NMHA Ch. 31 - Falling Inside the Black


A/N: Long chapter this time. Easily the longest I've made so far. 25k+ words between both halves of the full chapter.

Yeah. That's no typo.

Hope you find it worth the wait!

Seriously though, strap yourselves in, and take some time to process after this section of the chapter's finished up. It's a long haul.


As Ruval's and Masaomi's feet touched the warehouse floor, the former's eyes shifted from side to side, an inherent feeling of wrongness permeating every inch of the structure he saw, and the latter needed to take a moment and squint to make out anything within the disconcertingly dark building.

The lights were on, but they shone so little as to barely provide lighting, much to the exorcist's chagrin.

Combined with the color-draining shockwave from before, and both males were seeing in nothing but shades of grey.

Masaomi wondered if Ruval was seeing without color as well.

Another was how the shadows clung to every surface, almost shifting in place, further darkening the warehouse and prompting Ruval to invoke a small sphere of flame within the palm of his hand.

The blue light cut through the dark, shadows retreating from its reach as the two continued further into the warehouse, yet even that color was washed-out.

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

Especially with the slow roiling of shadows in the corner of his eyes, in near lockstep with the circulation of mana in the room.

"What the blazes happened?" The blond whispered, caught in a mixture of morbid fascination and fear for the woman that he'd come to rescue.

The exorcist, on the other hand, would have been gray even if the colors hadn't been washed out of their surroundings. "Something bad. This entire place, it's drenched in negative energy, and it's getting worse the further in we go. Just being here's almost making me nauseous."

"And what about Luna?"

The black-haired man stared ahead, face set in a grim sort of determination, though his eyes bore a solemnity to them. "...I think she's the source."

"..." Ruval grit his teeth, almost snapping something back, yet barely refraining. They'd both heard the scream, after all. Whatever had happened, it was clear that Luna was in some awful state.

That someone would go so far as to make her lose control like this was inexcusable, in his eyes.

Any issues he had with the black-haired man could wait; for now what mattered was getting his fiancee back.

The two continued in silence, going further in before Masaomi held up a hand. "You hear that?"

Ruval paused, then focused on the sound. Or lack thereof. "No."

"Murmurs. Whispers." The exorcist's eyes narrowed. "The shadows are whispering."

The Blue Phenex looked over at Masaomi. He seemed steadier than before, but still rather uncomfortable. "...Are you sure you are not just hearing things?"

"I'm serious. Shh." He held up a hand for Ruval to stay while he stepped away from the light, and knelt by one of the encased shelves. The exorcist did not touch anything, but rather closed his eyes, and listened.

Behind those closed lids, black and white images flashed by, grainy images racing through his mind.

He saw, in his mind's eye, the images of a woman at a gala, dressed plainly but still exquisite.

He knew her face. He watched, as he saw someone walk onto a podium, and begin talking.

Then she moved, taking the stage herself. Her face was carefully crafted, but her eyes were empty.

Nobody else noticed, but he did.

Then she spoke, and as she did so the crowd became more restless. More agitated. What she was saying was being overlooked by hungry eyes and lecherous ambitions.

Shadows closed in as the faceless masses washed over the woman, grabbed her arms, her legs, and had started tearing away at that dress. She struggled, yet could not stop them, vulnerable as she was in the lion's den.

As the light winked out and the black-haired man's vision returned to darkness, something stood out against his thoughts, a whisper directly into his mind.

"K̶i̴n̶d̸n̴e̷s̴s̷ ̶i̵s̶ ̷h̶a̶v̶i̴n̶g̶ ̵s̶t̵r̶e̸n̶g̸t̵h̵,̴ ̵a̶n̸d̴ ̸c̸h̵o̵o̷s̸i̷n̷g̴ ̸t̴o̵ ̴n̵o̴t̸ ̶u̸s̸e̷ ̷i̸t̴ ̵a̴g̸a̶i̸n̴s̸t̶ ̵o̵t̵h̴e̷r̶s̶.̵ ̶T̷h̷i̷s̶ ̷w̵o̵r̵l̸d̴ ̷i̷s̴ ̴n̶o̵t̴ ̴k̷i̸n̸d̷.̴ I̵'̸m̸ ̷d̸o̴n̴e̴ ̷t̸r̵y̸i̶n̷g̷ ̷t̶o̸ ̷b̵e̴, i̶n̵ ̵i̶t̸s̸ ̶p̴l̸a̷c̵e̷."

The whispers were... distorted. Twisted. But undeniably, he knew who they were from.

Masaomi reopened his eyes, and stood back up. "This is Luna's doing."

The response was swift, and clipped. "How?"

"...I think whoever it was that kidnapped her managed to break her down."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Ruval made to sprint toward the loading bay, where the hole in the roof had formed from, but Masaomi stepped in his path, blocking him.

"We're talking about someone who may have distorted like Strays typically do." The exorcist explained, gesturing to the shelf whose shadows had spoken to him. "And Luna has a power far above and beyond what most Strays have. If we go in there without a plan, there's a good chance we both die."

He got a lifted brow in return. "I'm one of the strongest Devils in the Rating Games, and a Phenex at that. If anything, I'm one of the best-equipped individuals to handle whatever happened with Luna."

Masaomi looked back, at the beckoning shadows that would lead them to their friend. Even now, his instincts were screaming at him that this was wrong, that this was something alien, something to be purged.

"...Somehow, I doubt that's going to matter here."

The Devil fell quiet, eyes crinkling in some level of disgust, though before the Phenex turned away Masaomi thought he saw something else in them as well. "Tch. Out of my way then. A craven like you would be no help here anyway."

He extinguished the light in his hand and none-too-gently pushed by the exorcist.

Said exorcist made no further move to stop the Blue Phenex, but did watch him go with a stern frown and a desire to send Ruval a rude gesture.

The black-haired man resisted that desire, but Ruval's arrogance grated at him all the same.

'Guess I'm going to have to help him out of whatever well he ends up falling into, huh...?'

Masaomi rubbed his face with an exasperated sigh. He wanted to help Luna too, but he was absolutely certain that she was the reason this entire warehouse looked like a set from a supernatural horror film rather than a regular building. And if this was her doing...

Then just what other things was she capable of doing, in whatever state she was in now?

His gaze shifted to the shadows, once again murmuring to him as they had been before.

If Ruval hadn't heard anything... was it because he was part of the problem? Or was it simply because he wasn't as attuned to the nuances of dark-aligned energy as Masaomi was?

Only one way to find out.

The black-haired man turned to take a branching path to the one Ruval made, making his way through the shelves and stacks as best he could under the low light, listening to the clinging darkness that permeated the warehouse.


"Luna!"

Ruval ran into the clearing, rubble from the destroyed ceiling still occasionally raining down. Under the moonlight, the clearing was brighter than the rest of the warehouse, though not by much.

Still, it was enough for the Blue Phenex to see Luna on the other end, staring up at the moon.

She herself still retained color. He could see her brown hair, dirtied perhaps, but still straight and smooth in her typical ponytail, standing over a divot in the ground, though Ruval could not see how deep it went.

It wasn't the same Luna he'd sent to the surface, though. Her clothes remained much the same, but there were notable differences, such as the lack of his pendant, and he could see a blood-red choker in its place. A strip of whatever that choker was made of ran down her spine, adorned with bestial spines tapering off at her tailbone, and from that strip four black wings extended, plus her normal two. They weren't like typical wings though. They almost seemed... weaponized. Additional joints, a wicked point at the end of each straight bone of the wing proper, and the wings themselves looked to be of some light-reflecting, unknown material.

But what worried him the most were Luna's real wings, the ones she always had.

Where a multitude of colors once shone, now laid a slowly pulsating red. Where before they were otherworldly, mystical in appearance, her natural wings now appeared ominous and fell in nature.

"Ruval."

Her recognizing him was natural, as was speaking his name. Even her voice was mostly normal. But, there was a bit of a quiver there, as though keeping some emotion in check, and she hadn't turned back around to face him.

She continued, crossing her arms. "Let me guess, you heard I'd been kidnapped and decided to jump to the rescue?"

