NMHA Ch. 22 - Advance
"Huh. Gotta say, this is pretty big news for the Underworld. You've never had a new bloodline sprout up beyond the original Pillars. You have my congratulations."
A courtesy, mostly, but one that Ajuka accepted for the sake of keeping things cordial.
"Thank you. Admittedly, the entire process from which this new bloodline arose was an utter fluke. Miraculous does not begin to describe how a commoner obtained something so noteworthy without dying in the process, and she's been doing... quite well for herself, actually."
"I'll say! Threatening a crowd full of high-class Devils in her first public debut, then coming out as the speaker of a third party within the Underworld political system? That takes some real guts, and she seems to be handling it all pretty well."
The green-haired Maou sighed, shaking his head with a mild sense of satisfaction, and perhaps even pride.
Luna really was doing well for herself. She took to Serafall's training like a fish to water, or at the very least soaked it up like a sponge, because she made for a rather charismatic leader of the new Forgotten Front Party. It was pretty far-left by Devil standards, but it had garnered enough of a following, particularly among Reincarnated Devils and the lower-class, to not be taken lightly.
It wasn't at the degree of political strength that either the OSF or the Great King Faction were at, not even close, but in a game of majorities even a five-percent share of the total vote count went a long way. A number that was slowly but steadily rising as well.
And what he knew about her suggested she'd be able to grow into her leadership role well, even if she was inexperienced for now.
"The third party play certainly came as a surprise, especially considering the financial investment required to make it a legitimate platform," he allowed, "but it is good to see the Underworld continuing to develop further. More diversity in the political arena may make things bumpier going forward, but we as a people will be a lot stronger for it."
The other scientist in the room, the one who actually owned the room and the building it was part of, nodded. Then after a few moments of silence a languid smile stretched across his face. "Hey, you two used to have a tester-to-test-subject relationship, right? Think you could pull some strings to get me and her a meetup? I'm curious to... get to know this new shaker in the Underworld."
While that could be taken in multiple contexts, of which Ajuka was sure that he meant at least two, the question only served to make him frown.
"...I do not think that would work out. We are... not on speaking terms these days."
A tilt of the head. "...Were you two old flames?"
"Wha-?" Ajuka started, then sighed with a shake of his head. "Of course you'd think that, Azazel."
The Fallen in question, a man in a white researcher's coat with messy black hair and golden bangs, as well as a goatee to match his hair color, shrugged and leaned in with a teasing smile on his face.
"Hey, don't judge. It was an honest question."
"Somehow I doubt that. You know just as well as I do that were our roles reversed I would not have fallen at all."
"I get it. So caught up in your work that you don't have time for the finer things in life..."
"She and I were not a couple," he cut Azazel off before the crow could start going off on a tangent. "We simply got on well. I would even go so far as to have called her a friend."
The black-and-gold-haired Governor-General of the Grigori leaned back and whistled. "Damn, coming from someone like you, that's big praise. So what happened?"
"Her debut at the gala happened."
"Mmh. I don't know the specifics, but I did hear there was some friction between her and the Satans because of it." Azazel turned in his seat, now facing perpendicular to Ajuka while resting one elbow on the desk. "Was it really that bad?"
"Sirzechs and I cut her loose after revealing she has a brand-new bloodline, in the middle of a High-class party."
His head turned back, lifting a brow.
"...Hoh. Well... shit. I'm amazed she held herself together so well, then. She must have the patience of a saint."
Ajuka visibly cringed, something the Governor-General immediately noticed, turning back in his chair to face the Maou fully. That sort of reaction was not one Ajuka made; usually he was a much more stoic individual, which meant...
"Alright, what happened?"
While there was a good reason to lie, chances were Azazel would figure it out anyway, particularly if he and Luna ended up meeting one day. Somehow, Ajuka got the feeling that was far more likely than not. And he was always far more perceptive than his usual demeanor would suggest.
So, honesty would be the better policy here. "Sirzechs had Serafall put a compulsion on her to keep from flipping out. No forewarning, no consent, completely without including her in the planning."
He was still pissed that he hadn't heard about it until well after the fact.
Azazel sucked in air sharply through grit teeth, clearly restraining himself from bolting to his feet. "O-kay, yeah, that's not cool. Even if it was a guy that sort of chain of events would be pretty harsh, but to do that to a woman? That's downright cruel. I'd more expect Sirzechs would do that to a traitor who didn't realize they were outed. But in the middle of a ceasefire, with peace talks and diplomatic envoys between the Three Factions and beyond? I'm amazed you're even sharing it with me at all; that sort of knowledge would set any sort of peace deal back by years, if not decades."
Ajuka breathed out through his nose silently, closing his eyes and tilting his head up briefly. He knew that it might make things a little shakier for actually formulating the peace deal, if even the Satans weren't above manipulating others in such a fashion.
