As THE big bad boss of Grigori, Azazel's morning had every flavour imaginable throughout his age. Still, finding one of his subordinates in a box neatly wrapped like Christmas present… was something he still couldn't decide whether it should be funny or bizarre, even with his wealth of experience. About two millenias ago, it was meta to send monarchs the head of their children or retainers to establish dominance or just plain old harassment, but that sort of culture died down long ago. This anti meta harassment caught him with his pants down.
Cue the shocked mailman's face and his friend's frothing.
" What a pain… That's what I get for being too curious."
It was very rare for him to get any sort of gifts, what with him being practically married to work and booze anyway. Having his first present in this decade might've made him a bit excited. He scratched his head and with a swipe of hand, both deployed a cover and wiped the traumatic memories of a winged old man tied up in tortoise bondage, courtesy of a resident vice-prez.
Thirty seconds later, the package guy was confused as to why he was there, although he found generous tip in his pocket afterwards.
" It's a great honor to be visited by the princess of Gremory, though it's a surprise knowing you're into pranks like this."
Her crimson mane was unlike her brother's slick and straight hair. Aside from that, she looked like the female version of the infamous Crimson Satan. One of the Super Devils, hailed with power surpassing even the original rulers of Underworld.
As someone who fell due to lust, a rare beauty like her was always welcome in his abode, but the circumstances kinda prevented that. Her pompous slash confident attitude was also the opposite of her brother's rather mild attitude.
Mild, yet destruction made flesh.
Pompous, yet…
Well, to be fair she was still young and hot-blooded.
" Now—"
Interrupted yet again by another knocking, the former Archangel shook his head and welcomed the unknown guest. This time, a pleasant surprise was waiting for him.
" Hello, my boy! Long time no see. About a year and half?"
" Good morning, Prof. Azazel. Err… Is it too early?"
He accepted the assorted alcoholic chocolate box, laughing all the while.
" It's fine. I see you've gone to Kuoh High as well. She's also my former student…One of the many schools I scouted back then."
Ushering his guest in, he snorted thinking that he might've had thoughts about one of the Kuoh great ladies having a sugar daddy. Well, that in itself was a small retribution for her reckless behaviour. Judging from the silly faces they were making, that was quite possibly the case.
After deciding that he had enough of the youngsters' awkwardness, Azazel stood up and clapped his hands.
" Alright, that's enough pleasantries. Faust-kun… you have a lot of explaining to do."
The Gremory heiress had cold sweat running down her forehead just from the pressure emitted by the unquestionable head of a biblical faction. The mentioned party's eyes were focused on the box, though.
" How about we untie the last participant before starting, professor?"
" You know, you've gotten cheekier compared to before. Not a bad thing, but maybe try to rein it in sometimes."
Azazel was many things, but not lazy, even though he acted like one 90% of the time with others. It's because he was pouring everything during his time alone that he had no choice but to be lazy for the rest. Even though it was just an annoying event he did for his Sacred Gear obsession, he did proper research on the schools he'd visited.
Sacred Gear possessors couldn't be identified? Bullshit. How do you identify leading characters in anime then? He ran them over anomaly detection algorithm and picked up the ones that deviated the most on several parameters. It was easy to detect the outliers using the simplest of algorithms humans loved so much.
That wasn't perfect, though.
For example, everyone from Kujaku Middle that didn't come from rich families got netted, since only either study lunatics or geniuses on the level of freaks could enter their bullshit scholarship test, or get reccomendations for sports or academics even accepted by their management. Those self-serving peacocks really pulled no punches with their entrance exams for those that didn't donate enough.
All of them were students worthy of going to Ivy league universities, or at least national-level sports team if they continued their marathon for results.
" Azazel-sa—"
" Shush."
Dohnaseek stood petrified, not brave enough to move after being 'told off'.
" I'll cut to the chase. I think there's a possible power play here."
" Power plays are commonplace. Kid, as long as there's this thing called bureucracy and politics—"
" Even if they'd break balance between Three Biblical Factions?"
Azazel made himself comfortable, and decided possible vaporization of his pupil could wait until after he heard his story. Faust's explanation was clear and short, very unlike a story. It was something that would have love-hate relationship with teachers since it's clear and short essay. Less work, but most teachers couldn't accept any less than 2 pages.
In this case, for once, it worked in Faust's favor, though.
