Haruko and Tatsuo Itsuka, the parents of little Kotori Itsuka and her foster brother, Shido Itsuka. Anyone who saw them would say that they were a very close couple who enjoyed spending time with their children and even if something happened to them, they would not hesitate for a second to give their lives to save them.

It's a pity they were no longer alive

—So you are the bearer of Camael. What must have gone through his mind to choose a girl as the recipient of such a powerful angel?

A gray-haired man and a blonde woman holding a technologically advanced sword in her right hand were standing before a girl and a teenage boy; both were sitting on the ground, completely horrified by what they had just witnessed.

Her parents lay lifeless behind the couple who were dressed in black suits. Haruko had a perforated abdomen and Tatsuo had a hole where his heart was located, below them was a large pool of blood.

—O-Oka-san... O-Oto-san.

The little Kotori stammered with fear. Both brothers witnessed how that woman in front of them killed them, she didn't have a shred of pity for them. She killed them without feeling any remorse.

—Don't worry, it will all be over for you soon.

The woman standing beside the man let them know the cruel fate that awaited them. It was not the first time she had been involved in this kind of situation.

—T-Tatsuo-san... H-Haruko-san.

Shido could not move; his body did not react. The fear he felt at this moment completely overcame him, his tears could be noticed at the edge of his eyes, at any moment he would burst into tears.

—That boy... He's a lot like "Him" isn't he, Ellen?

—That's right, Ike. You could say your guess was correct.

After listening to her, the man let out a big laugh. At this point he couldn't be wrong, his theory had been correct. The spirit of origin brought him back to life as his descendant; the child before him was an exact copy of the boy he had killed in the past.

—Ha ha ha, did he really do it? The spirit of origin did.

After that comment, the laughter grew louder. Shido and Kotori became more and more terrified with the man's attitude, in their eyes he looked like the devil himself.

—K-Kotori.

Afraid of being heard, Shido whispered the name of his sister behind him, he had an idea in mind, it wouldn't end well for him, but at least his sister would be saved.

—Y-you have to go.

The little girl managed to hear him despite the psychopathic laughter that the guy in front of them let out, but instead of answering him with a word or a gesture, she threw herself to hug him while sobbing.

—I don't want to, I don't want to be without Onii-chan, he takes care of me, he helps me with my homework, he treats me well, he's always by my side, I-I... I... I don't want to live without Onii-chan.

After hearing those words, Shido's eyes widened completely. Now that he thought about it, if Kotori was left alone, it would be very difficult for him to move on, the same thing would happen if he survived this encounter, he would be devastated and with no will to live.

Shido hugged his sister warmly, closed his eyes and began to cry. The fate that awaited them was the same, so he tried to enjoy the last moments he had left by her side.

Kotori did the same, hugged him and burst into tears. She didn't want to die yet, but she also couldn't stand the idea of living without anyone of her family, especially without her Onii-chan, she was terrified of the idea of losing him, if he died, she would rather be by his side and share the same fate.

—Hm? So they decided to accept their fate.

After laughing madly for a while, the man pulled himself together and returned to his previous countenance.

—Ellen... Would you do me the honors?

The blonde nodded, raised her sword to end the lives of the two children. At the distance she stood she could slay them with a single slash so that neither would suffer a painful death; however, with her free hand, the woman grabbed Shido's neck; the boy noticed a strong pressure in that part of his body and opened his eyes to see what was happening to him.

—Kuh...

Kotori felt how her brother stopped hugging her and desperately opened her eyes looking for him everywhere, unfortunately, she saw him being held by the neck by the woman who killed her parents.

—Onii-chan! Please let go!

Shido tried to talk to Kotori in order to calm her down, but it was not possible. The woman was exerting too much force on his neck, he could feel the oxygen leaving his body, soon he would die, he was sure of that.

—Itsuka Shido, or should I call you by your real name... Takamiya Shinji. We'll see if you're tough enough to survive this.

Before Shido could even process what she said. The sword held by the woman with her other hand was embedded in the boy's heart.

—ONII-CHAN!

Kotori let out a piercing scream as the boy's blood splattered on the blonde's face; even though her face was stained, Ellen didn't change her countenance, she still had an indifferent look on her face.

Shido couldn't scream because of the pain; his vocal cords were being squeezed, all he could do was watch as his blood was pouring out of his body.

—In the end, you just turned out to be a mere human, Takamiya Shinji.

Ellen threw him against the couch, and left him there to bleed to death. Shido tried to cover his wound with one hand; unfortunately, his body was unable to respond.

—To tell you the truth... This is quite disappointing.

The man, nicknamed Ike, stood in front of the half-dead boy, his face wore an expression that showed his dissatisfaction.

—I imagined that the first spirit would have given you some of his powers, but it turns out that you are the same boy I killed twenty-eight years ago.

Shido listened with difficulty to what the man was saying. He didn't know his name, his age, nothing. The only thing he could do at that moment was to curse him. His parents were dead, his sister would die in the next few minutes, he would die in a few seconds. No one would survive.

—It's your turn to die, Efreet.

Shido turned his attention away from the man and looked at Ellen. She placed her sword above the head of Kotori, who was staring at the ground with totally empty eyes.

—Ko... to... ri.

With the little strength he had left, Shido uttered the name of his little sister and tried to crawl to her. He promised to die together with her and would carry out his promise no matter how much pain he had to go through. But, unfortunately, he was unable to do so.

An icy sensation began to invade his body, he could no longer feel his limbs, his eyes felt heavy. The blood he had left inside his body would run out within a few seconds.