He found it increasingly difficult to care, even if he agreed with Sirzechs in this case. He was a scientist; if he didn't support being truthful, then what would that mean for his pride as a man of facts and logic?
"I'm not proud of it either, but it had to be done."
"Had to be done?" Clearly the dual-hair-colored man disagreed, given the sharp incline of his brow and the uncharacteristic scowl on his face. "Raising up the Grigori from the broken packs of my brothers and sisters so we could survive the Great War had to be done. Killing my brothers and sisters from above, who refused to accept our way of life, had to be done."
He leaned in, glaring at Ajuka with narrowed eyes. "What exactly warrants callously throwing someone, who could be the herald of a new golden age in the Underworld no less, to the wolves?"
The green-haired Maou met the Governor-General's gaze evenly, before pulling out a manilla folder and setting it on the table. Azazel's eyes followed the folder, and took it into his own hands to open and start reading the contents within.
It only took a minute despite the fact that said folder contained multiple pages, but the look in his eyes quickly turned darker and darker the more he read, even as his face started to lose color.
Once he set the folder down, he could only be described as thunderous and pale simultaneously.
"Beelzebub. Are you fucking joking with me right now? Is this some elaborate prank? Because I'm not laughing."
"You know I would not joke about something like this. I triple-checked everything from the data I collected, and the results are all the same."
Azazel didn't believe him. "Seriously Ajuka, it's not funny. I'm tempted to throw you out of the Grigori right here and bar you from visiting again."
Denial. To be expected, which is why Ajuka exhaled slowly and added the following:
"If you find definitive evidence that I'm lying I'll give you full access to the schematics for the Evil Piece System."
In other words, giving someone he held a very begrudging respect for his magnum opus, something that he held an incredible amount of pride for, and one of the biggest buttons to trigger his Sin of Superbia.
The Beelzebub Maou would not make that sort of declaration unless he was absolutely positive, and his fellow scientist knew it.
"W-what?" The color drained completely from Azazel's suddenly-slackened face, and after a moment of stunned silence he stormed to his feet, waving the manilla folder back and forth. "Ajuka, the last time something like what these notes imply showed up, Dad fucking died! Are you really suggesting that we'll have to deal with that sort of scenario again?"
"...It's why we've made the concessions we have with the Shinto faction. Reparations, a formal apology for past nobles taking Youkai into their harems and Peerages, and drafted bills working their way through the lawmaking process to crack down on nonconsensual Peerage additions. Spearheaded, incidentally, by the Forgotten Front Party."
The Fallen could only imagine the backlash the conservative elements in the Devil side of the Underworld would cause in response to such concessions, even if it would go a long way in making the Youkai amenable to diplomatic relations. Which meant...
"Jesus Christ." Azazel set the folder down, and turned to rummage through the mini-fridge behind his desk, pulling out a bottle of hard liquor before popping it open and downing it straight from the source.
He did so for several seconds before setting the bottle down on the side of the desk with a good bit more force than was strictly necessary. "Yeah. Yeah, I sort of see why Sirzechs did that now. Still absolutely not cool, but that-" he gestured to the folder, "-that gives me some more perspective. Seriously though, are you sure that it's all correct?"
Ajuka shook his head slowly. "If I wasn't, I wouldn't be here. Believe me, I had a similar reaction when I saw for myself."
"...Sweet baby Buddha in a manger on the moon," Azazel moaned, lifting his head up and covering his eyes with a hand. He stayed like this for a few seconds, before he let his posture return to a more normal state with a slow exhale.
Ajuka watched this all with a neutral expression. "Better?"
That got a bark of laughter from his fellow scientist. "Hell no! I'm going to get wasted after we're done talking. But, I can manage for a couple minutes. So, I take it the visit was to let me know about... this?"
The green-haired Maou inclined his head. "Consider it fair warning that we'll find ourselves living in interesting times before long."
"That damned Chinese proverb," Azazel grumbled, getting back into his desk chair, tapping the desk with an index finger.
"All the more reason to face it as a united front, yes?"
After seconds seconds of thinking, the tapping stopped. "Yeah. You're right. I'll try and knock some sense into my more idiotic siblings regarding the peace efforts, but I can't guarantee that I'll be able to speed things up much more on my end. Kokabiel may take the opportunity to stir up the warmongers again, under the assumption that killing the messenger would invalidate the message."
"If only the problems of the world could be solved so easily. I just want to research in peace," Ajuka sighed.
That, at least, got a chuckle out of the heterochromatic-haired Fallen.
"Believe me, I know the feeling. So, I'll do what I can to speed the peace talks along, and you do so as well. Have you spoken to Michael and Gabby about this yet?"
"Sirzechs should be doing so right now."
"Gabby's not gonna be happy when she hears about what he did to that Luna girl. She always was protective of underdogs."
