The Nekoshou's Wolf

by Curiosity44

Reborn into DxD 20 years before Canon, Hei, a human orphan, must rise with his own will to the top, overcoming Devils, Angels, Fallen, Gods, a loli dragon, and most of all, the felines in his life as he spreads the name of his legacy, the Legacy of Lupa, a legacy of assassins. Come Join Hei on his journey as Lupus, the Nekoshou's Wolf. AU world. FUCKING READ THE WARNING

8. 7: Passage of Years, Steel, and Rising S

AN: Time passes with a nice jump in years and things start heating up. Extra note at the end.

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Disclaimer: I don't own any original content; I claim no ownership of DxD or HxH content. With that said, I sure as hell wrote this fic so don't steal my shit.

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Chapter 7: The Passage of Years, Steel, and Rising Shadows.

With a steady schedule mixed between training with my sisters, work on gold rank jobs, continuing to build my underworld merchant brand, occasional outings with one or more friends, dedicating time to Kuroka, and a couple hours here and there to play with Shirone and the triplets, time seemed to move on one month after the next.

Now that I finally unlocked Touki, Yoru was working me harder than ever.

As it turns out, I was still a newbie to touki and its much harder to control then you first think.

Not only are you burning through energy like dry wood in a fire, but you don't just increase your all around physical abilities by levels and automatically understand how to move your body with the correct amount of force.

I broke a third of the bones in my body over the first month trying to control it while crashing into things or exerting my body to forcefully.

And unless it was a serious brake in danger of damaging organs, I usually had Yoru laughing her ass off at me.

You ever know what it feels like to crack a hip bone? Not fun.

On the other hand, Kuroka was always there to laugh and care for me in equal measure.

It was both sweet and aggravating of the damn cat.

But the main reason for my issues was that human bodies just simply weren't made to be able to handle touki like supernatural creatures.

Thankfully, my body had been changed and boosted by the steroid formula from my sacred gear to evolve beyond human limits.

Still, I had to learn extreme fine control of my body if I wanted to handle touki.

The damn cats around me didn't have that issue, they were 'naturally' in tune with using it once they unlock it.

Damn cheat's.

Anyway, fine control isn't new to me, it's something I've been honing since the very beginning, not to mention Chloe's poison string training.

Each session with her trained my fine control to extreme levels.

So it didn't take me more than two months of various training times to get a handle on 2x touki usage.

I could increase the boost to 3x or more, but the more you increase, the greater the strain, harder the control, and the energy usage rises tremendously.

If I could use 2x for five minutes, 3x drained me in one minute.

Now Yoru has me training with and without touki at an even higher level than what she had been using before.

Apparently she was just waited for my body to hit puberty next year for me to pick up the more weight focused training.

Every physical ability is built like a pyramid with your base stats as the base of the pyramid. The greater the base, the better the quality of each layer up.

With Yoru focused on touki, Leone was expanding my energy sense and suppression abilities.

With a larger energy pool, it was more difficult to hide it all, but on the flipside I could sense more and farther.

She had me working on fine control sensing close up, and then expanding what I can sense as far as I can.

She wasn't happy when I mentioned the incident with the sniper outside of my range, and she made sure to beat it into me what I should focus on learning for practical use.

Chloe continued with the same routine of poison resistance and string training.

She wanted me to achieve what she calls a perfect immune system.

It's a body that can fight off any and every kind of poison and illness.

And it's a myth.

But she wanted to prove it wrong or get as close as possible, and I was her guinea pig.

Thankfully, she was also a genius and every time she poisoned me, it would not only make me immune to that brand of poison, but it would increase the power of my immune system and the overall quality of my body as it expelled impurities.

The only cost of her 'treatments' was extreme pain and entertaining her.

And finally Ghislaine continued with our excursions into the wild.

She didn't allow me to use anything aside from my physical skills, cold weapons, and energy sensing to survive, track, and hunt beasts.

She was giving me field experience and letting me grow mentally while steadily increasing the challenges and difficulty level.

Each race of beast requires tactical thinking in various environments I find them in, so it was a challenge for my will as well as my wit.

Kuroka was absorbed in her own training.

My sisters weren't going easy on her, pushing her to bring out her talents as a Nekoshou.

And they had to since she wasn't as iron willed as I was.

Sure she wanted to become strong, and she was determined, but I'm not against saying I'm a freak of nature when it comes to accepting punishment to push myself farther.

So it led to me comforting her most days.

My cat wanted pampering and I was more than happy to give it to her.

I went the extra mile and studied up on techniques for masseuse/masseur and even picked up a few books on massage therapists.

While I wouldn't call myself an expert, I was more than adequate to help pamper her into a blissful puddle.

But it's not like it was only me giving.

Kuroka was always there for me just as I was for her.

I wasn't a machine; I had my off days and I had jobs that just seemed to drain me more than usual.

It reached a point where I didn't even need to say anything, she would just look at me before dropping what she was doing to pull me away where we would cuddle up and be there for each other.

Her ocarina skills were also used to soothe me to sleep or relaxation on days where my mind refused to shut down.

The path of an assassin is a dark one, and while I'm sure I would make it through on my own without breaking or falling off my path, it would be a darker, emotionless, and more indifferent version of myself that walked it without her.

And despite her own gruesome first experience, she showed just how mentally strong she really was and came along on a few of my jobs.

She didn't run or falter, she took the steps herself and stood tall.

It didn't stop me from being there to support her but I was proud of the growth of her willpower.

It takes brass balls/boobs to face your fears head on and conquer them.

She was my sun and I was her rock.

The time we spent together was some of the most cherished moments in both of my lives.

And as we trained, worked, lived, and loved, time kept moving on.

*Line Break*

"Ah!"

"Move faster."

"Easier said than done! Ow!"

"No complaining, hit harder."

"Damn it you son of a bitch, stay still! Fuck!"

"Your foes won't stand still."

"Ha! You would be surprised how many dumbasses there are among my kind. Pu!"

"Don't fall to their stupidity."

"*spit* ha, can't argue with that."

In a secluded mountain range in the Himalayas, a clearing filled with snow was accompanied by large booming sounds as fists met flesh in a brutal sparring match.

On one side was me, calmly analyzing and instructing, and on the other was Sairaorg, getting his ass handed to him in unarmed combat.

I was in my usual combat uniform minus the cloak and mask, leaving me in a sleeveless tight shirt, black combat pants and boots.

He was in sweatpants and a tank top.

Neither of us were paying much attention to the biting cold of the mountains around us.

I paused to let him catch his breath as he spat out a wad of blood.

"How the hell are you so much stronger than me? You are a human right?"

"I'm not stronger, I'm more skilled. My body is weaker than yours, and my energy is a candle next to your bonfire, but I'm more experienced and skilled.

Having high base stats is important, but what you actually do with them is what determines the pecking order in the world."

He stood up and looked thoughtful at my words.

"Ok, that makes a lot of sense. You think I could overcome my families bloodline with skill?"

I hummed and nodded while choosing my words carefully.

"Yes, you need to put in five times the effort of those born with power handed to them, but the returns you will have will take you far past the point they would peak in power."

He looked down at his hand and clenched a fist.

"It's not that I doubt you, I am getting my ass kicked by a human after all, but this is the power of destruction were talking about."

"I think you have been brainwashed a bit too much."

He raised his eyes with a questioning look and I went on.

"You were probably told growing up that the power of destruction is the most powerful bloodline because no one can stand against it, or because the leader of the Bael clan has a high nobility status, or even because the current lucifer has the power, right?"

He nodded.

"It's common knowledge."

"Yeah, what they don't tell you is how weak the power can be."

He gave me a startled look and I went on.

"Every power in the world has a weakness, there is no such thing as absolute, and the power of destruction has many weaknesses.

Why do you think in recorded history, there have only ever been two devils of the bloodline to reach ultimate level or beyond?

Sirzechs Lucifer is not simply strong because of his bloodline, he is strong because he is a once in an era genius.

He refined his bloodline into what it is today through imagination, creativity, effort, and a lot of experience in combat.

Now, let's imagine there was a young girl with the bloodline, one who never trained, tried to be creative with her power, or put in the effort to make something of herself.

How do you think she might use her natural bloodline ability?"

He put a hand on his chin in thought before answering.

"Probably just blast it like a canon in the general direction."

I smirked and nodded at him.

"Right? It's not hard to imagine. The power of destruction has a few notable weaknesses.

One it takes time to charge up before it can launch, this usually takes anywhere from 5 or more seconds. And in a battle even 5 seconds is a very big window.

To someone who never trains, it could very well be 30 seconds.

Two, it takes enormous amounts of energy. Even for a high class devil, I doubt they are getting more than ten shots out before they feel like fainting.

Three, those with the power tend to rely solely on it, and never train other skills.

Four, once it is shot, it is difficult for even practiced users to change the trajectory.

And five, you can't just hope to use it on overwhelming powerful foes. Without enough power behind your blow, a stronger opponent can just block it.

Not to mention, training with it is exhausting, imagine getting a high grade skill in a game.

The exp cap to level it up would be ten times more than a basic grade skill."

I punctuated each point with a raised finger and the guy was blinking in surprise.

"Wo, wo, how the hell do you know all this?"

I shrugged.

"Information is the lifeline of an assassin, I studied everything I thought I might need to know. Especially the weakness of powers that I could end up facing one day."

He shook his head with a laugh.

"Haha damn man, I would really hate to be your targets…. I'm not your target right?"

He trailed off at the end and gave me an unsure look that I matched with a wide smile full of sharp teeth.

"Who knows~."

"Oi! Don't do that man! It's freaking me out."

I laughed and waved it off.

"Don't worry, I'm more likely to eliminate whoever sends out the hit before I would go after you. Call it the friends and family discount."

"*Pft*, ha! Nice one. Anyway, back to the topic. So your saying that I shouldn't worry about anyone outside of Zekram and Sirzechs?"

I crossed my arms and shook my head.

"I'm not saying to ignore the rest. There are only a handful of people, less than ten altogether, who actually have the power of destruction.

Outside the top two, the others likely never did anything to strengthen themselves and relied on their bloodline.

So you shouldn't worry too much about it, but you should still be cautious.

It's regarded as the most powerful bloodline for a reason, even if that reason is overinflated and riding high on the ego of some old fossil."

I mumbled at the end in annoyance and Sairaorg shot me a curious look.

"What do you mean?"

I clicked my tongue and decided to explain it all plainly.

"A quick lesson in politics here.

When the anti-Satan faction rose to power and began the civil war, who do you think actually built that faction?"

"Wasn't it the four current satans?"

"You would think that, but it's not entirely correct.

The four satans were the generals, they were the hammer, and they gained the public fame that allowed them to take charge after the war.

But the hand holding that hammer, the voice that started it all was actually the founder of the Bael clan, Zekram.

He built up the power base, the political capital, and began the campaign for a simple reason."

"Which was?"

"He wanted power. Most likely anyway, it's just my assumption from reading between the lines.

With the old-Satan faction suppressed and the old Satans dead, Zekram used his political capital to declare the Bael clan the great king among the ranks of remaining devil pillars.

And it was met with support of those that followed him and they gained high ranks as well.

Before the war, the Bael clan was just one among the pillars, there was no rank system as all devils were subordinate beneath the original Satans.

They were the kings and everyone else was their subjects.

But then they were killed, and while the public transferred the thrones to those who slayed them, the one who truly held the political power was Zekram, who named himself great king in the background.

While the rest of devils fight between the old and new forces, that old man is just playing in the background as a hidden hand who has power and authority unquestioned.

I don't know what stops the Satans from outright removing him, but he is one of the greatest tumors among the new Satan faction.

It mostly stems from him and your fathers' opinions on anyone not of the Bael clan's bloodline that causes a lot of issues among devil kind.

It's also the reason that even if you become stronger than Sirzechs himself, you will never become the heir to the Bael unless you kill that meddling old man."

I blinked as I realized I went on a tangent and Sairaorg was being very silent.

I looked at him to see him with a lost look in his eyes and I coughed to get his attention.

"My bad, I went a bit deep into my thoughts there."

He waved his hand.

"No, it's fine. You just… gave me a lot to think on. I've seen a lot from my clan growing up, aside from their opinions on me, and what you said puts a lot of things into perspective."

I nodded but decided to shelve this talk for another time.

"Well don't worry about it too much. Young devils are important either way so even if they don't like you, they wouldn't outright try to kill you until they realized you were a threat.

For now, use your freedom to grow strong in the shadows, find a purpose, and hide it like a cloaked blade until the time comes for you to unsheathe it."

He nodded as a wide smirk grew on his face.

"Ha! I like that, I'm glad I met you Hei."

I gave him a disgusted look.

"I'm straight and taken."

His brow twitched and he stepped forward angrily.

"Not like that you bastard! Grah! I'm gonna kick your ass!"

I mockingly held a hand to my ass.

"My, now you want to do things to my ass? Should I call the police?"

"They would arrest you before me, you shady bastard!"

"Heh, point. Anyway, back to what I was saying, you can deal with most foes with the power of destruction in simple ways.

Just attack them before they can release their attacks or move fast enough that they can't hit you."

He scoffed.

"Easier said than done, do you know how fast that shit is?"

"Then you just need to get faster."

"There are limits to what I can do physically you know!"

I smirked at that.

"Ever heard of touki?"

Let's see what a Sairaorg who started his path to power earlier with an actual guide might be able to accomplish.

*Line Break*

"I got to admit, this is actually really nice."

"I told you so."

"You told me a lot of things Staz, not many were useful."

"Oh? So you found something useful?"

"Well, the advice on sleeping posture and routines did help, it makes me feel three times as rested with less time spent sleeping."

"Heh, told you so, take it from the expert."

"I don't know how to feel about you being an expert on being lazy."

"Feel proud."

I chuckled at that and shook my head as I laid on my back on the grass with my hands behind my head, staring up at the clouds in peace.

Staz was a couple feet away doing the same.

He really was a simple guy and hanging out with him usually means just chilling and enjoying silence. Something I can appreciate quite a bit.

It was a nice change of pace from other things in life.

The silence was only broken twenty minutes later by a teleportation circle and I was quick to put my mask on.

Out of the circle came two girls.

"Staz~!"

