Aaaand I'm back.
Before getting started, I thank you everyone who liked and followed this story. You guys are the best. And please, be patient with me and my grammar, not the best... Ahh alright, let's just get into this chapter.
That day had come, the day when the independent mages of Crime Sorcière would leave Kyoto for Kuoh Town in order to put a stop to whatever his subordinates were up to in that city. The departure was organised by Azazel himself. The new mission, or rather the job request would last a few days, so Crime Sorcière would have to settle in Kuoh for a while.
With Azazel's agents in another faction's territory the risk that the armistice might be disrupted was pretty high. Freed was still in possession of the Flute of Lullaby, which was another important matter to deal with. They had to be stopped and the flute needed to be found and destroyed, no matter what. Luckily, according to the news, nothing bad was happening in Kuoh so far meaning that Freed was unable to unleash the demonic flute, yet. Another factor was that the mad priest had never witnessed the existence of Etherious demons, and they sincerely doubted he was aware of the existence of that kind of curse, but with one of Zeref's creations nothing could be as easy as it seemed.
To prevent any kind of inconvenience, they decided to not being teleported directly through a magic circle… Yes, the travel would be way easier for them as they could directly warp inside their new house, and start their mission, but Azazel denied that idea as one of them was a four-winged angel, which means their sudden appearance might be noticeable. Another notable point was the fact that the two governors of Kuoh were the two younger sisters of two of the well-known Devil Kings, and one of the four Satans happened to be in town a few days ago, this implied that there could be a possibility that the sudden appearance of an enemy faction's magic circle could be perceived, even if said possibility was minuscule. For the time being, it was way wiser to play it safe and avoid any kind of hint that would link their alliance with any other faction. Not until a peace treaty was signed.
The boy with the draconic Sacred Gear was Issei Hyoudou, a high school boy attending Kuoh Academy. According to the report, this Issei was nothing special, average grades at school, ordinary backstory and no knowledge of his Sacred Gear or the supernatural so far, as expected.
As soon as their mission was assigned to them, the independent magicians immediately started packing their stuff, although it wasn't too much. They had only bought some extra clothes, which were practically identical to some of their old outfits they used to wear in Earth-Land, and a few additions of other personal belongings as well.
Although someone didn't want to let them go alone.
-FLASHBACK: The night before –
Inside their flat just outside Kyoto's downtown, the independent vigilantes were busy packing their stuff inside their bags. Jellal was yet to arrive as he went to the store to buy some groceries to eat for a quick dinner as they didn't have the chance to eat earlier.
"Hey Macbeth." Erik said gaining the other mage's attention. "Did you tell Jellal to buy beef jerky? I think he forgot to put that one in the list."
"Yeah, I did." The Reflector Mage nodded from his spot. "I've never understood how you can chew on that inedible mosh though."
"That's what I thought too." The slayer shrugged somewhat agreeing. "Believe it or not, that stuff's tastier than it looks like. Not so special though, just a nice entrée."
"If you say so." The Reflector Wizard said.
Before they could continue, they heard a sudden knock at the door.
"Who could it be? It's almost 10:00 at night." Macbeth wondered after looking at the clock.
The Poison user sighed half-tiredly. "Ugh, who knows… let's hope it's not Azazel with big flash news or shit like that." Erik replied, turning his gaze at the door he announced. "Come in! The door's open."
The half-closed door of their flat opened revealing none other than Asia. The two wizards weren't expecting her to visit, they were looking at her with a curious gaze while pausing what they were doing.
"Asia?" Macbeth rose an eyebrow.
"What are you doing here?" Erik asked as his face grew confused.
"I've come here to see you." Asia told them with a somewhat timid tone. "Uhm, where is Jellal?"
"He's out shopping stuff. That doesn't answer to my question." Erik said.
"Y-You know, I've heard from Mr. Azazel and Lady Yasaka…" Asia shook her head slightly.
"Hm?"
"You guys are leaving tomorrow morning, right?" Asia asked as she, Erik and Macbeth were finishing packing their stuff in their bags.
"Yeah. We got a new job request to do."
"Oh." Asia hummed. "Where?"
"Kuoh Town, it's near Tokyo." Macbeth replied as he put his last pair of shoes inside his bag.
The young nun felt a little bewildered and uncertain about what she was about to ask, but managed to find the courage to enquire.
"Then…" Asia paused a bit. "Then I'd like to come with you."
The very moment those words reached their ears, the two magicians stopped what they were doing and stared at her briefly. Obviously the first to respond was the Dragon Slayer who furrowed his brows a bit, his response didn't take long either.
"Absolutely not." Erik stated firmly while shaking his head. "You're not coming with us."
"U-Uhm?!" Asia stuttered. "But why?" She asked while staring at him with a pleading face.
"Isn't that obvious?" Erik said with a snort. "You've got a pretty good amount of magic power that you still can't control and a Sacred Gear to boot, so you're basically asking to have a big target drawn on your back and shout 'look at me I'm a sitting duck, please kidnap me.'" The Dragon Slayer explained in a fast manner, almost slurring his words.
Despite feeling good for the half compliment the Dragon Slayer told her, Asia still halted not knowing how to counter the statement while looking at him with an unhappy look.
"Point is, we can't let you take risks when we can avoid it." The Dragon Slayer took a moment to pause with a sigh.
"But…" Asia tried to speak.
"Asia." Macbeth called her making her turn to him. "I'm sorry but Cobra is right, it wouldn't be safe for you to come with us." He noted. "You could really become an easy target for the Devils and for the Fallen Angels."
"But… I…" Asia said sadly. "I just wanted to help you guys out…"
"What if some of our enemies will be able to sense you or your Sacred Gear?" The Nightmare Wizard asked again.
"I think I can do something to not get detected." The blonde nun remarked. "Mr. Azazel taught me a few tricks about hiding my magic. Also, I have my Sacred Gear, it could turn useful to you guys during fights since it can heal any injury."
"While what you're saying is true, your Sacred Gear does have its limits and you know that." Macbeth told her.
"You're going to Devils' territory right? They usually stay away from Holy items since it's their primary weakness and…" She trailed off.
