Life 1. The Sin of Wrath

Part 1

We, Ram Phenex's peerage and Ellice, are standing in front of our house. However, this situation isn't peaceful at all.

"I'll give you 30 seconds to get ready; after all, it would unfair if you aren't."

The one in front of us is Wrath, a member of the Seven Sins. He came here to attack us for reasons we don't understand.

Despite the fact he told us to be ready, only Haruka is on fighting stance. He really isn't good at reading the situation.

As soon as he mentioned fighting against us, I pushed the Grigori emergency button. Despite the fact I can clearly defend myself, I still hold this in case an emergency, like this one, happens.

As the 30 seconds finished, Wrath put on a fighting stance.

"Well then, let's start-"

A lightning stroke him! That power, it can't be any other than he.

"Baraqiel!"

I called his name out. Yeah, Baraqiel is here!

"Sin of Wrath, as a Cadre of Grigori, I order you to stop."

I look at Wrath, but he's totally unscratched even after that attack! What is going on?! A Holy Lightning from Baraqiel should be able to kill an Ultimate-class Devil if used at full power, so there's no way he can be unscratched!

"That was a nice attack, but it is [Worthless] against me."

[Worthless], that's the ability of the Belial clan! That means that Wrath must be a member.

"Now then, it's time to get serious."

An intense red aura covers Wrath's body. I don't know what this is, but the pressure coming out of him is insane…!

"This is my unique special ability, [Devil Full Cowl]. By using my demonic power, I can create an aura around me with properties of Touki."

So that's why his power feels so intense. Now that I think about it, do all the members of the Seven Sins own a self-created magic?

As I was thinking that, Baraqiel uses his best technique, Holy Lightning – Storm, on Wrath; however, he remains unscratched even after such attack.

"I told you, as long as I know how your powers work, I can make them [Worthless]. There's no use on fighting back against me, Baraqiel-san."

"What about this, then?"

Suddenly, a woman with light hair attacked Wrath! By using two different swords, she dealt some damage on him!

"Well, well, looks like the Demonic Valkyrie is here."

Wrath just called that woman the "Demonic Valkyrie". Actually, looking closely at her, I know her very well…!

"Edelross-sensei?! What are you doing here?!"

Edelross-sensei, who is wielding two swords I have never seen before, was able to hurt Wrath! Baraqiel looks at us and explains the situation.

"Edelross isn't just your teacher; she's also a famous Asgardian warrior who is known as the Demonic Valkyrie, all thanks to the legendary Demonic Swords she wields."

The Demonic Valkyrie, huh. I'm pretty sure I have heard that name before, but I never imagined it was Edelross-sensei.

"By using these Demonic Swords from Norse mythology, Nothung and Tyrfing, I swear that I will protect this town and its school with my life."

"Holy Lightning – Armour"

After saying that, Baraqiel charges his body in electricity. This armour is meant to work in a similar to Touki, just like Wrath's ability. After finishing his armour, Baraqiel looks back to where Edelross-sensei is.

"Edelross, I'll help you on this one."

"Sure, but I doubt you can keep up with me."

After saying that, both Baraqiel and Edelross-sensei charge at Wrath. Despite being attacked from both sides, Wrath is able to keep up with them to some degree.

Baraqiel deals direct punches to Wrath, but he just stands them. Meanwhile, his punches and kicks seem to deal some hard damage right into Baraqiel. It's clear that both his defence and offence are being strengthened.

Edelross-sensei shows great technique with her swords. By using a sword specialized on sharpness and another one specialized on destructive power, the slashes she deals to Wrath seem to cause more damage one would think.

María seems to pay attention to Edelross-sensei's dual wielding technique. Maybe she'll want to ask her for some classes into the future.

"I'm pretty sure that they got this under control; let's go with that Familiar expert."

Mint says that to us. While Wrath is keeping on with them, facing such opponents like a Cadre of Grigori and the Demonic Valkyrie will refrain him from following us.