"Staz-Sama~!"

The girls jumped at him in excitement but were stopped by Staz throwing up a hand that their faces slammed into.

"What?"

The girls pouted.

"We want a dub!"

"Yeah, the stuff has been amazing for my branches."

Staz grunted and removed a small bag filled with questionable things.

"Same price."

The girl on the right nodded and took out a roll of cash while the other tried to look seductive.

"Anything I can do for a discount?"

"You could leave."

"Mou~ so mean Staz-Sama!"

"And your loud."

I stifled a chuckle at their interaction while the girl on the right rolled her eyes.

"Shut up Stacy, and Staz, thanks as always, you're the best supplier around these days."

He shrugged and they exchanged items while the girl named Stacy's eyes rolled to me before they widened.

"Well, well~, look at that yummy vitality. Hey handsome, want to have some fun?"

I chuckled and waved a hand.

"Sorry, I'm taken."

Her eyes gleamed and she tried to sensually crawl to me.

"I don't mind~."

I rolled my eyes under my mask.

'I'm not in the mood for this.'

"I'm taken by a man."

She paused mid step before swearing.

"Damn it! Why are all the good ones always gay!"

She got up and stormed off while the other girl shook her head in amusement.

"Thanks Staz, sorry mystery guy, till next time~!"

She raced after her friend and they vanished in a teleportation circle.

Staz shot me a look that made me scoff and remove my mask.

"Don't look at me like that, I'm loyal to my girl, those sluts just don't seem to take no for an answer unless I threaten them or admit I'm for the other team."

He shrugged with a chuckle.

"Whatever floats your boat man."

I flipped him off and we went back to cloud watching.

"I can't believe my gift to you turned into such a sketchy business."

"Same here, I didn't know nature spirits would flock to me like that for my stuff, but a guy needs money to enjoy life."

I nodded in agreement at that.

"Still, I'm surprised you were that much of a green thumb, I just gave you the seeds when you asked for some."

"Hey, I might be a lazy ass but I do have hobbies, and you're the one who gave me enchanted seeds."

I shrugged.

"I thought enchanted weed sounded kinda cool."

"It is."

I shot him a look as he pulled out another bag.

"You rolling?"

I shrugged.

"Sure, I got time."

Chilling with Staz was always a chill experience.

*Line Break*

"So tell me again why I'm doing this?"

"Because you're a good friend?"

"I feel like there is supposed to be a limit to what friendship entails."

"Hm… how about best friend?"

"That would work but it's hurtful to the other guys."

"Bah, screw the trash."

I chuckled and shook my head as I stood on a stand with mirrors around me.

"I'm still surprised by your hobbies sometimes."

"What can I say? A girls got to find ways to pass the time."

I chose not to ask how much time she spent on her hobby.

Sometimes curiosity really did kill the cat.

Mittlets smaller form moved around me, sometimes hovering off the ground with her wings to reach places, putting pins in various places.

"Annnddd….. there we go! What do you think?"

I looked in the mirror's and sighed.

"I'm not sure how to feel about this, but even I'll admit I look good."

"Damn straight! I'm the girl who invented the gothic Lolita style! I can make anyone look great."

Wrapped around my body was a tight, form fitting, black ball gown.

On my head was hair extensions and various pieces of make-up adorned my face.

Learning to use make up was actually part of my training for disguises, but it was interesting to see how a professional did it.

And it was both annoying and flattering how good I looked.

"Traps are scary…."

"Heh, men are the only ones that applies to."

I nodded at that and spun in the mirror to check my back, and it was still looking good.

My eyes turned to the corner where a certain someone was taking pictures like her life depended on it.

"What do you think dear?"

"Nya! You – are – gorgeous! Oh I can't wait to show the girls these!"

My eye twitched at that.

"What did we agree on love?"

Kuroka paused in her picture taking and shot me an innocent look.

"That you would pose for me?"

My eyes gleamed.

"No dear, I said WE would pose together."

My eyes shot to a grinning Mittelt.

"Mittelt dear, I think SIR Kuroka needs his outfit now."

Mittelt's eyes zeroed in on Kuroka with an evil chuckle escaping her lips as Kuroka paled.

"Nya….n-now hold on a m-minute!"

"Ohoho~ don't worry dear, I'm a professional."

"Wai..!"

Before long there was a sulking Kuroka in glorious form fitting, black and gold, noblemen's clothes back from the 1800's standing before me.

"Well don't you look handsome love."

"Nya! You two are mean!"

I shared a high five with Mittelt as she floated around with a look of extreme satisfaction.

The look of an addict who just got their fix.

"Ah~ I haven't made work like this in years."

It's safe to say many more pictures and little plays were had that day, but under mutual concession, and a little bit of coercion in Mittelt's case, those pictures were under lock and key.

*Line Break*

Training.

Growing.

Gold rank jobs.

Dates with Kuroka around the world.

Time spent with my sisters and the village.

Holidays and festivals: New year's, Valentines, April fools, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas.

Time spent with friends, sparring with Sairaorg, relaxing with Staz, being a pin up model for Mittelt, and the numerous times we all met up to get wasted and do stupid stuff with Kuroka occasionally coming along.

Life was beautiful and set into a routine, one that made time seemingly go on like a flash.

And before I knew it, three years had gone by.

*Line Break*

February 2002 – three years since the gold rank casino job.

"987….988….989…"

Deep in a lush and heavily forested valley somewhere in the underworld, a young man was currently doing one fascinating work out.

Surrounded on all sides by a thick layer of finely sharpened strings dripping with a purple poisonous liquid that would only work once it enters the blood stream, the form of a young man was calmy performing pushups.

Except these pushed up's were upside down and held up by the fingers of a single hand.

"990…991….992…"

His shirtless form moved up and down, dripping with sweat onto the forest ground beneath, as his body moved with extreme amounts of control to not sway and interact with any of the surrounding strings.

His slightly pale but healthy form was unblemished, save for the various scars that adorned his frame.

Ones made from special situations as any normal scar would have healed long ago.

Along the knuckles of each had were letters tattooed in capitals.

[G-R-E-E-D / I-L-A-N-D]

A letter happened to missing, but among certain people it was known as a small joke. The S was in the space between his thumb and pointer finger.

But that wasn't the only ones, for his right shoulder was covered in a large and fierce looking tribal designed howling wolf head tattoo.

One that was known far and wide among both the human and supernatural underworld.

It was a high class brand that just seemed to keep giving in the human world, and it was a widely rumored unique brand for the supernatural as it was known that those connected to the owner could make deals for enchanted liquor.

A certain dragon had even bargained for some, and he was found passed out drunk for three days after crashing into a mountain.

A third tattoo adorned his frame over his left pectoral where his heart was.

It was a large tribal sun that covered the entire left side with trails of it coming onto his neck and visible even while wearing a collared shirt.

In the center of the sun was a resting cat with two tails.

It was a tattoo that was matched by a second one on another individual, who had a beautiful and colorful tattoo of a moon with a howling wolf head over her own heart.

And finally, if one were to peak under his waistband, they would see a fourth tattoo, smaller in size, tattooed right onto his left ass cheek.

It was a unique tattoo that combined twin pistols, vampire fangs, fallen angel wings, and devil wings into a single image.

It was a tattoo shared between four individuals and made on a night of drunken debauchery.

The young man's body was cut and defined as if sculpted from marble, except his muscles were clearly defined as ones meant for use over show.

He was built like a predator, streamlined for speed with surprising power resting beneath his skin.

"1000."

The young man breathed out and steadied his form as he slowly lowered his body on a single hand, avoiding strings he wasn't seeing with his eyes, until he stood tall.

At the young age of 14, with a body that could be mistaken for a 17 year old, was Hei Lupa, the MC of this story.

His dark black hair fell over his head and reached down to his neck without blocking the line of view from his intense wine red eyes.

He stood at 5'7 and weighed a surprising 195 lbs. for his streamlined frame. The muscles and bones beneath his skin were of a much higher density than your average human.

Hanging snugly on his neck was a thin silver chain with a sword and shield symbol hanging off, and on his left ear was an interesting looking silver earing.

It hung closely to the ear with a small symbol of an imps head with black eyes.

Just like the necklace that reflects spells and the wolf tattoo that can detect danger when they are used, the earing was also a special item.

#55: Imp's Wink – You will experience the most amazing ecstasy when she winks at you. She can appear multiple times – 3 uses. Be warned, it can get addictive. Takes the form of an earring.

It was a very interesting item.

It only required an intent to activate, and when it did, the eyes of the head would glow.

No matter how many gazes land on it within 3 seconds, they would all be affected.

The effect is amplified by how much lust one holds inside them.

To someone with great lust, it creates a temporary diversion of extreme ecstasy hitting their mind.

To someone with weak lust, it creates a very mild effect.

Depending on their will, the target can shake off the effect in as little as three to five seconds, but those are precious seconds in a life and death situation.

Plus if their will is weak compared to their lust, it can actually knock them unconscious in their blissful state.

It was tested a few times on average humans and even centuries old Nekoshou, and it created some interesting effects.

A few of them required to be restrained from sexually assaulting others in their states, but they quickly came back to reason.

All in all, here stood a 14 year old Hei, showcasing his form after 10 years of dedicated, grueling, and otherwise insane training that would make a martial art grandmaster hesitate.

"*huuuu.*"

He breathed out and stood tall, opening his arms just as a small form darted between the strings without a hair out of place and perched on his shoulder with a cry of delight.

"Meow!"

"Hey girl."

Hei's hand rose to scratch the chin of a beautiful black cat with a pair of loving golden eyes .

POV Change.

I smirked and cradled Kuroka as she enjoyed pretending to be a black cat and walked out of the string field.

Over the years, Chloe stopped increasing the size of the field, and started making it denser to limit my options of movement, but by now I barely even notice the time spent from my brain sending a signal to my body performing the correct action.

I walked out without a single scratch on me.

"Well that was fun."

"Meow."

I chuckled down at her.

"You planning on staying that way my sun?"

Her eyes glowed with mischief and she play bit my hand to make me loosen my hold before she jumped, landed on my shoulder, and jumped higher into the air.

Her form morphed into a beautiful teen girl with a body that could be mistaken for a 17 year old in the air before she fell back down with a laugh.

"Nyaha, Catch me!"

I stuck my hands out with years of experience to catch her in a princess carry.

"Hello Kuroka."

She smiled wide at me and leaned in to steal a kiss before nuzzling her head against mine.

"Hey my moon."

I chuckled and kissed the side of her head before adjusting her.

"Nya! Oh~, getting frisky bad boy? Want to have some fun?"

I flicked her ear with a laugh and got her on my shoulders with my head between her legs.

"Behave love."

She giggled and squeezed her thighs a bit to tease me but otherwise got comfortable and played with my hair.

"But it's sooo~ much fun."

I shook my head with a smile.

"One of these days you going to make that bottle of pent up lust you have cultivated inside me explode."

Her eyes gleamed with excited eyes.

"Oh~? And what would you do when that happens."

I shrugged and kissed the inside of her thigh.

"Who knows? Run away for your safety? Or perhaps drag you into a room, hold you down, and go full force on you until either I run out of energy or the haze of lust fades."

I felt her shiver and hug my head tightly against her core while I smirked in victory.

She seemed to realize it as well after a few moments and took a couple deep breathes before she leaned forward to rest her arms on my head.

"Ohoho~ you should be careful about teasing a cat my love, you never know when I might just pounce and claim what I want~."

I shifted my head up as her eyes stared down into mine.

Mirth danced in our eyes before we both laughed and lent in for a kiss.

"Soon love, soon."

I turned my head back and kept walking as she pouted and went back to resting on my head.

"But waiting is so annoying! Your thinking like humans Hei."

I sighed at that.

It's easy to forget that for all that I live here, Yokai are not humans and they have their own anatomy, mentality, culture, and way of life that's similar but very different from human society.

Things that would be cause for alarm for humans, such as eleven year old's being a loving couple that slept nude together and went on jobs taking lives.

Well, the taking lives part would be slightly alarming for Yokai to, but not that uncommon.

Kuroka and I were mentally much more mature than even your average human adult, our experiences had mentally pushed us on the same level as human war veterans.

We took lives, we knew how fleeting life can be, we knew of the many beings who can blot us out with a wave of their hand, we danced with death as we moved in the shadows to avoid the eyes of the strong.

But we didn't let those experiences drag us down and darken our lives, we were there for each other, our family of the Nekoshou village were there for us, and we had friends around the world who were there for us.

We could mess around, act like teens and have fun, but we were adults under that surface.

So it raised the question of when we would cross the line together and give our virginities to each other.

We had known each other for five years, been inseparable from the start, and confirmed our love for four years.

Our bodies were more developed then our age made it seem.

We could theoretically do it at any time and anyone from the village would congratulate and tease us.

The thing holding us back was actually me.

I said I wanted to wait until we were 15 at least, but that was just an excuse.

It was a mix of my past life mentality telling me it was wrong, and my current life where I was trying to stall until a specific moment in time.

The old mentality I was steadily conquering and destroying.

I had no intention of being chained by pathetic societal rules built for average humans when I was firmly entrenched in the supernatural and after everything I had done in this life.

The real issue was the event.

The Nekoshou massacre.

I had zero intention of letting it happen, or letting anything bad happen to Kuroka and Shirone, but I had no idea WHEN it was supposed to happen.

Kuroka still occasionally goes back with Shirone to see her mother and I don't stop her.

It's not my right to stop her from that, and I won't chain her because of my fears.

I did give her casual warnings that I asked she keep aware of, but there was nothing I could do.

All I knew was that after her mother dies from the explosion with her father, she and Shirone were taken in by a branch member of the Naberius clan.

And isn't that useful to know….

The Naberius clan isn't small! They have dozens of members from the main and branch families, let alone their subordinates.

I didn't have the time to stalk Kuroka's father to see if I could catch the devils around him, I tried a few times but saw nothing.

So I went by order of elimination and narrowed it down to three locations in the underworld.

Then I set three layers of notification security.

The first were wireless tiny camera's connected to the screens back in my bunker hideout and watched over by a Joy panda.

There was a big red button on her side for when she sees a great deal of activity happening for her to send my cellphone a notification.

