Miyuzuin's demonic power pierced through the Khaos Brigade goons that stood in her way. Luciel didn't remember when was the last time he saw her wield an actual blade, but he also didn't know why she regressed to that if she just wanted to use it as a catalyst to shape her spells. He knew she managed to pull off those 'cuts' without a weapon before, or maybe she used one of the projected swords? At any rate, the numbers they were facing didn't require a lot of finesse, so she chose to practice her newer attack methods while Luciel stopped any spells coming their way. Advancing one in front of the other, with Luciel paying more attention to his mind's eye than the path in front of him, thoughtlessly following Miyuzuin.

That is, until a wave of Stain-bodies crashed against the remaining forces and the two snapped to complete attention.

Last time, Luciel needed to keep all of his concentration to avoid getting hurt by the slime's spells. Given that it chose to pull him away from his team first and fight them all second, so now he was on the lookout for any barriers or teleportation that could catch him by surprise.

Miyuzuin led him into the sky to start making lightning rain while Luciel blasted away with simpler zaps of condensed power.

They weren't the only ones fighting it off, but they were indeed the only ones standing their ground. And it soon became obvious that this three-way battle would end up becoming a normal two-team sort of deal. So…

"Let's retreat, there's not a lot we can do if Stain found us." Miyuzuin made the call as the Stain-bodies devoured half of the remaining Khaos Brigade goons in one tide of semi-transformed monsters "They were too weak anyway, your spell would be wasted."

"I can use it now." Luciel pointed out while stopping a tide of slime from slamming him out of the sky "It's right here and it's… Sloppy."

"It must be trying to make us lower our guard." Miyuzuin pointed out.

"Yeah, maybe. Or Sis' little gift is working."

"Lucius, let's not grow too confident here." The Belial girl gave him a look before cutting a wave of flying Stain-bodies with a single projected swing of her sword "Not with this one, at least."

"All the more reason to do it." Luciel reversed the pressure in the air all around the slime, forcing most of what remained in liquid state to seemingly freeze and start spreading out and almost separating.

The creature struggled to pull itself back, but Luciel simply fed his Kankara Formula more power and kept it pinned.

Miyuzuin took a moment to appreciate Luciel's work.

"Alright, this looks like a trap. Cripple it then and we run."

"All is—." Luciel started, but a blast of demonic power surged from a rather big distance. Breaking his concentration as he saw it first through the equations changing due to it.

"Guh!" Miyuzuin took Luciel and spun around, shielding him with both her body and demonic power. The blast launched them into the ground, breaking Stain's restraints completely, and making Luciel eat dirt before Miyuzuin recovered and pulled him along as she dodged another spell.

Stain's reaction was to try to get away, but Liciel dragged some of it along. Molding it by changing how the pressure and gravity pulled it and used the slime as a living shield that got splattered as the next blast carved it out of the air.

"Weaklings, the lot of them. Can't even deal with a few lowly creatures." The man speaking in an arrogant tone was one that Luciel knew really well. His long brown hair and demon-like armor left no place for mistakes "There is only two of you… To think a great being such as me has to lower himself to deal with some pests."

The only reason Luciel didn't launch himself to smack Shalba Beelzebub out of the air was because he activated his Autosuggestion while going into the air. Still, the rage that his spell channeled felt like a living force in his veins. Miyuzuin actually held him tighter so he wouldn't just rush forward. And that made him behave a little better while the two of them stared at the heir of an old Demon Lord.

"You…!" He still couldn't quite contain himself. It might've been a long time to others, but Luciel had been active since being kicked around for a month or so. It wasn't that fresh, but he could still remember the humiliation of having to bow to this man. And all that such an action involved.

"At the very least you know of me, good. Then be useful and perish." Shalba didn't even stop to regard them. He simply raised his hand and blasted them with some device on his wrist.

Luciel didn't even stop to identify it, he just pushed Miyuzuin to the side and dodged with her. The ray of light burned the ground, but did little else as Luciel forced it to stop gathering more power and basically rendered the device useless.