Azazel nodded his head. Although the so-called mutiny was close to impossible, it was a fact that what his subordinates were doing was far riskier than they had any right to take. In terms of effect, it was indeed possible to turn out like Faust had said.
" Not to mention Asia Argento's murder attempt. Even if it's not known, Church definitely keeps tabs on her. There's a reason why the miracle of healing is so widely known and admired compared to offensive ones. She was heralded as saint once, you know."
" Isn't she excommunicated? What good is she for the Church then?"
Both Azazel and Faust snickered at Rias' seemingly amateurish question, Faust more because of his numerous older novel count. The old fiction meta was not of other world, but church and Nazi conspiracies after all. It was way better than most modern ones in his opinion.
Screw the isekai meta! I mean, I get why it's so appetizing, but c'mon!
Her face turned to something kids would avoid whether day or evening. Seeing that, Faust quickly disguised his snicker as a cough.
" Just say she's done her pilgrimage of atonement or some bull and bing bang boom, back to the fold. Especially if she's needed… For VIPs maybe, or imminent war."
" The word 'God' is surprisingly powerful to the faithfuls, even if the ones swearing in Father's name were cosplaying old UBs."
Azazel turned his attention to the human.
" So let me get this straight. You're saying, this guy and his pals are disposables sent to agitate these maou sisters by Kokabiel. It's just gonna make the princess here wary and more difficult to kill, right?"
" Not by him. If they're wary, they'll respond to other possible threats more recklessly. For example, if there's some sort of incident that church would have no choice but to get involved in…"
" Then take her home. Problem solved?"
Azazel's tone definitely suggested otherwise.
" For how long?"
If Kuoh were to be abandoned, eventually it would be reclaimed. In the meantime, Kokabiel could set up whatever he wanted, take whatever he needed. It's impossible to be abandoned, since devils' upper echelons would never let that stand. Their pride would never allow it. There might be more military force, but if the devils couldn't spsre enough to guard their leaders' siblings, he wasn't sure how much of an improvement that would be.
That meant whatever happened, he'd stand for profit. Even right now, they were under threat of other fallen angel stragglers/squadron to wreak havoc again. Even if they were more powerful that them, almost all fallens, whatever class they were in, were far more experienced than the two devils. In the first place, Kuoh was only manned by two teenager high-class devils with no real combat power, but extremely high value.
Faust was questioning the sanity of their siblings. Were their heads kicked by donkeys or something? It'd be easy to send in bodyguards here from their side, though. It's an easy fix, if only that was possible in the first place. There must be a reason they didn't have bodyguards in the first place?
" Far-fetched, but I'm creeped by how close you got to his modus operandi. Right, Dohnaseek?"
The goon in question nodded nervously. Even in his centuries of age, the time he'd ever been so close with THE leader himself could be counted in one hand.
" The mission was indeed commissioned by Sir Kokabiel. He told us to build an army, since Kuoh is a major supernatural hub."
" By taking their Sacred Gears."
Azazel's face darkened after hearing that. It seemed for a Sacred Gear sommelier, that was a big taboo.
" Got him."
Even if it didn't help convince Azazel, it would definitely increase his punishment. Have fun getting screwed, he thought. The Grigori leader didn't speak for a while, instead intensely staring into Faust's eyes like a chef to his ingredients. Suddenly, his arms were on Faust's shoulders, completely immobilizing him.
" AAAAAAGGGHHHHH!"
All his vision turned white and black as whatever made the world twisted upside down, left to right, diagonals and whatnot, and he lost all sense to pain. After agonizingly long seconds that felt like hours, with muffled screams, the world shimmied back into its proper place as something was poured down his throat and Rias' voice calling him out.
" You recover quickly. I thought you'd at least be out for an hour, even with the meds."
Rias grabbed his head and put it back on her lap. Even if his head was asking to be removed already, Faust could feel there was intense red aura around the young devil. How he could sense colors, he had no idea. Even though she was silent, her whole body was steeped in rage, gradually causing minor imaginary space quake around them. The only thing stopping her from clobbering the pimp was her gently running her hands on his hair, constantly checking his conditions.
" Sorry, okay? Normal occlumency methods didn't work, so I had to go manual."
However, it was all dark around him, aside from the "feeling" that was kind of like another sight for him. He knew he couldn't see, but "saw" nonetheless. It was a funny feeling.
