Zephyrus of the School Gate Entrance
Life.1 Worthlessness' Worthless Everyday(?)
The now proclaimed Devil who dressed in noble attire stood before the elite exorcist of the Dragon Slayer, his right blade raised high.
Their total of three blades gleamed under the darkness of the moon— the night. One of them was in a clear relaxed position while the other one held his guard high and blade low, ready to respond to any sudden movement.
Of course, the one ready to strike was the one with the Holy Blade. Aleksandor bit his lower lip and gripped his blade tightly; Arusbaal relaxed his stance and held his two swords of blade and white without tension.
They were at a standstill— Ascalon would instantly disintegrate the Devil but Arusbaal kept his distance with casual finesse. With each advance that Aleksandor used, Arusbaal would respond with a magic glyph that propelled himself back or keep Aleksandor back.
In terms of swordplay, Aleksandor was superior— this was a fact that was indisputable. However, in terms of combat potential, Arusbaal held the advantage with his ability of Worthlessness and his plethora of wizard-based magic.
Aleksandor was forced into his circumstance, he could not leave without getting at least some intelligence about the pair of Devils and their motives. If only he had some sort of ranged ability—
—Nay, even if he shot out his Sacred Holy Fist, the Worthlessness clan trait that was channeled through the white sword, 「No-name」 instantly nullified the prized ability.
To Aleksandor, his current goal was figure out what the black sword,「Nameless」 as Arusbaal called it, could do.
Thus, there was only one movement that was in Aleksandor's head— to focus his attacks onto the black sword.
—There was the sound of sizzling, as if some sort of hardware had made contact with a body of liquid, frying itself.
"Sacred Holy Fist!"
The ability was used once again, aimed at the black sword.
However, the brilliance of the practiced technique once again dissipated— against the white sword.
"Worthless."
The surprisingly trombone-voice of Arusbaal echoed in the night, creating an atmosphere not unlike one of despair.
However— Aleksandor was not deterred, he realized a fact.
"The blade blade cannot take hits like the white blade."
He had stated out loud, breaking the communication-silence of the battle in which had started after the Devil had introduced himself.
"Ah, you're correct. Good job on figuring out that one!"
Arusbaal had laughed again, and waved his arms around completely relaxed as if he had no skeleton to support his body.
In any other situation, being as careless as Arusbaal currently was would be extremely unwise— but due to the favorable matchup, he had the leeway to mess around a bit. In fact, if he had any other ability than Worthlessness, he would've probably ran away already or been vaporized completely by the countless waves of Holy energy that would've caused him his defeat.
"But I'll show you something interesting"
"Worthlessness, rebound."
The blade that could be called synonymous with darkness in color lashed out towards Aleksandor, sending out a wave of familiar energy.
(H-Holy Sacred Fist?!)
The signature technique of Aleksandor was taken and used against him, but due to his training and high ability, he easily parried away the blast that he knew the inner workings of just like how his master, Vasco Strada performed Magic Neutralization.
"Ahahahaha!"
Aleksandor laughed, and her words came from his grinning face's mouth.
"A Devil using a Holy blast? How ironic. It almost makes me want to puke..."
And with those words, he rushed forwards with god-like speed.
"Stealing one's techniques, negating hard work is a suitable hobby for a lowlife Belial Devil like you!"
The sword clash between the Saint George's blade and the two twin swords rang out resoundingly.
With a speed that would put even the natural gale and winds of the world to shame, Arusbaal swept his left foot which was filled with and imbued with Demonic energy—
But the explosive energy of his leg only did moderate damage to Aleksandor— who had clad himself in Holy energy as a shell of sorts to block out the damage.
Holy energy and Demonic energy were like water and oil, they did not mix. Thus, the two energies which had clashed due to the leg had cancelled out eachother and left Arusbaal delivering a kick that was on the strength of a normal human. Of course, a blow of that magnitude was easily shrugged off by the elite exorcist who accepted the blow without even as flinching.
For an instant, Arusbaal expected Aleksandor to fly to the side due to his blow, but Aleksandor went for a straight punch using his dominant hand.
Arusbaal, for the first time in the fight, felt his head turn violently towards the right direction— for the first time in the fight, he had taken damage.
However, he was accustomed to taking damage often—
—Without wasting a single breath or movement, he used the momentum of the impact to push himself far backwards conveniently, and shouted out.
"Rebound!"
