Hello, Vinzelles here. Welcome back to A Path to Freedom.

As promised, here's another chapter on a lovely Sunday evening, one of those evenings where my router does NOT want to cooperate and I get angry. Luckily it's not that bad when it comes to this site, and this last statement might bite me in the butt one day.

Anyway. Today, we look properly at Orochi's worst side. ...well, "properly" is not the right term, but I won't say anything else about that for now. After that, the meeting between Orochi and the Devils is finally set up, so look forward to that. I have a twist coming for the next few chapters, something that nobody will expect I'm sure.

I'll see you at the bottom then. Enjoy.

Arc 2 Chapter 2 - Blood Red Anger

The supernatural world had always been unable to sustain itself by normal means. The power these creatures were born with was not meant to be taken for granted. The reason for this was that unlike humans, the very existence of supernatural creatures was completely dependant on the magic particles within their bodies. Humans were occasionally able to generate a small quantity of those particles on their own, and use them for their own purposes, and those humans were called magicians. Of course, magicians had different levels of experience and knowledge, and the quantity of magic generated varied according to those factors. However, the supernatural came into the world already possessing those particles in large quantities, and their very being inevitably became reliant on them.

If the magic core of a Devil, for example, suddenly experienced a heavy modification of some sort, the particles within them would quite literally go crazy, and the body of the Devil would immediately mutate into something monstrous. That reaction was unique to reincarnated Devils, due to the impurity of the particles themselves and also due to the Evil Piece within them, which was the trigger for the transformation itself. The moment it acknowledged that the contract of servitude had been broken, the moment the Devil decided to go rogue, it was the Piece itself that destabilized the magic core of the disobeying Devil.

Unryuu Nishijima did not satisfy one of those two conditions, because her loyalty towards her master had always been unwavering. And for that reason, she only experienced a headache and a bit of nausea as she sensed the enormous pressure released near the old building of Kuoh. As such, she was able to sense what was happening to some extent, despite the pain.

The magic particles within her were leaving her body, and heading towards the source of that pressure.

Fortunately the absorption was not that intense. Her core was able to keep up in restoring the lost particles, so she was not in any danger. The Evil Piece within her, among other things, was supposed to keep the core stabilized no matter what (as long as the contract wasn't broken of course), since changing a creature's intrinsic nature, during a reincarnation ritual for example, could cause immense damage to the body otherwise. So, losing some magic would simply lead to these kind of symptoms resembling a light illness when the target of an attack such as this was a supernatural creature.

As she realized that her master would be hit by this pressure as well, and she would feel it a lot more, being a pure-blooded Devil, she pushed herself forward despite her headache, and power-walked towards Anya's classroom in concern. Trying to stop the perpetrator was not a good idea: in this state where a creature's magic core was busy trying to counter the particle drain, casting magic of any sort would have ...consequences.

Anya had already keeled over by the time Unryuu reached her master's classroom. She was unconscious on the ground, her chair fallen as well, and she had become pale as a ghost as her body trembled like the ground during a tremor.

"!" Unryuu took a sharp breath at the sight. "I-I'll carry her to the infirmary right away!" she shouted to her master's classmates, who were simply too stunned by Anya's sudden collapse to react in any way before her friend arrived. She picked Anya up and ran out, ignoring her own tribulations.

It ended as suddenly as it had started. The pressure was gone, and her sickness along with it. Even Anya was regaining color on her face. She considered dropping her off to the infirmary and go investigate, but decided against it. She needed to stay at her master's side for the time being, and whatever had just happened, that Fallen girl was definitely at fault for it to some extent, and they would simply have to catch and interrogate her at a different time since she apparently didn't plan on leaving the city permanently.

Ironically, she had no idea that part of the fault lied in her as well.

Raynare almost collapsed as well when it happened.

All of a sudden while they were talking, Orochi seemed to have come to a realization of some sort. She didn't know what it was, but Orochi became incredibly angry because of it, and lost control. She felt as if she was standing right next to a black hole, threatening to rob her of her magic and consequently her life.