"Yes." He looked around, keeping his tone neutral. Polite. As if everything were normal, and he didn't notice how the shadows seemed to shift around them. "Though it seems like you managed to break away soon enough anyway."

Her head lowered to the ground, remaining still and quiet for several seconds..

"I did," she stated, slowly. "I'm not sure what they used to stifle my powers, but I was able to get rid of it, by using what I'd learned from you to make a circle. I did that."

The blond smiled. "I am glad I was able to help, if only a little."

She didn't respond, at least not immediately, but Ruval did notice her shoulders trembling.

He couldn't see it, but her tenseness was all too apparent, hands clenched into fists hard enough to start dripping blood as she resolutely refused to turn around, wings shifting restlessly.

"You should go. Leave without me." Her voice, still tight, grew heated, the tone reminding him of those times just before she'd started yelling.

Was she angry at him?

Had he said something wrong?

"Absolutely not." Ruval swiped a hand to the side. "I came here to bring you back after I butchered the contemptible fool who had kidnapped you, though considering you did it yourself I'm not going to complain. The point does, however, still stand. I'm bringing you home, and I'll do everything in my power to make sure that the Naberius family pays for what they did."

Luna was silent at that, tilting her head to the side.

Then, she started giggling.

It began innocently enough, but it quickly became inflected with other emotions, dark ones, that were just at the tip of Ruval's tongue. Those same giggles cut off abruptly, in the middle of whatever it was that had been infecting that happy sound.

"Home?" She whispered, as though tasting the word. "Home? You mean the place that has denigrated, exploited, and abandoned me? You mean the place that's seen fit to throw me away because I refused to fall in line?"

"The Satans abandoned you, and the Assembly denigrated and exploited you. But the Underworld hasn't thrown you away."

...He realized then that he'd nearly added a 'yet' to the end of that sentence.

"You haven't been in the loop since I was kidnapped then."

"And you say you have?"

Luna's head turned to the moon again.

"My captor saw fit to inform me that myself and the FFP are under a financial audit."

A shiver ran down Ruval's spine.

"He could have lied."

Her tone immediately turned cold. Colder than the Blue Phenex ever remembered it being toward him before.

"Shut up, Ruval. I know exactly how this goes. It happens up here all the time, especially in repressive, authoritarian governments. But even the so-called 'democracies' are no different. A minor, faked infraction is used to build up a case that destroys a troublemaker's platform. That person then mysteriously dies or disappears in prison, and the government in question washes its hands of the matter. I know I've made enough enemies for that to happen to me."

Such cynicism. But it was warranted; he'd seen Extras start causing waves only to be slapped down in similar ways. Never in such a way as to draw notice, but someone who paid attention would notice a trend. If her words were true…

No. Her words were true. He didn't like to think about it, but he knew all too well how those who refused to fall into line were eliminated. He'd lived long enough, been close enough to the top, that he'd gotten front-row tickets to their removal.

He'd seen the signs, but never wanted to recognize it.

So it was with a heavy heart that he continued.

"...Then what about everything you have worked for?"

"What about it? It's gone. Ruined. Destroyed." Luna paused. "...Dead."

Her shoulders were trembling again.

The blond stepped forward. "Look at me, Luna."

"No."

"Why not?"

She stilled, head tilted upward toward the opening in the ceiling.

"Because I want to engrave this in my memory. Because the moment I look away from this sight is the moment I start."

That didn't sound good.

"Start... what, exactly?"

Her tone was far too gleeful for what she said next, even as it distorted into something more aberrant.

"Start teaching those bastards in the Underworld the kind of pain they inflict on others, of course. And what better way than to erase everything they've worked and fought for?"

Ruval's eyes widened, a horrid shock hitting home as Luna finally did turn around, revealing a face marked with black ichor, running down each side like tears. And her eyes...

They were nothing like the ones she had before. Where before were a brilliant blue-green now laid glowing red inside a sclera of black.

"We're talking about someone who may have distorted like Strays typically do."

Masaomi's words echoed in Ruval's mind.

She hunched down into a more combat-ready stance and snarled, and Ruval found himself stunned by the pressure that the woman he'd come to rescue was emitting. The very air around them shuddered from the raw power.

Luna was always a strange case; normally she emitted very little demonic power, her aura was by nature a very subtle one, something that blended into the world, someone who almost felt like an integral part of it, in a similar if different way to Senjutsu. Perhaps that was due to how it fed into Worldweave.

If she was blasting out this much energy right off the bat, then one thing was for certain.

Masaomi was wrong.

'Luna hasn't distorted like a Stray.'

Ruval could count the number of times he'd been legitimately afraid of what someone might do on one hand, with fingers to spare.

'She's become something far worse.'

But as he refocused his gaze upon the... twisted form of the Worldweaver, he realized that he'd have one less.

Yet... what was this feeling? This feeling inside his chest, ready to burst out? Was it fear, or was it... something else?

"So are you going to help me destroy the Underworld, or are you going to get in my way?"

She hated the Underworld and what it was doing to her. For what it already had done to her. He already knew that.

But for her to so brazenly say that, despite knowing just how powerful someone like Sirzechs was?

Had she gone insane?

"I cannot let you do that, Luna." Ruval finally replied, readying a blade of blue flame, condensed into a vessel under such pressure that what flames he'd used were more white than azure. He could fight hand to hand, but having a weapon would prove far more beneficial in this sort of battle. "Getting back at those who wronged you and yours is one thing, but to 'erase' the Underworld? That's not justice, that is genocide."

His legs moved, and Ruval found himself to the side, a smooth crater in the ground where stood a moment before, wisps of shadows vanishing back into the ambience as testament to the culprit.

'...I refuse to back down. I came to save you. I'm not walking away until I do just that.'

His body caught fire, erupting into blue flames as his eyes sharpened, and he adopted a combat stance of his own. His own aura by and large negated the one that Luna was emitting, but even so he felt a heaviness that he'd only felt when facing the top of the Rating Game contestants.

He might not actually be strong enough to win, the Blue Phenex realized then.

The thought filled him with a deep trepidation, for what that might mean for the brunette, but at the same time...

Her head turned slowly to where he'd moved, red eyes staring him down evenly. "I don't care. I'm done caring."

Almost faster than Ruval could track, Luna stepped forward, one black wing jabbing outward. He sidestepped the extended wing, then leaped over the swing, taking flight briefly to retaliate with a plunge of his blade. The Worldweaver hopped back, planting one wing in the ground behind her to vault away before two more wings rushed for him, tips glowing with that same light that she'd used for the attack that had left a clean hole in the concrete floor.

He threw up an arm to knock the wing to the side with a powerful blast of wind, something that the Worldweaver noted with a snarl.

"Damn. I was hoping to end this quickly."

His eyes narrowed. "You know I am no fool, Luna. We Phenexes are nigh-invulnerable to conventional forms of attack, but your abilities let you attack from any angle you can imagine."

She laughed with derision, the increasingly layered voice echoing throughout the clearing. "And there's that vaunted Devil arrogance! Fuck, just listening to you go on about that shit's pissing me off!"

"It is not arrogance if it's true." Something about what the brunette said didn't sit right with him.

"If there's anything I've learned in my time as part of the Underworld, truth is utterly subjective. Especially when I'm involved."

The Blue Phenex eyed the wings Luna had tried to skewer him with. Whatever it was she was bringing to bear against him, there was a not insignificant chance that it could nullify his regeneration. She certainly seemed to think it would.

His bloodline trait, as powerful as it was, might not be of any use here for recovery applications.

Ruval was taken aback, however, when the brunette didn't immediately move to attack him again.

"...I'll give you one more chance. Leave. Out of all the Devils who deserve the axe, you're one of the... fleetingly few that don't."

Was that hesitation in Luna's voice? Or was that something else?

"I refuse. Not until I save you from whatever madness has taken hold."

Whatever the feeling she'd voiced earlier was overshadowed by another derisive laugh. "I don't need saving, Ruval. In case you didn't notice, I'm doing fine! Perfectly peachy! Delightfully dandy, even! Get it in your head, will you?"