The second layer was a contract I issued to the mercenary guild.

The Silver rank job was to stalk her father, who I issued as a very illusive scientist working on questionable items for some government and see if they could catch who he meets with.

The job specified not to make contact under any circumstance, it was information gathering only.

If they find anything out of order, such as if he might go up in a large explosion, they will send a message to my cellphone.

Of course, this was only while he was on earth.

And the last layer was to make sure Kuroka had a way to contact me.

Hidden in the tattoo's we both have over our hearts were communication magic formula's that connected to each other no matter the distance.

It's rarely done because the other party would always know your general location, such as within 10 miles or an area, and very few trust each other so explicitly.

The formation just needs to be fed energy for it to activate and connect us to talk.

There was little else I could do aside from just telling the truth about knowing the future, but that was one thing I was never going to do.

It's not because I don't trust her, but because one, I already changed things so I wasn't going to rely on canon timelines, and two, because there are enough broken as fuck beings in this universe to somehow make it a big issue.

I've read enough fanfictions on this world to know what could happen.

So I'll use my meta knowledge, the little I have that's from fanon to my advantage, but I won't expect it to go according to what I know.

It's something of prepare for whats coming, but don't expect it to actually happen.

As for preparing the village, the hideout was there for a safe place, but there was little I could do that wouldn't catch the eye of my sisters.

So I stuck to planting remote operated mines in the forests around the village, especially in an out of the way clearing that would be a clear gathering point before attacking the village and waited for the fateful day.

The mines were planted deep enough not to be accidentally set off by someone sparing above it, but not too far that it's effect would be diminished.

The remote was kept on my belt at all times.

But as the years passed and nothing seemed to happen, I was wondering if I might have changed something that might cause the events not to happen, so I was kinda 50/50 on it with the hope it never did.

My life was too busy to be worrying about it all the time, and I kept it from my thoughts to not let Kuroka catch on that something was bothering me.

The damn cat is incredibly perceptive on when I'm bothered by something, not that I don't know how to see her tells as well, but that's beside the point.

I play bit her inner thigh and make her make a sound between a squeak and a moan before I shot her a teasing look.

"Just a bit longer love, I promise."

She narrowed her slit eyes at me for a moment before she smirked and bent down to hug my head.

"Fine, I'll wait as long as you want. Just don't make me wait forever."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"Well~ aren't you two just looking adorable today."

I stopped walking as both of us rolled our eyes and turned to see Chloe hanging from a branch and looking at us with a smile.

"We look adorable every day nya!"

"Hey sis."

She dropped down and landed right way up before laughing.

"Haha true, you two gave half the village diabetes by now. How was the course Hei?"

I smirked at her.

"Good, no scratches this time."

She clicked her tongue.

"It's annoying how quick you learn; this is the third time in a row you made it out without getting poisoned."

At her disappointed look I just shrugged.

"It's not like I want to get poisoned you know."

She tilted her head in confusion.

"But why not?"

I gave her a deadpan look that was matched by Kuroka's equal deadpan face.

She just stuck her tongue out at us.

"Fine, fine, dinners in a couple hours, Ghislaine got unicorn boar meat today."

I felt my mouth water hearing that.

"Oooh! We haven't had one of those in months!"

"I agree."

"I guess Ghis just got lucky, who knows. By the way, go wash up will you? I don't know how Kuroka is dealing with it but you reek of sweat."

My eye twitched at that.

'It's not like I didn't just finish four hours of physical exercise.'

"Nya, I can handle it because it's Hei. My nose is tuned into his scent!"

I felt myself blush slightly at her words but Chloe didn't buy it.

"Or… he's walking into the village shirtless and your making sure to guard your territory."

I rose a brow while Kuroka innocently whistled.

"It's not my fault those damn cats can't take a hint."

We laughed at her pouting face and I kissed her thigh again making her go back to smiling and hug me.

"Well I'll take your words to heart sis, see you at dinner."

I waved and turned to walk away.

"See you kids, don't do anything I wouldn't do. Oh and Hei, you forgot something."

"Hm? Ah."

I turned my head but before I could react, I felt my arm get pricked and turned to see a needle in it.

Chloe laughed and jumped back into the tree's.

"You got about fifteen minutes till your paralyzed kid! Nyahaha!"

I rolled my eyes and pulled the needle out before crushing it and throwing it in the woods and calmly began walking home.

"Nyaha, it seems her annoyance at you not getting poisoned was getting to her."

"Yeah, and if I don't get poisoned enough, she can't use my as a guinea pig for her perfect immune system project. *sigh* what does it say about my life when I don't even bat an eye at being poisoned by something that would make an adult elephant keel over?"

Kuroka hummed without a care in the world.

"That being crazy is more fun?"

I chuckled at that.

"I can't deny that."

Then a thought occurred to me.

"Wait, why don't you care? Your usually more defensive when I get poisoned."

She chuckled and leaned down to lick the side of my head affectionately.

"Usually I don't know what hit you, but Chloe sensei said you would be paralyzed so I don't mind."

I shot her a deadpan look.

"And how much of that is because I need to take a shower?"

Her wide smile was telling.

"Don't worry my love, I'll make sure your clean. I'll get – every – last – spot~."

I shook my head at her teasing.

Leave it to her to make the most out of a situation.

"You're going to be the death of me my sun."

"I'll gladly follow you there my moon."

*Line Break*

~3 months later~

May 2002.

Wearing my usual mask with a tailored Canali suit, I walked into the guild hotel with an unseen skip in my step.

It had been almost six years since I joined the guild, five and a half to be exact.

And in those years, I used the guild hotel in Barcelona only a handful of times with most of them being back when I took bronze rank jobs around the city.

I flew through to Silver rank quickly, and then I had my grief period, flying through Silver ranks one after the other in a very unhealthy manner.

I reached gold rank in less than a year since I first joined. A record breaking speed.

But then I relaxed, I took time off, and I focused on training and time with my girls.

So by the time I took my first Gold rank job, almost another year had passed me by.

Then it took me over three years to reach this point.

The point where I finally hit the quota to rank up to Steel.

Unlike the Silver ranks 200 successful job quota, Gold ranks only needed 120.

But due to the difficulty spike as well as the time required for each contract, it was not simpler than Silver rank jobs.

Even for me, I could only fit in around two to four jobs a month with the rest of my schedule.

Sometimes I found easier ones that I could wrap up quickly, and other times I ran into long drawn out ones like the one I took for Ms. Vasilinov.

And these jobs were not always so simple.

I got mixed up in government spy agencies, big time mafia families, infiltrated military bases, and took jobs around the world.

No continent didn't have my footprint.

And out of the four new hideout cards I got, including this year's card, they were spread around the world.

Out of the 11 cards I had up till now, including the one I got when I activated my gear when I was 4, the current list of hideouts looks like this.

[ #1 - Barcelona - old man's home

#2 - Florence France - training area

#3 - Swiss alps - warehouse

#4 - Venice Italy - weapon bunker

#5 - Cyprus Greece - vacation home + deep storage vault.

#6 - Nekoshou village, underworld – home + training area.

#7 - New York, USA – vacation spot.

#8 – At the top of a pyramid, Egypt - vacation spot.

#9 – Wilderness, Antarctica - vacation spot.

#10 – Amazon rainforest, Brazil - vacation spot.

#11 – Kyoto, Japan - vacation spot.]

The first seven are self-explanatory, but the last four were for various purposes.

One, to spread out my hideouts around the world, giving me places to rest or hide as needed.

Two, to create vacation spots I can relax and enjoy the scenery at.

The vacation homes are designed specially and have large glass windows that show the outside despite being hidden from the outside.

Three, I wanted to.

I passed by all the locations during my travels on jobs and fell in love with the sights.

#8 is at the top of the pyramid of Giza, also known as the pyramid of Khufu. It's built into the pyramids stone and while not affecting the structure at all, the inside is designed to match the style of an ancient Egyptian stone cavern.

Except it has large windows to show the views of the desert, the city, and the great Sphinx in the distance.

I had to fight a very persistent cat to place the hideout on the pyramid rather the sphinx, but the height and the clear view of the sphinx won me the argument.

#9 was actually funny.

I was chasing a target around the southern tip of South America, all the way down to the city of Ushuaia, Argentina for over five days, a real slippery eel, and she fled to antarctica by ship.

By the time I finally caught up to her, I was already there and I liked the style of the place.

I spent another day moving closer to the south pole and away from any human structures or light pollution before I placed the hideout into the side of a large glacier.

The inside was styled like a giant igloo with glass windows to show the beautiful view of the artic landscape and the aurora lights.

That one truly made you feel like you were alone on the planet, and Kuroka and I enjoyed it quite a lot.

#10 was chosen when I was given a mission by Ghislaine to hunt a special kind of animal native to the rainforest.

I fell in love with the style of the wild forest and placed down the hideout in the canopy of an ancient tree.

It was styled like a large tree house and had a beautiful view of the forests. When the fog rolls in just right and sunset comes around, the forest just seems to light up like it was made of gold.

#11 was set in Kyoto when I passed through.

The city was beautiful and I loved the culture, but it was a bamboo forest I passed through that caught my eye.

The hideout was set into the ground of the forest, and the inside was a large forest not unlike the Nekoshou village, but it was set to the maximum size available.

The inside was a beauty of nature and greenery, reflecting the beauty I saw from the forest outside.

And of course, each hideout had the standard set up of using the blackout curtain + the snake golem sentries, among other identification methods.

So not only did I physically travel around the world to each continent, but I had hideouts on all of them except the Oceania/Australia area.

Interestingly enough, not many jobs head out there.

It seems even criminals steer clear of the hell known as the Australian outback where 19 out of 20 of the world's deadliest non-magical species live.

I'm more interested in setting up shop in New Zealand for my next hideout, but I'll see how things go.

With my travels and my work, I built connections in the human side of the world.

My reputation spiked as my record kept growing with very few jobs ever failed.

The only ones I failed were ones where a third party intervened or the target vanished.

Third parties couldn't be helped, things happen in life, but when the target seemingly vanishes into thin air, I know the supernatural got involved.

Even on jobs where my target hires their own mercenaries, I still don't fail.

Out of respect for my fellow mercenary, I rarely take their lives.

Usually just an injury to put them down suffices and they willingly surrender.

It's better to take a failed job then lose your life after all.

Dealing with military veterans was always fun for me since I learned a lot from the experienced soldiers.

They made me work for my contracts, even injuring me multiple times, but I managed to come out on top every time.

And with my reputation growing, more work came my way.

Past clients contacting me, referred clients contacting me, and it just kept growing.

Of course, there were plenty who weren't happy with it, and they made their protests known, but they were silenced along the way.

I might not aim to take the lives of my fellow guild members or people who are not my targets, but if you stand before me and my target with the intention to kill me, I will kill you without hesitation.

And with the growth of my mercenary name, the underworld merchant brand grew in tandem.

I didn't publicly sell anything different from before, but the brand name earned its worth and prices were raised.

I didn't truly care much considering I was still making millions a month without much production costs, but Tom was treating me like his golden egg because I only dealt through him out of respect.

When your already making more than enough money, there is no reason to ruin good connections because you want to be greedy.

We both understood that and agreed to keep things going together. If either of us needs help with an issue, we're happy to help.

So now here I was, walking back into the location that started it all for me.

A place I had been to less than ten times in five and a half years.

My feet moved silently through the luxurious hotel entranceway and up to the single marble concierge desk at the end.

The familiar face of an expertly groomed older Spanish gentleman wearing a form fitting suit greeted me as he looked up from his work.

"Welcome to the…ah! Mr. Lupus, we were expecting you."

I smiled at the nostalgic greeting under my mask.

"Hello Sam, how have you been?"

He smiled and stuck out his hand.

"Wonderful as always sir, and yourself?"

I shook his hand with a chuckle.

"Still alive."

He shared the chuckle before raising a finger to wait as he picked up the desk phone.

"Sir, Mr. Lupus has arrived for the 4 o'clock appointment….Yes… right away sir."

He hung up and turned to me.

"The manager is waiting for you at the penthouse."

He handed me a key card.

"Insert the card in the elevator and an option for the penthouse will show up. Any questions?"

I shook my head.

"No, thank you for the help Sam."

I turned to walk to the elevator as his voice rang behind me.

"It is always a pleasure sir; I shall see you soon."

There was a humorous tone to his voice but when I turned back, he had already moved away from the visual area of the desk.

I shook my head with a chuckle and entered the elevator.

'Butler types love the disappearing acts.'

Above the buttons for each floor, there was a slit in the door where I put in the access card I was given.

There was a scanning sound before a hidden panel pulled back to reveal a rectangular button with the word 'penthouse' on it.

As soon as I hit it, a second set of elevator doors closed and the elevator began rising up at a normal speed.

While it moved and elevator music, soft jazz, played, I began to think of why I was here.

Last week, I finished my 120th gold rank job.

I honestly didn't notice the number at that point, I had just taken a job by routine and went to China to infiltrate a multi-millionaire dollar company to gain access to secure files on how the company was handling its safety protocols with chemicals.

A rival company CEO had hired me for the info, and it turned out the one I infiltrated was using cheap materials that violated a dozen health protocols and ran the risk of releasing deadly chemical virus's to the public.

With the info I got, the whistle was blown and the company was taped off the next day, despite what certain members of the World Health Organization tried to say.

It didn't help that those members had connections to the company.

It turned into a big and quickly shut down scandal by the Chinese government, but it wasn't my business.

I had gotten a call the second the job was completed by the client, and Winston had invited me over to the guild hotel in Barcelona for a chat.

We set the time for today at 4PM and here I am.

The elevator dinged and I rose a brow at the fact the wall behind me opened instead of the usual elevator doors.

I chuckled at the theatrics and stepped out into a large entryway.

"Ah, Mr. Lupus, right this way."

My foot paused at the sight of Sam standing before me with a small smile and shot him a pointed look under my mask.

"Really?"

"I have no idea what you are referring to sir, shall we?"

I shook my head with a wry smile and followed behind him.

"I can't fault a man for finding joys in his work."

He smirked as he walked.

"Thank you sir."

The penthouse was large, we walked up a flight of stairs and down a hallway to a large pair of beautifully carved double doors.

Sam opened the door and led me inside.