"There is something more, isn't it?" Erik said. "I can hear it."
"Yes. There is something more. The fact is…" Asia's face showed a hint of embarrassment. "I've always wanted to go to school, to Kuoh Academy…"
The wizards became curious.
"Is that the other reason you're so adamant about coming along?" Macbeth questioned.
Asia slowly nodded her head. "Yes… even though Mr. Azazel let me continue my education privately in Grigori, I… I've never actually attended to a real school… and I thought Kuoh Academy may help me to socialise with more people." Asia explained.
A bit caught off guard, Erik and Macbeth blinked their eyes while humming in surprise. All of this because she wanted to attend to school. That specific school? The two wizards glanced at each other, but from the look of their faces, Asia could tell what they were about to say.
"Asia, I know that's something important for you, and I know you want to help too. But it's far better for you to stay here. At least for now." The Dragon Slayer told her.
"I agree." The Nightmare Mage nodded at him. "I'm sorry Asia." He said turning to Asia.
Asia stared down with a sad face, but she knew her friends were right, she needed to improve her magic skills and her Sacred Gear's ability before stepping into something bigger than her. So she couldn't afford to be a burden for them, not until she was ready or the situation settled down. The wizard noticed her demeanour, so Erik decided to speak up.
"Tell you what." The Dragon Slayer suddenly said. "When all this shit is over, we'll let you come with us and enrol at this Kuoh Academy." The scarred slayer told her. "How does that sound?"
Asia's mood seemed to improve somewhat. Shaking her head a little, she looked up at the Dragon Slayer who was giving her one of his friendly smirks. As she looked at the Reflector Wizard's direction, he also nodded his head.
"Really? You promise?" Asia hoped.
Erik and Macbeth nodded in confirmation which Asia responded with a grateful beam.
"Thank you!" The nun exclaimed, her smile grew brighter.
-FLASHBACK: end -
Now it was 9 in the morning: Jellal, Erik, Macbeth, Azazel, Shemhaza, Asia, Yasaka and Kunou stood inside the train station of Kyoto. The mages and Asia were waiting, what they were about to take was one of the fastest bullet trains in Japan. It was well-justified as they still weren't able to use teleport magic, in any case, the two Fallen Angels assured the wizards they would eventually develop an upgraded version of their artificial Sacred Gears so they could eventually use teleportation when needed so they wouldn't need to rely on transportation, much to Erik's relief.
Speaking of him, the Dragon Slayer was naturally reluctant at the idea at first, his motion sickness was still severe, and he hasn't exactly got used to it just yet, but once they told them the ride would take about 2 hours at best, he came to terms with his fear and accepted to come. However, much to his delight Shemhaza came to his rescue, handing him a bottle of pills that helped him a bit with his problem… even though temporarily. Although it was a provisional solution, Erik knew he couldn't keep going on pills and medication forever, so Asia had already offered to help him out in the future thanks to her Sacred Gear.
Another problem was their inability to raise barriers, for that they also needed Grigori's aid, replacing their previous 'uncompleted' artificial Sacred Gears with new ones. This time it was a bracelet-like device that gave them the ability to create and pick up barriers.
Back to their upcoming trip…
Their destination was Kuoh, according to Azazel, it was a medium-sized city near Tokyo, and considering that Kyoto and Tokyo were about 450 km apart, the journey would've lasted longer if they had taken a regular line.
Right now, the three wizard vigilantes were standing in front of Kunou, Yasaka, Asia, Azazel and Shemhaza. Behind them was the train they were to board shortly.
"So, time to part ways huh?" Azazal began.
"Yeah… expect for the fact you can literally pop up where you want anytime of the day. 'Part ways' he says…" Erik retorted.
"HAHAHA!" Azazel laughed out loud showing his familiar smirk afterwards at the Slayer. "I know you guys are gonna miss me, so I'll drop by when I'm free." He remarked, still grinning.
"Meaning you'll appear out of nowhere whenever you like." Macbeth added with a deadpanned look.
Erik just rolled his eye. The rest of them let out amused chuckles at their bickering. Even Shemhaza, despite his serious disposition, showed an amused yet small smile.
The young Kitsune walked forward to them with a hoping smile.
"So, we'll be seeing you again, right?" Kunou asked at the mages. "Big brother Jellal? Midnight? Cobra?"
"Sure thing, brat." Erik smirked at her.
"Certainly." Macbeth added.
"Don't worry Kunou. We'll be seeing each other again for sure. Besides I'm planning to visit that girl I rescued in Nagoya soon." Jellal informed, smiling at her upon hearing the nickname by which she sometimes called him.
"I'm counting on it." Yasaka spoke catching the Earth-Landers' attention. "Jellal, Midnight, Cobra; I already know you've heard these words since we met, but know that if you will ever need any assistance, somewhere to stay or face trouble in the future, there will always be a place for you all here. Kyoto and its citizens will always be grateful for your heroic deed. Thank you from all of us."
The wizards nodded smiling at the kind woman.
"Thanks to all of you for your hospitality." Jellal replied. Having said that, he turned towards the deputy governor of the Fallen Angels. "By the way Shemhaza, I nearly forgot, but I don't think we exchanged contacts. Is it ok to stay in touch? It would be easier to report you about our progresses."
"Oh, yes of course." The white-haired Fallen Angel nodded in acceptation as he wrote down his number. "Here." Handed him a piece of paper with the number written on it.
"Thanks." Jellal said.
"Oh, and I almost forgot." Shemhaza suddenly recalled. "You may even need this." From his long robe, he took out a fairly thick dictionary-sized book and gave it to Jellal.
"A book?" Jellal asked while quirking a brow.
"Yeah." Azazel responded right away. "Contains a summary of basically every Sacred Gear we've discovered so far. Handy, isn't it?"
"Yes, very much I'd say." Jellal remarked. "Thank you, both of you."
"Cobra, Midnight, Jellal." Asia called them while walking up to the mages. "I wish you good luck with your mission! Be safe." She smiled.
"Oh, we will." Erik assured as he patted her head. "Just don't stress yourself too much with that weirdo other there." He gestured at Azazel.
