"Why did you invite him for dinner?", Zeoticus Gremory asked his wife curiously as he saw 'Sekirai' Agares exit the Gremory castle.

Venelena smiled, brushing her brown hair to the side as she spoke, "Is it not polite to invite a guest for dinner, dear?"

Zeoticus chuckled before deciding to move on from the topic, but he didn't get the chance to as Venelena said a moment later, "Ajuka has his eyes on him, whether it is because of a strange condition, or the boy's potential. Regardless, it would be nice to establish a connection with the boy before he blooms and realizes his potential."

'As expected of a businesswoman…', Zeoticus thought speechlessly as he noticed Venelena walking over to him, before leaning down and placing a kiss on her lips.

'That was… surprisingly not as awkward as I thought it would be…'

When Nathan ate dinner with the Gremorys, he fully expected for there to be an awkward silence, as he had no prior connection with them. The only one that he could say that he was connected to was Sirzechs, and that was because of Ajuka.

Unexpectedly, Rias was the one to initiate many conversations with him and Sirzechs, especially after they watched her anime together.

'I didn't even remember half the things that I watched. I just made up most of the things I told her…'

Nathan awkwardly smiled as he scratched his head.

'Wait… how do I get back to the Agares mansion?'

Nathan realized one problem. He didn't know the way back.

"..."

Nathan could turn around and walk back to the Gremory castle, and ask for someone to teleport him to Ajuka's lab, who then could teleport him back to the mansion.

'But that'd be awkward. I don't want to go back, especially after declining their offer to teleport me.'

Nathan bit his lips before turning around, heading not for the Gremory castle, but for the city inside of their territory.

'There should be a map somewhere there.'

Nathan held hope that there would be something that could help him out in the city, and decided to head for it.

Only to realize that he was already too deep in a forest.

As Nathan thought about yesterday's dinner, he unconsciously continued walking, and due to that, Nathan ended up deep in a forest.

"What the f*ck is my luck?", Nathan cursed out loud as he gripped his hair tightly, resisting the urge to pull it out.

"Indeed. I didn't think I'd find good prey here."

"I know righ-"

That was when Nathan froze. There shouldn't be anyone else in the forest.

He nervously turned around, and what he saw terrified him.

A f*cking spider. More accurately, a spider with a human head and a weird mix of human arm and legs for their legs.

Nathan's pupil dilated and his heart was beating faster and faster as time went on.

Nathan said nothing as he stared at the spider for a second longer, before turning on his tails and running.

'Not today. Today's not the day I die.'

Nathan refused to fight the spider and risk his life when there was an easier option.

'The best defence is don't be there.'

He thought again as he kept running, and he heard the spider follow him.

Nathan continued running for a few more minutes before stopping. Not because he thought he got away from the spider, but because he realized he was trapped.

'If I keep running in this direction, I'd only go deeper in the forest…'

The spider who stopped behind him, presumably a Stray Devil, laughed with a creepy 'KEKEKE', and said, "You finally realize that it was stupid to run? Of course! I have traps laid all over this forest!"

'... I'm glad I decided to stop running.'

"You do?", Nathan probed the spider for answers. "Prove it."

"Hmph! Of course I do! There's a trap about 500 meters in front of you, and three more in each direction excluding the one in front of you!"

"I see… Any chance that you'd let me go?"

The Stray Devil smiled creepily. There was his answer.

Nathan sighed before making the first move by creating a large barrier around the spider, slowing down time as much as he could.

This proved to be ineffective, as moments later, just before Nathan created a fireball to annihilate the Stray, a very thin, almost invisible string that was attached to the spider pulled it up and out of the barrier.

"You have precautions for this sh*t too?"

"Of course! I always have strings attached to me in case I need to run away from the Gremorys."

'Somehow I doubt that… they'd kill you in an instant with their Power of Destruction.'

Nathan was about to make his next move, when the spider decided to counter attack.

The spider launched itself at him, with 4 legs aiming towards his upper body, two remaining on the side to counter any possible attack, and two more to launch itself off of surfaces.

Nathan cursed before establishing an ice wall, refusing to dodge or move away from his current spot. If he did that, he would eventually fall into one of the spider's traps.

The spider grinded its teeth and launched itself back into the air, using the ice wall as a foothold.

"Pa!", a spitting sound was made as the spider launched a projectile at him, one that he gladly dodged when he saw the ice wall corroding on impact.

Nathan then made two barriers- one just enough to cover his body to enhance his senses, and the other large enough to cover the spider, and more trees behind it.

The spider's movement instantly slowed down, comparable to a snail's, the moment Nathan created a barrier around it.

'Foolish.', it thought as it pulled itself out with another string attached to its back.

That was something that Nathan expected.

"Checkmate."

Nathan used his greatly enhanced speed to launch himself into the air, heading directly for the spider's string faster than it could possibly react.

Nathan gripped the string tightly and created a magic circle in his hands at that moment, igniting the string.

