So, before we start this out I'd like to say something I forgot to mention before. Even after a chapter has been posted, there may still be modifications after having reread it one more time. And yes I know it should be something you do before publishing it, which I do myself, but it may happen that even after uploading the chapter may have imperfections, unfinished sentences or grammar mistakes that I will have to fix or edit. That is also a result of English not being my first language, so again guys, I apologise for all of that.
Also, to my last reviewer "Shamsiel isn't that the name of a succubus from the hentai kyonyuu fantasy" I have no idea, but this made me laugh quite a bit, but no it's not lol, I had no idea this hentai even existed to be fair. Shamsiel was one of the name of one of the Fallen Angels in the book of Enoch, in Hebrew it also means the "Sun of God". Sooo no, not really hentai related hahah. (Unless this hentai's about Angels and such obviously xd)
Now. Without further edo, let's begin with this!
"What the hell is that thing?!" Rias shouted as her eyes went crack open.
The being standing outside the old school building didn't look like anything she or Koneko have ever seen before; it was giant beast which looked almost as if it were made entirely of wood, had a large head with three bright purple eyes and something resembling two big horns, long thick arms that looked like branches, a big hole in its abdomen and huge legs. On its right shoulder was engraved a strange symbol that neither of them recognised. Looking more closely, they could tell the creature was definitely not a Stray Devil, nor was alike a Chimera, a deity or some sort.
"I don't know what that... creature's scent is. It's unlike anything I've ever sniffed." Koneko said trying to identify the creature with her enhanced capacity for smell.
"And it talked…" Rias stated trying to not sound intimidated. "This beast is dangerous and made it clear that it has no friendly intentions. I can't allow it to advance towards Kuoh."
Koneko remained silent but nodded in agreement.
"Koneko, I want you to contact the others, we're going to need their help to deal with it." Rias instructed her Rook.
"What will you do President?" Koneko asked.
"I'll try to distract it in the meantime." Rias answered.
Koneko looked at her King. "…Are you sure about this?" The white-haired girl asked in a concerned manner.
"Yes. I am." Rias replied. "Don't worry about me Koneko, I'll be fine." She assured her servant. "Now you'd better hurry and call Akeno and Kiba."
"Yes President!" Koneko firmly nodded while teleporting away through magic circle.
Straight afterwards, the Devil heiress hurried out of the old school building and immediately raised up a barrier as the sky turned into a distorted shade of purple. The seemingly all wooden monster eyed the redhead and started to laugh more intensively, its voice was distorted and devious. Fortunately, the barrier would at least prevent them to be heard outside. The fact that the surrounding area was a woodland was a plus since no buildings were present in the vicinity.
"HAHAHAHA!" The Demon continued to laugh for a while.
"Whoever or whatever you are, I won't let you harm this town or its people! As Kuoh's governor and guardian, I swear I will stop you here and now!" Rias exclaimed pointing at the giant with all the might she could muster.
Lullaby stopped laughing as it perked down at the crimson-haired heiress. Upon seeing her, it started snickering in amusement.
"So, you're the little girl that I was told to kill, aren't you?" Lullaby spoke up with a broader grin. "Before enjoying myself in the destruction I will bring upon this town, I think I'll have a good time devouring your soul once I've destroyed your body! HAHAHA!"
Rias deeply scowled at the monster while starting to unleash her dark crimson aura from her body, that was the power notoriously known as the Power of Destruction, an incredibly powerful ability that Rias inherited from her mother, from the house of Bael. Said ability was one of the most fearsome, not to mention deadly powers amongst all the Devil families and the whole Underworld. As the name suggested, it had the power to annihilate the target with powerful blasts of various shape.
In a matter of seconds, she started forming a sphere that matched with her aura. "I will annihilate anyone who dares threaten me, my servants or my territory! Now begone!" Rias fired a great amount of her Power of Destruction that blasted the Demon straight in the face causing an explosion afterwards.
Feeling confident she disposed of the massive monster, Rias decreased her aura, but something caught her off guard...
"HAHAHAH!"
Rias couldn't do anything but stand flabbergasted after hearing that laugh again. After the smoke from the explosion caused by her blast died down, the giant Demon just stood there with its grin spreading wider.
"My Power of Destruction… didn't work." Rias stuttered with wide eyes. "How…?"
"HAHAHAH! Did you honestly believe such a weak attack could even leave a scratch on me?!" The Demon sniggered evilly.
The crimson-haired King gritted her teeth, her demonic aura unleashed, while the demonic beast was gathering its magic inside its mouth, in seconds, it shot several energy-like orbs from it where the Devil was. Rias spread her black bat-like wings dodging the beams just in time.
"How can I stand up to this monster if I can't even hurt it?" Rias asked herself nervously. Her family's power hardly failed her; she was sure it could blast away anything. Did that mean this being was strong enough to resist it?
Still in air, Rias was flying upwards as she tried to concentrate even more of her Power of Destruction in her hands. The signature power of the Bael clan manifested itself once again, an even larger sphere than before appeared before Rias.
"Take this, you fiend!" The heiress of Gremory cried released the destructive beam once again hitting the monster with all the power she could muster.
However the Demon only laughed at it and stomped its enormous hand in the redhead direction, wiping out Rias' attack in the process. Rias was taken by surprise by it as the beast's arm was about to smash her at a virtually non-avoidable speed. But before the blow reached her, a bolt of lightning struck the ground, blinding both Rias and the beast for a few seconds. Rias backtracked while looking over and saw a very familiar figure to her, her Queen, Akeno Himejima arrived as she was flying above her with her arm out in the air, her hands sparkled with electricity and her Devil wings unfolded.
"Akeno!" Rias exclaimed smiling in relief.
Akeno reciprocated smiling at her King while floating down toward her. "Are you alright Rias?" The ponytailed girl inquired.
"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you." The crimson-haired heiress spoke with gratitude.
"President, we're here!"
Rias looked down on the ground noticing her two other servants very well set to start fighting the monster. Koneko came along with Rias' Queen and her Knight, Yuuto Kiba, a blonde-haired good-looking young man with blue eyes. Like Issei he wore the boys' uniform, the only difference was his shirt was buttoned up and he wore a black ribbon on his collar. The entire (or almost entire) Occult Research Club entered the battlefield, ready to defend their King from the monstrous menace.
Upon her servants' arrival, the crimson-haired King let out a relieved sigh, she turned to face them and smiled with confidence. "Thank you for coming everyone. I'm glad you all could make it here."
"HAHAH!" The giant monster boomed a louder laugh making the Devil to glance at it. "Well, well would you look at that! More worms have joined the fun, which means more pleasure in killing you all for me!" The Demon taunted.
"What in the name of Satan is that monster?" Kiba asked in surprise while drawing out his sword.