Said Satan ducked as another spear of light screeched over his head, diving behind another pillar for a moment of cover as he sought to catch his breath, sweat pouring down his face as he strained to remain silent at the same time. In the distance, he noticed that the spear of light sheared through the cloud cover that represented the edge of the Sixth Heaven. It was promptly filled back in, but even the Strongest Satan would have lost his noggin if he hadn't evaded it or fought back.
And problem was, he wasn't exactly in the kind of situation where he could fight back.
"Oh, Sirzechs, where could you have gone?"
The soft voice, normally soothing beyond words, were so charged with danger that even the Strongest Devil felt a rush of terror shoot down his spine.
"I haven't finished giving you my thoughts on our discussion."
He had figured that it would be Michael who'd actually react to the bad news he'd come to share. And while the leaders of Heaven present had been rightfully alarmed, Sirzechs also figured that Michael would be the one to try and chastise him for his treatment of Lunarunn.
Sirzechs was wrong.
So very, very wrong.
"Ah, there you are~"
The redhead had but a moment to dive to the side as the ground he had once been standing on was skewered by dozens of spears of light, erupting from the ground as though the very world itself rejected his dark-aligned existence.
Considering that right now he was in Heaven, he supposed that wasn't entirely incorrect. But it wasn't Heaven itself that was trying to turn him into Swiss cheese. That didn't mean it wasn't empowering the person who was, though.
"You've been a very mean person, haven't you Sirzechs?"
Gabriel's six sets of wings, whiter than snow, fanned out behind her, the fairest angel in the Heavens tilting her head to the side with a peaceful, charming smile. Yet, one could tell that had her eyes been open at the time, that smile would not reach those eyes.
"Please stand still and take your well-deserved punishment, okay? I promise I won't kill you."
As Sirzechs looked over to the crater in which he could see the slumped, unconscious form of Michael, who'd been a braver man than he and tried to defuse the situation, the Crimson Satan remembered something.
It wasn't Gabriel who acted as the voice of reason between the two of them.
Then the angel in question lunged, and the Crimson Satan had to focus on running for his life.
If anyone asked Sirzechs why he had ended up running through Zebel with an incensed Seraph in hot pursuit whilst speaking oh-so-casually about 'disciplining' him, he'd say the following: "God is a sadistic bastard and made Gabriel for the sole purpose of not being fucked with. In every sense of the term."
"Then perhaps she'll be the one to give him his due karma," Ajuka shrugged. "I only wish I could see for myself. Even so, at least Luna is doing well. I doubt any of us really wanted to see her get eaten alive."
"Funny way of proving it," Azazel's voice was dry. "Was there anything else you needed to share?"
At the green-haired Maou's shake of the head, Azazel threw out his hand in dismissal. "Then get out of my office. I have a date with the bar and some moonshine to get to."
Ajuka rolled of the eyes at that. "It's good to hear you have your priorities in order. Hopefully the rest of your day goes better than the news I came to bring."
"Pretty low bar, that."
With that, the Beelzebub Satan disappeared with the flash of a teleportation spell, leaving Azazel alone in the office. He got up with a stretch, and walked out the door, heading toward the bar with all the exaggerated swagger of a man on a mission.
When his loyal crony/secretary/servant/brother came into sight, Azazel called to him, loudly.
"Cancel all my meetings for today, Shem. I am going to get myself absolutely shitfaced, and if you try to stop me I'm not gonna pay for the hospital bills, 'kay?"
The Fallen in question watched Azazel walk by, humming an off-tune ditty to himself, and frowned. "...Meeting went that badly, huh?"
Apparently he didn't mutter that quietly enough, because the golden-banged Fallen turned around with a big smile, two thumbs-up, and a nod. "Yep! You have no idea!"
And then he continued on his way.
Shemhazai just watched his leader do so, and could only shake his head with a sigh, preparing himself internally for the timetable magic he'd have to pull off to allow Azazel his apparently much-needed rest of the day off.
He stepped inside Azazel's office to note something still on the table. On closer inspction it looked to be an article, cut out from a newspaper, and on it a female Devil stared back with a steady gaze and polite smile, aquamarine eyes framed by brown hair pulled into a ponytail. One finger was lifted, pointing upward between those eyes.
"A Devilish Gambit - FFP Speaker delivers stunning ultimatum!"
In an interview with the Underworld Broadcast Corporation on Monday, June 3rd of the year 1999, Speaker Lunarunn Bael of the Forgotton Front Party, also known as the Maestra of Microcosms (a play on her bloodline ability 'Worldweave'), made a public declaration in regards to her capturing Uvarys Leraje-killer, a Rook that had eluded capture until her appearance.