Once again, a wave of Holy Energy was blasted towards the Apostle. However, due to the given time of the situation, Aleksandor Quarta had easily began to close the gap and immediately went for a second blow, this time with his Holy Sword which was sure to incinerate most devils excluding those of the Ultimate-class ranking with one slice.
A stolen and replicated Holy Energy that blew out of the white sword was easily cut into two with the same Magic Neutralization.
... The holy sword aimed directly for the body of the Devil—
"And... Stop!"
...
...
Wind pressure flew around the scene, blowing anything that did not have a proper grip on the ground away. If there were any normal humans around, the wind by itself would've been enough to knock the air out of them to an effect similar to the way a sucker punch to the gut did.
Ascalon was held in place by a third party, Silmeria Hrist.
Aleksandor was the challenger in this battle, he had initiated the fight and while his comrade of the church was seemingly in danger, the two Devils also seemed to be leaving without doing any harm. He was taking a risk by being here, in Kuoh without an official permit. Of course, he was accustomed to doing dangerous missions for the Lords, but he would fall this day if he wasn't careful; especially with the white haired Devil that held his Devil-Dragon slayer casually with her palm.
"Ah... I was losing. Still, that's Silmeria for you, of course something like this would easily be solved."
The pure-blood relaxed and his facial posture went from alert to relaxed in a matter of seconds, the sweat from his back that was previously flowing like a river had stopped near instantly.
"..."
Silmeria tossed away Ascalon casually, which gave Aleksandor a small push back. Of course, he gracefully landed.
"You've realized too right?"
Arusbaal opened his mouth to question his opponent, in which he received an expected reply.
"Yes... Fighting like this is disadvantageous for both of us. As you haven't harmed my comrades seriously, I'll be the first to bow out."
And he had left, just as simple as that. The opponent Arusbaal had been fighting with his two favored swords— Nameless and No-name was solved as simple as a realization as if the fight were to drag on the fight for too long, locals would start noticing.
For Aleksandor, who had just left; his reasoning was that soon enough, Devils would come and reinforce their comrades—
—Despite the truth being that Arusbaal had shown up just as unexpectedly to Kuoh and he did himself.
...
"Wew! That was a good fight though."
Arusbaal, who was laughing about the battle he had just partook in, smiled without inhibition.
"You got to take these a bit more seriously, if that attack had connected, Ascalon would've vaporized you instantly."
"Ah but you forgot, Worthlessness was constantly being applied around me anyways, Holy attribute magic doesn't affect me that much compared to you guys."
"Right, that's why you can hold No-name and Nameless without being damaged right?"
"That's the reason for No-name, but Nameless is another topic entirely, it's a demonic sword after all."
The moonlight was starting to go down as the sun rose, due to daybreak approaching.
"..."
"..."
"Futaha-chan would be worried, we should get going back soon."
And thus—, the night of the devils of black and white had ended.
(What... Was that...?)
A certain crimson-haired princess of the Gremory asked herself that question while she observed the two Devils make their exit from where those two same Devils had a scuffle with an unidentified individual.
The thoughts in her head were flying around as if they were hyper-charged, "Why was there a pure-blood other than Sona and I here? How did an exorcist sneak into Kuoh?"
The pure-blood was a small question and could be answered in a multitude of ways, maybe they were here for sight seeing, or maybe they had an interest in Japan just like herself. Either way, she didn't recall any young devil who wielded two swords of the monochrome colors.
However, the big problem was—
(How did an exorcist get into Kuoh, the wielder of Ascalon...?)
Usually, if someone unaffiliated with the Devils were to intrude onto one's territory, it would be grounds for an execution. In fact, the few Fallen Angels that had been flying around in her territory were to be dealt with as soon as possible... If she wasn't so curious about their intentions.
When she had been notified by her bat-familiar that a battle was taking place in Kuoh, she had been pressed to exit and find out some details about the battle almost instantly. Upon arrival, she was surprised to see the "combatants" in her territory to be conversing. She had been unable to hear the details of the talk, but the fight that continued on was a surprisingly fast one, one that even her knight— Kiba Yuuto would have trouble keeping up with if he didn't pay attention.
However, when she saw that magical circle, her quantity of questions only grew more.
(B-Belial.)
The gray-circle was a signature of the clan of Worthlessness, with the only active known user being Diehauser, with the Lord and his brother being inactive for a while now.