"It'll be alrighty." Azazel said in a carefree voice. "Remember who's going to train and look after her." He snickered.
"Big-time." Erik muttered.
The announcer voice rang through the train station. Their train was about to depart.
"Well guys, 'til then I guess." Erik waved at them while getting on the train.
"Take care everyone." Macbeth followed him a few moments later.
"We'll see you soon. Hopefully in better circumstances." Jellal smiled at them as he followed his comrades in.
Bidding their last farewells, the wizards boarded the train and took their seats. Erik wasted no time and immediately took the bottle and swallowed his pill. It didn't take long before the bullet train took off. It did not take long before it reached a speed of 300 km/h. At first Erik had a few gags, but as soon as the pills given to him by Shemhaza took effect, the Dragon Slayer felt like he was on top of the world, his guildmates couldn't really blame him as they knew how vehicles were trouble with him like any other Dragon Slayer.
The bullet trains made no stops except for the main cities, their train ran from Kyoto to Tokyo, which meant the three of them would have to get off Tokyo and take a second train that will take them to Kuoh, fortunately it was not even another hour's journey... most to Erik's chagrin. In the meantime, the wizards were spending their time engaged in small talk. Thankfully for them, the train wasn't very packed, which was good, so that they could talk without fear of being overheard.
"So you told Asia about our past?" Macbeth asked as the topic came up.
"Yeah, I did." Erik nodded crossing his arms. "I initially wanted to blow her off, but she practically prompted into it." He sighed.
"I have to say that was expected from a girl like Asia." Jellal commented.
"Oh, I forgot to mention, I left your involvement with us out, Jellal." The scarred wizard informed him. "I just thought it wasn't my place to tell it."
"I see." Jellal hummed in understanding.
"And… how did she take it?" The Nightmare Wizard questioned.
"Actually, better than expected." The Poison Dragon Slayer responded. "Even though I told her we're not the knights in shining armour she thought we were, she still felt like we were good people." He shook his head recalling her speech. Yet Erik couldn't help but flash a small smile, perhaps he was truly happy that Asia thought well of him in spite of everything he had done.
"Well, she isn't wrong, technically." Jellal spoke up with a smile. "You guys made amazing progresses in less than two years. I'm very proud of you."
"Quit your motherly mode, Jellal. It's kinda getting old you know?" Erik mocked with a smirk as he closed eyes, while shrugging.
"Well, it's true though, I really am. You did way better than I did." Jellal complimented them.
"If I have to be honest, I can get used to be called a hero." Macbeth joked while crossing his arm. "I won't hide that it's nowhere near as unpleasant as I thought it would… despite the fact I may regret it one day."
"Bullshit, you think I didn't see the faces you made when those Youkai girls thanked you?" Erik questioned smirking. "Why do I have the feeling that won't stop any time soon?"
"That came right after your suggestion to save Asia and Kunou from Deliora, even before finishing it off… it would seem you softened up as well, Erik." The Reflector mage retorted with a chuckle making the Dragon Slayer frowning.
"Fuck you, Macbeth." Erik groaned.
Only a grin of amusement could be seen on Macbeth's face in response to his friend.
"Anyway…" Shaking his head, Erik recollected himself. "Speaking of knights in shining armours…" Erik trailed off as he smirked in Jellal's direction. "How did your little date with Yasaka go, Jellal?"
Jellal blinked his eyes in surprise, soon the image of Yasaka kissing him on his cheek appeared into his mind. A faint pinkish hue developed on his cheeks. "Well… I can say I enjoyed it." He replied as he briefly shook his head. "She told me a little more about herself while I told her about some of our missions. Until we ended up talking about how we were sucked into this world. She shared with me a theory that may help our case." The blue-haired wizard explained. Turning to the Nightmare Wizard, he continued. "Macbeth, it is plausible that your spell and Mard Geer's curse caused the creation of this dimensional rift due to their common properties in disintegrating matter, they are the same but at the same time opposites, which could be a hypothesis. Even though I can't say for sure this is what happened, I don't think it's impossible either."
The Dragon Slayer and the Nightmare Mage's expressions became serious after taking into account what Jellal said.
Macbeth rubbed his chin. "So, two powerful forces but at the same time opposite could've destabilise the Ethernano in the air, causing it to directly open a rift space between time? That can make sense. Though, I can't recall if something like that ever happened before… not even when I initially started to master my magic with Brain." He considered.
"And that Dragon, Acnologia…" Jellal remembered. "He was able to overcome that rift when he absorbed Time Magic. Is it possible it could be a similar process? Or just a coincidence?"
"When I got there and fought him with the others, he told us that was a place of nothing, an alternative dimension where time didn't flow and space was infinite." Erik spoke up.
"Actually I remember, someone else told me that too." Jellal said thoughtfully. "It was that woman, Anna Heartfilia. She is one of the first time-travellers that used that kind of spell." That caught their attention.
"So Acnologia was telling the truth." Macbeth mused.
"Yes, to a certain extent." Jellal nodded. "That Space Time Rift is supposed to be an infinite source of magic. According to what Anna told us, it has no basic element, nor is it made of light or darkness. So yes, it's just nothingness. But…" Jellal trailed off as he had a meditative look. "That type of magic is only supposed to exist for time travel, not as an alternative dimensional space for anyone to live in…"
"Then how did we fight Acnologia? If what you said is true, we should've all dropped dead the moment we got there." Erik questioned.
"Could those be really connected in one way or another?" Macbeth wondered.
"We can't be sure yet. That's why we can't be sure if that time rift is somewhat related to the Dimensional Gap." Jellal said. "Who knows, possibly there could someone out there who is aware of it…" "Ah, that's right, Ultear." The tattooed wizard realised as he briefly wide his eye. "She's the person who might know about this whole matter."
"Are you sure about this, Jellal?" Macbeth inquired. "As long as I remember, she's a time magic specialist… how could she possible know about the Dimensional Gap?"