"Well, I think he's going to be busy with them. We should do as Lucifer-sama asked us."

After saying that, Ram teleported us to the settled place, leaving the trio behind.

Part 2

The place we arrived is… an abandoned factory. Going by the appearance of the place, they produced cars here.

"So this is Detroit, huh."

"And it gets better, fellas."

Someone's voice. I didn't who it was, but I could see the rest of the peerage was ready to fight if needed.

"Geez, can you chill down a little? You were the ones who wanted to meet with me, after all."

Someone, probably the owner of the voice, appeared before us. He's a boy, clearly younger than me, with white hair and red eyes. Haruka, who seems to be as confused as I am, asks.

"You are?"

"My name is Jin Lance, and this is my place, buddies."

While neither Haruka nor I knew who he was, Ram seemed to be somewhat surprised to hear his name.

"So you're Jin Lance, the Familiar expert? I expected you to be older."

"I get that a lot, lass."

So this boy is the Familiar expert? I'm pretty sure I'm older than he is, so having him as our expert feels weird.

"What do you wanna do here?"

"We want to get Familiars."

"Then you better follow me up, lads and lasses, since I'm going to show you something terrific."

As Jin leads to the second floor of the building, Ham is…

"His speaking manners are a mess. I cannot stand him."

This is going to be a pretty long day for Ham.

Part 3

As we arrived at the second floor, I can see all kind of creatures stored here. Imps, bats, demon cats; these must be his Familiar collection.

"Come here."

A small creature appeared close to Jin. However, Mint puts on an unpleasant, and somewhat hostile, face.

"I never imagined I'll see a Spriggan ever again…"

Spriggan, huh. I read those are the natural enemies of Fairies, so it makes sense for Mint to hate it.

"Oh, Fairy Prince Mint, what a coincidence to see you here. You look quite bigger. How are your brothers doing?"

"Nee-san is fine; Lavender is… a special case."

"You two know each other?"

María asks exactly what we were all thinking. Mint answers our question while keeping his unpleasant face.

"He is Storm, Spriggan Prince and fifth on line to the throne."

Oh, so he's the Spriggan Prince. Well, if this Jin is the Familiar expert as he says he is, it makes sense for him to have such an important Spriggan as his Familiar.

"And how did you become this guy's Familiar?"

"Ah, my brother became the Spriggan King not long ago. Since my chances of being king were almost zero, I decided to make a pact with a human, and I chose Jin because he was the one I liked the better."

Mm, this whole thing about Familiars is more complicated than I thought.

"Well then, are you ready to get your Familiars-"

We suddenly hear an explosion! We didn't know how to react to that; except Ellice, who got close to Jin and covered him with a magic shield. She looks at us with a serious face.

"Someone casted a spell over the area. This shield should protect him."

A spell? First Wrath attacks us in front of our house for no apparent reason, and now this…

"We should go outside and see what is going on."

After Ram said that, we teleported outside to see the cause of the explosion.

Part 4

After we teleported outside of the factory, we saw something unbelievable!

"Aaaargh!"

A group of monsters were destroying the city! By using sheer strength to destroy the buildings or by breathing fire, they were destroying everything on their way.

"Nice view, isn't it?"

As we heard that voice, we turned around and saw a man wearing red armour. There was no mistake on who it was.

"Pride! What are you and the rest of the Seven Sins planning!?"

Yeah, the one flying close to us is the current Red Dragon Emperor, Pride!

"We aren't planning anything, we just did it."

Pride shows us a weird magic circle on his hand. Ellice seems perturbed by looking at it, so I guess it is something bad.

"This spell was created by that bastard Beliaruin. With this, if a person is affected by it, as long as that person is selfish, said person will be turned into a monster. We decided to use it on the United States for obvious reasons."

"Since it is country of selfish people who believe they are the centre of the universe."

Ham added that… there wasn't such need to do it, really. I guess Jin wasn't affected thanks to Ellice's shield.

"Pride, we have finished spreading the spell."