Perhaps...
Perhaps her cousin—
Ars.
Was he still alive?
Her doubts were easily shaken away at the thought of her cousin's survival, she put out her arm and channeled a bit of Demoinc Power from the house that she currently was on and a crimson-red magic circle appeared.
"Akeno."
"Yes, Rias?"
The familiar tone of Akeno, her queen piece in her peerage was due to the private settings of their current conversation which took place dead in the night, or in the morning. Whichever one would prefer.
"Can you look for someone for me?"
It was a request, not an order from a superior to an underling. Simply, Rias asked Akeno as two equal friends if this favor could be done. Of course, Akeno would not refuse.
"Of course Rias, who is it?"
"... A devil called Arusbaal Belial."
Akeno was properly educated in devil history, so to hear the dead cousin of Diehauser Belial to be the one that she was supposed to search for, she questioned Rias in surprise.
"Isn't he supposed to be dead?"
"Yes, but..."
Rias gasped a bit before continuing, excitement was as clear in her eyes was the blue sky.
"— I think I found him."
However, despite searching for a few weeks and even asking the new reincarnated devil who had arrived recently, Rias had found no leads at all pertaining towards Arusbaal Belial.
Perhaps, he was truly dead.
But those weren't the things that currently occupied her mind. After all, A boy of the name of Issei Hyoudou recently just been revived by her and was currently arguing to allow him go look for a sister— of the church nonetheless.
And against her deepest wishes, she had struck out to her servant, causing a sound to echo out in the room.
"How many times do I have to repeat myself? No is no. I can't allow you to save that Sister."
Despite Rias protesting against Issei, Issei refused to listen. This was for his own safety after all. In all honesty, Rias was about to go solve the problem herself in secret anyways. No one would complain about deaths of a couple of Fallen Angels who snuck into devil territories without permission.
"Then I will go by myself. I'm worried about the ritual thing. The Fallen Angels are doing something from behind the scenes. There's no guarantee of Asia's safety."
Issei in all sense of the word, was worried.
To the point that he didn't care about his own safety. Rias could only sigh to herself.
(Don't throw away the life that I saved!) ... Is what she wanted to say.
"Are you really that stupid? You will definitely be killed if you go. You won't be able to come back to life anymore. Do you understand?"
However, even with these statements, the Gremory heir's persuasion fell on deft ears.
"Your actions will affect not only me but also the other members! You are a Devil of the Gremory group! You need to be aware of that!"
"Then let me out of this group. I'll go there as an individual."
"I can't do that! Why don't you understand?"
... But unknowingly, there were being spied upon.
"I became friends with Asia Argento. Asia is my important friend. I won't abandon my friend!"
"…That's a wonderful thing. I think it's amazing if you can say that face to face. But that is different than what we are talking about now. The relationship between a Devil and a Fallen Angel is not as simple as you think. The two sides have been glaring at each other for hundreds and thousands of years. If you show them a single gap of weakness, they will come and kill us. They are our enemy."
"Wasn't blowing away the enemy the Gremory group's way of doing things?"
"…"
Master and servant continued to bicker and argue, but a devil with a well placed spell listened into the conversation.
Watching the two devils, who appeared as if one of them were going to explode with frustration and the other with stubbornness, Arusbaal Belial snickered to himself.
"That same church again..."
Though he was outmatched last time, he snickered to himself.
"So that guy will be there too...?"
Last time he met the exorcist, he found himself outmatched and his queen even had to step in to prevent him from being evaporated by Ascalon.
However, it was not sheer recklessness or hunger for battle that compelled him to secretly follow Issei Hyoudou's "plan".
"...I've got an urgent thing to do now. Akeno and I will go out for a bit."
The Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess walked out of the room, taking her most trusted aide with her and leaving the newly reincarnated devil, Issei Hyoudou in the company of his fellow peerage members.
And with that action, Arusbaal decided to himself, that he would follow and assist in any way possible— provided he could meet that Ascalon-user.
(It's so dark already?)
Arusbaal mused to himself, taking note of the darkness around him. It was a perfect night for some devils to do some... questionable things.
He was by himself... Or, no one knew that he was here. He however, was tailing three specific reincarnated devils.