"Ever since she was under Hades, Ultear has spent a great deal of time studying many types of Lost Magics, and having had to perfect her Arc of Time magic, it's quite possible she could've furthered her studies in ancient magic encyclopaedia. I'm fairly certain that there might be something about the Dimensional Gap in the ancient magic writings and the possible connection between our worlds… At least that's what I hope, that is." Jellal told them.
"Yeah. Quite a shame she's literally on another separate word." Erik said.
"And not in the best conditions either." Macbeth added.
"I know…" Jellal answered.
After some moments of silence, Macbeth interrupted it. "By the way… and how did it end up?" The Reflector Wizard spoke up returning to the initial subject. "I hope for a happy ending." Macbeth asked teasingly.
The blue-haired wizard looked back at him. "What do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb. You know how the talk came about." Erik insisted.
"Uhm… the date ended up pretty well actually." Jellal answered. "Yasaka told me she's willing to date me again. And I kind of agreed…" The blue haired wizard paused as he remembered her words.
"Jellal." Erik questioned as he smirks grew wider. "Do you have a crush on her?"
"Pardon…?" Jellal asked.
"You heard him." Macbeth remarked. "Do you like her in that way?"
Jellal again felt a small flush on his cheeks.
"I…" The blue-haired wizard attempted to speak. "…don't know. To be fair, I'm not sure I'm in a position to be in a relationship yet."
"Yet you didn't deny the possibility either." Erik insinuated, but Jellal still didn't reply. "What about Titania? I thought you liked her in some ways."
"Well…"
"If I may add." Macbeth spoke up. "Titania and Yasaka are kind of polar opposites in more ways than one, I'm surprise you didn't bother about that, but that doesn't mean that can't be anything between you two, right?"
"The fact she's drop dead gorgeous is a nice addition for you." Erik told to Jellal. "And from what I could hear, she's catching genuine feelings for you."
Jellal stared at the sit in front of him with an unsure look in his eyes. The two other wizards became aware of that and ceased their teasing as they just waited for him to talk.
"I haven't really thought about love that much lately." Jellal began while looking out of the window briefly. "Don't get me wrong, I love Erza, I do really care for her ever since our childhood… even during the time I was under Ultear's control, there was still a small part of me that cared about her, but…" He trailed off causing the mages to rose their eyebrows. "…I'm not sure I'm in love with her."
"Huh? For real?" Erik was caught off guards as he wasn't reading Jellal's thoughts.
Jellal only nodded.
"Does that have to do with what happened between you and her in the past?" Macbeth questioned.
"What? But I thought you already sorted things out some time ago." Erik wondered.
"As a matter of fact, we did." Jellal answered. "At that moment I was still doubtful of myself, I wasn't sure if there was really any point to what I was doing with Crime Sorière... after everything I did to her, that I did to you guys, I thought all I deserved was death."
Erik and Macbeth were silently listening to him, though their expressions were clear they felt sorry for him.
"But she gave me hope, even though I kept saying my fate was sealed, she kept telling me I was wrong. And then…" Jellal paused for some moments.
"Then what?" Macbeth rose a brow.
"We almost kissed." The blue-haired wizard answered.
"Almost? Why didn't you?" Erik asked.
"Because I didn't want to." Jellal replied.
"Why?"
"For two main reasons: back then I could never stain her light with my own darkness, with my own sins, and not only because she was happy with the life she was pursuing at Fairy Tail, and at the same time, because I couldn't risk involving her in this kind of life... the life of a former criminal like me... someone who walked the path of darkness for so long." Jellal explained to them with a saddened smile as he lingered over the last sentence.
"I guess that makes sense." Erik voiced with a tone of solidarity.
"And what's the other reason?" Macbeth inquired.
"I told her I had a fiancée… a non-existent one." The former Wizard Saint responded but halted.
"Well, I certainly didn't expect that…" The Nightmare Mage uttered.
"Me neither." The ex-Wizard Saint said.
The conversation went silent for some moments.
"Did you talk to her about this?" The Dragon Slayer questioned.
"Sort of." Jellal responded.
"I understand." Erik said.
-2 hours later –
/Kuoh Town, Japan/
After another ride on a second train, the three finally arrived at their destination, where they would spend the next few weeks. Kuoh Town was the average generic typical Japanese town, with some large-scale apartments, small houses, parks, and general recreation spots. Among the best-known sights were Kuoh Academy, along with the Kuoh's Main Park, the city's aquarium and an abandoned church on the outskirts as well as some other landmarks. Given the fact that Kuoh was way smaller and less relevant than Kyoto, the station of Kuoh it only had four railway lines.
The moment Crime Sorcière came out of the station, they were not so impressed, the town was nothing special as they had seen identical towns in the Kyoto provinces. Erik heavily sighed in relief, during the second journey the medicines' effect was over he felt once again trapped inside a moving hell, but at least tried to contain himself. Damn motion sickness.
"So, this is Kuoh." Macbeth said as he looked around the surrounding environment.
"Doesn't look like much." Erik added. "It's a poor and smaller version of Kyoto."
"Let's not forget this is just a minor town near Tokyo, so that was expected." Jellal finished.
"Where did Azazel say our residence was again?" Erik asked him.
"Let me see." Jellal responded. Pulling out his mobile phone, Jellal checked the messages where Azazel shared with him the location of their new house.
"It's here." The former Wizard Saint announced while showing his phone screen to his comrades. "It's on the top floor of a building located close to the edge of the town."
"Let's get going then." Erik said.
Their stroll didn't last long, luckily their home was less than 45 minutes away from the station.
"Erik, have you smelled or heard anything odd?"
"Not a thing for now." Erik shook his head.
"Once we get the place, let's just place our stuff at our place, eat something and start off the job request immediately." Jellal announced. "Sounds good to you?"
"Suits me just fine." The Dragon Slayer nodded.
"It does." The Nightmare Wizard said in agreement.
As they made their way at their new place, they noticed that it was a flat on the top floor of a five-storey building near the edge of the town.
The three looked amazed at what kind of place it was given to them.
