End of the road

Part 1

3rd Person POV

"...hmmm."

Tilting her head, the woman observed how the boy who recently arrived twisted the neck of one of her companions. No emotion could be seen on her face other than a frown.

"...how odd."

Her eyes never left his figure and she stood in her position. Other than signaling another of her companions to warn the dead woman, she had not tried to do anything else.

In the meantime, the 'fight' progressed after the actions the boy took.

The pup named Jin had lost his target after the woman died, the bear disappearing along with the death of its wielder. The boy's eyes seemed to look at something after the woman died and his eyes followed it.

Thinking of it as a chance, the Silent Stalker's presence and form vanished. No doubt trying to take this chance to attack again.

Her target appeared to be the boy, however, despite what everyone believed, he had not lost his eyesight. No, his eyes should've become no different from a blind person's, but he somehow was still able to see.

The boy seemed to push something away with his hands, unaware of the approaching threat. However, the boy, Nora, shifted his position quickly all of sudden, he made a grabbing motion and soon he performed a shoulder throw. His actions looked strange and the bystanders wondered about his bizarre movements until they heard a tud. The sound of a body colliding heavily against the ground.

"Urfgh."

Soon, the figure of the woman known as the silent stalker reappeared, but this time, she was laying on the ground, as she struggled to get up, the boy, not having left of her hand, twisted it until the woman had to turn her body. Regardless of the size difference being a couple of heads, the boy had a strong grip and he easily subdued the other party.

"Is it fun? To torture people using your ability?" Nora muttered.

"Let me go, you little bastard!"

Twisting her body as much as she could, the woman resisted and tried to attack Nora with her knife. However, before her arm could even approach Nora, a cracking sound was heard. Nora twisted her arm further and he broke the bones of her arm.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

Her screams of pain made everyone focus on her. Not only did her companions turn to see what was happening, but Tobio and the rest also stared at Nora's actions. The companions of the woman did not stay looking for too much and they decided to intervene, but this made Tobio and the others react. Their only fighting force acted to intercept any attackers that would get close to Nora. Kouki braced himself and charged towards Nora, ready to intercept the avatar holding a dice that was summoned.

"Jin!" Tobio yelled.

Following his words, the pup went to aid Kouki.

In the meantime, Nora moved and put his knee on top of the woman's back. He continued to pin her, making her scream and directing his eyes to her companions. They took it as a taunt, but no one else went to help her.

Clicking his tongue, Nora lifted his free hand.

"" Nora called out.

Instantly, a hand ax appeared and he brought it down on the woman. Blood splattered and he was covered, but there was hardly any difference compared to his bloodied outfit from before. The screams stooped and Nora stood up, not before subtly touching the ground.

Looking at their grim situation, the man who had the avatar of the statue wanted to turn around to leave, but by the time he did so, he noticed that his left foot was stuck. Roots from a nearby try had encroached his foot, and no matter how much he tried to release himself, he was unable to do so.

"This damned thing...!!!"

His complaints were loud and his tone was anxious but the roots only grew more.

"You two, do not let him use the dice." Nora warned the duo of Kouki and Tobio. "Natsume-san, stay back and unsummon your avatar. It will recover faster. However, it will still be dangerous so you should go to Shigune-san. The little one, Poh, he will keep you safe."

The group was already aware of the dangers of these people, the Abyss team, but they were still thankful for Nora's words.

After mumbling something in a low tone, a vial appeared in Nora's hand and he simply threw it in Natsume's direction. The girl hastily caught it and puzzledly looked at Nora.

"Drink it." Nora muttered and his eyes no longer wandered on the group but were fully on the man with sunglasses.

Looking at the vial containing a red liquid, Natsume hesitated, but soon shook her head and determinately drank its contents at once. It had no taste, so it felt no different than drinking water, but the pain from her arm began lessening until it was no more. The swelling due to the damaged muscles was reduced too and she felt a refreshing feeling in all her body.

Throwing a thankful at Nora whose attention was no longer on her, Natsume felt guilty for doubting him. She followed his instruction and went towards Shigune and Sae, although she never dropped the branch, her eyes warily on the woman who had a spaced-out look when she caused her wounds.

"Answer." Nora said. "How do you get right of the curse?"

The anxious expression of the man with sunglasses twisted and certain confidence was regained.

"Hehe, you want to know, well, you- AHHHHH!"

The man did not manage to finish his sentence when Nora arrived in front of him a delivered a swift kick that broke his knee. The sounds of bone breaking were loud, but the fact that the man lost his balance due to his twisted limp made it seem obvious how strong the kick was.

"Answer." Nora mechanically said. "How do you get rid of the curse?"

"You little!"

Cursing the man extended his hands after pulling a knife from his pocket. Now that Nora was close enough, he planned to attack the boy but his hand was easily caught.

"I might be a child, but you underestimate me too much. Have you even exercised before?" Nora frowned after stopping the attack midway.

Easily stopping the attack, Nora's hands twisted the man's arm forcefully. The boy twisted so hard that a peculiar sound was heard and a scream followed it.

"ARGHHHHH!"

The other parties fighting stopped to look at what was happening, just in time to see Nora stepping back as the man with sunglasses wailed and tried to keep his arm extended so his hand, hanging loosely, would not move.

"Don't cry, it is unsightly." Nora spoke. "Can't you handle a few broken or dislocated parts of your body?"

Using a chilling tone, Nora asked an equally chilling question. It made the listener shudder, and the man subjected to the violence could only hatefully look at the boy.

"So much for your sadistic facade. You people cause so much pain, but you can't stand being on the receiving end." Nora muttered with a shake of his head. "I will repeat myself again. How do you undo the curse of your sacred gear?"

Grinding his teeth, the man kept his silence in defiance.

Shaking his head once again, Nora easily caught the hanging hand, and pulled the man, until the elbow was between his reach.

"As much as I would like to say that I could do this all day... Sadly, the human body only has a limited number of bones." Nora immediately acted, with his bare hands, he dislocated the elbow of the man.

"ARGHHH! YOU DAMN MONSTER!"

The man wearing sunglasses cursed a loud and tried to use his healthy hand to attack Nora, but history was bound to repeat again.

"ARGHHHHHHHHH."

As loud as before, the man's screams reached his companions, but only the woman seemed to pay attention to them but did not react in any particular way. His other companion, however, did pay attention to him but his hands were full. The pup was about to finish his avatar, who despite having his owner paying attention to Nora's actions, faithfully followed his last orders. On the other hand, Kouki managed to focus on the battle again and with one thrust to the stomach followed by an electric discharge, he knocked out the man before sending him flying and crashing into a tree not too far from them.

"How do you undo the curse?" Nora mechanically asked once again.

There was no change of expression even though he cause great suffering to the other party, he just asked again.

"How do you undo the curse?" Nora paused after seeing the man biting his lips and keeping his silence.

Noticing that, Nora simply followed up by aiming at the man's shoulder. The gruesome sound chilled the listeners' hearts, but no scream came out.

Tilting his head, Nora soon noticed that the man had fainted.

"I did not give you permission to nap." Nora muttered.

Walking in front of the man, Nora extended his hand to the man's stomach and used his hand to twist his abdomen after sinking his hand into the other party's flesh.

"URGHHHHH!"

Waking up to the feeling of having your flesh twisted savagely until blood tainted his shirt would make anyone grunt from pain.

"You sure cry a lot." Nora commented. "That psycho would do the same when I fainted, so I know for sure that you do not need to cry this hard. If you have the energy to cry in pain, tell me what I want to know."

Tobio and the rest furrowed their eyebrows after hearing the boy's words, they could not ascertain if he was lying or not, but it did not sound like he did. From the way the boy spoke, the group caught sight of another side of Nora, another one beside his kind visage or now ruthless side.

"I have the answer you are looking for."

A voice called out and Nora immediately glared in that direction. The woman, who should a companion of the man that Nora is interrogating, took a few steps closer to Nora but his wariness and hostility made her stop when she was a couple of steps of so from him.

The way he was looking at her was enough for the woman to understand that he would turn to engage her if she got any ideas of getting closer, whether it was to release her companion or attack the boy. Maintain a blank and uninterest look, like everything around her, was not of her concern, the woman pointed at her companion.

"If he wills it, the curse could take days or even weeks before it is dispelled. He never archived the balance breaker so his power is still limited. However, that is not the answer you seek."

The man was about to interrupt the woman but Nora swiftly caught in by the throat and pressed his vocal cords, making the man unable to utter any words and slightly choke.

"He can either dispel it by his own will, something he has never done since he entered Satanael-sama's class, and getting to enjoy the freedom to use his power so I am certain this method is going to prove ineffective. That said, there is one last method that works faster than the one just mentioned. Kill him, that would be your best choice."

Narrowing his eyes, Nora was the only one who stared at the woman in deep consideration.

The group of Tobio all gasped and showed baffled looks at the woman's suggestion. However, the most surprised was the man in question.

"*Cough* *Cough* Why did you tell him that!? Now we will all get killed."

Being released of Nora's grip after he pondered silently, the man angrily yelled.

"At least you will have a swifter death that way."

Without a care in the world, the woman kept a blank and spaced-out look while speaking, but the man did find her words comforting.

"Don't speak like it does not concern you!"

Scared in his heart, the man tried to make his companion understand their situation.

"It does not. The one who will die will be you, not me."

Uninterested, the woman no longer concerned with her companion, no, ex-companion in her opinion. She rather focused her gaze on Nora who made up his mind.

"" Nora softly called out.

Soon, an old butcher knife appeared in his hand and he struck it on the man's throat. The man, who had been left tongue-tied by the betrayal of his companion, could only helplessly watch as the knife made its way to his throat. A gruesome sound was heard and he was unable to scream, his vocal cords being destroyed in one move.

The splash of blood did not seem to bother Nora and he simply changed the target to the woman. He faintly nodded his head as the light returned slowly to his eyes.

"The next one is you." Nora muttered.

Tilting her head, the woman question stared at the boy.

"You don't plan to let me go this easily, do you?" Nora spoke.

Shaking her head, the woman glanced at each of her dead companions.

"I do not understand. Putting aside their incompetence in working as a team, they all had abilities that would've troubled even Ultimate Class beings. However, you simply shrugged off the effects of one of the most effective attacks this team had. Yet, your strength is not good enough for the abilities to not affect you."

Listening to that, Nora opened his lips and the woman showed slight interest in the answer. However, Nora never spoke a word in response, but rather swung the knife at the woman after dashing in her direction. Yet, with the same expression, the woman's left hand struck the boy's hands away, while the right one had her fingers spread and aimed at his eyes. Nora seemed to expect some sort of counterattack so he simply ducked slightly and pushed himself away.

Having his attack meet failure did not discourage Nora, he mumbled a few words and nails appeared on his free hand.

"It is never easy, is it?" Nora sighed.

Closing his eyes slightly, he stared at the woman. After her brief reaction, she stayed standing there, with no further interest in initiating the attack.

Shaking his head, Nora threw the nails in her direction and they shot out in a straight line.

Back stepping lightly, the woman easily dodged the attack. Nora mumbled once again and the same attack pattern repeated itself three times.

Clicking his tongue, Nora dashed forward to meet the woman once more. He tried to slash at her from below, but she dodged by jumping. While in midair, she could not dodge so he brought more nails and threw them at her, yet he was wrong because she twisted her body adeptly and avoided the attack again.

Watching that, Nora was not discouraged, he followed after her and slashed at her continuously. However, she would adeptly use her hands to smack his away, whenever he tried using kicks, she use her feet to respond. With every attack Nora launched, he noticed how there was a glint in her eyes, and while her expression remained the same, that glint was not something related to her mood, or Nora inwardly imagined.

Throwing the butcher knife at her, Nora brought his axes and continued his pursuit, but they kept exchanging blows without actually hitting each other. That is not to say that the woman did not try to attack him, but rather that Nora did not allow himself to be hit so far, using short movements to not let an opening appear, or so he thought until the woman broke through his defenses by pressing a few points on one of the hands holding the axes, and it made the boy widen his eyes.

His hand got weak all of sudden and he hastily took a few steps back. Nonetheless, the woman gave chase and took the leading position.

Nora found himself in a tricky situation and could not understand how his earlier movements and actions that allowed him to dodge were now being easily seen through.

Not allowing to get in complete disadvantage, he managed to land a hit as she took the opportunity to strike at his weakened hand in a few places before using one of her hands to dislocate his hand and the other to prevent him from digging deeper into her stomach with his ax.

They parted ways and Nora stared at his powerless and dislocated hand. The same could be said about the woman who pulled out the ax from her stomach.

"How strange..."

Furrowing her eyebrows, the woman looked at Nora in confusion.

The only spectators left wanted to rush to aid Nora but he glared at them.

"Stay away from her. Unless you want to get your hand like this." Nora warned.

Swing his hanging dislocated hand at them, he made Tobio and the rest sweat coldly from his actions that lacked delicacy and care for his well-being.

"Was it that man who sent you here? Just to kill me? No, he is after them too, is he not?" Nora spoke.

Iddly staring at his hand, he nodded to himself before easily putting it back in place, not much of a change of expression covered his face as he did that.

His words or actions made the woman's frown deepen, before taking out something from her pocket. A small vial with reddish liquid made Nora click his tongue. She applied some drops to her wounds and they healed in the blink of an eye.

"...how strange."

Shaking her head, the woman saved the rest of the liquid in the vial and put it in her pocket again.

"Did you all have the same mission?" Nora changed his question.

"He only sends us to meet with you. The ones you took care of simply decided to act on their own. My job... was to observe you."

Absentmindedly, the woman answered back.

"If that is how it is, why would you stand in the way?" Nora muttered.

"Because... It is strange. I can easily tell if I can or cannot beat someone. If there is or there is no solution to something. Yet, while I can see getting a victory against you, I can also see myself getting defeated. No, to be precise, even if I win, I will lose."

Listening to her words, Nora failed to grasp her intentions. However, he could at least understand that like the rest of the Abyss team, she must suffer some kind of illness in her head.

"I wanted to see why that happened and... It is strange. You should've been blinded back then, yet you could still see. It does not make sense. Your chances of killing Silent Stalker were almost null as well. Even if you somehow got information about her abilities beforehand... It was almost like you could see through her invisibility. Then it was our exchange earlier, that injury was treated like nothing."

"It was a minor issue, anyone could fix something this minor by themselves, couldn't they?" Nora glanced at the spectators who shook their heads in denial.

"I suppose you can be right."

Getting support for his claims from an unexpected side, the boy did not feel any better.

"My job is done. My curiosity has been more or less satisfied."

Nodding at that, the woman simply turned around and walked away.

Debating whether go and strike her from the back, Nora changed the direction of his gaze toward another part of the forest where the fog did not allow one to look deeper. He ignored the woman nonchalantly left and massaged his hand to restore its mobility of it. There was a sense of tension in the air, and Tobio and the rest found themselves unable to speak. After an unknown period of time, a figure walked slowly from the fog. A man of middle age and wearing a suit, one of the sleeves from his suit was torn along with a part of his pants. No injury could be seen but dried blood stained his garments. A broken staff was carried in his hand and he slowly made his way toward Tobio and the rest, ignoring Nora completely. His gaze lingered on each of the group but he paid more attention to Tobio and his avatar, or rather, to the blade it carried.

"So this is... Ah, I see..."

Nodding to himself, the man directed his gaze to Tobio and-

Part 2

3rd Person POV

Inside a large castle that looked unexpectedly spotless, sitting on her throne in a great hall, Scathach who was lazily tapping her fingers on the armrest of the throne with her eyes closed, opened them.

"Hmmm? The seal... It is being forcefully broken again?" Scathach directed her gaze in a particular direction. "Why? It should not be the time yet... Unless, no, there is still plenty of time before that happens. The giantess 'he' mentioned will not appear just yet, neither the cult will make their move soon."

Pondering slightly, Scathach shook her head and closed her eyes again.

"...I doubt 'he' would want to fight if 'he' is in a hurry. I shall force 'him'- no, I will coerce- no, hmmm, I will ask him to have a match against me when 'he' finishes his business." Scathach muttered.

Like it was none of her business, Scathach ignored the seal and began pondering. Her visage was peaceful and would make any man or even woman feel charmed due to her outstanding looks and majestic charm exuded from her persona at this moment. Many would wonder what is she thinking, and perhaps many would consider that she has certain worries as she furrows her eyebrow at times. Yet, their backs would be soaked in a cold sweat if they heard her next words.

"No good, the training regimen I thought of is lacking... Not harsh enough." Scathach sighed. "I am getting soft... he only has 5 chances of 10 from dying."

Certain boy felt a chill run down his spine continuously for weeks, but he only came to understand that feeling one month later.

--

3rd Person POV

Standing still on a high point of a mountain, a man was watching the spectacle that would unfold. Beside him, a younger man stood respectfully wearing a uniform.