"It doesn't look like any creature I've seen so far." Akeno noted.
Rias only intensified her glare before turning to her servants. "Listen up everyone, we must absolutely eliminate it, or else it will destroy us and the entire Kuoh!" She instructed.
"Exactly! And don't forget the part where I'll be eating your and all the humans' souls!" Lullaby remarked forming various sphere of its magic and launched them straight at the Devils.
Rias' Knight sprung forward at great speed while dodging the Demon's magic spheres. Kiba rabidly swung his sword hitting his target, but the Etherious was unfazed as it stomped the Knight with a vertical blow. Kiba dodged the incoming assault one more time as he circled the Demon increasing his speed. Summoning another sword in his free hand, he attacked with a series of swings at the monster as he tried to finish it off with a double X slash, but he was surprised to see the Demon still standing on its feet without any damage overall.
"What?!" The Knight gasped flabbergasted.
Forging his two swords into one, Kiba crafted a new demonic weapon, this time even larger than the other two, and attacked the demon again, but the result was the same, the monster ended up swatting him away.
The demonic beast grinned malevolently before opening its mouth and firing several orbs of its magic, but Koneko leapt up and threw a punch at its arms but the freak barely flinched. The Demon snickered as it threw its large branch-like arm against Koneko, but the small Rook formed a protective magic circle before her. However, the blow was strong enough to knock her away. With a backward somersault Koneko was able to land on her feet next to Kiba. The Knight and the Rook quickly shared a glance nodding to each other as they charged forward the giant, however, their blows seemed to not faze the Demon.
"W-what are you?!" Kiba gasped while landing next to Rias and her Queen.
"HAHAHAHAH!"
"Tch… everything we threw barely had any effect." Koneko commented with a scowl.
The ponytailed Queen summoned her lightning bolt successfully striking the Demon, but the beast quickly countered with a sound shockwave powerful enough to overpower Akeno's attack. What didn't help was the fact that her lightning bolts were far less powerful than any human mage it faced in the past, resulting in Akeno getting a similar result to Rias, in other words, no actual damage done.
'Even Akeno's lighting failed.' Rias observed worriedly while baring her teeth nervously.
The monster stopped laughing for a second while perking down at the ORC. "You asked me what I am!?I'm a part of glorious species of Demons, one of strongest ever existed, I am an Etherious! My name is Lullaby! HAHAH!" The gigantic Demon barked out.
'An… Etherious? Just what in the world is it talking about?' Rias wondered ignorantly.
Suddenly, Lullaby's body started to glow in a dark-purple aura, the ground started to shake violently again.
"What's going on with the barrier?!" Rias called out loudly.
/Back at the abandoned church/
It was thanks to the barrier put up by Raynare that all the ruckus caused by the battle between them, Shamsiel and his minions weren't noticed by anyone in the area, more fortunate was the fact that the church was located far enough away from the core of the Devils' territory. The church's current half-destroyed state will be eventually found out, yet luckily enough, nobody visited the place being abandoned for years and such.
Now though, not many moments after Shamsiel's withdraw…
"Damn it… Freed." Jellal cursed as he clenched his fist. "He was cooperating with Shamsiel from the start." He said still remembering what he did to that girl's family back in Nagoya. Who knew how many other people he slaughtered for fun or because they were 'Devils' sympathisers?
"And on top of that, he knew Shamsiel was tricking me… son of a bitch." Raynare voiced in irritation.
"We should probably contact Azazel and ask him if they've located Shamsiel somewhere nearby the town." Midnight suggested.
"Well, if Raynare here and her associates didn't know what he was planning, I guess it's our only option." Jellal agreed stroking his chin.
In the meantime, the Dragon Slayer kept silent as he had a focused gaze, his ears ticked a little as he began to hear a sound in the distance.
"The voices, they're getting louder and louder…" Cobra suddenly spoke as he lifted his gaze to the church's collapsed ceiling. That gained everyone else's attention.
"Cobra?" Asia questioned with a quizzical look.
"What did you hear? Anything important to worry about?" Midnight asked eyeing his guildmate.
"You bet." Cobra trailed off for some moments before speaking again. "I can hear it. Something's going on out there, not so far away from here." The scarred slayer went on still looking up to the sky. His one functioning eye narrowed until it shifted his head in the direction of the voices heard. "Got it." He suddenly remarked.
"Huh?" The Fallen Angel hummed.
"Outside!" Cobra exclaimed as he bolted out of the church in ruin.
The others followed his lead. Moments later, at the edge of the hill where the church was sited, the view of the whole of overnight Kuoh was visible, but Cobra had his eye fixed on one specific spot.
"Over there." The Poison Dragon Slayer pointed his finger where he picked up those sounds.
In the distance, towards the site of Kuoh Academy, more precisely behind it, a gigantic monstrous figure appeared in fade, its glowing purple eyes easily visible to those with supernatural vision. While Raynare had no idea what the hell that thing was, the creature was very familiar to the Crime Sorcière wizards, to Jellal in particular.
The blue-haired wizard's eyes suddenly snapped open. "No… just as I feared, that's Lullaby!"
"Lullaby?" Raynare asked rising a brow.
"And it's already in its Etherious form!" Jellal continued in a shocked manner. "But how?! Does that mean Freed was able to break it out?"
'Etherious form? What's he talking about?' The Fallen Angel asked to herself confusingly.
"It looks like that priest managed to awaken it somehow." Midnight earnestly observed. He then turned to Jellal. "This might be disastrous for Kuoh if it will unleash its curse power."
"It won't have the time to, because I'll destroy it myself." Jellal solemnly stated brining up his clenched fist, the wizard then turned his look to the other two. "Cobra, Midnight, I'll need your help in case Freed has some backup."
The two nodded their heads in agreement with the plan.
"Raynare, can you bring Asia back to Grigori?" The former Wizard Saint requested.
"I can manage that." The ravenette said with a nod.
"However, we might need your presence again later." Jellal added. "I'd say tomorrow as well."
"And why's that?" Raynare inquired about his last sentence.
"Isn't that obvious?" Cobra questioned her as if it were a matter of course. "So you can explain yourself to your poor excuse of a boyfriend."
"Pfft. He wishes he was." Raynare said with a snort while crossing her arms under her bust.
"Remind me who asked him out first again." Cobra bluntly told her with a deadpanned expression.
Raynare shot him a quick glare slightly puffing her cheeks with outrage, before replying. "His sole role was only for the purpose of my mission, if it were up to me I would've never approached that pervert in hundred years, so of course I…" Soon she turned around to Asia. Needless to say that after seeing the nun's pleading expression, she caved in almost immediately. "… alright fine, I'll do it." Raynare said sighing in defeat.
