It's a beautiful yet typical day in the town of Kuoh. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming, and in a classroom in Kuoh Academy, a boy with snow white hair, blood-red eyes, and a small scar running his lips is sitting at his desk spinning his pen in his hand.
He's wearing a black blazer with white accents over a white long-sleeve button-down shirt with vertical linings, a black ribbon on the collar, matching black pants, and brown dress shoes. This is the required uniform for all male students attending the school.
This boy is Zato Cero, the delinquent of Kuoh Academy, also known as the Demon of Kuoh. He's a first-year student at Kuoh Academy and one of the first male students since the school recently went from all-girls to coed.
After a few more spins, Zato stops and begins tapping his pen on his desk for a few seconds before the bell finally rings, ending the school day. Students eagerly shoot up from their desks, gathering their possessions before making a beeline for the door.
Slowly getting up from his chair, Zato grabs his bag before throwing it over his shoulder and holding it with one hand while the other hides in his pants pocket. As he moves to leave, the students, who stayed behind to socialize with friends, notice his approach and quickly make room for the delinquent. The faces of the students are either worried or actually afraid as Zato passes them before gripping the door and opening it.
Leaving the classroom, Zato walks through the hallway, not really paying attention to his fellow students. That is until he hears two voices talking about what was or still is the talk of the school.
"You hear, the Hyoudous moved." Says a young man with glasses as he looks down at the ground.
"Can't really blame 'em. After Issei disappeared, that house probably held t9 many difficult memories." Says another boy with a shaved head as he kicks the ground. "Any idea where they moved to?"
"Kyoto, I guess they think if Issei is ever found, he'd be close to where he first disappeared." The glasses boy answers.
Hearing enough, Zato keeps walking before sighing. "Those poor parents," Zato says as he begins walking down some stairs. Two other people begin walking up the stairs on the opposite side as he does.
As Zato passes the two, time seemingly slows down as someone red flashes before his eyes. Glancing over, he sees a beautiful young lady with long crimson-red hair that goes down to her thighs. This alone tells Zato precisely who this person is, Rias Gremory. One of Kuoh's Two Great Ladies, with the second Akeno Himejima being the one next to her.
Scoffing Zato looks away without giving the two women a second thought. As the two pass one another, Rias' gaze follows the boy before he turns a corner.
"Everything alright, Rias?" Akeno asks as Rias looks toward her friend while scratching her chin.
"That boy, I don't know his name." Rias answers. "That's odd for me. I'll admit I don't know the name of every student at Kuoh Academy like Sona, but I definitely know more than I don't." Rias explains while crossing her arms.
"I'm surprised that pit of all the people you know by name here. He would be the one you don't know. That boy is Zato Cero, the famed Demon of Kuoh,"
Cutting back to Zato, the boy had moved quickly and managed to go from the front gate of the school all the way to the Kuoh park. Walking past the fountain in the center of the park, Zato sighs before throwing his bag to the side and looking over his shoulder at the area behind him.
"Would you just come out already, I know you're there!" Zato shouts as he turns to face the direction he shouted in. For a moment, there's silence, the only sounds being the birds and the sound of the kind rustling the leaves of the trees. After about five seconds, go by before a girl who looks to be around the same age as Zato emerges from behind the tree line. The girl is rather pretty with brownish black hair that goes all the way down to her thighs, deep dark pink eyes, and a simple outfit of a pink shirt with black rims along with a black skirt and heels.
"I-I didn't expect you to notice me." The girl says in a timid voice, and she slowly approaches Zato. "My name is Yuuma. It's a pleasure to meet you," Yuuma says with a bow as Zato takes a single step back from her.
"The hell do you want, Ms. Stalker?" Zato asks with crossed arms as Yuuma suddenly perks up, and her face turns a bright red.
Shyly, looking toward the ground, Yuuma begins to fidget with her hands before. "W-well. I'm sorry for following you, but you don't seem like the easiest person to approach." Yuuma explains as she looks up to lock eyes with Zato. "I have something important to tell you. It's rather embarrassing for me to say, but here I go." Taking a deep breath, Yuuma composes herself before speaking again. "I really like you, Zato Cero. Please go out with me!" Yuuma shouts at the top of her lungs. After saying this, her face becomes reader than a tomato, as she starts fanning her face. "I said it, I really said it," Yuuma tells herself as she waits for Zato's reply.