The spider, who only saw a blur fly past it, looked back belatedly as he felt a searing hot pain on his back,

"Bye."

Nathan descended with his wings and leisurely walked away, leaving the spider burning in agony on the ground.

After a few minutes, the spider eventually stopped burning, but it was still alive.

'I'll come back for you! I swear to G- OUCH!'

The spider shakily got off the ground, and it limped away, when it noticed that it was too bright.

When it looked up to find the source, it only saw a fire spear flying at it, ending its life as a Stray Devil Spider Hybrid instantly on impact.

'Almost forgot to double-tap there… Phew.'

Nathan headed back to the Gremory castle, and this time, Nathan swallowed his pride and asked Sirzechs to teleport him back to Ajuka's lab.

When Nathan was back at Ajuka's lab, Ajuka instantly noticed Nathan's reserves being half-full.

"What happened, Sekirai?", Ajuka asked in concern as he looked over Nathan, "Did you try to do something stupid, like stopping time?"

Nathan awkwardly smiled, "I met a Stray Devil. Pretty sure it's dead, though."

"You killed it?", after seeing no lies in Nathan's words, Ajuka sighed in relief before asking another question. "Describe the fight to me. And the events leading up to it."

As Nathan explained all that happened, including his choice to double-tap the enemy, Nathan glanced at Ajuka to see his reaction.

Ajuka nodded approvingly, "Good. Always make sure to finish off your enemies. Now, are you sure you're fine?"

Nathan retorted, "You'd know better than I do if I'm fine."

"That was just courtesy."

"...", Nathan speechlessly stared at Ajuka, before asking something, "Can you teleport me back to my house?"

Ajuka rose an eyebrow at Nathan's request, "Are you sure you want to do that? I doubt your parents would be happy knowing you fought a Stray Devil."

"... They don't need to know about it."

"No, no, I meant that they already know that you fought one."

Nathan froze, "How?"

"You don't need to know about it."

Nathan sighed.

'Am I homeless now?'

That was when he was struck with a bright idea.

"Ajuka."

"Yeah?"

"Do you have a house?"

"You mean other than my lab? In that case, yes, I do."

"Is there anyone living in it?"

"You want to live there? Feel free."

"Thank you. Where is it?"

"Around the Fallen Angel border."

"Nevermind."

Ajuka smirked, "You're curious why I live there."

Nathan nodded.

"Well, we need someone to defend the Fallen Angel front, and sending troops there constantly is inconvenient."

'That actually makes sense…'

"I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that I'm insane for that, am I wrong?"

"Yeah. You're wrong. Anyways, can I stay here?"

"Free labor. Sure.", Ajuka accepted without a thought.

"What?"

"It's nothing. Want me to pack your stuff back at the mansion?"

"Sure."

"Alright.", Ajuka nodded and snapped his fingers. Instantly, Nathan's belongings appeared in front of them.

"... I won't even ask how you did that."

"Good. You don't want to know about it."

"When you said that you'd help me train, I didn't think it'd be like this!"

Nathan complained as he carried another box of materials for Ajuka.

'I can't believe I'd ever say this… but I prefer training with Balher.'

"Stop whining. I'll help you out later.", Ajuka said without looking up from his work.

"That's what you said the last time!"

Ajuka sighed before saying, "That's because I overestimated my progress. After I'm done, I'll help you with your magic training."

"Deal.", Nathan accepted Ajuka's promise without a thought. There were many benefits to training with Ajuka. For one, he is a Super Devil. One of the only ones. He was also the inventor of the Kankara Formula, an ability that allowed him to control the phenomena that occurred in the world.

"Good. Go get the box labeled 'Valves'."

"Okay."

After a few more minutes of Ajuka ordering Nathan around, Ajuka finally finished his product.

"What is it?", Nathan asked curiously as he glanced at the bracelet that Ajuka was holding.

"This is for you. It's a communication device. You can use it as long as you have the other party's magic signature to establish a connection. Of course, the connection has to be consensual by both parties."

"..."

After knowing that the item was being made for him, Nathan felt bad for complaining. Like an ungrateful little b*tch.

Swallowing his pride, Nathan apologized sincerely, "I'm sorry for complaining."

Ajuka smirked, "I wished that you would be more obedient like this.", as he handed the bracelet over to Nathan.

"I take my apology back.", Nathan accepted the bracelet and wore it on his left wrist.

Ajuka chuckled before saying, "Then, let us start with your training."

A teleportation circle was created underneath both of them, and after a flash, Nathan looked around and found himself on an empty plain.

"You must be wondering; why are we here? Well, we're here… so I can 'educate' you without anyone seeing it."

Nathan instantly tapped his bracelet, and he was about to call Sirzechs.

The bracelet showed a transparent blue screen briefly, before disappearing.

Nathan looked at Ajuka, who had a magic circle in his hand.

'Kankara Formula… I'm f*cked.'

"First lesson: Dodging without demonic powers."