"Tch." Shalba changed to his demonic power, channeling the snake within him to create several magic sigils and—.

Miyuzuin did something, using a power that Luciel could only see through his Kankara Formula. A few of the sigils disappeared altogether before the blasts were released.

It caught the devil by surprise, but he couldn't do much as Miyuzuin summoned lightning to smack him out of the sky.

Luciel threw him downward, toward the remains of Stain that were gathering under the cover of all the things the goons had abandoned. Magical weapons, potions, and such things. He even recognized some mass-produced amulets meant to make demonic power quicker amidst the stuff being thrown around by the fighting.

Where was his? He'd had one. What happened to it? Was it confiscated?

"Damn it! If you all didn't butt in our matters—!" Shalba raised to the air again, spreading his wings and creating more demonic circles "Know your place!"

"Say something original." Miyuzuin stated as she used her sword again to project a slash that cut through Shalba's armor.

Luciel had to dodge the incoming rays of demonic power, as Miyuzuin chose to use Worthless directly on Shalba. It'd seem like she was weakening his natural defenses, bridging the power gap between them by…

Oh, wait. Of course.

"I'm popping it." He warned Miyuzuin and released her. The Belial girl exchanged blasts with lightning before speeding away, flying out of range before Luciel even lifted his arm "All is—."

More of Stain reacted, creating spells that rained on both Luciel and Shalba like some sort of volcanic eruption except made out of concentrated demonic power.

Luciel slowed down the attacks coming his way and flew out of their path while Shalba chose to meet those blasts head on.

"Lucius!" Miyuzuin called out, but he showed her his palm so she'd stop.

"A minute!" His mental spell still ran true. He knew he could do this, he knew Stain was growing sloppy.

Or rather, he wouldn't let Miyuzuin have this knuckle sandwich that had a special name engraved with special delivery to Shalba Beelzebub.

Miyuzuin used lightning to oppose the slime. Still keeping her distance. Luciel knew he'd only have about the time he asked before the white haired beauty remembered she was the one that knew about fights and discarded his strategy.

Maybe he was wrong, being caught by surprise like this. But he really, really wanted to flex like this. So he pushed even more power so he could get close. Flying lower so that he'd catch Stain too, given that the slime refused to let him do anything.

"All is Mine." He spoke softly, with a grin on his face. The pulse made the slime grow like it had gotten in a microwave and exploded a moment later into particles of power that were sucked into Luciel soon after.

Shalba screamed as his demonic power was ripped out, making him lose his flight and plumeling to the ground without any way of stopping. It'd have been funnier if there were some of his people to see him, but Stain going rogue and the factions taking turns to bully the Brigade kept them on their toes so much that even someone like Shalba was forced to do something.

Like, damn. Luciel remembered clearly how much they relied on their henchmen. No wonder this bastard was pissed off: He was rapidly becoming a king without a kingdom, and the other small factions in the Brigade were probably also getting desperate. It wouldn't be strange if they tried to eat each other, scavenging for secrets and powers that hadn't been shared.

An organization in its death spasms.

Luciel felt warm in the chest. He felt more complete. He even wanted to pray a little, be thankful that he got to live long enough to see some of these assholes squirming in the ground uselessly.

Miyuzuin flew closer again, letting herself drop from the sky onto Shalba and engraving him further into the ground. With her sword out.

"Wait." Luciel told her, and Miyuzuin gave him an annoyed look.

"He's from the Khaos Brigade, he must die." She stated coldly, not really leaving any ground for debate.

"It's my kill." Luciel insisted "I weakened him, I get to—."

Shalba released a burst of demonic power, forcing Miyuzuin out of the way to spread his wings, but she simply cut them while being thrown back. Making the devil scream as Luciel augmented the gravity around him and pushed him down again.

"Woah, there! No second winds for you!" Luciel chuckled "Hey, this brings back memories. How the tables turn, huh."

