Revelations: Paradise Acquired

by Shinigami of the Elder Gods

Inspired by ef07's Blue Fire. There are infinite universes out there, each just as beautiful and unique as the others, but Satan inevitably falls from grace in all of them. It was at least believed Assiah was lost to him, or so they thought. Rin Okumura, although thought to be the spawn of Satan, little did they know he was Satan himself. First in the Revelations series.

6. True Cross Academy Arc: Ruler of Hell

WHEW! This was a pain in the ## to get up! For some reason, any editing just would not save at all! Do any of y'all ever have to deal with that? Anyway, this chapter was a lot of fun to write, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it! I also might have laughed maniacally a few times, but regardless...

The disclaimer: I do not own Aoi no Exorcist, otherwise I would be rich. Kazue Kato-dono does, and she is lucky for that. I also do not own Paradise Lost, which is good, otherwise I'd be dead...

Many thanks to ef07, cipher-b, ZeroHakurei, Suicide Forest, PurpleSnow10, YokaiAngel, CrystalOfTime, F4y, Bloody Moon Mist, Kit, ThePaddy, Itharax, kinda-just-here, EquinePianist, NaruShika-Forever, Andromeda Alpha, SakuraKoi, MangRangKitty, and MelonMochi for reviewing! Everyone else gets to meet my army of soul-consuming ghouls! YAY!

Also thanks to those who favorited and followed my story! If you leave a review, I will do my best to respond, especially if its a really good one! Now on the story!

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"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn't exist."

The Usual Suspects

---

"So long as the Almighty shall reign on high, we shall never know peace, for to have peace is be submitted, and that is a fate worse than death." Satan continued, "Now let us discuss, whether to wage open war once more, or to lay deceit and guile, to turn all of the Almighty's creation against himself!"

So Satan began his deplorable council, to dare defy the Almighty once more, and to cause the beginning of man's great suffering.

However, several of the fallen angels now questioned Satan, the first of which was the cowardly Belial. "To wage war again? Why should we follow you? It's because of you that we're in this infernal pit in the first place! Why should we let you lead, when it's because of your leadership we suffer!"

There were numerous murmurs of agreement as a rather large number of the angels became hostile, but Satan was ready for this, and he stood from his lofty throne, and with a voice as sweet as roses began, "My dear brothers and sisters, I do not yet consider Heaven as lost to us. The tyrannical servitude of Heaven, and your own wishes made me your leader, besides my own merit to its claim as the deviser of the plan. In Heaven, its highest throne may claim only envy, yet here in the Pit, who would want to claim the highest throne, when it only brings the greatest suffering? Who here would dare to stand as the enemy to God Himself?"

The murmurs of dissent suddenly began to turn into murmurs of agreement. After all, he did have a point. Why would they want to stand as main enemy of God? Better him than them! Belial sat down someone stubbornly, clearly not satisfied, but Satan continued, "Now, whether by open agression, or slyness and deceit, will we continue our war against God?"

The first to respond was Moloch, the most aggressive of all of the fallen angels, perhaps even more so than Satan. He preferred to be the strongest of all, or to cease his existence permanently.

"I say war! I care not for wits or deceit, as those who sit debating never accomplish anything, while those who await command wait for a call to arms that will never come! I say let us march against Heaven's towers, and turn our pain into strength to turn against the Torturer! What have we to lose? What can be worse than to dwell in Hell, driven out from eternal bliss, and to suffer eternal pain, forced to submit to his force forever? Any more suffering than this, and we should cease to exist. Nay, I say better to fight against Him and cease to exit, then be forced to grovel in this Pit!"

Satan nodded, clearly pleased with the advice, as yet another fallen angel emerged to speak, this time Mammon, by far the greediest of all of them that fell, save for Satan himself. He focused more on the gold and wealth of Heaven even before his fall, yet even more now. Yet he continued,

"If war is our best choice, to remove the Tyrant from his throne, or to regain our status before the fall must be our goal. He relenting, and granting us mercy would only bring us new slavery. No, we must take Heaven itself if we wish to stay our own masters. Yet we know this is clearly impossible. Let us then not seek to pursue Heaven, despite its glory, and make masters of ourselves, deep within this pit. Better to have liberty at the cost of suffering, then slave away in leisure the rest of out eternity!"

Satan nodded at the advice as well, not showing as much outward excitement, but he contemplated the advice nonetheless. Finally the third person spoke, cowardly Belial, desiring of glory, but lacking both courage and drive.

"Taking Heaven's gate is clearly beyond our power, our fearless "leader's" rebellion is proof of that! Our only hope is left is despair in this damned pit! We would have to force the Tyrant to rage, make him destroy us himself, but that wouldn't happen! Our only cure is to cease to exist, sad it may be, because of Satan! So then why would we increase our punishment more? I say to remain in Hell, till the flames grow painless to us, or we regain our angelic essence! Why should we let this devil lead us to more pain?"

Satan gazed upon the insurgent with anger. "So Belial, you dare to take my throne? You wish to take all my suffering upon yourself?"

His blue flames, which even in Heaven he had become known for, as the only angel who could wield the fire of the Lord, wreathed his blue in spectral light. The once pure flames now tainted with wrath and pride.

Belial backed away slowly, as Satan' wrath grew, and he started sweating. "Uh… no, but I believe that we should have a better leader than you! I name Beelzebub! He was far more concerned for us than you ever were!"

Satan's bangs shadowed his face as the council burst into chaos, some parts clamoring for Satan to remain king, while others believed Beelzebub would make a better king. They all fell silent in terror however, as Satan erupted into a pillar of brilliant blue flame, his heat burning the stones and his surroundings out of existence. Their fear increased as Satan stood, in all of his terrible glory, his six pure white wings now a terrible soul-stealing black. They could not make out his burning form, yet they could see the red glare of his eyes within.

Mammon was the first to speak, as he noticed what the others didn't. "Beelzebub isn't here, is he, Satan?"

The burning pillar did not reduce any less, as Satan's voice echoed throughout, seemingly magnified by his show of power. "No, he isn't."

Mammon watched in awe, apparently the only one who wasn't fazed by Satan's immense power. 'Such power,' He thought, 'So this is the power of the formerly greatest angel in Heaven!' He spoke, "So where is he?"

Satan's pillar of flame condensed, to where he was still wreathed in it. But despite the absence of the flame, the oppressive aura still remained. "Beelzebub is dead. He died by God's hand."

The council remained in silence. They honestly could not believe it. For all Belial's boasting, so they could die… But it was still hard to stomach. The brown-haired, turquoise-eyed angel was gone? Dead?

Satan's face remained twisted in rage, as he slowly walked towards the idiotic Belial, who remained frozen in place. Fear immobilized him, as he stood facing Satan, now the uncontested strongest in Gehenna, with the death of Beelzebub, and with the loss of his golden flames.

"Now Belial, not only did you dare to bring up the loss of my right-hand man, and my best friend, you also dared to challenge my right as king to rule?!" His flames burst uncontrollably once more.

Satan extended his right hand, as his flames began to condense into a single ball, "Do you have any last words?"

Belial looked around for any allies in the crowd, but he could see that they abandoned him. He wasn't surprised though. He'd do the same to them. However, swear still poured down his brow. "What are you doing? It-it doesn't matter what you do! You can't kill me! I'll just heal eventually!"

Whatever Belial's hopes were, they quickly squashed when Satan smiled, "Indeed. I might not be able to kill angelic beings, but I suppose scattering their essence so thoroughly that their consciousness can never reform is about the same. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Well, I, uh-"

"It doesn't matter. Farewell." Satan pointed the sphere of flames at Belial, and a great ray of blue flames shot from it, obliterating all of Belial's form, the castle wall, and heading off into the great distance of Gehenna.

Smoke rose, as the council stared in awe at what Satan was able to do, as he rose up and returned to his throne. "Having taken your council into consideration," He began, "It seems wise not to attack Heaven. However, there is another path. Before the fall, as the highest angel, and thus close to God's grand council, I know that He planned to make a creation so grand, a whole new world entirely! He also plans to give it a being that he apparently favors even more so than us angels! This then shall be our plan! We shall take this creation, and pervert its ends! To direct its attention to our aims, instead of His!"

The council murmured in assent, as Satan continued, "With that said, who is willing to venture to this world? Who is so brave?"

Each fallen angel looked at each other, all of them very uncertain, hoping someone else was willing to go. Finally Satan stood once more, "Very well then, since no one is willing, then I, as ruler of Gehenna, will go. It's only fitting I do so. So scatter to the corners, and explore this new realm, and see what you can do to make it more… tolerable." Satan flapped his crow-black wings, as he took off into the air. "I will set off to find this new realm!" And he disappeared, taking off into the distance, while the other fallen ones scattered.

After travelling through Gehenna for a while, Satan paused and landed, looking off into the distance. He remained in thought for a while, and spoke, "I have no idea where the hell I need to go…" How was he supposed to find this new creation anyway? "Maybe I should have asked for directions…" He shrugged and kept walking, and in all his majestic glory, tripped and fell… gloriously… cutting himself on a jagged spire.

"Ouch… I really hope no one saw that, but how the hell am I supposed to get there!" He let off his flames in annoyance, even as blood dripped from his cut. He was about to vent his anger some more, until he heard a strange sizzling. He looked at some of his blood which had dripped onto the ground, and saw his flames were making it… throb, almost.

"Interesting…" He focused his flames more, and saw his blood was starting to make strange shapes, a form almost. He looked at his arm, and muttered, "Perhaps…" And he sliced his arm open, letting the blood fall freely, as he concentrated his flames more.

The blood pulsed more and more, and Satan focused his flames into it more, as a shape began to form, strange statues coming out of it, as horrid bubbling faces emerged in the center. Finally, a definite shape surrounded by his flames formed. Satan gazed into the center of the flames intently, so he was caught unawares when it suddenly exploded. He was thrown back, coughing from the smoke, as he looked at the source of the explosion.