The one who said that is Gluttony, who suddenly appeared close to Pride.

"The entire country has been affected, but only 90% of its population has been turned into monsters."

"Don't worry about that, that's enough for our goal."

That means millions of people are now monsters…! However, someone came fast and attacked Gluttony with a sword!

"I won't let you get away with this!"

Azazel-sama! It's always nice to see you and your legendary [Blazer Shining Aura Darkness Blade]!

"Azazel, I know very well you know who I am, so you're an obstacle on my plan. However, I'm done here, good luck dealing with our monsters. Tell Lucifer-ossan that I said hello."

After Pride said that, both he and Gluttony disappear.

Part 5

After moving into a different place, Azazel-sama got close to us.

"Are you ok? They didn't do anything to you?"

"Yes, we're fine."

After I said that, Ellice released Jin from her shield. He has a huge smile on his face, for some reason.

"Terrific. Thanks for saving me, lass."

Jin now changes into a face filled with killing intent.

"I don't know who those assholes were, but I'm going to kill those sons of a bitch for doing this."

Jin suddenly acts different from before… so he can go from acting like a relaxed city boy to being like this…

"Silverage and his peerage are fighting these monsters on Miami, and I heard the Native American gods are also helping us on this. However, this crisis is something serious, and if we don't stop the monsters, we don't know what may happen to the world. Damn, this is truly like Beliaruin's old deeds…"

So Beliaruin was like this on his days… actually, I can imagine that.

"Azazel-sama, do we have any chance of defeating these monsters?"

"Even if the Seven [Great Satan] and the Cadres of Grigori work together with the Native gods, fighting off the absurd number of monsters is going to take some time. I don't think we can come out of this one harmless…"

Azazel-sama said that before fainting! When I look at the last thing he saw, I can see three men flying on the sky.

"It's them… we're saved…"

Azazel-sama mutters that while on the floor. While one of them is Lucifer-sama, I'm pretty sure I have seen the other two on the news before…

"Hey, Hunahpu, looks like Azazel faint away. It's clear he still fears us."

"Yes, Xbalanque."

Hunahpu?! Xbalanque?! Now I know why they look so familiar, they're the Maya Hero Twins! Those are the gods that revealed the existence of the supernatural to humanity.

Ram gets close to where Lucifer-sama and the Maya Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, are.

"Lucifer-sama, what are you and the Maya Hero Twins doing here?"

"Didn't Azazel told you? We were on a meeting."

Now that I remember, the leaders of the Underworld were set to meet with the Mayan gods, so maybe that is why they're here. Xbalanque flies close to us and takes a deep look before looking back to Lucifer-sama.

"Lucifer, who are they?"

"They are my protégés. I can assure you that they can help us on this matter."

Xbalanque continues looking at us with interest. Meanwhile, Hunahpu remains stoic, indifferent at the situation.

"So Lucifer's protégés, huh. You Devils are really interesting. However, I'm more interested in humans."

If I remember correctly, the reason they revealed the existence of the supernatural to humans was because they saw humans as interesting beings, so they wanted to see the world like it was back in the day: humans interacting normally with gods, Devils, Angels, Fallen Angels and all kinds of creatures and Yokai.

After flying up the sky, Xbalanque creates a ball of energy, and releases it. His brother Hunahpu does the same thing. While the balls fly away from them, Xbalanque says some words.

"Doomsday Power. That's the name of the power we received during the 21 of December of 2012, and it will stay with us until 10 years have passed since that day. Now, thanks to it, I can do things like this."

Many streams of light flow from the ball of energy, and everything touched by them are reduced to dust…! Even with just a slight touch, countless monsters die by it.

"I have killed over one thousand already, and I'm sure my brother has done the same; am I right, Hunahpu?"

"Yes, Xbalanque."

What?! In just a few seconds, they have killed thousands of monsters! Now I understand why even the God from the Bible feared them.

"I think we should deal with Seattle now. Do you agree, Hunahpu?"

"Yes, Xbalanque."