It was like spectator view of RTS games, but in first-person.
" Hm, he's still unconscious? Must be getting old."
Rias' glare didn't do anything to his pace. Noting her obvious dismissal, Azazel offered her the vial filled with clear brown, almost golden liquid. After her distrustful glare was met with a shrug, she propped him up and slowly poured the liquid in, guiding it with strands of magic to prevent untimely choking.
Of course, with him "seeing" everything somehow.
" This is nice, but how the hell do I get back in?"
His answer came in seeing everything in two perspectives for a moment, then awakening inside his actual body. His head and whole body felt like a migrating horde of wildebeast used him as carpet.
" Don't force yourself. Rest a bit more, okay?"
Her hand rubbed his forehead, trying to ease the visible signs of headache. In truth, even if he wanted to, he couldn't get up anyway. The only parts he could move were his mouth, eyes, and fingers.
" Again, sorry for my forceful methods. I didn't expect you to have such powerful mental defenses, so this old man here got a tad cautious."
He put down a glass of the brown liquid and plopped himself to the sofa across them.
" Valhalla's special mead. This thing revitalizes even einherjars, but for you it's diluted to around 1%. Otherwise, you'd explode."
His laugh really made it sound like exploding in a shower of gore and blood was nothing to but amusement. For around an hour until Faust could regain some mobility and resolve to get up, Azazel kept on yapping about things, sometimes annoying Rias to respond with a bit of poison in her tongue. He seemed to be chill about it, though, returning her jabs one for one.
" So did you come to my middle school to look for something?"
" Well yeah. Looking for some protags, seinen ones."
Faust snorted at his sarcasm. Middle schoolers were extremely prone to having dark time, especially with their imaginary slash real supernatural powers. Just imagine what they'd do if they knew their powers were real. Maybe his middle school could've been blown to a billion pieces.
" How many?"
" None. You un-rich students blew my search algorithms."
His jab was harmless, indicated by his light tone.
" Right, speaking of which. Did your research get completed?"
Rias Gremory didn't know what could make the Fallen Angel governor, one of the most brilliant inventor in the supernatural world, so excitedly jumpy. He was leaning forward on his seat, eyes widened like a child pressing his face to the window during first day of White Christmas.
" Thanks to you."
Of course, the first time he realized his thesis professor who joked about having the same names as evil religious figures was THE Azazel, the big bad heretic angel that fell from heaven and brought a third of its force with him, he fell from his chair, and stayed on the floor for good ten mins.
Hyperventilating, and for once…
Thankful.
If he'd known, or something had gone wrong back then… If he'd ticked him off somehow, who knew what fate awaited him? It was terrifying, and he almost aborted the plan then and there. Rias suffered from that exceedingly rare moment of gratitude, though.
The very same guy smiled from ear-to-ear, gripping the armrest of the sofa. Faust was still paralyzed, resting on Rias' thighs with bare minimum movements. His range was extended to minor twitches of his limbs, and voice barely more than a rasp. Mostly after he drank a gulp of the mead Azazel provided. Rias' constant stream of healing and periodic aid to drinking also contributed.
After another ten minutes, Faust finally regained enough control of his body to lift himself off her lap. The first thing he did was pour the mug's content down his throat. Azazel didn't even have the time to warn him, but it was clear that his action was a second too late.
" gaaahh…"
Even though his voice was underwhelming, Faust was being burnt inside out. However, the fire lit up his energy, and filled his vitality. The pain was not meaningless, at least. Once the pain subsided, all his tiredness, fatigue, etc poofed away. However, the energy was too much, to the point he felt stuffed and uneasy.
Instantly, he was grabbed by scruff, and blitzed somewhere.
Rias, who couldn't even follow Azazel's movement, was stuck waiting in confusion and occasionally cursing for around an hour and half.
Meanwhile…
" I warned you."
Faust was currently sparring the homeowner, if that could even be called sparring. It was basically super high intensity workout disguised as a fight, as Azazel didn't even attempt to strike back or even break his attacks, only blocking and avoiding. It was after running fifty kilos in fifteen minutes, and doing crazy gymnastics like a drugged maniac for another fifteen.
" Here ya go. Valhalla mead's good for energy recovery, but it barely patches up your body. Ambrosia's the other way around. Well, unlike einherjars who can die however much they want, demigods can only die once even with their divine energy reserves."