The Abyss team uniform was a giveaway to the younger man's status, and the older one who received the respect of the young one could only be someone, Satanael, the former member of the Grimori. He is a tall man dressed in the usually fallen angel battlesuit like others of his kind, with brown hair, silver eyes, and masculine facial features.

Fog covered his surroundings and soon the figure of a woman was seen walking from the thick fog.

"Kuro, you are back." Satanael nodded. "How was it?"

"He is as strange as you told me." Kuro replied. "It is the first time I have been hurt facing a single person weaker than me."

"Despite being a human, your abilities can only be on par with supernatural beings due to the Gladius prototype you carry hidden on your waist. Do not let it confuse you. Until the prototype stays at that, it will never be your strength." Satanael advised. "There is still too much to improve. You are only the one capable of using it due to its unstable nature, otherwise, Yousuke and you would not be the only ones remaining from the group I brought."

Looking at the younger man, Yousuke, Satanael wondered if his Sacred Gear, Fog of the Lost Ones, which can work to manipulate the space in a surrounding area, was the cause. It lacked the ability to directly hurt other people so he stayed behind scenes, separating the Absolute Demise girl from the others and helping his allies to move to different locations faster.

"My apologies, it is as you said." Kuro mumbled absentmindedly.

"How did he fare?" Satanael asked.

"I had to retreat as you instructed me, but..." Kuro furrowed her eyebrows. "I can't seem to be able to win against him. No matter how many scenarios my Sacred Gear showed me, they would show me victory, but would soon be distorted and twisted, replaced with defeat. The process repeated continuously."

Surprise flashed on the expression of Yousuke, but he did not say a word.

"Is that so?" Satanael seemed to anticipate that answer so he did not look surprised. "If even your eyes that can guarantee victory cannot see through him, then nothing can. Certain victory or certain defeat should be the only thing you see. Only one of those, yet he... Hmmm, as expected. Listen, that child must not be underestimated. Fate has no effect on him."

Confused, the woman tilted her head.

"Enough of that." Satanael did not elaborate further. "If I interfere further, I am afraid I will become their enemies. I would rather not be the target of that history eater woman. I invited him before and today's events will determine if he will come."

"Teacher, if you could excuse my ignorance. Why do you want to bring that youkai to the group? He is an odd one but..." Kuro hesitated in her speech.

"He is not worth mentioning compared to the Four Fiends users and the Longinus boy?" Satanael raised an eyebrow.

Nodding deeply, the visage of the woman remained the same albeit with traces of confusion.

"His origins are something you can't grasp. He is an oddity not only among his kin but in this world. The fact that those cultists worshipping Outer Gods had a link to him, makes him strange. Not to mention..." Satanael narrowed his eyes. "Long time ago, I met a peculiar person. He told me how chaotic this boy will be and how that would help me accomplish what I desire."

--

3rd Person POV

"Nora!" Natsume yelled in distress.

After the man in the suit introduced himself as Hanezu, Nora urged Tobio and the rest to flee, but the group did not dare to leave the boy alone. They could tell that the man was as dangerous as the woman who left all of sudden.

The man had his eyes on them and Nora seemed to have a grudge against him as he prepared to attack him after grinding his teeth. Yet, the man noticed Nora's attack and angrily counterattacked. He took stacks of talismans and threw them at Nora, they stuck to the boy as glue, and his movements were sealed. They adhered to Nora and made him an easy target to Hanezu who took out several talismans and stuck them on Nora's stuck-in-place figure. Immediately, smoke began to raise from Nora's figure as the man chanted something. The figure of the boy tried to get away from the talismans but before his efforts were rewarded, Hanezu threw him against a tree. Taking strips of paper with several markings, he chanted again and they came to life, binding Nora to the tree, in addition, he put talismans on his mouth so he could not talk.

The movements of the man were swift and accurate, a sign that he was used to repeating them often.

"I will deal with you later." Hanezu glared at the boy.

Lowering his broken staff, the man took another look at Tobio.

"You... do you know of your origins?" Hanezu asked.

Throwing a strange question as soon as he spoke to him left Tobio confused, but given the other's party actions, he did not consider answering him seriously.

"Jin!" Tobio shouted.

Barking in response, the pup ran straight at the man, ready to pierce him in a ram attack. However, the man easily parried the attack with his broken staff. The pup flew into the air from that and the man followed by thrusting at the pup.

A whine of pain was heard yet Jin courageously stood up again, ready to attack again.

"An incomplete awakening will not be capable of causing me any harm." Hanezu said lightly. "You all seem to have only recently awakened your Sacred Gears, did you not?"

Glancing at the group, Hanezu raised a question that none of them felt like answering. However, Natsume felt the need to stall for time until they come up with a countermeasure.

"Are you the boss of those people who we faced at the entrance? No, you also command those who attacked Urakyoto, don't you?" Natsume inquired.

Closing his eyes, Hanezu seemed to ponder something.

"You must be Natsume Minagawa. Let me ask you, what would you do if I replied 'yes'?"Hanezu spoke.

Groaning in response, Natsume thought that he would not be this straightforward thus it would buy them more time.

"Why did you do it?" Natsume followed with a personal question, and probably something of all them share.

This cause Hanezu to furrow his eyebrows in confusion.

"I am afraid I do not understand why you ask that." Hanezu muttered. "Youkais... no, supernatural beings, in general, are threats to humans. What happens to them is not something you should worry about. In fact, you should celebrate since your daily life can be said to be protected the more youkais are killed."

"DON'T F*CK WITH ME!" Kouki shouted. "What rights do you have to spout that kind of crap?"

While the choice of words would vary depending on the person, the group was of the same thought.

"It is amusing of you to say that. All of you are children blessed by God, blessed with abilities to stand up against the threat to humans supernatural beings." Hanezu slowly said. "Your abilities were made to deal with the likes of youkais, such as the boy behind me."

Doing his best to not be consumed by anger Kouki bid his time by staring hatefully at Hanezu.

Located at one side, Nora managed to get his head free at least.

"However, you people must be confused as to why we did such a sudden attack. We never planned to reduce our fighting forces through such a reckless attack considering that our goal was primarily revenging against the Five Clans." Hanezu said. "That said, you can only blame yourselves for that one. Before we had to rely on a desperate plan of using a youkai as the base for our goal, you were our first option. We were supposed to capture you and develop the Utsusemi using you as the base. The Four Fiends plan was over before we could act on it since you all disappeared."

Those words were like knives stabbing into the group's hearts. They subconsciously looked in Nora's direction and saw him scowling, they immediately avoided looking at him out of fear of reproach, but the man still had things to say.

"Come with me, the allies you once thought would have your back are no longer going to aid you. In fact, it is only a matter of time before they find out what you did and began blaming you." Hanezu's expression softened. "Tobio Ikuse. You probably are in the dark, but your grandmother was part of the Himejima Clan, they dedicated their lives to protecting mankind from the likes of creatures such as that monster with a human appearance."

The mention of his dead family member shook the black-haired young man greatly.

"However, due to the unreasonable traditions and laws within the clan, people like us were excluded. For them, unless we had the same Fire Phase as the rest, we were not considered Himejimas. Your grandmother left the clan to bring you with her, afraid of the life you would have ahead of you." Hanezu spoke. "Being the target of the clan would be hard, given what kind of existence you are."

Biting his lips, Tobio remained silent. Hanezu judged it as the young man contemplating his words so he continued.

"Your Sacred Gear carries the blade that killed a god, in particular, the same god that the Himejima believes in." Hanezu revealed. "You are destinated to become their enemies."

Not being able to stay silent, Natsume decided to speak up for her friend who found himself at a loss from the sudden revelations.

"Why would we believe something like that? You are just trying to drag him to your camp. You are taking advantage that we cannot confirm anything so that it is too late by the time we do." Natsume exclaimed.

"Is that so? I guess that it must look that way to you." Hanezu did not look upset. "However, I am not only trying to invite him to my side, but all of you. After all, it is not only Tobio Ikuse who is in danger of being hunted down by the Himejimas, all you are, and it will be done by all the Five Clans."

Pausing slightly, Hanezu saw the bewildered looks he received so he inwardly smiled.

"You are the users of the Four Fiends, Sacred Gears that contain beasts of the same caliber as the Four Auspicious Beast of directions that the Five Clans own. Of course, you are lacking a bit in numbers to be considered the full force, but the creatures you carry are more than a match to the ones the heirs of the clan carry. Such a thing is already threatening enough, but to add salt to the wounds, your creatures are considered evil and misuse of their powers can lead to tragedies. Do not let their current appearances fool you. They are terrifying creatures capable of planting fear in the minds of your foes just with their presence."

The group looked at their rather adorable version of their avatars only to be met by the avatars tilting their necks at them.

"I can help you shake off their pursuit. I am also capable to train you so you can use your powers effectively, and we can all get revenge on them. At that time, you will no longer be chased by them." Hanezu offered.

It was a grim revelation, and they were shaken. There was fear of what they might have to go through, however, above all, they felt guilty toward Nora and the youkais. Yet-

"Sorry, but I will have to refuse." Kouki mumbled. "I would rather stay the way I am than to go with you."

Giggling, Natsume found her friend's words aligned to what was on her mind and she laughed.

"Indeed. I think I would like to stay beside Shiki-kun." Natsume confidently said.

However, she got stared at strangely by her companions. Sae and Shigune were even blushing.

"...Stray-sensei is a child." Kouki warned.

It was at that point that Natsume caught on to their lines of thought and she blushed as well.

"I DID NOT MEAN IT LIKE THAT, YOU MUSCLE HEAD!" Natsume glared hatefully at her companion.

Clicking his tongue, Kouki watched from the corner of his eyes the movements of a small creature and prepared himself.

"Yeah, yeah. We all know that what happened in the bathroom was an 'accident'. Aren't you glad? I don't think that youkais are bound by the same law as us humans so you can do plenty of stuff." Kouki shrugged his shoulders.

Understanding from his strange behavior in front of an enemy that he is up to something, Natsume decided to play it along instead of using the special technique Nora showed the girls for self-defense.

"What do mean with all kinds of stuff? Oi, don't look to the other side." Natsume narrowed her eyes.

Getting annoyed that the conversation got sidetracked, Hanezu decided to interrupt them.

"...why?" He asked a simple question.

A little curious about his companions' answers, Tobio still felt shaken, and while he did not like the man, he felt that troubling Nora is not something that he wants. Perhaps she noticed his unrest, his childhood friend, Sae, grasped his hand and the warmth of her small hand caused Tobio's restless heart to calm down.

"It is ok. As long as we are together..." Sae mumbled shyly.

To the words that sounded sweet in his ears, Tobio felt like his worries were not that troublesome anymore.

"It is not a complicated matter. We like him more than you. No, we don't like you one bit so there is no way we will trust you, isn't that right? Birdbrain (with a subtle taste for younger boys)" Kouki laughed.

"You took the words out of my mouth... Uh? I think you added something at the end that-" Natsume glared at Kouki.

"Your imagination, Birdbrain." Kouki muttered with a smirk.

Noticing that the matters were getting out of hand and that he had failed to convince them peacefully, Hanezu silently took a stance and prepared to attack. His eyes did not fail to notice the subtle actions of the petite girl and the young man thus in his mind, he formed a plan.

"It seems we will have to do this the hard way." Hanezu muttered grimly.

Before he could dash forward, he felt a chill behind his back and the figure of Jin running in his direction ready to pierce him with its blade could be seen. Changing his stance to meet the charge, Hanezu saw from the corner of his eyes how Kouki began running his way as well. Clicking his tongue, he chanted a defensive spell that raised the toughness of his body and briefly thrust his staff to meet Jim's blade. This time, however, Jin did not confront him in a clash, but rather... darkness covered him and he took a dive into the ground, exactly towards the shadow the staff made. Alarmed after losing his target, Hanezu changed his priority and prepared to receive Kouki's thrust, however, just as he shifted his place, a long blade covered in ominous symbols grew from his shadow and stabbed him in his thigh, making him lose his balance, and despite his best efforts to move his body, he ended up receiving a full stab in his stomach. He tumbled backward and he did not get pierces due to the spell he cast beforehand.

"Guh!" Hanezu grunted from pain.

Taking his distance, Hanezu parried the follow-up attack from Kouki despite the numbness he felt after a sneaky electric discharge he received with the blow. As he expected, a blade once again came from his shadow and it was hard to dodge, so he prepared to receive the injury, chanted briefly, and stabbed with his staff at the base of the blade, he seemed to hit something other than the ground. It cause the blade to retreat and the pup came out a few meters away from the shadow of a tree shaking its head in discomfort.

Taking a deep breath, Hanezu let his heart calm down. He began chanting immediately several self-strengthening buffs that wore off after dealing with Nora and while he tried to convince the group to follow him.

Feeling the change occurring to Hanezu, Kouki braced himself. He tried to attack again yet this time his attack was dodged and he received a counterattack on his stomach. The blunt part of the staff was not as deadly but the force of the strike left Kouki gasping for air.

"Playtime is over..." Hanezu muttered.

--

3rd Person POV

"Keke, it is so nice to be young. You are full of energy." Augusta cracked a smile.

Waving her staff, a magic shield manifested before her and stopped the magic bombardment from her foe.

Lavinia furrowed her eyebrows after the Nth attack that resulted ineffectively. It was not matter that said she was at disadvantage, rather, the attacks from the older witch were also stopped easily by Lavinia. They were currently engaged in an exchange of attacks from low-level magic so it was not a surprise that none had the upper hand. It was common for witches of a certain caliber to engage in such a fight when they did not intend to kill each other instantly and wanted to get information from one another.

"Perhaps you are just getting too old for this." Lavinia spoke.

She tried to make the other party get angry but Augusta did not mind her comment.

"Certainly, after this, I should just stay indoors for some time, my old bones need a rest and I have a lot of research data to sort out." Augusta smiled.

Biting her lips, Lavinia prepared another spell.

"Tell me. Where did you take that child?" Lavinia asked.

"Ho hooo? I thought you would start by asking me about your mentor but you suddenly asked something I did not expect. That said, I will have to disappoint you. I do not know about any child." Augusta responded with a spell.

"Don't play tricks on me, I know you took a girl with you after attacking Urakyoto." Lavinia exclaimed.

Pondering slightly, the answer came to Augusta.

"I do recall catching not a girl but a cat... Yes, it was a small white cat." Augusta nodded.

Hastily creating several shields, she defended herself from several spells from Lavinia who looked angry.

"How odd, I thought that you would only care about asking about your mentor, but it seems you have grown since the last time I saw you." Augusta smirked. "Could it be that you have lost interest in knowing about your mentor?"

After those words were muttered, the air began to turn cold like Lavinia's expression.

"You still like to talk nonsense." Lavinia accused.

"Keke, what are you going to do about it?" Augusta smirked. "Look at you, I thought you had grown up and left behind the nonsense with your mentor, but you cannot leave it behind. Your face is quite scary. Is a comment all it takes to make you lose your patience? Keke, it seems it was the right choice."

Narrowing her eyes, Lavinia's mind could not help to focus on the last part. She recalled a conversation she had with Nora, one she did not pay complete attention to. Even though she liked Nora, that day she asked him to leave her alone due to the shock his words left on her, and perhaps, she was a bit harsh on him. For a couple of days, she stayed locked in her room and refused to meet anyone. Nora worked extremely hard in coaxing her out of the room but the topic was never spoken again.

"Hey... Do you want to know a secret?" Augusta smiled.

Gritting her teeth, Lavinia thought of refusing, she could feel that it was going to be a trap, and Nora's words fr back then echoed in her mind.

"...tell me where the girl is." Lavinia muttered.

Rousing her magic power, she not only prepared several spells to attack but also called upon her Sacred Gear. The surrounding temperature dropped sharply and a figure manifested beside Lavinia. A three-meter tall disfigured doll made of ice that takes a form of a woman in a dress stood obediently beside Lavinia ready to attack the older witch.

"Keke, I refuse." Augusta grinned fearlessly.

Suddenly, the dropping temperature stopped and from the side of Augusta, it rose sharply. Behind her flames erupted fiercely, forming a giant composed of purple flames.

"Incinerate Anthem..." Lavinia bitterly said. "It seems you will not tell me anything obediently."

"I always had this question, among the Longinus, there has been the obvious rivalry between the Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing. However, our Sacred Gears could be said pretty much the same. Your Absolute Demise or my Incinerate Anthem, which one do you think is stronger?" Augusta raised a question.

Not in the mood for quizzes, Lavinia remained silent.

"How about this then? If you are able to amuse me, I will tell you what you desire to know." Augusta grinned. "That is to say, I will answer a question you have. Only one question."