It was a… gate, or something like it, engraved with intricate patterns, and an upside down cross, although he did not yet understand the meaning of that symbol. Two goblin statues stood guard, as a strange mass of bubbling faces writhed in the very center. Finally, two… eyes stared at him. Satan blinked. Yes, the gate had eyes! The gate blinked back in return, and almost… seemed to be calling him.

On a random hunch, Satan jumped into the center of the newly formed Gehenna Gate, beginning his journey to the newly created realm of Assiah, whose beautiful spaces were not yet tainted with sin, forbidding Satan from entering it, beginning man's suffering, and setting forces beyond his imagination into play…

Rin stirred once more, groaning. He covered his eyes with his elbow. 'Why can't these memories leave me alone!' He got up, making sure not to disturb Yukio. He learned very quickly as a kid never to do that! Yukio's smile could scare the shit out of him. The last person was… Beelzebub… Rin shook such memories away… No good to think about such old events.

He want downstairs and fixed up some breakfast, and ate it up, then went to go get cleaned up. After the usual shower, he went up to go brush his teeth, and found the shirt he had loaned out to Izumo. It had been cleaned up, but he saw a note that said, "Thanks for the shirt. Cleaned it up. You stink."

"Hey! I don't stink that much!" He sniffed himself, "At least i think so…"

"Morning Nii-san."

Rin jumped about three feet in the air at the sudden voice. He swore he never heard anyone! He turned around to see Yukio trying to keep a straight face, but failing miserably from Rin's reaction. "Yukio!"

Yukio burst out laughing, "I'm sorry, your-your reaction! Ha ha ha ha!"

A tick mark appeared on Rin's head, "You mention this to anyone, and I'll bring up the Closet Teddy Bear incident."

Yukio suddenly blanched, "You promised you'd never mention that again!"

Rin smiled, and Yukio could swear he got his smile from their father. "Well, hopefully it stays that way."

Yukio cleared his throat, "Anyway, I was about to go check on Paku-san, if you want to come."

"Sure!"

A short walk later…

Yukio finished injecting the medicine into Paku's bloodstream, and put the needle away. "In a couple days, your fever should get better soon, and you can begin moving about. Please do be careful though."

"Thank you Okumura-sensei!"

"No need to thank me Paku-san. I'm just doing my job. Just get lots of rest." Yukio got up to leave.

Rin had to smile at his essentially adopted younger brother. He knew temptaints from Naberii could be pretty bad, so considering how effectively Yukio could treat it… He was a pretty smart kid!

"Take care, Paku." Rin said. He did have to admit, although Izumo was a total witch, Paku was pretty decent as far as humans go. She kind of reminded him of Yuri in some regards, but… his heart was always Yuri's… Rin shook his head. Why was he thinking such depressing thoughts today?

"Thank you, Okumura-san." Pau replied, a smile on her face.

"No problem." And he left to follow Yukio, giving a brief glare to Izumo who was on her way in. Izumo froze, then quickly walked past to talk to Paku.

"So, any word on that demon?" He asked Yukio, as they were walking through the halls.

"Nothing yet. It was an above-intermediate Naberius, though."

"Didn't you say Mephisto put barriers in place?"

"Yes he did. I'm surprised you remembered that, Nii-san."

"Don't patronize me, Yukio! I can remember things, I just… don't always…" Rin's tick mark reappeared again, as he started clenching his fist.

"Regardless, these kind of demons occasionally get past, so we have to keep an eye out."

"Ah…"

---

Rin laid at his favorite place, the roof on the school. He loved just staring up at the sky. It was a habit he kind of picked up from Yuri. She loved to try to find patterns in them, and could find so many. He usually only could see food…

'I hope wherever you are Yuri, you're happy… But…" Memories of the demon attack flashed through his mind, especially what it said.

"I'm sorry, my prince, I must do as my master bids me…"

'Just who is this master… why would they want me dead in the first place. Nobody except Yukio and Samael know who I am… Whoever it is though, better leave Yukio out of it!' He was so lost in his thought he didn't see the shadow approaching.

"Rin…" As Sheimi's face appeared in his vision.

"Waugh!" Rin jumped up, accidentally smashing their heads together.

"Agh!" They both screamed, clutching their heads. 'God damn it!' Rin thought, 'This is the second time this had happened today! Does the universe just hate me or something!'

"Don't get in my face you idiot!" Rin shouted.

"Don't suddenly lift up your head, dummy!" Shiemi countered.

Rin remembered when he had smacked her across the face…

*SMACK*

"You… know nothing of me. Don't assume that you do!"

"Oy… I'm, uh… sorry about smacking you the other day…"

Shiemi looked down as she rubbed her cheek where Rin had slapped her, "Ah, that was my fault. You were just trying to help, and I was being inconsiderate…"

"Yeah… thanks…" Rin looked off into the distance. He noticed a nice, little clock tower, and… was that the time?! "Oh shit! Shiemi, we have five minutes! We're going to be late for class!" He started running and grabbed Shiemi, who was half-running and half-dragging behind Rin.

"Wait, Rin! Slow down! I can't run as fast! Waugh!"

---

Rin was really hoping for one of two things to happen. One, for God to strike him down. Two, somebody beats him to death with his textbook, which in this case happened to be a Bible. Why? Because he still really hates this Bible Study/Aria class! 'Why the hell did I run to this! Why? Because I'm a dumbass! That's why!'

He looked at the teacher, a somewhat shorter female exorcist, who wore a lot of jewelry, with long colored hazel-colored hair. The only thing Rin liked about her was the cat that perched on her shoulders for some reason. He really loved cats…

She glared at Rin, almost daring him to doze off again. Rin could see her getting ready to clock him with her bible again. She stared at him, then once she was certain that he wasn't going to immediately doze off, began her lesson. "Arias are exorcists who are capable of analyzing a demon, and determine what its fatal verse is. Fatal verses are lines from sacred scripture that are capable of driving demons back to Gehenna. Now then, would someone recite the passage I assigned for homework?"

She looked around for a bit, until she came to Izumo. Now that was a little odd… Usually she was so focused… "Kamiki-san?"

Izumo remained lost in space, "Kamiki-san?"

Izumo blinked as her eyes came back into focus. "Oh, sorry!" She quickly stood up.

"It's Te Deum, dear, where we left off."

"Right!" She began reciting. "Day by day we bless Thee. And we praise Thy name. Praise thy name forever, and world…" Izumo looked down, as she started remembering yesterday's events. "And world…"

"What's wrong, dear?"

Izumo started sweating, especially since she could see Rin out of the corner of her eye, his warning still fresh in her mind…

"I'm going to make this very clear. You are not to try to abuse Shiemi in any way, to take advantage of her, especially after she just saved your friend. If you don't follow this…"

Izumo stared into his eyes, and it seemed like every calamity that ever befell the human race could be seen in his eyes. It seemed so hypnotic, as scenes of war played across in them, children weeping on their parent's dead corpses, cities vanishing in atomic blasts, man killing man, and so many countless other tragedies.

"If you don't follow this, I'll show you what it really means to live in a hell on earth."

Izumo was starting to have a mini panic attack, although it took every ounce of her will not to show it. 'Okumura Rin, what are you?' She realized they were still waiting for her to finish. "I'm sorry. I don't remember…"

"Oh my, Kamiki-san, this isn't like you! Alright, Suguro-san, would you take over?"

"Hai!" Bon stood up, and shut his eyes, reciting, "Day by day we bless Thee. And we praise Thy name. Praise thy name forever; and world without end. Vouchsafe, O Lord, this day: to keep us without sin. Have mercy on us, O Lord: have mercy on us. Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us: as we have hoped in Thee. O Lord, in Thee have I hoped: let me never be confounded." (1)

Everyone looked on in amazement as Bon perfectly recited it, "That was perfect Suguro-san!" the teacher stated, as the bell rang. "Alright, now we will start with the Salve, Regina next week. Please prepare to recite it for the class." She walked by Rin, and she muttered so softly that even Rin could barely hear it. "And if you fall asleep, my bible will be waiting for you!"

"Hai…" Rin said, sweat-dropping.

"That was impressive Suguro-san!" Shiemi said, bringing Rin's attention back to the present situation.

"Yeah, you really are smart!"

"Oy! What do you mean by that!"

"Well, Bon is really good at memorizing things…" Konekomaru piped in.

"By memorizing things, you mean really smart, right?"

"Uh… hai!"

"Please, anyone can memorize something." Izumo put in.

"What do you mean by that? When you couldn't even memorize four lines!"

Izumo rolled her eyes, "It's not that I couldn't. It's that I chose not to. Arias are completely useless, needing everyone else to protect them while they recite. They're only a burden!"

"Why you-! You dare insult an aspiring Aria!"

"Do I even need to? Just the fact you want to be one is an insult!"

Bon got up and started stomping over to Izumo, who did the same. "What are you gonna do? Hit me?"

"I never could stand you! Don't make fun of other people's dreams!"

"Ha! Defeating Satan? Your goal should be finding Satan, not defeating him!

"Why you-!" Bon slammed his hand down on Rin's desk, who was just trying to read a book to avoid getting dragged into this, although he was laughing at the irony, since Satan was literally right in front of them… "Then what about you? Why are you an exorcist!" Bon shouted.

Izumo paused, as memories from her childhood flashed through her mind. Satan raised an eyebrow, as her fear suddenly skyrocketed, and he tried to peer into her mind. He saw Izumo, as a child, clutching what looked like a smaller version of her. A sister, perhaps? They were surrounded by fire, and were looking at something in fear. Satan couldn't make out much, but he could see nine swishing fox tails. He suddenly got kicked out as the memories ended, as Izumo suddenly came back, "I've never told anyone why I'm an exorcist. I don't seek attention like you!"