Throughout that entire confession, Zato didn't show any reaction and hasn't said a word since asking for the reason Yuuma has been following him. Shrugging, Zato raises his arm before placing his hand on Yuuma's shoulder. "You know you really didn't need to go this far, I wish you would have shown yourself soon," Zato says as Yuuma's face lights up with happiness.
"Does that mean you acc-" Yuuma doesn't;t get to finish before she suddenly feels a chill run up her spine, Zato' grip tightens on her shoulder, and his voice goes from bland to one of stern venom.
"If you had just shown yourself soon, we could have stopped this bullshit so much soon. So how about you cut the shit and tell me what you really want with me, fallen angel." Zato says as Yuuma's eyes widen. On instinct, she swats Zato's hand away before taking a few steps back. Realizing what she just did, the girl quickly composes herself before speaking again.
"Sorry, but you were hurting me, and now you're talking nonsense. Fallen Angel, you watch way too much of that anime stuff if you think those things are real." Yuuma says as she points at Zato, who just slowly shakes his head a bit disappointed.
"Still gonna play the fool? Alright, I'll humor you for a little while longer." Zato groans as he puts both his hands in his pockets. "First, I'll start by giving you some credit. I couldn't tell what you were at first. I find it hard to distinguish between other races besides humans with presence alone. if it wasn't for your almost sickly perfectly balanced presence, I may have mistaken you for another race, but that near-perfect ratio between good and evil gave you away a few days into your tailing." Zato explains as Yuuma takes another step back, gritting her and balling her fist. "You're one persistent bitch I'll give you that. How long has this little chase been going on between us, two, or three weeks, maybe it was closer to four. That doesn't;t matter now though since you're quite royally fucked up but trying something on me of all people." Zato says as he takes a step toward Yuuma a dangerous and menacing arua beginning to come off him as he approaches.
"Look I'll admit following you maybe wasn't the best idea but this joke has gone a little too far hasn't it? You can cut it out now please." Yuuma says before suddenly her arm shoots forward and forming before her hand is a spear made of purple and red light. The moment her arm is in front of her Yuuma lets the spear go and it rockets toward Zato at speeds the average person wouldn't even be able to see.
Thankfully Zato isn't your average person. The spear is right in front of his face in mere seconds and once it's about to hit Zato tilts his head to the left, letting the attack pass right by him. The light spear hits an old tree and easily rips it into two halves before the top half crumbles to the ground like a sack of bricks. The sudden reaction and the person she perceived as a slightly above-average human being able to dodge even one of her attacks shocked her to the core. As she looks at him flabbergasted Zato peaks over his shoulder at the damage the light spear did and lets out a sigh of annoyance.
"You aimed for my head," Zato says as he faces the girl whose clothes tear off her body to reveal a rather exposing leather attire along with two black angel wings erupting from her back. Seemign with her first attack both thrown and missed she decided to hide her true self won't do her much good. "You really shouldn't have done that, but at least it clears up what your intentions are. You're trying to kill me." Zato says his red eyes seemingly glowing as now nothing but malice can be felt by Yuuma.
Still, despite this surprise the fallen angel pushes her worries away once, she reminds herself that the boy standing before her is a human. A normal human at that, not even a change for a fallen angel of her caliber. "Don't get cocky human. So you managed to dodge one of my attacks by the skin of your teeth I promise you that won't happen again, my next attack will finish you." Yuuma declares as Zato just cracks his knuckles.
"I doubt that," Zato says as Yuuma summons two light spears, throwing one in her right hand before throwing the one in the opposite hand. Once both her out of her hands she jumps into the air and with a flap of her wings she's now a good five to seven feet off the ground. As the spears rocket toward him, Zato looks at the oncoming attacks and once they're about to hit him he suddenly vanishes letting the spears stab into the ground. They shine brightly for a moment before fizzling out as Yuuma looks down at where Zato once was in surprise.