Of course, as an experienced devil like himself, the easily noticeable presence of a Fallen Angel did not worry him at all. In Silmeria's own words, "A single paired Fallen Angel can't hope to defeat a High-Class devil even with preparation." The difference in power was simply too great. In a way, Arusbaal's motivation was not tied to simply wanting a battle, he justified his actions by telling himself that he was doing this to "help out his cousin's servants... Or something."
The blonde-haired devil spoke, the one with a good-looking face.
"From this presence, it's certain that there is a Fallen Angel inside".
(Ah, so he realized too?)
Arusbaal rushed forward into the church, leaving the three devils behind.
Letting a brief surge of demonic power flow to his legs, he used the surplus energy to propel himself towards the upper window of the church, upon reaching the top, he manipulated his demonic power to "grab" onto the surface of the wall, preventing himself from falling down.
(... What's with— oh.)
A glare of light was coming out from the top of the building, sort of like a beacon. Arusbaal thought that there were lights of some sort on top of the building, and the innate bad feelings that he got from the church as a devil might've been affecting him...
But surprisingly enough, whoever that was directing these stray exorcists and Fallen Angels had the foresight to leave some people on the roof. The light on the top of the building was holy energy that was coming out of the mass-produced holy swords that two stray exorcists held. One was gruff, large even, while the other one looked like an "average Joe"... If an exorcists could be called average.
Upon closer inspection, the second one, the "average Joe" was a female.
(... Two holy sword wielders, one holding a broad-sword style mass-production model...)
Arusbaal climbed around the scaffolding of the church, and... "silenced" the thinner one. After a brief struggle, he let the female exorcist's body drop unconscious to the ground, a few dozen feet below him. He snuck up to the behind of the larger one and...
"Oi, Ruri, when is this shift done?"
The gruff, orange haired man turned around and saw... A suspiciously all-black wearing man who was holding two bladed weapons.
"!"
And the large broad-sword fell down on Arusbaal, a motion aided primarily not by technique of any sort, but mostly by the force of gravity.
Obviously, the only thought that went through Arusbaal's head is the implication of the sound of the sword hitting the ground drawing attention to him.
Mixed martial arts— or something like that, also known as dirty fighting was Arusbaal's style of combat outside of flashy sword swings. Arusbaal grabbed the wrist of the much bigger man and using the center of mass that was currently located in the hands of the exorcist, flung him down to the ground.
...
It hadn't crossed his mind that that motion caused a loud sound... Due to the body hitting the church.
(Ah fuck.)
Immediately, Arusbaal felt the presence of building energy signature's flaring up. Unluckily for the three devils, this meant that the church was on extra alert now.
(They can probably deal with it themselves... It's just some snazzy low level exorcists.)
Continuing to walk, Arusbaal dropped No-name into the body of the big exorcists who lay still on the body, ending their life.
Conveniently enough, underneath the large bell, an opening to the main part of the church was available.
Arusbaal let No-name disappear into thin air and reappear into his left hand. He then peered down into the darkness of the church.
Well, it wasn't complete darkness. There were a few lights from candles that illuminated the room.
CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP
The sound of shoes stomping through the darkness could be heard as Arusbaal used his demonic power manipulation to stuck himself on the walls of the chute. He rested on a scaffolding of sorts just below the roof of the building. He could see Issei, Kiba and Koneko walking towards... A mid-class exorcist; it seemed.
"Meeting! It's a reunion! So emotional!"
A white haired priest came out of the shadow.
A noticeable grimace could be heard from Issei as he clutched his first.
"He hasn't shown up yet though. Is he unrelated?"
—No, it was too early to come to a conclusion.
"Well, I never met the same Devil twice before! You know, since I'm super strong, I cut Devils into pieces when I first meet them! Once I see them, I cut them up on the spot! I then kiss the corpse and say goodbye! That's how I used to live! But since you guys ruined my style, I'm so lost! That's no good~. It's not good to interfere with my lifestyle~! That's why~! You guys piss me off! I hope you guys will die! Actually die! You trashy Deeeeeeeeeeeevils!"
A gun and light blade appeared from the exorcist's hands.
And even with this premonition of danger, Arusbaal did nothing. It was three versus one, his cousin's servants should be able to handle it. Maybe not Issei, but the other two could hold this one off.
"You guys came to rescue Asia-tan, right? Hahaha! Devil-samas are big hearted for coming to rescue a bitch like that who would even heal Devils! Well, just being entranced to a Devil should make that Sister die!"
"Hey! Where is Asia!?"