A wicked grin covering her face, Augusta was the representation of an evil witch. It left Lavinia in a conundrum, she did not come here with that intention, but now that it presented itself, she wanted to hear about her mentor's disappearance, she wanted to confirm it. However, it weighed on her mind everything Nora had said before. Not only the 'truth about her mentor' but also the look he gave her before, saying that only came here for her revenge. Part of her wanted to deny it, she wanted to say she came here only to help the cheeky little brother she got (self-proclaimed), yet... the rumors about her mentor were too many. Some stated that she died in the hands of Augusta, while others that she was seriously injured and went into hiding. No real evidence of any had been found and Lavinia had been after Augusta since a long time ago.

"Keke, you seem to have a lot in your mind. Well then, I will take the lead here." Augusta gestured.

Using her hand to motion toward Lavinia, Augusta signaled the start of the fight between the two Sacred Gears. Watching the distressing look Lavinia had, she smiled, an idea formed in her head. She briefly considered her odds and the possible outside interruptions before coming to a conclusion.

"This could interesting as well, I will get to use those spells again." Augusta mumbled.

Part 3

3rd Person POV

"Kuh." Kouki groaned.

Crashing into a tree for the Nth time, he tried to stand up, but his body did not respond.

Around him, the group lay on the ground. Barely conscious, Natsume, Tobio, and Kouki tried to get back on their feet but their bodies did not listen. Shigune was the only one without many injuries, yet she was thrown far away from them and her avatar stood threateningly in front of her half-kneeling figure. The only one un-harmed was Sae, who was being held captive by Hanezu.

"Leave her alone!" Tobio angrily shouted.

"You left me no choice." Hanezu mumbled. "Even if you will not join our cause. After you lose control here, you will become their target, and at the end, you will end up erasing the Himejima Clan, no, the Five Clans from this world."

Despite his calm exterior, a maddening glint shone on Hanezu's eyes. Sae tried to get away, but the grip of Hanezu held her in place. Looking at her condition, anger began to cloud Tobio's mind. Jin, who had been lying down as well, began to show changes, darkness began to emanate from its body and its eyes glowed in deep red.

"...you are truly trash." Nora's voice could be heard once again. "Very well, even if I wanted to save as many trump cards as possible, if I am stopped here, I will not be able to accomplish anything."

There was something in his voice that made everyone turn to look at the boy. They noticed that his state looked a bit different than before. Now his hand could be seen slipping through the gasps of the talismans. Even as he received damage from the exorcising ofudas, the boy had remained silent so far so his actions could not go unnoticed now that everyone was looking in his direction.

"This is...?" Nora's surprised voice was heard.

As his hand gripped the talismans, they began to quickly lose power. Hanezu observed carefully and noticed how the power they had to bind the boy was drained by his left hand gripping them. Soon enough, there was no power binding Nora and he pushed away the now ordinary paper strips.

"It is not like I cannot understand where you are coming from. Being completely cast away by those you believed to be your very allies and family can be quite heartbreaking." Nora simply stated. "I can't even begin to fathom what you went through, neither what your subordinates went through. It must've been hard for you to be judged just because you were different, and how you were pushed away by something you could not change since that was the way you were born."

His words were the very things that Hanezu and his people had felt, but he found it laughable that the one who came to understand them accurately was the same creature that put them in such a bad position. Hanezu had heard from Augusta, she told him that the one who paid close attention to the group of youths in front of him and took them in before they could put forth their plans was the youkai standing here.

"...you could never understand our pain." Hanezu gritted his teeth.

"Perhaps." Nora shook his head and took a step forward. "However, I do understand the desire for revenge. It consumes you quite dangerously. It fills your head with unthinkable thoughts and narrows your mind. It was quite some time ago, but I did kill out of rage someone. He did terrible things to someone I care deeply about so I understand that desire for vengeance."

"Shut up! You wouldn't-" Hanezu felt the need to make the other party close his mouth.

"I wouldn't understand? You are quite equivocated there. Youkais are the ones who should understand more than anyone what it fills to be labeled as evil by exorcists as soon they are born." Nora said in a plain tone of voice with a slight coldness. "I will not completely take the fault that lies with many of our kin, but humans have always labeled us as evil just because we were different than them. Even if the youkais had done nothing wrong, just because we were different, you would prosecute us."

Shrugging his shoulders, Nora took a step forward. The surrounding air began to feel heavy, and a strange pressure began to emanate from the boy. Hanezu found himself baffled by this phenomenon, he had already judged the boy's power level to be below his own and he had even beaten him a while ago, yet his instincts were telling him that the boy represented a bigger threat than he initially estimated.

"Of course, there are plenty of humans who did not follow the norm and befriended our kin. Well, it does not really matter." Nora took another step. "My point here is that a monster like me is not different than someone like you, but even I would not lower myself to sacrifice an innocent girl to accomplish my goal. You must be really deep, way too deep in your desire for vengeance, although, honestly, I do not care."

Halting his steps, Nora closed his eyes and chanted in a hushed tone.

"Listen, and listen well. Tobio-san, you must never let anger cloud your mind. You are better than that." Nora spoke. "You are one of a kind, someone like you could be said to be unique. You carry more power than what you think, however, there is only one thing stopping you from grasping it. That would be your fear toward your own power."

Slowly, Nora's figure began changing, from a child to a tall figure in his late teens with well-defined muscles that could be seen from the torn parts of his hakama and haori.

"You are doing well in being afraid of it, it means you know that is dangerous. You can tell how difficult will be for the current you to control it." Nora's childish voice also changed. "However, that is only because of your mindset. You must recall the words she once told you about, your grandmother, she thought you were too kind to be exposed to the supernatural world at such a young age so she sealed your powers. Yet, if you desire it, your power will respond to you."

Finishing with his piece, Nora opened his eyes and raised his hand. Whitish glowing spheres the size of a finger appeared and they began growing slowly, they could not fit on his hand so they began to float around him. They made Hanezu raise his guard since a large amount of energy could be felt from them. If he was hit by it, it could be dangerous. While Hanezu considered what maneuver he would use to dodge, Nora gestured his hand the spheres, Senjutsu Bullets, shot away.

Surprisingly, only one was directed in his direction while the others were sent towards the beaten-up group. Hanezu relaxed slightly since he did not have to face the full attack of all the spheres. Since he wanted to test the waters firsts, he pushed Sae towards the sphere. If the damage was enough, he concluded that it would kill the girl and cause Tobio to lose control. He would undoubtedly enter his Balance Breaker form and he would target Nora instead of him.

Yet, the boy, no, the youth looked unperturbed. He stared directly at him- no, his eyes shifted towards the arm and leg that the other youkai he fought today had crushed.

Curious about his actions, Hanezu caught the sight of something that sent a chill down his spine. Something he thought that he got rid of when he was treating himself. A long strand of hair was tied to his arm, and he could tell it was not his from the length.

"Eh? I am ok?" Natsume's dumbfounded voice caused Hanezu to ignore what he saw.

The middle-aged man turned his head in time to see how at a speed visible to the naked eye, the minor injuries such as scratches disappeared from the group. They seemed to be full of energy again as they stood up like their previous status was a lie.

"...what did you do?" Hanezu asked.

"I am unable to use Senjutsu Bullets for offense for the time being. Hmm, that does not sound correct." Nora furrowed his eyebrows. "Let's just say I used Healing Bullets on them."

Nodding to himself, the now youth replied.

"Hmph, so you want to have all you attack me at once?" Hanezu snorted yet he still vigilantly took a stance.

"There is no need for such a thing. I am more than enough." Nora briefly said.

Hanezu was about to call it sheer arrogance and conceit but soon he had to hastily crouch. Nora had arrived in front of him before he could notice and delivered a kick. Hanezu only dodged because his body reacted by instinct, otherwise, he would've failed to react in time.

"What is it? It is hard to deal with an adult now?" Nora mocked. "When you find a helpless enemy, you do not hesitate, but I guess the same cannot be said when the enemy is beyond you."

The words he said were aimed directly at him, yet Hanezu had no time to refute or retort to them. As soon as he backed away in order to escape the range of the youth, he found himself in a tricky situation. In an instant, his leg had been caught by the roots of some sort of plant.

No matter how hard Hanezu's mind worked, he could not recall any root being on the ground where he was. It had to be because of the youth, yet he could not consider the matter anymore because his stance was broken due to his situation... Nora took that chance to get closer and punched him in his solar plexus. Immediately, Hanezu felt terrible pain and he had problems breathing. The strength packed in that punch was monstrous and he felt incredible pain, yet he did not show it, biting his lips, he mustered his strength to move his staff and destroy the bindings that caught his foot.

"You should've killed me when you had the chance." Nora muttered.

Inwardly agreeing to that, Hanezu braced himself since Nora began to send punch after punch in his direction. It was an indiscriminate attack, he aimed at his face or chest, and Hanezu felt like every time he was hit in the face, his teeth would shatter more, and even a few were sent flying.

The more time passed, the more the roots would grow and hold his feet back. To avoid being knocked out, Hanezu took out a talisman and put it on Nora after bracing himself and receiving heavy damage.

His actions seemed to be effective since the attacks stopped.

His bloody figure was unsightly, but Hanezu did not have the time to care about it. He took his time to take a breather and pulled more talismans to attach them to Nora, yet... the moment his hand was about to do so, Nora's hand stopped him in place.

"...w-what?" Hanezu raised his head and look at the youth's unconcerned look.

At this point, he noticed that despite the smoke that was raised from the contact point of the talisman, Nora did not show any reaction to the attack. In fact, while holding his hand, he used his other one to pull off the talisman on his body and soon a bluish fire burned it.

Gritting his teeth, Hanezu did not give up. Inwardly chanting, he tried to strengthen himself to the limit. He pushed his body to its limits and tried to get away from the youth.

"Don't underestimate me!" Hanezu fiercely said.

Yet, the reality of things was easy to see. No matter how much he tried, he was powerless. Not only his strength was insufficient, but his techniques, the ones he worked on for decades were useless.

"You are finished." Nora bluntly mumbled. "I am afraid that your plan to cause Tobio-san to go berserker will not work, I will not let you do it. If he goes on rampage, I think that only Lavinia-san would be able to hold him back, and even then, it might not be enough. Besides, Sae-san is a good kid, I don't think she has to suffer from the likes of you. None of them has to."

"What do you know!?" Hanezu growled. "We are desperate! At this point, we would sell our souls to the very devils if it would mean our enemies would die!"

Scowling at that, Nora looked at Hanezu straight in the eyes.

"I doubt that there is a devil that daring." Nora replied. "And your soul does not worth enough for any kind of deal. I would never make a deal with you."

"You! You are a devil?" Hanezu frowned.

"A part-timer." Nora mumbled. "Never mind that though. This is where it ends."

"Why!? We just wanted to be accepted!" Hanezu gritted his teeth.

After those words were said, Nora pulled up Hanezu, with his hands on his throat.

"Don't go acting like a martyr at this point! You do not deserve it!" Nora's angry tone and killing intent made Hanezu shut up. "You have no bottom line, and would sacrifice the lives of others only to satisfy your desires. Even after I almost got those children out of their fate of engaging in fights, you almost caused one of them to lose himself in power. I never desired that kind of outcome! However, people like you who selfishly act for deranged reasons cannot leave good people like them alone. You will always find a reason to mess with their daily lives."

Choking, Hanezu could feel the sheer amount of animosity Nora had towards him.

"If you wanted to be acknowledged why didn't you become some sort of doctor, or just go doing good deeds for the rest of your life!? No, you can't. You are nothing more than an obsessed man whose pride was hurt and arrogantly think that he will be able to change something with his underhanded means." Nora said. "Well, sorry to break it to you! That will never happen. It will never change a thing."

Tired of talking, Nora twisted the man's neck.

Extreme unwillingness could be seen in Hanezu's eyes as the light left his eyes, but Nora did not think it was enough. Blue flames erupted and covered Hanezu's body.

The group looking at such a spectacle felt a chill when a ghostly wail was heard, but it soon died out.

The temperature of the flames was enough to cause the body to be charred in seconds, and it did not take long for the remains to turn into ashes.

It was only then that Nora turned around and watched the group. Noticing the way they looked at him, he sighed and was about to leave.

"Wait!" Natsume called out unconsciously.

Recalling the way she acted before and what kind of face he had, Natsume felt that she could not remain silent and let him go.

Glancing at her, Nora waited in silence for whatever she had to say. That said, Natsume was not sure what to say. The spectacle a second ago was still vivid in her mind and it made her wonder whether she should comment on it. Killing was wrong, that is something that her common sense cultivated in modern-day Japan told her, doing so would be a crime, and laws were made to punish those who broke them. However, despite the strange circumstances, such as Nora being a youkai and the like, she could not bring herself to completely accept his methods. Natsume could not be certain if that would change in the future, but at this point, she wondered if something else could be done to avoid it.

Like he recalled something, Nora got closer to the group step by step. He completely ignored Natsume as she pondered and stopped in front of the surviving member of the Abbys Team.

"Stray-sensei..." Kouki called out.

Ignoring him, Nora lifted his leg slightly, and using the heel of his foot, he aimed at the neck of the fallen man. The death came instantly and the man felt nothing.

"You guys should leave. This is no place for you guys." Nora mumbled.

"Stray-sensei, you should know by now that I am not the type to back down." Kouki said.

"Do you want to die? None of you stand a chance against that woman in your current state. Perhaps in a couple of years, but not now." Nora warned.

Shaking his head, Kouki faced Nora.

"You don't stand a chance either, yet you are still going." Kouki spoke.

"I have something I must do. I have a reason to do so, you guys don't." Nora coldly muttered.

"...can I ask you a question?" Natsume made her way towards the now youth.

Raising an eyebrow, Nora saw that the rest of the group got closer to him as well, yet he did not point it out.

"You are going to ask even if I say no, so just ask at once." Nora said.

"...I can't understand one thing." Natsume frowned. "Why do you still aid us? You... could've abandoned us."

There were several questions that Natsume had, including moral ones, but those were something she had to come to terms with on her own, and perhaps by the end of this day, she will come to find the answers she is looking for.

"...what kind of answer do you want?" Nora asked back. "I have not lied. I am scum, a true and bonafide bad guy like many people have called me, a monster. I just act on impulse. I did what I wanted to do."

"...that is not true." Sae interrupted. "I... I am still here because you decided to act back then. The fact I can stand beside Tobio is because Nora-kun decided to help us."

"..I-I think so too!" Shigune shyly said. "E-Even if you have been acting a b-bit scary, I believe in you!"

Being stared in the eyes by the adult version of Nora made Shigune even more shy than usual, however, she still finished her words.

"I just killed a man just now. Are you guys insane? You, Tobio-san, you should agree that what I did was wrong, shouldn't you?" Nora asked.

"...I think it was wrong. That is what I feel..." Tobio mumbled.

"See? You guys-" Nora tried to speak but was interrupted.

"But it was something that had to be done." Tobio spoke. "I can't chide you or condemn you when I didn't have to be forced to do it. I never considered such a thing before so it would be bad for me to judge you. That said, there is one thing I can say in all honesty."

Smiling slightly, Tobio grasped Sae's hand a little tighter.

"You protected the one I care about, for me, for now, that is all I care about." Tobio expressed his gratitude. "Thank you, you are not really a monster, but a good-natured guy to the core."

Slightly shocked and stunned by the sheer gratitude he received, Nora did not know what to say back. He even saw the duo of Tobio and Sae bow down to him.

Scowling slightly, Nora shook his head in denial.

"You guys, what is wrong with you?" Nora said.

"There is nothing wrong, Stray-sensei, although there might be a problem with birdbrain here." "Hey!" "Heh, anyways, you shouldn't look down on me that much. I know that I will be not able to fully watch your back now, but I will return the favor you have shown to me. Besides, there is no need to sweat the small details. You and I are friends." Kouki muttered, and while a certain lady got angry, she got ignored easily.

"You got beaten too hard a while ago, I think I can fix you up if I knock your head hard enough." Nora offered.

Laughing at that, Kouki did not seem to mind Nora's joke (?), and watching such a thing, Natsume wondered why she hesitated, why she was scared. There is nothing to be afraid of, the boy, or now youth, he might've acted in the matter she could not accept, but giving it more thought, Natsume concluded that his methods and actions were only to benefit them. Perhaps they could really find a way to succeed without killing anyone, but if by doing so, they could put the safety of their own into jeopardy... she would rather take drastic measures. At this point, she could understand one thing. His hands were surely stained with blood, but if he had not done it in their stead, wouldn't they have to do it? If they let these people go, wouldn't that cause them trouble in the future? Natsume could not see the future, but given the personalities, these people exhibited during their fight, she could imagine how much harm they would've caused if they were not stopped.

Making up her mind, Natsume nodded to herself and walked toward Nora. Grinning, she grabbed both of his hands and shook them strongly.

"Thanks!" Natsume cheerfully said.

In response to that, Nora calmly looked at her and-

"Sorry, I do have someone in my heart already. Besides, I think it would be illegal if you make a move on me." Nora uttered.

The air stagnated and Natsume's expression froze.

"Pfft! Ahahaha!" Kouki laughed aloud.