"Where did he g-gggoooo!" Yuuma shouts as she feels something grab her legs and swing her down toward the ground. Looking down she sees that Zato had jumped up grabbed Yuuma's leg and slammed her into the ground. Letting out a gasp all the air leaves Yuuma's lungs as she makes an impact with the ground. "Bastard," Yuuma growls as Zato slams his foot onto her stomach causing her and look down at the fallen angel who was just so full of confidence only a few moments ago.
"We'd all the confidence go?" Zato condescendingly asks as he twists his leg making the fallen angel let out a pain-filled yelp.
"How could a mere human put me in a situation like this?" Yuuma asks herself as she summons another light spear into her hand and attempts to stab the leg pinning her to the ground. However, a loud crack echoes through the silent park. Yuuma's eyes slowly move toward where the sound came from, as her eyes fall upon the source she sees the light spear she made fall to the ground before shattering like glass as her hand limply flops. As Yuuma takes that in Zato puts his hand back in his pocket.
[Cero Technique: Iaijuts's Hand]
Yuuma screams in pain as the realization that her wrist has been broken sets in and the pain shoots through her body. Zato lets her scream for a moment before stomching on her stomach.
"Shut it." Zato orders before leaning down toward Yuuma. "OK, so this can go one of two ways. One answer my questions quickly and to the point do that we can part ways and make sure we never see one another again. Then there's the second option bullshit, dance around an answer, lie to me, or just refuse to answer my question and well you can probably guess what'll happen." Zato explains while putting more weight onto the foot atop Yuuma's stomach.
"Fuck you! If you think a fallen angel such as me would submit to a miserable human like you!" Yuuma shouts as Zato groans in annoyance. A fist suddenly slams into the ground only an inch away from Yuuma's head. The ground crators around Zato's fist and Zato slowly raises his fist again before giving Yuuma a death stare.
Taking his foot off Yuuma's chest he grips Yuuma's neck before tightening his grip. "Last chance, I'm really not in the mood for any bulllshit." Zato states. "Now, just answer this question. Why'd you try to kill me?" Zato asks as Yuuma gulp before giving a hesitant answer.
"You posed a threat to our future plans. Killing you would illuminate that threat," Yuuma explains but apparently, that explanation isn't good enough since Zato tightens his grip on her neck.
"Too vague, what's this plan and who are you working with or for?" Zato asks as Yuuma's good hand grabs his arm trying and failing to get him off her. After a few seconds, she smirks just as Zato realizes he can now sense another source of presence in the area. "Shit let my guard down," Zato tells himself as he turns around while raising his arm to block the attack since he can sense that this person is within melee range due to how close his presence is to him. As he turns he sees a middle-aged man with black hair and dark blue eyes. this man is wearing a pale gray trench coat over a white dress shirt with a matching ascot, black pants and shoes, a pair of black gloves, and a black fedora.
This new combatant swings a spear of light like a sword aiming directly at Zato's neck. However, thanks to sensing how close he was beforehand Zato had raised his arm to block but Zato knew that a pure magic attack like this would cleave right through his arm and then his neck if he didn't do something. Tensing the muscles in his arm veins suddenly begin to appear on it as his muscles slightly puff up, as his skin takes on a more glossy look.
[Cero Technique: Fortify]
As the light spear makes contact with Zato's arm the two clash which surprises the trenchcoat-wearing man. The two hold the clash for a moment before a burst of force from the fedora guy sends Zato back and makes him release Yuuma. As he is sent back the man changes the way he's holding his dpear before chucking it like a javelin.
Zato quickly regains his footing and just bearly dodges the spear by darting his head to the left. However, the spear still deals some damage. The right top shoulder portion of his uniform is torn the shreds to, a few strains of his hair are cut off, and a cut on his cheek begins to bleed due to the spear grazing him. Looking down at the arm that clashed with the light spear Zato sees a deep cut that's profusely bleeding, but since he can still feel and move his arm he decides he'll worry about the cut later. Grunting Zato stands up and looks at the man and Yuuma who is getting back to her feet, getting a moment to look at him properly Zato notices the black angelis wings coming out of his back.
"Raynare, I see you're having some trouble." The man says to Yuuma or Rayanre as he called her.
"Shut it Dohnaseek!" Rayanre barks in anger as the man simply adjusts his fedora and looks at Zato.