She rose up from her kneeling position, but she was having a hard time even standing. Her stomach was twisting around in her belly as she looked at the 'human'.

His hands were curled in a fist so tightly that his nails were cutting into his palms, and his teeth were grinding against each other as his whole body trembled.

A blood-red aura was surrounding him.

"KkkgGhkKghKGHKGhhkhgkHGKh..." His grunts of barely suppressed rage were still reaching her ears. She acted as fast as the immense pressure allowed her, and created a light spear.

As expected, it looked incredibly unstable.

It was pretty much the same as pulling the pin of a grenade and then decide to not throw it. The element of light was quite difficult to control for any magician that chose it as the focus for their spells. Obviously, it was pretty much natural for Angels to know how to use it properly, but gaining complete control over a light spear was actually a fairly hard task, and not many were able to pull it off. Raynare was of course still unable to do so, so she had to strike, fast, or her own spear would be the death of her.

"CUT IT OOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTT!". The spear connected with the side of the boy's head. It didn't seem to do anything to his temple's skin, in fact it immediately collapsed as it touched Orochi. And yet...

*CLICK*

It worked somehow. Both the pressure and the aura disappeared, leaving Orochi almost breathless and kneeled on the ground, a hand to his face as if he was struggling with himself.

'Fuck, look at what he just did. He definitely alerted the Devils with that. ...It'd be a nice change of pace for him to find someone at his level...' Raynare pondered, half-amused and half-angry at what had just occurred. 'Speaking of which...'

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"

"HOW SHOULD I KNOW?!"

"YOU WERE THE ONE WHO RELEASED IT, YOU IDIOTIC HUMAN!"

"DOESN'T MAKE MY KNOWLEDGE OF THE SUPERNATURAL ANY BETTER THAN YOURS, YOU IGNORANT CROW!"

Suddenly they were standing in front of each other, and had turned the entire situation into a shouting contest as they butted heads, glared fiercely and called each other names.

Luckily no one was around, since it was lunch break and pretty much all of the students were still in the old building, and a normal human with no magic in his or her body would have never noticed the pressure increase.

Orochi was the first to interrupt the silly competition: he stood up straight, and looked to the side. "...I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

"...Clearly we really need this information. Both of us. I have to report... whatever that was, to Azazel-sama as soon as he establishes contact." Raynare would have told the Governor right away if she could, but a rogue Fallen really wasn't supposed to be able to contact Azazel without giving away her location to the wrong people. She had to wait for him to call her before she could relay the informations he wanted.

"What did I do, Raynare?" Orochi was looking at her again, a pleading look in his eyes. He knew that there was no way that the Fallen girl hadn't noticed a significant change when he lost his cool.

Raynare scowled and looked away. She felt mildly sick, having lost a lot of energy in mere seconds, especially since her proximity to him had enhanced the drainage. She clicked her tongue. "You were pretty much stealing and destroying the magic particles in my body. ...However, it doesn't fit with what I've seen you do these past days, so that definitely wasn't the main purpose of your ability, whatever it is."

She threw a glance at him. "Why did you react like that anyway?"

"...Let's just say I was unable to come to terms with a certain fact. But I'm fine now." He bowed in a flash. "I'm really sorry! I lashed out in anger for personal reasons, I was definitely in the wrong! Please forgive me!"

Raynare was baffled at this show of humility. Orochi Kamakura of all people was apologizing! If someone told her such a thing had happened before today, she would have heartily laughed in the face of whoever released such garbage from their mouths, and then proceed to cut off their tongue. And yet it was happening.

"P-Please stop that, that kind of b-behaviour coming from you seriously creeps me out!" Raynare pointed at him in a panic. "I'll forgive you but stop!"

Orochi laughed lightly at that. "Haha, my bad my bad. Well, this is enough drama for one morning I think." He really seemed to have cheered up after seeing her reaction. Having that thought, Raynare's eyebrow twitched in irritation once more, but decided to keep quiet. She supposed that he needed to cope with the whole... black hole thing that had just happened. That was surely something that a simple human couldn't come up with on the fly, so she guessed that he was pretty rattled himself.