Luciel dug his heel into the ground to touch Shalba's chin with it, forcing him to raise his head while Luciel showed him the biggest grin he could muster. Making his cheeks feel numb instead of hurting thanks to Autosuggestion.

"You worm… How are you so strong? What are you?" Shalba spat while he struggled to get up. A big part of his armor had broken down and scattered even before Luciel caught him.

"Oh, right. My face." Luciel chuckled to himself, thinking 'silly me' as he put more power into the gravity and making Shalba groan under the pressure "You don't remember, but you left an impression on me. I can't sleep at night knowing you're out there without your ass kicked, you know?"

"You talk to the descendant of Beelzebub like…! You…!"

"You can't even talk now, so let's not pretend you're that big of a deal anymore. Hell, I'm a little disappointed. At least use your snake, buddy. Put up some resistance. It's not fun like this."

"You! How do you know of…?!" Shalba's expression of anger and pain cleared out, with his eyes becoming really wide as his emotions were replaced by surprise "What…? The snake is…?"

"Hmm?" Luciel frowned and looked better at the devil. His power had appeared in his senses before, but now Luciel almost forgot to look at him through his magic because Miyuzuin occupied most of his attention. But indeed, a lot of his presence was just… Gone. And not because Luciel absorbed it, but because a good chunk was missing.

The difference was too obvious, did Shalba lose the snake? But then where…?

Luciel looked at himself and patted his chest. It still felt rather warm, although his giddiness had disappeared from the confusion.

"Dear?"

"Now what?" Miyuzuin answered his call.

"Am I warmer than usual?" Luciel asked with the most confused tone he could muster. It let the silver haired girl know that he wasn't messing around, so she released her sword with one hand to reach out and pat his chest.

"No…? What are you talking about?"

"I'll… Have to ask Abby." Luciel took his foot from under Shalba's chin, letting him smack to the floor "Alright."

Luciel didn't do anything fancy, anything flashy. He simply pushed his power over the edge and widened the range from where the pressure came.

Shalba didn't have time to protest, groan, or even beg for mercy. In a moment, his nose started bleeding and in the next his skull gave out with a sickening crunch. He stopped struggling and blood dripped from the lacerations before Luciel released his spell.

"..." He looked at Miyuzuin, dispelling his Autosuggestion to let his emotions run rampant. He took a lungful of air and put up a small smile, looking up while everything became quiet around him "Damn it!"

Luciel spun around and summoned a pillar-sized bolt of lightning. It struck Shalba's body with so much intensity that the ground shook and the light eclipsed everything else for a moment. The clap of thunder was so deafening that when Luciel's vision cleared out, his ears were still ringing. And Shalba's body had become a lot crispier.

"Ngh!" Luciel summoned streams of flame, trying to carbonize the body. Turn it into ashes. Then, he tried to crush it again by putting all the gravity in the body's center, forcing it to twist and turn while the bones and muscles gave way due to the increasing pressure.

Miyuzuin's hand found Luciel's shoulder as he kept using his magic in this way.

"Let's get out of here, Stain might still be nearby." Her voice was clear but commanding, letting Luciel know that she'd hear no opposition whatsoever. The Invader needed a moment to release the body, as he knew that Miyuzuin was right.

He threw another blast for good measure, and immediately used his magic to take flight before he could try to desecrate the body even more.

"Some history?" Miyuzuin flew close to him, speaking normally thanks to her demonic power.

Luciel twisted the sound around, letting them both speak normally as a form of distracting himself from what just happened. He felt a knot in his throat, but he ignored it in favor of answering the question.

"You can say that." Luciel looked back, wanting to keep pummeling the man even though it'd be difficult to aim with the speed they were going.

"Leave it, it won't change anything." Miyuzuin's voice sounded lower. Her expression remained mostly neutral, but something in her eyes had become a lot… Sadder "Do you feel better now?"