He didn't need to know Luna to see just how wrong she was. "I would say that right now, you are saying that more to yourself than me."

That bloody gaze lingered on Ruval for a handful of seconds, before the Worldweaver spoke again, voice tempered to a deadly neutrality.

"...I changed my mind. You'll die like the rest."


As Masaomi continued along, he heard sounds of fire in the distance. Probably Ruval, he determined, especially since it didn't sound like it was spreading in a warehouse full of likely flammable items.

He'd have to hold out against Luna on his own. Ruval had run off after her anyway, Masaomi would have to count on the Phenex to sort it out.

As… uneasy, as that made him, that was the only choice right now.

Whatever it was that the Worldweaver had done, he could tell that she'd effectively created her own bounded field. The whispering shadows, especially as they dove further in, all but proved the fact. The lack of any other individuals within, even corpses, helped further that conclusion.

Well, it could have been that this warehouse had been abandoned initially, but that would mean that whatever it was that set Luna off would be narrowed down to a few individuals.

More gray scenes appeared, this time of Luna staring down a man whose very step had other nobles - other Devils - parting for him. After that man spoke, Luna staggered and dropped to her knees. Her eyes were wide, and as the man walked away so did everyone else, leaving her utterly alone in that ballroom.

"I̸f̸ ̷t̶h̸e̶ ̷U̷n̸d̶e̷r̶w̶o̶r̶l̸d̸ ̴w̷a̶n̵t̴s̷ ̵i̶t̷ ̸s̷o̵ ̶b̷a̵d̴l̴y̸,̶ ̴f̸i̷n̵e̶.̷ ̵I̸'̶l̵l̶ ̵b̶e̵ ̵a̶ ̶D̵e̷v̵i̵l̸.̵ ̴I̷'̸l̶l̸ ̴b̵e̶ t̷h̷e̷i̶r̷ D̴e̵v̴i̸l̵,̸ a̷ D̸e̴v̸i̸l̶ t̷o̵ D̶e̸v̸i̷l̶s̶.̴"

The whispers continued, hinting at what Masaomi was increasingly coming to believe was Luna's current frame of mind. And as he wandered further along the warehouse, he could only wonder how she came to be like this.

Had she always been holding these thoughts, this black resentment? Had they been amplified somehow? How much of it was some foreign influence, and how much of it was Luna herself?

How had he not realized the darkness she held?

Did Masaomi misjudge her? Had he been so enamored with the idea that Devils had souls too that he let her words back then warp his perception for years to come?

Masaomi paused, then shook his head.

'Enough. I'm an exorcist, not a psychiatrist. I'm not trained to notice when people are at the breaking point, just to fight evil where I see it. I did everything I could.'

Still, her agreeing to pray when he'd suggested it, even if it was with slight protest, should have been telling, at least of her internal struggle.

But he hadn't known before. So now the important part was to figure out what he could do to help her now.

'Or kill her.'

But she was innocent, wasn't she?

'Was she?'

She'd admitted to having hunted down innocent people for her own gain.

But she also clearly had been struggling with the decisions she'd made.

Had Luna just been acting?

... It couldn't be. If she hadn't truly been feeling that pressure, why would she have gone to pray, despite knowing how painful it would be to her?

Maybe he could try calling Touji for advice, if his phone could get through whatever bounded field Luna had created?

...He could do that.

But the fact that he'd be calling in about her being a berserk Devil would effectively put her on the exorcist hit list.

'And if the Sinai Division gets involved?'

She'd already been through enough. Masaomi wasn't going to add another problem to Luna's long list.

A gray Luna sat in a cell, eyes wide and disbelieving as she was told off by an angrily gesturing guard, the intensity of which he shouted down at her reminded Masaomi of whip cracks. Her expression was one of barely contained despair, which then erupted into tears quickly silenced by a holster bash.

"A̵l̷l̸ ̵m̵y̷ ̵s̷i̴n̶s̵.̸ ̴A̶l̷l̴ ̸m̸y̴ ̶c̵o̶m̶p̵r̷o̵m̵i̵s̷e̷s̶.̷ ̸A̸l̵l̸ ̷m̵y̵ ̷s̶a̸c̵r̴i̴f̶i̵c̴e̴s̷.̴ ̴A̸l̵l̸ ̵f̵o̶r̷ ̷n̷o̴t̶h̵i̷n̸g̴!̴"

The exorcist would have to wing it.

Instincts blared at him, and he dove backwards in time to see a veritable wall of blue flames explode through the place he'd just been standing, the shriek from the heat beam just as stinging as the heat on his face from being simply in proximity.

His ears still rang even after the flame dissipated, but it didn't keep him from staring stymied at the melted ground that was left in what could have only been an attack from Ruval.

But he was already throwing around that much power...?

Masaomi really hoped that this was a bounded field of Luna's making, like he had previously made note of. If Ruval's and Luna's fight got out of hand, then there might not be a warehousing district left for people to come back to.

Yet, as the shadows came rushing back to cover the new terrain, so too did the whispers return.

This time, they weren't just cause for concern.

Images of their fight against Uvarys flashed through his mind, once again the corrupted gray of the shadows. This time, however, it was not Luna who got back up at the end, but Uvarys himself. It ended with a tree trunk crashing down on both his and the Worldweaver's heads.

As the words triggered that chilling memory, his own this time, the exorcist's eyes widened. He then broke into a sprint, delving further into the abyssal warehouse.

"̵A̸ ̴D̴e̶v̷i̴l̴ ̸i̴s̷ ̸a̶ ̵D̴e̵v̵i̴l̸ ̷i̵s̴ ̶a̴ ̵D̴e̵v̶i̸l̴.̶ ̶I̷ ̵u̷n̶d̶e̴r̵s̶t̵a̸n̴d̷ ̸n̶o̸w̶.̴ ̸I̵'̴m̵ ̸n̷o̶ ̵d̶i̴f̷f̸e̷r̴e̷n̶t̴.̸ ̴H̸a̴a̷h̴.̸.̵.̸ ̷s̷o̸ ̷t̸h̸i̵s̴ ̵i̸s̷ ̶w̷h̸a̵t̵ h̵e̶ m̴e̶a̵n̶t̷,̴ ̵b̷y̸ ̶r̴e̷v̷e̴l̷i̸n̸g̵ ̸i̴n̴ ̴i̴t̸.̶.̸.̴~̷"̷


As Shirone and Kuroka continued to try and put the other down, Jaspal watched on, that same sense of helplessness she'd felt right before Kuroka had entered her office welling up again.

What could she do?

How could she help?

Was there anything that could change the outcome of what was happening?

Even as she watched, the Valac saw Kuroka hesitating. Pulling punches, not going for blood. Jaspal could tell she was not willing to hurt her sister, regardless of the madness that had taken hold of the younger Youkai. It was telling, in the worsening condition of the older one: an increasingly concerning amount of blood leaking from her body, even as the younger bore only bruises and ripped clothing.

'Damn it, damn it, damn it!' Jaspal stood warily, keeping her eyes locked on the quarrelling two. 'Think, Jaspal! If you do not act, your ward and Bishop are going to be killed, and then her sister will move on to me or whoever else next!'

Yet, what could she do? They had no idea what happened. There was no explanation, there was no warning, there was no way-

She stilled, eyes dilating as her whirlwind thoughts died down in favor of the training she'd received. Of the Valac who'd allied herself with the fastest-rising star that had graced the Underworld in centuries if not millennia.

'...Breathe. If you continue panicking, nothing will get done at all. You need to rationalize everything you know. Maybe you will find something.'

But even as she continued watching on, now completely unmoving, something still didn't sit right with her.

Even so... she couldn't help Kuroka. If the Valac got close, Shirone would filet her, with whatever evil aura was empowering her.

She hated feeling so helpless.

...

'...No.'

Her hands clenched.

'I refuse.'

She'd been pushed around long enough.

Even if she couldn't refuse her father...

She could at least choose to act here, by her own will, and for her own peace of mind, than for any other reason.

And that meant doing something instead of just sitting around and surveying the situation like a damned cameraman!

'You are not helpless, Jaspal; you're the heiress of a Pillar for the Morningstar's sake! If you can't fight her up close, then run interference while you figure out a solution!'