Their new flat was two storeys and quite spacious, with a modern look and a grey-black palette; in the middle of the living room were two L-shaped sofas with a flat-screen TV attached to the wall, to the right of the second sofa was an armchair. Beneath the television were two consoles, probably gifted by Azazel given his passion for video games there was a large coffee table. The main floor, aside the living area, also had a kitchen and a modern bathroom. Outside there was also a fairly large balcony with a sunshade, armchairs and a table. While upstairs, there's a corridor that led to the second bathroom and the bedrooms, which were four, one room for each of them and a fourth for guests.
"Well, this place doesn't look bad at all." Jellal commented with an impressed expression as he laid the keys on the table.
"Azazel didn't seem to spare any expense for sure." Macbeth said while placing his bag on the sofa.
"Not too shabby, I'd say." Erik spoke as he just threw his own handbag on the armchair. "I wouldn't mind living here for a while. Guess we owe him for this one."
"Indeed." Jellal agreed.
After setting down their stuff, the wizards decided to have a short snack before starting with their job request. Currently, they were sitting at the table in the kitchen. To make things quicker, they prepared themselves some instant food, namely noodles bought earlier in the first supermarket they came across.
"Alright. Let's start discussing our next move." Jellal said as he laid the cutlery on the table.
As he finished his meal too, Macbeth started to speak. "First, I believe we should probably begin by watching over this Issei Hyoudou. Azazel told us that he was the person his people were observing. We have no idea what may occur to him if they or someone else decide to target him."
"What about those four Fallen Angels and that Freed asshole?" Erik inquired. "At least one of us should look for him, he still has the Flute of Lullaby."
"Right." Macbeth nodded. "And let's not forget about the resident Devils, Gremory and Sitri."
"Yeah. That too." Erik snorted, but trailed off for some moments. "I say we keep an eye on them too."
"I see what you mean…" Macbeth noted. "And frankly, I agree with you."
"Are you guys sure we should monitor them too?" Jellal asked them.
Erik nodded in response with a shrug. "Just in case they're aware of the Fallen Angels or they're up to something that may throw us a spanner in the works." He explained. "I mean, they're supposed to be the governors here anyway, right?"
"Couldn't the Gremory recognise you? You did save one member of their family." Jellal reminded him.
"I'm sure they wouldn't, the brat was unconscious while we were fighting." The Poison user clarified. "Besides, I never said we'd let them know about us." Erik smirked slyly.
His comrades kept listening to him as he went on.
"The Hyoudou brat goes to Kuoh Academy, right?" The Dragon Slayer pointed out. "So all we have to do is just waiting 'till school's over and then see if someone tries to pull one on him, either if it'll be the Devils or the Fallen Angels on the run."
"Wait a minute Erik, didn't Azazel's report inform us that there might be one of the four Devil Kings in town?" The former Wizard Saint questioned.
"Even if there were, they know nothing about our alliance with Grigori and the Youkais. It'll look like we're on our own, just random wizards." Erik clarified.
"Yeah… you're right about that." Jellal noted as he sighed a bit.
"As long as we pretend to be independent, things will be good." Macbeth concluded.
"Alright. I guess we manage to." Jellal accepted. "At this point, I believe it would be better to split up and check different areas of this town. Is this ok with you guys?"
The two nodded their heads.
"I'm gonna go check the school grounds and nearby." Erik immediately offered himself. "I'll be able to find Hyoudou for sure."
"Then I'm going for the opposite side of Kuoh." Macbeth decided.
"I guess that I'll be looking the downtown then." Jellal also agreed. "If Freed is in town, I even may be able to get from him the Flute of Lullaby and destroy it." He said as he narrowed his eyes. 'And a little payback too.'
-Hours later –
/Kuoh Academy/
School hours were drawing to a close. A certain Poison Dragon Slayer made his way to the academy, finally spotting the school he was honestly impressed by how it looked. No one could really blame him for that, after all, having lived as a slave for most of his childhood, only to be forcibly 'taken under the wing' of Brain, he had never seen a real school. He could never have.
The school was a large building with a Victorian-like appearance, built on three floors, with a clock tower in the middle, which gave it an even more majestic appearance. Between the entrance and the gate was a large garden with a fountain in the middle. The school was subdivided into other buildings that contained the various extracurricular activities. From what he remembered when he had a look in the city's leaflet, the campus was until a few years ago only for girls, but recently became co-ed for not too specified reasons, not that he cared.
Minutes passed and school hours were over as soon as the bells rang. Standing aside on a rooftop, he watched students leaving the school building passing through the main entrance from the gate, but there was no trace of Issei, so he opted to wait so he will eventually show up…
…
He hasn't. 30 minutes passed. The Dragon Slayer had a tick mark grown on his head.
'Just where in the hell is the brat? Damn it, the bell rang over half an hour ago. Hope he didn't stay at home.' Erik groaned in irritation. 'Tch. Guess I'll have to spot him through magic…'
Before he could complain further, Erik heard someone else went through the exit of the yard.
Finally the famous boy with the Sacred Gear made his appearance...
'About damn time.' The Dragon Slayer let out a tired sigh. 'So that's him…' He observed.
Issei Hyoudou was a second-year student of Kuoh Academy, he appeared to be dressed in a modified version of the boy's uniform, which consisted in a dark blazer, an open shirt with a red t-shirt underneath. He was average in appearance and height, short brown hair with two locks behind his head, brown eyes and a pretty slim build. And… to be honest, the Dragon Slayer couldn't find any real impressive feature about him, he also looked pretty weak despite the fact he possessed a Sacred Gear.
'…yup, the description matches.'
'This is totally my day! I can't believe I got to meet Rias Gremory again! And she said she wants to get to know me better! I bet Matsuda and Motohama are gonna be so jealous!' Issei yelled in his mind. 'If I keep this up, I'm gonna be Harem King in no time!'
'Meet Rias Gremory? Gremory… she must be one of that brat's kins.' Erik was reflecting as he recalled the boy he saved with Macbeth, while ignoring the pervert's mind rampant. 'So one of the Gremory goes to a human school. Why the hell would they give the keys to the city to a high school teenager... ugh, whatever." He dismissed that. 'Looks like this Rias has already approached Hyoudou. But why? Can't be for his strength or…' He looked back at the boy who was meanwhile making pervy looks, his nose seemed to be bleeding a little too. '…Personality.' He thought with irritation. '… so that must be for his Sacred Gear, even though he doesn't seem to know having one.'