...

...

...

"You still plan to stick around?" Nora muttered after they began to walk away, with the group in tow.

"Yup!" Natsume cheerfully said.

"You guys stand no chance against her." Nora shook his head.

Picking his stuff a while back, he rearranged his bag's contents as he walked.

At his words that were said coldly, Natsume scratched her cheek hopelessly. The young woman did not wish to comment on that topic since she was certain that he was right. Instead, she looked at him from the corner of her eyes.

"Are you actually older than what you have shown?" Natsume inquired.

Using both of her hands to form a frame, she looked at Nora's figure through the opening.

"What makes you say that?" Nora saw her actions but said nothing.

Walking behind in silence, the group paid attention to the conversation. After Natsume embarrassed herself, Nora just left on his own albeit at a slower pace so they could catch up with some effort. He refused to talk to them and only Natsume kept pressing for a conversation.

"You look big... Eh, I mean your height, don't give that look..." Natsume awkwardly looked away.

The accusatory gaze of Nora put some pressure on the girl.

"This is a special technique. I will turn into an older version of me and my strength will go up, although it consumes a lot of stamina and ki." Nora explained.

"Hmmm, wouldn't it be better if you went back... Again, don't give me that look!" Natsume whined.

"I am a minor..." Nora narrowed his eyes.

"Argh! I am a minor as well!!!" Natsume retorted.

Snorting, Nora looked away. Looking down, Nora seemed a bit at a loss.

"Don't you suspect that what I have been doing is an act, that I plan to use you...?" Nora mumbled in a low tone.

Noticing that the mood is a little different, Natsume took a good look at Nora, and she could see certain worry after getting in front of him a lowering her head to match his eyes. Smiling wryly, she stopped, causing him to stop at well, although a little close to each other since he seemed genuinely unaware of her actions as he walked.

Coughing slightly and taking some distance away from him, she got rid of her nonsensical thoughts about a certain sweet smell he carried that was rather tempting.

"You would never try to make use of us." Natsume spoke in a resolute tone of voice.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Nora was interrupted before he even said anything.

"The governor-dono told us that if you truly had bad intentions toward us, our avatars would not be attached to you and would instead be hostile." Kouki decided to cut in. "This guy, Byakusa, sometimes listens to you more than me. In particular, if you have food on your hands..."

"We were puzzled about it as well, but even Barakiel-san told us this: 'You can put your trust in him, he is even more reliable than the likes of me, and even Azazel... although keep the last one a secret'." Tobio added.

"M-My mother and father told me that the young boy who contacted them first was very nice to them and patiently explained our situation even after they refused to believe him." Shigune muttered.

"Yup! Yup! That is why you don't need to worry about such a thing!" Natsume brightly said.

"Damn you, Azazel." Nora cursed in a low tone.

Making up his mind, Nora looked straight into Natsume's eyes.

"I think this might have a better chance so..." Nora pulled an object from his bag. "Carry this from now on, do not drop it, do not lose it. Understood?"

Gulping slightly out of nervousness, Natsume could not tell if it was from the seriousness that Nora expressed or if it was for another reason as Nora took both of her hands and put something on them.

Nodding by reflex, Nora hesitated before speaking.

"Let me be blunt. I want to take advantage of your kindness, would you allow me a selfish wish?" Nora asked.

Slightly surprised at the sudden outcome, the group nodded at once.

"After advancing a certain distance, we will find Augusta and Lavinia-san fighting, the outcome will most likely be the defeat of the Magical Girl, at that time, I want you to-" Nora began explaining.

Curious about the certain of his tone about the defeat of their companion, the group listened with their full attention, however, the more they heard, the more their expressions darkened. Nora's tone, expression, and gestures were his genuine thoughts. None of them felt like following what he asked, yet, his plead made from the bottom of his heart was hard to refuse. He provided with a plan, yet-

--

3rd Person POV

"...that was what you wanted, right? You owe me one after this, I hope you will share the information you collect if your next experiment is completed."

An aged but cold voice concluded and the communication was cut short. Augusta could not resist the temptation to torment the poor girl standing stunned a few meters ahead of her after they entered at a stalemate. No matter how much the girl denied it, she desired to know about her mentor. However, Augusta knew better, like her, Lavinia's mentor was an evil witch. She recalled that Glenda once came with the news that she had found a young girl who had a Longinus and would take her under her wing in order to study the Sacred Gear all so she could develop her magic skills further. That said, Glenda never had the intention to take her as her true disciple. She forged a fake image on the girl so she could exploit her more easily and when she got tired of her, she just abandoned the girl. Augusta was very familiar with the story since she had offered some advice to Glenda on how to deceive the young Lavinia, which included dealing with her parents and her relatives so she had no place to call home.

The fact that she was left all alone never made Lavinia hesitate or look back and question her relationship with her mentor. For the wielder of the Absolute Demise, Glenda was just a kind and gentle parental figure that guided her in the ways of spell casting. This caused Lavinia to want to find out what caused her separation from Glenda. In a way, Augusta considered that Glenda was 'kind' towards Lavinia since the girl was left alive and her Sacred Gear was never removed. However, if she thought about it from the point of view of a witch, perhaps Glenda only had eyes for magic and she only desired to improve her craft rather than simply power, in that case, her actions could be seen as simple stubbornness and pride which Augusta could actually relate in a way, and letting the girl live was her way 'repaying' for her efforts, a way of not being indebted to Lavinia after receiving a lot from her.

It was all speculation on her part but Augusta was inclined to believe that her thoughts were not far from the truth. Either way, she wanted to see Lavinia lose herself completely in order to disable her mental defenses. If she can accomplish that, she might be able to perform a feat thought to be impossible because of a variety of reasons. Wielding two Sacred Gears was not unheard of, and it was a topic that raised many contradictions. However, it was possible in theory to artificially have someone wield both, albeit not at the same time. However, Augusta considered a possible way to solve the issue and that was to use Possession, a spell to turn into spiritual form and take control of someone's body.

Sadistically grinding, Augusta prepared the spell that will allow her to possess Lavinia's body. If she succeeds, she could try to take over that body and make it hers.

"W-Why? He... he was right all along?" Lavinia's expression was filled with grief.

Furrowing her eyebrows, Augusta found the situation a little odd. Lavinia looked heartbroken, but not to the point she imagined. She expected her to have a least a mental breakdown, yet she looked rather composed from someone who just received a piece of shocking news.

"H-How did he know?" Lavinia mumbled a little at a loss.

Clicking her tongue, Augusta wondered what to use to push her to the brink of collapse. While she did not think she will be overpowered by a little girl, Augusta would rather have an easier time when she test her idea. The fewer factors against her, the better. Just in case, she prepared a spell to send her mind into a disorder and that should put her out of commission for a couple of hours. However, she decided to save it as a last resort since she just got an interesting idea. After all, Lavinia did ask about this topic before.

"By the way, since the time of being honest came up. I have a confession to make." Augusta put on an honest expression. "The cat you were looking for, I killed it since I had no use for it."

Those words had a bigger effect on the girl, or perhaps they worked as an add-on, fueling the flames of unease she was feeling. Lavinia visibly paled and she unconsciously shook her head, her reaction clearly stronger than before. Augusta was slightly confused about the difference in the reaction, but it was a welcomed reaction nonetheless.

"T-That can't be true, you are lying!" Lavinia denied.

"Keke, I might be called many things, but being a liar like your mentor is not one of them." Augusta smiled.

If the person she lied to, dies, then no one will find out that she lied after all.

The mention of her mentor in her state, or rather, the comparison, caused Lavinia's face to crumble.

"I would not mind showing you the evidence, however, I usually turn my targets into ashes so I am afraid that nothing remains of it." Augusta shook her head regretfully.

"No, no, no!" Lavinia denied. "She..."

Her emotions got the better of her and her Sacred Gear began acting up indiscriminately. Her surrounding began freezing again and Augusta had to make an effort to keep the ice in check.

"As expected, a sudden rush of emotions will strengthen the performance. I had the upper hand before but she is now easily overpowering me. There is a difference in the time we had our Sacred Gears activated, but even that is meaningless in front of a user who is unable to control her power. Was this how the system was originally designed?" Augusta pondered aloud. "I can't understand what passed through the creator's mind when he made this design. The worse is that he granted it indiscriminately so I can't seem to get how he would benefit from it. Was it simply his love towards humanity? Somehow, I feel like that is not all there is to it... if the Sacred Gears were made for humans to not become preys to the Supernatural beings, the fact that such obscure gears exist makes you question many things."

Shaking her head, Augusta put her thoughts aside. She had been musing the same thing for a few decades and her atelier had her notes and thoughts about the topic written in several books, but there had not been progress in it. Finding the situation close to spiraling out of her control and predictions, Augusta watched as Lavinia's demeanor began changing from grief to one of anger, her mentality was unstable so Augusta did not hesitate to use her spell.

"" Augusta mumbled.

Her words were not caught by Lavinia, but she did react after seeing the magic circle that manifested before her. Lavinia tried to resist it and commanded her Sacred Gear, but Augusta ordered hers to stall it. The spell took effect and Lavinia's eyes began to close and she got unsteady on her feet.

"Keke... " Augusta followed up with another spell and her form turned incorporeal.

Rushing toward the girl, Augusta suddenly felt a death threat and stopped in her tracks, hastily undoing her incorporeal form, but whatever caused her to stop did not waste any second.

Bluish flames descended upon her and Augusta had to summon back her flaming giant. It rushed towards her at an alarming speed, sensing the distress its wielder found herself in. Yet, even after raising a wall of purple flames around her, Augusta still got burned by the blue fire. They brought indescribable pain and her soul felt like it was set on fire. It was a type of pain she had never felt and found unable to express outwardly.

Soon enough, the blue flames were unable to reach her as the purple flames created a tight defense around her.

The spectacle was sudden but it was flashy as well. Lavinia who found it hard to open her eyes and her command over her Sacred Gear wavered found herself staring dazedly at it and stopped her actions to form a spell to resist the one cast on her.

Before her body gave up and fell, she found herself held in a princess carry by a tall figure. The warmth she felt when their skin touched felt strangely familiar and she turned her head slowly to face the figure. She had no recollections of ever meeting this person, the eye color was different and the air this person exuded felt slightly different, more mature and charming instead of the childlike and cute her memory recalled, but she could tell who this was.

"How careless can you be? I warned you repeatedly about the outcome of this fight, yet you ignored what I said." Nora reproached lightly. "Princess, you can't expect a knight to come and save you when you are in danger. Heck, even now, a knight did not come, but me."

A smile found herself on her face unknowingly, Lavinia could feel that the boy, no, the youth was worried about her so she chuckled. Fighting with all her strength, she resisted the sweet temptation to sleep.

"Tee hee, you are as sweet as always..." Lavinia said. "I don't think having Nora-kun coming to my rescue is any worse than a knight, or rather, you can become your big sister's knight."

Sighing, Nora shook his head.

"You should've stayed at home. This was something I had to fix by myself." Nora muttered. "You are probably aware of it now..."

Smiling sadly, Lavinia buried her face in his chest.

"It was not like I could ignore what you told me back then. I began an investigation and found certain loopholes in my past that did not match up so I did consider your words to some extent."

"So you knew yet still came..." Nora mumbled.

"Yes, I guess I did. I said I wanted to help you find Shirone-chan, but in the end, a part of me still could not accept your words and I came looking for this witch." Lavinia looked visibly exhausted. "Nora-kun... I am no good enough to call myself your big sister..."

Her mind was already a mess, and forming words was difficult, Lavinia could feel the weight of telling Nora what Augusta said to be hard to bear, so the words could not leave her mouth. There was an opportunity that Augusta lied, but if it was the truth, Lavinia did not want Nora to go and learn about it all alone.

"Why do you all insist on calling yourself my big sisters, I am not worthy of that title..." Nora spoke in a gloomy tone. "I am just..."

"Fufu, Nora-kun does not understand it... but we..." Lavinia could not speak another word since she succumbed to the sleeping spell.

Raising his gaze, Nora directed his eyes towards the dome of fire formed by the purple giant. Grimly making estimations, he wondered if his tricks will manage to bypass the holy flame. However, he soon got rid of those thoughts. He activated his abilities and ignored the pain it provided. It did not allow him to see for a long time before the ability disabled itself.

Blood running down his face, Nora sighed in relief since he saw the cat he was looking for in a wooden building quite some distance away.

Patiently waiting, he noticed the group arriving a second later. They looked out of breath and sweat ran down their faces.

"Seriously, ahhhha, running out all of sudden, haaaa, we, haaah, could not follow you!" Natsume complained as she tried to catch her breath.

Tobio and Kouki had also trouble breathing, but their eyes were glued to the dome of fire, their expressions solemn. Shigune and Sae looked like they would fall at any minute, barely standing thanks to the training Nora and Barakiel provided to improve their stamina.

Watching their state, Nora provided support. While walking towards them, he created several senjutsu Bullets and shoot them at the group, making their states visibly improve until they looked completely recovered.

Marveling at the miraculous effects, Natsume did not notice Nora approaching her until he was just in front of her. His serious gaze made her feel ticklish and she nervously looked away, somehow trying to avoid his eyes.

"You guys know what to do. I will do my best here and you continue going in that direction, if you call out to her and mention my name, she will respond." Nora reminded. "Sorry, but I will entrust you the princess to you. There are some enemies in your path so the fighting force needs to be free to move as they please."

It was at this point that Natsume noticed the unconscious Lavinia looked too comfortable in Nora's arms. Natsume wondered if the girl was truly in danger going by her peaceful expression, but she nonetheless listened to Nora and took her. She was unable to carry her in princess carry as Nora so she could only try to carry her on her back, which she failed. Inwardly cursing at the difference in development despite their similar ages, it was only after Sae rushed to help that they both carried Lavinia from each side that they were ready to go.

Reluctant to part, the group stared at Nora.

"Go, this is the best way... or at least, I believe it is." Nora's serious expression changed into their all-familiar wry smile. "You guys don't have to stop, keep moving forward. I believe if it's you guys, you can do it."

Saying that Nora turned around and slowly made his way toward Augusta. The only reason why he had not seriously started to fight was because of the group and they were aware of it so they could only leave. They had many things they wanted to say, but the least they wanted was to distract him so they left hastily.

Before everything started, he made some arrangements.

...

...

...

"How about you stop locking yourself inside that?" Nora called out.

Inside his sleeves, several vials were hidden. He pondered which one to use first as the fire died down.

Glaring hatefully at the youth, Augusta warily glanced at her surroundings.

"Who are you?" Augusta asked.

Rolling his eyes at that, Nora simply crossed his arms.

"Who cares, you are going to tell me that you bother asking the name of everyone who attacks you? What are you going to do after knowing? Write it down on your Death N*te?" Nora shook his head. "If that is the case, I am called Kotomine Kirei, it is a pleasure to meet you."

"That must be a fake name..." Augusta narrowed her eyes.

"How did you know?" Nora furrowed his eyebrows.

"Everyone knows the name of the Saint who graced the Church with his heroics acts and left a prophecy close to occurring." Augusta replied.

"Pffft!" Nora drastically reacted. "*Cough* *Cough* You gotta be kidding me..."

Finding it hard to maintain a straight face, Nora incredulously stared at the older woman to see whether she was lying or not but she seemed dead serious.

"Is this enough time for your companions to get away?" Augusta asked.

"Heh, so you were aware." Nora smirked. "Yeah, I think they should be far enough, although I wouldn't mind if you actually decided to talk some more."

"Keke, is that so? My apologies, these old bones are not very comfortable being outside this late so I would like to wrap my businesses and go back to my atelier." Augusta answered.

Gesturing lightly, Augusta summoned her fire giant in front of her.

"Is that so? Must be hard to be so old." Nora shrugged his shoulders.

Hidden in his sleeves, he opened the vials and let the liquid fall down while taking a stance that hid his left hand from Augusta. The sweet smell soon filled his nostrils and he could feel that he would be rolling on the ground if he did not develop resistance to this type of potion long ago.

It would be hard to let the wind carry it to Augusta while her giant of fire stood in the way, but the poison would linger for a long time thus he had to make the older woman move this way.

"Trying to provoke me? That trick is nothing new to me." Augusta ordered her giant to burn her surroundings.

In the meantime, Nora decided to test one thing. He recalled a certain image and took a crouching pose. He used a seed to create a plant and he shaped it like a spear.

"It is ultimately inferior, but..." Nora enhanced his body to the limits and shot off like an arrow in a straight line.

His movements were swift and his feet took him as far as they took. His target seemed to be the giant and it did not stay idle. It moved intending to put a stop to the charge of the youth and attacked with a cross it formed from purple flames. The strike made the cross shatter and fire spread wildly. However, ignoring that, Nora emerged from the sea of flames the giant caused, his body was on fire and it was constantly being burned and regenerated at a visible rate.