Asia smiled at the Fallen Angel, delighted that she set aside her pride in order to act morally.
"We may also need your help to find Freed after Jellal fights Lullaby, given Azazel is probably trying to trace Shamsiel and the fact that you're more familiar with Kuoh than we are." Midnight pointed out.
"Right…" The Fallen Angel again sighed nodding. "I guess it can't be done otherwise. I can't assure you we'll be able to find him though." Raynare told him.
The tattooed wizard nodded back after announcing. "Now we'd better hurry before it will destroy Kuoh and its inhabitants." Jellal said turning to the Fallen Angel.
Raynare nodded in response. "Right. I'll teleport us right outside Kuoh Academy." She said while quickly summoning a magic circle teleporting them away a split second later.
/Kuoh Academy, old school building/
Rias could only groan in frustration, the battle was ongoing for several minutes and their attacks, whether magical or physical, were tickling it at best. That strange gigantic Demon could not only resist all Koneko's punches and Kiba's fast attacks, but withstood Akeno's lightning without any problem. Not to mention her Power of Destruction barely left a scratch, despite using it at its full power, the power she herself was so proud of barely worked much to her desperation.
"This isn't good…" Rias voiced out as she landed next to Koneko and Kiba. "Despite all the attacks we threw, it seems it barely felt them."
"No kidding... just what is this Demon made of?" Kiba agreed in a nervous tone.
Akeno had a serious look on her face. Despite being the strongest in Rias' peerage, she too was having trouble to keep up. "Perhaps we should try to attack it together, what do you say Rias?" She asked turning to Rias.
"Yes, given the circumstances it's our only chance to make some damage." Rias instantly agreed. "Alright my servants! It's time to take down this Demon at once!"
"Yes President!" Everyone of them shouted in unison.
Koneko focused her gaze as she lunged forward, with a high jump she was able to successfully strike a couple of hits on its face. The black-haired Queen let out a battle cry and summoned a magic circle in front of her, numerous lightning bolts immediately shot out of it with great rapidity. Kiba struck his sword to the ground before him with all his might.
"Sword Birth!" The Knight cried out loudly. A bluish magic seal appeared up above as several swords of different shape and form dropped right at Lullaby's form.
"You're going down!" Rias generated and fired a great sphere of destruction that impacted on the beast at exactly the same time as Kiba and Akeno's attacks. The battlefield was soon obscured by a dustbowl as a result of their combination attacks.
"Did we do it…?" Akeno asked as she started to pant a bit.
"I tried to use all the power at my disposal... it had to do some damage at least." Kiba stated fatigue was starting to set in for him as well.
"I think we actually…" Rias began to speak.
"HAHAHAH!"
The Devils couldn't believe it. When the smoke cleared out and the gigantic monster was still standing without much hassle. It had a few burns and cuts on its arms and just a couple on its body that were noticeable, but other than that it was very much alive. Its grin still there.
"…no. This can't be…" Rias could barely gawk in shock as she began to tremble.
"No way!" Akeno gasped with a similar reaction of Rias.
"Did it resist all of this too?!" Kiba gritted his teeth as his grip on his sword became even tighter.
"Hm…" Koneko flinched clenching her tiny fists.
"Nice try, worms! But all you did was tickle me!" Lullaby yelled out another evil laugh at them. "I must admit your attempts were amusing and your little teamwork attempt was fun as well. But now it's time for you cockroaches to die!"
The enormous Etherious called forth his sound magic, generating several sound waves that put pressure on the Devils, pinning them down to the ground. Being the strongest in raw strength, Koneko tried to stand up, but it was all futile, it was like gravity itself fell on them.
"…damn, I can't move!" Kiba said trying to get up, but failing to do so.
"We're trapped…" The black-haired Devil gritted her teeth. "R-Rias, what do we do?!" Akeno questioned.
Rias couldn't muster an answer as she just stared powerless at the ground. She didn't even try to stand up anymore out of fear. Lullaby let out another wicked laugh as it opened its enormous mouth, gathering its magic power in it, preparing for the final blow. Rias began to sweat, she tried to open her mouth to voice anything but she couldn't out of fear.
"Rias!" Akeno screamed out trying to snap her King out of her trance.
Before Rias could develop some sort of strategy or a desperate last-minute counter-attack, the Etherious fired four bright purple beams at the Devils, with no hope left, Rias closed her eyes in desperation… yet the beams never reached for them.
'…what?' Rias questioned in her mind.
Seemingly out of nowhere, a transparent barrier composed of several hexagons now surrounded Rias and her peerage, however the Devils didn't recognise their saviour, the man in front of them had blue hair, a fairly well-muscled tall physique and wore what seemed an old-fashioned European-like outfit, but what caught their attention was the fact that the beam fired by the monster was effortlessly blocked. The Occult Research Club was now able to stand on their feet as they kept staring at the man.
The unfamiliar wizard turned to the Devils. "Are all of you alright?" He simply asked.
Rias and her peerage didn't immediately respond as they continued to stare at the man in front of them who had just saved them from a possibly lethal blow. Her peerage matched their King's astonishment, the unknown man was clearly a human, so how could he block an attack by a being they all had troubles even scratching? Rias blinked, but managed to come to her senses and gave her response.
"W-we're ok… thank you." Rias mustered a reply with a nod.
Jellal wordlessly nodded back as he dismantled his protective barrier.
Lullaby shook its skull while placing its eyes on the blue-haired wizard. "Who are you?! How dare you get in my way and ruin my fun time?!" Lullaby demanded.
Jellal didn't answer and promptly performed his battle stance, his right hand raised to the sky with his index and middle finger raised. "Pleiades!" Six rays of his heavenly light descended from the sky at enormous speed towards the Demon.
With great force, the beams of light exploded all over Lullaby's body, emitting loud explosions in the process.
"AAAAHHH!" Lullaby roared in pain while falling backwards.
As for the Devils who just witnessed the whole thing… Well, their shock now skyrocketed. Even Koneko's usual stoic expression switched to stunned. That was magic, no doubt about it, so he must be a magician or a wizard of sort. There was no doubt, that 'spell' was a form of magic that relied on light, and an extremely powerful one to boot. But how was that possible? The guy was human, and even thought that strange magic attack didn't come from a Seraph or a Cadre-class Fallan Angel, somehow that sent chills down their spine. That spell was strong, very strong.
"You'll pay for this, human worm!" Lullaby growled in anger as it rose its arm to slam it down at the human mage.
However, as it was about to make its move, a dark red rocket shot out of nowhere in the air landing a strike right in the face of the Demon causing it to be crashed to the ground with such force that it cracked with the impact.
