Jumping across roof-to-roof above the city, Rin Okumura and Shiro Fujimoto ran in a hurry towards the monastery, the latter frequently having to exorcise the Skull Flecks that were frequently grouping up in their path.

"The path of the righteous shall not be revealed to the unfaithful." Fujimoto chanted as a fresh group of Skull Flecks appeared, keeping a solid grip on his son's arm without slowing down at all. "I lower Jacob's Ladder with the aid of the Lord's Hand."

However, with every one vanquished, twice as many returned, to the point that Fujimoto soon resorted to dangerous methods for quick parkour. "Let's go!"

"You're kidding me...!" Rin shouted back as he leapt after Fujimoto over a huge gap, barely making it across and almost falling backwards if not for the priest returning to catch one of his flailing arms.

Landing on his hands and knees, Rin panted heavily while trying to get his breath back before noticing that the rooftop was already filled with even more monsters.

Multiple dogs growled at them, their bodies rotting right before Rin's eyes.

"Stray dogs?" Rin asked in confusion before gagging and immediately blocking his nose. "Urgh! They stink!"

"They're all Ghouls. Undead creatures risen up and possessed with negative emotions." Fujimoto explained gravely.

"Ghouls?"

"Lucky for us, we're in Japan. Otherwise, we'd be dealing with Human-type Ghouls as well."

"Are you calling this 'lucky'?!" Rin retorted, only to blanch at the sight of Fujimoto pulling out was looked a lot like a grenade and flipping the pin off. "Wha- A bomb?!"

"Don't worry." Fujimoto threw the grenade right into the Ghouls' midst, already dragging Rin along once it's exploded into mist that dispersed them all. "It's just holy water."

Getting past the door to the stairs, the Exorcist slammed the door shut and locked it before leaning back against it with a sigh. "I'm getting too old to protect kids..."

"Stop calling me a kid!" Rin growled in offence.

"Now, let's go home while we still can." Fujimoto began to make his way down the stairs.

"D-Do you mean that this isn't over yet?" Rin asked in worry.

Fujimoto stopped to look up at his son. "I told you... Monsters of all sorts will be coming for you, especially as the Archon of Gluttony already sighted you! It's even worse that the sun's setting now. Without it's shine, undead-types get more excited."

Book of Genesis, Chapter 02: ...Must Make Sure That He Himself Does Not Become A Monster

"Are you sure you really don't remember anything?"

Reiji Shiratori sat under the night sky back at the secluded alleyway, surrounded by his minions. "Yeah..."

"Not even that you tried to maim Okumura?"

"Or that his body sparked harder than a blown fuse?"

"No..." Shiratori groaned in reply. "I can't remember anything."

The minions looked at each other again before speaking up again.

"I-I lent you ¥500 for dinner, Shiratori-san!"

"I paid your medical fees!"

"I bought you that Magical Poemy body pillow that you wanted so much!"

The other two lackeys stared at the fat one in confusion at his own statement.

"I see..." Shiratori pulled out his wallet and began to pull out some money. "You did so much for me...

He paused. "Or wait, you're fucking screwing with me?!"

An instant later, all three minions were down from his hits, although one of them apparently had a legit claim to his words. "I really did pay your medical fees!"

"Huh? Why?" Shiratori asked in confusion.

"We told you. You went and started a fight with Rin Okumura."

"Okumura?"

"Yeah, you wanted to gang up on him, but he left you beaten instead! So bad that we had to take you to the hospital!"

"Now that you remind me, my body hurts allover..." Shiratori muttered, cupping his chin with his hand and moving around randomly to check.

"Uh oh, he's talkin' to himself." One of the minions stated, turning to look at the guy next to him.

"You think maybe Okumura hit his head too hard?" the large boy asked.

"Right... that bastard Okumura's messin' with me again, damn him...!" Shiratori muttered. "Okumura, I don't know if you're a demon or a mad dog, but you're Okumura, you bastard... Okumura... Okumura...! Okumura! Okumura! OKUMURAAAAAAAA!"

Becoming possessed again, Shiratori raged into a scream, teeth once again sharpening to fangs as his skin grew gaunt, punching the metal container behind him repeatedly, inhuman strength causing huge dents.

"Sh-Shiratori-san?!"

"I can't handle this anymore?!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Shiratori reared back and screamed in a rage.

"This is bad!"

"Let's get out of here!"

"Wait for me!"

The boys cried, running off as fast as they could, just about missing Beelzebub's return.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Yes, just as I thought, this body's an excellent fit!" Shiratori(Beelzebub) said gleefully, Skull Flecks floating all around him. Pulling off and throwing the bandages away from his host body's face, he walked out of the ally and tapped the ground with his heel.