"How dare you!" Bon screamed, grabbing Izumo by her sweater vest.

Izumo was temporarily startled by the action, but she quickly clenched her fist. Rin decided now was a time to get out of here, and got up…

*THWACK!*

Right into Izumo's punch…

"Oy! Uh… Sorry…" Izumo blinked, while everyone else stared in shock.

A giant tick mark appeared on Rin, as his eye starting twitching, his face shadowed by his bangs. "Ouch… If you're gonna brawl, do it SOMEWHERE ELSE!" He shouted.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Rin turned to the new voice, fearing the worst. Yep, it was Yukio, eyes twitching.

"BYE!" Rin took off, leaving them to their fate, only for Yukio to grab him by his collar, nearly choking him, "Save yourselves..." He pleaded...

"That's quite enough." Yukio said. Everyone gulped, as his eyes seemed to promise punishment.

---

"Damn this rock! It keeps getting heavier!" Rin yelled. He could handle it for now, but it was getting quite annoying!

"Another low-level demon… it gets heavier the more and more you carry it!" Konekomaru explained, trying not to give in to it.

"You really don't know what a Bariyon does? You're pathetic!" Bon said.

"Hey! I do know what a Bariyon is! And don't give me that! It's because of you two we're in this place to begin with!"

"It's called collective responsibility!" They all turned to Yukio, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "The goal of this camp is not only to improve your academic skills, but also to improve your teamwork!"

"Heh, like I'd ever work together with these chump!" Izumo scoffed.

Yukio suddenly became stern, "An exorcist never goes into battle alone! To maximize your abilities, and make up for weaknesses, teamwork is absolutely necessary! You may as well die now if you think you can fight alone! Reflect on that." Yukio checked his watch.

" Alright, I'm going to be gone for three hours on a minor assignment. I will be locking the doors and applying a demon-warding charm after the incident yesterday."

"Wait! What are we gonna do!" Bon asked.

"I shouldn't be gone for long. Until then, get along and cool down." Yukio shut his eyes and smiled, "Have fun!" And he shut the door.

"Three hours? Is this guy a demon?" Shima groaned.

"Are you SURE you're related to this guy?" Bon asked Rin

'Technically no… but I can sort of understand how I could be associated with him…' Rin groaned. He swears the only person who ever treated him like that Beelzebub. "Don't worry. He's really a good guy… I swear!"

"Tch." Bon replied, "We wouldn't be in this mess if it weren't for you!"

"Me?!" Izumo countered, "You're the one who grabbed me!"

"You started the fight!"

"Will you stop fighting with me in the middle!" Rin yelled.

"Jeez, you're a twisted witch. You're gonna drive people away with an attitude like that!"

Izumo quickly shut up at that, especially since Paku was leaving her for that same reason…

Rin, however, was feeling annoyed. This entire situation was making him feel so powerless. He couldn't do anything to shut them up without revealing who he was, and he hated it! Only twice in his immortal life had he ever actually felt truly powerless though. The first was when Beelzebub died, the second…

Flashback

Satan's spirit had returned to Gehenna from being banished once more from Assiah. However, he had won! He might not have been able to take Assiah immediately, but it didn't matter. He had killed God's son! Whatever plans He might have had, it's pretty hard for him to accomplish them if His son is dead!

"Ha ha ha ha! What are you going to do now, God? I've won!"

Lucifer burst in, suddenly, and Satan looked at his first-born son. He was an extraordinarily capable demon, and Satan took great pride in him. At least he was useful. His second-born, Samael alway got distracted by one human thing or another.

"Father! Where have you been? You suddenly vanished! Gehenna was nearly in a panic!"

Satan smiled, 'Lucifer always did put the state of Gehenna first. I suppose it's understandable, he'd have the greatest claim to my throne if something happened…' He spoke, "Just partaking in a little wager, Lucifer. However!" Satan stood up, "Tell Gehenna it's time for a great celebration! I have had my greatest triumph yet! God's son is dead, and by my hand, no less!"

Lucifer blinked, "God has a son? Bu-but how?"

"It doesn't matter! It's a time of triumph, and what better way to celebrate than by feasting! Go!"

Lucifer bowed respectfully. "Very well then, father." And he swiftly walked out.

Demons flocked to the center of Gehenna to take part in the festivities. Demons fought for sport, ate, drank, and took part in grand competitions to get glory for themselves. Satan regaled demons with the story of his grand plan, all who listened in awe at his story.

The celebration continued for three days, as demons continued to be merry. Legend has it that the festivals are even larger and more impressive than the famous New Orleans Mardi Gras, so after three days, even the demons were tired out…

Satan yawned as well, reclining on his throne, even he had been tired out from the festivities. However, his rather useless son Samael burst into the throne room suddenly. "Samael, what is the meaning of this intrusion!"

Samael seemed uncharacteristically out of breath. "There's something happening in Limbo right now! Lucifer ordered me to summon you now!"

Satan frowned at this, "What kind of situation?"

"I don't know. Some kind of glowing guy showed up. Said he was the son of God?"

Satan got up rapidly from that and spread his leathery demonic wings, and blasted a whole through his castle wall heading rapidly for the circle of Limbo. "The son of God? Impossible!"

He quickly arrived at the circle of Limbo, one of Hell's main divisions. Ever since the fall of man at his own hands, the gates of heaven had remained forever shut. No human was ever capable of attaining it. However, Satan quickly found Limbo was different from the other circles. While someone could be punished in the others from things such as adultery to treason, Limbo was… different. The best way he could describe it was like a bubble of sorrow in a world of torment. He had been there several times, and could remember a few famous faces, Adam and Eve, the first ones he tempted, Noah, David… Satan could go on and on…

He finally arrived at Limbo, where he saw Lucifer lying on the ground unconscious, his face permanently scarred, and severely injured. "Lucifer!" He checked on his eldest, and he at least was still breathing, for now.

"Where are you, son of God? I know you are responsible for this!"

Satan looked right and left, trying to find him, but to no avail, until…

"Here I am." Came a voice from behind him.

Satan turned, and there was the Rabbi, but how different he was! His clothes seemed like garments from Heaven, and he glowed with accursed light!

"What are you doing here!"

"I come to fulfill my Father's will."

"Oh really? And what would that be!"

"To take those souls deserving, and to open the gates of Heaven!"

"Ha! You and what army!"

"I do not need an army."

Satan flared his power, as some of the souls began to step back in fear. "You will regret not bringing one! I am king here, and I reign supreme!" He charged the Rabbi.

The Rabbi simply bowed his head, and said, "Amen." Sheer light emanated from him, and Satan felt himself grabbed, as he was flung suddenly by some unseen force back and forth. "Agh! What the hell!"

He looked to see the Rabbi holding his hand above his head, and he brought it down, trailing a line made of light down, "In the name of the Father," He spoke at the top of the line, "And of the Son," he spoke at the bottom of the line, and he brought his hand across, making another line, "And of the Holy Spirit." He finished his shape, making a brilliant cross of light. "Amen." And a sheer burst of light fired from it.

The blast illuminated all of Gehenna, as Satan was wracked with indescribable pain. It was as if he was getting ripped apart and put back together at the same time! With his remaining moments of consciousness, he could see the Rabbi ascending with the souls of Limbo, and he held out his hand trying to stop it. "Curses… damn it all to hell!" And his strength failed him.

He could see Samael leading a group of demons to the area, who immediately began tending to Lucifer and Satan. Samael tried shaking Satan, trying to get him to stay conscious.

"Satan! Satan! Okumura!"

Rin came back to the present, as Bon was frantically shaking him. "Finally! What dimension were you in!"

Rin blinked trying to get his bearings, when he realized that the lights were off! He jumped up quickly, trying to get a grasp of the situation, only to forget about the Bariyon currently on him.

*Thunk!*

"God damn it! I dropped the Bariyon on my foot! What the hell happened to the lights!"

"They went off while you were off daydreaming you idiot!"

"A blackout?"

"No, the lights are still on outside…" Konekomaru noted.

"I'm going outside." Shima got up.

"Be careful Shima!" Konekomaru cautioned.

"I kind of like these things! Like a real live test of courage!" Shima opened the door, looked out for a minute, and shut it for some reason. "Huh? Am I tired or something? I just felt something…" He barely ducked out of the way when a rotting hand smashed it's way through the door! The same two-headed ghoul from yesterday broke it's way through the door!

"It's the ghoul from yesterday!" Izumo shouted.

"But I thought there were demon-warding charms!" Konekomaru shouted.

The ghoul's other head, which was sealed suddenly burst open, revealing another head on the inside, while splattering the young exorcists in training with some kind of goo.

"What, bodily fluids!" Izumo said in disgust.

The ghoul slowly approached, while Shiemi stared on, 'I've got to protect everybody!' Nee popped up on shoulder. "Nee-chan, can you summon some Una-una?"

"Nee!" It happily replied, as it summoned an incredibly large mass of branches from its chest, while impaling the ghoul at the same time. "Good job, Nee-chan!

"Amazing! You got it Shiemi!" said Rin, until he heard a shifting sound coming from the ghoul. "What the-?"

The implied body of the ghoul suddenly split in half, as the half whose head burst open split off, and regrew its body, smashing its way through the temporary forest.

"I thought it was supposed to be dead!"

"Ghouls are active in the dark! We need to get the lights back on!"

Shiemi and everyone else suddenly started coughing, losing strength in their legs, "Oy! What's going on!" Rin said.

"It's the fluid from the ghoul! Aren't you affected by it too!" Izumo said.

"Well-, ugh!" Rin groaned. He leapt up to the barrier. "I'm gonna lead it away from here. You guys get out as soon as its away!"

"Oy! You can't do that! It's suicide!"

Rin grinned, "Don't underestimate me, I'm pretty strong!" And he leapt through the barrier.

"That idiot!"