"So, what's the play? He's obviously not a normal human like we first thought and if he was able to handle you easily he's stronger than we ever imagined." Dohnaseek explains as Rayanre grips her broken wrist and glares at Zato with a stare that might be able to melt through metal.
"I underestimated him and paid the price for it, I'll admit that. I won't make that mistake again, but with the two of us here he has no hope of winning." Raynare says as she looks back at her allies. "Attacking from the range would give him too much room to dodge, we'll close the distance and fight him in melee. We'll use our light spears as weapons to keep us out of his striking range. We'll overwhelm him with attacks until he's dead." Raynare explains as Dohnaseek smirks before charging forward.
"Sounds good to me!" Dohnaseek sounds with a smile as Raynare follows close behind as the two summon their light spears. Seeing this Zato gets into a fight stance with both his fists in front of him and his legs ready to dodge.
Dohnaseek strikes first swinging his weapon down hard but Zato dodges to the left only for Rayanre to be there with two spears, one in each hand and with her reeling. She swings both blades for a pincer attack but Zato ducks underneath it before dashing under her since she was slightly in the air when she started. With Zato now behind them, the two turn around only to see multiple Zatos. Looking around more they see that there is Zato circling them at an impressive speed.
[Cero Technique: Phantom Dance]
Seeing this display of speed causes the two to take a step back. "Can't determine which is the real one by sensing his magic. Whatever this trick is it involves more than just his speed." Dohnaseek explains before suddenly being lifted off the ground from behind. "W-what?!" Dohnaseek panics as he glances over his shoulder to Zato with his arms wrapped around his waste. With Dohnaseek lifted off the ground Zato slams into the ground with a German Suplex. Once the male fallen angel hits the ground Zato lets go and quickly gets back to his feet. As Dohnaseek tries to recuperate from the surprise attack Zato reel back his foot and kicks Dohnaseek in the side of his head as hard as can. The kicks send Dohnaseek flying away as Zato hears the flapping of wings behind him.
"Sneak attacks don't work as well the second time,"Zato states as he spins around and elbows Rayanre in the face sending her to the ground. As she falls Zato walks over to her but stops as Zato dodges a slopping and shakey thrust attack from Dohnaseek. However, Dohnaseek didn't care if he hit he just needed to get closer. As he passes Zato he turns and throws a small ball of light toward Zato. Seeing that he jumps back but as he does the ball suddenly explodes into a burst of light that forces Zato to raise his arm to block out the light, but even with that he's still blinded by the light.
"We're leaving Ryanare." Dohnaseek hurryily says as Zato hears rapid panicked footsteps before they turn into the fading sound of flapping wings.
As the light dies Zato sees that the two ran while they had the chance. Seeing this and not sensing anyone's Presence Zato turns his attention to the cut on his arm. It's deep, not deep enough to be a cause for concern but deep enough to wear he'll need to stitch it close. Ripping off the sleeve with the damaged shoulder piece Zato wraps it around his cut before sighing and starting his walk home.
"Wish I got more information out of her." Zato sighs as he wipes the blood off his cheek before flicking the blood onto the ground. "She said she has some kind of plan. The three factions aren't on good terms so that memes if she is working for someone it's gotta be another fallen angel, so it might be the guy I'm looking for." Zato tells himself as he walks home.
At an unknown location, Rayanre slams her fist into the wall as she screams in anger as a tall and buxom woman with brown eyes and long, navy blue hair bandages her broken wrist. "How could we loss to a fucking human of all things!" Raynare ranges as a hysterical fit of laughter fills the room the two women are in.
A young man with short white hair and red eyes, wearing clerical clothing and a psychopath smile on his face. "You and Dohnaseek got your shit rocked!" The man laughs as he points at the wounded fallen angel.
"If you think it would go differently for you then by all means go kill him yourself!" Rayanre shouts as she tries to walk toward the man but is held back by the other woman.
"Wish I could but I'm working for a bigger fish than you could ever hope to be and I can't risk messing up whatever he has planned." The man answers while rubbing his chin. "I might be able to pull a few strings and have a professional handle him." The man says while turning around and waving at the two. "But it'll be coming out of your pocket." The man sings as Raynare growls as the man vanishes back into the shadows.