The spear made on the spot had been half destroyed, yet Nora added more ki and made it regrow again. His arm pulled backward and he planted his feet on the ground before throwing the spear made of wood toward the giant. The impact came soon, or rather, the spear passed through devastating the giant and making a large hole in its body. Augusta was surprised but did not panic. Nora created a foothold in the air and headed down towards Augusta. He aimed his fist toward her but it ended up crashing and destroying a transparent shield made of magic. He passed through it, but he soon found his fist slamming against a second one. It took one look at Augusta's composed look to learn that he failed so he just moved his other hand and created blue flames in order to destroy the shield.

Augusta seemed confident enough, and she did not move from her position. Nora could only click his tongue and retreat, not before dropping a vial half broken that spilled its contents as soon as it crashed on the ground.

Backing down was a wise choice as Nora could see purple flames converging on the giant and taking the shape of the completed giant.

"No one likes bosses that go full health every time you beat them." Nora complained.

Feeling a little tired, Nora moved his hand towards a special pocket on his hakama, but he shook his head and stopped.

"There is no turning back once I use that." Nora uttered.

Once the giant was armed with his cross again, Augusta studied the youkai in front of her. She could not recall anything about him, his ability to destroy her giant once was not something any youkai could do and remain unknown. He was not from the old generation that remained hidden, or that faction that seeks their return to their origins. Their leader, that tanuki woman, would not show her cards like this. Augusta knew how crafty she was in her dealing with the witches so it was unlikely he was from that faction. She could also rule out the possibility that he was among the fighting force in Urakyoto during their attacks-

"Keke, I see... I did not see it in person, but I guess it fits somehow." Augusta commented.

"What is it? Are you going senile on me? Lady, you should just go home." Nora recommended as he created a ball of fire in his hand.

"Keke, aren't you considerate? Boy, you almost fooled me. How was it? Having all that power in the grasp of your hands and having taken it away?" Augusta asked.

Gesturing to the giant made of fire to rush towards the youth, Augusta waved her wand as she mumbled a chant.

Annoyed, Nora dodged and made trees grow to stand in the way of the giant. Augusta expected them to turn to ashes instantly, but they actually managed to resist the flames.

Intrigued, Augusta ordered the giant to ignore the trees and spread its fire even more.

At this point, there were few places that Nora could use to evade the pursuit so he began walking using a foothold in the air.

Sneakily dropping vials every now and then, the youth tried to attack Augusta a couple of times but the shields she kept around were spammed continuously.

Soon enough, Nora reached his limits and his transformation was undone.

"Keke, as expected..." Augusta muttered.

Her body levitated and the flying spell she had prepared before was activated.

"Sorry to disappoint you..." Nora sweated coldly and had to stop in place.

"I would say it is checkmate, boy." Augusta smirked.

She was certain that now that his buffed state was over, he would not be a treat, but the boy actually smiled at that, a slightly unsightly smile giving his twisted expression, he looked tired and had trouble breathing, he even fell to the ground, yet, he was smiling.

"Even with the rune that Shishou carved on my back, I did not last long enough against you. As expected, I can maintain that state for a long time if I do not needlessly use my ki, but as soon as my expenditure goes up, it will soon get undone. Tsk, there is much to improve." Nora sighed. "Ah, sorry, you said something about a checkmate? Yes, I agree."

Before she could arrive at the possible answer to Nora's agreement, Augusta felt a churning pain in her insides and the urge to throw up came up.

"Uwaaaa." Augusta covered her mouth, but she did not manage to keep the contents her body tried to throw inside.

Bewildered, Augusta fearfully moved her hand from her mouth and finally saw it, completely covered in blood, Augusta's hand was painted red.

"*Cough*" Nora coughed. "I honestly did think it would be this effective."

"You!!!" Augusta angrily pointed at Nora.

"Yeah, me." Nora laughed.

Coughing more blood, Augusta had to lower her height, or rather, she almost plummeted down.

The boy did not look completely healthy either, although compared to her, only a small amount of blood dripped from his mouth.

"Poison..." Augusta soon noticed a strange aroma in the air, something she failed to do after being focused on the youth.

"Poison. The sweet nectar of eternal rest, the gentle way to confront thine foes." Nora mumbled. "I say, it is quite fitting."

Groaning, Augusta coughed continuously and more blood was spilled on the ground.

"How come you are fine?" Augusta swallowed one mouthful of blood and began to search on her robe for something.

"Depending on the amount of poison you ingest, it can determinate the speed it acts upon a target." Nora explained. "However, some people are more susceptible to some substances while others have more resistance towards another."

Pulling a small vial, Augusta drank its contents. The churning feeling inside of her disappeared and she stopped coughing.

"Too bad I had this." Augusta snorted.

Looking unconcerned, Nora remained motionless.

"Did you know? My dear mother was quite competitive, one of her goals was to create a medicine more powerful than the Phoenex Tears." Nora spoke. "That said, that idiot started by creating a special kind of poison that will not be cured by using theirs."

The moment the boy said those words, Augusta coughed again.

"Damn you!" Augusta cursed.

"Go home, I am sure that you have witches that specialize in poison, you can get treated over there." Nora said.

Taking another vial, Augusta swallowed it in one go.

"Boy, you underestimate me. I am Augusta of the Purple Flame!" Augusta pulled a broom from her storage. "To go back after being beaten by a brat, does not fit my image at all. No, I will only go back after killing you all. Not only you, but that Demise girl, those brats that came with you, and that stupid cat!"

Laughing fearlessly, she made the broom float and took off. The fire giant was unsummoned and Nora was left alone.

"Damn it!" Nora cursed and ran like his life depended on it.

His hand went towards that hidden pocket and he tried his best to catch up.

--

3rd Person POV

Two figures arrived at a vantage point, overlooking the events occurring below. From the moment where fire and ice were clashing until a youth destroyed a giant made of flames with a wooden spear.

"Lina, are you sure you will only observe?"

The figure who spoke first had very long white hair tied into a low braid, framing red eyes adorned by a black hair ribbon. Her outfit consisted of a crop top with detached sleeves that exposes a significant amount of her underboobs. Covering her waist is a black jacket and a pleated skirt. Her theme color was basically red-white and black.

"Alcor, isn't it the same for you? The ally of children should be finding it hard to not charge in." Lina shrugged her shoulders.

"Mu, you know that we are not in that place! You can lovingly call me Onee-chan!" Alcor pouted.

"Why is it that from all the things you could take from them... you took that custom?" Lina was a little speechless.

"Well, I would like to go 'Zaaapan' and 'Poooow' on that witch, but this is one of the turning points, isn't it?"

Sighing, Lina nodded.

"Until now, we have done many things that can be considered evil. Our hands are stained with blood, and even if we vowed to never touch children, it does not lessen our crimes. It is our duty to see this, despite our personal wishes. He must do this." Lina said.

"Duty, huh." Alcor scratched her head. "I don't think that person will be happy if he finds out in what we became in the name of duty, or just to follow through a promise."

"...as my Onee-chan, you will make sure I do not get yelled at, right?" Lina acted pitifully.

"...I think I want a different imouto." Alcor sighed.

Suddenly, they both shuddered and their eyes were directed in one direction.

"The seal..." Lina narrowed her eyes.

"I would run if I were you." Alcor mumbled.

"...no, regardless of what happens. Everything must proceed as it must." Lina spoke full of conviction.

"Your legs are shaking..." Alcor commented.

Deciding that she would lose if she spoke anymore, Lina focused on the spectacle far ahead. The witch was flying at full speed and would soon catch up with the group running on foot. Even after Nora did his best to buy them time, their feet were tied by the enemies getting in their way.

"At this rate..." Lina bit her lips.

"Do you want me to step in?" Alcor did some shadow boxing.

"Stop it, your ridiculous strength is not fit for a stealth job." Lina shook her head.

Sighing, Lina had an idea what the witch wanted to do so the question was if she should really interfere or not at this point.

Part 3

3rd Person POV

Their stamina was running low after several encounters with witches, but Tobio and the rest managed to see the wooden building. They just needed to cross some forty meters and they could rescue Nora's precious one.

On the way, they tried to rip the paper seals Nora handed over, he told them to try and see if they had more luck than him, but the person he expected never showed up. Thus they had to do this themselves and hurry back to support him. They were not sure how strong she was, but Augusta could handle Lavinia that was stronger than them.

Just as they felt they could make it, there was a killing intent that froze their blood.

A figure shot past them and levitated above their heads.

"It seems like you are not going to make it." Augusta coughed some blood and immediately drank another vial.

Below her, a fire giant composed of purple flames was created.

"For some reason, you guys attach great importance to the creature in that building, right? He probably does the same. This is why..." Augusta smiled sadistically. "I will set it all ablaze!"

Laughing, Augusta ordered her giant to rush towards the wooden building.

It all happened too fast for anyone to properly think of a countermeasure. Kouki had gotten hurt fighting a witch so he could not rush and stand in the path of the giant, even if he did, he doubted he could block it. Sae and Natsume still held Lavinia's unconscious body and Shigune was unable to fight.

However, there was someone who imagined what would happen if the giant managed to burn the building, he could sympathize with the person who would suffer the most, and above all, he felt like he had a debt to pay. For the person who protected his precious one, he would do so as well. Thus, he rushed, he pushed his body to its limits. The barking of a dog rang in his ears, but Tobio ignored anything else. He did what he could, he passed the giant somehow and arrived at the building, he threw his body towards the door and entered. Yet, that was all he could do.

The giant arrived and it mercilessly struck the flaming crux down the building, setting everything on fire.

"Nooooo!!!!" Sae's desperate cry could be heard.

Natsume grimaced and Shigune's eyes watered. Kouki tried to attack Augusta in rage, yet, everyone, including the laughing Augusta, stopped in place. The air felt heavy and a killing intent surpassing Augusta's indiscriminately covered everyone.

Slowly, with a pair of emotionless eyes, Nora dragged his body forward. He looked exhausted, yet, he did not seem to care about taking a rest. His eyes were staring deeply at the building being reduced to ashes, then, they changed targets towards the giant, until his head hung low and he looked at the ground. Everyone turned to look at his figure thus no one noticed the building falling apart and something there.

"Heh, hehe, hehehehe." Nora laughed.

Feeling a terrible threat to her life, Augusta ignored such a thing after noticing that the killing intent that had just disappeared came from the boy. She could see his shoulders trembling and hear his creepy laugh.

"Hehehe, I see, I see." Nora raised his head.

Even his allies found his state rather intimidating. He was clearly laughing but his eyes looked dead.

"Did you lose your mind? Boy." Augusta questioned.

"Shut up, bitch." Nora sharply said. "I don't expect you to understand so close your damn mouth in this instant."

Scowling, Nora's eyes began to regain their light, but there was no goodwill in them, not even as he glanced at his allies. Augusta was angered by it and planned to send her flame giant to attack the boy but did not respond to her will.

"To begin with, it was strange that a simple guy like me had reached this far without screwing up." Nora pulled a small box about the size of his hand from a hidden pocket in his hakama. "This stupid world would seem like a paradise to many people, being blinded by the good things, they would forget how crappy reality is."

His words appeared to be towards himself more than to the listeners, but everyone listened attentively.

"This crappy world is one where those who are weak can be going peacefully with their daily life, but suddenly, a fucking priest can go crazy and start killing you because it turned you are a beat in his eyes. You die, and what's next? Nothing, this world has many convenient skills and magic spells that would make everyone easily accept your death or make it like you never existed. Yes, this is that kind of world." Nora ranted. "Why? Why? Why? She was just a 7 years old little girl, she liked to nap with her sister, she loved to eat sweets and would sometimes play some pranks, but she was nonetheless a kind and gentle girl, yet, you... You... YOU! WHAT RIGHT DO YOU HAVE TO DO THAT!?"

Accusing the witch Nora gripped tightly unto the box.

"Keke, you are a funny one. Are you going to give the self-righteous talk? What is good or bad, is not really important in my eyes. I just do what I want, that is the way of the world in my eyes." Augusta seemed to be enjoying herself. "Are you angry? Are you frustrated? Do you... want to cry? Kekeke, you are free to do so. That is the only thing you are capable of right now. You were not fast enough to reach her, you did not have the strength to crush me when you had the chance. Your poison packs quite the punch *cough, I will give you that. However, I can survive long enough to make your life miserable. You should've used all the vials you had, no, my apologies, you used everything you could against me and this was the result. You could not do it, even though you did your best. That is certainly pitiful, Keke, worry not though, I have more despair for you."

"Heh, despair is it? I guess you have used the correct word." Nora finally opened the box.

As soon as he did, the contents let out an ominous aura. Augusta's expression changed. She could recognize what that was, she even had one of them saved as a last resort, obtained through her dealings with that group. While hers would not grant such a huge improvement in her stats, it would make it harder for her to be killed. Even though the side effects would put her in bed for weeks, she could accept such a result compared to the inexperienced and foolish ones who swallowed one pill and end up as hideous monsters that died sometime later. However, right in front of her, the boy she was mocking had more than a dozen of those. Not only that, their appearance was clearly of lower quality yet the aura they exuded was extremely vicious.

"How did you get that!?" Augusta shrieked.

"Oh, this? Just a small spoil of war. Nothing to be proud of." Nora took a pill out of the box. "It hardly qualifies as a trump card so I have never considered using it."

"Heh, you wouldn't have the guts to take one of those. Your kin will get corrupted as soon as they eat those, and they will never be back to how they were before. Even if you manage to survive, you will end up as a beast who attacks others creatures it sees." Augusta tried once again to order the giant, but it refused to budge.

"That will probably be the case. Even as I hold it in my hands, it is causing the small amount of ki I managed to recover after arriving here to rampage." Nora said. "However, this is power."

"You... you have gone insane. You lost your mind." Augusta tried one last time to control the giant, but it disappeared on its own, causing her to panic.

Shaking his head, Nora swallowed a pill.

"You must be confused, I am afraid you have made mistake in your assessment of my persona." Nora glanced at Augusta like he was looking at a fool.

His actions somehow caused discomfort in Augusta along with some irritation.

"A mistake? Hardly, you lost your mind due to pain and you plan to do a suicide attack to kill us both. Too bad, you will never be capable of killing me, the difference is too much." Augusta wanted to mock him more, but the poison kicked in again so she had to take another vial of Phoenex Tears.

"You see, that is where you are mistaken." Nora pointed out. "I was never sane, to begin with. I had half lost my sanity long ago, and I ended up losing it after being in that lab. However, I had lost my sanity, but I found my light. The gentle girls who allowed me to remain 'normal'. Before meeting them, I fooled myself by thinking that nothing changed, but after getting to know them, I realized how twisted I became and felt ashamed, there was even a time, one I am not proud of, that I pushed them away, yet they never abandoned me. The unsightly me became irreplaceable to them as they became to me. Back then, I vowed to protect them, and do everything in power for them yet the likes of me could not even protect a 7 years old little girl. Thinking about it, I am laughable existence. It was arrogant of me to think I could do something like that."

Calming down, Augusta made calculations and she could still take down everyone here just using magic spells without relying upon her Sacred Gear.

The group's mood could not be lower. Sae had broken down in a sobbing mess, while Natsume did not know if she should try to talk to Nora about the things he was saying or console Sae. On the contrary, Shigune was shaking, unsure what to do when she felt Poh, acting strange. The same could be said of Kouki. Their avatars seemed to be going insane as they transmitted one thing to them. To run, as far and fast as they can.

"I told you, it is not enough-" Augusta had to stop her sentence halfway as she saw what Nora did.

One pill, two pills, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine pills. The boy continuously swallowed those ominous-looking pills like they were candies.

"If one is not enough, more have to do the trick... don't you think?" Nora spoke.

A chill went down her spine, and Augusta could tell that things will not be so simple. Thinking until that point, she tried to create a teleportation circle only to fail.

"Someone locked this place!?" Augusta's expression darkened.

One look at Lavinia and she could tell that the effects of the spell from before were still active, yet, someone had prevented her magic spell from working.

She could not recall anyone skilled enough that was capable of this walking around the place so Augusta concluded that they limited themselves to lock the area. Although Satanael was still around, she could not grasp his motives for doing this.

Feeling a vicious killing intent, she watched as the boy began changing. Despite his reckless actions of eating several pills, his transformation was very slow. His eyes turned completely red, and strings of black mist began to leave his body after it began to encroach his limbs.

"Grrrr." Nora growled.

Slightly curious, Augusta wanted to see what kind of boost did he get so she tried to get closer to study it and prepare a proper countermeasure against the boy, but she was shocked when he just crouched and jumped in her direction, and before she could register it, he slammed himself against her magic shields, breaking one easily and almost destroyed the second.

"You little bastard!" Augusta grimaced.

The transformed Nora kept himself attached to the second shield and began using his hands that took the shape of black claws and attacked the shield that broke after a few hits. Augusta immediately blasted Nora away and restored her shields.

There was a loud crash and he stood up growling threateningly close to the group.