Given the sudden nature of her debut, appearing at a gala one year prior as the plus-one to Ajuka Beelzebub, and the subsequent appearance of the FFP in the political arena shortly after, Miss Bael has undergone significant scrutiny as to her origins and her competency, particularly as she is not High-class.
There is no law prohibiting Middle-class Devils from holding political office, but it is unprecedented for one to act as the head of a political bloc like Miss Bael has, especially in such a short time frame from her first appearance.
The UBC extended an offer for a live interview to her to shed more light on the subject, which she accepted.
The interview, hosted by Reed Alcor, touched upon her origins, the nature of her obtaining the all-new bloodline known as Worldweave, as well as the driving factors that have led to her explosive rise.
"It... is difficult to say what exactly has driven me to excel," Miss Bael demurred. "It could be the circumstances I found myself in. It could be that I found letting Worldweave go to waste would be just that; a waste. It could be that as a Devil, I feel more alive than I did when I was a human. It could be any number of things, really."
When Alcor brought up the topic of her finally bringing the heir-killer of the extinct Leraje family to justice, she expressed empathy for the circumstances which lead to Uvarys becoming a Stray.
"It's terrible what happened, both his murder of Fila Leraje and Senan Sallos as well as the circumstances surrounding it," she started, bowing her head for a moment of respect for the two heirs, whom were murdered by Uvarys 472 years ago once he discovered they had been courting. "Though I can see how he may have been hurt, that did not justify the monster he became in response; Id Madness is no excuse. I find it poetic that in his final days Uvarys, as a Stray, helped Lord Beelzebub ensure that Reincarnated Devils as a whole are in greater control of their Id than ever before."
(For context on Reincarnated Devils and Id Madness, refer to page 8)
Miss Bael's declaration came as a response to Alcor's questioning whether or not she intended to continue hunting down Strays, after being hospitalized by Uvarys in the process of capturing him.
"I'm not the same Devil I was when I hunted him down. I am stronger now, even if I was injured then."
Miss Bael did not end there, however, rising from her seat to look at the camera. "Moreover, seeing the brute that Uvarys became has made me realize the threat that Strays as a whole represent to the Underworld, both societally and diplomatically. To let these criminals roam free when I can do something about it is not something I can abide. I will continue to hunt Strays Mr. Alcor, and moreover I will continue to hunt heir-killers."
It was here, that she made her ultimatum: "One year. In the course of this next year, starting now, I will lay hunter's claim to all Stray Devils whom, at this point in time, have taken the life of one or more Pillar heirs. To all you who hear me now, I promise you: you will see me bring these monsters to justice."
While there are only fourty-three Strays remaining after the capture of Uvarys which have the claim to killing the heir of a Pillar, eleven of which having brought about the end of a Pillar in doing so, heir-killers are notoriously dangerous Stray Devils: usually they are in possession a significant level of cunning and/or some form of bloodline or Sacred Gear, which allows them to either evade capture, or kill those who attempt to hunt them. Combine that with the fact that these Strays may be anywhere in the overworld or Underworld, and Miss Bael's declaration becomes a bold, perhaps even foolhardy one to make, especially under such a limited time frame.
Upon further research, however, it appears that the Hunter's Association has already agreed to Miss Bael's terms, with a significant penalty fee paid as collateral should she fail to live up to her words.
But do not be fooled: there is more at stake than a mere lump sum of money: Miss Bael is currently courting Ruval Phenex, heir to the Phenex family and eighth-ranked King of the Rating Games. Additionally, her prowess has yet to be thoroughly seen by the public; if she fails to complete this significant task, Miss Bael may well face such significant backlash that any political ambitions she has will die then and there.
There is also the risk of losing an all-new bloodline to an heir-killer, which has stirred concerns in the conservative branch of the government, including the Phenex family. The Old Satan Faction, as well as conservative members of the Great King Faction, pushed for Miss Bael to produce an heir before following through on this declaration, even calling for a vote on the matter, but it proved unsuccessful by a one-vote margin. Yet, it is all the more indicative of the risk Miss Bael faces, should she attempt to follow through on her words.
But should she succeed, the potential rewards she and the FFP will receive may be even greater.
White, curly hair bobbed as the man walked down the hallway, letting out a quiet sigh as he prepared himself for the end of the day. It had been a long day of meetings, meetings, meetings, and he was ready to get some rest. For however much that rest would be worth.
He never had rested easy, after...
"Let's... try to avoid thinking of that for now," the white-haired man murmured to himself as he pulled out his keys and slipped one into the keyhole.
As he walked into his office, he set his coat to the coathanger to the side, letting his hand linger on it momentarily before his eyes slid shut, letting himself relax if only for a moment.
Much like every time before, the youthful innocence that had been so cruelly stripped away flashed before him, so the white-haired man reopened his eyes and walked over to the desk where he'd lived for what felt like years. It may well have been, but it was a welcoming place all the same.