It was a mix of a lounge and an office with a work desk to one side and a bar at the wall.

Winston, dressed just as I remember him turned on a stool at the bar and gestured.

"Lupus, welcome child, come join me."

I joined him at the bar and sat next to him, shaking his hand as I did so.

"Winston, always a pleasure."

He raised his glass of wine and finished it off.

"It's good to see you Hei, you rarely stop by."

I rose a brow at the use of my name.

"Is this room secure?"

He shot me a smirk.

"Very few locations in this city are as secure as this room."

I chuckled and reached up to remove my mask and put it on the side.

"I would never doubt you old man, how have you been?"

Sam slipped behind the bar and began preparing a couple glasses.

"Wonderful, business is as usual, and the guild is experiencing a golden period thanks to a certain someone."

He gave me a meaningful look and went on.

"The council is very happy Hei, I'm truly proud of your accomplishments. I know Amon would as well, bless his soul."

A glass was pushed along the wood into my hand.

A glass that was matched by one for Winston and Sam.

Sam raised his glass.

"To Amon, may he have found the peace he wished for in death."

Winston and I raised our glasses in a silent salute before we drank.

A strong smoky flavor traveled down my throat and spread a pleasant warmth through my body.

I sent Sam a curious look and he smiled.

"Macallan single malt scotch, aged 25 years."

I raised a brow and nodded.

That was expensive scotch.

"Good scotch, a private meeting, and compliments, I'm either being promoted or killed."

They both laughed and Winston shook his head.

"If we wanted to kill you, there are more appropriate locations in the building then my personal office. No, this is a congratulatory toast son, one your father would be gloating about to anyone he could reach if he was here to see it."

I chuckled at that and we both fell into our memories as we sipped our scotch before I pulled back out as a box was slid over to me.

I raised a brow at Winston but he just gestured for me to open it.

I opened it and found a few items laying in fine silk.

An ID card, a cellphone, and a data chip.

I picked up the card and saw my masked image in the corner along with various lines of codes along it. I was a bit surprised by the weight.

"Is this made of metal?"

"Yes, Steel and up is mixed with steel. One of the council members seemed to enjoy the idea of a metal card so we went with it."

I felt is and nodded.

"Hm.. it's not bad."

He chuckled and I went on.

To my surprise, the phone was a touch screen and streamlined verse the bulky style.

"That's a state of the art smartphone, military grade materials, encrypted and secure anywhere on the planet.

It's only used among the elite of the world, it's not set for public retail for another half a decade."

"They want to sell military grade phones to the public?"

He laughed and shook his head.

"No, the public version is going to be cheap plastic, easily breakable and not well encrypted. It keeps the market up and people will be to distracted by the new tech to bother caring about wasting money replacing the damn thing every year."

I nodded at that as it matched with the future I know from my last life.

"Makes sense, so whats the deal with the items?"

He took a sip before explaining.

"Steel rank is a qualitive change from the first three ranks.

It usually takes a Gold rank member anywhere from 5 to 10 years to make it to Steel, with the fast or special ones doing it in 3 to 5 years.

You are among those special ones, and I'm sorry to say you didn't break any records this time."

I shrugged and took a sip.

"I took it easy this time and paced myself."

He chuckled and went on.

"Indeed, I'm glad you did. You might have broken a record for Silver to Gold, but that was walking a fine line between professional and reckless.

Now, you have completed 120 Gold rank contracts, with minimal failures that can be ignored among the decision makers. Not to mention the good credit you have been getting for raising the guilds reputation the way you have.

We have seen a 15% increase in worthy members joining in the last five years.

Not just that, but you have boosted the morale among mercenaries and kicked some life into the members who have been stagnated as they were being overtaken by new blood.

And I can't forget your acts of sparing fellow members on jobs where they surrender.

You have won a great deal of good will from members for your actions, and it's spread a sense of camaraderie through the guild.

Less of our members are dying to fellow members, so the guild sends its appreciation your way."

I felt myself get a bit embarrassed with his praises and I scratched my cheek.

"I was just doing what I wanted to do."

He laughed and nodded.

"And I'm glad you did. You are not the strongest or the biggest star of the guild, but you have sent waves through it, waves for the better."

He pointed a finger at the box.

"Now, as a Steel rank, you get a new ID. It allows you the same benefits as before but adds on the ability to use any of the guilds secret entrances around the world without having to first check in at the desk."

I hummed at that and nodded while sipping my scotch.

It was useful but not a big deal for me.

"The phone is as I said before. Military grade, touch screen, encrypted, and incredibly difficult to trace or hack. It's tied in to a unique guild owned satellite and wired to a single server underground in the guilds HQ.

The phone will give you access to contracts on both sides of the world. You can play with it later and get the general idea."

I nodded and pocketed the phone in my jacket.

"Finally, the data chip is pretty much pointless to you but feel free to use it if you wish. It's meant to be an introduction to the supernatural world for members who wish to learn about it.

Usually I would give a meaningful speech filled with undertones of mystery and danger to members who make it to Steel rank."

He dramatically said the last part and we shared a laugh before he relaxed and went on.

"But thankfully I can skip all that this time. You never fail to make my job easier."

I raised my glass at that.

"Always happy to help."

He chuckled and clinked his glass on mine.

"Anyway, the data chip is one use. After using it, it would burn itself. Of course, I'll give the warning that you can't leave the hotel with it due to the risk of it being lost before you use it."

He said that part seriously and I nodded.

"I'll rent a private room."

He waved his hand.

"No need, I'll let you play it before you leave.

Anyway, it's not any special info you don't know about.

Next, I'll explain a bit about the mechanics of Steel rank jobs.

To rank up from Steel to Ruby, Emerald, and Platinum requires jobs specifically unique to the supernatural.

Human world jobs no longer count to the rank up quota.

Of course, you can always take the contracts if you wish, it just won't count to your quota.

To move up to Ruby requires 50 successful jobs."

I rose a brow at that.

"Only 50?"

He chuckled and took a drink.

"I always get that question.

You have to remember these are not normal jobs.

It's 'only' 50, but to the average human mercenary, those 50 would be more of a risk to their life than 200 gold rank jobs.

Your entering the territory of beings entrenched in magic, beings far above humanity in capabilities who could erase mountains with waves of their hands.

Of course, the jobs are paces appropriately with Steel rank taking on the lower rung of that world, but anything can happen on a job.

You take out a random monster and find out a god was connected or hunting it and they choose to kill you because they felt like it.

Most races look down on humanity, so the risk is raised on these types of jobs."

I hummed at that.

"I assume that's why many Steel ranks choose not to take on those jobs?"

He nodded.

"They wish to stick to what they know, be comfortable in their wells rather than climb out and face the ocean."

I felt it was a reasonable way of thinking. It's not like the money of Gold rank jobs doesn't satisfy people.

The only reason members would keep climbing is for greed, power, or perhaps curiosity.

Curiosity was man's greatest gift as well as its greatest curse.

Either way, only those with a drive or wonder wander into the supernatural.

"How many members does the guild have among the higher ranks?"

Winston rose a brow before chuckling.

"Good question, I'm not allowed to answer specifics of individual members, but I can at least give the general numbers of the guild.

Truth be told, we have less than a hundred members at Ruby and above.

Less than twenty at Emerald.

Only two Platinum members.

And among those hundred, around half are retired like your father was.

It's a heavy job for the soul and risk. Many get tired and choose to rest with their fortunes, infamy, and injuries."

The last part was said with a sigh and I understood the sentiment.

He didn't confirm who was retired or active, but it was nice to know the numbers at least.

The guild didn't have much of a presence in the supernatural for the reason of its lack of powerful members.

Even Platinum members would be taking jobs at the mid class level.

I sipped my drink in thought before I removed my older blackberry and Gold rank ID card and placed them on the bar top as I pocketed the Steel ID card.

Sam casually swiped the old phone and ID card before passing me another glass as I finished my first one.

I gave him a nod of thanks and lit up a cigarette.

"Winston, how many members are there on the council?"

He gave me a look but shrugged.

"Five families run it. I can't say which ones, but the council is always made of the heads of the families."

"Are you on it?"

He shook his head with a laugh.

"Ha, no. My brother is the head of family and holds the seat. I'm happy with being the manager of this hotel. Much simpler and less work for me, and I can enjoy myself more."

I hummed at that and blew out some smoke.

"Is that so? Interesting."

Aside from giving me a look, he didn't question why I asked.

I decided to shelve my thoughts for a later time and slid the data card to Sam.

He took it and put it into the side of the tv behind the bar.

The screen came on and I watched the introductory video to the supernatural.

It was like Winston said, just basic info on various factions, examples of what kind of powers exist, the other dimensions, and various races.

I can see how many who would watch it could see the inherent danger and choose to back away, just as I could see those with great drive and/or curiosity stepping forward.

It was over soon and I finished my drink and put out my cigarette on the ash tray before standing up.

I stuck my hand out.

"Winston, thanks for the drink, it was a pleasure as always."

He chuckled and stood up before matching my hand.

"Your always welcome Hei, you should stop by some more when not on business. I could always use a conversation and drinking partner."

I shared his chuckle and nodded.

"I'll try to make more time."

I turned to Sam and shook his hand and said my goodbyes before taking my mask and moving off to elevator.

Winstons voice called behind me.

"Oh and Hei."

I turned and he shot me a smirk.

"Bring that girl of yours by sometime, I want to meet the girl who captured the heart of my nephew in all but blood."

I paused before shaking my head with a laugh and waved as I entered the elevator.

"Sure thing old man."

The doors closed as I saw his teasing smirk.

'Heh, I guess he does qualify as my uncle in a way. Dad talked of him like a brother.'

I never brought Kuroka around since I didn't trust her to stay out of trouble and because we were to weak. But now we were far stronger than we were five years ago.

The change was like heaven and earth in comparison.

Not only did all our abilities and skills reach new levels, but she was making steady progress into Senjutsu.

We both could use Touki up to 3x for a few minutes. I could even manage 5x for a minute or two.

Our physical abilities had a qualitive change as we went through the first years of puberty.

Her as a Nekoshou grew steadily and I with my endless effort and using the steroid card once a year to shatter my genetic limits to go farther.

When I was nine, I could bench press three times my own weight, around 320 pounds.

Now at fourteen, I could bench 1,100 pounds. That's six times my own weight.

I have more physical strength than Kuroka at the moment, but if I slack off she could easily catch up just through her natural genetics.

I could move at speeds that give Yoruichi a workout even if I'm still a few levels below her, but I'm catching up rapidly.

My weapon skills have never dulled, but there is only so far I can take them.

And my energy sensing has grown significantly.

I can erase my presence to the point I can stand nearby someone actively scanning and they wouldn't pick up my signature.

And when it comes to detection, I can spread a 360 scan over a distance of 150 feet compared to the few feet of distance I could manage when I was 11.

And when I shape the sense like a cone, I can spread it out to 1000 feet in any direction.

My brain has adapted to filtering out useless information, but there are still limits.

Of course, If I'm just doing a general scan like a sonar pulse, I can push out to just over a mile in a circle, where I would only pick up large energy signatures and the feel of their energy to tell me of their species.

The more I shrink the space I'm sensing, the better I can react to what happens in my space.

I've been training my reflexes to react before my mind can even catch up, courtesy of my sisters and their sadistic training methods.

Finally, my energy levels have seen a large growth.

Among the 120 Gold rank jobs I took, I found the occasional larger than average sheep.

I found it interesting that those born with natural large amounts of mana tended to make it high up in the world.

Mafia leaders, politicians, CEO's, and all kinds of leaders of various groups.

They just seemed to have a bigger drive than other humans, or perhaps more energy.

Vladilena was by far the fattest sheep I found so far among non-supernatural involved humans, but I found ones with more meat on their bones than others.

Around a dozen trades were made, and I even got in another contract with Vladilena toward the end of my run.

My mana rating was up to 6,400 units.

I was catching up to my sisters and there were feeling exasperated by my smug smile.

Unfortunately, I quickly learned that most magic was too much for me. I got some tomes and tried to study up, but it just gave me a headache.

Instead I used it mainly for touki use and minor things.

Of course, there was two spells I pushed through to learn.

Teleportation and Hypnosis.

Two of the most commonly used magics among all supernatural's.

Hypnosis is interesting in this world. Unlike the dangers of Harry Potter style magic that can damage a targets mind, memory alteration is quite safe in this world.

It's still difficult because the more complex you make it, the easier the target can snap out of it when they notice the differences, but it's the perfect tool for dealing with annoying situations.

The supernatural prefers to hide from the world for convenience, and those who try to oust it, generally become public enemy number one.

The unspoken rule is to clean up your own messes.

Mind control is a much more difficult branch of Hypnosis magic and one not commonly used.

All forms of Hypnosis magic can be resisted by willpower, bloodlines, special physiques, and raw energy. A friend can even snap you out of it if they feel something is off.

So while its very useful, it's not much of a weapon against supernatural beings. It's more of a crowd control ability for humans.

And then there's teleportation magic, something I've been wanting to do for years without using my limited supply of cards.

It requires a decent amount of focus and energy, a whopping 3,000 units of mana to go anywhere on earth that's not protected.

Most factions have protections against teleporting into their territories, and many of them are quite violent in their defense.

Plus it's illegal to cross dimensions without being registered.

Usually to enter the underworld on the devils land, one had to take a train on their first trip.

The train is used to record the magic signature and give you access to teleport into certain areas that are not protected against.

Most factions have similar methods to their designs.

The signatures are also used for security and if you were to commit a crime but left behind an energy signature, they can identify you through it.

But I got lucky since the Nekoshou village is an embassy for the Yokai, meaning the village leaders get final say in who can teleport in our out of the area surrounding their village.

And the village leaders are my sisters, so, I'm lucky in that regard.

To cross dimensions to a location I have a clear image of as well as granted access to, it cost around 5,000 units of energy.

But if you wanted to enter a factions territory using teleportation magic without permission, you either needed to have enough energy to punch a hole through it, and considering it is set down by faction leaders, that's not likely to happen.

Or you need to have a high mastery in spatial magic, which is rare.

It's much easier to simply erase your energy signature and walk across faction borders undetected.