"Bird brain. Can you run?" Kouki asked.

"Huh? I probably can run a few miles if I push myself." Natsume answered by reflex.

"What about you, Nanadaru?" Kouki inquired.

"I... can." Shigune answered after a short pause.

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Natsume asked.

"Tsk, don't ask stupid questions, and get the hell out of here!" Kouki yelled.

His actions picked Nora's attention so he turned to them and charged straight at Kouki. The ex-delinquent only had time to put his lance between him and Nora before he was slammed backward with incredible force. He felt the force breaking a couple of bones, but he did not have time to question which ones were those. Nora had caused him to crash against a tree and he lost a bit of air from his lungs, but he still pushed his limits and discharged a large amount of electricity to drive Nora away. The boy hissed and backed off causing Kouki to sigh in relief as he avoided the follow-up attack from the boy.

"Keke, big words the ones from before, but you can't even distinguish from ally or foe, Keke." Augusta watched with interest and could not help but comment.

Her actions were not answered with words but with a loud growl coming from Nora who once again changed targets.

This time, Augusta did not stay idle but rather flew away. Only to be chased by Nora who moved at an incredible pace.

"*Cough* Damn it." Kouki cursed.

Wiping the blood from his mouth, he stood up with difficulty.

"Hey! What the hell was that!? Why did Shiki-kun attack us?" Natsume shouted.

"Be quiet, he is easily irritable so he might come after us if he hears us." Kouki warned.

"That is not what I asked!" Natsume insisted.

Clicking his tongue, Kouki did not feel like answering. He felt bitter and explaining in detail will only make him feel worse.

"I... I think that what you saw is not Nora-kun." Shigune shyly explained. "Poh... I think Byakusa too, they recognized him as a threat and insisted that we run away."

Biting her lips, Natsume wanted to refute them, but she could not find the words. Lowering her gaze, Sae was still sobbing, unaware of everything that happened.

"You are saying we came here for nothing?" Natsume tried to hold back her tears. "We lost Ikuse-kun, Shiki-kun and the girl, Shirone-chan... what did we even come for?"

Shigune was not good at talking so she could not say anything back, Kouki-

"Yes. We came here, acting all mighty and stuff. We spouted nonsense about helping Stray-sensei, but perhaps we only got on his way. No, it was most likely the case." Kouki admitted. "Right now, there is nothing we can do. No, there was one last thing he entrusted us to do and will make sure I at least fulfill his wish."

Directing a look at Lavinia, Kouki sighed.

"But... we will truly abandon him." Natsume reluctantly said.

"Why should we stay here? He is keeping that witch in check, but as soon as any of them dies, we will follow." Kouki bitterly spoke.

"Then we should just run!?" Natsume could not accept it.

Taking a deep breath, Kouki stared straight at Natsume and nodded.

"Yes. We will." Kouki muttered. "It is about time we face reality. From the beginning, he hid us in that place for our own safety. He did so because he knew what kind of people were after us and he did not want us to face something we could not deal with. You... know I am right, aren't you?"

"That is not.. fair." Natsume could not say another word.

"Ara? Is that all you guys can do? I thought that the people that person went to the trouble of protecting were something amazing, but only one of you has shown some worth."

A nonchalant voice was suddenly heard, Kouki, Natsume and Shigune looked left and right to find the speaker, but it was Sae, who was crying until now that stood up and dashed towards a particular direction. An unfamiliar woman emerged from the shadows of a tree and before Natsume or Kouki could warn Sae, they heard a familiar sound, the barking of a dog.

Sae dashed past the woman and threw herself towards another emerging shadow. That figure lost its footing and awkwardly fell while trying to prevent Sae from getting hurt.

"Sae, where you trying to greet me or make me spill the contents on my stomach..." Tobio mumbled.

"Tobio! Uwaaaaaah!!!" Sae cried loudly.

"Sheesh, idiot. Don't cry... I am perfectly fine so there is no need to cry." Tobio patted Sae's head.

Ignoring his words, Sae sobbed on his chest continuously.

"You really lack the delicacy to treat a girl."

The woman sarcastically muttered. As she held a white cat in her hands, she slowly lowered it and put it on the ground. The cat, which had a magatama hanging on her neck, soon changed forms until she transformed into a petite white-haired girl.

Stunned by the sudden development, neither Natsume, Kouki, nor Shigune, moved a step.

The white-haired girl stared at the woman, and she equally stared back. With a confident smile, Lina met Shirone's stare.

The first one to lower her head was Shirone, and Lina giggled at that.

"Ara ara, are you afraid of me?" Lina asked with a meaningful smile. "You would do well on fearing me, I am with the bad guys."

"No, you are... not bad." Shirone answered back.

Her smile slightly froze, but Lina quickly recovered.

"You are really naive. Bad guys hide their true nature until the end." Lina said.

"You saved me. Nora said to always be grateful regardless of the reasons." Shirone spoke. "You... are good deep down. Although, my cat senses can tell you are cheeky."

Lina turned her head back and hid her expression from the small girl.

"I did what I came to do, you are free to go." Lina gestured to Shirone to get away.

"Hmm, I know. Thank you, thighs lady." Shirone gratefully said.

Almost tripping, Lina helplessly glanced back.

"...there are better nicknames." Lina reproached.

"I do not know your name." Shirone mumbled. "Nora told me that the secret to recalling people who do not give you their name is to give them the most accurate nickname you can think."

Slightly pleased, Shirone patted her chest proudly.

"...I worry about your future." Lina sighed.

"It is ok. I have Kuroka-onee-chan and Nora-onii-chan." Shirone smiled.

Directing her eyes past the girl, Lina could see the signs of a terrible battle unfolding quite a distance away.

"You sure love them." Lina muttered.

"Yes. They are the bestest pair of cats one cat can ever ask." Shirone nodded. "That is why I need to bring the cheeky Nora back home."

"You saw what he transformed into, didn't you?" Lina asked. "Aren't you scared? Even now, he is transforming into something bigger and more dangerous."

Crossing her arms, Shirone sighed and looked at Lina like she was looking at someone silly.

"Nora is Nora. No matter how he looks, no matter how he changes. He is the hero of Shirone and Kuroka." Shirone said. "Besides, he made a promise, and Nora had always kept his word."

Turning around, Shirone began walking towards the battle.

"Do you think he will be able to keep his promise in that estate?" Lina asked.

The small girl was too small to question Lina who seemed to know more than she let on, or she simply did not care, but Shirone's steps never halted.

"He will because he is that kind of cat." Shirone's small figure kept getting smaller as she moved forward.

Hesitating whether to follow or not, Lina glanced at the group who had a variety of expressions.

"*Sigh* You guys look terrible." Lina shook her head. "No, it would be more accurate to say that you feel that way."

The group did not dare to reply since Lina was showing hostility towards them all of sudden, her eyes did not have the same spark of kindness it had towards Shirone.

"It is true that you can't do a thing." Lina spoke. "It is true that you failed until now. That much will never change, the past will not be changed just because you guys feel regret. However, do you know what is the greatest mistake you committed? You have given up. Whether it was your original idea to come and help him or aid him, you guys walked in here without a strong resolution."

"That is not true, we-" Kouki wanted to speak but soon he could not form words anymore.

Lina's eyes glared straight at him and he felt the threat of death.

"The resolution I speak off is not about simply desiring to help someone or anything like that. I am speaking of the resolution to look your path through, regardless of the sacrifices you have to make, regardless of the pain you will have to suffer and cause. None of you know about what resolution truly is. To discard your freedom, to discard your peaceful life, to follow on a thorny path that might not have a good ending. None of you have considered that. Doing everything you can? Have you guys put your life on the line? No, you have not. You have been forced to put your life on the line, but never jumped down the cliff on your own." Lina glanced at Tobio and sighed again. "That said, that young man showed his worth."

Laughing sheepishly, Tobio blushed slightly at the sudden praise, only to be pinched by a jealous Sae. A little impressed at their display capable of ignoring the stagnant air she created, Lina lost her energy and did not try to reproach them anymore. She recalled that they were still young so perhaps she was too harsh on them, a little too emotional.

Hearing the sound of battle, Lina soon followed after Shirone as her body melted in a black mist.

"Ikuse, can you still stand?" Kouki dragged his body forward after wiping the cold sweat running down his face.

"I think I am in a better state than you." Tobio smiled wryly.

"Then let's follow that little girl. She must be the one that Stray-sensei wanted to protect." Kouki said.

"Wait, your body is about to collapse, what are you going to do?" Natsume asked although she followed along.

"I don't think I understand whatever that woman was saying. I never gave deep thought to things like that." Kouki spoke. "However, I would like to think that keeping my word is something I will do. Back then, I hesitated, Stray-sensei asked us to protect that girl and leave him behind. I can't deny I was reluctant, no, even now, I am. Yet, I guess I now see that I will be disappointing him if I don't do this."

"I still want to help him..." Natsume seemed reluctant.

"Give it up, today's hero was Ikuse." Kouki laughed.

"Please don't joke around, I am only thankful that that lady lent us a hand." Tobio sighed.

"Hmmm, I doubt she actually tried to help us. Her target must be Stray-sensei, Birdbrain, you have a hard path ahead of you." Kouki joked.

"Yes, she seems pretty strong so- wait, you bastard!" Natsume fumed angrily. "*Sigh* You know what? Forget it."

"Etto... I am not good at reading between lines but... you are admitting that... you know..." Shigune shyly interrupted. "You l-li-like him!?"

Ending her sentence in a rather hyped tone, Shigune seemed excited at the prospect.

Deciding that more words will only worsen her standing, Natsume focused on carrying Lavinia who still peacefully slept. She just prayed that they could catch up to the girl at their speed, one they could hardly hasten given that they had injured and unconscious people among them.

...

...

...

By the time they caught Shirone, she had stopped to witness the fight between Nora and Augusta, perhaps because she could not interfere. That said, they assumed that it was Nora fighting Augusta despite his shape looking nothing like before.

Over two meters tall and 5 meters long counting the tails, a creature was fighting Augusta to a stalemate. No sign of the giant of fire, but Augusta still used an array of magic spells that were mainly composed of fire and earth. Spears or fire would rain, or spikes of the earth would emerge from the ground, yet Augusta's foe would evade it one way or another. Covered in black fur, a huge... cat, was confronting the witch. However, her face was completely serious.

After finally cornering the cat, Augusta surrounded every escape route with spears made of stone and impaled Nora, yet, his body changed into a black mist before escaping unharmed. The witch followed creating several magic circles below the location Nora passed through and raising pillars of flame. This resulted in a loud roar before Nora changed back into physical form.

Angry growls escaped his mouth and warily glared at the witch. Augusta clicked her tongue and was about to leave but Nora jumped after her.

"This is..." Kouki did not know what to say.

"A bit anticlimactic, don't you think?" Natsume added.

The group could only nod dumbfoundedly. This was not a fight, no matter how they looked at it, Nora was playing with Augusta, she got tossed around and despite the several defense spells she had, she was getting tired.

"Look closer, this is not as easy as you think." Lina's voice was heard, but they failed to find her figure.

It was at this point that Natsume strained her eyes and observed in more detail Nora's figure. Every time the creature opened its mouth, she could see Nora's figure inside. After a bit of effort, Natsume saw it. He was continuously ingesting more pills to maintain his state.

"His body is beyond exhausted since earlier, he had been fighting. In the end, that power consumes you rather than actually granting power. At least, that is what those pills are for. It just twists the energy inside you and corrupts your body so you can obtain a momentary boost. Only through baptisms is one able to wield the power of the Outer Gods, but such a thing is not known by many people. That said, there are unique cases, call it an exception to every rule. That person over there is one. To freely use different abilities without receiving proper guidance, relying on sheer instinct, it makes you wonder what is he exactly." Lina commented.

Looking at her side, Natsume found out that only she heard those words since no one else reacted.

"...why are you telling me this?" Natsume inquired, her voice also unable to be heard by her companions.

"We have rules, and interacting with this person directly will only make 'them' cast their eyes on that person. That would certainly be troublesome for our cause, thus I was hoping to establish a link through you." Lina's voice sounded like a whisper.

"...the reason why I am your target, and not the other is that my avatar is currently in a dormant state, isn't it?" Natsume concluded.

"...that is one big leap in logic. What makes you say that?" Lina asked.

Glancing at her companions, she noticed the restlessness that their avatars showed, feeling uncomfortable for some reason.

"Currently, I am powerless. However, different from Toujou-san, I have a Sacred Gear, meaning that my strength is not that low. I guess that it was a simple process to reach that conclusion for someone like you. If I am too weak, I am not going to be of use, but otherwise, if I am too strong, I would pose a threat to you. That is why the muscle-head, Nanadaru-san, and Ikuse-kun are out, the last one is strong in Nora's eyes so he must be hiding some incredible power. Muscle-head and Nanadaru-san have their avatars with them that will warn them of you, while Toujou-san is as defenseless as me, but while I will recover my strength, she will remain as she is." Natsume explained.

"...the nickname, Birdbrain, is quite the cover." Lina spoke in a surprised tone. "So, what do you say?"

"He is my benefactor, I will not sell him to you." Natsume turned down the offer.

"...I see." Lina's voice sounded somewhat pleased.

Confused, Natsume was about to ask when there was a change in the battle. Augusta's condition kept worsening for some reason and she used a blinding spell to cause Nora to lose sight of her for a moment. Those actions cause Nora to rampage on the ground. Tracking trees indiscriminately, until it suddenly stopped, perhaps recovering his eyesight, or getting weak since his movements became slow all of sudden.

Just like that, it laid his eyes on the group, and Kouki, who had the largest frame, pulled Shirone behind him. His actions picket Nora's interest and he began to slowly walk their way, growling all the way.

Having received a full charge from Nora before he transformed, and now that he had a bigger form, he wondered if he could survive to tell the tale. Nonetheless, he prepared himself to take the charge head-on, but Kouki did not count on a small figure running past him, ignoring the calls from the others.

Not even one bit concerned with the approaching threat, Shirone walked forward.

When Nora was close enough to lunge at her, the cat opened its mouth and Nora's figure could be seen growling. It stopped just in front of Shirone and when everyone thought that a gruesome spectacle would unfold-

"Bad!" Shirone firmly told off Nora.

Her tone was devoid of fear and Shirone swung her little finger at Nora as she reproached him.

The most surprising thing for the group was that Nora obeyed and did not attack her. He stared straight at her and soon his transformation began to undo itself. The boy had not taken any other pill so it seemed that he had reached his limits long ago.

Little by little, Nora's form began to take shape of a young boy as the black mist began to leave his body. His human form still had red eyes that looked terrifying, but the little one did not mind, she simply walked forward and embraced Nora.

"You guys are hopeless without me." Shirone mumbled.

The last vestiges of the mist dispersed and Nora finally went back to normal. Standing seemed to be the best he could do, but Nora bit his lips and slowly raised his arms to hug Shirone. Little by little, the injuries sustained during the fight before they began to show themselves. The group could not tell how much pain they could cause or how deep they were, but the amount of blood tainting Shirone's outfit was alarming.

Tobio and Kouki shared a look and they nodded, they took a look around and made their way towards Nora and Shirone, before moving they signaled Shigune to go forward towards Nora and she did so hastily. The petite girl was not sure how much help she could provide, but Shigune could not stay idle while the others were busy. Sae had to make haste towards Nora as well because Natsume also wanted to go even though they had been holding Lavinia.

"I am sorry..." Nora's voice reached their ears.

There was no need to think deeply, his words were directed at the figure he was holding.

"You must've been scared and lonely, I am sorry, I was unable to protect you, I am sorry..." Nora silently cried.

No response came from Shirone, but her arms tightened around Nora.

"I was not scared. I knew that Nora will come for me." Shirone paused. "Nora is our hero, I will always believe in Nora."

"You idiot! I did not save you! You can't believe in me!" Nora raised his voice.

The group could see guilt covering his face, perhaps, Nora could only say these things at this point because he was not facing Shirone directly.

"Nora really is a dummy, it is just like Onee-chan said." Shirone sounded exasperated, but her tone of voice sounded full of emotions. "You gave us a place to be."

"That was because Yasaka-san allowed me to let you stay in Urakyoto." Nora refuted.

"Uh hu, Nora says that, but you gave us a place to be, even I understand that." Shirone said.

Groaning, Nora shook his head.

"...if you had gone with Sirzechs-san, you would be living in the Gremory's state. That is a huge castle, and you would be surrounded by luxury, you would be living a life free from everything I put you through."

"Don't say that." Shirone mumbled. "We want to be with Nora, not because of the good things you might give us, but rather because just like Nora, Onee-chan and I both believe that."

His face looked unsightly with the tears running down his bloodied face, there was dirt, probably from his earlier fight with Augusta, but the group could all agree that his expression at that moment looked immensely happy. From the time they met him until now, the boy always acted like someone mature, far older than his frame would dictate, his words were not the type you would expect and he would treat them like they were a group of young children. Nonetheless, at this moment, they saw him filled with joy and putting a child-like smile.