However, his thoughts came to a stop as he sensed someone else nearby.
'Shit.' Erik cursed in his mind. 'I gotta be careful, I can hear someone nearby…" Until he realised. "A Devil.'
As the perverted teen down the bridge was still fantasying about his senior, someone else approached him. The Dragon Slayer suddenly turned his glance at the newcomer and sharpened his gaze.
'She's one of them…' The Dragon Slayer observed as he saw the person approaching the boy. "Yup that's her.' He confirmed while giving a brief look at the pictures.
"E-excuse me." A girly voice called an enthusiast Issei.
Issei halted while shifting his head to his left, noticing the person who just spoke, making his eyes go wide open. Although he didn't recognise the school uniform, he did notice the girl's looks; she was stunning to say the least, long raven hair that flowed down her slender yet curvaceous body and beautiful violet eyes. This girl would totally give a run to Rias' money. Her head was fully red behaving like a shy school girl who was about to confess her love.
"A-are you Issei Hyoudou?" The girl asked shyly.
Erik immediately frowned while observing from afar. 'She's one of the Fallen Angels who slipped away…' But that wasn't just that, the Dragon Slayer didn't even have to make use of his Hearing Magic, he could already see that the attitude of the Fallen Angel girl in front of Issei was a farse.
"Yes. That's me." Issei replied. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Well…" The girl trailed off. "I've been seeing you passing for some time… so I just wanted to ask… are you seeing anyone at the moment?"
"Uhm, no not really." Issei shook his head in response.
"I'm glad to hear that…!" The raven-haired girl said in relief. "In that case then… would you mind going out with me?" She asked as her blush intensified.
"Huh…? Huh?!" Issei nearly exclaimed.
"Please… I want you to be my boyfriend!" She yelped as her cheeks turned even redder.
Issei was left dumbfounded as he stared at the bowing girl for some moments in awe, until…
'Wooah! Is this really happening to me?!' Issei screamed in his though making the Dragon Slayer flinch with a cringed face. 'A hot chick like her is willing to take me out to a date all of a sudden… oh, look at the size of those things…' The pervert thought as he peeked the girl's assets. 'Oh God! Totally huge!'
While Yuuma couldn't hear his comments in his mind, Erik could hear them loud and clear much to his displeasure.
'Ugh… what the hell is wrong with that runt?!' Erik grimaced from his spot on the roof. 'Has he never seen a woman or what?'
"Oh, I mean sure." The brown-haired boy snapped out of his perverted dreams. "I'd really like to go out with you!" Issei responded.
"Really, you would?" She smiled in relief. "It's a date then! By the way, my name is Yuuma Amano." Yuuma introduced, then took out from her breast pocket a paper to give it to him. "Here. This is my number."
The boy blushed too. "T-thanks Yuuma." Issei thanked with a smile of his own.
"It's no problem at all!" Yuuma chirped at him while beaming. "I'm sorry, but I've got to go now!" She exclaimed cheerfully. "Bye Issei! I'll see you this Sunday!" She waved at him while leaving.
"Sure... I will." Issei said before starting to scream like a maniac. Erik decided to once again ignore his reactions, not before shotting him a blank look for how he easily took the bait. Without questioning anything at all.
'So they'll be dating Sunday.' Erik thought to himself. 'Yuuma Amano huh? Gotta give her some credit, even though Hyoudou is a total dupe, she ain't a bad actor… yet.' He considered as he looked back to the direction the pervert went. 'Something's going to happen to the pervert, and it won't be good.'
As the Dragon Slayer was about to message his guildmates no notify them, he caught a glimpse of someone else leaving the area. He noticed out of the corner of his eye someone he had seen before.
'Hang on, I've seen that dwarf before and…' Taking a sniff Erik immediately recognised. 'Yup. She's the Devil I smelled before.'
From what he could witness, the devil girl had a petite appearance, white hair that reached her shoulders and gold-coloured eyes. She was wearing Kuoh Academy's girl's uniform, it consisted of a long-sleeved buttoned white blouse with vertical lining, a black ribbon on the neckline, a black cape over the shoulders and a matching buttoned corset, and a magenta skirt with white accents.
Although he paid little attention to her clothing, he observed that the girl was walking back in the direction she had come.
'Wait, that Devil shrimp is heading back to the academy.' Erik acknowledged. 'Hm. I can hear it… she was observing the pervert on behalf of someone else. I'd better follow her.'
/Kuoh outskirts/
The outskirts of the Kuoh Town didn't really differ from Kyoto's, the only thing Macbeth could spot were trees, trees and trees. According to what Macbeth had explored so far with the others, he wasn't impressed by Kuoh, sure it wasn't a terrible town, but it wasn't great either. The only thing that appealed to his interest was the high concentration of supernatural activity. And so the question arose in his mind…
'Why would some Devil heiresses be interested to live in a town like this?' Macbeth thought as he kept walking through the forest. 'Except for Kuoh Academy, I saw nothing particularly impressive or interesting here. Could there be another reason?' He wondered.
Even the most unknown town had a site of interest location to visit. Kuoh, on the contrary, was boringly average, too average for his tastes. Sure, it had some place to have fun at, but that was it.
'I wonder if there were more Devils who prefer to live here over the Underworld…'
At that moment, Macbeth was interrupted by the sound of flapping wings, some feathers that seemed to belong to a crow slowly dropped near him.
'Hm. Feathers?' He wondered.
Shifting his gaze to the sky, the Nightmare Wizard noticed a human figure with black wings. He could tell from the body shape that it was a female.
"Fallen Angels." Macbeth said. "Wait, I've seen her before…" He pondered while remembering their faces. "That's right, she's one of them."
The Fallen Angel was flying in the same direction he was going.
"I'd better follow her."
Once she reached her destination, she landed in the courtyard of a building, entering it immediately afterwards. The Nightmare Wizard easily managed to keep up with the Fallen Angel and noticed that a new building in front of him. It looked like a church, presumably abandoned. The church stood on top of a hill right outside the town's outskirts with only a stone path connecting it to the city. Although it looked long abandoned, it was still standing in a good condition.