In the middle of a dragonball-esque fistfight fast-forwarded, Azazel pried open Faust's mouth and popped in a marble of amber-colored substance, before sidestepping his fist. His current state could best be described as sugar rush magnified by ten… thousand, to the point of ripping the very container apart. His mucles ripped apart, and his bones cracked and splintered, but with his senses magnified tenfold. AND pain. Enhanced senses meant super painful moments. His face was littered with blood coming out from his ears, nose, and eyes.
So Azazel had him expend that energy in rate that would barely leave him alive and heal his breaking body whenever he got too close to the reaper.
Repeatedly. Around once every five minutes. For one whole hour.
If anything, Azazel expected him to break down in the middle and resign to exploding, but his mind held out nicely. The pain of destruction and rebirth was a path no sane man would tread willingly, after all.
" Feeling better?"
He was lying on the ground, still energized but with severe muscle cramps everywhere. The opponent bore down on him, shaking his head.
" What the hell were you thinking, honestly. I JUST warned you'd explode, unless you have a death wish?"
…
" Okay, have one more."
Faust was fed one more marble of diluted ambrosia and back on his feet.
" I thought it was just a metaphor for super painful experience."
" Haha, you're quite a crazy young child, huh? Come with me."
Again, he was dragged like a mama cat dragging its kitten somewhere, only with hand instead of mouth. It wasn't like he couldn't walk, just that Azazel wasn't patient enough for his snail pace.
The room they were in now was filled with various experimental contraptions. A table full of beakers, test tube racks, and bottles labeled with language he didn't recognize. Several pods like in sci-fi movies, robot arms, and several tools and gadgets he didn't recognize.
And of course, computer. It was definitely not a normal one. It's run by mana, if what he felt from there was correct.
" Best part about mana-powered computer is less electricity bill, and a little faster processing speed. And little to no damage from overclocking."
" Doesn't that mean you can overclock it 24/7?"
" Yeah, bad efficiency though, so only in emergencies. I'm the power source most of the time, after all. Anyway, for why I'm bringing you here…"
He raised two fingers.
" First, I wanna borrow your prototype for this."
The computer booted up, showing an avatar of a mature, seductive black-winged angel who managed to still look innocent somehow. The request asked many things at once, both as inquiry and confirmation of his suspicions.
" Azazel-sensei… You should know already, don't you? You've read my entire life, after all."
Thus, the boy answered in kind. Vague answers for vague questions, since both had multiple things that could be asked and answered with just that. The tension was gone the moment he received the answer. It was not the best, but it was decent at least.
There were things better left untouched, after all.
" Well, glad to see you actually made your paper back then a reality. It's really late but, as your mentor, congratulations."
He started pushing away scrolls and stuff away from his personal table, and pulled out something like a pitch black, flat pipe.
" Barely any supernaturals can be killed by man-made weapons, even by nukes. So you need some sorta way to protect yourself."
Some viscous substance, nor liquid nor solid jutted out from the pipe, wriggling violently before turning into a night-black blade the length from his elbow to the tip of his middle finger. The sleek, smooth blade belied its previous form, and the process.
" Nukes can't kill supernaturals? Why?"
" Something to do with the weight of existence, class, and err… It's kind of hard to explain. But at its core, it just lacks the potency. Well, some ARE vulnerable, but high-class upwards? Nope."
Seemingly satisfied, Azazel offered the blade in his hand.
" It's liquid metal Shoggoth. Eats what it cuts, and grows. Adjustable length, just tell it the specifics.. brrlll~"
His speech garbled as pain shot up his mind due to the quirk nearly all of Lovecraftian monsters shared blasting him. However, it was barely enough to disturb his concentration. In front of him, his ex-mentor was rubbing his goatee that charmed more than enough women (self-proclaimed, of course) with an amused grin.
" Oh, I thought you'd at least scream. Good, good. Your mental resistance is quite absurd indeed."
As soon as he told it to 'sheathe' itself, it burrowed into the pipe, and the strange pain in his mind subsided.
" It's sturdy, and cuts nicely, but you see the drawback for you and everyone around you. Weaker minds would get rattled at the very least in its presence."