"I will do my utmost to protect you, that, I swear. You will go back to your sister today, that much, I will bet my very soul." Nora's expression shifted to one filled with resolution.

Before Shirone could say anything else or react to the bad premonition she had, she felt her body lose her strength and sleepiness invaded her mind. Nora had delicately tapped a few spots on her neck and Shirone lost consciousness.

The group was baffled, but Nora did not say anything. He was extremely weak, to the point that even preventing Shirone from falling made him sweat, however, he bit his lips and lifted her in a princess carry before walking unsteadily towards Shigune, who had approached him to tend his wounds but stopped when Shirone began speaking, and handed the girl with some reluctance.

"This is... my simple request. Please, I beg of you, escort this child out of here." Nora mumbled with some difficulty.

Taking the little girl was a bit difficult for Shigune, but she agreed to it.

"Wait, Stray-sensei, let them do that while we stay here with you." Kouki proposed before the boy said anything else.

Nodding at that, Tobio stared at Nora. The bulkier young man was certain that the boy would request them to go as well, leaving him alone but they could not allow that.

"Don't be so hasty in throwing away your lives, you are still young and there is much you have yet to see." Nora tried to persuade them. "Are you ready to throw away that, your lives? What about the people you care about? Are you prepared to abandon them?"

His grim tone made the group hesitate, but there was someone who could stand it.

"Are you an idiot? You are in the same boat, are you going to abandon this child? I heard she has a big sister, but I assume they both rely on you heavily. What do you think will happen to them if you are gone? Who is going to take care of them if that happens? No, it is not only about them. What about you? How can you be like that? Don't you care whether you live or die!?" Natsume exploded.

"No, I don't. My life is not that important. I have lived plenty, however, they have a long way to go. The same could be said about you. You have yet to go out and see the world, you have yet to live your life. Forget about me, I am just a foolish scum, a selfish bastard who only cares about himself. For me, as long as they are alive and well, I can be happy, and I will have no regrets. For such a self-centered asshole like me, being left alone is not a bad outcome." Nora spoke. "Ikuse-san, if you stay here, who will protect Toujou-san? Go, protect the one precious to you. Samejima-san, you are way too reckless, I am not worth the effort nor I am worth befriending. You have long-standing friends that will still need you, even if Hanezu is dead, people like the damned witch will still seek your Sacred Gears, and they will target those close to you. You can die here, leave. Minagawa-san... you also have people you want to protect so there is no reason why you should be here. Nanadaru-san, your parents must be at home worried about your safety, do not let them wait. Toujou-san, isn't your family worried about you as well? Do not linger here, you can still make it out of here." Nora's words made everyone feel complicated.

Thinking about it deeply, his words made sense, many people would grieve their absence of they died, and the prospects of hurting them were not to their liking, however-

"...why are you so against fighting together? Why do you reject our help? Right now, more than us, you need someone to save you, to protect you, there is no way in hell that you want to abandon this girl!" Natsume pointed at the unconscious Shirone. "You have pushed your body beyond your limits, your strength might not be greater than ours at this point, yet you still reject a helping hand. Can't you understand that your life is as precious as this child!?"

"Heh, you are pretty kind-hearted to the core... despite being a closet pervert." Nora took out a familiar-looking box. "Listen, children. You must not make this mistake, I have never intended to use you when I saved you. I just felt like you would go towards a thorny path and intervined. Getting rid of those people was something I had to do, yet I failed to do so fast enough. Do not think I had an interest in your powers, I am just a whimsical person, doing as he pleases. Getting help in battle, fighting side by side, it would be like I kidnapped- pouched you with evil intentions. I might be sharp-mouthed, foolish, self-centered scum, and soft-eared, but I do have a limit to how far I will go. You children are not weapons or pawns to be used by others, you are not meant to be assassins that kill others once ordered. If that is the path you wish to follow later, that is not an issue, but you are just a bunch of regular children whose only worry not long ago was to fluke your exams or buy that game console. This is not a world you should take lightly, but I cannot accept how you were unwillingly dragged to it."

There was much to take on, but while they were processing his words, the group saw Nora ingest more pills. Black mist began to be produced from Nora as the origin.

"I thank you for waiting for my chat to finish." Nora slowly turned around and walked past Tonio and Kouki.

Even as he walked, his joints would make noises they should not, but Nora just awkwardly advanced.

"Keke, you are saying it like I had another choice. Quite the vicious poison you used, I had my hands full dealing with it until just now." Augusta spoke in a chilling tone.

Black smoke was being released from her body and her eyes took a reddish hue.

"So you had dealings with those people as well." Nora calmly said.

"And so do you, or that is what I would like to say. If you truly had, you would know that you have killed yourself after ingesting that many pills before. It is nothing but a miracle that you are still alive. Although I fail to understand how you can still have the guts to tempt your luck by taking more." Augusta muttered.

"Cats have many lives." Nora replied.

Chuckling at that, Augusta could not find his words funny since that is how it looked. The fact that he was breathing was absurd. They had gotten their hands on these pills, and that meant that the Wizards of Oz had conducted their own tests. The results were pretty much widespread among their people and she could tell that the boy was the only one capable of such a feat until now. Not only that, his anomaly did not end there. Her Sacred Gear began acting up this way only after she began facing him, and not only did it stop listening to her, refusing to appear, she could feel it trying to break free from her, almost to the point of going berserk. While she could not teleport, flying away seemed plausible, but if she did not get rid of the boy while she could, it would cost her dearly later on. Not only the poison was straining her body, but the damage during the fight with the transformed boy caused her to suffer heavy damage. As a last resort, relying on that pill had to be done. After this, she will have to discard her body, but there will be a possibility to get Lavinia's since she was not conscious, or in the worst case scenario, she would have to use her disciple's.

With that thought in mind, Augusta tried to attack the group but Nora leaped in her direction viciously. The shield she prepared was not broken like before despite the surge of strength the boy received from the pill. Augusta also received such an enhancement so her basic abilities were a lot higher. Nonetheless, she could feel how draining it was to her weakened body. She could only wonder where did the boy pull the strength to move when she was certain that she wounded him critically over and over, and while his techniques managed to get him into safety several times, she was certain in her ability to cause a good amount of damage.

Creating several fireballs, Augusta threw them at the group all at once, but once again, the boy got in the way and took the attack head-on. For someone who started to growl like a beast, he was rather conscious of what her actions will cause to the group. Augusta could only click her tongue and focus on him.

...

...

...

It was not long after that both were drained, although the boy was worse already lying down on the ground without the strength to move.

"Haaaah, Aging... can be, haaah, quite troublesome..." Augusta complained.

She was about to raise her staff when she felt two distinctive signs of danger. For once, she felt a familiar aura approaching at full speed, and at the same time, she was alarmed when she suddenly began hearing the sounds of chains nearby. They sounded pretty close and they caused her to feel the threat of death more than the familiar aura. Nonetheless, as she took her broom to flee, Augusta only saw the humongous figure of a golden fox making its way toward her.

Judging from the killing intent pinned on her, Augusta had no doubts that she will perish as soon as they meet. Without her Sacred Gear, she is unable to match that youkai.

In her mind, Augusta began considering how to deal with the boy if he managed to survive. Although that was doubtful given how he was barely breathing.

...

...

...

Something odd had been occurring since a moment ago, the sound of the chains had become distant but Augusta could not calm down her nerves. Her teeth clattered non-stop and her heart felt like it would burst. Above all, her Sacred Gear was showing even bigger signs of a rampage, almost to the point she felt it was rejecting her.

"Ara, where are you going in such a hurry?"

A voice called out of nowhere and Augusta failed to notice the ambush. A foot slammed against her back and Augusta fell face first to the ground. The effects of the pill were weakening but she was able to stand up albeit slowly despite leaving quite the crater on the ground.

"Who are you...?" Augusta gritted her teeth.

"What a boring question, Hexe."

Black mist covering her, Lina slowly walked towards Augusta.

"You!" Augusta pointed angrily at the young woman.

"Fufu, Ja, me. I was in charge of providing the Wizards of Oz with some materials once and you happened to be the one receiving it." Lina giggled.

"Weren't you supposed to be our ally!?" Augusta asked.

Dread continued to invade her as the sound of chains became even more distant.

"Isn't that a little strange coming from you?" Lina spoke in an amazed tone. "Fear not, I am not going to lay a hand on you anymore."

Those words did not bring comfort to Augusta, she was strangely unsettled and she could not understand why. Augusta wanted to ask another question to Lina but she saw her grin widely then turn her head to one side and saw it.

That was death, there is no other way to describe it. Augusta judged it as such and could not muster the strength to resist it. No, she knew that even if she mustered her remaining strength, it would be useless. If she had not been poisoned, if her Sacred Gear was working, if she had not been exhausted after the boy's bitter struggle against her. It seemed that meeting that black cat was her doom.

She had met Grim Reaper before, but this one looked more terrifying than them, instead of carrying a gigantic scythe, wields two long-barrel revolvers. Its face is shrouded in a blood-stained cloth sack, with only one blue eye exposed to see its surroundings. It wears two long chains across its left and right shoulders, forming a cross. The killing intent it was released was like a tsunami, ready to swallow her at a moment's notice. The vegetation around her got twisted in real time, growing wildly and deformed in her direction, almost like it was trying to encroach on her as the man or creature desires. The tall figure has black mist coming out of it as it made its way toward her and Augusta could only drop to the ground again. Lina respectfully bowed with an ecstatic look hidden as soon the creature passed her side.

"Keke, I must say, I do not know what to owe the honor of someone of your caliber to come personally for my head." Augusta helplessly said.

Her words earned her a glare from Lina, one look that could kill her, but she was at her end of the line so Augusta brushed off that glare easily.

The figure replied by raising his pointlessly long-barreled revolver and pointing it at her head.

"Know the weight of your sins."

An oddly familiar voice reached her ears, Augusta could not pinpoint where she heard it before, but there was something in those words she could not accept.

"Hah, you stink of blood, there is no way you can claim justice when you are simply a murderer!" Augusta spoke.

Killing intent coming from Lina made its way towards her, but Augusta ignored it

"Indeed, I am evil. Maybe, I am worse than you. Before reaching this place, I brutally killed every single hostile on this mountain, I spared no one. That includes the remaining team of witches that were waiting in a nearby village."

In a tone lacking emotions, the voice muttered those words like it was not a big deal.

"So, why are you killing me? I don't picture you as one that enjoys mass murder." Augusta asked.

"Ignorance is bliss, however, you will not be allowed to experience any bliss from now on. Did you know? I came here to prevent you from going to hell... since that place would be paradise compared to what you will go through."

Pulling the trigger, Augusta felt a hole being made in her head, but the reality was that it was blown up. Yet, what awaited Augusta was not the world of the dead. With a wave of his hand, the figure easily caught her in the palm of his hand. His weapons had been dropped and they melted in his shadow. His other hand began to change shape until a mouth appeared before the soul was swallowed up. There were shrieks of pain while the mouth sank its teeth into it, and one look inside that mouth could send chills down anyone's spine. Endless sharp teeth could be seen down what someone could doubtfully call throat, making anyone guess how much pain the soul will feel until it found its way towards the stomach, although it was doubtful if there would be an end to that parade of teeth or if the stomach would be any less pleasant than them.

Before being swallowed, something else came out of Augusta's body and it made its way toward the figure. A purple flame shining in purple obedient floated in from of the figure but the figure just walked away. That caused the flame to follow after him, yet the figure did not seem to care.

"You deal with the rest."

Saying that the figure sank into a nearby shadow before disappearing.

Respectfully bowing, Lina pulled a small transparent box from her bosom. Action that would get her a label of lewd from a certain cat, but she nonetheless acted without regard to what anyone would think. The purple flame seemed to lose interest to remain in place so it was about to leave before Lina carefully trapped it in the box.

"Sorry, but you will be coming with me." Lina smiled. "Now then, I left Alcor stalling for time while I came to make sure of dealing with the witch, but unexpectedly, that person showed up. I should consider it my lucky day, and I bet my other sisters will be delighted as well as jealous. Fufu. That said, there is one tiny detail to take care of yet..."

Sighing, Lina wondered if this will play out as she was told. She had her doubts, but she also wanted to believe in what she was told. Will the boy survive on his own or not? There had been many uncertainties in their plans, but they could not allow anything to happen out of place at this point. Thus, Lina had a hidden ace, a trick that she hid from her sisters who wanted history to simply play as it was meant to be until the appointed time was in sight. Lina considered that she had already deviated from the proper history so a little more deviation would not hurt.

--

Yasaka's POV

By the time she had carried Nora out of the mountain to fetch Shirone, Yasaka had to make an abrupt stop. The life signature of Nora was way too weak at this point, but the good thing was that out of the mountain, she could finally teleport out of the place and seek medical treatment. At least, that was what she believed.

"Why!? Why!? WHY!?" Yasaka shouted.

She was at her wit's end. First, Yasaka found out that Nora had escaped all of sudden, she did not know how but even the girl, Artoria, covered for him by fooling the guards. There was some support from the twins belonging to the guards as well so Yasaka could understand how that eating machine in human shape could fool her people. Getting permission to deploy a large scale of her people was continuously rejected due to the attacks that happened earlier that day, thus the exorcist families were a little wary of the sudden deployment of her youkais. For the first time, Yasaka flew into a rage and threatened- angrily told them that she would pay them a visit in her fox form if they continued to be unreasonable. Things went smoothly after that, but she lost too much time. Yasaka wanted to teleport to his exact location but she was not exactly sure where that was so she could only follow the vague direction from the token she found on his cell.

Arriving at a close enough location, Yasaka found a group of youngsters that were somewhat familiar since Nora once showed her a file from them. She recalled that rather quickly because the fool of a cat told her that he kidnapped them with a smug smile. That prevented her from attacking them in sight when she saw them carrying an unconscious Shirone. They were scared, but when Yasaka simply asked where Nora was, they almost jumped on her to guide her personally. She got to the rough location and hastily made her way when she learned of his situation, but by the time she arrived, he was lying in a pool of blood and his enemy had fled. There was a barrier preventing her from teleporting so she could only go back to human form and carry him back. That said, she was certain that a new barrier had been created in the location where she stopped since she did not feel one back them.

"Sorry, I am afraid I must stop you here."

The voice of a young woman was heard and Yasaka stood in front of Nora defensively. The group of youngsters also warily stared at that figure although some of them blushed when they saw her.

"The name's Alcor." Alcor instructed herself in a plain tone.

With her arms crossed, her rather large bust was accentuated so it became a focal point for the young ones. On the other hand, Yasaka glared at her.

"What is your game?" Yasaka mumbled in a cold tone.

"It is nothing that complicated, as the big sister, I am following the wishes of my younger siblings. That said, I mean no harm. As long as you stay right there, nothing will happen." Alcor muttered and glanced hesitatingly at Nora's figure behind Yasaka. "He looks in pain, should I help him...?"

"Say away from him!" Yasaka growled.

A little depressed, Alcor lowered her head.

"I don't like children suffering..." Alcor spoke sadly.

"Then let me go so I can get medical attention for him." Yasaka uttered in an urgent tone.

Shaking her head sadly, Alcor did not reply at once. Yasaka took it as an answer thus she could only do the first aid by herself. She had learned quite a bit from Saya and while it was not her calling, she should be able to help the boy in the meantime. However, she soon understood that she was being naive. Not only his wounds would take too much time and effort to close up, but they would open up again.

Tears dropped from her eyes as she watched him turn pale white from all the blood he lost, a miracle that he was still alive.

"I-Is there anything be could do?"

A petite girl, by the name of Shigune Nanadaru, was the first one to ask, or rather, she was the only optimist one as the others had grim expressions while the others silently sobbing.

"I said! Stay away!" Yasaka bared her fangs.

Yasaka knew it, the girl meant no harm, she was probably trying to help no matter what she had to do even if she was not familiar with it. However, Yasaka was not even sure what she was doing. He was... dying, right in front of her eyes. Her powers were unable to do anything for him, and Yasaka was unable to protect him.

Scared the girl backed away, but Shigune mustered the courage and walked up to Nora, slowly and with shaky hands, but she put her hands on one of his open wounds to stop the bleeding.

"I-I am sorry, I only know this much." Shigune closed her eyes fearfully, expecting harsh words or getting thrown backward but nothing happened.

Gritting her teeth, Yasaka did not give up.

Leaving a blonde-haired to be carried by her companion, a slightly taller girl came forward after recalling something.

"He gave us this before parting with us before. He said it would be no use to him and perhaps it would be helpful to us." Natsume as her file said, took off some vials from her pocket.

Taking a look at them, Yasaka saw numerous things such as antidotes for poison, potions that could calm down the pain, and the like. However, nothing that would be useful for the current Nora.