"I can hear it." What spoke was a second man descending downward, he cracked a smirk on his lips, he bore spiky maroon hair, pointed ears and had a scar over his closed right eye. He was cloaked in a dark-red energy that seemingly resembled Rias' Power of Destruction. "I can hear it, the sound of pain crashing down on you along with your despair. What a satisfying thing coming from a Demon." The Poison Dragon Slayer continued while landing on top of Lullaby's chest. His smug grin widened.
"Who's that?" Kiba wondered in surprise noticing the man.
'W-what?... That weird attack almost felt like a… Dragon. But he's human.' Koneko thought widening her eyes.
"Cobra!" Someone else called out the man.
The Dragon Slayer immediately moved out of the way with a bound.
"Dark Rondo!" The new voice also exclaimed.
A series of beams of dark magic poured down directly upon the Etherious on the ground, each strike had such tremendous force that it caused earth tremors everywhere it landed.
"AAAGGHH!" Lullaby cried out in agony as the dark streams hit it repeatedly.
The third figure coming out of the shadows was also a man, his long hair was black on top and white on the bottom, his attire was somewhat similar to the other two, but he had slightly effeminate features such as his dark purple lipstick and his make-up. Unlike the scarred mage, his expression was straight, not seeming to exude his emotions.
"One of them I presume." Rias observed as she eyed the last one coming.
After landing a few metres ahead of the Devils and Jellal, Erik looked at the latter. "Hey Jellal!" The scarred slayer called his companion. "You said you wanted to finish it off, right? Well, now's your chance!"
"Yes." Jellal muttered in confirmation. "I'll end this right here." His eyes filled with anger and desire to annihilate the Demon on the spot.
"Hold it there!" Rias exclaimed from behind getting the wizards and her peerage's attention. Cobra visibly grimaced in annoyance while turning his gaze to her. "As much as I appreciated your assistance, this is my territory, therefore it's my responsibility to deal with this monster." She started stepping up. Her prideful tone irked the Dragon Slayer nerve even more.
Midnight simply decided to ignore her as he turned his back to her to face the Demon, which Rias didn't fail to notice. The scarred mage, on the other hand, wasn't that kind.
"So, I have all the authority to…"
"Shut your mouth and back off, sideliner!" Cobra hollered abruptly interrupting her.
The Devil heiress silenced herself as she stopped in her tracks while glancing at the human. The other Devils did the same with surprised looks on their faces.
'S-sideliner?' Rias was baffled while her pride was affected by his words.
Was that man questioning her abilities as a high-class Devil, her competence as Kuoh's protector? Or both of them to top it off? The redhead didn't seem to react to the mage's rude remark at first. Yet her eyes were narrowing at the man, but before she or the other Devils behind had a chance to retort, Jellal's body surrounded itself with an aura of light and took flight high into the sky.
Akeno took her eyes off the battle for a moment to face her King. "Rias, what should we do about it?" She asked her worriedly.
Rias closed her eyes for some seconds. "We have no choice but to leave the rest to them." The crimson-haired heiress eventually answered. Her reluctance was clear from a mile away, but it certainly didn't take a genius to realise that they were all outmatched there.
"What's he doing?!" Kiba asked out loud as he kept glancing Jellal.
"...these men…" Koneko spoke up in a low tone as she was now next to the Knight, her monotonous voice gave way to one of disbelief. "Their power level is tremendous." She said as she stared in some sort of awe at the wizards while trembling a little.
"Koneko?" Kiba inquired looking at her.
"…the scarred guy alone could go toe-to-toe with your cousin, Rias." Koneko went on, her eyes practically bugged out as she continued to analyse the men. While Rias heard what her Rook said she was too distraught to give a proper reply.
"What did you just say, Koneko?!" Kiba practically yelled in disbelief. "Are you sure about that?!"
"…yes, at least from what he showed off now." The Rook nodded.
"That means…" Kiba stammered in shock. "He could be stronger than this?"
"Yes, most likely." Koneko answered.
'You ain't seen nothing yet, shorty.' Cobra smirked inwardly with his hands pocketed, as he stood several meters from them.
In the meantime, Rias and Akeno went speechless as they sensed Jellal's magic power increasing. Rias herself was certain these guys didn't have any kind of Sacred Gear as nor could she or her servants detect anything angelic or demonic related powers, minus Jellal's supposed light-based magic. Meaning their strength and magic power were peculiar, they certainly didn't seem to belong to something they've seen in other factions. One thing they knew thanks to Koneko was that they were holding back.
"Rias…" Akeno broke the silence as she slowly turned to her King.
"Hm..." Rias gulped loudly as she started to feel uncomfortable at that rising power.
Up above them, the ex-Wizard Saint made his move, he folded his arms over his head, suddenly he began to focus the darkness by concentrating it all on a dark sphere that was forming above him. In seconds, the black sphere suddenly expanded in a burst and started to pull in even air itself, at first glance it appeared to be a black hole, but the giant orb's interior resembled that of a dark starry sky. The force of that attack was so enormous that the Devils could hardly look up.
"Disappear for good!" Jellal screamed as he swept both hands downwards and unleashed the giant dark orb toward Lullaby, the immense amount of gravity force literally slammed the Devils on the ground. It didn't take long before Jellal's spell crushed to the Etherious.
"AAAARRHHHH…!" Lullaby snarled in immeasurable grief.
The Etherious's cries suddenly stopped once the giant black hole-like sphere exploded in a dark, star-sparkled burst that covered the entire area.
"That's crazy…" Kiba uttered in astonishment.
"…very strong." Koneko agreed in a stunned manner.
'What kind of magic is that?' Akeno thought with wide eyes. 'That light I felt before… was even more powerful than the one he uses… I've never seen humans this powerful.'
Rias' teal eyes never left the spot where Lullaby was, only to be brought back to reality once noticing Jellal landing back to the ground with a three-point landing some meters a few metres ahead of them. Taking a closer look, she, Akeno and the others noticed that instead of Lullaby a flute-like object made of wood was slowly falling from the sky, broken in two.
"No… this can't be…" Lullaby spoke weakly. "Defeated by… some puny humans again…" Its voice started to dwindle. Soon what remained of Lullbay's two pieces had now landed on the soil, its three skull eyes stopped glowing.
The Devils were still speechless and helpless to react out of astonishment. In the meantime, Jellal let out a satisfied sigh while his guildmates were approaching him.
"Well, that was an attack." Midnight commented with a smirk still ignoring the Devils.
"Two Demons in a row huh?" Cobra followed up with the same tone. "I gotta admit that spell surely took its toll. Been a while since I saw you using it."
"Well…" Jellal briefly smiled after another sigh. "I did make a promise, didn't I? I wasn't going to let that monster wipe hundreds innocent people's lives away. Now though…" The blue-haired mage turned to the flute on the soil a few meters forward. A glare crept up across his face. "It's time to take down that Demon once and for all." Jellal remarked.