"Well, there is a hidden stairs under that altar. From there you can go to the place where they are doing the ritual."
(So the VIPs are over there right? Guess I should get going)
Arusbaal masked his demonic energy and blinked across— from the roof to the hidden stairs in an instant.
(The main source of Fallen Angel stench comes from here... So he's not involved after all. What a waste of time.)
Unfortunately, he had no interest in the Fallen Angel and whatever they were doing in there, so he jumped back onto the scaffolding while watching the fight unfold.
... The knight was fast, he could be considered high mid-class in speed already. And a Sacred Gear possessor at that. A powerful asset. The rook made use of her rook powers, but something was missing... And the pawn...
(Rias definitely got her worth out of those eight pieces.)
Arusbaal mused to himself, though it may not have been obvious, Issei was already showing great amounts of fighting potential. The ability to judge a situation and promote to a rook to avoid the light bullet's damage and then use the strength given by the promotion in one single movement to attack was not something an amateur could usually pull off. Added ontop of that, the Sacred Gear Twice Critical would propel him further.
(I can't wait till he grows stronger, I wonder what his Balance Breaker will be?)
Either way, the fight was over. The white haired exorcist was surrounded on all sides...
"Wow, wow. Is this what you call a crisis? Hmm, for me, getting killed by a Devil is a no-no, so I feel like retreating. It's a shame that I can't exorcise you guys, but I also don't want to die!"
The exorcist pops a... Smoke grenade on the floor and...
"Hey. The grunt Devil over there…Ise-kun, was it? To tell you the truth, I have fallen in love with you. So I will definitely kill you. Definitely, okay? I won't forgive a shitty Devil who punched me and gave me a lecture, okay? Then, bye-bye."
(... Fallen in love? An odd choice of words, ehhh)
Arusbaal watched as Issei and the group nodded at eachother and ran towards the altar.
"Ah, fresh air once again."
Arusbaal stood on top of the church. He was looking bored that his opponent had not shown up.
"Fallen Angel Kalawana, Fallen Angel Donaseek, and Fallen Angel Mitelt."
This prompted Arusbaal to look down towards the south-side of the church building.
A certain red-haired Gremory said in the dark, she was accompanied by the Lightning Priestess.
The words were directed at three Fallen Angels. A goth-loli character, a seductive sterotypical Fallen Angel, and a gruff suspicious looking older man.
A brief conversation was done between the two parties.
Rias got angry about something.
"Eh? Rias isn't usually one to get annoyed by something seriously... Unless..."
Either way, the purple Power of Destruction of the Bael clan was shot directly at at the three Fallen Angels, they had no time to react and certain death was imminent.
... But a grey magic circle prevented the blonde loli-character from being destroyed.
Rias narrowed her eyes, "Worthlessness."
(Silmeria told me not to reveal myself yet, but...)
And one Arusbaal Belial dropped down behind the Fallen Angel known as Mitelt, though he wasn't graceful in his movements, he quickly dropped Mitelt with a simple karate chop to the neck, showing that he wasn't allied with the Fallen Angel.
"... Who are you?"
Akeno, the Thunder Priestess held her palm towards Arusbaal.
"Rias, you should introduce me~"
"... You've been dead for how many years now? You have the nerve to show up now?"
"Well, there are some complications, and I'd very much like you to keep my existence a secret, but your peerage is an exception~"
Arusbaal relaxed in front of Akeno despite magic being pointed directly at him. There was no way Rias' peerage would attack him anyways.
"... Akeno, this is... My cousin, Arusbaal Belial. The one that's officially dead."
"The one that was bound in a wheel chair; that Arusbaal?"
"Which other Arusbaal is there!?"
Arusbaal comically shouted as he grabbed Mitelt's body.
"Anyways... Now that you know I'm not anyone suspiciou—"
"No, you definitely are suspicious..."
"How?!"
"Look at you. You're grabbing a loli's body. Who knows what type of play you're going to do to that body, Arusbaal-sama?"
Akeno wiggled around like a snake while clasping her face with her hands.
...
"... I-I'm going to get going..."
"Hold it".
Rias stopped Arusbaal as he was about to teleport away.
"What are you going to do with that body?"
"Interrogate her, of course. What else? You think I'm going to strap her to a board and do naughty things to her? You know I'm better than that! I might be a devil, but we all know that modern day devils don't do that type of things!"
(Well, mainly my benefactor does.)