"It is no use..." Yasaka spoke in a sad tone.

Biting her lips, Natsume sat down, feeling drained.

"If you allow me, perhaps I can..." Alcor offered again.

"What can you do?" Yasaka asked.

"Well... If we woke him up, things will get easier..." Alcor seemed to have trouble explaining.

"Do you want him to suffer!?" Yasaka asked angrily.

Shaking her head left and right, Alcor exaggeratedly shook her hands as well.

"No no no! I would not dare! My motto is if you cannot solve a problem, you do not have enough guts. If he is awake, he can at least put up a resistance." Alcor spoke.

Feeling like she was hiding something, Yasaka could not fully trust her but she nonetheless could agree that he might tell them what to do if he was awake. It was a little cruel, but perhaps only he would know what to do.

...

...

...

"It... is... useless..." Nora slowly said. "I... am... glad... I was... of... some use..."

After forcefully waking him up and explaining to him what was happening, Nora replied as such.

"Why!? You can nurse someone back from the death like Saya!" Yasaka shouted.

"...I am... not as good..." Nora replied. "But... I should... be able... if... I had... not... taken those..."

"Are you going to abandon me too?" Yasaka helplessly asked.

The group tacitly remained silent during their talk, and even Alcor respected the conversation.

"...sorry." Nora apologized. "I had... to... save her..."

"You are a selfish idiot, a jerk, a mother-con!" Yasaka shouted.

"...the last... one, I am... not." Nora replied. "My... fetish... will always be... maids... and... *Cough*"

As he tried to defend (?) his honor, Nora coughed more blood.

"Even like that, you have the mood for jokes." Yasaka said.

"I... don't want... to add... more tears... to... your face..." Nora spoke with difficulty. "A smile... would be nice..."

A smile formed on her face, but Yasaka still could not hold back her tears.

"I really... fell hard... even now... you look... beautiful..." Nora tried to smile.

"Idiot..." Yasaka wiped her tears.

"Kuroka-chan... Shirone-chan... I leave them... to you..." Nora's eyelids had trouble staying open.

"...if I tell you that I won't take care of them, will you stick for more time?" Yasaka hesitatingly asked.

"...that would be... hard... even... for me... I spent... all my... lives... today..." Nora's breathing was slowing down.

Weeping, Yasaka was still unable to heal his wounds.

"I am sorry to interrupt, but I do have a worthwhile proposal if you are interested."

A familiar tone for the nine-tailed fox, but it was not an ally so Yasaka created a golden flame and threw it in the direction she heard the voice before even turning, but-

"Ouch, that hurt..." Alcor complained.

Turning around, Yasaka saw Alcor in from of Lina. The woman who flirted with Nora before and the one that attacked the Shrine with that other man. Somehow, she was intensively bothered by those two, but one more than the other.

"Oh my, that was a barbaric act improper of a lady. Aren't you afraid that the boy will dislike you for being so barbaric? I am a poor helpless girl, who do you think he would support if a fight broke out? Isn't he the type to aid women in trouble?" Lina spoke in a teasing tone.

Her words were unnecessarily annoying, but Yasaka made no further movements. The other party had strange abilities and even Alcor took care of her attack despite the power she put behind it.

"I suddenly feel bad for the poor boy, it must be hard to have such a violent woman as the target of your affection. However, if you ever get tired, we would welcome you with open arms. There are many lovely ladies in our group." Lina winked.

Why was it? She was incredibly sad a moment ago, but as soon as this woman came, the rage came pouring like a tidal wave.

"Scary~" Lina fearfully (?) his behind Alcor.

"Lina..." Alcor called out, a little fed up.

"Sorry~ Sorry~" Lina apologized and made her way towards Nora, ignoring Yasaka who was ready to pounce on her.

"Hi~ We meet again." Lina looked down on Nora with a flirtatious and confident look.

Looking at her, Yasaka wanted to wipe that expression off her face, but she furrowed her eyebrows when she felt distress coming from the woman. Did her ability to detect certain emotions as a youkai go berserk? It disappeared as soon as she tried to focus on it again.

"Great... another pervert..." Nora sighed.

Dubiously staring at Lina, Yasaka could understand by Nora said it because of the flirtatious woman, but he mentioned another... Yasaka glanced at the group and saw some suspicious movements. Nonetheless, she would pursue the matter on another occasion.

"You are going to die." Lina stated.

"No... shit... Sherlock... what gave it... away..." Nora spoke a little annoyed.

"You are more hostile than I thought. This might be tough." Lina sighed. "What do you say about a deal with the devil?"

"...I am... one..." Nora slowly said.

"...I have a way to save you, but you might wish to be dead if you go through it." Lina muttered.

"Why do you want to offer your help?" Yasaka suddenly asked.

Even if the fight will turn into a tough one, Yasaka was prepared to grant Nora at least some time of peace. If this woman only had in mind torture for his last seconds, she will resist with all her being.

"Silence. I am asking him." Lina sharply said. "Whether he dies or lives, he has the right to choose that."

Staring at Lina, Nora blinked slowly, each time his eyes would remain closed for longer, and Yasaka felt pressured.

It would be a lie to say that she was against him living longer, but if he had to suffer and above all, there was not a guarantee that he would survive, she was not certain that she could support the idea.

"Nora... she is not a bad child."

Heating this voice, Nora widened his eyes at once and Yasaka felt someone jealous that she could not cause the same reaction.

"Shirone-chan..." Nora mumbled slowly.

"Nora... don't die... don't leave us alone..." Shirone made her way toward Nora, trying hard to not cry.

"Silly, I am the strongest cat." Nora bit his lips. "I will not die."

"You are lying! Bad! Lying is bad!" Shirone scolded the boy.

With a wry smile, the boy pushed himself to raise his arm and pat her head, but he ultimately lowered it when he saw it full of blood and noticed her white hair. However, Shirone grabbed his hand and put it on top of her head.

"You won't get to pat Onee-chan or me if you die... please, stay with me. I don't want to lose anyone." Shirone begged. "...I had a friend back then, but..."

Listening quietly, Nora did his utmost to stay awake.

"Nora, you can't do the same. She said she will go on ahead, but I never saw her again! Nora is the strongest so you won't abandon Shirone, will you?" Shirone pitifully said.

"I... can't die." Nora gritted his teeth to the point it seemed like they would break. "Woman, what do you want in exchange for your help?"

"You finally seem full of drive. Very well, if you survive this, I will tell you." Lina grinned. "We will perform a baptism here, be aware though, only when you have a strong will that you will not turn into a mindless monster. Normally, we would perform this on a large altar using a grand ritual, but there is hardly time to start preparing."

Slowly pushing her hand toward her valley, Lina pulled a simple-looking pill. Yasaka furrowed her eyebrow at the normal design and how it lacked anything special so she doubted it would help Nora. However, one look at Alcor and she was able to guess that it was not simple at all.

"The biggest issue with the pills you consumed is that they are usually made to kill the consumer if they have not been through baptisms, we hand them over to allies or enemies alike so they have the same function. However, you not only took one but dozens. I am honestly surprised that you are still breathing. In fact, perhaps if you grit your teeth, you can survive long enough to make it possible to heal you." Lina smiled. "What do you say?"

Yasaka wanted to speak, but she remained silent when Nora opened his mouth.

"Cut the crap. I know there is a catch." Nora sharply said.

"Your ki will forever be corrupted, although I am sure that if you look long enough, a way to deal with it will appear." Lina shrugged her shoulders.

Extending his arm with some difficulty, Nora glared at Lina.

"I suppose I should thank you." Nora said.

"Oh dear, you will most certainly curse me once you take this." Lina muttered.

"Don't be mean to Nora!" Shirone spoke. "Nora, she is... not a bad child, she likes to prank others so be nicer to her. Cats must always return a favor. She saved me before..."

Widening his eyes, Nora sighed.

"You have my utmost gratitude regardless of what happens." Nora mumbled before taking the pill from Lina and swallowing it at once.

Shaking her head, Lina glanced at Shirone who looked at her with an innocent look. Yasaka was unsure what happened before, but to get Shirone to speak for her, it would mean that Nora will not consider her an enemy.

Things escalated quickly, Nora began to shake and he twisted his body in pain. He gritted his teeth and refused to scream, but Yasaka easily saw him fighting for that urge.

Alarming amounts of black mist began to pour off his body and soon his eyes turned red. Nonetheless, neither Yasaka nor Shirone left his side.

Lina and Alcor each stood in distinctive positions and began chanting ominous words that Yasaka could even understand despite her studies in several languages. However, it seemed to affect Nora as he calmed slightly.

Now that things had gotten to this point, Yasaka could only stay at his side.

...

...

...

It was not until daybreak that Nora calmed down, his body stopped creating black mist and he settled down, asleep.

Following him, Shirone crashed into him. Yasaka was alarmed but soon found out that her reason to be scared was no more, his wounds had been sealed. They were not perfectly healed, but they no longer bled.

"Alcor put on a barrier so I doubt anyone else found out. However, I will make it easy for you to understand." Lina waved her hand and the black mist that Nora created gathered in one place, her hand. "His life would be at peril if people learned of what happened. After all, what we follow can only be called evil gods."

Once again pulling something out of her bosom, Lina lightly threw it beside Nora.

"You can have this, I lost interest in it." Lina lightly said.

Warily picking it up, Yasaka saw a purple flame inside a transparent box.

"You have all been subjected to the black mist. While it was not created with evil intentions, its nature resembles miasma so you better got to a Shrine or it might get you cursed." Lina warned. "Hmph, since it did not interfere, it seemed to have accepted that it was good for its host."

Muttering the last part to herself, Lina glanced at the green magatama resting on Shirone's neck. Her rather... unladylike way of sleeping was messy so the magatama made itself known during one of the twists.

"Wait, I want to ask you one thing." Natsume suddenly called out. "Why does it feel like you know about Shiki-kun so much..."

No longer studying the purple flame, Yasaka turned her head since that topic picked her interest.

"There is much you people ignore about him, in particular, his birth. What kind of existence he is, his origin, and what he had to go through to be like he is." Lina plainly said. "It might look like we know a lot, but isn't it more like you know nothing?"

Feeling the hidden meaning, Yasaka saw Lina staring straight at her with a challenging look.

"It was a rather pleasant meeting, tell the young man that I would be very much pleased to tell him in detail what I want from him... Of course, it will be the two of us alone at that time." Lina licked her lips seductively before Alcor teleported them away.

Seeing the root of her new headache sleeping peacefully, she felt like pulling his cheek. However, thinking that there is much to be done and feeling exhausted, Yasaka decided to spare those cheeks.

--

3rd Person POV

"Lina..." Alcor mumbled after they went back to their base.

"I know what you want to say. However, it was for the best." Lina replied.

"No, I don't really mind what you did. I just have a question..." Alcor hesitatingly said.

Having a bad premonition, Lina urged her sister to go on.

"...why didn't you tell your big sis that you had those hidden urges? It is bad, you know? He is still not in the legal spectrum no matter the country. I am happy you have found someone you like, but your preferences are a bit..." Alcor shyly said.

That day, Lina's swearing could be heard through their base loud and clear.

--

3rd Person POV

"Teach David, that was one heck of a spectacle. Are they heathens?"

A young boy excitedly said as they made their way down the mountain.

"They certainly are, Freed."

A man of middle age grimly said.

The duos were teachers and students sent by the Vatican to investigate the emergence of a strange fanatical group of cultists located far in the east. So far, they found a few scattered members, but they were easily dispatched. They could hardly match the two exorcists, especially when one was wielding Galatine, a sister sword of Excalibur.

"Catching the witch might be hard, but the other one seems like an easy target."

"Do not let it get to your head, the one that picked him up was a mighty creature. One we must eventually exorcise, but might not be able with our forces alone."

The man chastised the excited one.

"Don't worry Teach David, just lend me your sword and I will make sure to hack any heathens that stand in my way."

Slightly worried, the man could see a certain level of a twisted nature in his disciple, but the teachings do not discriminate against those who seek God so he would never judge him. Warriors who fight for the Vatican are precious and one so willing even more.

"Hehe, I finally found you."

A cheery voice made the duo stop in their tracks.

"David Cerro and Freed Sellzen, isn't that right?"

Dressed in a nun outfit, a young girl made her way to the duo.

"You are with the church...?

David asked warily. Despite her clothing, she was not someone he could recognize.

"Tee hee, that is right. I am an executioner of the church. My job is to take down those who are evil and I take my job very seriously. After all, He who is in heaven talks to me."

Clasping her hands in front of her, the girl offered a silent prayer.

Freed seemed unconcerned, but David slowly put his hand on the handle of his sword.

"Why did I not hear that the Vatican would send support?"

"Oh my, did you not hear? A great deal of the church's facilities were attacked and most of the higher-ups were critically wounded or killed."

Smiling peacefully, the girl did not seem concerned at all, but David and Freed were shaken, that was a major event and they could not simply stay here after hearing that.

"Did they send you to inform us...?"

Still wary, David asked. He need to confirm the information he received but there was something uncanny about the girl so he could not let his guard down.

"No, the will of God is something we cannot interfere with. We can only follow the path he lays for us. What happened is something that we cannot do something about so we must continue with our tasks. That is why I am here."

His senses were yelling at him to run, but he did not want to make sudden movements so David continued to talk.

"...what could be your task?"

"I must put heathens to rest with the judgment light that God has bestowed to me."

For some reason, after knowing that, he could not be at ease. Their jobs sounded similar, but the way she suddenly appeared did not sit well with David.

"We did found a group of people who need judgment, but there was a supernatural being who is a threat bigger so we were about to chase after him."

Signaling his disciple with his eyes, David slowly backed away.

"Is that so? I did watch the events that happened here so I am aware of him. However, he will have to wait. I do have a list and I just added his name so he is in last place."

"A list? What do you mean?"

"Yes, I am happy that you ask. Freed Sellzen, you committed murder some time ago when you were in the facility. One of the scientists had mysteriously disappeared and you were found guilty. You killed one of the sisters and wrongly accused her of being beaten to get away with murder. You are guilty."

Raising her hand, the young girl pointed her finger at Freed. It caused the young boy to sweat profusely and David raised an eyebrow at that.

"David Cerros, you have been protecting a murderer so that makes you an accomplice. You are guilty."

Following her accusations, she pointed at David next.

"Teach, she is crazy..."

Furrowing his eyebrows, David could not outrightly deny her words. His student acted shadily during that investigation and there were faulty parts during his explanation so he always doubted but-

"That is a grave accusation, who gave you the right to accuse us and sully our names? Which branch do you belong to?"

Perhaps there was more to it so David wanted more information.

"Branch...? Uh, I am not sure. I was always locked up until now. However, today, I received a divine message and just made my way out. The tools I needed to complete my duty were found on my way out as God would've wanted it. You are the first people I need to pass his judgment on so you should be honored since he considered you worthy of being the first."

Feeling a chill run down his spine, Freed prepared to run away.

"To cowardly run away when God wants to show you his infinite love, how impudent. "

Her voice was sweet and lovely, but the white ray that she shot from her hands was extremely fast. Before he could warn Freed, David saw him being hit by the ray and turn into a white statue. Gulping slightly, he extended his hand and touched the statue. It did not take more than a gentle touch for it to fall and form a pile of salt.

"Now then, would you like to accept God's infinite love or be made to accept it?"

Smiling sweetly, the girl caused a grown-up man to shudder. David had to admit that he did not expect to end up like this after waking up yesterday.

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Author's Notes

So, this time, Hanezu was different from the canon. Since this is a Fanfic, I can use it as a excuse, but let me explain why. In the canon, he was actually closer to his goal than he was here, and he had his head on his shoulders. He could calmly accept what he did wrong. That said, you should notice that Nora tries to act cooly but ultimately fails in several ocaccions, he is mentally stressed and unstable since he is being eaten by the guilty of what happened. He is unconciously aware that thanks to his choice in saving the Slash Dog team and the people from the cruise from the canon, he caused the disaster in Urakyoto. As for his mental state afterward, you will see something I had in mind and will write in the next chapter.

One thing I want to make sure you guys get is that Nora will most likely snap if harm comes to the two cats. There is more to what he went through in the facility, things he would rather forget and do not mention them. For now, there is not a single person he has told this. The only people who might have an idea but would never tell another soul, well, it would be the Maou Sirzechs and Ajuka, they digged as much as they could from the facility, and they will keep it to themselves. Obviously, Sirzechs will not tell Grayfia or she would go on a hard to stop crusade.

So much happened that my hands are having cramps. I meant, I wrote so much despite being absurdly busy and tired from work. Originally, I planned to make this chapter about 10000 words long, but I just kept writing and writing. After hitting 18000 I was like, the heck, webnovel is such a pain, I will still need to split the chapter so I better write more. This, it became like this.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Ask any question you have and I will answer them... That said, no one actually ask a thing... or even speaks to me. Only complaint towards the earlier chapters.