Rin caught sight of the demon, which quickly noticed him, "Heh, you want me, come and get me!" And quickly took off, with the demon in hot pursuit. 'I need to get the lights back on! These things are annoying!'

Bon groaned at Rin's idiocy, while Shima spoke "Good job Shiemi, now we can lower the barrier and get out of here!"

Bon quickly interrupted, "Oy! Did you hear that!"

"What?"

They peered into the mass of branches, only to see the other half of the ghoul! "No way!" Shouted Konekomaru, as the ghoul began smashing its way through the branches.

"Tch, we can't just sit here and do nothing!" Bon said, "I'll take it out with a recital!"

"But you don't know that things fatal verse!" Konekomaru added.

"No, but I know ghoul's fatal verses are in the Gospel of John! I already have it memorized, so if I recite the whole thing, I should be able to get it!"

"But that has more than 20 chapters!"

"There's 21 actually, but I have 1 through 10 memorized, so I can help as well." Konekomaru pointed out.

"Alright," Shima reached into his shirt and pulled out three rods, quickly assembling them into his K'rik. "I don't have a single verse memorized, but good thing I brought this!" Shima added.

"Hold on! If you start reciting, the ghoul will start going after you!" Izumo shouted.

"So what! Shiemi here is using all her strength to keep this barrier up, so we have to time to worry about this! Konekomaru, get started with chapter one, I'll start with chapter eleven!"

"Hai!" Konekomaru swiftly responded.

They both sat cross-legged, and began chanting.

"Now a certain man was sick…"

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God…"

---

Meanwhile with Rin…

Rin had finally managed to find the power room. He looked behind him, and found that the Naberius had stopped following him. 'Hopefully it isn't going after those guys. Yukio would get mad at me if they got hurt.'

He looked around, and finally came to the breakers. "Like I thought, they've all been turned off." He reached for them, 'But who turned them off?' A tongue suddenly came out and wrapped itself around his face. "What the-"He was suddenly pulled back and thrown as the Naberius reappeared. Rin quickly landed on his feet and took off as it slammed the ground where he had just been standing, but it shot its tongue out again and slammed him into one of the lower levels of the room, swiftly pouncing on him.

"Tch! Don't screw with me!" Rin shouted, releasing his flames, forcing the Naberius to retreat. Rin prepared to advance, until he heard clapping. "Who's there!"

"Excellent, I wanted to see those flames, those brilliant blue flames of Satan… Since you never use them in front of the others, I had to lure you away, Rin Okumura, son of Satan!" said Professor Neuhaus, the source of the clapping.

"So you're behind this!"

---

"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. However when He, the Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide you into all truth…"

"No good, the barricade will be broken soon…" Shima brandished his K'rik.

"Bon's reciting the last chapter now…" Konekomaru noted, until he heard a thump right next to them. Shiemi had passed out, and the barricade dispersed, letting the Naberius free.

"Damn you!" Shima started attacking the Naberius, swinging wildly, trying to buy Bon some time.

---

"How did you find out?" Rin asked, but Igor simply smiled. "So you were behind both attacks then…"

"Yes, now show me more of your power! Attack!" Igor commanded the Naberius, which charged.

"You dare try to attack me! You'll pay for that, and Rin moved, unsheathing his sword, and sliding underneath the Naberius, slashing it, and lighting it on fire at the same time.

"I see…" And Igor faded into the darkness.

"Hey! Where'd you go! Damn it! Get back here!" He yelled, sheathing his sword in frustration.

---

Izumo was frantically shaking Shiemi, trying to get her to wake up. She didn't want to know what Rin would do to her if Shiemi got hurt or worse while she was around. "Hey! Are you alright? Get up!"

Shiemi looked up weakly, "Izumo-chan, are you alright? You're not acting like your usual self…"

Izumo's eyes widened, 'Wait, she's lying on the ground nearly unconscious, and she's worried about me!'

Shima was struggling with the other Naberius, who was trying to wrench his K'rik away from him. "Hey Bon are you almost finished yet!"

Izumo reached into her vest and pulled out her two summoning circles, 'She's right. I'm not myself…'

She bit her finger, spreading the blood across her circles, "I humbly entreat the goddess Inari. I entreat you not to leave my prayers unfulfilled!" And she summoned Uke and Mike.

"How dare you summon us again! Did you not learn your lesson last time!"

"You will obey me!"

"Curses, she's snapped out of it!"

"Ack!" Shima yelled as the Naberius quickly threw him out of the way.

'It's true, I have a twisted personality, and I hate losing, but…!' Izumo thought as she began chanting as well, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten! Utter these words and shiver. And should it sway and quiver, and then even the dead shall come back to life." 'That's who I am!' "The Tamayura Exorcism" And her two byakko began swirling fiercely around the Naberius.

"You did it!" Konekomaru shouted, until it knocked the two foxes out of the way, and barreled towards Bon.

"It is this disciple who testifies to thes things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true." Bon continued chanting, even as the Naberius grabbed him, "There were many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually." The Naberius prepared to bite his head off, until the lights came back on, apparently causing it great pain, as it tried to finish the job, "I do not think the whole world… could contain the books… that would be written!" And the Naberius dissolved as its fatal verse was recited… (2)

"I'm dead… I'm dead… I'm dead…" Bon chanted over and over.

Shima started laughing, "Maybe we should've started from the back…"

---

Rin pulled his hand off the fuse breaker, while he had an uncharacteristic frown on his face. He was not happy about this. That stupid teacher Igor was putting those students and thus Yukio in trouble by going after him. "I swear I'm going to find you Igor! You better pray I don't! However…" He did know about the other Naberius after all, but he believed the group could handle walked down the steps back to where he fried Igor's Naberius, or at least that's what he wanted Neuhaus to think. Satan cleared the flames, to reveal the Naberius's mostly intact body.

"I… am … unhurt?" It stuttered out.

"Indeed. No sense it charring a perfectly usable demon…"

"My… Prince?"

"Sure, we can go with that. Now…" Satan felt the other Naberius's presence disappear, so he could act now. Satan's eyes widened, as he summoned his magic to figure out the demon's summoning verse. "I see…" And he began chanting.

"Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries. Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten…" Smoke began swirling as he summoned the Naberius's just exorcised counter-part.

"My… Prince…"

The other Naberius watched in surprise. He had summoned it without a summoning circle? Is this the power of the Prince?

"Good. You're under new management. Now I'm going to head back to the other group. You go into hiding, and await further instruction. Is that clear?"

"Yes… master…" And they both crawled away into the shadows, as Satan started chuckling, the light bulbs in the room bursting, leaving two glowing sapphire eyes, and a glowing red pupil…

Rin finally arrived back in the room, and acted like he knew nothing at all. "Hey! Was there another ghoul?"

Bon just stared in shock, "You? What happened to the other ghoul?"

"Oh? That one? I took care of it!" Rin shut his eyes and grinned, until he heard some stomping sounds, and Bon clotheslined him out of nowhere! "OW! What the hell was that for?!"

"Do you want to get yourself killed!"

"Hey! Just a minute! You're trying to kill me now!" Rin jumped out of Bon's stomp, 'Am I the only noticing the irony of that?' Satan idly thought…

Meanwhile Izumo was helping Shiemi up. "Look, I honestly don't like you… But you did save us… so thank you…" Izumo said.

"Okay!"

'Paku…' as images of Rin's threat appeared in her mind, only to disappear, 'I'm not going to let my fears keep me down. I'll keep this up… for you!'

Yukio finally walked back into the room, "What's this!" As he saw Shima and Konekomaru trying to stop Bon from evidently murdering his brother…

Rin turned to face his adopted twin, "Hey, Yukio!" Rin's eyes widened however, as Professor Neuhaus appeared behind Yukio, "You!"

Yukio looked back, "Hm? What?"

"Yukio, that guy's… our enemy…- gack!" Rin tried to talk until a boot came out of nowhere and smashed him into the wall. "What? Mephisto!" 'That stupid son of mine! I swear when I get my hand on him!'

"Alright my young pages! Good work everyone!" As Mephisto entered with his usual flare.

"What's going on?"

"You honestly think I would allow a upper-level demon to infiltrate my academy!" He snapped his finger, and the exorcists all appeared out of random spots in the room.

"Huh?!" Everyone unanimously shouted.

"Exactly, now if exorcists with Doctor credentials would tend to the injured. Now, this boot camp served as your Exwire Authorization Exam! Congratulations!"

Rin just stared dumbfounded, "What?"

"While camp was in session, we tested you thoroughly via strategically place instructors around the building. I will read their reports and decide who passed. I look forward to announcing those results! And my thanks to our author for finally getting me involved in this chapter!"

"Ah!" Yukio started freaking out, "We aren't supposed to mention that, Sir Pheles!"

---

In the Med Room

"DAMMIT MEPHISTO!" Rin shouted, then sighed. "It was all a test? I hate getting duped like that!"

"Yeah, I guess we should've kept that as a possibility…"

"I wonder if I made it…" Konekomaru started worrying.

"Please, if you remembered what Okumura-sensei said, you'll be fine. No one else failed better than me." Izumo bitterly added.

"You did great, unlike these two slack-offs over!" Bon annoyingly pointed out Yamada and Takara.

"Yes, I got a dragon's claw." Yamada played on his PSP.

"Hmph. Like I'd associate with you people!" Takara spoke, at least, through his puppet?

"Whoa! Both of them can talk! And him with a puppet no less!"

"You little-!" Bon angrily muttered, then took a deep breath, "But if anyone of us deserves to pass, it's definitely Moriyama-san! If you hadn't been there, I'd hate to think about what would have happened! So thank you!"

"EH! What, I-uh, no, uh thank you!"

"Anyway, Okumura-kun, how did you take care of your ghoul?" asked Konekomaru.

'I enslaved it and made it my loyal servant' "Well, I uh, stabbed it with my sword."

"Really! Wow, you do have the potential to be a knight!"