'This must be their hideout.' Macbeth thought. After suppressing his magic power to zero, he immediately cast his invisibility spell; by distorting the light around him, he covered himself in a purple-whitish glow and immediately hid himself away and vanish from sight.
'Let's see what they're up.'
Thanks to his Reflector, Macbeth could also easily overcome the door without letting himself known. Looking around, the wizard scanned the area, the interior of the church looked exactly as it was, broken windows, smashed crosses and statues and some overturned pews. Nothing he hadn't seen before.
As soon as he entered, he immediately noticed three other Fallen Angels sitting in the altar area with the Fallen girl he sighted earlier. There were three females and one male, but there was no trace of the Stray Exorcist yet.
'It's them.' The wizard thought.
"Did you approach the Hyoudou kid?" The male asked.
"I did." The girl who had introduced herself earlier as Yuuma responded.
"So everything's going how it was planned, it seems." The man stated.
"I guess you can say that." She answered.
To get a better hearing and view, Macbeth cautiously approached them and sat down in one of the pews while paying attention to them. The other two remained silent for the whole time as they seemed not that interested in the conversation.
"You sound a bit off. Are you having second thoughts about this?" The Fallen male said.
"I'm perfectly fine. You know we don't have really a choice in the matter." She shook her head.
"So the plan remains the same?" He questioned while their conversation went on.
'Hm…' Macbeth just furrowed his eyes as kept listening maintaining his presence well hidden.
/Centre of Kuoh/
The blue-haired mage wandered around Kuoh. He tried to perceive if there were any signs of demonic presence, so as to locate the Lullaby Flute, unfortunately so far, he had not found or perceived anything. By now the afternoon was drawing to a close to give way to the first shadows of evening.
Yet, Jellal's mind was somewhere else.
'Stray Exorcists… usually they never show themselves in public, instead preferring to remain in the shadows.' The wizard thought. 'This area is too crowded, at this rate I'll never find them, which means I'll have to check in the roughest parts of town... Azazel said that rogue Fallen Angels also hire Stray Exorcists and settle in abandoned buildings to use as their bases, usually churches.'
In the midst of his musings, Jellal noticed that the sky was changing to a bright shade of orange.
"It looks like the sun is beginning to set." Jellal said as he looked at his phone.
At this point, Jellal decided to continue on his way, it didn't take long for him to walk in an area close to the periphery.
"AAAHH! What the fuck?!" A loud scream of terror came to Jellal's ears.
The wizard didn't waste a second as he bolted off in the scream's directions.
"It's from that warehouse!"
As he entered the abandoned warehouse, Jellal couldn't help but shiver at the awful smell he sniffed in the air. Taking a look at the surroundings, he realised how run-down the place was: it was nearly empty, the walls were tattered and the few items were scattered around. His footsteps echoed through all the nearly empty building.
'That scream came from here.' Jellal considered as he surveyed his surroundings. 'It looks even worse than I expected, perhaps… Huh?'
Lying unconscious on the ground close by was a boy, dressed up into something that looked like a school uniform. Jellal's eyes went wide as he ran at the lying brown-haired boy, he had some bruises on his body, but he was essentially fine. What surprised the wizard was that covering the boy's arm was a red gauntlet that vaguely resembled a draconic gear. From the first readings at the Sacred Gears book given by Shemhaza, that one looked like an ordinary Twice Critical. Although there was a possibility that it was still in a dormant state.
'So this is Issei Hyoudou.' Then he bent down to check Issei's condition. 'He's still alive, just unconscious.' The blue-haired wizard let out a sigh in relief.
"Ufufufu." A voice emitted a moan in excitement.
"Who's there?!" Jellal questioned.
"Who knew I would have another guest tonight… and a particularly handsome one, it seems."
The ex-Wizard Saint perked his gaze in the direction of the voice. From the shadows a monstrous figure emerged, albeit the torso was somewhat human depicting a good-looking woman with huge naked breasts and black hair that matched her eyes; the underside was chimera-like, with thick black hair and four legs with sharp claws.
"I'm assuming you're a Stray Devil, right?" Jellal asked with a frown.
"Ufufu that's correct, handsome." She gloated while licking her fingers. "Drawing humans in and then devouring them is one of my favourite hobbies, it's sooo much fun!" The monstruous woman chuckled.
"Tell me, are you the one who attacked this boy?" Jellal demanded.
"Oh, you show a little extra flesh, and they all jump on you like horn dogs. I was having my fun time… and I was about to finish the job, until you barged in, human!" She then grinned. "But I can get over it considering how hot you are."
Despite his gaze narrowing, Jellal remained silent. Not fazed by her words.
"No words? Oh well, I was gonna kill you anyway." She cackled maliciously "But don't worry, I'll kill you this instant so you can join the boy with the Sacred Gear! HAHAH!"
Concentrating a dark greyish-coloured beam in her mouth, the she-devil shot it straight at Jellal with inhuman speed. The shot hit its target, creating a small cloud of smoke afterwards, much to the Stray's amusement.
"Hee hee hee!" She laughed evilly. "Killing ignorant humans is so entertaining! Perhaps I should've left some of his body behind so that I could..."
However, when the dust cloud dissolved, Jellal was still standing there without a single burn, wound or scratch. Stray opened her eyes wide, both her eyebrows raised, her mouth hanging open slightly.
"How… how did you…?" She faltered.
"I have no time for this." Jellal closed his eye for a few seconds.
Cracking his eyes open, Jellal's pupils glowed a shade of red and black. His body unexpectedly released a dark purple aura. Extending her arm toward her, he made a swift movement with his hand, the stray was suddenly engulfed by a powerful mass of darkness.
"Argh. W-what is this?!" The she-Devil stray exclaimed as she was starting to feel drowned.
"Dark Grab." Jellal only mumbled.