Immediately at his call, multiple shadows gathered before him. "Even now, the aberrant's angelic energy still clings to this place! Track him down and spread the word to my kin! Most importantly, do not let Satan find out!"

Two of the priests were waiting outside the monastery when Fujimoto and Rin finally made it back home.

"Welcome back!" Naoya said in relief.

"How are the preparations?!" Fujimoto asked as they entered the perimeter of the Church.

"We got rid of all the Skull Flecks." Seishiro began as Naoya locked the gate after them. "And we've drawn threefold barriers around the monastery."

"Double it. We're unlikely to hold out until morning with what we have." Fujimoto ordered, Rin following with a confused look on his face. "Beelzebub himself is coming and even in Japan, a city is the second worst place to handle him. I want even the sewers doused with triple-C strong holy water. Plenty of rat corpses and the like for him to use, and I don't want a single one of them in!"

"Understood, Reverend!" Izumi and Maruta replied in unison, hurrying past them with canisters of what was presumably holy water.

Rin looked back at them like he had never seen them before. 'Did everybody know about all this but me?'

Suddenly, a loud bang from outside caused Rin to jump. Outside, Ghouls risen from dog and bird corpses slammed themselves against the perimeters of the church, only to constantly fail in their efforts.

Fujimoto pushed aside the alter and picked up a lit candle stick. "Come with me!"

Rin followed a moment later, descending with him down a short set of stairs that led to a large chest.

The priest walked up to the drawer, taking out a key and inserting it into the lock. Rin watched silently as his father opened it and revealed a katana with a white snowflake-like tsuba, a white hilt and an elaborately designed scabbard. Rin could've probably guessed rightfully that the blade itself would be just as white, if not for the blatant paper seal binding the sword to it's sheath.

Well, a seal that was now almost completely burned away.

"This is the Snow Warrior Sword, called Kōttatenshi. It's a legendary weapon passed down since ancient times." Fujimoto explained as he lifted it out. "Many years ago, your powers were linked to this weapon and was made to be sealed."

"Wait, my powers?" Rin asked weakly as the sword was handed to him.

"This sword is more important than your life. Never let it fall into anyone else's hands. Don't let it go even while sleeping." Fujimoto ordered. "Also, you must never draw it out. Once drawn, all of your powers shall return and most likely kill you from the shock."

"H-Hold on, if I'm supposed to be some kinda angel-demon hybrid, then what about Yukio? Don't tell me he's like me?!" Rin exclaimed, horrified at the idea of his little brother finding out about all of this in the same way he had.

"Angelic and demonic essences are antithetical, down to their very core. You yourself are an aberrant that somehow still lives with two completely opposite powers running around in your body." Fujimoto explained, causing Rin to gasp slightly in horrified understanding. "I believe Yukio's lucky in the fact that the two must've cancelled each other out within him, leaving him as a human."

Outside the building, more and more of the undead tried to force their way through the barriers. Meanwhile, Rin was staring in horrified shock, numbly clutching Kōttatenshi in his hands.

"D-Did everybody know about this?" He asked weakly. "That I'm not really a human being? That I'm a freak hybrid spawn of Satan?!"

"...yes. We all knew."

Outside, the remains of the Ghouls had now become smoking husk over the pavement. But unfortunately, it had been enough to attract Shiratori(Beelzebub).

"So this is the place where he lived, hidden from the world." He exclaimed, beginning to walk forwards into the road, only to suddenly be hit by a truck.

"You idiot!" The driver slammed on the brakes and climbed out. "What were you thinking stepping into the road like that?!"

The driver ran up to check on the possessed boy whose limbs were now twisted at odd angles, indicating multiple broken bones. "H-Hey..."

"That hurt, you fucker!" Shiratori(Beelzebub) roared, telekinetically hitting the driver hard enough to crush his chest and send him into the wall of the building across the street, imprinting his bloodied body into it.

"Hmm... A barrier of that strength will need either raw power that would deteriorate my host faster..." The Archon of Gluttony's eyes turned to the still running truck, before moving to the freshly deceased man. "Or a convenient loophole."

Chuckling to himself, Shiratori(Beelzebub) pointed a finger at the dead driver. "Arise."

"Why did you keep such an important thing a secret all this time?!" Rin demanded.

"I was only allowed to raise you if you grew up as human." Fujimoto answered. "Aside from your unnatural condition being likely to kill you if your powers hadn't been sealed, it also dissuaded others from wanting to kill you as an abomination."

"A-Abomination?" Rin stuttered in shock.