So despite the utility of teleporting, it's still controlled well by the supernatural world.

And of course, no one but those with a high degree of skill in spatial magic or a specific devil clan would dare use teleportation circles in a fight.

It takes time and focus to use and not to mention it's difficult to mask your arrival point since a magic circle pops up before you even arrive.

Your just asking to get killed using it in combat.

Still, I was happy with it.

I got to save cards, have easy access to all my hideouts without being able to be traced, and I don't have to rely on Leone anymore if I want to go back and forth to the village without wasting a card.

It was also interesting to note that my cards had a unique effect.

Spell Card #12: Leave – Teleport to a location previously visited.

When using this card, I'm not affected by the defenses of a faction.

I tried it twice to be sure, and it's like I slipped right under a metaphorical fence rather than go through it.

So it's all the more reason to save them.

For now, that all I'm willing to stomach in terms of major magic styles.

I left the guild hotel, stepped into an alleyway, and was off in a flash of light sixty seconds later.

Leone was right all those years ago.

Teleporting under your own magic was much smoother than riding along.

*Line Break*

~3 months later~

August 2002.

Sitting on the edge of my bed in nothing but briefs, I scrolled through my phone for a job to do while Kuroka was laying her head on my lap as she was nude and wrapped up in a blanket.

It was one of the rare nights one of my sisters didn't slip in with us.

Now that I was Steel ranked, jobs entered an entire new level of business and I could finally aim for the low grade supernatural world stuff.

As a Steel rank, I was limited to jobs like hunting stray exorcists, stray magic beasts, stray Yokai, and the occasional weak stray devil. But there were still a wide variety of them available and a lot less competition in the mercenary guild.

Of course, the factions sometimes clean up their own messes and the job is taken down.

I could also aim for the non-supernatural jobs, but I was less interested.

I worked all the way up for the purpose of hitting these kind of jobs.

Using my trade spell cards, I can tweak contracts and as long as the client signs off, it's good to go.

I couldn't take the energy of clients aware of things, that would raise huge red flags and get me a great deal of negative attention as I wasn't a devil.

I can't even mascaraed as a devil since I can't copy their unique energy signature.

But I could tweak the contract to say I would be taking all the spoils of war from the targets themselves.

What those spoils were, were left unspecified and most wouldn't care.

Some clients might raise an issue with it, such as if they wanted something that was stolen, or perhaps even the chess pieces from stray devils returned, and I had no issue with that.

I wanted my targets energy, not what was on them.

I was almost salivating at the opportunities.

Unfortunately, I got held up by a few older clients, one of which was Vladilena, who called in some favors and I helped them out.

They were listed as Gold rank jobs but I didn't mind.

And when you add in my training and everything else like dedicating a large chunk of time to Kuroka, 3 months passed in the blink of an eye.

I didn't really mind though, it's life.

I scrolled through the jobs on my phone.

The layout had changed from the old design.

There were to main categories, supernatural and human.

When I clicked on supernatural, more options became available.

The background was lit with a Steel machine like design and tabs were listed down the sides.

[Biblical Factions] [Pantheons] [Yokai] [Magicians] [Other]

I clicked on [Biblical Factions] and a long list loaded on my screen with numerous advanced search perimeters on the side.

[Bounties] [Monsters] [Information]….

The advance search options went on for a while, with options to tweak it to location or time ranges.

Some jobs had been posted for years, and others were posted yesterday.

It was quite interesting to scroll through what was available.

I didn't choose a specific tag and just scrolled until my eyes landed on one that interested me.

[Eliminate stray exorcist: Freed Sellzen]

The name caught my eye and I clicked on the file.

The contract was set by the church and had details on his crimes and the bounty with minimal info on his abilities.

I rolled my eyes at the last part; the church was a bitch about revealing anything more than they offered.

At least they offered updates on locations he was spotted in, with the most recent update being 14 hours ago.

Still, 14 hours is a big window.

Which means I would have to search for him and hope I could pick up a trail.

And knowing him, he would most likely be around other stray exorcists, which meant more bounties.

The church puts out a bounty on any exorcist that goes rogue.

For weaker members, it's not exactly large bounties, but if you got a group of them at once it's worth the cost.

Plus when dealing with specific factions, you can alter the price agreement for items unique to the faction in question.

I hummed at the job and decided to take it, but just as I accepted and the file started downloading, I felt movement against me as Kuroka started rubbing her head against my abs.

Smiling down at her, I ran a hand through her hair as I read through the file.

She purred at my touch and wrapped her arounds around my waist.

I didn't mind at first, it was normal for her behavior.

But then my eye twitched as I felt her hands moving elsewhere.

"Kuroka, go back to sleep."

"Nuuu."

She turned a half closed golden eye up at me before she smirked and bit my finger and held it in her mouth.

"Nya."

Her expression practically said, 'make me'.

I tugged on my finger lightly to pull her head up and moved my own down to capture her lips.

"Mnnnn."

She hummed happily into my mouth as our tongues danced, but it seemed that wasn't enough since her hands continued their earlier actions and were rubbing over the morning wood in my briefs.

I growled into her mouth.

"Kuroka…"

My hand came down to grab her wrist and she just looked at me with those golden mischievous eyes I love so much.

Her body moved in a flash to straddle me as our skin rubbed against each other.

Her nipples hardened as they rubbed against my pectorals.

Our mouths separated for a moment and she bit down on my collarbone, making me twitch in pain and pleasure and release her wrist.

Her hands continued their ministrations the second she gained freedom as she leaned into me and brushed her cheek against mine and whispered.

"My love~, let's have some fun~."

My growl came out louder as her hand slipped beneath the band of my briefs and made direct contact while her other hand guided my own to her breast.

My hand melded into the incredibly soft flesh like it was meant to be there.

She paused as our eyes met, red stared into gold, and emotions and desires were conveyed.

My free hand traced along her thigh and sent shivers of delight through her before I came to her curves and wrapped around her waist before I flipped us around in the blink of an eye.

"Nya~! Someone's feisty~."

Despite her words, her legs tightened around my waist and arms around my neck.

I gently bit her throat as my hand came up to firmly pin her there.

She started breathing heavily and rubbed her core against my own as I felt her juices wet my skin.

I kissed up her jaw without letting up from my pin against her throat until I moved up and matched eyes with her before growling out.

"If my lady wants to be satisfied, I'll make sure you get your fix."

She smiled wide and pulled me back into a passionate kiss.

"Let's play my love."

We didn't go all the way, but two hours later I left a blissfully sleeping Kuroka curled up in a blanket emitting soft purrs as I took a shower and got dressed with an equally satisfied smile on my face.

It wasn't anything new, but never let anyone say that cat doesn't give as good as she gets. She can drive my blood wild just as I can for her.

For over three years, we had been steadily exploring more, and we had been comfortable nude around each other since before we even began our relationship.

At this point the only thing we haven't done is actual sex, we stopped at third base.

But with only six months left before I deemed the event I was waiting for wouldn't happen, that was a long awaited moment just on the horizon.

I got dressed in my work clothes, gave Kuroka another kiss and growled slightly as she sleepily bit down of my collarbone again before I made my way out.

I missed the sly look she sent me as she made sure to mark me.

The girl never lets me go a day without rubbing her scent on me or marking me with her teeth or nails, not that I would ever complain about it.

It's amazing how head over heels we were for each other at this point.

I left the hideout and passed through the tent before heading over to the village.

It was only around 8AM, and while most of the cats wouldn't be up yet, some of them were early risers and made simple breakfast like rice balls for anyone who wanted.

I grabbed a couple before I was tackled by a group of kittens.

"We got him!"

"Timber!"

"I said aim for the knee's! Why do you always forget to take out his knee's?!"

"Big bro…candy…"

I shared a sigh of fondness and long suffering with the two Nekomata women making breakfast before we all chuckled.

I turned to walk away without a care in the world as I at my rice ball.

"Good morning to you to girls."

The triplets and their co-conspirator Shirone

""""Mornin~ big bro!""""

They cheered in unison and scattered around my body.

Shi claimed her favorite position on my right leg to gnaw at my knee, Ni and Li hung from my raised elbows, and Shirone claimed my shoulders.

Meanwhile I munched on a rice ball.

A small head of white hair snuck in to take a bite of my breakfast and I teased her for a bit before she gave me big watery kitten eyes and I gave in.

Of course the others claimed I was playing favorites again so I had to give in.

Which led to the amusing sight of me walking with four passengers, and all of us munching on a rice ball with chipmunk cheeks and happy eyes.

"Now that's just stupidly adorable."

"I know right? The brat is trying to ruin my blood pressure and get my hormones worked up at the same time. I'm so proud~."

I paused as Leone and Yoru walked over.

"Morning sis."

""""Morning~!""""

The two smiled warmly at the sight and cooed.

"Are you all giving your big bro trouble this morning?"

The four shook their heads in the affirmative.

"Good girls! You will be strong warriors one day."

""Yay!""

"Yeah! I'll break all the knee's!"

"I'll punch anyone who takes my candy."

I shared a sweat drop with Leone at two of those motivations while Yoru just laughed.

I turned to the more manageable sister.

"Sis, think you can give me a hand?"

She rose a teasing brow at me.

"Oh? Whats in it for me?"

See, the more manageable one. I just have to bribe her.

"I'll share one of the exotic fish I'm raising."

"Deal!"

She answered in a heartbeat and Yoru gave me a hollow look.

"Sorry sis, you missed the opportunity."

She glared at me for a second before she smirked.

"Oho~ I think someone needs another seduction resistance session~."

I gulped at the predatory look on her face.

My sisters actually made that a thing once I entered puberty firmly and my hormones started pushing to the surface.

I'm loyal to Kuroka, and I see my teachers as my sisters, but I'm well aware that we are not blood related, the same species, and that each of them has a body that is a work of art that could make a goddess feel envy.

And they each took distinct pleasure in riling me up using their own methods.

They call it seduction resistance training, but I swear they just use it to mess with me in a fun way.

Leone slapped Yoru's shoulder.

"Haha, lay off the brat Yoru, the other brat gave you the silent treatment for a month after the last time you had fun with him."

Yoru chuckled at that before she smirked back at Leone.

"Fine~ but you said the gloves were off once they finally past the line together."

You ever get the feeling of two beings in front of you growing in size and pressure while you shrunk into a smaller and smaller form.

Because that's how I felt right now, like a mouse beneath the stares of two hungry felines.

Leone chuckled in a deep tone.

"Of course, we need to teach both of them some valuable lessons in life. As long as we teach them at the same time, I see no issue with it."

I held up two tiny loli's in front of me as a shield.

"Mercy."

The two, Shi and Li tilted their heads.

"What kind of training is that?"

"Why is big bro so afraid of it?"

The two innocent questions from two innocent voices shattered the momentum of my sisters fun and they looked like sails that lost their wind.

"Um…"

"Well…"

I let the two stammer for a minute as my form got larger and they shrunk in size.

Payback was sweet.

Eventually I gave in.

"Well girls, it's truly evil training."

Four pairs of innocent and slightly fearful eyes turned toward me while two older pairs narrowed.

"What it is it?"

"Is it that bad?"

"Do they take your candy?"

"No! They go after my knee's!"

'If you're so afraid of someone going for your knees, stop aiming for others knee's!'

My smile grew wide and evil.

"You have to learn how to resist….fish!"

""""*gasp*""""

""*Face plant*""

"No!"

"So cruel…"

"*Shiver* take the candy."

"Do we….have to go through it when were older to?"

My smile was telling and the four scampered off in fear back to their mother who was watching on while laughing into her hand.

I sent her a wave as the four bowled into her legs, even if one wasn't her daughter, and she chuckled and ushered them off, most likely to explain things better.

"Smooth kid."

"Nice one brat."

My sisters picked themselves up and gave me thumbs up while I chuckled.

"Thanks, but you really shouldn't make jokes like that, you get way to intense."

The two exchanged a glance before looking back at me.

I blinked before the flickered to my sides and each one licked a cheek affectionately.

"What makes you think we were joking~?"

"We're Nekoshou, we do what we want~."

After saying those words and leaving me with a wet feeling on my cheeks, they vanished in blurs of speed with their laughter ringing out.

I stood there motionless for a moment.

'…I….I still can't tell if their joking.'

After years of being messed with by them, I have zero clue on how to tell their jokes apart.

I shook my head and decided to shelve those thoughts.

Whatever happens will happen, and I'm using Kuroka as my shield.

With that thought, I nodded happily and walked off.

Only to freeze mid step.

'…Kuroka might actually encourage it as long as we're doing it together…'

I felt the blood rush to my head and ran off.

"Damn it! I'm going to go kill something and work off this steam!"

Somewhere in the world, a certain silver haired crazy stray exorcist shivered as he felt like someone walked over his grave.

He had unluckily and unknowingly became the target of a very worked up and incredibly deadly assassin.

The poor bastard had no idea what was about to hit him.

*Line Break*

After Hei teleported back to earth, a peacefully sleeping Kuroka was interrupted by a magic circle lighting up by her ear.

Hei had given Kuroka and his sisters permission to teleport or receive signals in the hideout, but no one could get any information of the location through a voice call.

"Kuroka."

"Nuuu… who is it?"

"Kuroka, are you still asleep? Wake up, it's your mother."

Kuroka's tired eyes opened with annoyance.

"What mom?"

"Don't take that tone with me young lady."

"Nya! I was sleeping!"

"It's 10AM already, get up."

"No! Goodnight."

"*sigh* Kuroka."

Kuroka grunted in annoyance at that annoying motherly tone that can say your name in an aggravating way.

"*sigh* whats up mom?"

There was a pause on the connection for a moment.

"I want you to bring your sister and come by today."

Kuroka rolled her eyes.

"How many times do I have to say I don't want to be near that stupid man."

"Kuroka! He is your father!"

"Yeah right. He is a sperm donor who looks at me like something to be dissected! I can still care about you mom but stop trying to make me care about that man!"

"*sigh* I just want us to be a happy family…."

Kuroka's annoyed features softened slightly but she didn't lose her edge.

"If you really wanted that, you would come live with us in the village. You don't want a family, you want to make that stupid man happy."

"That's not true Kuroka!"

"It is and you know it! No mother who wanted a happy family would sacrifice her kids for their father!"