She took cautious steps away to get a broader picture, but as Kuroka and Shirone broke up again, the Valac heiress could see how Kuroka was flagging.

Instead of doing nothing, she acted.

Right as Shirone was pouncing again, she found herself colliding with some form of large, crystalline rock, the direction of her flight forcefully redirected into a nearby wall.

Kuroka's gaze shot over to Jaspal, whose extended arm and focused gaze were all but telling of who the perpetrator was, if the wisps of a vanishing magical circle weren't enough.

"I am no fighter like you," the svelte ravenette started, turning her gaze over to the Nekoshou. "But even I could tell that you are holding back for her sake."

"She's my sister! How in the world am I supposed to hurt her?" Kuroka snapped back, before hearing said sister yowl, more enraged than actually injured, before leaping in Jaspal's direction.

She was met with another rock, which knocked her down again, but the black-haired Youkai noticed how Shirone had moved to try and catch it, rather than just take this particular attack.

"We can always patch her back up afterward," Jaspal replied coolly as Shirone got back to her feet, growling and hissing after the two boulders to the torso. "Senjutsu is life force channeling, right? Once we knock her out of whatever state she's in now, we can get any injuries treated. We can't hold back just because she's your sister, otherwise she will kill us both."

"But..."

"I cannot fight as well as you or Luna can, but I can at least provide support," the Valac continued. "I'm trying to scour my brain for any clues about what might have happened to cause Shirone to go berserk. If we can figure out the cause, we can figure out the cure. We need to hold firm as long as we can, otherwise we're both dead, got it?"

"I..." The indecision warred on Kuroka's face for a moment, but saw Shirone getting back up to lunge at Jaspal once more. Her face firmed, and whatever hesitation she had before made way for resolve. "Alright, fine!"

Black tackled white, and the two ended up on the ground again, hissing and yowling as Jaspal continued analyzing the situation. Each time the two separated, she launched another boulder at Shirone. This time, she knocked the boulder away, much like one would an undesired pest, but that left her open to another tackle by Kuroka, sending her crashing into the same crystal rock that had been discarded. Given the yowl from her sister and the cringe Jaspal could see on the black-haired girl's face, Kuroka had definitely left a mark with that one.

The property damage would be telling of some sort of tantrum, and she'd probably have to foot the bill as the likely culprit, but lives were at stake; a little renovation would probably do the office good anyway.

Still, the problem remained that Shirone was overpowering her sister. But what could the cause have been?

There was that pulse of dark energy that had affected all three of them. Kuroka had ended up puking a bunch of black goop, and Jaspal had nearly done so herself.

Could that have something to do with it?

And what had the Youkai said earlier...?

("This has never happened before!")

So what was different about their channeling...?

Why would it affect her, someone who was only watching Senjutsu, not actually taking part in drawing on it?

What was different between now, and then?

"JASPAL!"

"R-right!" She summoned another magical circle, firing off another heavy crystal at Shirone, seeing how she'd somehow managed to pin Kuroka down and was about to bite off her jugular. The projectile did its job, knocking the white Youkai off, but she still got back up all the same despite the increasing number of bruises and cuts. Certainly, enough to make most girls her age run off bawling.

'Just what is that little girl under to shake off a rock to the head?'

"Now's not the time to get sidetracked!" Kuroka cried out, scrambling back to her feet and shooting a glare Jaspal's way.

"I don't want anyone to get hospitalized either, but we'll have to do something to knock her out hard if I can't think things through!" she retorted, eyes focusing now on Kuroka.

Namely, how the black-haired Nekoshou's stance seemed unsteady, and the way she seemed to be favoring a leg, if only slightly.

She really was flagging.

Jaspal grimaced.

'Damn, what am I missing?'

What was the difference?

A small number of things immediately came to mind.

Jaspal was there and had recently come off a surge of frustration.

They were inside a building.

Kuroka was now host to an Evil Piece.

Eyes widened, as Jaspal swallowed hard.

Evil Pieces were supposed to be, by and large, inert after the initial conversion process. There was some mental rewiring to aid in preventing Id Madness, and a few subtle compulsions for increased loyalty to the King, but-

The King!

Evil Pieces were connected to the King Piece. If something happened to the King, if they underwent some form of trauma to the very part of them that hosts the Piece, then there probably would be feedback.

It would also explain how badly she and Kuroka were affected; Jaspal had been severely nauseous, but Kuroka had ended up hurling up her guts with whatever that... stuff was.

A Bishop was three times the value of a Pawn, after all.

Did she end up receiving three times the... whatever it was, that Jaspal had gone through?

On one hand, the ability to act again so quickly despite that was... both commendable and concerning in someone just entering their adolescence.

But that also raised another question: did something happen to Luna, and they in turn had been affected?

So why did Kuroka throw up, but the non-Reincarnated Shirone went berserk?

She stilled, once more.

Kuroka had been pre-refining life energy for her sister, hadn't she?

And if Shirone had been trying to fill herself up when that vile pulse happened...

"Oh no," the ravenette whispered, all the pieces finally coming together. The madness. The overwhelming black aura. The urge to kill that bypassed pain and reason.

Something bad had happened to their King.

And Shirone had it all thrown in her face, completely without warning, in a vulnerable state of consciousness.

No wonder she went crazy..

So now the question was; how do they fix this?


Duck, weave, slash, parry.

Sidestep, jab, jab, disengage.

Fire, swing, billow, jump-

Ruval's chest erupted as Luna's wing found purchase in its diagonal-downward crescent, dispersing into flames briefly before he felt something foul eat away at the very fires that constituted his midsection, much like every other time he'd done so to evade injury by direct hit.

He immediately reformed, but switching to his flame body was a force of habit, and one that had been increasingly proven detrimental in this fight. Even now, the Blue Phenex could feel the blood leaking slowly down one shoulder, and the way that his torso also began to leak that same red vitae as it reformed.

She was hurting him.

He, the Blue Phenex, arguably the most tenacious individual in the Rating Games by virtue of his bloodline, was being worn down.

Luna didn't hesitate to capitalize on the reformation either, using the same momentum from her wing to hammer into his chest with an elbow, that same wing digging into the ground to act as an axis for her to launch the elbow drop.

Ruval felt his back hit the ground, and while he did minimize the impact by way of partially converting his body into flames, it didn't stop Luna from keeping him penned in with those cursed wings of hers, hardly giving him so much time as to even take a breath without facing some sort of retributive assault.

Indeed, even now she was coming back in with a fist glowing black, Ruval pushing himself off the ground into the air, wings spread wide as he bought distance. Distance immediately closed, but still time enough for him to launch a conflagration the Worldweaver's way, which forced her to dodge to the side.

Much like every other time, though, all he got for his efforts was an increasingly angry snarl, and for this attempt a black-shrouded kick that sent him spiralling through the hole in the ceiling into the night sky.

Even if he was being pushed back, that feeling in his chest continued to grow, to the point where he was wondering if there was something wrong.

As Luna launched herself toward him again, bullets of black energy streaking out the back of her wings and curving around her rapidly-approaching form toward Ruval. His response was a wall of blue flames, shooting out to intercept the entirety of the brunette's attack.

The projectiles were dispersed, but as a certain someone broke through seemingly none the worse for wear, he had to throw up his arms to block the punch, physically rather than letting it disperse. The impact was jarring, but even still...

"Why the hell are you smiling?"

Was he? He shouldn't have been. His fiancee was trying to kill him, and it was looking increasingly likely that she might well succeed.

The very thought that he was in danger should have been disturbing, yet instead he was smiling?

Had he himself cracked?

Or was it something else?

"Apologies." He tried to force the smile off his face, but when he did that feeling in his chest flared up, and got to a point where he couldn't keep his expression neutral. "I do not know what has come over me."

"In case you haven't noticed, I don't see how you have anything to be smiling about!" Luna growled, pushing off to unleash another deluge of black bolts from her artificially-created wings.

Ruval bobbed and weaved, ducked, dove, and rose, letting her assault graze by him with little injury of his own. His heart pounded in his ears, that feeling in his chest felt ready to burst.