"You stabbed it, could you be any more vague?" Bon idly noticed.

"What can I say? I'm full of mystery! Ha ha ha ha!" Rin smugly gloated.

Izumo watched on, "What is he? He's only a page, and yet he could take on an upper-level ghoul with just a sword, and barely get a scratch. Okumura Rin? How are you so strong?"

---

The sun was setting on True Cross Academy, and Professor Igor Neuahaus was on his way to his next destination, until he was interrupted. "Neuhaus-sensei? A word?"

He turned around to see Okumura Yukio walking down the stairs after him. "What is it?"

"The actions you took overstepped the boundaries of the exam. Even if it was for evaluation, you sill exposed the students to danger, and further, almost exposed my brother's power to the others. Surely you've been sworn to secrecy as well?"

"I acted on the same Sir Pheles' orders." Yukio's eyes widened. "I'm to act with deadly force."

"What?"

"I suppose if you're the breaks for Okumura Rin's power, then I'm his accelerator, in order to judge his capabilities to determine his capability to to serve as a weapon."

"But-"

"Don't take it personally. We just decided to share your demon babysitting duties. You already have enough to worry about as a genius exorcist."

"My brother is fully capable of controlling both his power and his emotions. Surely you are able to see that? Please don't underestimate him."

"Rest assured. I'm not really going to kill him."

Shiemi was nursing Nee with a special herbal water, thinking about everything that had passed in the last couple of days, including her more recent popularity. "Things have been quite exciting these last couple of days, haven't they?"

The door opened, knocking Shiemi out of her daydreams, as Yukio walked in. "Welcome!"

"Hello, Shiemi. Is the missus in?"

"Uh, no. She went out to go get supplies, so I'm just manning the shop tonight!" Shiemi spoke, as a mini Shiemi started flying above her, 'Kya! It's just the two of us! Kya!' She shook herself out of her daydreams, "Anyway, are you here for supplies?"

"Actually, I'm here to talk about your future." He held out her Exwire application paper, with a blank for her position.

Shiemi started pouring some herbal tea, and handed it to Yukio, who gratefully accepted it. "Do you remember when we first met, Shiemi?"

Shiemi reflected on those old memories, and how she gave Yukio his nickname of Yuki-chan. "God! I was so much worse than I was back then!"

"That makes two of us. When I was a kid, I was a real crybaby, and always relied on Rin for help. I always looked up to him for that."

"Really? Well, Rin is a sweet boy."

"Indeed he is, but no one can remain a child forever. If you're going to remain at the cram school, you have to brace yourself, especially given your talent as a tamer. I'd like you to speak with your mother about it."

"With my mom?"

"Yes, because you can be put in life or death situations if you are promoted to Exwire, so we need your guardian's permission."

"I didn't even think I'd make it during the test. I guess you're right."

Yukio smiled, "Yes, we did put you through some pretty hard stuff in the middle of that test, didn't we? But, a test is a test. We made sure not to overstep any boundaries, or at least try to… All the teachers had everyone's safety as their foremost concern, and…" Yukio frowned, as Neuhaus' words came back to mind.

"Rest assured. I'm not really going to kill him."

Yukio got up suddenly, and began heading out, a look of worry on his face. "I'm sorry, I have to leave now."

"Yuki-chan?" Shiemi asked, confusion on her face.'I have a really bad feeling about this…'

---

Neuhaus walked through the empty dorm halls, scanning the door numbers for the one he was looking for. 'Finally, room 602.' He tested the door, and found it was locked. He quickly pulled out a lock pick and eventually jimmied the lock, silently opening it.

He walked into the room, where he saw the spawn of Satan huddled under his blankets, and he grabbed his giant compass. 'Finally, after so many long years of suffering… it ends tonight!' And he stabbed downwards, only… 'Something isn't right!' He grabbed the covers, and pulled them back, only to find what he had stabbed was just a rolled up futon! "What?!"

*click*

Neuhaus paused at the unmistakable sound of a gun cocking. He turned behind to see Yukio pointing his gun at him. "I thought you said you weren't going to kill him, Neuhaus-sensei?"

"Very impressive, Okumura Yukio." Neuhaus smiled, as blood began to drip from his arms.

Back with Rin…

Rin was actually sleeping soundly for once, his memories weren't haunting him, and he was actually having a pleasant dream for once. Unfortunately, it was not to last. "Rin! Rin! Wake up!"

"Zzz… Huh?! What?!" Rin suddenly jumped up, "Oh come on… I was actually getting a good night's rest for once!"

"Shhh!" Shiemi shushed him.

"Shiemi? What are you doing here!"

"Since you wouldn't wake up, Yuki-chan moved you to another room. He told me not to wake you, but…"

*BANG!*

Rin and Shiemi both looked at each other when the gunshot rang out.

Back with Neuhaus and Yukio

Neuhaus held out his hand, soaked with blood, as he spread it across the various summoning circles tattooed on his arm. "Come forth!" And numerous ghoul hands emerged from them, pursuing Yukio swiftly.

Yukio reacted quickly, and with expert precision, easily shot and dispatched all of them, but it gave Neuhaus more than enough time to escape to the roof.

"Tch." Yukio swiftly unloaded his clip and reloaded, cautiously proceeding to the rooftop. 'Neuhaus is an expert tamer, and capable of drawing circles and summoning demons quickly… I need to get to the roof quickly!' And he took off.

He arrived at the rooftop door, and opened it, swiftly aiming his gun at Neuhaus, who as he predicted, was in the process of drawing a magic circle. "Neuhaus-sensei, why do you need to kill my brother?"

Neuhaus only stared blankly, as blood ran down from his arm onto the summoning circles, "Come forth!" And numerous ghoul hands once again reappeared to attack.

Yukio quickly drew both guns. He was at a disadvantage this time. 'When I was in the hallways, they had less room to spread around. Now they can attack from all angles!' And he once again began exorcising the ghoul hands.

However, he didn't see the one hand sneak from behind to grab his leg, disrupting his footing. The hands took advantage of that momentary lapse to quickly begin dragging Yukio around. 'They might lack offensive power, but they can do serious damage in groups!'

Yukio pulled out a holy water grenade and pulled the pin. The ghouls were weak enough that the holy water could drive them off, but they still sent Yukio flying. He bounced a few times, before coming to a stop, and he got up as quickly as he could, but…

"Too late." Neuhaus said, standing in front of a complete magic circle. He drove his compass into his arm, and dragged it across, leaving a sick squelching sound as he ripped a gash in his arm, dropping a very large amount of blood onto the circle. "Behold, it is here. Where there lies a corpse, even vultures will not gather round."

Smoke and electricity began swirling in giant amounts, which Yukio knew meant something big was coming. "Hm, This is the strongest Naberius among all my pawns!"

"RAWGH!" An enormous Naberius burst from the smoke, numerous arms hangning from its neck, and an big tongue hanging from its mouth.

"Tch." Yukio quickly took aim, but he was unprepared for the swipe it took at him, sending him flying. 'Ouch… it's faster than I expected. Neuhaus-sensei certainly is strong…' He landed on his feet and looked around, while the Naberius hobbled towards him. He saw something in the distance, and quickly formulated a battle plan. 'I need to lure it away from the Neuhaus…' He took off running, grabbing his second gun which he had dropped earlier, firing numerous shots at it.

The bullets seemed to have no effect, but they did their job, luring the Naberius away from Neuhaus. Yukio smiled, 'Good, it worked…'

"Heh, it's futile. You can't hope to possibly defeat this one with your bullets! Just accept your fate!"

"And let you kill my brother? I can't let you do that!"

"It's only a matter of time!" Neuhaus took a step forward, only to find something was held up against his throat. He looked down, and his eye widened. A sword?! A new voice came from its owner."Not if I have anything to say about that!" Neuhaus looked to see Rin in his demon form, ears slightly elongated, tail extended, and fire blazing on his horns, and tail's tip.

Yukio smiled, "We just needed to separate you and the Naberius. You were so focused on me that you never noticed Rin coming from behind."

Now Rin smiled, "Yukio said it earlier. Exorcists always work in pairs, and no one works better together than us!" Rin's face became serious once more. "Now who the hell are you? And why did you attack us!"

Neuhaus gripped his arm tighter, attempting to slow the heavy bleeding, "I… am a survivor of the Aoi no Yoru, the Blue Night…"

Rin's eyes widened, "The Blue Night!" So he was responsible for this as well!

"For a brief moment, my body was taken over by Satan," He reached and opened his eyepatch, revealing a heavily burned area, "And I lost this eye… And I also lost my family when they came near to try and save me. Satan took over this body, and used it to kill my wife and child…"

"That's…" Satan honestly couldn't remember that event… He had killed a lot of people that night, trying to save Yuri… but at what cost…

"Satan used me, and for that I can never forgive him… I swore I would never forgive him, not anything called a demon. I vowed to kill him, and so I became an exorcist, only to find out he had vanished that same night! However, if I can't kill him," Neuhaus' eyes began taking on a mad glint, "I can at least kill his son, even if it costs me my own life in exchange!"

Rin was unprepared, lost in his guilt, as Neuhaus extending his bleeding arm, and summoned another ghoul, piercing him all the way through. "Ack!" Rin gasped as blood leaked profusely both from the wound, and from his mouth, evidence of a pretty bad internal wound.

Rin fell back, clutching the wound, as Yukio shouted, "Nii-san!" He took aim at Neuhaus, but he saw a shadow looming over him. The Naberius! He had forgotten about it! He quickly dodged again, as the Naberius smashed the ground where he had been standing before. He took aim once more, and fired more bullets, but this time an arm emerged from the impact site, and shot towards Yukio, grabbing him and throwing him against the stone wall… HARD. He hit his head, and Rin flinched at the impact.