Faust put whatever it was carefully inside his jacket's inner pocket. He liked ones that had pockets sewn to the inner side AND the outer instead of just the outer. Made hiding things easier.
" It's nothing much, but that's really the only decent weapon I have on hand… Well, if you count out ones that'd explode or try to eat you, or maybe invade your body and take over…"
" That's scary. Skip."
" Hey, don't judge it before you try it. Having a dragon inside sounded awful until you know it's one that can kill divinities through brute force. Things like 'weight of existence' meant nothing to them."
Faust couldn't help but agree on that one. Issei's gear was a very obvious example.
" Okay, I gave you an ace, now to work on the basics."
All of the weaponries he had on hand, which included two light handguns, two light-swords, and a pair of holy knives were clattered to the now relatively vacant table. Faust touched his pockets, not surprised to find them empty, more like perplexed at his own inability to even notice when and how they were swiped.
" Light-swords lose their powers without constant consecration that links them to Heaven's system. Yours will work for some time, but eventually, they'll tap out. I hear some stray priests resort to some shady holy power research about holy swords to fix that, but eh, still subpar at best. Ah, jackpot."
" They explode."
" Not in an area with enough holy element saturation. It's silly that this thing can't differentiate pure holy power and corrupted one of a Fallen's. Okay, screwdriver, hammer… Nails, duct-tapes…"
Azazel's hands worked like experienced artisan. Like magic. One could see how used he was to tinkering, no matter how amateur they were. The two cores were pulled out and placed in a container, while he was fashioning a hilt by combining the two containers and some metal bars.
" So, a bit over a month. How do you feel about being on this side? If there's an upside, most of the women here have waayy higher beauty standards. Still, that Gremory princess is quite high on the list even then. It's rare to find a beauty like that anywhere. Not to mention her… hands-on approach. Maann, you're pretty lucky bumping to her first."
His chattering didn't slow his workflow at all.
" Even then, you fell for human woman?"
For a second, he looked like an old man reminiscing happy memories. His hands stopped as he hummed a tone.
" Back then, humans were… enviable. They're careless, living their finite lives, but still happier than any of us in our eternity. No higher purpose, no fate, no nothing, just finding what value there is in being alive. Though their single-mindedness to something is equally astonishing, I personally like the other aspect more. Now, though… That's why most supernaturals don't even bother with humans anymore."
Faust nodded and carefully sat on one of the vacant chairs around.
" Well, you haven't answered my question."
" It's awkward to speak about that sort of thing to your mentor slash supernatural last-boss."
He guffawed, not that loud but somehow rattling the whole lab.
" Just a little man-to-man talk won't hurt anybody. Besides, it'll be less awkward after, right? Come on."
To be perfectly honest, Faust saw no point in that. Why, this guy had seen his whole from his own perspective via the equivalent of splitting his head, dousing it in spyritus before setting it on fire, then piecing the ash back together. Small talk about how he felt sounded pretty shallow and frankly, pointless after all that.
" Feels like cheap isekai plot. I can live with that."
" Yeah, isekai really ruins the fantasy genre nowadays. I don't blame you for thinking like that. Trust me, though, real life has better plot than those."
" Sounds like suffering though. Honestly, trash isekai plot sounds like amazing real life plot. OP from level 2, trash skill that turns out super OP, etc. Sounds cringe, but would be super nice to have in this world."
His mentor couldn't help but be too amused by his answer. His student was actually a closet weeb, kind of. Not that it reached that level yet, since his collection turned to ash once. Yeah, he thought, it's gonna be hard to become a weeb with that sorta trauma.
" Here ya go. A spear since you have too many swords already."
A light spear with the two light swords' hilts combined as guard. It also had a blade attached, and the holy energy coated the blade. It certainly wasn't something concealable. Now, he wasn't an expert at weaponries, even more smithing, but even a total amateur could tell.
" The light energy is used as enchantment rather than actual blade?"
" Sure. Any ordinary metal would break apart in no time, but I've got some really strong stuff here. Rather than letting it waste, this is more appropriate use for it."
Azazel had used his own holy energy to melt down the strong metal and mold it with telekinesis. The spear being molded via holy energy itself also greatly boosted its durability and compatibility to the cores installed inside. It was a feat unthinkable to any blacksmiths, really. It seemed him being a Sacred Gear maniac had some upsides after all.
Maybe if I played my cards right…
" Azazel-sensei. I'd like to ask you something."