He could have knocked them aside with a burst of fire.

But he didn't.

And Luna knew that just as well, judging by the way her eyes narrowed.

"Do you truly wish for death that much?"

The Blue Phenex stopped. He blinked slowly, mulling over Luna's last words. That he paused seemed to give her pause as well, staring at him from a distance with disbelief and something else, hidden within the depths of those black and red eyes.

Did he?

What was it that threatened to break out of his chest? It wasn't fear, not the kind one might face when staring down a stronger enemy hellbent on ending you. It wasn't sorrow, even though he truly regretted that Luna had broken down into what she was now.

"No."

"Then why?"

Because...

"I am feeling something I have not felt in a long time."

The Worldweaver stared at him, uncomprehending.

"...What?"

He worked his jaw, before finally responding. "Hah. Your guess is as good as mine, but... for some reason, I think I am having fun."

Her mouth opened, then closed, completely dumbfounded.

The fact that she hadn't simply discarded his explanation for... whatever this was, just made that very same pressure in his chest grow greater still.

He forced the smile down, actually succeeding this time now because of just how serious he needed to be for his next words.

"Luna. I still do not know why you are so obsessively focused on this mission of yours. What caused you to tip over the edge? Before we continue, please. Let me hear you out."

She hissed in response, nostrils flaring. "Talk is cheap."

"Then there is no reason not to share, is there?"

The fragmented voice grew rife with warning. "Stop wasting my time with this tripe, Ruval."

He shook his head. "No. You have listened to others whenever they needed it. Jaspal and her overbearing father. Kuroka, and the sister she escaped to the streets with to try and protect. Even that exorcist who helped me figure out where you were being kept. You deserve at least that same courtesy."

Recognition flashed in Luna's eyes briefly, before they slid shut with a rough exhale.

Her shoulders had started trembling again.

"Can you really call it a 'problem' when I'm coming to see the truth of the Underworld? That nothing is sacred down there?"

"It is when the Luna I have come to consider a dear friend would be horrified by what she has become."

She grew all too still now, the trembling kept under sharp, harsh control as the glowing reds reopened. "That Luna's gone. She died in the warehouses below us."

"Then what Luna am I talking to now?"

"The one whose parents were kidnapped, then murdered right before her eyes."

Ruval's eyes widened, as that feeling of... was it excitement? Whatever it was, that feeling froze in his chest, stilled by the declaration.

A hollow smile spread across the Worldweaver's ichor-stained face, expression alight with malice. "Yep. That's right. The parents who stood by my side even though I wasn't their real daughter. The people that didn't care, and treated me like family all the same. That bastard electrocuted them to death. He was going to show their corpses to me to break me."

She started laughing. But much like her giggling before, the sound was anything but the happy noise that it should have been. It was a desperate and maddened one, just shy of disbelieving, and behind it laid an undercurrent of rawness that tore at Ruval.

Her convulsions ceased, and her head turned to stare back down at the warehouse below. "Well. He succeeded there. Just not the way he expected."

What could he say? "Luna, I..."

"Save it." Her eyes snapped back up to his. "There's nothing you can say that would make this better. It'd all just be happy little platitudes and sweet little lies. He broke me. So I'm going to break his world. Simple as that."

"...Why?"

That smile returned. "I already told you, didn't I? Nothing's sacred. No person, no Devil, nobody. Least of all some dumb bitch who dreamed too big."

Ruval grit his teeth. Nobody had any right to say that about her. Especially not herself. "So what, you're just going to take the easy way out? To condemn the entire Underworld when the only ones at fault are the ones who put you in this position to begin with!?"

"Yep. Just like any Devil in my place would do. I already said it; I'm done caring."

"I'm not."

Funny, that. Ruval actually meant it, even if Luna didn't take to his words particularly well. Her wings pointed towards the Blue Phenex, charging up what could only be a beam of that black light that tainted his essence and drained him upon shifting to fire.

"Devils are Devils are Devils. Don't even bother with that bullshit, I know better now."


Masaomi stared at the bodies.

He knew that Luna had gone off the deep end, but he hadn't realized why before.

Now he did.

Considering the woman looked like an older version of her, and both she and the male had rings on their fingers, it was clear what had happened.

Execution by association.

It wasn't pretty. He could see the electrical burns running across the body of them both.

The black-haired man's eyes slid shut, and he drew one hand up to touch them to his lips. Then, to his forehead, heart, and each shoulder, before resting them on the foreheads of each.

It was Catholic, not his specific branch of Christianity, but the intention was all the same.

'May God welcome you to the afterlife, regardless of whatever being you were before.'

He swallowed, and stepped past the bodies. Luna had already made a tomb for them, given that they were resting in what looked to be coffins formed out of the shadows, sinking slowly into the ground.

As he was about to leave, however, a glimmer caught his eye.

The exorcist's gaze shifted to where he saw that glimmer, and was somewhat taken aback to see a pendant of some sort simply sitting there, on the corner of the open 'coffin' belonging to Luna's mother.

He recognized it a moment later as the one he'd seen her wearing ever since they first met back up in Akihabara.

It glinted again in the faint light, and Masaomi could only wonder one thing.

Why did it still seem to have color in a washed-out world like the one they were in?

Another piece of the puzzle, it seemed.

He stepped over to take it, picking it up to hold in his hand, and was struck by images flashing through his mind.

Each was brief, but certainly not one of his own thoughts.

Rather, they came in still frames, ones of a certain Devil and the heir whose sounds of combat had elapsed for a brief period, and ones of that same brunette and the people whose bodies were slowly sinking into the ground behind him. Crystalized, in such a way that Masaomi felt as though those very images might shatter beyond repair if he dropped the pendant.

Considering the images that had appeared in his mind when he listened to the shadows?

"These are..."

'Just what the hell happened to you, Luna?'

The shadows had stopped whispering. He stared down at the pendant.

Had she decided to leave these... memories, to adorn her parents' tomb?


This Luna was trying to not be the one he knew. Yet...

"You're wrong, Luna. You just... do not want to hear me. I have heard you out. Even if it is difficult, please listen to me. I want to help you. I mean to do just that."

The expression on Luna's face froze again, but then snapped into an anger that he was almost taken aback by.

"I don't need your help; so the only thing you can do is piss off and die!"

As the brunette fired off her beam, the Blue Phenex erupted into action, blasting to one side before slamming into the Worldweaver with not any elemental attacks, but with a shoulder tackle at such speeds to send her careening into the distance.

"I refuse."

She recovered, and then moved, a black-and-red blur zig-zagging through the air before she and Ruval collided, the shockwave visible from their impact.

"THEN YOU'RE TOO FUCKING LATE TO HELP ME!"

Ruval could see her eyes, clouded with rage.

But as they broke off, and collided again and again, weaving between each other's projectiles only to crash on equal terms, he could begin to understand more and more about what lay behind them.

Once more they were at a deadlock, Ruval using two blades of supercondensed flame to block Luna's wings. Oddly enough, despite the extreme temperatures they were subjected to, said wings did not so much as budge, and neither did she so much as give off a single impression that she was in pain.

No, that wasn't quite right. She felt the heat for certain, the bead of sweat that formed on her brow was proof, but she did not so much as flinch.

His own chest puffed up as another feeling, not unlike the excitement that had been rising inside him before, burst out in a defiant shout.

"I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT!"

In their brief struggles between bouts of rapid movement and clashes, he kept talking.

"If there is anything you've taught me..."

Dodge, backpedal, rush, jab, jab, jab, swing, deflect, riposte, slam.

"...it is that anything is possible!"

"Shut up! Shut! Up!"

They broke off again. Specks of blue met curves of black amidst grey, the skies erupted into mosaics of color, splashed with white sparks from collisions of fire and scales, mixed with yellow as blasts of electrified wind shot through the black smoke caused by the impacts of the previous attacks.

"You aren't listening, Luna! Do you not get it!? I want to understand you! I want to share your burden!"

A wide beam of black light came screaming from the Worldweaver's wings in time with her own wordless howl, a veritable pillar of dark energy to blot out the moon as it bore down on the Blue Phenex. His own electrified burst of wind was utterly consumed by that beam, which only seemed to grow in intensity.