"….I…I'm sorry Kuroka…I just… I love him so much!"

Kuroka rolled her eyes.

"I know how it feels to love your mate mom, but I will tell you the same thing I told you months ago, your living in an illusion. You don't love him; you love the idea of being with him. I love my mate and he loves me in turn, we give and receive in equal measure.

What you have is a poisonous relationship and you're the one poisoning yourself! I can't even get angry at that stupid man because he didn't force you from day one!

You can leave whenever you want!"

Kuroka huffed in anger.

She had been having the same conversation with her mother repeatedly for a while now and it was like every time she hung up, her mother just erased her memory of having the conversation.

The line was silent for a moment.

"Let's…let's change topics dear. Do you think you can come by today?"

"*sigh* fine mom. I'll talk to Shirone and Leone-sensei. But we would come in the evening, I'm not ruining extremely satisfying sleep to get up right now."

"It's time to get up Kuroka! Don't be a lazy cat, I raised you better than that."

Kuroka hissed off the phone.

'You barely raised us at all!'

She managed to reel in her anger.

"I'll see you later mom."

"See you soon dear."

Kuroka cut the connection and yowled loudly before scratching up the bed in annoyance.

"Grah! She just makes me so angry every time I talk to her!"

She went full cat violence mode on the mattress until there was a mess everywhere.

She plopped down on the remains of the bed with a sigh.

"Theres no way I'm going back to sleep now… and after Hei did that thing I love with his tongue… Nyuuu! Stupid mom!"

She rolled around for a minute before stopping.

"I'm calling Hei, he always cheers me up."

She got up to enter the bathroom but a certain panda maid stepped in front of her with looming eyes.

"Nya?!...oh Joy! Um…hi?"

Joy didn't respond, but her eyes seemed to begin glowing with a terrifying light.

Kuroka froze and turned back slightly to eye the ripped up and messy bed.

She turned back as she felt like she was shrinking before the titanic form of a giant panda in a maid costume.

"I'm sorry…"

Joy's paw landed on Kuroka's head in a vice grip while she cried anime tears.

'STUPID MOM!'

*Line Break*

After a thoroughly bemusing call from a distraught Kuroka muttering about her mother being stupid and Joy, the super fluffy and kindhearted panda maid, being terrifying, I managed to calm her down with sweet words and threw in some jokes to make her laugh and bring back her cheery personality.

I spent the better part of a few hours talking with her, even though I literally just left the village not two hours before, before she was satisfied and I could get back on track with my work.

Kuroka mentioned she was going to visit her mom and I wished her luck with the usual warning. I was being careful every time she went out these days, but just a few more months and I can finally relax.

Freed was last seen in St. Petersburg, Russia, so I teleported right to the city.

I have been to most of the main cities around the world at least once, if only briefly, so I can move around easily.

Well, as long as I have enough mana anyways.

It takes time to recover what you spent, but it's not that long.

It was around 5AM in this part of the world.

I moved through the city with a purpose, and the purpose was not to find Freed.

There was absolutely no way I was finding that fucker in a city like this with no clues.

Which is why I called in a favor and I'm on my way to claim it.

I made the call before Kuroka's hectic call reached me, so I barely had enough time to make the drop off.

I silently dropped into an alleyway between two buildings on a specific street where a man in a trench coat was leaning against a wall and smoking a cigarette.

I stepped out of the shadows and let out a cough, slightly startling the man as looked on at my masked and cloaked figured.

He cleared his throat with some sweat on his brow.

"*cough*…name?"

"Lupus."

"Code?"

"Red782."

The man nodded and withdrew an envelope from his coat.

He handed it to me and nodded before walking away without any other words spoken.

I took the envelope and jumped back onto the roof and moved a few blocks away before I sat on a roof and cut open the envelope.

Inside was a few pages on sighting of Freed dated back an hour ago, who he spoke to, and what he has been seen doing in the city.

Along with the pages was a note that made me smirk.

[As you asked, here's what my men have on this Freed Sellzen. The fucker is shit at stealth.

You're lucky I wasn't sleeping or screw your reputation I would find a way to shoot you.

Come by for a drink when you're done.

Happy hunting Lupus.

Vladilena.]

I chuckled before burning the note.

'It pays off to have friends in high places.'

Remember kids, work smarter, not harder.

*Line Break*

Finding Freed wasn't all that hard with my connections.

The info got me right where I wanted to go, and I followed the crazy dude to a closed church where he seemed to be hanging out with a few other stray exorcists.

Rather than jump in headfirst, I decided to do some recon.

My job only required me to take out Freed, but I wanted to confirm he wasn't tied to the fallen angels just yet.

If I take him out only for a fallen to have been hiding in secret to pop out I would be pissed.

After all, just like I can hide my energy, others can to.

It's just that I'm much better at doing it.

For other races, you can only hide your energy as long as you're not using it.

Flying, making spears of energy, or any small magic spells make their energy activate like a blip on a radar.

It can be subtle, and many get away with it because they are quick and back to hiding, but it's still there.

I on the other hand can fully suppress my energy and use pure physical ability and trained skills to still operate.

So recon it was.

I didn't even mind all that much. This was my first Steel rank contact and I wanted to do things in the best way.

Which means I wanted to catch not only Freed, but all the other stray exorcists as well.

That was a lot of bounties just sitting there.

I'm not that greedy, but if you're going to put money right in front of me, I'll gladly take it.

I spent 24 hours stalking out the church, memorizing all the faces of those going in and out.

I even followed a few members briefly to see where they went, but they just went for food and walked while complaining about being bored and wanting to stab something.

It seems they were waiting or hiding, I couldn't tell which.

After the first day though, I decided to move into the church and scope it out.

It wasn't anything special on the inside.

Kind of run down but still in working condition.

There was an underground floor beneath the alter that I snuck into.

The night before, I confirmed that every member aside from two at the doors gathered in the underground area.

The stairs ended while opening into a large hallways with rooms along the walls without doors.

It was just stone openings.

Each room had a bunk with some stuff around, some even had guys sleeping in them.

I avoided them all without making a sound and moved on.

At the end of the hall, it opened up into a medium sized chamber with a stone bed laying beneath a cross.

The fact that the bed was covered in dried blood and had manacles on the corners was telling.

'Why am I not surprised.'

I rolled my eyes and pulled back, deciding to wait it out for the night when they would gather.

I moved back up the stairs and jumped into the rafters of the church before laying down and getting comfortable while keeping my senses sharp.

It would be another half a day before they began gathering.

I kicked back and relaxed.

'I wonder what Kuroka's up to now? She should be enjoying the tender mercies of my sisters at the moment hehe.'

*Line Break*

Kuroka POV:

'I would rather have a three hour session with both Leone and Yoru sensei right now over this crap.'

What the crap in question was, was Kuroka sitting and watching a screen while Shirone slept on her lap.

The screen in question was showing an experiment being done by her parents in a lab a few buildings over.

Kuroka wanted to go home to the village last night, but her mother got on her case and guilt tripped her into staying the night, and then it turned into staying the morning to watch her do an important experiment for some 'family bonding'.

Apparently she thought that having her daughters watch their father do the work he loves so much would make them see how 'cool' he is.

Kuroka rolled her eyes at that thought.

'He would be cool if he was halfway across the planet from me.'

Still, just to get her off her case, Kuroka agreed to watch.

It was the other people in the room that bothered her.

Kuroka had nothing against devils really, none of them ever did anything bad to her, but she was more than cautious of them.

A few sent her lustful looks while others were eyeing them with a token of interest, but thankfully they were all much more interested in the experiment going on.

These were devil subordinates to some high class devil spoiled brat.

From what she overheard, Kuroka learned that it was a branch member of the Naberius clan.

The guy was apparently the one funding her father's research and today they would see some results.

What the research was, and what they were doing, or even the background info of who was involved, Kuroka didn't know any of it.

And she didn't care.

She just wanted it to be over.

And it seemed that fate had heard her wishes, because in the next second, as her eyes turned back to the screen, the situation rapidly changed.

On the screen, the experiment began smoking and her parents voices rang out.

"D-dear… I think we need to power down."

"No! This could be what we needed! Increase the voltage!"

Her mother did so but in the next second, there was a blinding flash of light that burned the eyes of everyone watching the screen, and then the building shook from the aftershock.

Kuroka blinked the spots from her eyes and stared numbly at the dead feed on the screen.

'What….mom…?'

Her brain was having trouble processing what just happened in the blink of an eye, while behind her the devils were exchanging glances.

Someone ran into the room.

"The buildings gone! The explosion destroyed everything!"

If anything that just hit Kuroka harder.

It can't be said that she was close with her mother, and she hated her father, but they were still her parents, and it happened in the blink of an eye.

And unknown to her, she made one of the greatest mistakes she was trained not to make.

She let her guard down.

Kuroka's world blacked out as something slammed into the back of her head.

*Line Break*

While resting in the rafters of the church in Russia, Hei suddenly sat up and lifted a hand to his chest.

'What was that? I felt my instincts jumpstart like a gong for a second there. Did a strong fallen angel show up or something?'

Hei sent out a scan but didn't find anything out of the ordinary before he laid back down.

'Maybe I'm just getting nervous on my first Steel rank, these things happen I guess.'

He tried to ease up, but a troubled expression never left his face.

*Line Break*

Kuroka came to with a groan before her mind rebooted and she went into hyperdrive.

'What's going on? Where am I? I was knocked out! Damn it girl, all four sensei's would beat my ass if they knew I left someone get the drop on me!'

She felt chains wrapping around her wrists and ankles.

Her eyes remained closed but her ears picked up the sounds of a conversation happening nearby.

"They can't find anything?!"

"No sir, it's been four hours since the explosion and none of the search teams can find any hint of remains. The explosion happened just too fast and it vaporized the entire building down to the foundation."

"Great! Just fucking great! The clan is going to be on my ass about this. I spent all those funds on that fucking human to make super devils…..*sigh* whatever. We have the research notes from at least a few years ago.

We can just retrace the steps taken. Thankfully we have the right materials in these filthy beasts."

Footsteps sounded out and Kuroka noticed they were coming toward her.

*Slap*

A slap rang out and while it honestly felt pathetically weak, Kuroka played it up with a groan and looked up as if she just woke up.

"Wha?"

The man before her was dressed like a pompous noble and he held an arrogant sneer.

"Listen beast, you're lucky I have a need for your kind or I would have just killed you already."

Kuroka narrowed her eyes at him.

"Who are you and what happened."

*Slap*

He slapped her again.

"Be silent unless spoken to. But I'll educate your foul brain.

I am Cruff Naberius, a high class branch family member of the great Naberius clan.

Your foolish parents just killed themselves and set back my project by years. A disgusting human your father might have been, but I can recognize his intellectual talents.

I would have made him my pawn but it wouldn't have changed anything."

Cruff shook his head and Kuroka was happy to let him keep speaking as he went on a tangent ranting about his issues.

She tried gathering senjutsu but her eyes widened slightly.

'Energy sealing chains! Fuck me, really!?'

With that failed, she tried using the tattoo formation to call Hei but she felt the signal get blocked.

'Oh come on! This place blocks signals?!'

She was starting to get desperate.

Without access to energy or calling for help, she had to rely on her physical abilities.

Unfortunately using touki in this situation will just eat her lifeforce since she can't replace it with her energy.

And weak slap or not, the devil was still high class and dangerous.

Kuroka focused back on what he was saying as he seemed to be wrapping up his monologue.

"And that is why it is very unfortunate but I have need of one of your kind."

"What do you need me for?"

The devil scowled at her.

"Did you not hear what I just fucking said you dumb animal?! I need a test subject to redo what we lost. The question is will you willingly do it? We could always kill you and use the younger one."

Kuroka really didn't care what he was saying but that last sentence got to her and her eyes narrowed with a dangerous hiss.

"Where – is – my – sister?"

The devil smiled wide.

"Finally got your attention huh beast? Don't worry about her, I had her taken to another safehouse in case you had any cards up your sleeve and managed to flee.

Of course, I would take out my anger on the younger one before forcibly binding her.

So I ask again, will you cooperate?"

Kuroka was calm on the outside but her mind was running like crazy on the inside.

She couldn't let anything happen to Shirone.

Her love for her sister was only match by her love for Hei.

'Hei will come for me when he realizes, and then we can get Shirone, I just have to stall.'

With those thoughts, she bit the bullet.

"What do you want from me."

The devil smile turned malicious and a red light flashed on his hand before it faded and Kuroka's hope died.

Sitting innocently on his palm were chess pieces.

"You must join my peerage. I made the mistake of not claiming your parents before they died, and I will not make it again.

You can consider it a great honor for a lowly beast like yourself to serve a higher being like me. I'll be generous and give you sixty seconds to make a choice.

You do it, or I'll kill you and grab you sister. Your corpse is also useful for research."

Kuroka's heart was pounding in her panic.

'Hell no! I only belong to one man!

I could sacrifice some lifeforce, try to kill this devil, and find Shirone.

But what if I can't kill him before he gets away? What if something happens to Shirone? I can't risk it!

But… Shirone… I can't…but…I….

Hei…what do I do?'

"Thirty seconds."

She shot a glare at the man that did nothing to deter him from looking at his watch and counting.

Her thoughts kept going in circles.

She was trapped, and she knew it.

'I…I'm sorry my love…I can't… I can't let Shirone suffer…'

"I…I'll do it."

The devil clapped his hands.

"Splendid, it saves me the time of having to repeat this conversation with a younger one. Sweet Satan I don't want to deal with a young female beast. Just talking to a grown up female version like you is nauseating to me."

Kuroka shot him a glare.

"And whats wrong with being female?"

The devil scoffed in disgust.

"Everything! I see no appeal in the female form. Men are much more attractive in my eyes. Not only are you a lesser species, but your also in that hideous female form.

If I didn't know your species was female only, I would have killed you and went looking for a male version.

At least you can serve well as an experimental tool."

Kuroka didn't know whether to be insulted or relieved.

'I just got called ugly by a fag. Should I be insulted or relieved I wouldn't be violated by another man? I'm going to go with relieved.'

The devil extended the pieces out.

"Well, go on, let's see what reacts to you."

Kuroka gave a final attempt.