As soon as they said that, they disappeared! However, in just a few seconds, they are back.

"4 balls should be enough there; right, Hunahpu?"

"Yes, Xbalanque."

So they flew all the way from Detroit to Seattle in just a few seconds… I don't know how much that is, but probably a lot.

"Well, Lucifer, you and your protégés should take care of this place and its surroundings; we will be going to California."

"Sure, Xbalanque, I will go alongside my Queen and my Bishop, Lucifuge and Satanachia, to New York; my protégés will take care of this city."

He's talking about Lucifuge-san and Satanachia-san! I know those are famous Devils who serve Lucifer-sama, so hearing their names is shocking to me. By the way, isn't Lucifuge-san Silverage's ancestor?

"Well, see you. Come on, Hunahpu!"

"Yes, Xbalanque."

And with that, the trio of famous figures disappeared. Also, Azazel-sama woke up.

"Those two… Xbalanque isn't someone who should bear such power, but I'm sure Hunahpu keeps him under control."

Azazel-sama says that as he stands up. I agree with him, since while Xbalanque looks pretty… unstable, Hunahpu looks like he can keep his cool.

"I'm going to take care of as many monsters as possible; you should take care of him."

He says that while pointing at Jin. I know he's an important Familiar expert, so this mission makes sense.

"Well then, good luck."

And he also goes away… I feel like so many things have happened in so little time.

"Buddies, I think we should get to know each other if I'm going to trust my life to you. So, tell me, who are you?"

After Jin asked us to introduce ourselves, we decided to answer him.

Part 6

Now that we're done with introductions (expect Ham, he refused to speak), we can focus on taking care of him-

"I don't understand one thing."

Jin looks at us with a confused head while saying that.

"Rito, Haruka, Rina; those names don't sound western at all."

"It's because we're Japanese."

Haruka says that immediately. However, Jin tilts his head with even more confusion.

"If you're Japanese, then why are you speaking English?"

English? I'm pretty sure I'm speaking Japanese. In fact, he's also doing so.

"I'm sure you're confused, since both you and I are speaking Japanese."

I say my thoughts at loud. However, Ram interrupts us.

"Rito, did you forget that Devils speak in the language the person hearing them is most used with?"

Oh, always forget that. Well, since I live and study with Devils in Japan, I assumed they also spoke Japanese.

"Yeah… I forgot."

After clearing our doubts, Jin puts on a relaxed expression again.

"So you're Japanese… how does it feel to drive on the opposite side of the road?"

"That's the right side."

Ham says that with a harsh tone. I know he hates Americans for some reason, so this may have triggered him.

"Oh, so Mister "I won't introduce myself" decided to talk; who are you by the way?"

"My name is Abraham Hawkthorn, my friends call me Ham, and I'm English."

"You're British yet you accept people to call you Ham? Don't you think that's ridiculous?"

"It may be, but Lance is a silly name too."

"The tea drinker says so."

Both Ham and Jin look at each other with eyes filled with killing intent.

"Imperial system user."

"Unnecessary U's lover."

"You drive on the wrong side."

"That's the most used one."

These two are about to kill each other. At least we, Japan, didn't create a colony on another country. I cannot imagine this happening between Japanese.

"Ham, remember we have to take care of him."

"I do remember it; otherwise I would have kicked his arse already."

I seriously need to understand his hatred towards the United States.

"Guys, I would love to hear your pointless argue for the rest of day, but we got company."

As Mint says that, I notice a monster is close to us! I was so focused on Ham and Jin's discussion that I didn't notice it.

That thing is black as night, have a pretty dangerous looking tail and it's around 15 metres tall. Jin looks at it with determinated eyes.

"A monster created from someone on this city… terrific. I'm going to call you… John Smith!"

John Smith. I don't know why he picked that name, but this monster is clearly dangerous.

"Let's kill it, fellas!"

As Jin says that, the whole peerage gets prepared to fight against the atrocity named John Smith.

Wait, why is this boy we barely know leading the peerage?!