Luciel scoffed at the useless question but looked again to the front. Miyuzuin looked at him with a side glance before continuing.

"Then you won't feel any better no matter what you do." She stated softly, in a tone Luciel had never heard before from her "Trust me. It's better for you to move on now. You don't want to end up like me."

"You're cool." Luciel tried to change the mood. Not for her, not really. But because the knot that twisted his stomach, heart, and throat refused to untangle and just made him a lot more confused.

"I'm basically nothing. All I can do is fight, all that is left of me is combat." Miyuzuin glanced at him for a moment before looking back toward the direction they headed "I trained, I sharpened my skills, I took revenge. And when it was all said and done, it didn't matter."

"You killed the people that murdered your…?"

"Every single one of them." Miyuzuin answered before Luciel could finish the question "I'm aware someone hired them, I know there was a larger plot behind it. But to a child, the face she saw in that moment was the incarnation of Satan himself. I could not have cared any less if I'd wanted, I sort of don't even now."

Luciel swallowed. He had the slight feeling that he was listening in on something he shouldn't. Miyuzuin looked fine, but something in her voice just… It didn't fit with his image of her.

"It took me years of unending work, years of finding the pieces of the puzzle and putting them together. I'm lucky that Miyuki was the one that found me. Who knows what'd have become of me if I had been found by any other of the Hounds, who probably had it just as bad as me." Miyuzuin smiled weakly, breaking her usual expression as she breathed heavily.

"She's your best friend for a reason." Luciel offered, trying to fall back on politeness by instinct.

"She was my first friend in my whole life. I grew up basically in the forest, where no one could see me. Well, the first years of my life." Miyuzuin sighed "She was a lot of my firsts. The closest to a family I had for a while. We became teenagers together, we became warriors together. She was my first love and heartbreak. But she refused to leave me alone."

Okay. Now Luciel felt a lot more awkward. So much so that he almost wanted to lie about what happened back in the hideout.

"Sorry to hear that."

"It was my fault. See? That's what I'm getting at: My world died in front of my eyes, and all that was left was a husk of a girl that only understood violence and revenge." Miyuzuin smiled bitterly, more this time "I almost lost my best friend because I didn't care enough about anything else. I almost screwed up in a lot of ways, and when I finally, finally found them… Nothing."

Miyuzuin stopped flying forward, and Luciel needed a moment to stop himself. She floated in place, looking at the horizon. Her expression had returned to its neutral state, but her eyes were lost in the distance. Perhaps trying to look beyond sky and earth, somewhere farther away.

"No glee, no respite. Those people would never hurt anyone again, but that didn't fix anything. I didn't get my parents back, I didn't stop the killing at all." Miyuzuin spoke in a lower voice, only to snap out of her thoughts and look at Luciel while scratching the back of her head "We should've had this conversation sooner, sorry. Maybe you'd have known what to do with your sister if I'd told you."

"You talk to me when you are ready. There's no better time than when you think it is right." Luciel smiled weakly "Besides, it's helping me now. I feel a bit silly after remembering some people have it worse. I… I've lived a good life."

Miyuzuin scoffed.

"You don't try to vaporize a corpse if you've lived a good life. You'd lack the rage."

"You're on a roll today, huh. Know exactly what to say."

"I've thought about this since you sent me to kill some of the heroes, when you were inside the barrier." Miyuzuin kept looking at the horizon "I'm thankful, if nothing else, that you've allowed me to keep my murder spree. Showed me the right direction, because Gielos couldn't help being cryptic for some reason."

Luciel frowned at her words.

"Come again?"

"Bad guys will keep appearing, and I will keep killing them. When the Three Factions make peace, there'll be opposers. I'll purge them as well." Miyuzuin lifted her sword up to her stomach "I can't do anything else. I'm too deep in this, so I will see things through to the end. I can't get back what I lost, but as long as I keep preventing children from going through what I did… Well, I think I can find some solace in that thought."

"Is solace enough?"