Red coloured hieroglyphs-like crests started swirling around the Stray, as the dark aura around her grew in size. The red symbols mutated into a chain-like pattern that slowly began to choke the devil. Unable to move, the Deviless could only struggle as she rustled in pain as Jellal's spell intensified. Fortunately, the barrier was still intact so that no one could witness what was happening, however her screams still echoed throughout the warehouse.
"AAH…! Argh…" Her screams slowly became weaker and weaker.
The blue-haired wizard decided she had enough and made the spell disappear within seconds dropping the Devil on the cold floor. As much as he wanted to end things off, the former Wizard Saint always preferred to kill if that was strictly necessary… true, this was a dangerous being who killed humans for her own pleasure, yet… that Stray was a human herself, at least formerly, it was very probable she never wanted this life in first place… well, her fate was will be sealed the moment the Devil heiresses will find her, she couldn't be doing anything in that state. Not wanting to ponder on the matter any longer, Jellal turned back to Issei.
"Ugh… uh…" Issei whispered in a weak voice while trying to open his eyes.
"Who are…" The boy tried to talk but fell unconscious a few seconds later.
'Why would he ever enter inside a warehouse like this…?' He wondered but stopped. 'Doesn't matter now, I have to take him back to his house. I hope Azazel sent it in his report.' Jellal thought.
/Kuoh Academy, Old schoolhouse/
During his pursuit, Erik made sure to keep a considerable distance from the girl, being well aware that devils had more developed senses than humans. Another reason why he maintained his Hearing Magic active to ensure she wasn't aware of his presence.
After some minutes, the Dragon Slayer noticed that the white-haired girl proceeded her way until she stood outside a new a building camouflaged in the scrubland that clearly resembled the Academy; three stories high, a clock tower on the top and a small yard on its right. That was the old school building, also known to be the base of the Occult Research Club. Once she stepped up to the door the small girl opened it and entered inside.
'Huh? The midget just got inside.'
With a skyward leap, the Poison Dragon Slayer landed on the wooded hill. As he made sure he wasn't watched, Erik leaned against one of the trees at the edge of the grove.
'I can hear it. Someone's talking inside.'
Inside the old school building, two people were discussing while sipping their tea. The club room's interior is decorated with wood panelling, the entire room clearly sported a Victorian-style, from the sofas to the walls themselves.
Both of the two people were females; the first girl was a beautiful young woman with a curvaceous physique, white complexion, blue eyes, and long, pure bloody crimson hair. She was dressed in the Kuoh Academy girls' uniform. This girl's name was Rias Gremory, heiress of the clan of Gremory, King of her peerage and of course pure-blooded high-class Devil. Sitting on the sofa in front of her was her Queen, her beauty matched Rias'; she had very long dark raven hair that closely resembled Yuuma's and violet eyes. Her hair was tied in a long ponytail with an orange ribbon keeping it in place. Similar to her King, she had a great body figure, with large breasts and a slender body.
In the middle of their small talks that Erik didn't bother to pay attention at, the club's door opened revealing the small girl with white hair.
"Oh, welcome back, Koneko." Rias spoke up with a smile while greeting her servant.
The white-haired girl, now known as Koneko, greeted her King with a small bow as she made her way to sit next to her.
"…President. It's confirmed." Koneko informed her King in a monotone voice.
"So, Issei Hyoudou has a Sacred Gear, doesn't he?" The black-haired girl, Akeno inquired with a smile.
"Apparently so. And a powerful one it may seem." The redhead now known as Rias replied. "Koneko, did she approach him at last?" Rias asked.
"…yep, they'll be dating this Sunday. Again, just as you predicted." The white-haired girl, Koneko nodded in a monotone tone.
"I see." Rias nodded as she placed her cup on the coffee table. "Thank you for the report Koneko." She told her smiling in a grateful tone.
Koneko simply nodded at her King. However, Rias' smile dimmed a little, something Akeno and Koneko noticed.
"Rias, are you sure we're making the right choice?" The dark-haired girl asked.
"Trust me Akeno, I never wanted to go this far... but you know our, no my circumstances… I can't afford for him to refuse my proposition..." Rias answered as she lowered her head a bit. "It's the only thing I have left to grant me my freedom…"
"President?" Koneko's monotone voice turned a bit of concerned.
"Don't worry... I'll make sure to prepare everything as planned." Rias replied as she stood up from her seat. "Here's how we'll proceed…"
The Devils kept on their conversation unaware that they were being listened by the scarred wizard, who stood outside into the woods in the vicinity.
'Oh, so that's how it is, huh?' Erik flashed a smirk as he listened the whole thing from afar thanks to his more than enhanced hearing. 'Guess it's time to upset the apple cart a little bit then…' He thought as he pulled himself away from the tree where he was leaning. 'Can't let you play with the pervert's life like that now, can I?' The Dragon Slayer narrowed shis eye with his trademark grin as he started to walk away into the woods.
Taking out his cell-phone out of the pocket, he wrote a short message to Jellal…
"Jellal, I need you to use your telepathy." He typed.
In a matter of 10 seconds, the blue-haired wizard activated his Telepathy Magic to communicate with both of his guildmates.
'Hey Erik, did something go wrong?' Jellal asked.
'Not at all. We got all the pieces together.' The scarred mage answered.
'What?' Macbeth questioned through telepathy too.
'Guys, it looks like we got ourselves in a more fucked up situation than we expected.' Erik replied as he walked.
'What do you mean by that?' Jellal inquired.
'I'll tell you when we get back home.' Erik answered.
One more done!
Here we are, the first arc started, better known as 'Raynare's arc'. Crime Sorcière finally reached Kuoh and will face Initially this chapter was supposed to be shorter, but then I considered it would be better to take it a little slower and not rush it. Yet, even after finishing it I still found it shorter than it supposed to be.
And before some fanboy points finger, no this won't be a Rias bashing story. Yet, I can't say I really like her either, nor her peerage... BUT as I said before there won't be any bashing for her or her servants. Just some little tiny lessons.
That said, I was really hesitant about how to continue, but then having run out of ideas on how to fit the various events together, I think I'll just carry on with this one... Do you think I'm doing good? You think I'm doing bad?
Then, please review and all that kind of stuff...
See you next chapter!