Business was even more time-consuming than he'd expected, but being devoured by work was better than the alternative. Even if it was work that resulted in-
"You seem to be making a pretty decent life for yourself, Jae-heon."
The businessman paused at the desk, just as he was about to go around it, having heard the voice behind him. It was that of a woman, polite, but it wasn't his secretary, or anyone else he knew.
Yet he recognized the voice all the same.
Even if he'd wished he would never have to hear it in person.
The tension drained out of his shoulders as Jae-heon breathed out slowly, tilting his head up, looking off into the distance.
Once more, the youthful vibrancy flashed before his eyes, before vanishing again into that dark place within his mind.
"...It was supposed to be my son's." His voice cracked at the start, before going completely flat.
"I know. I know your story." The white-haired man - no, man-turned-Devil - could hear the sympathy in her voice, but he knew the truth. "The son who died in an accident while you were away. The Devil who offered to bring him back to life. The realization that he had lied through his teeth, and that he had no intention to bringing back your child."
The woman behind him sighed. "The Lerajes really don't have a good track record with their servants. You're the fourth one I've found who belonged to the Leraje family at some point, and honestly? From what I've heard about them, I'm glad they're gone."
"Yet you're here to bring me back to the Underworld regardless." Jae-heon looked down at his watch. If it came down to a fight, which seemed increasingly likely, he at least wanted it to be done without risk of collateral damage to bystanders. There was even a place he had in mind, for those hunters who managed to track him down. "Even after being used and thrown away, like my child's life was to make me accept an Evil Piece."
"I can't back down, not after I made that declaration nearly a year ago. I said I'd bring all those who'd killed Pillar heirs to justice, and I plan to do just that. Even if you did nothing wrong besides get your revenge for the lie you were fed and hide from an injust system."
Her voice dropped. "...To be honest, I'm not sure I'd have done much different, were I in your shoes."
Jae-heon let out a single, cold bark of a laugh.
"At least you want to hold true to your word, unlike the Leraje bastard who took my son from me." A hint of despair leaked into his voice before turning to anger. The white-haired man could feel a cold rage begin to settle over his mind. "Still, you know that I won't come easily, right? Especially as led around by the strings of the Underworld as you are."
He turned around halfway, to look at the brown-haired woman, shoulderblade-length hair down as opposed to held in a ponytail, dressed in a simple wide-necked blouse and thigh-length shorts.
What else was different, however, was the white line that looked like faint scarring from a cut across the lower left of her neck down past her collarbone.
He could imagine she'd received a few more of those during her crusade against the Strays that were covered up by her clothing.
"At least I can recognize that I'm being led around." Lunarunn didn't deny it: instead she let the side of her mouth, her shoulders, and an eyebrow rise as her head tilted to the side. "I'm not as blind as I was a couple years ago. Still, if it means achieving my goals I'll let myself be manipulated for a little while. But this is this, and that is that."
"...It's nearly been the year you declared. How many more do you have after me?"
"None." She gave a short laugh. "I... feel for you. Like I said, I'm not sure I wouldn't have done the same in your shoes, and you covered your tracks really well. Between those two things, and the fact that you were so quiet compared to just about everyone else, I was willing to let the FFP take its time tracking you down and save you for last."
"I see." So she did it as an act of mercy...? How cute. Jae-heon's eyes narrowed. "Spare me the pity, Bael. If you're here to capture me, then you are my enemy. Do not insinuate you are anything else."
Luna frowned, then looked down in thought for a few seconds.
"Just because I'm an adversary... that doesn't mean I can't have a heart." She looked back up at him and held out a hand. "I know you probably won't agree anyway, but if you come quietly I promise I'll argue for leniency. You wouldn't have to hide anymore."
His response came in the form of Lunarunn's instincts screaming at her, throwing her arms out to create a pane of hardened space on each side. As her eyes shifted to one side she noted that threads, hardened to a puncturing degree, had shot out at her from the carpet beneath.
She wasted no time in leaping back to the relative safety of a tile floor as Jae-heon stepped forward, expression like stone as he threw an arm forward, threads rushing toward the Worldweaver in a wave of hair-width death. Once more, it was blocked by hardened space.
"Guess not, huh?" she murmured, knocking the threads away to fire off a bolt of stardust toward the white-haired Devil, who leaped out the window in a display of prepared haste, spread his wings, and shot off into the sky.
"You are technically part of the government that took the side of the Devil which lied to him and killed his son," a voice in the back of her mind responded as Luna ran up and jumped out of the window in pursuit. Even as she did, the Worldweaver could see more threads racing up the side of the building.
She was glad it was the dead of night, otherwise they might have gotten attention with their battle already. The brunette knocked the threads all away with bursts of wind, before taking off after her mark.
'And in case you hadn't noticed, I'm trying to do something about that!'
"I believe the term is, 'Devils are Devils are Devils'."