It was met with a magical circle equal in size, built and designed with one simple intent in mind: Stop.

Beam met circle, and circle held firm. It cracked, and nearly broke, but it only shattered when the attack it was meant to stop itself was expended.

It still took far more energy from Ruval to block, however, especially given the spontaneous nature of Luna's beam.

Had she been set off by that last attack of his somehow?

The fragments fell around them as Luna and Ruval smashed against each other again.

"You're better than that! You're so much better than this... this wanton hatred that's come over you!"

Blue fire became a dragon with talons of plasma, chasing a formless black comet through moonlit heavens. Comet and dragon faced, then crashed, rebounding off of each other before colliding once more, a mighty clash that shattered the night again, and again.

"How else could you have inspired those like Masaomi and I to become more than what we are now!?"

Something flashed across Luna's face, a brief moment of something over than rage, but it was there for a brief moment. That instant was all that the Blue Phenex needed.

Especially since she slipped up, overextending with a wing as Ruval approached, letting it whisk by him before grabbing the limb connecting it to her back.

"You say you're tired of caring?! Well I'm tired of not caring enough!"

He reached in, and grabbed her by the lapel of her shirt, pulling her close as though to headbutt her. She squeezed her eyes shut as though expecting such an attack, yet nothing came.

"I said it before, and I will say it again! I refuse to stand idly by while you drive yourself to ruin!"

Instead, the Worldweaver found herself pushed away and subsequently surrounded by circles upon circles of Phenex seals, ready to unload a mighty assault from all directions.

"Mark my words, Luna!"

They detonated, and the brunette became engulfed in the resulting blue explosions and aerokinetic bursts of wind that caused Ruval's clothing to ruffle.

"I!"

A blur shot out of the detonation, something he was expecting, already moving to stun her with a gut punch. He could hear the breath forced from her lungs as his fist sunk in, but he did not hesitate for a moment.

"Will!"

He withdrew that fist and held both over his head, before slamming both down on the Worldweaver in such a mighty impact that her following descent left contrails.

"Save you!"

There was some form of irony in the way Luna was sent careening down into the warehouse, smashing through the ceiling and cratering the floor below as Ruval said that, but considering how she got back up anyway, smacking herself in the midsection twice to stimulate her lungs into gasping for breath, it was clear that she was able to shake it off all the same.

Luna glared up at him. "Ngh... I don't want your salvation!"

Another voice interjected, now that they were back on the ground and in the warehouse.

"Is it because you don't want it? Or because you don't feel like you deserve it?"


Masaomi hurried back, slipping the pendant into one of his pockets for safekeeping as rapid footsteps carried him to the opening he could see in the distance, and the sky-tearing explosions whose shockwaves he could feel even from where he stood.

How did it all come down to this? How had Luna turned so violent so quickly? He knew that whoever it was that had tried escaping was gone, and that her scream came after that.

She'd done something to that person. Something to punish them for her parents.

Combined with the shadowy whispers… it was clear that the Worldweaver had snapped.

It was the intensity of which she did that alarmed him.

How much of that was because she'd lost her parents?

How much of that was because she was a Devil?

He didn't like to think about it, but she was a Devil. And she herself admitted that Uvarys's statement about Devils was true.

Did that mean that she fell under that purview too, and that what she showed him before was just a facade?

The exorcist swallowed the lump in his throat.

Had he been blinded by his hopes that he'd failed to see the truth?

It was hard to reconcile the girl that prayed to God with tears streaming down her cheeks, and the one fighting Ruval even now.

There was such darkness inside, it scared him, yet…

In a strange, twisted way, he almost understood her rage.

He'd felt it too at one point, didn't he?

And if she agreed that Devils were Devils were Devils, and hated it…

What did that mean for her view of herself?

"Father…" he breathed to himself. "...Was even their murder for a reason?"

His mother and father, who'd died to protect him.

There was almost something poetic about these two, these Devils, who may well have done the same for their own daughter.

Yet, that wasn't what the Church taught. They claimed all Devils were remorseless, selfish beings.

So why were these two killed simply for being Luna's parents?

It would only hurt her if she cared about them, or vice-versa, after all.

Had He planned for his own family to pass, so he could be here, to empathize with a girl who'd given into her hatred? To be able to say those words he himself needed to hear all those years ago?

Masaomi swallowed, eyes widening.

Then he heard something shrieking through the air, and dove to the side, back into the shadows as something crashed through the ceiling and plowed into the floor with such force as to leave a significantly-sized crater.

He watched as Luna - it could only be her, even with those wings and eyes - rose back out, slamming a fist into her chest to restore air flow to her lungs, before shouting out her defiance to whatever Ruval had said.

"Ngh... I don't want your salvation!"

Yet, almost as soon as Masaomi heard it, something about those words didn't sit quite right with him.

Why else would she have left bright memories at the graves of her parents?

Was she... trying to push them away?

He swallowed.

...Was this why his parents had died? So that he could try and break through to Luna now?

If that was the case, Masaomi could only wonder.

What would He want him to do?

Masaomi knew what He would have wanted from a man who'd already lost his family, someone who was a sinner as well, in a situation like this.

At least… he hoped he did.

That was what faith was for though, wasn't it? To believe in Him even when the path was cloudy.

So he put one foot forward, then the next, and started speaking.


As the new speaker stepped from the shadows, Luna's gaze turned to him, widening briefly before narrowing again.

"...Masaomi." She turned back to see Ruval coming back down, seeing how she'd stopped the attack."You're here too?"

If he was worried by her appearance, he hid it well behind his smile. "Of course I am. How could I just sit by when one of my few real friends was kidnapped?"

The Worldweaver shook her head. "Well, now you know I'm not kidnapped anymore. You can go now."

He shifted, but then stood his ground.

"I can't. Not until I've done what I can for you."

Red eyes glared over at him. "I'll kill you."

He tilted his head up briefly, to signify his defiance. "I don't care."

"Are you just as eager to die as Ruval?"

"I'm just as eager to understand you as him. Why you have become like this now. To try and help you."

A snort. "By beating the shit out of me?"

"By stopping you. Here and now. By listening .By speaking. Until you see reason."

"'Until I see reason'?" she echoed, voice picking up distortion and rage once more to the point where it was all but an unrecognizable, furious howl. "Until I see reason? I am seeing reason! There's n̸o̶t̸h̶i̴n̵g̸ ̵w̷o̴r̶t̸h̶ ̶p̵r̴o̵t̶e̴c̵t̶i̵n̶g̸ ̷d̴o̴w̵n̷ ̵t̸h̵e̵r̴e̵, Masaomi! It's rotten to the core, and I̴'̷l̵l̵ ̶b̶e̴ ̵t̶h̵e̷i̷r̸ ̷G̸O̵D̸D̴A̴M̷N̴E̸D̵ ̷E̷X̵E̵C̵U̸T̸I̸O̷N̶E̸R̴!"

It almost looked like Luna was about to go on the assault again, but Ruval interjected right before she exploded, landing across from the Worldweaver and exorcist. "Then what about those like Jaspal? What about those like Kuroka?"

The 'what about those like me?' went unvoiced, but his eyes all but said it anyway.

For someone in such a state as the Worldweaver, chances were good that she'd ignore it and start attacking again.

Yet...

Yet, it seemed to work.

Luna made to speak, but both Masaomi and Ruval noted that she didn't actually say anything. The former even noticed some of that rage that had nearly exploded out of her subsided just as quickly.

The exorcist took another step forward.

"You're including yourself in 'down there' too, aren't you?"

The brunette looked away, remaining silent for several seconds, expression ravaged by several emotions, none of them good.

Finally, a hand lifted to the side of her face, fingers resting lightly on the trails of black beneath her eyes.

"...A Devil is a Devil is a Devil."

Ruval noted how her voice was settling. "So you plan on destroying the entire Underworld, to spite the likes of Sirzechs and Zekram, even if it costs you your own life?"

That hand fell back to her side. "You don't get it. I've been fucked over so much. I've been abandoned, exploited, cheated, and now punished by the very system I was trying to make better. Just because I wouldn't play by their rules to the letter."

