"She screamed when she saw you?"

"Yes." Diavolo let out a deep sigh, his frustration palpable as he continued to pace back and forth in the demon lord's castle's entrance hall— He had found himself unable to stay idle for even a moment after being kicked out of the guest bedroom. "She had just woken up, so she must've been still confused- Lucifer! What is it that you're finding so amusing, exactly?!"

"Oh, no, I'm not laughing." Raven haired demon shook his head, trying to masquerade his snickering as an attempt to clear his throat… But his mischievous eyes betrayed his true feelings. Nevertheless, Lucifer did his best to keep a straight face as he waited for Lord Diavolo to continue. Just imagining a human screaming in terror in the sight of a clueless Lord Diavolo was almost too much to bear..!

Lord Diavolo didn't find the situation so amusing, though— His glare remained fixed on his smirking friend, a sullen look painted on his face. He seemed more embarrassed than anything, unsure what to think about the girl's horrified reaction upon seeing him. He had intended to be a gracious host to his unexpected guest, and instead, he had only incited fear and confusion in her. As the gloomy frown on the demon lord's face only deepened, Lucifer quickly tried to steer the conversation away from Diavolo's discomfort.

"And what happened next?" He inquired, attempting to keep the conversation on track. Despite his snickering, Lucifer was genuinely curious about the unfolding events, and hoped to learn more about the mysterious human who had ended up in their realm.

"She absolutely refused to calm down, so Barbatos used a spell to put her back to sleep. He said it would be better if I wouldn't be there once he wakes her up." Diavolo muttered in a sour tone. "He'll try to explain everything to her; How she got here, who we are and what's going on, and so on."

"So, Barbatos has that covered… Maybe you could fill me in with the details, then?" Lucifer inquired, his crimson eyes focused on Diavolo. He had rushed over to the demon lord's castle at very instant Lord Diavolo had summoned him, but the brief explanation he was presented with at the time only left him with more questions than answers. "You said you got into some kind of trouble in the human world, and were— quote unquote— forced to bring a human to Devildom with you?" Lucifer repeated what Diavolo had told him upon his arrival, his voice almost tingling with disbelief. "How on earth did you even… Ugh, never mind…" Raven haired demon sighed and shook his head— Just only saying all that aloud made it almost painfully evident that Diavolo had really messed up badly this time. However, criticizing the future demon king openly was out of the question, so he couldn't possibly say it outloud. "I didn't even know you had gone to the human world..!" Lucifer admitted, raising an eyebrow.

"That's the thing, neither did I!"

"Wait… what?" Giving Diavolo a blank stare as he tried to process this revelation, Lucifer tried his best to comprehend what kind of events could possibly have occurred that had led to this situation. "You didn't know..?! Then how did you- And why you look so happy about it?!"

"Ah, well…" Diavolo, who had taken his usual jovial approach in the matter, just shrugged nonchalantly. "Just like any other day, my schedule was filled with meetings, paperwork and other duties a future ruler of the kingdom must deal with. At the time, I was in the middle of a meeting— To be completely honest, after such a long day I was secretly hoping for an interruption of some sort…" His smile grew, and he leaned back as if reminiscing about a fond memory. "But being abruptly pulled into the human world, with no warning whatsoever, wasn't exactly what I had in mind!" He laughed, explaining the occurred situation as if it was all just some 'happy little accident' that interrupted his otherwise mundane evening.

"How… exactly… did… you… got… PULLED INTO THE HUMAN WORLD?!" Lucifer's agitation only grew as he tried to process Diavolo's nonchalant explanation of his unexpected journey.

"Please, Lucifer, don't shout at me." Diavolo frowned, seeming slightly irritated by Lucifer's continuous agitation over the matter. "One moment I was checking my notes… but the next thing I knew, I was in my demonic form, standing in the middle of something that looked like a summoning circle of sorts."

"You were summoned?! By humans..?!" Lucifer's eyes widened in astonishment— It was rare that a human managed to summon a demon to the human world overall, but the demon being Lord Diavolo himself..? That was unheard of! What were these humans up to?!

"I was a bit baffled at first, needless to say." Diavolo continued his explanation of the unusual events, still seemingly unfazed by the true gravity of the situation. "It was dark in there, but the place looked like an abandoned warehouse, I think. There were maybe… ten humans around, give or take… I tried asking them what was going on, but they were too busy with their hexes to even listen to me. But, once I recognized the spell they were performing, I suspected that they were trying to bind me into the circle." He chuckled, as if the idea of humans attempting to bind him was more amusing than worrying to him. "Naturally, I interfered before they could do any damage."

Lucifer nodded in understanding as he tried to piece together the story. "Alright—" He began, taking a deep breath to steady himself. "You were summoned to the human realm by a bunch of humans."

"Judging by their outfits, they might have been some sort of an occult cult or something like that." Diavolo added.

"Yes, that would make sense. Summoning demons isn't that common activity among the regular folk in the human world." Lucifer nodded slowly, his voice almost shaking at this point. "So, an occult cult, got it. And they were busy trying to bind you into their will, but you prevented that, right?"

"Right."

"And what about this human you brought here with you? Is she one of the cultists as well?"

"No, I don't think so." Diavolo shook his head. A more serious look now painted onto his face, he deepened into his thoughts for a moment as he looked back to the moment he met her. "She was there as well, but…" His voice trailed off as he recounted the strange encounter.

Upon finding himself in the human world, busy figuring out what was going on, he hadn't even noticed her at first— Once he had interrupted the cultists' schemes and the whole place fell into chaos, he had taken a closer look at the magic circle on the floor. But, what caught his attention weren't the occult symbols around the circle, but the blood splattered on it. Following the trail of redness with his gaze, he had turned around, only to find a frightened looking girl at his feet; Her arms were bound, and the rope around her wrists was stained red, droplets of blood still dripping from her clenched hands. As his eyes met hers, it was almost like the time itself had come to a halt; The two of them stared at each other only for mere seconds, but for him, those seconds felt like an eternity, so captivating that gaze in her blue eyes was.

"Much like myself, I believe she was there against her will." Diavolo said quietly, the memory of that teary-eyed gaze still very visible in his mind.

"So she was held as a prisoner…" Lucifer pondered aloud, a faint frown of concern forming on his face. "To be used in the ritual, presumably?"

"I believe so." Diavolo nodded in agreement. But, what he had seen indicated that she might have already filled her part prior to his arrival; "There was blood on the circle, most probably hers. But, regarding the reason why I brought her here in the first place…" Disrupting the ritual had caused the occultists to flee in terror— The girl at his feet had been frozen in fear, but seeing the room quickly clear from the crowd was enough to make the panic hit her as well. Diavolo had just watched in silence when she hastily scuffled up to her feet, making a break towards the exit as well. But, just when she had made her way to the other side of the hall, that was when she suddenly collapsed. "Without a warning, she suddenly just went out like a light. The strangest thing, though, was that I felt something just then."

"You… felt something?" Lucifer furrowed his brow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I can't even explain it…" Diavolo struggled to put the sensation into words. "It was this odd feeling in the bottom of my stomach, just before she collapsed. And it didn't go away until I went over to her." The feeling that hit him could only be described as if some invisible force was subtly pulling him towards her. "I cannot be sure, of course, but I have a guess of what might've occurred during the ritual."

Now when recounting the events, a realization slowly dawned on him; It wasn't just that odd feeling he had, but also the way that girl had collapsed. It didn't seem like she had passed out from fatigue, so sudden it was… More than anything, it had looked like she had outright ran into an invisible wall.

"Was it maybe their intent or just a pure accident, but I have a feeling that during the ritual, she… she was bound to me."