Said wizard summoned two blades of his Heavenly Magic while extending his arm pointing his index and middle fingers to the flute's remnants. At the moment he was about to launch his magic attack, a magic circle materialised on the ground in the area where the Lullaby Flute was lying. The wizards were bracing themselves for the worst, but the demonic flute remained motionless and slowly began to vanish in a purple glow.
"What the..." Cobra began to question.
"It seems to be disappearing…?" Midnight wondered lifting a brow.
The Devils didn't voice anything as they were still too busy to process the whole event.
"That magic circle was the last of its curse power. I wonder why teleporting away now... it doesn't matter, we destroyed its flute, so Lullaby won't be a problem." Jellal concluded. 'Now we need to find Freed.'
"Midnight." Jellal called him.
The Nightmare Wizard silently nodded understanding what his guildmate meant. Swiping his hand, Midnight raised a storm made of wind thanks to his Reflector.
"Wait…!" Rias tried to call them out.
But, as the whirlwind subsided, the humans were gone from their sights before she could voice something else.
"They vanished…" Kiba commented.
"Rias what should we do now?" Akeno asked.
Rias was still lost in thoughts as she tried to remember the names of the three magicians, one of them, the man with the large scar over his right eye, Cobra, according to Koneko was even stronger than a Devil who was Ultimate-Class. Were Midnight and Jellal as powerful as him? The latter did block Lullaby's attack effortlessly.
"Rias? Are you alright?" Akeno asked again causing her to snap out her thoughts.
"Oh yes, sorry Akeno." Rias put her thoughts on hold while turning to Akeno. "I think we should continue to keep a look on Issei." The crimson-haired King answered her Queen. "He still is a fair game for the Fallen Angels or other factions after all."
"But what about those magicians?" The blonde-haired Knight questioned. "Do you think they may be a part of another faction President?"
"To be honest, it's difficult to tell." Rias answered turning to look at him. "But I suppose… if they were I hardly believe that such powerful magicians could fly under the radar of all of the remaining families, especially my brother and Grayfia's."
"Yeah… they surely would've told us." Kiba agreed while scratching his chin with his hand.
"Will you notify them of what happened here?" Akeno inquired.
"No…" Rias stated her response. "Not now at least. I'll try to deal with this myself."
"Are you sure this is a wise decision Rias?" The ponytailed Queen asked in a serious tone. "What if you were wrong and they were really sent by an enemy faction? They showed to be incredibly strong and could be potentially dangerous to us."
"This seems implausible because they wouldn't have saved us otherwise. Plus we know absolutely nothing about these men and the extent of their abilities." Rias explained. "So I don't think they're working for someone in particular, I'd like not to start anything significant and avoid contact my brother if not strictly necessary." She finished.
Akeno closed her eyes. Despite Rias' stubborn response, she couldn't help but agree eventually. "I see. Let's just hope nothing happens down the road."
"We'll cross the bridge when we come to it." Rias responded as she was still deep in her thoughts. 'That Lullaby monster said it was here to kill us specifically? Why was that? It also said it was a Demon species called Etherious, just what did it mean by that? I've never heard the name of such creatures.' The crimson-haired King pondered. 'It also mentioned it meant to devour humans' souls as well as ours... I was certain that taking souls was an old practice of us Devils, could it be that these Etherious are extinct races somehow connected to us? And there's also those men, just who were they? Are they really strong how Koneko told us?' She wondered. One thing was for sure, she would keep an eye on them if they'll show up ever again, especially the scarred individual.
High in the sky above, a creature that had the appearance of a large greenish griffon just finished scanning the area before it flew away without anyone present noticing its presence.
-Minutes later –
/Crime Sorcière's residence/
It didn't take long before the wizards of Crime Sorcière returned to their place to accord on what to do next, all of them were sitting in the living room on the sofas, Macbeth and Erik sat on the sofa in front of the TV while Jellal was standing beside the one next to it. The blue-haired wizard had his phone close to his ear, waiting for a reply from a certain Governor General.
So far, Asia was brought back to Grigori safe and sound by Raynare, in the meantime Lullaby had been defeated by their hands, which was one less problem to worry about. Finding Freed and Shamsiel was now the only task left.
As long as Azazel replied, Jellal immediately got to the point and explained how their job ended up. To let the others hear properly, he switched to speakerphone.
("…I see now.") Azazel acknowledged the information he heard. ("So Shamsiel not only was using Raynare and her squad to extract Issei Hyoudou and Asia's Sacred Gear, but he was also planning to destroy Kuoh and the Devils all along.")
"Apparently he was." Jellal responded in confirmation. "On top of that, Freed teamed up with him and received an order from him to attack Kuoh while somehow releasing Lullaby. The latter tried to kill Rias Gremory and her peerage, but we managed to defeat the demon before he succeeded in doing so."
("Yeah, Raynare mentioned it earlier. But wait, I thought you said Lullaby was sealed away years ago and waking it was quite a feat to pull off?") Azazel asked in confusion.
"Yes, or so I thought." Jellal replied sorely. "Somehow Freed managed to come into contact with the dormant Demon, could strike a deal with it that involved the destruction of Kuoh and the Devils in charge, which is not surprising considering their similarities in personality." The ex-Wizard Saint informed. "Though it was weaker than it was supposed to be. We were able to take it down without issues."
("That's a relief. One less pain in the ass I suppose.") The head of Grigori said.
"How about you Azazel, any luck finding Shamsiel so far?" He asked as he put it on speaker.
("No dice. No one knew of Freed and Shamsiel's betrayal here in Grigori. Hell not even Baraqiel, Shemhaza and Benemune had any idea so far.") Azazel responded.
"Damn it." Jellal cursed.
("Yeah, not good. Considering there are already plenty of pure-blood Devils going rogue, it wouldn't surprise me if we had even more backstabbers here too. Either way, we need to find Shamsiel before he can pull another stunt like that.")Azazel pondered earnestly.
"What about Asia? Is she alright?" Erik asked from his spot.
("Yeah, she's fine. Shemhaza is currently taking care of her.") Azazel clarified. ("Oh, and by the way, thanks for rescuing her in time, I'll be damned if one of my pupils got killed because of me or one of my subordinates.")
"That's good to hear." Erik mused in a tone of relief.
"So, I'm safe to assume Shamsiel is now kicked out of Grigori and a declared a missing rogue, huh?" Jellal questioned.
("Yeah. But I'll send some of my officers to find him and stop whatever he's planning. Which now only leads us to find Freed. He could be anywhere, but without Lullaby's flute and with you guarding Kuoh he won't be showing up anytime soon.") Azazel remarked.
"That doesn't change the fact he still could come back and hunt down innocent people." The former Wizard Saint rebutted.