'Tch.' Luna closed the bond and continued the chase, noting the distance Jae-heon was putting between him and the city.
Was he trying to prevent collateral? That was surprisingly thoughtful of him.
Then again... as far as she could tell, he wasn't a serial killer or a madman. Just someone who got the shit end of the stick.
...Much like her, in that regard.
'Bloodlines and Sacred Gears, Devils seem to have a hard-on for both no matter the day and age, huh?'
She'd let the white-haired Stray make his distance, if for no other reason than to get a better place for them both to fight.
When she noticed him dip sharply, toward an inconspicuous cabin, however, Luna decided now was the time to stop him in his tracks. She let her will reach out and impose a tornado-force downwind in the area surrounding Jae-heon, causing him to plummet to the ground and crash.
As Luna landed to pursue him, she immediately was beset by all sides by more threads, dodging to the side as she noted the Stray getting back up, countless wiry strings stabbing into the ground around him from his back and fingers. She lunged forward, using the air as a barrier to charge through the oncoming mass, punching through. A brief flare of pain told her he'd managed to nick her leg, but she kept moving, firing off more bolts of stardust, forcing Jae-heon to redirect some of his offense into defending himself.
Luna used the opportunity to check her wound, noting its deep but not wide state, and clapped her hand over it to close the puncture with a brief pulse in the back of her mind. As the threads came again, she found herself in a stalemate with the wielder of Puppet Threads, caught between blocking the skewering strings and trying to land a lucky shot in the brief moments where she was able to get in an attack.
She wondered if the cabin was full of the stuff, because the quantity of wires she had to beat off kept growing, and growing, and growing.
The notes had said that Jae-heon was at his most dangerous when he had plenty of material to work with. Perhaps she'd miscalculated just how much he benefited from it.
When every string was a potentially deadly weapon, being able to control thousands, if not millions, made for a dangerous foe indeed.
But even so, as they were in the forest Luna was able to use more area attacks, stripping the heat from the air around one wave of strings, trapping them in ice to blast another with flames, letting them burn away as she kept getting closer to the Stray with the Sacred Gear. She could feel his magical signature, even if the threads themselves blocked sight. Luna could tell he was growing more agitated with her approach.
She had to grit her teeth as a particularly nasty blow came from below to pierce her foot, her defense faltering momentarily as the attack managed to penetrate the barrier around her feet.
A small mistake, but one Jae-heon pounced on, lunging forward with an axe of those same threads, strings tied around his arm to make what would be a strong swing into a crushing blow. One that would never connect as the air around Lunarunn exploded, throwing Jae-heon back into and through a nearby tree from the force behind the detonation.
She grimaced, forcing down the headache that came from creating such an effect, and looked down at the foot he'd stabbed.
'Ugh... that's gonna take some time to patch up. Thank goodness Jae-heon's the last one.'
Yet when she saw him get back up, albeit with a groan, she had to suppress one of her own. This was turning out to be one real tough customer, the brunette noted with some frustration.
She was less so when he let out a hacking cough, some blood spilling into the ground.
His gaze was angry, but it was sharp as ever, which brought back Luna's irritation to its prior strength.
Then he said two words that sent her current emotions regarding the situation careening straight into a moment of panic.
"Balance... Breaker!"
'Oh shit!'
Lunarunn dove to the side using her good leg as a massive axe slammed down from behind, turning around to see what could only be a large, armed marionette lifting its weapon back up from the ground before swinging at her again.
She blocked it this time, but still found herself a dozen meters away and with a suspicious ringing in her ears as she realized there was another that she hadn't noticed, this one hefting an arm that looked more like a hammer with its extended length at the elbow down.
Had she shouted when she got hit? She didn't quite remember.
Also, when did that tree fall over?
Oh. Luna went straight through it, didn't she?
She recognized the same was true for the first one, that its weapon was fused to its arm, but didn't realize it at first glance because of the rush of combat. The brunette would need to work on noticing those details.
Right after she dealt with the son of a bitch who'd grown four appendages out of his back upon declaring his Balance Breaker, those and his hands moving to manipulate the growing number of puppets that were forming out of the strings, while the rest rushed to pin her to the tree she'd crashed into.
'It's a good thing Falbium put me through toughness training. I'm pretty sure I'd have been pulped from that, otherwise.'
"You still have cracked ribs."
Luna froze the threads together, using the extracted heat to boost herself out of the line of fire, putting distance between the critical mass that Jae-heon had gathered, though it was clear that he still had visual given how the marionettes were flying toward her.
'Oh really? I couldn't tell.'
"Only because you dulled your own ability to register pain before landing."