"Well, I don't know what it looks like to a guy from another world. But it just might." Miyuzuin shook her head with a chuckle "Am I too monstrous even for you? Is that why you don't want me to get All is Mine too?"

Luciel tilted his head.

"That sure took a turn."

"I need to get strong, and you yourself say that we don't have a lot of time." Miyuzuin shrugged, but her smile was hollow. Lacking any real feeling "That hurt, y'know."

"I promised to have my sister's back no matter what." Luciel confessed "It's the only reason we can get along at all."

"Hmmm…"

"Plus, I don't really get it. You're strong, you're smart. If you wanted, you could do anything you set your mind to. It's just… Sad that you're shackled like this."

"'Sad'? Well, you did start brutalizing people the moment you could. I don't know what I was expecting." Miyuzuin shook her head.

"If you want any positivity, go talk to Genshirou." Luciel said with some resentment.

"He is that nice, yes. I'm glad. I hope that stays the same." Miyuzuin nodded.

"Dude, same. Maybe I'd have gone crazy without him." Luciel chuckled. He wanted to laugh, but he knew that it'd come too hysterical to let it out.

"Me too, Lucius." Miyuzuin sighed "Me too… You have a good eye for people, if nothing else. Even Kuroka is good in her own way."

"Well, thank you." Luciel checked their surroundings with his mind's eye, finding no trace of anything out of the ordinary… Then it hit him "Fuck me, I should've taken a piece of Stain with me…!"

"Bringing it along and letting it know where we are sounds like a bad idea." Miyuzuin admonished him.

"Abby could've checked it, though…"

"That's something I wonder about too, you are too used to this to be from a world without magic." Miyuzuin frowned "Are you sure you weren't born a devil?"

"I'm a 100% sure I am L-u-c-i-u-s B-r-a-d-l-e-y. I have two older siblings, we lived in a big house until my dad died. Then mom took over, sold a lot of stuff, and we moved to a smaller place closer to school." Luciel took a deep breath "When that happened I got to see stuff that had been banned since forever. I bought my first comics when I was 15, I tried out skateboarding at 16 and smacked my face so hard that I was left talking funny for a few days. The only thing I couldn't do was to have pets, but I always wanted a parrot."

Miyuzuin turned to him.

"Why a parrot?"

"Because they're smart." Luciel replied "And being smart makes you a winner."

"Well, you've got a cat now." Miyuzuin spoke more normally again "And you might get kittens soon."

"...?" Luciel slowly turned to face Miyuzuin.

"What? Kuroka's like that. She's been after Gen for at least a year. It's only a matter of time." She rolled her eyes "Besides, I know you had your fill too, it's not like it's that out of the question."

To his credit, Luciel managed to stop himself from reacting.

"Who told you?"

"You think Kuroka is the definition of discrete?" Miyuzuin asked back.

"I guess not." Luciel hummed "Well, there goes the mood I guess."

"It's usually like that with her." Miyuzuin agreed.

"Welp…"

"Let's keep going. We're not returning to get a piece of Stain, it might spring a trap we didn't see. Abigail will have to cope."

"Don't let her get to you, she won't release you." Luciel warned her as he got ready to keep moving.

"You two are not normal at all." Miyuzuin repeated "I'm worried you two will end up more bloodthirsty than me."

"You seem pretty okay with your fate." Luciel pointed out.

"It's what I am." Miyuzuin repeated "No use denying it."

"You could be someone completely different." He didn't want to say she could be more than that, because that implied that Miyuzuin was incomplete. And, to Lucius at least, Miyuzuin was as whole as anyone else in this world. Perhaps even more, but those were just his feelings "If you wanted."

"I want more power." Miyuzuin replied dryly "It solves problems."

Luciel blinked as the Belial girl got some distance from him.

"Tell you what, I'll ask Abby to give you All is Mine."

Miyuzuin stopped and turned to him.

"What?"

"I mean, if you want to be strong I won't stop you." Luciel looked back "It's a win-win situation anyway."