Arusbaal activated the grey magic circle and with a brief flash of light, left.
"... He's that transfer student, that Ren Yaitai-san, Akeno."
"Yes."
Arusbaal Belial from his birth, had always hated the word "luck".
This hatred of chance stemmed from mainly his birth situation but a number of unfortunate incidents always took place involving him.
Any mention of the word luck only served to increase his frustrations and his own perception of the misfortune of things that followed him around.
So when he awoke to an unfamiliar ceiling of blue, he could only think to himself, "What have I gotten myself into this time?"
...
"Ah, the boy has awoken."
A ruff, regal voice that could be compared to one of a lion's voice echoed out in the chamber.
Looking around, the Belial could only see the markings of the wooden cottage— thus, he summarized that he was not in enemy territory. After all, what type of enemy would leave an opponent in their home?
A doctor— or what seemed to be a doctor entered the room. "Are you okay? Squeeze my hand if you can hear me."
Arusbaal had no reason to object or not listen in the first place, so he promptly used his grip to squeeze the doctor's hand.
"Okay, do you know where we are?"
Shaking his head side to side, Arusbaal could only exclaim, "No... Where am I?"
"You're in Norse territory, young Devil." The same regal voice from before spoke. "Ah, self introductions are in order, I'm Hrid, what about you?"
The fatherly-tone of Hrid's voice made Arusbaal drop his already lowered guard, "Arusbaal... Of the Belial clan."
Because he just awoke from slumber, he was a bit confused as to what was going on. His head was ringing and was also filled with questions.
"Hrid sir, your break is almost over, the Godfather requests your presence."
Hrid smiled at Arusbaal before turning, "I see. Well, I'll be back, young boy."
"HEY SILMERIA, GET OVER HERE!" He yelled before running out the door.
"YOU LITERALLY JUST ASKED ME TO WASH THE DISHES AND NOW YOU'RE ASKING ME TO COME OVER ALREADY?" A distinctly female voice echoed back to the request.
A girl— with blonde hair and hair accessories that looked like miniature angel wings walked over, with a unsatisfied face looking at Hrid. She immediately started a conversation with Arusbaal, "As you can guess... I'm Silmeria, and the daughter of that unpleasant geezer..." Grumbling, she walked over with a bowl in her hand, "Drink this up..."
Arusbaal didn't have the energy to complain at this point.
...
"Strawberry."
"Hm?"
"It tastes like strawberries."
...
The awkward silence was almost as if it could snap a building in half.
"Geez... That guy really doesn't care about anything... But if you don't need me for anything right now, you should just lie down and think about some questions, I'll be back in two minutes."
...
(Where am I? Who are these people? How did I end up her— Eras...!)
The memories came rushing back to him. Eras Pheles, the Immortal Butler had left him in Forest of the Dragon-Devil and...!
No, the Dragon-Devil forest did not have trolls in it.
Thus, Arusbaal concluded that he must've been sent somewhere else. The girl, with angel wing-clippings... The man, with the name Hrid... The troll... And even Hrid himself saying that they were in Norse territory.
...
How come Eras had sent him to the territory of a neutral faction?
By obligation, he was to be returned but since he never returned on his own, Arusbaal concluded that his father had already considered him gone.
(Aeona...! That bastard...!)
Aeona Belial. The current heir to the Belial family and Arusbaal's younger, haughty sister who saw no worth in her elder brother was still loved by her elder sibling nonetheless. Elyia Belial nee Bael and her daughter had a striking resemblance, one could easily theorize what this meant— especially since Elyia was so prized for her looks that Murius Belial found need to lock her in the residence so no one could lay eyes on him.
Arusbaal however, could not do anything— thanks to his legs.
So despite his worries, he couldn't do anything.
"So I'm back. Do you have any questions to ask?"
"... How am I alive?"
"Well..—"
Silmeria went into detail about her day. She had been doing her daily duties as the daughter of the First Warrior of Asgard, Hrid Hrist, she was obligated to do her fill of monster extermination even as a child. And while she had been running around, she detected energy, a demonic aura in fact. This had led her to a boy on a wheelchair.
"Actually, I have a question... Why are you on a wheelchair?"
Arusbaal chuckled, "What an insensitive question, I think the fact that it's there answers itself right?"
"Yeah but... Couldn't you just, force your legs to move?"
...
"W-What do you mean?"