Ruval's expression was littered with a number of emotions… but understanding was not among them.

He didn't understand. He couldn't.

But Masaomi could.

He'd faced trials and tribulations of his own. For being Japanese. For being a late addition to the exorcists. For being Nineveh Division. For trying to follow his own beliefs, instead of sticking blindly to the dogma of the Church.

Masaomi understood all too well.

She laughed again, but this time it was an empty one, rather than manic. "I'm screwed whatever I do, and I've already thrown away my morality and conscience. It's only fair game that I bring everything else down around me."

A desire for justice, twisted into a vengeance that would break worlds if unchecked.

That was Ira, was it not?

She had succumbed to it.

Yet...

The Worldweaver closed her eyes and turned away, not daring to look at either as she spoke again. "...Right?"

She had succumbed, but she wasn't lost.

Masaomi took one more step, and held out his hand to Luna, palm-up.

Ruval looked at him like he'd lost his marbles.

The brunette's eyes reopened, and upon noting Ruval's expression turned to stare at the hand. Her face suggested the exorcist's hand had something both incredibly peculiar and disgusting in it, yet it was empty. "...What the hell are you doing?"

He smiled again, if only briefly. "What does it look like?"

Luna's eyes shot back up to Masaomi, and she snarled. "I already said I don't need it!"

"Who cares? I'm offering anyway."

Her voice started to quiver again.

"...I don't want it!"

"We've only known each other for small periods of time, but I can tell that's untrue."

Her shoulders began trembling.

"I... I... why?"

"Because you deserve better." Masaomi closed his eyes. "I know you've done some really questionable things, Luna. You've admitted to it yourself. But the fact that it weighs on you, that it's weighed on your mind so much, I think that stands for something."

He stretched his hand out a little further, letting his eyelids slide back open. "For me, that's reason enough. Please, come back to us. With us. We'll bring justice to your parents, to those bodies you've left in your wake. True justice, the kind that would give their deaths meaning, not the kind the Underworld parades around."

Masaomi swallowed again. What he was doing was heresy to the highest degree, negotiating with a Devil who was a clear threat to those around it. These types of Devils were the kind to be put down on sight, no exception. If the Church caught wind of what he was doing now...

But he had been led here for a reason.

He could see that now.

To stop her from falling, to save her the pain of taking the sad, empty road he almost had.

"You don't have to stand alone."

She stared at the hand, almost disbelieving. Masaomi could almost hear the thoughts running in her head. What were they thinking? Was this a trick? Is Masaomi really just that crazy, and Ruval too for apparently playing along?

All those and more, the exorcist knew, ran through Luna's mind, yet still she stood silent.

Haltingly, hesitatingly, her hand started to rise from its place at her side.


The dark aura was weakening.

By now it was apparent, that whatever happened, there was a limited charge to it, and that as Shirone took more hits, that dark energy was returning to more self-repair functions.

That the corrupted life force was returning to the Nekoshou's body was concerning, but at the moment everyone getting out of this in one piece was more pressing.

Jaspal dove to the side again as Shirone broke off from her sister, cracking the around with the force of her attack where the Valac had once stood.

Yet, even as the corruption dwindled the maddened ferocity of the white-haired Nekoshou remained just as unrelenting, turning around to kick an approaching Kuroka in the side, sending her crashing into a wall and indenting it, much the same as the other pits in the walls.

But there were a few things that Jaspal could note, even now.

Namely, that despite her surprising physical strength, Shirone was little more than a berserker; unerringly straightforward in her murderous intent.

Another was that she didn't have control over Senjutsu, meaning she was limited to physical attacks.

Finally, the berserk youkai was still but a child, and had a much shorter reach to apply leverage to.

But things weren't looking good all the same. Shirone was proving frustratingly tenacious, especially in taking hits that would normally send girls her age straight to the hospital if not morgue. Yet, they barely fazed her, even if the blood leaking down her face and body was telling of the injuries she'd sustained.

Kuroka, on the other hand, was a teenager, though one that was struggling to climb back out of the hole in the wall made by her body. She most certainly had a limp by this point, and her posture was shaky.

But she still got up, a determination to save her sister blazing in her eyes even as she re-initiated the melee with her younger sibling.

If a girl as young as her could take such punishment, then the Valac couldn't just run away.

Her combat ability was still, however, frustratingly low.

But even now, she was thinking, and running through plans while assisting how she could.

Case in point, Jaspal created another magical circle, this one creating a deluge of water to pin Shirone to the wall, adding another crater to the count as Kuroka backed away, next to the Valac.

"Please tell me you've thought of something to end this without hurting Shirone more," she groaned, one hand pressing down on her leg where a particularly nasty cut seemed to be giving her some issues.

"I have a couple ideas, but they are questionable in effectiveness at best," the ravenette admitted, a faint hint of shame tinging her voice. "Perhaps if we could buy more time..."

The youkai cringed, letting out a low hiss. "I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out."

"That aura's weakening, that I think we can both tell. Do you think you can hold out until then?"

Kuroka didn't need to shake her head for Luna's Pawn to see that she couldn't. Kuroka was cut up, and badly at that, running on fumes and Senjutsu at this point.

It was a dumb question, but as Shirone started tearing herself away from the pillar of water pinning her to the wall, it was something that came out more in alarm.

"...I think we need to try and wait it out," the Nekoshou offered. "Just hurting her doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

"Maybe some positive life energy would help in canceling that corrupted stuff?"

"No." A pause. "Not in the amount I can transfer from attacks anyway, especially since she clamped herself off from the world."

Immediately, another idea took hold. "But if I could buy you enough time to get in close and do a direct transfer, could that bring her back to her senses?"

"...That might work." Again, Kuroka cringed. "Though, if it doesn't..."

She didn't need to say any more. The teenaged Bishop was on her last legs, and Jaspal herself had little combat experience or repertoire to work with beyond what she could form in circles. To say nothing of the fatigue she was feeling too, the sweat clinging to her body and clothes.

If it failed, they were dead, simple as that. Neither would be able to flee fast enough to get away from Shirone's claws, and if the poor girl woke up over the bodies of her sister and host...

'No. I can't let that happen.'

Any more discussion was put on hold when Shirone broke free and scampered away from the spell keeping her in check, the wall finally giving way to the water cannon that Jaspal had produced. Jaspal's circle cracked and shattered as she stopped supplying power to it, and with it another wave of fatigue.

They couldn't keep going like this. They needed to end it, and now.

She came to a decision. "Keep her pinned down! I will apply a binding seal, so once I give the word...!"

The only response she got was a brief nod before Shirone and Kuroka were locked once again in a wrestle, but it was all that Jaspal needed to know that the Nekoshou was on-board with the plan.

The Valac heiress wasted no time, immediately running to the side, watching the two cat girls at each other's throats as she readied a circle, this one to immobilize, rather than to force into a wall like her water cannon had before.

As it finished forming, she called out, getting closer while staying as behind Shirone as possible. "Kuroka!"

Seeing that there was a circle in one hand Kuroka swallowed, before lunging forward to wrap her arms around her sister, holding her as close and tightly as possible, to hold her in place.

Shirone didn't take too kindly to this, and immediately began thrashing. There was a moment that she had struggled to try and lash out, bound by sisterly arms as she had been, but that was drowned out in a yell of pain as sharpened teeth tore into one side of Kuroka's shoulder, blood spraying from the feral wound as she tried to rip the black-haired youkai's trapezius apart.

The sight made Jaspal's stomach lurch, even as she rushed in and smacked the small of Shirone's back with the circle, forcing both sisters apart. As the magic started to affect the white-haired Youkai, she immediately turned to attack Jaspal, one small fist burying itself in Jaspal's stomach before she flew and crashed into a wall, gasping with pain as her head hit something hard and her vision started greying.

She couldn't pass out though, even if the pain was making it hard to make sense of the world around her, even if her lungs burned for air..

But then the young youkai stilled, spitting and hissing still, trembling to break out of the binding spell.

"N-now!" Jaspal choked out, and Kuroka acted.