She sliced her hand down in a chopping motion, firing a blade of stardust to cut off the arm of the hammer marionette that had slammed her through a tree. Almost immediately, threads shot out from both the arm and the main body to reconnect the two, forcing Lunarunn to release another explosion, forcing the horde of puppets and strings back. The pulse of pain that went through her head (and her foot, and her torso) at this one was greater than before.
'Sarcasm Ulan! Of course I know my ribs are cracked, they still hurt like a fucking bitch! I don't exactly have the luxury of a high pain tolerance, so I had to improvise!'
"You would think after being beaten black and blue in training each day you're not hunting Strays you'd have developed something."
Luna threw her arms out, releasing more gouts of flame to burn the next wave of threads, the fire she created acting to do that and no more just like before. Didn't want to accidentally set off a forest fire.
'My body's made for fucking, not fighting!'
Luna could practically feel her patron roll her eyes. "Your body is a Devil's body. Yes, that means it is made for both."
She couldn't exactly argue; after all, it was her body that acted when Touji shot her. Devils were creatures of instinct, which meant... yeah. That lined up pretty well.
Especially since the brunette got such a rush like this, even when she tried not to. She wasn't a fan of fighting, especially life or death battles, but the way the blood kept pounding through her ears, the adrenaline that raced through her as she weaved between the marionettes to rush at Jae-heon?
As much as she wanted to deny it, Luna couldn't help but feel some elation from the thrill of the fight, to the point where she almost wanted to laugh were the situation not a life-and-death battle.
Or was it because it was? Even after years of being a Devil, she wasn't quite sure.
'...Wait a minute...'
She yelped as she narrowly avoided a swing of the axe from the Stray himself; caught up in her thoughts as she'd gotten, she missed the opening.
'Come on, Luna! You're better than that!'
It didn't seem like Jae-heon realized though, teeth bared as he rushed at her with wide, powerful swings. "Are you mocking me?"
The Worldweaver ducked beneath one and drove him back with a palm strike to the chest, breathing heavily as she used a blast of wind to knock the marionettes that surrounded her immediately afterward away.
"I was being careful, in case you had any other tricks besides the puppets."
As strong, numerous, and near-impossible to destroy as they were, the manifestations of his Balance Breaker she found were still somewhat predictable, beyond the initial summoning of them. Actually, Puppet Threads' Balance Breaker ('Marionette Master?') reminded her of some amalgamation of Annihilation Maker and Sword Birth in terms of how he used it.
Yet... it bore a major flaw.
Even with all those threads, all that power at his disposal, he was... predictable. Power in spades for sure, if she wasn't as strong as she was Luna would have been squashed by the hammer or overwhelmed by the furious offense. Even now, with a brief glance she could see the damage to the surrounding woodlands that they had incurred, resulting in a wrecked clearing that ended right at the cabin.
But...
There had to be something he was hiding.
Right?
Or was it just the Balance Breaker?
"Tch." He leaped back, strings pushing him away from Luna as the marionettes came rushing back in. Once more, Luna blew them back, feeling blood leak out of her tear ducts as the third oxygen detonation caused enough stress on her mind to start inducing physical feedback. Still, it was only the first sign she was pushing herself; she could still do a good bit more.
Then it hit the brunette.
Threads, even when hardened, were still threads. Their ability to puncture, pierce, and cut were incredible when strengthened due to the tiny diameter of impact, and her ribs could attest to the raw power that could be thrown around by those marionettes.
Yet, at the end of the day... they were just threads.
Just like Jae-heon was just a man who had lost his son and was forced into hiding to stay alive. Maybe he had a head for going to ground, maybe he was good at dealing with Devils that did come his way, but at the end of that day... he wasn't a fighter.
...Something twanged within her.
Disappointment?
No, that wasn't right, could it be?
Was she really enjoying the rush that much that she cared more about seeing everything he had to offer than actually ending the fight and bringing him back to the Underworld?
'...Oh.'
"...Your Sacred Gear can't handle elemental or area attacks," she finally said. "...It's not that you don't have tricks up your sleeve, it's that you know they'll be absolutely useless against someone who can throw around the elements like I can."
The white-haired Devil scowled, but Luna could tell she hit the nail on the head.
Yet, she wasn't happy about it.
No, she felt inordinately guilty for it, actually. This was a man fighting for his life, and here she was being completely blase about it all.
Even in the way she was handling him, actually fighting, rather than...
"Ah... shit. No, I'm sorry. You... you're right, I was. Without even realizing it myself." She bowed her head, then looked back up at the Stray. "...I'll end this now."
Yet, even after saying that, Luna didn't move. But after a few seconds, Jae-heon's eyes widened as he realized something was terribly wrong, and sent everything he had after her. The marionettes stormed forth, threads shot out from every direction, the entire area around Luna turning into a deathtrap to stop her.
With a blank expression, Lunarunn blasted them all away, telekinetically rather than with an explosion this time, as now the mission wasn't to delay the threads and marionettes, but simply to keep them from touching her. She'd long since learned to multitask with Worldweave.