"But I agree with you on one point." He continued. "This can't go on. We will go and meet the Devils today! ...When we're done with afternoon classes." he added sheepishly at the end.

"...When we're done with afternoon classes." Raynare repeated. "Fine, I'll guide you towards them later, since you can't sense their presence. But I thought you'd want to get to the bottom of this situation right away."

"Trust me, I want to, but I don't feel ready yet." Orochi admitted. "I have to sort out something in my mind first, and also decide the correct approach for this meeting."

"Right. Well, I guess we're done here so I'm gonna go lay down for a bit."

"Huh?"

"You drained me out, literally. I feel like crap as a result, so I'll go to the infirmary. Tell that dead-eyed teacher of ours I felt sick. I'll come fetch you when classes are over."

"...I see. I'm sorry."

"STOP APOLOGIZING OR THE NEXT SPEAR WILL GO INTO ONE OF YOUR EYES!"

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

After chasing Orochi away, Raynare walked back towards the infirmary in the old building of Kuoh. She had just told a half-lie to the human: she did feel sick, and did lose some of her magic reserves so she did need rest, but she intended to do something else first. She sensed the presence of two Devils where the infirmary should be, and decided it was a good idea to confront them herself first. It definitely was no coincidence that a Devil would need to lay down at the same time she needed to after all.

Also, she wouldn't be able to carry out her orders as long as the Devils weren't sure of her intentions, and since she was admitted to Kuoh just today, she was unable to meet them during classes for obvious reasons. So, she was going to take this chance and kill two birds with one stone. Not literally, of course: she meant "resting" and "talking to the Devils", really! ...She realized that figure of speech was kind of misleading in that particular case.

Raynare eventually reached the infirmary, and knocked at the door. She heard one of the Devils standing from her seat. "Who is it?" she heard from inside.

"Depends." Raynare chose a vague answer in order to force the Devil to open the door. As expected, the reaction of said Devil when she saw who was behind it was incredibly obvious. Panic.

"You-"

"Shut up. I'm not here to harm you. I'm just another victim."

A look of understanding appeared on the white-haired Devil's face, quickly replaced by confusion.

"But-" "I told you to shut up. I'll explain, so calm down."

A glare was thrown Raynare's way. She wasn't bothered at all. Finally the Devil girl relented and let her in.

Raynare took in the sight within the room. As expected, the stronger Devil of the two, who she guessed was the master, was laying on one of two beds. A chair on the side of that bed indicated that the servant was faithfully keeping company to her.

Anya had regained consciousness a few minutes before, and was trying to convince Unryuu that she was going to be fine, when the Fallen knocked at the door. Now, she was also glaring harshly at her.

"No point in looking at me like that. I also feel like shit right now." As Raynare said that, she threw herself on the unoccupied bed. "In fact, I was in front of the new building when it happened." She claimed with her eyes closed.

"...Then can you explain just what has happened?" inquired Anya.

"I can, but it's not my place to do so. I intend to bring the person responsible to you, once classes are over. You just need to tell me where you'll be when the school day ends, so that I don't have to waste effort in sensing your presences."

"Why should we tell you something like that?" asked Unryuu, hostility clear in her voice.

"Because I have no idea of how that person will behave if I just tell them where you guys are and leave them alone afterwards. Besides, that person also has some questions to ask you, and the answers to those questions are something I'm after myself. ...But all that stuff can wait for a few hours. For the time being, I shall explain why I'm back here in the city, since you probably want to know that as well."

She turned around in the bed to face the two Devils. "First of all, understand that I was part of that group of rogues you intended to engage a few nights ago and I've already been punished for that. I'm an actual rogue now-"

"I sense a 'but'." Anya interrupted

"...but I might change my mind and kill you both if you interrupt me again." That shut them up good: they were in no condition to defend themselves properly after all, and unlike her, they didn't walk around much. A magic circuit worked much like a human's circulatory system, and moving about was ideal when the blood in a body was not circulating properly; in the same fashion, simple movement was enough to snap a creature's magic circuit out of an inhibition.