The eleven-year old boy was dumbfounded.
"You clearly have enough magical energy to force it to move, don't you?" The look of confusion was equally apparent on Silmeria's face as it was on Arusbaal's face.
"If you just use your demonic power to move around your legs, it would be like as if you were walking... Maybe?"
"...!"
The simple solution had been there all along— Arusbaal who had been born without the ability to use his legs could've simply just... Forced them to move with his stockpile of Demonic energy.
"W-Well... I guess, I'll try."
And thus, on that day, fate was overturned by a pair of children.
"... And that's why you're still alive?"
"And that's why I'm still alive."
Arusbaal was standing parallel from his cousin, the Crimson Princess of Extinction— Rias Gremory in a... simple fast food restaurant. To be more specific, Rias Gremory was eating her food and Arusbaal was standing in the uniform of the McDonalds chain, carrying a bunch of trays to bring to the dish washer.
"So why haven't you told us you've been alive this entire time?"
"Ah... Well, I did."
"Elaborate, Arusbaal."
"Well dear cousin," Arusbaal spun the stack of trays with his left hand casually, "you know when you're treated as an invalid... You typically don't want to be noticed that often."
Rias takes a bite out of her fries. Some may say someone of her status shouldn't be dining at this modest place— but Rias Gremory made even french fries look High-Class. "Then if you haven't been getting help from the three factions, assuming you aren't part of Grigori..." It was an easy assumption that Arusbaal wasn't affiliated with Heaven, but it wasn't so much of a stretch to assume that he had Grigori as a benefactor.
"Of course not, I haven't even talked to a standard Fallen Angel in a really long time, dear cousin."
"Then who has been helping you out all this time?" A fair question— considering any Devil living out in the open in modern day Japan would instantly be found by the Shinto faction and either evaporated for encroachment or taken captive for questioning.
"... Ah well, it won't hurt to tell you I suppose. But you got to keep it a secret, okay?"
Rias simply nodded. Of course, if Arusbaal had been conspiring with Heaven or any other hostile group, she would have to report to her elder brother— the Crimson Satan; but she intended to keep it a secret for his sake.
"I've been hoping around between different places, but I've spent a lot of time in the Norse faction."
"Not only that, I've actually been keeping touch with Devil society."
"Eh? Didn't we just establish that you've been not telling anyone of your survival for a while?"
"To the common folk, yeah. For sure."
"Then...?"
Arusbaal didn't answer, he simply materialized a grey colored pawn chess piece in his free hand instead—
Which essentially, answered all of Rias' questions.
In order to have a set of Evil Pieces, you would have to go to the Satans' territory and touch the giant monument which registers you as a King. Since there aren't many up and coming High-Class devils who don't already have their pieces, new Kings that are either reincarnated devils or just pure bloods who didn't have a set of Evil Pieces in the first place typically have one of the Satans, supervising and watching them. Because a Satan was required for this process, you would have to have both an appointment made beforehand and a voucher who's a hundred year old High-Class or an any-aged Ultimate-Class devil.
It would be next to impossible for someone not to have a voucher and still gain a set of Evil Pieces themselves.
"..."
"Yaitai-kun, stop chit-chatting and get back to work!"
"Okay, Iwanagawa-san!"
"As you can hear, I have to go now. A poor devil without funding needs to earn money to sleep, you know?"
"Good luck then, dear cousin~" Rias laughed as a tease and sent him his way.
Arusbaal walked over to behind the counter and dumped the tray of "disgusting trash, eh," into the disposal and left the tray to be washed.
"Oh right, Yaitai-kun"
Iwanagawa Shiori, the manager at this specific chain was a normal looking woman, if not a bit young for her role. She was a 20(?) year old woman with a hairband in her brown hair who supposedly worked multiple jobs.
"Yes boss?" While Arusbaal said boss, it was more sarcastic than any thing. She wasn't really his boss, but she did hold more authority than him. He was a simple part time employee while she was a store manager.
"Make sure to show up to my office after your shift today, the higher ups want to talk to you about something."
"... Ah, all right."
"Belial-kun, you've arrived."
"Evidently, haha." Arusbaal was no longer dressed in the McDonald uniform, but instead, he wore the Kuoh Academy uniform along with the disguise over his face. He had a small grin on his face as he faced his superior, both in company and outside of company. In front of him was a man with an average build, black hair, golden bangs and black goatee.