("He probably won't.") The head of the Fallen Angels stated.
"What makes you so sure of that?" The Reflector mage sceptically asked.
("He usually goes after Devils and their contractors to kill them for fun, but there are no other territories occupied by them in Japan aside the Sitri and Gremory's. Besides the Three Faction's influence in Japan is generically low as it's mostly guarded by the Youkai faction and the Shinto Gods.") Azazel went on his explanation. ("So, assuming he's still around Kuoh he won't come out into the open after all this brouhaha any time soon.") He told them.
"Yes… I think you're right." Jellal slowly agreed.
("Still don't let your guards down and keep your eyes open.") Azazel continued.
"Just to be on the safe side, I asked Raynare if she could check the margins of Kuoh one last time." Jellal stated.
("I see, that's why she and her squad left immediately after bringing Asia here.") Azazel said while remembering Shemhaza informing him.
"Then our job is done for now technically?" The Dragon Slayer questioned.
("I guess you can say that again. You not only beat up a high-tier Fallen Angel like Shamsiel, but also stomped a big scary Demon with few shots while saving an entire town. It's a win in my book.") The Governor General remarked with a chuckle. ("Oh and before I forget, I've got one more thing to tell you guys.")
"What is it?" Jellal asked.
("Tomorrow I'm gonna give you lot and Asia an updated version of your current Sacred Gears.") Azazel mentioned.
"Why does Asia need to have it too? Isn't she learning magic from you?" Jellal asked in confusion.
(W-well, I was going to teach her anyway, this just supposed to work as an apology gift eheheh.") Azazel pronounced with an awkward laugh.
"Wouldn't it make more sense to apologise to Asia since she was kidnapped under your nose?" Macbeth deadpanned dryly.
("Huh… I guess?") Azazel didn't even bother to find an excuse.
"Why am I not surprised by all of this?" Macbeth voiced with a sigh.
"Saw that coming… ass." Erik added.
("Aight boys, I now have to go back to check on Asia. I'll see you guys tomorrow.") Azazel declared as he hung up.
Jellal let out a heavy sigh as he placed his phone on the table. He then sat down on the nearby chair.
"Well, save for the Freed's part, it all worked out pretty much." Erik said as he leaned back on the sofa.
"More or less." Jellal agreed with a nod. "Hopefully Azazel will be able to locate Shamsiel so no more surprises will happen." He stated.
"That's not all though." Macbeth considered. "We were seen fighting by one of the heiresses. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if they reported our presence at once. We were lucky enough they didn't see us with Raynare."
"Hu… I'm still wondering why we jumped in to save those Devils." Erik said while grunting in annoyance.
"It's just the call of the duty. Don't forget we were still in a job request Cobra. Whether we like it or not, as a guild, it's our responsibility to protect people from all threats especially those coming from a Zeref's creation." Jellal reminded the Dragon Slayer. "Besides, if the daughter of the current Devil King ever perished who knows what would've happened after that, we couldn't take any risk." He pointed out.
The Dragon Slayer merely let out a tch in response, but agreed nonetheless. Suddenly a magic circle appeared in the centre of the room, the familiar ravenette Fallen Angel stepped out of it. The blue-haired wizard noticed it as he turned to her.
"Raynare, any luck locating Freed?" Jellal immediately asked the Fallen Angel.
"Not in the least." Raynare shook her head. "I even asked Dohnaseek, Mittelt and Kalawarner to help me check everywhere in the vicinity of Kuoh, but to no avail, he's nowhere to be found." She explained further. "He must've teleported away with Shamsiel's help, it's most certain he warped back in the Underworld at this point."
"Well, that doesn't lead us anywhere." Jellal said in conclusion with a sigh. "Well, at least Lullaby is out of commission."
"Now that I think about it, what was the deal with that freak show?" Erik began asking. "It seemed way more of a pushover than you described before Jellal."
"Yes, and its curse power wasn't as high as I thought it was." Macbeth said in addition.
"Huh, I guess Lullaby wasn't really as strong as it was cracked up to be." Erik shrugged nonchalantly.
"Truthfully, I don't think it was fully awakened." Jellal declared with a pensive glance.
"What do you mean?" The Dragon Slayer asked.
"As Midnight said before its curse power was weaker than I remember, my theory is that it was regenerating in some way." Jellal said while turning to the Nightmare Wizard. "And I think the same could be said for Mard Geer when you last faced him." The ex-Wizard Saint explained.
"I think you have a point; I was indeed having the upper hand way too easily." Macbeth remarked. "Yet his Memento Mori was as strong as I excepted to, but he still couldn't enter in his Etherious form."
"Precisely. That may also explain how we took down Lullaby so easily and in such a short time. Even if that was indeed one of the weakest of them. But my memories of it are a bit hazy, it's been nearly 10 years since I've heard about its first defeat." Jellal stated.
"I guess that makes sense." Erik said with a shrug. "If it was really as weak as you described those Devils truly sucks then, didn't know the little sister of Lucifer could be this weak to be honest."
"I must say I was quite surprised as well." Macbeth agreed with a wave of his hand. "I was expecting something more from them. Rias Gremory is a high-class Devil, so she should've been at least on par with Lullaby, but despite the fact that her servants were there to help her and her inherited power, she barely managed to damage it. How pitiful." He commented.
As they carried on discussing about their last accomplishment, Raynare couldn't help but blink her eyes in confusion not understanding much. To say she was curious was an understatement, what was an Etherious? Was that 'Lullaby' they kept talking about?
"You're mixed up." As soon as she heard the Dragon Slayer's voice, Raynare snapped out of her trans and looked at him. "I can hear it." Erik concluded.
The ravenette quickly shook her head as she glanced at him.
"Well… you know, it's rather hard to fathom some ridiculously strong humans popping up out of nowhere overnight." Raynare defended. "But seriously how are you three so strong?"
"Years of practice mastering magic and intense training pretty much." The Dragon Slayer just shrugged as he answered for his guildmates too.
"Huh… but that still doesn't explain how you could go head-to-head with Shamsiel like it was a cakewalk… I mean, it looked like you weren't even trying." The female Fallen Angel hummed dumbfoundedly.
"I wasn't even trying." Erik corrected.
The raven-haired Fallen remained in an astonished silence as her eyes nervously twitched a bit.
"Your mind's playing tricks on ya, I can hear it." The Dragon Slayer remarked bluntly.
"Y-you're just assuming things."Raynare stuttered. "And what's the deal with the 'I can hear it' thing?" The Fallen Angel asked.
"One of the magic I know, Hearing Magic strictly speaking." Erik answered in a casual manner.
"Hearing Magic?" Raynare quirked a brow never having heard of it.