Raynare realized that anger wouldn't get her anywhere so she took a deep breath to calm her nerves. "As I was saying, I've been officially thrown out of Grigori, but Azazel-sama was merciful and granted me the chance to take the role of a spy and watch over... certain targets of interest in the city."

Unryuu became alarmed at that statement. If the Fallen's claims were true, Orochi was still going to be observed at all times, be it by herself or by the girl in front of them. But judging by her friend's reaction earlier that morning, he seemed to be aware of the Fallen's intentions. Could it be that Orochi had somehow decided to ally himself with the Grigori? Perhaps to find out what kind of power he possessed? Azazel was known to be an avid collector and researcher of Sacred Gears after all.

"I'm telling you this to make sure you won't try and disrupt my work." Raynare continued. "Azazel-sama has been very clear about it: I cannot lay a finger on the targets. Not that I would be able to even if I wanted..." she muttered that part in a very low voice. "Anyway, you can confirm this with him at any point, he's willing to leave a channel open for communications between you and himself until all doubts are cleared."

"Very well, I suppose I'll have to do just that when I get the chance..." Anya sighed in resignation.

At that point, the door bursted open, and a blonde haired girl entered the infirmary in a rush.

"Buchou-san, are you okay? I heard some students were feeling sick and that you were one of..."

She trailed off. She had noticed Raynare's presence in the room and recognized her immediately.

"A-Ah... Raynare... -san?"

"Uuuuuugh, don't bother me, I don't feel like dealing with this right now. Wake me up and you're dead." Raynare, having said what she had to say, and having forgot she had asked for a place where she and Orochi could meet the Devils, turned around facing the wall, ignoring the presence of her former target Asia Argento, and immediately fell asleep.

"Don't worry Asia." said Anya. "It doesn't look like she's interested in you anymore so you can relax, I think."

Asia released the breath she was holding and calmed down. "T-Thank goodness..."

"Unryuu, we can leave. I'm okay now." Anya added. "You too, Asia. Despite what the Fallen, this Raynare-san, has said, we should be fine as long as we don't trigger unnecessary conflicts."

"Y-Yes!" "Right." The three Devils made for the exit, Asia rushing out for obvious reasons, but Anya stopped right at the doorstep. "I'll see you and your 'partner' at the Occult Research Club..." She said, as she left the room with a sleeping-but-not-quite Fallen behind.

They returned to their classrooms just in time for their afternoon classes. Unryuu looked over at Orochi as she sat down.

If he did notice her arrival, he had ignored her completely for some reason.

Welcome to the bottom.

I enjoyed writing this one. Orochi's loss of control didn't last long, but it was still intense and meaningful. Once again you readers were able to see how inciting an emotion within someone who has strong feelings will always have consequences. This time, it was pure anger that was released; but next time, who knows? Even I don't have a clue.

The "black hole" that absorbs magic is only one side of the medal when it comes to Orochi's ability, as was said in the chapter. We're getting closer and closer to the moment where most of its traits will be explained, but sadly it won't happen for a little while. Keep your cool and stay patient, don't explode like Orochi did, yeah?

The meeting between Raynare and the Devils was actually not written right away. What I mean by that is, I didn't plan for it to happen at first, but I'm glad I decided to add it in. It's the right amount of setup, and it fills several blank spots in the story I feel. If I missed anything, which could very well be the case, do notify me and I'll try to address it.

The Raynare/Asia relationship is something that admittedly I have yet to decide. To be fair, the same goes for Orochi/Asia, but you'll be able to see a little bit of that in the next chapter. And the term "relationship" is meant in a very generic way, so don't get any ideas. Yet.

That's all I've got for today. Next time, the meeting.

See you soon. Ciao!