"But to think, that Fallen Angel governor... to be the CEO of McDonalds of all things..."
"Well, money and women make the world go round. I have women, so I need money."
"Well, apparently you do... And still no kid?"
"A smart man knows when to pull out."
"Then clearly, devils aren't so smart."
...
"Anyways, was it okay to do that?" Azazel questioned Arusbaal.
(Do what?)
"I'm not sure if I'm understanding what you're asking me right now..."
"You lied to your 'dear cousin,'"
Arusbaal's grin grew a little bit. "Not entirely... I said I haven't talked to a standard Fallen Angel in a while, and the governor of the Fallen Angel, Azazel himself, the one who fell because of female breasts of all things is definitely not a standard Fallen Angel. I even told her I was hopping around, and I didn't lie. Silmeria is definitely still part of the 'Norse' faction, and since I basically live with her at this point..."
Azazel laughed in response, "Ah, I envy the young."
"Anyways, what did you need from me?"
"About the package you sent in yesterday..."
"Ah, that Mitten girl?"
"MMPFFFMM"
There was pounding the room behind Azazel along with a muffled scream.
"Yes. Seems like she deceived by Kokabiel. I've already sent someone to deal with it. I can't directly interfere after all... Kokabiel seems to be planning something for a while now."
"Could that person be Tobio-san? Since Kokabiel is equivalent to an Ultimate-Class devil, I can see why you sent him."
"No, Slash/Dog is dealing with something else."
The door was finally blasted apart, the door which flew to the group in front had numerous dents and a plethora of burn marks.
"Oh, you finally got out." Azazel was nonchalant about the situation as was Arusbaal, in the presence of a High-Class devil and an Fallen Angel with the equivalent of a Satan Class's power, a single pair Fallen Angel was as simple as a fly to a normal human.
"It's Mittelt! I finally got out of that cage and that's how you call me?! You have no idea how annoying it was to be interrogated by a joker like you! I kept telling you that my name was Mittelt, but you kept insisting on Mitten! And then after you dropped me off here at Azazel-sama's place, you both forgot about me and left me to starve the entire night, day and afternoon!"
"..."
"..."
"So anyways, since—"
"Don't ignore me!"
"..."
"Okay, we're just joking around~!"
"I was told by Kokabiel-sama that Azazel-sama asked us specifically and now I'm being framed for treason!"
"Well... That's because you did commit treason." Azazel stated without a single care. "You're lucky in fact, you weren't told by Kokabiel to murder Issei Hyoudou and just attacked a nun instead."
"... About that Azazel-sama..." Mittelt fidgeted with her fingers. Azazel gestured her to continue," Raynare actually attacked Issei Hyoudou and killed him...
"That's fine, he got reincarnated as a Devil anyways."
(Either way, he would be stronger as a Devil than as a normal human anyways. His potential is already good.)
*RING~ RING~ RING~*
"That's my cue, I got to go, boss."
"That's fine, Belial-kun. Have fun with your Norse-woman."
"... It's not like that."
Arusbaal walked out of Iwanagawa's office, and closed the door. Only after hearing the door close, a crying Mittelt was kicked out of the room as well.
Arusbaal sighed, he looked around for Iwanagawa or any of his co-workers, he didn't want to be mistaken as a pedophile.
"A-Azazel-sama, k-kicked me out of Grigori...!"
"Is that so, Mitten~" Arusbaal looked as his phone as he replied without a care.
"..."
"Anyways, see you!" Arusbaal opened a portal, unlike the previous few teleportation circles, this one was a portal that defied space and connected two locations. The space connected looked like it was underground, ambient sound was coming out of the space.
And...—
—He threw Mittelt into the portal and shut it.
(Now that, Mittelt has been dealt with... That damn governor... Throwing his recyclables to me...)
Seeing that Azazel would just leave via teleportation circle and the fact that Arusbaal was the only one left int he store, he was in charge of closing up the store so that no one could break into it at night.
...
He checked the shelves, the cash register and the tables.
(All clean, good.)
He walked out of the establishment and locked up the door—
"...! It's you!"
A female voice could be heard.
Arusbaal turned his head, and saw—
—"Ruri," the fallen-exorcist he threw off of the church earlier.
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Sorry if my plot structure seems really over the place, it's my first time writing and I really don't have a grasp on anything... Thanks to you who have found enough effort to read to the end of this second chapter! (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