*CRACK!*

"Yukio!" Despite bleeding, Rin quickly took off to Yukio, clutching his wound. Yukio was lying there, definitely unconscious. However, Neuhaus quickly appeared in front of him, brandishing his compass, and he slashed downwards, which Rin barely dodged.

Rin jumped back, and crouching pounced forward, readying his fist, "Damn you!" Neuhaus was ready though.

He held a holy water grenade in front of him, and let it explode, spraying Rin with the potentially lethal stuff. "Heh… So even clad in human skin, the holy water is still effective. So you can't hide your true nature… The best part is holy water becomes more effective the stronger the demon, so I imagine you're in a lot of pain right now…"

Rin was twitching on the ground, in extraordinary pain. As the devil himself, it hurt more than hell! And he could say that for certain! However, gritting his teeth, he forced himself up, while Neuhaus mockingly threw the empty grenade at him. "Holy water, what the hell."

Neuhaus pulled out another grenade, but he didn't throw it this time. Instead, he unscrewed the top and poured the contents all over his compass, and suddenly vanished, appearing right in front of Rin, "Fast!"

"Now die!" Neuhaus slashed across Rin's chest, leaving a gash from his upper left shoulder all the way to his right hip.

"Gagh!" Rin clutched the wound in pain, the cut itself would have hurt a lot, but the holy water coating it almost made it sear like poison! It was like he was getting dissolved! This definitely was a new sensation for him.

"You'll pay for this!" And once more Rin forced himself up, but…

"Not this time." A giant arm smashed Rin from behind knocking himself out of balance, and now it grabbed him, pulling Rin up to its torso, where one of the hands grabbed his head, and began squeezing with unimaginable force!"

"Agh!" Rin screamed, unable to think properly.

Neuhaus smiled, "Now finish him." The hand tightened, and…

*SQUELCH!*

Blood splattered everywhere as the Naberius crushed Rin's head, and it dropped his headless corpse to the ground. Neuhaus smiled, and began laughing maniacally. Finally, he had avenged his family! "Now then," He began walking over to Yukio's unconscious body, stepping over Rin's not moving body. "No sense in leaving either of Satan's sons alive…" He brandished his compass one last time, preparing to drive it down…"

"How dare you…"

"What?!" Neuhaus turned around quickly trying to find the source of that voice. Why did it sound so familiar!

"How dare you hurt Yukio…"

"Who are you! Where are you!"

"Ha ha ha ha! Is not obvious Neuhaus! After all, it's been sixteen long years since we met!"

Neuhaus's eyes widened. Impossible! "Satan?!"

"The one and only!"

"Where are you?! Show yourself!"

"Very well then!" Neuhaus' Naberius was suddenly annihilated in a sheer blast of blue flames!

"What?! HOW!"

"Gya ha ha ha! You made one mistake Neuhaus!" Neuhaus had seen many things, as well as done some things he's not proud of, things that would make regular men break, but he damn near wet himself when Rin's headless corpse suddenly began standing up.

"Wha-?!" Neuhaus could only look in horror as the tissue and bone began regrowing, the skull reforming, along with the teeth, as skin slowly covered it, then came the nose, eyes, and ears, and finally his hair regrew as well, although blood was still leaking profusely from the slash on his chest, likely because of the holy water.

"Surprised? You asked me to show myself, and so here I am! Ha ha ha!" Rin began laughing maniacally once more, as flames started bursting everywhere.

"So, you finally possessed your son, is that it?" Neuhaus challenged, as he brandished his compass. Finally, he could achieve his revenge!

"So close to the answers, but so far!"

Neuhaus lowered his compass, "What do you mean?"

"The answers right in front of you, but you can't even realize it!" Rin grinned demonically, as his nails extending into demonic claws, and his eyes took his spiral shape.

"Get to the point Satan!"

"Simply put, Rin Okumura, never existed."

Neuhaus' single eye widened, "Wha-!"

"It's so amusing, the horror slowly slipping into your eyes! That's right, Rin Okumura was nothing more than a false identity, one for the one, the only Satan!"

Neuhaus was slowly being filled with fear, "Bu-but ho-"

"But how? Well, even that, I'm not sure, but Yuri Egin indeed gave birth to two children that night, but only one was her child… Yukio Okumura."

"You mean-"

"Exactly, Yukio Okumura is fully human, always was. But Rin Okumura was never human. He was nothing but me given human form!"

Rin slowly started walking forward, "Now I perfectly understand your reasoning. It's the same reason I murdered so many clergymen that night."

"What do you mean?"

Rin scoffed, "Please! Could it not be more obvious! After all, Yuri Egin was the first and only woman I ever loved! What would you not do for the one you love!"

Neuhaus grew a huge scowl at that, "Ha! What would you know about love! You're only a demon that cares only for himself!"

"That may be true, but Yuri taught me differently… Now you've gone and made me break my promise to her as well."

"Promise, what promise!"

Rin's flames began flaring, as their intensity increased exponentially. "She made me promise to keep Yukio safe, and you not only hurt him, but tried to kill him?! That is unforgivable, and you will pay for it!"

Neuhaus threw his compass, attempting to impale Satan with it, but he shrugged and annihilated it with a shrug. Neuhaus tsked, and extended his arms, preparing to summon more ghouls, "Not on my watch!"

Satan smiled, "you always were so proud of those summoning circles, weren't you? Well we'll have to fix that, I suppose." And he snapped his fingers.

"What was that supposed to accomplish?" Neuhaus sneered.

"Nothing much, but I suppose you should learn to watch your back. That's twice now it will cost you."

"Wh-?!" Neuhaus suddenly felt both his arms get grabbed suddenly, and looked back to see… both of his Naberii?! He thought that they had been exterminated during the Exwire exam! "Unhand me! I am your master, and you will do as I command!"

"Unfortunately, Neuhaus-sensei, they're under new management."

"But how?"

"Although you might have a strong will, you're weak. You vowed to defeat one of the strongest demons, only to become the dog of another, but that doesn't matter anymore. Now, if you'd please!" He snapped his fingers once more, and the Naberii began pulling.

"Agh!" Neuhaus screamed in pain, as both Naberii ripped his arms off! "My arms!"

"Well, I suppose you're armless now!" Satan laughed at his own bad joke. "However, you still hurt Yukio, and that's not nearly enough punishment!"The Naberii forced Neuhaus up, and slowly retreated back as Satan advanced upon him. his flames growing, as foul red energy began swirling around him.

"What are you going to do to me?!" Neuhaus watched as Rin's form seemed to grow, muscles beginning to swell, and slightly rip his clothes, meant for an average 16 year old, as well as grow in height.

Satan lurched down, as his back seemed to lurch and shudder, and with a groan, two demonic wings burst from his back, when he looked back up, Neuhaus finally did wet himself. Satan's eyes were glowing a terrible crimson red, his pupils nothing but a serpentine slit in a sea of red, as all of sudden demonic energy burst from him like a waterfall.

All around the world, people felt dread creep into their very souls, as animals hid, babies cried, and people literally lost control of their bowels. It was even worse for the spiritually sensitive, as they nearly passed out. Bon, Konekomaru, and Shima, were all struggling to stay up, while Izumo, and Paku passed out, and poor Shiemi, so close felt like she was getting crushed. Even Mephisto collapsed to his knees, forced by the terrible surge of power.

Neuhaus couldn't see anything in the maelstrom of red, except for the glowing red eyes promising revenge. "What am I going to do you? I'm going to eradicate your very existence!"

Neuhaus could only scream as the red energy engulfed him, as a blast of red light annihilated him, and any trace he was even there. Satan collapsed to the ground, drained, as he looked towards the two Naberii, "Both of you may leave for now. Tell anyone what has happened here, and I will personally eradicate both of you."

They bowed, "Yes, Satan-sama!" And crawled off into the distance. Satan's form reverted back into his regular human form, and gasping, he crawled over to Kurikara, which he had dropped when Neuhaus had impaled him, and sheathed it, then slowly trudged over to check on Yukio.

Yukio groaned, as he slowly regained consciousness, he looked towards Rin as his eyes focused, "Nii-san? What happened to Neuhaus? Why are you covered in blood?!"

"Neuhaus is gone. He won't bother us anymore."

"Rin! Yuki-chan!" The false twins turned to face Shiemi, "Are you alright?! Did you feel that? And… Rin, what happened to you?!"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Rin's tail twitched, which Yukio noticed, "Nii-san!" Rin looked behind him, in panic, and quickly shoved his tail into his pants.

"You're hurt Rin!" Rin looked down to see his wound, which was quickly scarring.

"I'll be fine!"

"No, lie down now!" Both Rin and Yukio stared at Shiemi who was giving them a glare Satan could be proud of, a tick mark on her head. "Lie down now! Don't push yourself too hard! Agh!"

She slammed her hand onto the ground, "Never mind that! Get down now!"

"Yes, ma'am…" Rin quickly complied, as Shiemi summoned some first aid to help with his wound. "I've done what I can… It's probably going to scar though…"

Rin just smiled, "Cool. I always wanted a scar!"

"Rin, I've decided! I'm going to be an exorcist!"

Yukio stared at this, as a smile began to form on his face, 'Nii-san, always could do what I couldn't.'

---

The next day

"Einz, Zwei, Drei!" Mephisto snapped his fingers, making a veritable waterfall of confetti, as he began his announcement. "Congratulations to everyone! You are all promoted to Exwire!"

"Yeah! Thank goodness! Yes!" were the residual sounds.

"To celebrate, I will treat you all to monja!"

"Only monja? At least make it barbecue or something!" Rin groaned.

At the monja stand

Everyone was starting to prepare whatever monja they wanted to eat, while Rin questioned Shiemi about wanting to be an exorcist.

However, Yukio was standing outside, talking with Mephisto, "I apologize about Neuhaus. I didn't expect his personal feelings would get the best of him… I'll make sure it never happens again."

Yukio could only stare, "I can only hope so. What happened to Neuhaus?"