—I'm... Sorry

It was the last thing she could say before her eyes involuntarily closed, and she fell into a sleep from which she would never wake up.

Ellen could hear the boy's last words. Anyone with a little empathy, would feel sorry for him, but she was not that kind of person, she simply pretended as if nothing had happened and continued with her goal.

—Goodbye... Efreet.

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

ALERT, ALERT, ALERT, ALERT, SPACEQUAKE, SPACEQUAKE, SPACEQUAKE, SPACEQUAKE, HIDE IN THE NEAREST SHELTER, HIDE IN THE NEAREST SHELTER, HIDE IN THE NEAREST SHELTER, HIDE IN THE NEAREST SHELTER.

As he was about to decapitate her, the spacequake alarm went off. Ellen momentarily stopped her attack, but seconds later she refocused on her target. First they would obtain the Sephira crystal from Kotori and then deal with the other spirit.

—Oto-san... Oka-san... Onii-chan...

The red-haired girl repeated the nickname of her three familiars while looking at the ground with a dead stare, Ellen took that moment to eliminate her and lowered the sword

[CLACK]

Her weapon collided with a shield of fire; Ellen was surprised by such a defense, but what caught her attention was that the fire surrounding her was blue. According to her research, Camael was characterized by strong orange-toned flames.

—Blue fire? Did she...?

She took two steps back, changing her countenance to a totally hostile one. This was the first occasion she would face one, if she wished to obtain its power, she should not take it lightly.

His hair rose, and yellow particles covered his body. After a few seconds, all his clothing was changed to a technologically advanced armor accompanied by his sword that was still covered by Shido's blood.

—Ike, you should leave this place. Efreet is about to invert.

The man ignored Ellen's suggestion and advanced to stand beside her, a grim smile on his face. After trying unsuccessfully to reverse Hermit and Sister, today he could witness the birth of a demon king with his own eyes.

—Wonderful... We've finally done it, Ellen. It's time to put the second part of our plan into acti...

—Zafkiel! Zayin!

Ellen froze at the sound of the angel's name. If what she heard was true, she would not be victorious in her battle. She still didn't know Nighmare's abilities thoroughly, since they had started capturing spirits, they had never crossed paths with her.

—Ike, get out of the house now!

She tried to warn his companion of the danger, but she couldn't manage it, when she looked at him, he was already frozen in time.

—Tsk!

Ellen clicked her tongue in annoyance, Nightmare was faster than her, the spirit had planned to ambush her and succeeded thanks to an oversight she had.

—Ara~Ara, so this is what DEM Industries does. They kill innocent people in order to get their powers.

A black-haired girl came out of the ground through a hole of darkness; she was carrying an old gun in one of her hands and was wearing a rather old costume accompanied by a patch over her left eye.

—Nightmare. —Ellen said angrily.

Everything was going perfectly for them, but due to her unexpected arrival, things got complicated for her.

—I see you're furious, spirit hunter. I guess you must be scared to see that you have no way to run away.

Ellen was surprised to be called that way, if she knew, it meant she had been following them for a long time.

—How do you know, Nightmare? It's impossible for you to know our movements, the computer showed that you would show up in two days.

The question had no effect on Nightmare. He wouldn't be such an idiot as to fall into her trap, the only thing Ellen was looking for was to get information out of him.

—It won't be necessary for me to answer your question, Ellen Mira Mathers. I will make sure that tonight you pay for all your actions.

Zadkiel's mistress raised her angel and pointed it at Ellen. She was ready to end her life; in her eyes, everything she had done was unforgivable.

—It is time for the huntress to be hunted by one of her preys.

Murdering one person would cause a gigantic change in events, and that is what happened in this world.

Elliot Woodman and Karen Nora Mathers, the founders of the organization called Ratatoskr, an organization that in the future would protect the spirits.

In this reality that never happened

Elliot was murdered by his dear friend, Isaac Westcott; he didn't care about Elliot and his ideas, he wanted to carry out his wish and to achieve it he had to eliminate his adversary, no matter who he was.

After Woodman's death, Ellen went to inform Karen, telling her a different version of what had happened. When she heard what had happened, she was devastated, but thanks to her sister's "support" she managed to overcome her grief in a couple of years.

As the years passed, everything happened much as we know it. Westcott, Ellen and Karen summon the first spirit, and it leaves them without saying a word. Takamiya Shinji meets her and allows her to stay in his house, days later, Westcott kills him in front of the spirit of origin, she absorbs Shinji's body, then separates his power into ten crystals and offers them to people who are in a difficult time in their lives, all in order to bring back their loved one.

The first spirit thought that everything would be fine, that there wouldn't be a major problem, but what she didn't count on was that DEM Industries was on his trail. Every step he took in his plan, Westcott advanced two. Thanks to his great intellect, he managed to capture four spirits: Sister, Berserk, Princess and Hermit.

Or so it was, until the spirit of origin gave his power to a girl named Tokisaki Kurumi; she had a dream of being a heroine of justice, a truly noble motivation, so he took advantage of that to use it to his advantage.

She gave her information about DEM Industries and how they wanted to capture her. Needless to say, it was all a lie, as she only wanted one person to keep an eye on them while she went through with his plan.

So Kurumi accepted the proposal. She began to watch over them day and night with the help of her clones, it was relatively easy for her, but she preferred to keep gathering information and not act until the opportunity presented itself.

Several years later, he found the perfect opportunity to finish them off. Westcott and Ellen were standing outside the front door of a house.

She could have attacked them, but she didn't, preferring to carry out his plan when their guard was down, for if he managed to eliminate them, it would prove that he had always been...

One Step Ahead