Jae-heon's Sacred Gear would not save him now.
Her nose started to leak a little blood now too, but it was well within the threshold of what she could withstand as the Stray began to sway, holding his hands to his throat.
Even now, she could see his assault wavering, even as he tried so desperately to keep his eyes from sliding shut, which made it all the easier to keep her actual attempt from being disrupted.
In the end, it was a foregone conclusion.
After about ten seconds of desperate struggle, the threads shivered, then dropped. The marionettes collapsed in on themselves, becoming no more than piles of string. And Jae-heon... was sprawled on the ground, completely unconscious.
Replacing the air that entered his lungs with an anesthetic blend strong enough to kill a human would do the trick for most Devils who lacked the ability to block it or stop her before they dropped.
Even Devils have to breathe, and she had a power that lets her exploit such weaknesses mercilessly.
If she had really been taking this seriously... he wouldn't have been able to so much as send a single thread against her.
Yet... even as the brunette walked up to Jae-heon, such an anticlimactic finish to her crusade against the heir-killers didn't sit right.
("What is your purpose?")
Luna looked at the fallen form of the Stray, and her hand, looking between the two with a frown on her face.
"To bring all the heir-killers to justice... so I can become high-class," she murmured in answer to the memory of Ulan's question, clenching her hand to a fist. "So that I can reach the top. So I can make the lives of those around me better."
But what is justice to Devils? She still wondered...
Granted, some of those Strays were absolutely deserved of their fates, most of them even. But there were the very few who... may have been justified in their actions.
And she, someone hurt by the way of the Underworld, became someone who hunted those same kinds of people. Thankfully they were far and few between... but the fact that they were there meant a failure of the government she was effectively serving.
...So when had she decided that she wanted to have fun hunting a man down for a crime he committed so long ago? That he killed the Leraje heir of the time for Reincarnating him based on a lie was unacceptable, but... at the same time, he'd been fucked over even more harshly than Uvarys.
Did she want to fight instead of directly capture him because she knew that she was basically handing him off to be killed by the courts, despite the fact that he only did wrong because of the nature of the world he found himself in?
Maybe. Even if she was trying to make change happen... these were Devils.
And they constantly strived for dominance, among humans and among each other. They wouldn't take the death of an heir lying down.
Did she want, deep down, to give him a fighting chance to get away?
...That must be it. That had to be why she felt bad about this.
She might have argued for him, but even if he came quietly, she was only one woman. He'd still be a dead man walking, even if he was tried like he should be.
Even if Jae-heon was deceived by the Lerajes seven hundred years ago, it didn't mean he'd see any lightening of his sentencing for killing their heir at the time. The conservatives had completely stonewalled the bill the FFP had put forth until Devils which had already become Strays were exempted from it. She could understand where they were coming from... but this was still just a man who'd lost his son.
In hindsight, Luna could completely understand why he responded to her offer without even deigning it worthy of breath.
...Had she been insulting her marks this whole time?
'I was, wasn't I?
...
Hahahaha... what a joke.'
Was she really still that naive? Or did she just not want to think about it and pretend she was being kind to them?
But still... she made a promise.
The brunette pulled out a pair of cuffs, the same kind used to capture Uvarys and all the other Strays she'd found, and bound the last heir-killer with them.
She might not like it, but she made a promise, and she meant to keep it. She wouldn't go back on her word. She felt bad, but she made a promise. That is that, and this is this.
...
'...or am I just keeping my promise because it's easier for me to damn someone else...?'
Still, that was the end of her Stray hunt... and she had managed to fulfill her televised promise. Granted, she only had just under a week before her time frame had elapsed, but she did it. That was something to be proud of. Right?
Even as she began emulating the magic of a teleportation circle, Luna had to wonder.
Was that magical chess set really worth tying herself to politics and to the Underworld as a whole, when she ultimately sought to be free of it?
...Luna supposed she'd just have to stand by what she'd said to Jae-heon before they fought. That she'd let herself walk the path set before her as long as it was helping her reach her own goals.
Yeah. Right now that was the best way to keep moving. Especially given she'd followed through on her promise.
A/N -
Cookie if you can spot the references in the chapter.
In any case, it does put a smile on my face to get reviews like the ones I got last chapter. That being said, NMHA is now about two years further along. Last time was a lot of setup, this time it's starting to let the dominoes actually fall and knock each other over. I would travel further along the timeline, but then there will be elements of the story that I fail to deliver. Shouldn't be ten chapters this time around though.
Made a new poll, since someone mentioned that the prologue does seem somewhat discontinuous with the current state of the plot. Admittedly, I agree it's not exactly indicative of the story so far. The poll's pretty much a Y/N question, so if you want to give your input there I welcome it!
Tempura Wizard out!