" That went well… You even got presents from him." I was glaring at the redhead who was desperately avoiding my eyes. This silly girl didn't just follow me, she outright went ahead of me without even telling me. Even after we agreed that I should go alone to avoid annoying and unnecessary dangers.
She almost ruined everything, and got us both killed.
But I really couldn't bring myself to yell at her, with her feeling so bad already and her doing it out of worry of my well-being.
" It's good that it went without much trouble."
Wow, she almost looked like a deflated balloon, with the tension poofing out from her system. Anyway, now that the matter was finally done, I flicked my hand, creating a small tear in space and throwing my newfound items inside.
" You're good with that spell already. If you used the subspace, Azazel won't even think of stealing your items."
" But I'd be unarmed. And I don't trust panicky, desperate, and afraid me to properly activate this spell and not cut out one or more limbs."
" Faust, what's that on your back?"
It seemed she sensed it after all.
" Ahh… damn. I expected as much, but going near Azazel really was too much."
I lifted the veil that camouflaged a custom magic formation It was a crystalline purple circle, with three nodes shaped like tomoe on the outer later. Usually, it would be fine, but Azazel's passive mana output was just too vast for me to keep it hidden entirely the whole time.
It's like balancing a glass of water while running. Gets harder the fuller it becomes.
" At first, I was thinking about how to balance several body enhancement at once. But frankly put, that's utterly impossible."
She put her hand on the circle and examined the spells stored within. It's embarassing, but unfortunately I didn't have some super cool enhancement formula in those hack plots. Magic was way harder than calculus, and that's saying something.
It made sense how easy they did their temptations in books and stories. Just thinking how they learned something akin to advanced freaking calculus from infants spooked me.
But I managed to do it.
And Azazel was hopefully sternly on my side.
The relief dropped my cortisol and adrenaline below par, and all the mental and physical fatigue caught up finally. My eyelids suddenly felt too heavy, and the world dimmed to darkness.
" Uhh… Faust?"
One word. Ouch.
Issei's pat on the back sent me reeling as last week's cramps crashed like a drunk driver in a dump truck. Damn, I thought I got out of that hell safely, with the amount of ambrosia and mead dumped into my throat.
The mead gave energy, and the ambrosia healed. But none did anything to muscle cramps and fatigue. It seemed demigod physiology prevented heroes from getting tired too easily against mythical monsters. Godly blood was practically steroids on steroids in that sense.
" Faust-san… Do you feel better?"
" Yeah, thank you, Asia. But I don't think you can heal fatigue…"
Although there was no tear in muscles, they were still tired and worn down from that ordeal. Azazel's spartan crash course was just that intense. Even with regeneration spell active, despite a basic one, I was still so worn down that for the first time, the automatic daily routine ingrained to my body didn't activate.
Thus, I had to wake up and do routines the peasant's way.
God knew how many times I had to wake myself up via convincing myself I was awake.
Class was jotted down, as usual. My notes were the kind of notes people would hate, as they usually couldn't really understand it. People said the truly smart people could explain complex things simply, but how about those who could understand complex things just because?
One of the reason I never considered myself special.
…Oh shit, I fell asleep. So that's why I got to have that cringey monologue without the creeping feeling of disgust. Wake up, me.
" Kuroki-kun, would you like to go to the nurse's office?"
" Thank you, teacher. I'll be washing my face first then. Please excuse me."
" Careful now. Your health is a responsibility you'll carry for your whole life, so be sure to get a headstart. Kuroki-kun, you've been off these past few weeks."
He looked over the whole class.
" And that goes for all of you."
You know, school was one of those places that you'd greatly miss as an adult. One of it was because there wasn't much freedom, and thus, not a lot of risky and potentially ruinous situations to undertake during that time. Nor would dangerous choices, not that we'd recognize anyway, be forced upon you.
Or at least that's what that same teacher said a lot of times.
" But that also meant… We're unable to handle it if anything goes that far."
It's UNFAIR. And it's keeping me awake. Add the fact that we must pay the price with bullshit interest once reaching a certain age without being sure what age it would be, just added even more scare to it. There's no such thing as happiest time in life, the most carefree period of life, when there's nothing to be happy about.
Not to mention if that were the happiest part, what about after?
" Bah, again, stupid mind of mine."