"The chains might get in the way."

He scoffed and destroyed her hope of an escape.

"I know you have magic, weak as it might be, and I am not a fool. Once you are my servant you cannot run or fight me without my word, it's safer to turn you and then release you."

She grunted.

"Fine. But my sister is not to be touched!"

The devil shrugged.

"As long as your alive, I have no problem with that. We will keep her around just in case you die though."

Kuroka sent him a death glare cold enough to freeze over hell that had him rolling his eyes.

She was bound and a lesser species so she was no threat to him in his eyes.

The glow of the chess pieces increased as Kuroka's hope died.

A tear ran down her cheek.

'I'm sorry my moon.'

*Line Break*

Nekoshou village.

Yoru tapped her finger on her arm in annoyance and turned to Leone.

"Nya! That's the fifth time. Neither of them are answering my calls. It's like they both cant receive the connections!"

Leone nodded with the same annoyance.

"Same here, I can't get through and its getting on my nerves."

Chloe and Ghislaine chose that moment to walk over.

"Whats got you two so worked up?"

"Mn, we could here you shouting from the other side of the village."

Yoru grumbled so Leone chose to explain.

"We can't get in touch with Kuroka or Hei."

Chloe rose a brow.

"Isn't it normal for Hei? He sometimes takes jobs keep him busy for a few days. He went three days without calling before."

Ghislaine hummed.

"Your right, but why isn't Kuroka answering? When was the last time she was seen?"

Yoru answered her.

"It's been almost 48 hours. She was only supposed to go visit her mother for three, maybe four hours.

And now we can't reach her at all. Both of them seem to be blocked from communication."

Chloe picked up.

"You think they were captured?"

The girls exchanged looks.

"I doubt it."

"Not if they were together."

"I can't see Hei getting caught that easy. Kuroka might if she lets her guard down, but Hei never lets his down."

"Plus they left at different times to different locations. Odds are they are both in different spots that block communication."

There was a pause in the conversation before Chloe asked.

"So what do we do?"

Yoru and Leone matched eyes and nodded.

"Let's activate our information network. I want to know where Kuroka's mother had taken her and what could have happened."

"My girls found that the father was being funded by the Naberius clan. I don't know if it was a main or branch clan member, but there are only around 15 members who could be possible targets."

"We also need to know how serious things get. If Kuroka got caught, Nekoshou secrets could get out."

"Which means we might need to use our plan."

"Ha, it's less a plan and more a last resort."

"We don't have much choice."

The four looked at each other and nodded.

"We will do what we can, hopefully Hei returns soon."

*Line Break*

The stifling feeling never went away.

'What the hell is this feeling? It's really putting me in a bad mood.'

Waiting patiently in the roof of the church was easy in the beginning, but this feeling of being stifled just kept coming and it was making my wait incredibly frustrating.

I managed to reel it in with practiced ease but it agitating me something fierce.

Still, while I trusted my instincts, I didn't feel any danger from my location so I sighed and sucked it up.

I didn't know that the stray exorcists had a signal jammer up around the church as basic security, but I recognized the illusion barrier so I didn't pay much more attention.

The hours passed as I calmed my nerves and nightfall finally arrived.

From my perch, I made sure all the members I knew of had arrived as they laughed and joked about the days sacrifice to god.

I even saw two enter with a sack over their shoulders and wide smiles like they were giving the person in the sack a great gift.

I rolled my eyes at the sight.

'Fucking psychotic zealots. I want to blame religion for making people like this, but it's likely they would have ended up this way even without it. Humans who give in to their darkness without control or restraint are no better than wild animals that need to be put down.'

I waited till they all descended and got comfortable before I silently dropped from the ceiling behind the two lookouts.

"Man, why did we have to get stuck with the shift tonight."

"I know right? How can we enjoy a good sacrifice without taking part."

"Gah, whatever, it's only for tonight, we can enjoy it tomorrow, forgive me father."

"…."

"Oi! Are you not going to ask for forgiveness for not being able to give our lord a sacrifice?!"

The guard turned around to shout at him more only to find his partner missing.

"Wha..*Gah*…!"

A thin string wrapped around his throat and he felt his body rise off the ground for couple feet as his neck was cut through.

A bloody string pulled back over the rafter as the body reeling back into the butt of a silver gun handle.

I looked on at my work with a nod.

Aside from their usual chatter, it was two silent kills.

I slammed the butt of my pistols on my legs and the blood from the strings were pushed out as I moved the severed heads to the side and confirmed they were on the bounty list.

Considering the string is very sharp, it's not easy to clean, so Chloe designed it to be able to clean out the blood with some pressure like squeezing a sponge. The handle was stained from all the years of use even with my dedicated cleaning.

I left the bodies behind and descended the stairs like a shadow.

There was chanting and screams coming from the end of the hall where the sacrificial alter was but I tuned it out for the moment.

I passed by each room and surprisingly found two sleeping peacefully despite the noise.

Using the string once more, I moved like a flash to slit their throats as I covered their mouths so they couldn't make a sound.

If you act fast and strong enough, it takes seconds.

With them dead, I moved toward the large chamber and peaked inside.

The remaining dozen or so stray exorcists were gathered around the alter with bloody knives and seeming torturing the man chained down while Freed stood at the head and chanting holy scriptures with a deranged smile on his face.

I narrowed my eyes and confirmed my route.

I already scoped the chamber out earlier and noted it had no other exits.

I removed the string a third time and clipped it to one side of the wall before extending it to the other.

Then I made a few patterns to be sure it was closed off and clipped off the string from my gun and left it in the adjacent wall as well.

I sighed at the sight.

'I think that's the last of my string. These guns have been a godsend but even with proper maintenance, there is only so long they can last.'

My pistols didn't shine like they used to.

They were dulled from overuse and stains of all kinds of liquids, blood especially, and there is only so much you can clean out before the metal itself becomes stained permanently.

The parts were warn and the handle was rubbed down from its grip.

'At this point, their just as fragile to me as a regular pair of pistols.'

I went through a normal pistol in weeks. It was a miracle my sisters custom made gifts with their combined effort lasted over three and a half years.

I shook off my thoughts and stood up.

The last of my thin specially made string blocked off the only physical exit to the room.

I moved in and hid behind a pillar before I climbed up.

The room was built in a circle with a pillar along the walls in intervals.

Once I reached the top, I hopped along the pillars silently and made way into the blind spot of where Freed stood.

'Twelve targets. Main threat: Freed. Skilled swordsman and decent sharpshooter. Don't give him a chance to act, strike instantly.'

I took a deep breath before my mind stilled.

There was a pause in the air as everything seemed to slow to my senses.

My eyes narrowed on my target, and my body moved.

With naught but a twitch of my hands, I held my pistols out and fired.

*Bang* *Bang*

Two loud gunshots echoed off the walls like a gong and startled the strays from their blood hazes.

And one among them, Freed, had managed to actually twist his body in a way that made each bullet grace his face before flying past to slam into the skulls of the two by his sides.

"Holy shit! Haha! I knew my instincts were triggering! Man I love those guys. So which fucking heathen wants to di..!"

Freed's dementing smile froze as his pupils shrunk into thin dots at the pistol pressed up against his neck and the bleached white mask with red lines and a howling wolf mark stared back at him.

It's amazing how many details the brain registers in a moment of life and death.

"Die."

*Bang*

There was no chance for him to react.

The second I fired the first two shots, I was already moving like a phantom along the path and as Freed turned, I pressed my gun to his throat before blowing it out with a .50AE round.

'I don't care what plot armor fuckers like this might have, if I remove their throat, let's see them survive.'

A phrase Yoru and surprisingly Ghislaine loved saying rang in my mind.

'When in doubt, go for the head.'

Freed's corpse flew back from the pressure of the shot as blood and gore exploded out the back onto other stray exorcists who were only just now coming out of their shock.

A bit of blood managed to splatter on my cloak and mask, but I considered it worth it to make sure my main threat was taken out.

Knowing this world, if I saved him for last, he would have gotten away for some bullshit reason.

Of course, my steps never stopped after taking my shot.

My guns flashed as bullets flew.

The exorcists were all bunched up nicely so I maneuvered around them like a snake and used them like shields from each other.

The ones who managed to react pulled out pistols and swords before firing off bullets that glowed a bright white as they flew.

'Holy bullets, I'll be taking those.'

Holy bullets were hard as hell to get outside the church. That little gift of 100 holy rounds I got from Leone years ago was half used by now, but I kept the rest in special clips on my belt for when I might need them.

I've been around the world, it's not like I didn't run into a few things here or there. But they were not part of my jobs and I got nothing from them except wasted holy bullets.

It is what it is, but now I saw a chance to restock.

"What the fuck is this shit?!"

*Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang*

"Where the fuck did he come from?!"

*Bang**Bang**Bang**Bang*

"He killed Father Freed!"

*Bang**Bang*

"Ah! Stay the fuck still you bastard!"

Shouts and gun shots rang out in chains as I moved around them, always putting one of them in the way of the others.

Ducking under sword swings, shooting into their vitals, twisting around to dodge incoming holy bullets and pulling bodies in the way to take the hits.

I moved like a blur, dancing among them as my guns flashed, each shot on target with a few of them managing to block with their weapons.

I clicked my tongue and crouched under a sword swing that sliced into someone else's shoulder.

As the attacker's eyes widened in surprise, my pistol was beneath his chin and blowing out his brains.

As the blood grapeshot into another, I grabbed the startled man's arm and threw him in the way of incoming shots before firing back and disabling the shooters arm before kicking another to move myself out of the way of another sword swing that swung into another body.

It was chaos, but it was controlled chaos.

My mind flashed with cold analytical calculations as I moved.

Unlike my usual targets, these men were not thugs, soldiers, spies, or veteran members of human organizations.

These were men used to dealing with supernatural shit, but they were prey all the same.

They might be able to react faster and better than normal humans, blocking a bullet with a blade, and moving fast enough to be able to target me, but they were not at my skill or physical ability level.

The skirmish lasted less than two minutes, but as smoke trailed from the end of my pistol, the last body fell to the ground in a wet squelch.

Blood pooled along the ground, gore spread around without direction, bodies cooled as the heat left their corpses, and in the center of all the horror was a mutilated body on a sacrificial alter beneath a large cross with Jesus Christ.

It looked like a scene out of the pits of hell.

And standing in the center of the scene, wearing a blood spotted cloak and mask was myself, standing calmly as my blood pumped loudly in my ears.

My eyes trailed coldly over the scene before I took a step toward the alter.

In the now silent room, my single step echoed with the sound of stepping in a puddle.

The mutilated body was still twitching while whimpers sounded from their throat.

Whoever it was, their body was full of stray bullet holes from the exorcists and in combination with all the other torture, he had already gone into shock.

I lifted my gun as a single remaining eye turned toward me.

They say the eyes are the windows of the soul, and this man's eye held many emotions.

Fear, pain, anger, desperation, but most of all, it begged for mercy.

It felt as if that eye looked right through my mask into my own eyes and I felt the weight.

A sigh escaped my lips.

"Rest."

*Bang*

A final emotion was conveyed as the light faded.

Gratitude.

I felt tired.

*Line Break*

I cracked my neck with a groan of relief as I finished packing things up.

All the heads of my still recognizable targets were loaded into a crate that was sealed with stasis charms.

I hit the crate with a recycle spell card and stored it in my free slots. The crate would be delivered to the Church bounty and contract collection office.

As for the bodies, I loaded them in a separate crate, at least what was still on whole pieces, and left it in hall.

The cleanup crew would come to deal with the rest.

I didn't even have to move the headless corpses, but who knows, I just felt like I should do it.

The civilian victim was left as was with a cloth over him, but I moved him onto a bed rather than the alter. I would ask the crew to identify him, and I'll send his family some anonymous funds.

Again, I owed him nothing, and I pretty much let him die to make my job easier, so it wasn't guilt I was feeling, but it just felt like something I wanted to do.

If I wanted to do something and could do it, I would.

I chuckled at that thought.

'I guess those cats rubbed off on me'

I yawned and pulled out my phone.

I had been awake for close to 65 hours by this point and while I could go on, I was feeling more tired than usual.

I went to dial the number for the guild's cleanup crew when I noticed there was no signal in here.

'Huh, bad service? Or maybe they had a signal jammer in here. It would make sense, I guess I didn't notice.'

I shrugged and let out another yawn before casually jumping back up to the rafters, cracked open a window, and made my way out into the evening sky.

It was already dark enough that my form blended in with the sky as I hopped from the church to an adjacent building.

I checked my phone and saw a signal so I called in the cleanup crew and mentioned my request that they didn't mind doing.

They asked for 24 hours to put together a file for the man and I waved it off, I didn't mind.

Next I made a call to Vladilena, I owed her a drink and I could use a shower.

If she was still in the city, I could pop over for a bit.

The line rang only twice before it was answered.

"Yes?"

"Vladilena, it's Lupus."

"Ah, I assume the hunt was a success?"

I scoffed playfully.

"Indeed. Still up for that drink?"

Her tone took on a teasing quality.

"My, my~ Lupus, I thought you said you were taken?"

I chuckled and shook my head.

"I am."

I could feel her pout jokingly.

"Ah~ to bad~ And here I was thinking I could have some fun with a strong young man~."

I rose a brow.

"I didn't pin you for a cougar Vladilena. And why do you think I'm young? Or a man?"

She chuckled over the phone.

"A woman has many secrets Lupus~."

There was a pause and we both laughed.

"So your still around?"

She dropped the joking tone.

"Yeah, you know the place, I'll let you try some real vodka this time."

I shook my head in exasperation.

Since that first job, she has been trying to make me cough on vodka that could be mistaken for rocket fuel.

"Sure thin… Sorry, hold on a moment."

My phone buzzed while I was talking and I pulled it away to look before raising a brow at what I saw.

Leone had texted me.

Leone was the only one of my sisters who had a cellphone, the rest didn't like the feeling and just used magic communication circles.

The message was simple.

[Hei. Come home. Now.]

I checked the time on the message and noticed it was sent hours ago.

That aggravating feeling on the edge of my instincts came back in force but I pushed it down.

It's not the first time Leone has texted me while I was on a job that took longer than expected.