"I thought you'd discard me once you outgrew me." Miyuzuin frowned.

"Do you think I'll become that good at fighting?"

"I think your growth rate is ridiculous like that."

"Well, no. I still need you at my side." Luciel pressed his lips together "That might not change."

Miyuzuin's eyebrows got closer. She didn't frown, but was visibly confused by his words.

"I can ask Sis to… Fuck. I almost forgot." Luciel smacked his forehead and hissed. He was getting dumber by the second, it seemed. Maybe he should stop pretending to know what was going on and should start reading about psychology and stuff "Hey, quick parenthesis: Do you like men?"

Miyuzuin's expression became blank after she blinked.

"I think I lost the string of the conversation." She admitted.

"It's a yes or no question." Luciel insisted.

Miyuzuin sighed.

"You're lucky to be this cute." She shook her head "Yes, I do like men."

"Awesome." Luciel smiled "Well, I'll ask Sis to give you All is Mine. In exchange, I want you to tell me something."

"I once again don't know what you're getting at." Miyuzuin frowned "Are our common senses just that different?"

"I was a normal human from another world." Luciel reminded her.

"You're flying without wings, Lucius. Get real." Miyuzuin crossed her arms "And to the point. If you're going to ask me something outrageous, don't try to sugarcoat it. I'd think we're beyond that at this point."

"Well, I just need to know how to win your heart." Luciel showed her his teeth, trying to keep himself from smiling weirdly.

Miyuzuin didn't look impressed.

"I thought you were about to ask me to sell my body." She admitted.

"I don't know whether to be offended that you'd think I'm that sort of person, or afraid that you'd be okay with being around the sort of person that'd ask that." Luciel's expression became flat.

"Maybe I just realized that I'm a monster and wanted to feel, well, less monstrous." Miyuzuin admitted blankly, touching her chin as if she was pondering about it "They say victimhood makes people feel entitled to better things."

"Victimization is awesome. You can make your problems everyone else's fault for free." Luciel answered patiently.

Miyuzuin kept staring at him with the same pensive expression.

"Wasn't Kuroka enough for you? I can't give you anything better."

"I don't even know what we are. To be honest, maybe I should have pressed for a talk. Let things be clear from the get go. Or clearer, I guess." Luciel shook his head.

"That'll save you problems in the long run, but there's also being too clear as well." Miyuzuin dropped her hand "Too direct."

"Is it uncomfortable? I can pretend your list starts with 'being a girl', if you want. I just need your honesty."

"Well, that just makes me feel bad. I was thinking way worse things to get power." Miyuzuin said.

"If it makes you feel better, I can't guarantee that she'll agree either." Luciel admitted.

"Ah. A chance for a chance." Miyuzuin opened her eyes a bit more "That does sound fair."

Was he getting his hopes up too much, or did that not sound like a no? Then again, had he been excited about a girl this much before? Like, honestly excited? Giddy?

Maybe he was being too shameless, but he'd not want to win Miyuzuin with a facade. Maybe he was being ridiculous, but this was Luciel. What remained of L****s B*****y in body, mind, and soul.

Miyuzuin sighed and flew closer to him, beckoning him to get closer with her fingers.

Luciel leaned in when she covered a side of her face with her hand.

"Kisses under the chin obliterate me." She separated a moment later, staring holes into Luciel while he frowned in confusion.

She gave him a moment to process it, then sighed.

"It's also kind of gross to get my ears bitten."

Bitten? But that… Oh.

OH.

Oh, okay.

"Isn't…" Luciel swallowed before he could school his features. He felt so hot on the face it was laughable "Aren't you skipping a couple of steps?"

"Figure out how to get there yourself, use that little head of yours." Miyuzuin tilted her head "For the record, you'll probably regret this."

Luciel shivered.

"Maybe I like women that can ruin my life." He admitted.

Miyuzuin scoffed.

"Would you look at that… You're indeed just a normal guy."