"I don't know… For all intents and purposes, he seems to have completely vanished, even with my network."

"Have we found out anything about the enormous spike of demonic energy that seemed to have occurred at the same time?"

"Unfortunately, no. All we know is that it was likely an incredibly powerful demon. You were fortunate to be unconscious at the time…"

Silence reigned for a few moments, until a voice came from behind, "Okumura-sensei? Is ramune soda okay with you?"

"Hai!" And Yukio walked back to join.

Mephisto stared off into the sunset, and pulled out his phone, dialing one of the few numbers he had on it. "Yeah, it's me… I need you to come here.""Are you certain, aniue? Your barriers tend to keep me out."

"I'll let you in personally. I'd send Neuhaus, but he seems to have completely vanished from the world. We'll discuss it later."

"Hai."

Mephisto looked around to make sure no one was listening. "Now, what's the status in Gehenna?"

"It's getting pretty bad… several sections of the main city have been completely destroyed, and

the territories are starting to split as demons begin to take sides."

"What's the status of the Baal?"

"Azazel-nii has explicitly stated he will remain neutral. Something about making sure souls continue to flow into Hell. Beelzebub-nii has allied with Lucifer, and although Astaroth is still in a coma, we believe he'll ally with Alciel, since most of the kingdom of rot has already allied with him. Egyn-nii has surprisingly allied with Bael, although we don't know why… The most surprising one is Iblis, who's sided with the purists. We all thought he'd try his own claim, as the only fire-using son of father."

"That's not surprising. He always was smarted than you gave him credit for. And you?"

"I side with you, aniki."

"Good… I will see you then, Amaimon." Mephisto hung up the phone, and walked back to partake in the delicious monja!

"Okumura Rin…" The voice belonging to Amaimon, the king of earth, echoed, as he stood on top of his latest conquest. "Why are you so interesting to aniki?"

"I wonder why indeed." Amman tensed up at the new voice, and nervously turned around. "Oh, surely you aren't that afraid to see me, my little brother…"

"Not at all, Lucifer-nii!" There standing before Amaimon, was his eldest brother, Lucifer, king of light, standing in his usual military outfit, while his face was covered with a mask, to hide the scars he received after the Limbo purge.

"Now, what can you tell me about Okumura Rin?"

---

Mephisto's steps echoed through the long hallway, as he rubbed his stomach, full of the delicious monja! However, the time for leisure was over, now he had business to attend to. He walked into the Grigori's hall, as he prepared his briefing. "Gutentag! How do you all fare this fine day!" He theatrically began.

"Cut the theatrics Mephisto. What can you tell us about the recent demonic spike in energy?"

Mephisto cleared his throat, "Very well then. What we know is the spike in energy was among the strongest ever felt, but there was something even more concerning than that…"

"What?"

"Th-the energy, the only demon I have ever met that had that kind of energy signature, was… was Satan himself…"

"Do you mean to say?!"

"Yes, it's quite possible that the demon behind the incident was none other than Satan."

"But he's been missing for sixteen years! Why show himself now!"

"I don't know. I've tried to use what contacts I could, but he chose to be quite well-hidden… Where and how he hid, I honestly do not know…"

The Grigori debated for a few more minutes until they finally came to an end. "Very well then, Mephisto, continue looking, and report back to us what you can find. Anything related to Satan must be exterminated."

Mephisto took off his hat, and bowed, somewhat mockingly, "As you wish…" And he walked off back into the shadows…

He kept walking until he reached a door, and he produced one of his magic keys. He really did love the perks that came with being able to control time and space… He jammed the key into the door, and turned it, opening the door and walking through. However, he did not arrive in his office. No, he arrived at a more… secret place.

"Ah! We were not expecting you so soon, Sir Pheles!" One of the scientist walked up, one of his many subordinates in the secret lab.

"Has there been any change in her, especially given the large spike of Satanically related energy?"

"There was a small spike in her brain waves, but she's sill remained largely comatose."

"I see…" Mephisto looked towards the person floating in the medical tube. It hadn't been easy… fooling Fujimoto, especially trying to bury a look-a-like in place of her. However, if push came to shove, she was their surest way of trying to flush Satan out.

"Very well then, keep me posted on any change in her, even the most minute ones."

"Yes, sir!" And with that, Mephisto vanished in a puff of smoke.

The scientist looked back towards the subject in the medical tube. He honestly didn't know why Mephisto was so interested in her, but it didn't matter. He'll still carry out his job. He did look at her charts though. He knew Sir Pheles had frozen her time for sixteen years in order to keep her alive, as technology improved. He looked towards the occupant floating in the tube, a young woman, probably around the age of sixteen or seventeen, with beautiful long brown hair, and a few moles here and there… Floating in the tube… was Yuri Egin.

---

Heaven

An angel burst rapidly into the throne room of God, breathing heavily, the Lord must know of this at once!

He bowed respectfully as he waited for God to address him, "What brings you here so suddenly, Michael, my child?"

"My Lord, we recently detected a surge of Satan's power, in Assiah no less! I humbly request that you send myself and squadron of my archangels to seek out the source, and if necessary, to destroy it!"

He was silenced when the Lord held up his hand. "There is no need."

"But!"

"Nothing has not happened that I have not willed to happen. You will let this be for now, unless I command you otherwise…"

St. Michael, the commanding angel of all the forces in Heaven, and he who could stand as Satan's equal in battle, bowed, and respectfully left, although worried about what his Lord was asking.

The Lord stared into Assiah, focusing on one Okumura Rin, otherwise known as his rather prodigal son, Satan. "Now, my son, what will you do next?"

---

Unknown location

Igor Neuhaus stirred, groaning in a lot of pain. "Ugh, what happened… Wait, Satan!" He got up quickly, looking around. "Where am I?!" Wherever he turned, he only saw darkness.

"I can answer that for you. You're dead."

"Wha-, who said that?!"

"I did. Behind you." Igor turned around, to see figure shrouded in some kind of hooded cloak, but he gulped at the sight of the huge black scythe they were carrying.

"Where am I? Who are you?"

"Geez, do I need to spell it out? You're dead? dead. Welcome to Sheol, the land of the dead, or if its more convenient, just call it Purgatory or something like that. Tends to make people more comfortable, or make them break out into rants about heresy. Now those all are usually pretty funny!"

"Why am I here? I've-"

"Done terrible things? Yeah, I know. Normally I would've sent ya straight to hell, but a nice lady up in Heaven interceded for you, and I couldn't resist. Now then, mind telling me how you died?"

Igor gulped, "I… was killed by Satan…"

The hooded figure pulled his hood back, revealing a very tanned, brown face, with dark hair, and noticeably an eyepatch over his right eye as well. Comparatively, he looked about sixteen or seventeen, not much older than Rin. "Now, do you mind telling me how you were killed by a being who's been missing in your world for sixteen years?"

---

Yukio walked into their dorm room, wanting to talk to his older brother about something, but when he walked in, Rin was nowhere to be found! Yukio sighed and looked around, until he found a note that said, "Dear Yukio, went out to look around. Don't know when I'll be back. Yes, I'll get my homework done, you Moley Four-eyes! Rin" Yukio pinched his nose his frustration… Would that Rin ever learn… Time to start grading though.

Rin walked around, trembling out of sheer excitement. After unleashing his power on Neuhaus, it really was true! He had a body that could exist in Assiah, and yet sill be capable of handling his power! Although his scar still did hurt a little, but, it was worth it! Assiah really was his! He had to test this out more! Albeit on a smaller scale…

He looked around for a bit, and finally walked into a suit shop, an expensive one at that. The saleman turned to him, and looked a little disappointed at Rin, probably just another teen who wanted to look cool for 15 minutes, but nevertheless, "Welcome! Can I help you with anything?"

"Yeah, I was looking to buy a suit, do ya think you could help?"

"Come right this way!"

After a while Rin was dressed in rather elegant suit, with nicely pressed black pants, shiny dress shoes, and a white dress shirt with black tie. However, he also added a navy blue vest, and instead of the usual suit jacket, he actually had a tailcoat on, which somehow fit him perfectly.

"Are you pleased, sir?"

Rin looked at himself in the mirror, adjusting himself every which way to look at it. It actually fit him quite nice! "Yes, I am! I'll take it!"

The salesman raised his eye, of course he would! "Very well then, I'll head to the register to ring you up."

"No." Rin grabbed him, "I said I'll take it." As his eyes started glowing red, the salesman's eyes reflecting that glow.

"Very well then, my lord, will that be all?"

"Yes." And so Rin ended up with a nice new suit. He headed out and started walking away, even as it was getting dark, and there were only a few people out. After a while, he started noticing some very sketchy people starting to follow him. Eventually he ducked into an alley, and they pinned him down in there.

"That's a pretty nice suit ya got there? Don't suppose you'd mind if I borrowed it!"

"Actually I do, I stole it fair and square after all. And I really don't want to get it dirty, so…"

"Agh!" The member grabbing him burst into flames, while the others looked on in horror. Rin looked at them and grinned, "Now, who's next?" Their screams echoed in the night.

---

Rin continued his night on the town, trying various things, from a fancy five-star hotel, to test driving an expensive sports car (apparently being an immortal timeless being doesn't translate to awesome driving skills… oops), to something random and just trying some random orchestra. Although he didn't read what it was, and ironically got stuck listening to Handel's Messiah of all things…

Eventually Rin had finally gotten tired, and started to head back. He really hoped Yukio was asleep, as he didn't want to try to explain the new suit… on his way back though, a car suddenly pulled up right next to him, and he looked at it strangely, as another guy in a suit came out. He was wearing sunglasses, and he had long golden hair that was tied in a ponytail behind him. Rin idly noticed he had a name tag that said Gabe on it…

Rin smiled, knowing full well who he was, until Gabe opened the back door, and out stepped… Her… making his blood run cold.