"Yeah, allows me to read my opponent's thoughts." The Dragon Slayer shortly explained. "Comes in handy if there's to know your foe's next move, so I usually use it in the middle of a fight. Though, I don't mind using it occasionally outside battles." He summed up.
"Huh-uh." Raynare blinked her eyes in confusion. Before opening her mouth to retort, Erik flashed an amused smirk at her.
"Now you're about to say how fucked up that sounded huh? But I'm telling ya I ain't lying, bird lady." Erik stated.
Raynare tried her best to ignore that stupid nickname, instead she rose a brow. "Then how come have I never heard of it?" She asked, scepticism in her voice was evident.
"Who knows..." Erik only shrugged in response. "Earlier I could hear all the buzzing in your little noggin wondering what the hell we were talkin' about."
"What…"
"I told you I can hear everything." The Dragon Slayer interrupted.
"Stop doing that! It's getting creepier, especially coming from you!" Raynare exclaimed at him as she started to comically panicking making the Dragon Slayer to chuckle.
"Raynare." Jellal addressed her getting her attention. "I know the situation is kind of tense, not to mention awkward with you being betrayed by your superior, and probably about to unleash another war." The blue-haired wizard kept on. "But right now what we need is more information as possible about Shamsiel and those he might be related to."
For a moment, the Fallen Angel contemplated. But eventually she nodded in acceptance. "I suppose there's no harm in telling you. You kind of saved me from certain death too." She responded. "But I too would like to know more about your guild, your magic and those creatures you called 'Etherious'." She was more than sure those Etherious never existed in this world.
"This is fine by me." Jellal accepted, his guildmates only hummed seeing no hassle in it.
"Alright, to make a long story short. Shamsiel was one of the ground commanders during the Great War between the three great powers, actually without a doubt among the strongest fighters of the non-leader's class. His strength was impressive even then; according to some of the stories I read about him in Lord Baraqiel's library back at Grigori, he could easily defeat a legion of lower- to middle-class Angels or Devils in a short amount of time." Raynare told the wizards. "He was also a brilliant strategist, which resulted him to be a more feared adversary in the battlefield."
"Wait, read?" Erik asked rising a brow. "I thought you also took part in it."
The Fallen Angel shook her head. "I am one of the few pure-blooded Fallen Angels born after the war was over." Raynare clarified. "Anyway, when Lord Azazel decided to withdraw his forces towards the conclusion of the war, Shamsiel was one of the first Fallen Angels to follow him and he always seem to share Azazel's opinion about not starting a war between the three great powers. So you can imagine my shock when he made me act under false orders and kill two people by saying they were 'threats' to Grigori."
"Couldn't you just report him to Azazel?" Erik asked.
"It's easier said than done." Raynare stated with a sigh. "He strictly ordered to us to not tell our superiors about it."
"In other words, he basically forced you to do it?" The Dragon Slayer questioned.
"Y-yeah, kind of. Even if I wanted, my chance of defeating him alone would've been very slim." The Fallen Angel admitted. "To be honest, he reminded me quite a bit of Kokabiel in more ways than one."
"Kokabiel?" Macbeth murmured quirking an eyebrow.
"Yeah…" Raynare responded nervously. The mere mention of that name sent shivers down her spine. "He is one of Grigori's top figures and one of the few Fallen Angels to have survived the war. He has five pairs of wings, which makes him one of the strongest Cadres in Grigori… he's also one of those who pushes to continue the War between the Three Factions."
"What the hell?" The Dragon Slayer questioned. "Why would Azazel keep this idiot around knowing he could turn his back on him?"
"Kokabiel has been there since Grigori's birth, it wouldn't be simple to just get rid of him like he's nothing." Raynare explained. "On the other hand, letting a rebel Cadre go rogue would be even harder to deal with."
"So he's a warmonger." Jellal acknowledge narrowing his eyes.
Raynare nodded. "And a really dangerous one as well. His powers and strength are so great that he's feared by most of the people of the Three Factions. He's one of the few beings to have fought against God and survived afterwards."
Assuming God really was so omniscient as they thought then this Kokabiel may mean trouble around the corner.
"At this point, it wouldn't surprise me if it turns out that Kokabiel was behind Asia's abduction." Macbeth added suspiciously.
"That we don't know. Still, I wouldn't say it's impossible." Raynare said. "Last time I heard from Lord Azazel, he was already suspected of high treason, but that happened years ago."
"This can hardly be a coincidence." Macbeth pondered.
"I know, that's why Lord Azazel called out a meeting between Grigori's leaders about it." Raynare said.
The wizards nodded in understanding. "Then he has already tried to do something like that, hasn't he?" Jellal asked.
"Yeah…" Raynare answered.
'This is not the first time this Kokabiel has been on the verge of starting a war. In the way Raynare described him, this Kokabiel looks very much like Jiemma. I really wonder why Azazel didn't take any measures about him at this point.' Jellal thought stroking his chin. 'It appears I'll have to ask him tomorrow personally. This may happen again in a near future. Macbeth is correct, this can hardly be coincidence.'
"So what does your guild do? All you said before was about you taking job requests and occasionally make money with it. Hell, I didn't even know magicians would form guilds at all." Raynare inquired.
"Mainly that is what a wizard guild does, however ours has a clear goal in mind." Jellal paused making her blink her eyes. "We sick to destroy every last bit of the remaining evil that is present in the world." He explained.
"The… evil of the world?" Raynare inquired in a puzzled expression.
"Indeed." Jellal nodded. "And we're continuing this duty even in this world."
"This world?" Raynare asked.
"Yup." Erik nodded in response. "We're not from this world." That certainly caught her by surprise. "Yeah. You might as well take a sit cause there's a lot to tell." He said while noticing her reaction. At this stage there was no point in keeping this a secret any longer, despite the fact that the mages wanted to keep their identities hidden, the female Fallen Angel had seen them fight, she knew what they were capable of, on top of that she was technically their ally as she was a member of Grigori, so they might as well tell her how things were. Obviously neglecting the more personal details.
Nevertheless, she decided there was no point in denying and took her seat on the empty sofa left.
"Let me tell you from the start." Jellal said. Raynare nodded her head.
After a quick recap that included their fight against Tartaros and their arrival in this world, they asked her not to utter a word for the time being, as an exchange for rescuing her from Shamsiel, to which she complied. What left her more astonished was the fact that not only these wizards have they befriended with the most important leaders of Grigori, alongside with Yasaka, the leader of the Kyoto Youkai faction, but they also saved the actual child of the current Devil King, even though they didn't know at time. So of course she had a hard time processing all of that.
"So let me get this straight: you have no idea where this Tartaros guild ended up to huh." Raynare said trying to take everything into account. "And Lullaby is an Etherious from the book of this Zeref, who was a cursed man that happened to die in a war you guys fought in not so long ago. Furthermore, these Demons are a part of a dark guild called Tartaros and somehow came back from the dead?"