Her message could mean anything from an emergency to her being hungry when I put a locked cage on the fish pond.

It was the only way to stop the hungry and much stronger than me cats from eating the fish that weren't fully grown yet.

I put the phone back against my ear.

"*sigh* sorry Vladilena, I'm gonna have to ask for a raincheck on that drink."

A bit of disappointment bled through the line.

"A job?"

I shook my head.

"No, family."

"Ah."

It's not like she knew my real name, face, or personal life, but I've shared general info without mentioning names, places, or anything sensitive.

Over the years of me working for her, it could be said we became respected friends.

Her voice gained a hint of steel of a commanding officer.

"Family comes first Lupus. Go clean up or face the fire if it calls for it."

Then her voice softened up.

"We can catch up later, I expect a good tale on something embarrassing in return."

I laughed at that in my own voice rather than the fake one.

She earned that much at least.

"Thank you Vladilena. And your right."

My voice gained its own edge.

"Family comes first."

"удачи."

The line cut and I nodded.

'Godspeed indeed.'

A teleportation circle flared up and a minute later, I vanished from the Russian skyline.

*Line Break*

Kuroka glared with hatred at her new 'master'.

The change was not pleasant.

Demonic energy coursed through her being, infiltrated deep down to her soul, and altered very being from the foundation.

It was actually incredibly painful as she refused to sleep through the process, and that's only the physical aspect.

The mental and emotional pain that coursed through her as another man claimed her soul as his servant felt like a rusted knife being twisted through her heart.

And then in her shivering and spasming state, she was grabbed by other devils and moved to the lab before she was chained to a table.

Her 'master' stood to the side with a couple devils in lab coats and he rolled his eyes.

"Stop glaring you filthy beast. You should be honored to be among devilkind. Even if you're a worthless reincarnated piece."

"Oh sure. I feel so – ecstatic – right now."

Her voice dripped with sarcasm that had her 'master' shaking his head.

"You took both of my Bishops. What is there to be annoyed about? You gained so much through the transformation.

Enhanced senses, you can speak in any language, you can fly, see in the dark, create magic through your imagination, and thanks to both bishop pieces, you have tremendous magical talent and potential.

You are more than that lowly beast you were before, not by much, but more.

And if you can survive these tests, you shall grow in power and be a very useful servant to your new master."

Kuroka rolled her eyes.

The fucker was narcissistic to the extreme and just went on and on about how far above pure blood devils are from everyone else. And reminding her how lowly her being is.

One of the devil scientists finished adjusting a magic circle before a case opened.

A case containing three vials filled with a silvery liquid.

Her new 'master' smiled wide.

"Ah, good, that human made this case annoyingly secure. Is everything there?"

The scientist nodded.

"Yes sir, three vials of SP – 138 are still remaining.

The notes on how it was made were destroyed in the explosion, so we shall have to reverse engineer it."

Cruff Naberius nodded.

"You have one shot.

Prepare the first for experimentation immediately, we have no time to waste. If she dies we can use the second on the young one."

Kuroka pulled at her chains and hissed.

"We had a deal! Stay away from my sister!"

Cruff walked over and slapped her.

"Silence! I shall have to discipline you if you are to be useful. We can spend a few nights in the dungeon, a few beasts pumped with aphrodisiac and you should learn to behave."

Kuroka glared at him but didn't say more.

The slap was as weak as before, but due to her change it was accompanied by a second lash.

The demonic energy inside her inflicted pain in tune with her 'masters' strike.

Seeing her be silent, Cruff nodded with satisfaction.

"To answer your uncultured question, we did have a deal, and I am not breaking it.

If you die, your sister will be next. So do your best not to die."

The scientist came over with a syringe and Kuroka's eyes widened in fear.

She tried to struggle against the chains but there was no space to move.

The needle pierced her arm and she groaned as it felt like ice was being pushed into her veins.

Cruff's annoying monologuing voice rang out as it happened.

"Rejoice, you get to witness the efforts of your fathers work.

You see, while I look down on his species, his mind was marvelous.

He was as excited about our work as I and my allies are.

The work to make super devils, to evolve devils to a higher form."

Kuroka started shivering as her eyes moved over to him.

His voice was grating, but it was better than focusing on the freezing pain spreading through her.

"Only three devils have ever evolved. Two of which became the strongest satans of the pathetic new Satan faction.

They killed the rightful rulers of hell thanks to their evolutions.

And the third is a selfish bastard who shows no interest in bringing honor to the old ways.

So we decided to make more, artificially. To make our own super devils.

Your father was fascinated with the idea.

We never even touched his mind; he was 100% willing to work to his utmost from the start. And your mother was of great use for his research.

You see, he started with a lower species, he wanted to see if he could evolve your kind to something better, but along the way he found something useful and changed the target of his research.

Using the original genes of a species, he could sacrifice them to allow other genes, such as in a reincarnated devil, to dig deeper into their genetics and pull out the potential for evolution.

It was a wonderous idea and if he could make it work, we could push it farther to its final form and change pure blooded devils to a higher form through the sacrifice of lesser beings as fuel.

Unfortunately… he died before he could finish the formula. Every file.

Every fucking paper with his research.

EVERYTHING! We lost everything! Why the fuck was all his research notes and files in a single fucking building?!"

Cruff started raging and lifted a hand to form a lance of hardened rock that he threw at a distant wall in his tantrum.

"*Phew* *Phew* My apologies, I gave into my wrath for a moment there."

He took a few breaths before calming down and continuing on like nothing happened.

"The formula was incomplete but from what we know, it used Nekomata blood, your mothers, as its base in the design.

Which is why I was lucky to acquire two useful tools such as you and the young one.

With you now a reincarnated devil, we can see how accurate the incomplete formula is. Your beastly DNA should begin burning away to fuel your better devil side, boosting your potential and if it works as intended, it might even break open your genetics and show us where the genes for evolution are hiding."

Kuroka's face paled further under her already pale and shivering skin.

'No longer a cat?'

Tears fell from her eyes as she felt like everything that made her, her, was being taken away from her.

Cruff saw the tears and took it a different way.

"Yes! Its tear worthy is it not? You shall be the first step to recovering lost time and perhaps even be able to grow stronger from this.

Power, isn't it just intoxicating?

It's a shame your pathetic mother couldn't get you and your sister to return sooner. It would have been so much simpler to just entice you with power and convert you but she was useless, you rarely came back.

But we can make do with what we have now."

A deep burning anger built inside her chest.

'FUCK YOU MOTHER! YOU DID THIS! ALL OF THIS! WHEN I GO TO HELL I WILL FIND YOU MYSELF AND TEAR YOU PIECE TO PIECE!'

Another burst of freezing agony pulsed through her but her anger was greater and she pushed it down.

But when the anger peaked, another thought squeezed into her mind.

Hei.

Her moon.

If it wasn't for him, she most likely would have ended up just as Cruff said.

Who knows how long she would live in obliviousness, who knows how she could have grown up.

The very concept of a life without Hei was an impossibility in her mind.

He was her other half, he was her rock, he was her love.

From that moment she stumbled on him when they were nine, and she looked down at the head on her lap, she was hooked.

They did everything together, trained, ate, played, spared, went on dates, spent every night not on a job cuddled up together, all their firsts were given to each other.

And now here she was, losing everything that made her, her.

More tears fell silently as the anger was replaced with the deep pain in her heart.

'Hei…I'm so sorry…'

Cruff's voice went on without a care.

"Theres no telling how long the process will take, so don't die.

Not at least until he find what we're looking for."

He leaned down by Kuroka's head with an evil smile.

"Or your sister is next."

Bloodshot golden eyes opened and glared with hatred and Cruff just laughed before walking away.

"Keep her alive at all costs, we cannot waste the formula or a perfect test subject."

"""Yes sir!"""

*Line Break*

A teleportation circle appeared in Nekoshou village by the Sakura tree and flashed for a moment before I stepped out of it.

"*Yaawwnn* Man I'm tired."

I yawned and rubbed my eyes.

'Three days awake isn't an issue, but damn I feel mentally drained from that job. Too much gore for my tastes. I think I'm gonna cuddle Kuroka for at least twelve hours and sleep it off.'

""Hei!""

I blinked in surprise as Yoru and Leone appeared in blurs of speed and slammed into me.

"Oof! What happened? You rarely call me back like that. Did you piss off Ghislaine again and want to use me as a shield?"

I said it in a joking tone but neither of them laughed and my smile slowly melted as that feeling of aggravation on my instincts reared its head again, except much louder.

My voice came out harder.

"Sis, whats going on?"

They looked at each other for a second before Yoru started.

"We couldn't contact you, were you on a job?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, I was taking out some stray exorcists in Russia, they jammed the church they were in so I didn't know I didn't have a signal."

Leone nodded.

"That's what I said, you were just on a job like usual, we didn't have to worry about you."

I raised a brow at her.

"Why would you worry? Leone, Yoru, whats happening, stop with the word games."

Yoru looked at me seriously.

"Hei, when's the last time you spoke to Kuroka?"

The feeling in my gut grew stronger.

"About two hours after I left. She said her mother pissed her off, something about Joy scaring the crap out of her, and that she was going to visit her mother."

As soon as I finished my words, it hit my mind like a sledgehammer.

"Where is she?"

Leone answered my question.

"We don't know. We didn't realize she hadn't come back till the day after, and by the time we tried to contact her, nothing went through same as you.

Wherever she is, her signal is being jammed from calls."

My heart started hammering in my chest and I hurriedly called out my binder.

"Book."

It popped up, I tossed in a communication spell card into the slot, and I scanned through my list of contacts that popped up on the screen of the main page.

Anyone I've met and spoken to for at least a few minutes appears on the list of people I can mentally contact with the spell card.

Except…if their dead.

I mentally called for a name on the list and it sped through to land on it.

[Fujimai]

Kuroka's mother.

I had met her plenty of times.

And the name was greyed out instead of active.

'…She's dead. No…no….no! Why now?! There was no indication of this happening! Kuroka and Shirone lived here in the village, the time for the incident was almost at the end! So the plot still finds a way?! Well fuck you world! I don't give two fucking shits what you want!'

Deep burning anger coursed through me as the thoughts went through my brain.

'That feeling, my instincts flaring….Kuroka needed me! WHAT THE FUCK WAS I DOING?!'

Before my sisters could react, a spell card appeared in my hand.

Spell Card #4: Magnetic Force - Allows one person to fly to the location of someone previously met.

I didn't know where she was so I couldn't teleport.

But my card would take me right to her, no matter what signal jammer is up, my cards are not blocked by such shit.

A bubble of air instantly appeared around me and shot me off.

"KUROKA!"

""Hei!""

I could barely hear my sisters calls behind me.

My exhaustion was gone, my self-loathing for letting this happen and not realizing sooner burned me inside along with my worry and anxiety.

"I'm coming my sun, wait just a little longer. I'm coming."

My form zoomed off into the underworld sky as it began to darken as night was setting in.

I would get my girls, and nothing would stop me.

*Line Break*

As Hei took off without warning, Leone and Yoru sighed.

"We should have known he would react that way."

"He usually keeps a cooler head."

Yoru scoffed.

"You know how much he cares for his loved ones. His mate went missing, I don't blame him for reacting like that we should have stopped him so we strategize."

Leone nodded but then paused as communication circle appeared at her ear.

"Hm? Yeah…yeah…I see. Good work girls. Keep to the shadows and keep me informed."

Yoru sent her a curious gaze as Leone sent her a troubled look.

"There was an explosion in the area Fujimai was supposed to be. Whatever is going on, her and the girls are involved and it's being kept quiet at the moment."

Yoru's eyes narrowed.

"And now Hei's jumping into the fire and will leave a trail of bodies behind him."

"We need to prepare for the repercussions."

Yoru nodded.

"Prepare for the worst, hope for the best."

Leone nodded back.

"Worst comes to worst, we use plan B."

Yoru agreed but then she grimaced.

"We never told Hei about plan B."

Leone sighed.

"If he just waited a moment we could have. Theres no way he will answer our calls in his current state of mind."

"Well, we will just have to keep trying. In the meantime, we have some cats to prepare. If the devils want to play with fire, they're going to get burned."

The two shared a bloodthirsty smirk and took off.

The Nekoshou village was getting ready for war.

Chapter end.

Omake: Credit Card Declined

It was an average job for Hei.

He had a target, he found the target, and he finished the target with a shot to the chest.

Like at the end of every job, he pulled out his unbreakable phone and confirmed the kill with the client.

After confirmation, the credit line on file is charged, and he gets a job completion on his record.

So it came as a slight shock to Hei when his phone beeped with a new message.

[Credit Card Declined. Payment Invalid.]

Hei froze as he stared at his phone with intense eyes under the mask.

He tried to dial the number of the client but it went dead.

Red eyes shined under the mask before he turned around to the bleeding out target with a bullet hole in his heart.

A spectral form came into existence in the shape of an angel.

#8: Angel's Breath – She cures one person of all wounds and ills, restoring them to perfect health.

His most powerful healing card that can bring one back from the bring of death.

The heart had only stopped for around a minute while the brain would still be active.

The body was restored to perfect condition in seconds and the mans eyes fluttered like he was having a bad dream.

Hei walked over and slapped the man awake before taking a picture and sending it to the client who wouldn't answer.

He knocked out the man and left.

No one goes back on a deal with him.

He didn't need the money but it was the principle of the thing.

He can't just let anyone fuck with him.

His phone rang as the client called back.

"YOU SAID HE WAS DEAD."

"So are you. I'm coming."

He hung up and turned off the phone.

He had a reputation to maintain.

AN: I was gonna do an Omake for Michael's Search Part 2, but I'm tired from all the editing today. Funnily enough, I wrote 200K words without any real editing.

My Beta and I have been going at the editing for hours and I'm pretty sure he is clocked out on his keyboard.

The last message I got from him was dozens of lines long made up of the letters P and L. Safe to say he isn't moving for a while.

I got two more chapters coming up. Hopefully I'll get them out tomorrow. Chap 8 is 35K long and Chap 9 is a staggering 42K, a personal record for me.

Some of everyone's favorite characters get introduced in the next 2 chaps so I hope you stay tuned.

Throw me some reviews and let me know what you all think.