---

Mephisto was just sipping his tea, trying to read his favorite manga, until he felt yet another old presence. He quickly spit out his tea in a panic, standing up quickly. "HER?! Why would she appear now of all times! She hasn't shown herself since the early 20th century!" Mephisto was indeed quite worried now, not because she possessed strange powers or anything. No, far from it! Rather, he was worried if something should happen to her, lest God unleash his wrath upon the world!

---

Rin stared in shock as the woman stepped out. She was very clearly of Jewish descent, with beautiful long black hair, and clad in traditional Jewish garments, while covering her head with a shawl the color of the sky. He noticed that she wore no makeup or any of the sort, and yet he dared say she could be one of the most beautiful women ever. She was entirely natural.

"It's been a long time…" She began.

"Indeed… 32 AD, was it?" Rin answered.

"I must ask, though, why must you continue to be filled with so much hate? Surely you've realized by now that it will get you nowhere…"

"Please don't try to preach to me. You know I'll hear none of it!"

"Oh hush. You know that's a lie."

Rin shrugged. Why did she have to be so insufferable, so nice! He honestly couldn't stand her, because no matter what, he could never make her hate him! "Now, why have you decided to meet me here?"

"I simply wanted to talk."

"That's it? No grand gloating? No trying to find out what my goal is? Trying to report me to God or something?"

"Far from it. He doesn't even know I'm here."

"Are you sure?"

She smiled mysteriously, "I have my ways. How do you think I persuaded him to cease the torments of Hell once every year?"

"You, I still don't know how you did that..." That was a very strange and disturbing day, when they had to stop torturing the souls is Hell...

"Regardless, I would still like to continue talking. Perhaps meet every now and then? I do enjoy Japanese food quite a lot…"

"What is it with spiritual beings always enjoying Japan so much!"

"Very well then, Friday at the Monja? Good. I promise I'll stop bugging you so much."

"Fine, wait, what?! You-argh!" Rin realized he'd suddenly gotten forced into this. He sighed, "You aren't going to get me to change."

"One can always hope. I believe He is always willing to forgive, if one is willing to ask for it. Now if you would, Gabe?"

"As you wish my lady." And he opened the door, and guided her in.

"So, Gabe is it now? How's it been, being the servant to her, my dear brother?"

"Gabe" grabbed Satan's coat, "You lost the right to call me that when you betrayed God, Lucifer!"

"You know I forsook that name a long time ago."

"Indeed, just like I forsook you as my brother, as we all did."

Satan frowned at that, "Leave."

Gabe got into the car, "You know, if anything ever happens to her, I'll kill you."

"You can try, brother, you can try."

Gabe started the car, and drove off, however, Rin idly noted the model of the car as it drove off, a white Fiat...

"You were wrong about one thing, though, he won't forgive me, even if I asked. That much is certain." Satan remembered how he came to this point.

Flashback

Satan flew through the seemingly endless gateway, to finally enter the new realm which had been created. However, with nothing to do, he became lost in thought.

"Was it really worth it? Was it worth Heaven? The loss of my brothers? Beelzebub?"

Satan paused, no, it was a necessary sacrifice. To become his own master, free from all chains of submission, it was worth it to lose both Heaven and friend, free from tyranny! 'Are you so certain about that?' He still asked himself.

'Surely you could not come to the Lord, and apologize, surely he would welcome you with open arms?' The voice of doubt asked.

He sighed, "The Lord was without doubt, undeserving of my rebellion… He who was my Creator… Nor was what he asked difficult, nothing less than praise and thanks, nothing unfitting of a creation to give he who made it… But it only raised evil within me… I hated to serve, wanting to be my own master… I thought it would be so easy to depose him, to lift myself one step, and free myself from an endless life of gratitude…"

He looked down, "Oh, if only I had been created some lesser angel! Than perhaps I might not have been tempted to betray him… no, that's wrong… Then some other power created as great might have led me astray…"

He looked around, the fluid changing vortex leading from Gehenna to Assiah, ""Wherever I fly, the path only leads to Hell… How great this mistake has been. The greater I am adored and feared, the more power they give me in Hell, the lower I fall, increasing only the amount of pain and grief promised…"

"Even if I were to ask forgiveness, no doubt such thoughts would doubtless return, and lead me only to fall once more, bringing only double pain, but if only to try!" He lost himself in thought, only for his face to grow grim.

"Perhaps, but… no, no, to ask forgiveness had forever been lost to me, that much is certain! To admit I was wrong, and to return to the chorus of angels only to be a laughing stock, the failed rebellious one, no! That would be a fate worse than death! To be ridiculed for all eternity! Never! To ask for forgiveness is to submit once more, to subject myself to the will of another, and that is so foreign, so abhorrent, that I would rather die a thousand deaths, then to submit myself!"

Satan began taking off once more, "To ask for forgiveness is lost to me. My pride prevents it that much. I will never again submit to anyone but myself! I have dared to stand against the Almighty Himself, and I have dared to reject Him! I reject all of you, the chorus angels, the familiar Heaven, and the eternal good! I reject you all! I have dared to commit the unthinkable, a crime, a sin so great any chance at forgiveness is forever gone! Farewell hope, and with hope, farewell fear. Farewell grief, and all that is good. Evil shall henceforth be my only good." Satan's flames began flaring, as he became lost to his raving. "I have committed the unforgivable,"

"An eternal sin."

---

"καὶ ὃς ἐὰν εἴπῃ λόγον κατὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἀφεθήσεται αὐτῷ: ὃς δ' ἂν εἴπῃ κατὰ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου, οὐκ ἀφεθήσεται αὐτῷ οὔτε ἐν τούτῳ τῷ αἰῶνι οὔτε ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι."

"Et quicumque dixerit verbum contra Filium hominis, remittetur ei : qui autem dixerit contra Spiritum Sanctum, non remittetur ei, neque in hoc sæculo, neque in futuro. "

"And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come."

Matthew 12:32

"ἐπὶ χειρῶν ἀροῦσίν σε μήποτε προσκόψῃς πρὸς λίθον τὸν πόδα σου."

"In manibus portabunt te, ne forte offendas ad lapidem pedem tuum. "

"Teach us to count our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart."

Psalms 91:12

---

Whew, That was a doozy. Anyway, I have midterms to study for now... but here are some notes:

(1) The Te Deum is an actual prayer. the excerpt used is actually an addition made to the original Te Deum, taken from the book of Psalms.

(2) Curiously, in the anime, the middle part of the last verse is excluded. I have included it for consistency's sake, but random fun fact. Oh, and yes, the fatal verse for the ghoul really was the last verse from the Gospel of John... fail.

Now, I'm going to be changing a few things as well. As some of you might know, as I have a review based policy for my fanfics, to decide which one I want to work on next. However, as I write more, and more, I've found usually the one that was just updated is the only one I can work on, so to that extent, I will temporarily exclude the fanfic updated for one week, in order to work on the others (I always update a story weekly).

However, please don't let that deter you from updating. I want to work on other stories as well, but to that extent, I'll start including the current stats in all my stories, in case you want to check some others out! Okay, here it is...

Legend: (N-Naruto, ANE- Blue Exorcist, FMA-Fullmetal Alchemist, FT- Fairy Tail, KI-Kid Icarus)

[Paradise Acquired] (ANE) : 19 reviews!

The Dragon's Eye (FT/N): 7

The Dragon Fallen Becomes the Serpent (FT/N): 4

The Demon King of Dragon Fire (FT/ANE): 5

Angels, Gods, and Demons (KI/ANE): 2

The Jealous Flame (FT/FMA): 6

This is War! (N/FT): 6

It ended with Blue Flames (FT/ANE): 1

The Angel's Fallen Light (KI): 1

So you can hopefully see why I instituted my policy, since one story is getting three times as many reviews as the others... Don't worry, I will still continue working on it!

Now for the last addition, I'm going to start giving shoutouts to fanfics I've really loved, so I want to recommend them.

Blue Fire, by ef07: This is a really good one, and actually the inspiration for this story, so if you love this, give hers a read too! It's a fascinating read, and it's cool to see how each of our stories differ!

Empire of Ash, by MelonMochi: Surprisingly, in the ANE fandom, there aren't that many demon! Rin stories, and Melon is writing a very excellent one (in my humble opinion)... Essentially, Satan is murdered, and Rin is forced to take the throne. Melon is also really good at integrating OC's into the story, and it reads so naturally. Give it a try, I'm sure you'll love it!

Gears and Flames: Memoriam, by ShadowDragon94: This is perhaps my most favorite Fairy Tail fanfic of all time. It's beautifully written, and gives a nice easy blend of Japanese and English. It gives a new spin on everyone's favorite Dragon Slayer, Natsu. I highly recommend it for all FT fans, and even if you don't know that much about the fandom, it's perfectly readable, and really engaging.

A Bridge Once Broken Series, by yopumpkinhead: This one is somewhat of a unique one. It's a crossover between Avengers and Wakfu. Wakfu, for those who don't know, is a French cartoon, made in the style of anime (it's like Avatar, the last airbender kind of, in terms of that i.e. an American cartoon made in the style of anime). It's the story of a Eliatrope (people who can teleport and shoot lasers from portals) named Yugo who goes off to find his real family. There's also a relic called the Eliacube, which bares a similarity to the Tesseract, and pumpkin noticed that, thus giving birth to this nice little series. It focuses more on Loki though, and his own journey to essentially come back to sanity, and his influence on the wakfu world. It's a great read, especially for such smaller fandoms. (Oh, if you have netflix, you should be able to find Wakfu on there. Check it out! You'll love it!)

Finally! Thanks for bearing through that... As always, leave a review! Or else I'll set Satan to obliterate your soul... Cheers!

Shinigami

---

""Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin." (Mk 3:29, Lk 12:10). There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss."

Catechism of the Catholic Church: 1864