"Correct." Jellal nodded.
"To top that all off, you killed a gigantic Etherious called Deliora who was on par with ultimate-class beings in Kyoto, saving it while doing so?!"
"Yup." Erik replied with a small grin. That face of hers made her even funnier in his eyes, eye. "Don't forget us playing super heroes while rescuing a Devil brat." He added.
"In addition, Freed was in possession of Lullaby for most of the time we got here." Jellal said.
"I see…" Raynare breathed in, calming down a little. Now it all made sense as for why her leader would associate with their guild, the fact they were friends with Azazel himself was still too much to process. "So that's why you've been helping out Lord Azazel to capture him."
"Yes. This is also one of the reasons why we're currently allied with Grigori and the Kyoto Youkai Faction." He then added.
"I understand." Raynare recognised. "Wait a sec, you said that you were sucked here because Midnight's spell and Mard Geer's curse clashed to one another. How did that happen?"
"Yeah." Erik said. "Mard Geer and Jiemma pulled quite the ambush on us so they could use Memento Mori to kill us straight away, but instead we got ourselves sucked into that portal that led us to Kyoto."
Raynare was now pondering about those three's real strength, again Azazel did recruit them for a job request so they must've been at least at high-class level... but what about Jiemma and that Mard Geer? From what they were telling her, the so-called 'Underworld King' sounded very powerful. After some seconds, the Fallen Angel managed to ask...
"Just to know." She inquired. "Are… those two stronger than Azazel or Kokabiel?" Raynare asked in fright.
Jellal had a contemplative look on his face. In all honesty it was quite a difficult question to answer since they had never seen them in action.
"It's hard to make an esteem on the spot since we've never seen him, Kokabiel or the other Cadres fighting, but according of what we learned from you and Azazel so far then it's a probable yes." Was Jellal's response. Raynare gave an uneasy look as she widened her eyes slightly. "They may be, especially Mard Geer." He gave his answer making Raynare's pupil shrink while gulping saliva.
/Underworld, Gremory's Territory/
Far away, in a realm that is unknown to those outside of the supernatural was a creature flying through its skies. After locating the landing site, the griffon-like creature ceased to move. Stretching its wings, the mythical creature fluttered down towards the grounds of an immense and luxurious estate. The lookout was breath-taking to say the least; the villa was surrounded by a large yard adorned with fountains all around, while the building was divided into several floors, the mansion was a roman styled castle; the exterior is arranged as a quadrangle, with a huge backyard.
Standing by the entrance to the villa was a beautiful woman in her twenties with long silver hair tied in two long braids that reached her hips. She wore on a long-sleeved blue and white French maid dress, a white maid headband, and red lipstick. Her face lifted up upon seeing the mythical being.
"At last you've returned." She spoke up in a calm yet gentle tone, a small smile was on her lips. "I've been waiting for you, my familiar."
With its feet on the ground, it moved towards the woman as any pet would. The large griffon nodded and emitted a purr-like noise as it nuzzled its head against the woman's face.
"I take it you made sure about checking on my lady Rias' wellbeing?" The woman inquired.
The griffon-like creature nodded again.
"Is there something more you would like to inform me about?" The silver-haired beauty asked with courtesy.
Another nod was the griffon's reply.
The winged creature opened its eyes wide, showing the battle against Lullaby and how Rias and his peerage had been saved by the group of human wizards via magic. The woman quietly analysed the images the griffon just portrayed her… those men's strength was great as far as she could tell, their magic was peculiar to say the least as much as it was unknown even to her.
"I see now." She acknowledged. "It would appear that my Lady Rias' domain has been invaded by an unidentified and potentially harmful entity. Even so…" She trailed off as she acknowledged something else.'Those two men…' 'Could they really be who I think they are?'
As the griffon showed the last of their fight she finally realised.
"…yes, I can see it very clearly now." She mumbled.
When the villa's door opened, one of the maids from the House of Gremory came out wearing the same dress of the silver-haired beauty.
"Miss Grayfia." The maid smiled at the woman. "Someone is eager to see you." She politely informed.
Before Grayfia could ask further someone else came into picture.
"Mother you're back!" A boyish voice exclaimed happily while approaching her.
Grayfia took her eyes off the maid to face the boy, he was wearing a long burgundy blazer with light chestnut ornaments, underneath he sported a grey blouse, with shorts and shoes of the same colour.
"Good evening Millicas." Grayfia greeted hugging back her son with a smile growing on her features.
"I'm so happy to see you. But what brings you here? I thought you were going to have to spend the whole month in father's place? Is he doing alright? I hope he isn't upset anymore…" Millicas bombarded her with questions.
"Calm yourself, Millicas. Not even a week has passed since we saw each other after all." Grayfia told him in a calm amused tone. "Why don't we enter so we can calmly chat with one another?"
"Yes!" Millicas replied nodding.
The two of them now walked down one of the many corridors of the palace side by side, several butlers and maid had stooped in the side lines.
"So, why did you choose to visit us today mother?" Millicas began to speak.
"In truth, I was not planning this visit." Grayfia admitted glancing at her son. "I was supposed to come see you in a few weeks, but I had to stop by in light of recent events. One of these regards of course your aunt's upcoming wedding, another is strictly for your safety. After all, we cannot afford you to be kidnapped by another renegade, can we?" She remarked before glancing at him. "I trust you've been doing alright since what happened last time?" She asked, her voice was clearly showing a motherly tone.
"I'm fine so far. I can't deny that the only reason I'm still alive is because of those two magicians who intervened." Millicas said which Grayfia well knew as she nodded. "In any case, I saw that you were waiting for your familiar outside the building, why was that?"
Grayfia turned her face to him. "Although I wanted to wait until we discussed it in front of your parents, I believe I can tell you about it now." The silver-haired woman claimed.
"What are you talking about, mother?" The crimson-haired boy questioned in awe.
"Millicas, what would you say if I told you that I managed to locate your saviours?" Grayfia asked her son.
"Are you serious about it?" Millicas once again asked in awe.
Grayfia nodded with a small smile on her lips. "I will tell you more about it later." She assured him as they walked farther.
And so Crime Sorciere saves the day once more. Now not only the ORC knows about their existence, but Grayfia and the whole Gremory family as well. Much to a certain Dragon Slayer's bother. And yes, I know the fight against Lullaby could've been better, but as for how they are now, they're way too more powerful for it. Of course stronger enemies will come in the future.
Anyway, I got some more interesting ideas for the next chapters and how to handle the next 'arcs'. So yeah, I hope I did this correctly. If I didn't let me know with a review!
And this is all for this chapter. Hope you liked this one.
For now adios!