Bleeding, wounded, and clearly wavering as well, the Youkai still managed to lift both arms and clap her hands to each side of Shirone's head.

She inhaled.

And exhaled.

The light blue energy that represented the life energy she was channeling started glowing around her hands, sinking slowly into Shirone as the black-haired teen tried to purge the remaining aura surrounding her sister.

For a time, it seemed to be working. Shirone's hissing, growling, and grunting started to lessen, as did the visible aura surrounding her.

Kuroka smiled weakly. "...Come back to me, Shi-chan."

For a moment, it looked like they'd managed to succeed.

Until it didn't.

Before the aura could dissipate entirely, the white-haired youkai managed to break out of the binding spell and headbutt Kuroka away, sending her too crashing into a wall with a followup kick.

Jaspal could only watch in horror as Shirone turned around and snarled, eyes still alight with feral rage.

There wasn't much aura left.

But it was still there.

And Shirone looked almost as feral as she had been before all the same.

They... they failed, didn't they?

Or was it her that wasn't able to hold Shirone with that binding spell long enough?

Shirone took a step forward.

Then another step.

Then the aura vanished entirely.

The youkai immediately collapsed onto the ground, eyes rolling up in the back of her head as she fell in an ungraceful heap on the floor.

"Shi-Shirone!" Kuroka scrambled out of the indentation her impact with the wall had made, staggering as one hand clapped to the bite wound in her shoulder before making it over. "Shirone!"

Jaspal herself tried to do the same, but found it rather difficult.

Actually, closing her eyes for a moment felt like a nice idea...

Though as she did, she also heard Kuroka say something else, sounding almost delirious herself.

"Oh no, Jaspal... Ugh... why am I... so dizzy...? Where's a phone... where's a phone?"

Then she didn't hear any more.


As the glow in her irises began to flicker, Luna's eyes widened, and the hand that had been rising to maybe take Masaomi's went to her face.

"No..." The trembling of her shoulders increased as the color began leaching off of her, rendering her more similar to the exorcist and Phenex, as well as the surroundings. "No, no, no, no, no, nonononono! Get back! Don't come any closer!"

Almost immediately, ichor began to gush from between her fingers, pouring down her arm to the floor, clutching her chest with the other as the shadows around them started to twist and writhe, as though they themselves were in agony, drawing the concerned gaze of the exorcist.

"Luna!"

"STOP!" The desperation in her voice indeed stopped Ruval cold, and even drew Masaomi's attention from the shadows around them. Above the pouring black coming from the once-tear-tracks, they met blue eyes.

Ones they both recognized. Ones that were terrified.

"Get away... get away... otherwise, I... I̶ ̵m̵i̶g̷h̷t̶ ̴l̶o̸s̶e̸ ̵y̷o̶u̸ ̶t̴o̸o̸.̸."

And with that, the black moved. Shadows flowed, and the ichor lunged upward, consuming the brunette before plunging back down, returning to the shape of an opaque black pool of concentrated wrongness.

It happened before either Masaomi or Ruval could so much as blink, but that very same blink later and the two were both making a dead sprint toward the last known locale of the Worldweaver.

"LUNA!" Ruval moved as though to immediately dive into the pool after her, but the exorcist stopped him cold with a stiff arm. "Get out of my way, Masaomi! She needs help and she needs it now!"

"And we can't just rush headlong into this!" he shot back. "How are either of us gonna rescue her if you drown yourself in whatever the hell that is!?"

"I..." He stared at the ichor pool that now stood where Luna once was. As much as he wanted to go for it anyway, that damnable Exorcist was right. He'd nearly been overwhelmed before his second wind hit, who knew what other surprises they'd face?

He needed to think clearly. Panicking wasn't going to get them anywhere, especially in uncharted territory as Luna seemed keen on venturing into.

But the blond couldn't feel her at all any more. Whatever happened, it was almost like she'd been pulled from the bounded field.

Or was it...?

Ruval reached a hand out, eyes scrunched in a combination of barely contained fear for the brunette and focus, letting his magic reach out to touch the pool of ichor-

PAIN.

"GYARGH!"

He let out a roar and staggered back as though hit, doubling over as the sheer wrongness and agony that the black pool's magical signature consisted of briefly overwhelmed him. In that same moment, he drew his outstretched hand to his chest, as though to try and snuff out a flame that had gone out of control with his body.

The exorcist cursed and stepped to help him remain upright. "Damn it, Ruval! You don't poke the black vomit-stuff, it always ends badly!"

"N-no, wait." Ruval coughed, steadying himself as he recovered from the hammer blow he'd received from so much as feeling out the pool.

But it had paid off, and his suspicion had been confirmed. After taking another moment to regather himself, the Eighth King continued. "It's another Bounded Field. A way more powerful one than the one we are in now."

"Another-" Masaomi looked between Ruval and the ichor pool. "Are you sure?"

The Blue Phenex stepped forward. "Absolutely. I have no clue how she was able to make a second Bounded Field so quickly, especially inside another one, but at this point I think we should be ready to expect anything."

The black-haired man's gaze shifted to Ruval with a deadpan. "Could have told you that from the get-go."

Ruval's teeth grit and his eyes shut briefly, keeping himself in check. "Enough."

Masaomi didn't shut up, but his expression firmed as he stepped toward the pool as well. "Okay, so it's another Bounded Field. Judging from how you reacted from just touching the boundary though, and with magic no less, it's definitely not welcoming to either of us."

"Some Bounded Fields have triggers for entry, otherwise they will rebuff the individual attempting to do so," the Blue Phenex offered as he walked around, eyeing the pool like one might eye a particularly loathsome insect. "It is an advanced technique, and can be broken through by a sufficiently powerful individual, so perhaps this Bounded Field works by the same logic."

That caused Masaomi to pause. "Triggers. Like a key for entry or something?"

Something that the Devil noticed, as his gaze turned back to the exorcist.

"...Did you find something while you were skulking about?"

"Yeah. The bodies of her parents."

"Where?" He wouldn't think twice about defiling the remains of Luna's family if it meant saving her-

"Hold up. They were entombed and sinking into the ground, I didn't think it right to disturb their final resting place beyond opening the lids briefly to see them. They're probably gone by this point." Masaomi didn't let Ruval dwell on that information though, instead offering more information about what he'd found. "There was something on her mom's coffin that I brought with me, though."

"Let me see it."

So he did.

Ruval's eyes widened.

"This is...!"

"I got a flash of something when I first grabbed it, most likely memories," the exorcist explained as he passed over the pendant. "I think it's linked to her transformation somehow given the shadows were much the same."

"...Considering that this was what I gave her when I made my Declaration of Intent, it... might be." If it held enough sentimental value. And from the sounds of it, it did. So what did that mean about...?

The Eighth King shook his head. Now wasn't the time to think about how Luna saw him. "But what happened to the Tear inside?"

"There was a Tear in there?"

Ruval nodded. "One of my own."

The black-haired human looked at the pool. "It was gone when I found it. I don't think it's the important thing, though. Try using the pendant as a key to open the boundary."

"Already doing so." Indeed, the blond was already kneeling before the pool, briefly pressing the pendant to his lips before lowering it to the ichor.

The moment it touched, a thin white line shot from the pendant to the other end of the pool, and like an opening eye the line split into two, revealing a black void beneath, interspersed with almost imperceptible twinkles of... starlight?

Masaomi started, but then paused as a thought came to mind. "Before we go any further, are any of your Peerage members nearby? We might need the extra bodies to help get Luna back out."

"No. They are working to proceed the investigation into who kidnapped Luna, or barring that are maintaining what holdings they can for her."

"And what about Luna's?"

"The Valac heiress is in a place of relative safety, and the Bishop is with her. If someone were to attempt a kidnapping or assassination, they would not succeed, certainly not without being found."

"I'll take your word for it..." He didn't sound convinced, but Ruval ignored the exorcist's ironic lack of faith in favor of plunging into the opened pool, with Masaomi following shortly after.

The opening snapped shut behind them.


A/N:

Splitting this up into another chapter, since it's a big pill to swallow. Apologies if this throws anyone off!