Now let's think of how to properly delete what annoying suspicions they had. Getting one of those teachers tell miss Godzilla about me struggling or whatever would be a huge annoyance for at least a whole month, no matter how they framed it.
…shouldn't that be easy with, you know, a bit of mind trick? The magical kind?
I bet I'd be able to do it now. Heck, all I needed was practice. I got the theory down pat already.
" Oh, Kuroki-kun. Take your seat."
…See? Easy.
" Oy, Faust, what the hell did you do?"
I mean, he might be bored with his ranting, but that's really no good excuse to just blast everyone's mind like that.
" …You should've just gone to the infirmary, honestly."
Yeah, well, can't say anything if it's like this. I might be a devil in physique, but I still thought that this poor guy's parents had the heart of one. Once, I saw him getting kicked out of house even though he was so sick he was in no condition to go to school, with words no kid, nor adults for that matter, should ever hear from their spawners.
Pfftt, spawners.
Yeah, guess I'm callng Kuroki couple that from here on.
The door creaked open, revealing buchou, kaichou, and their right-hands. Their stern faces could only mean Faust here's in trouble.
" Buchou, Kaichou, I—"
" Seriously, that Phenex bastard did that?"
" Kaichou, language."
" My bad, Tsubaki, but that's just… not done. That's way below standard even for him."
Uwaaahhh~ Seeing the 4 Great Ladies is healing my soul~ Devil incarnation banzai! Though it's a shame Faust's half-dead and couldn't see. Still, he's just half-dead, right?
" Oy, stop shaking me."
" It's worth it."
Buchou and vice-buchou's side preview serious face… kaichou and vice being exasperated… how often could you see that in the same room. Plus they were so pretty, it amped the plus by magnitudes.
What's with these goosebumps?
{Hooo, quite amusing fellow.}
The hell?
" Oh, Issei, Faust, you're here."
My death prophet shriek called in those four's attention. I saw her nod faintly, and Faust sighed, got up, and urged me to step out for a while.
" Oy, it's rude to get out when buchou's just saying hello to us."
" Take a hint. We're told to screw off from private stuff there. Why would Sona-senpai and Tsubaki-senpai come otherwise?"
Ugh, can't really deny that. The times one of those two would come to ORC room could be counted with one hand until now. Not to mention both at the same time.
Seriously, what's with these goosebumps?
" A dragon's seriously awesome. I can't believe you notice."
" What are you doing?"
I looked at Issei, more specifically, his right arm. That artifact truly was marvelous, truly deserving its place as one of the thirteen weapons capable of slaying even divinities. After I tried it myself (and failed miserably), that fact was made far more apparent.
" It's done… I'm finally done!"
My body and mind freed from the self-placed burden, finally I was able to shake off the perpetual dizziness and tiredness plaguing me for a whole week. Even though I preferred to look stoic and chill all the time, the freedom made me way too giddy to keep wide grin on my face, and banzai.
Ouch, muscles. Ouch, face.
" What are you doing?"
" Cramps. Yeowch… thanks a lot."
Issei immediately helped me back up to the sofa after that huge failure. It was embarassing, especially with the eyes of four ladies trained on me. But with jolting aches all over, there wasn't exactly any leeway to care much.
…much, not nothing.
Ugghhhh… Dang it. This is why I hated being too emotional. My inner fool would instantly rob the chance to come out and play.
Lesson not learned, obviously. Since my grin was still there.
" …Faust-kun, it's rare to see you so happy."
" Last time was when I lent him several grimoires and he almost got crushed."
The seniors entered and sat around me, basically cutting my way off. Not like I could run off with my body hurt like this, anyway. My sight wandered to the redhead, who shook her head vigorously.
" Even without Rias telling me, it's obvious you're developing new magic. What else would you do after reading a crap ton of grimoires?"
This time, the buxom bespectacled woman had her eyes set on the less developed one. In her life, she'd very rarely seen her boss being so crass in her language. To say it was a shock would be an understatement. At least, it was for me. Almost made me regret not setting up a recorder.
But with their attention on laser-focus like this, it's useless to worm my way out this.
" Yeah, I managed to complete the general equalizer for body enhancement magic."
That didn't mean telling them the truth though.
Way too long of a hiatus. Finding work is really too hard in this day and age. Getting used to it isn't very easy, neither.