appeared on her beautiful visage.

" It's genetic, I can't alter it."

" What does it mean?"

" She was cleansed, then implanted with stuffs on genetic level. You know, the magic was like virus, I can't cleanse it, but it can be deactivated if we have the control."

" Seriously? Then, she's gone?"

" No. That is, if we manage to secure it before her master, her boss, or even possibly, her creator realized she was out. If he does…"

" Self-destruct. Classic."

Tamamo nodded.

" Precisely. Now, it's either we forsake her, or try to locate the controller, beat her master, before he or she can activate the self-destruct sequence."

I face palmed and sighed. My first meeting after such a long time with a fellow orphan from the same orphanage twisted to this bizarre event? Seriously, the deity who governed all must've had some nasty taste of humor.

Looking at the elf, she was clueless. She was genetically altered, probably by alchemy or something, or just modern science. Probably she was a homunculus who got DNAs of various species implanted on her. Elves with both physical capabilities and magic were very rare, but combining genes made it possible.

Meanwhile…

A figure with black wings sat on an old-styled sofa, his finger twirling the glass filled with wine. Near him was an old, fat man wearing white priest robes and glasses, looking at some stacks of paper.

" Valper, is the preparation for the spell complete? There must be no failure in this operation."

The old man grinned maniacally as he took out a glowing blue crystal from his pocket.

" Don't worry. I've gathered enough elements to fuse those swords successfully. The result won't be as strong as the original Excalibur, but it'll cut those devils down with ease."

" Good, because I don't tolerate failures."

The black angel nudged at the tortured mess of 3 female fallen angels. Their wings were clipped, albeit not fully, but the process must've been mortifying.

" Freed already consumed enough to use the new sword. His capabilities will be our vanguard in holding off pests while we complete all preparations, in case something happens."

The black angel stood up and emptied his glass to his throat. His red eyes gained a crazy glint as he walked to the balcony and laughed hard.

" Prepare yourself… world. This time, I, Kokabiel, shall prove that the fallen angels are the mightiest race that exists! Yes, by becoming the only one, that is!"

Suddenly, a sharp cross with chains shot up, aiming to his throat. The angel stepped back and manifested a thick light lance. From below, a figure jumped and landed on the railings.

" You insolent…. How dare you!"

" I dare, Kokabiel. I have an information that will pique your interest… wanna hear?"

And that's it! Seriously, guys, I'm very sorry of this terribly late update. But, exams are done, and I can finally resume my stories. I hope this chapter is a little better than before, but I can't grade my own chapters.

Leave the reviews on the box below. Thanks for reading!