"Your existence as a powered nephalem is an unprecedented anomaly, doubly so considering how you came into existence." Fujimoto said. "That is why you were raised as human. The less you knew, the lesser the chances of your powers being used. The lesser chance of that, the lesser chance of my comrades wanting to have you killed in your sleep."

Suddenly the building shook again, causing both Rin and Fujimoto to nearly lose their balance.

"Come!" The head priest called, running back up the stairs. Rin followed behind him, still clutching the sword.

The two of them made it back into the main building in time to see a totaled truck having smashed through the front of the monastery and into the building, allowing in Beelzebub's kin.

Shiratori(Beelzebub) chuckled from where he had seated himself atop the truck, the undead driver leading the creeping monsters forward. "Did you think you could run from me, nephalem?"

"What's with that anyway?!" Rin shouted back. "What do you even want with me?!"

"What do I want with you?" Shiratori(Beelzebub) looked incredulous at being asked that. "Why wouldn't I want to taste something as rare as you? I am the One Who Desires For Excess! As long as I possess my Gluttony..."

The possessed boy's grin grew uncomfortably wide, his eyes glowing eerily. "I'll always heed my appetite."

"A-Appetite?" Rin stepped back in horror. "You want to eat me?!"

Fujimoto reacted differently without a change in expression despite the spark of paternal rage in his eyes, making a swift Sign of the Cross with his pointer finger. "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from Heaven and consume you and your fifty!"

Rin gasped a beam of flames shot forward in a straight line, waves of heat igniting the wooden floor without the attack even touching it as Shiratori(Beelzebub) and all of the Ghouls became engulfed in bright light and black smoke. "Oh, shit! You killed him?! Wait, since when can you shoot fire?!"

"That? That's basic stuff." Fujimoto grabbed Rin while he was distracted and pushed him down into the secret room beneath the altar. "Their attacks will weaken when dawn comes. Get out of here and hide somewhere you won't be found!"

"Hide?!" Rin demanded incredulously. "Where?!"

Fujimoto pulled out a flip phone and pushed it into his son's hand. "Take this phone. There's only one number in there. It belongs to my best friend. Call him as soon as you leave the monastery. I'm sure he'll protect you... Hopefully."

"Hey, wa-" Rin cried as his father suddenly shoved him down the stairs, hurrying back up the stairs and closing up the trap door. As the door closed, Rin managed to get up and rushed back up the stairs, but the opening closed up before he could reach it.

"We're not done talking yet!" He yelled, banging his fists on the entrance as Fujimoto inserted his key into the lock again.

"The path of the righteous shall not be revealed to the unfaithful. The mists of uncertainty shall conceal the Gates of Heaven." Fujimoto intoned, making a cross with his fingers in front of the key and causing it to lock itself. He then removed the key and turned back to the other Exorcists in front of him. "Our enemy is a Grand Lich and his kin! Fire and holy-type counters only! Protect Rin!"

"'Protect Rin'?" For an instant, the Exorcists froze at the voice that had spoken up. "Ah, that's right. I never learned the nephalem's name."

With a whooshing roar, the wall of flaming smoke swirled and was blown away, revealing Shiratori(Beelzebub) much further into his possession. Now, his skin had become pallid while a shadowy hooded cloak had manifested over him. "Let's continue on to dinner, shall we?"

"Return to the dirt from whence you came!" Naoya unwrapped the bandages on his hands, revealing a symbol marked on the backs of them that was starting to glow. Clenching them, a bluish aura burst from his body. "For in my fist, God is supreme!"

One of the Ghoul dogs who had survived Fujimoto's fire attack rushed forward just as Naoya did, punching forward and obliterating it just as he finished chanting. "And for in my heart, the Devil is dominant!"

"Heed my call, Scaled Creature of the Embers!" Seishiro finished up his glyph of salt and bit his hand, splattering some of his blood on the circle. "Salamander!"

A blast of fiery smoke erupted out of the circle and revealed a red komodo dragon-like creature, except that it had flames burning off it's scales. Giving a shriek, it leapt forward and bit into one of the bunched up Skull Flecks, immediately setting it ablaze and leaping forward to snatch a flying hawk Ghoul out of the air with it's smoking jaws.

"This is getting annoying." Shiratori(Beelzebub) extended a hand towards them, just as Fujimoto got out a shotgun with runic engravings. "Would all of you die please?"

"You, first!" Fujimoto cocked his shotgun just as Shiratori(Beelzebub) punched the ground and gestured forward. "From on high, He sent fire into the bones, and it prevailed over them!"

"[Unearthed Rampart]!"

A fired blast of condensed holy fire shot forward just as a massive burst of shadowy earth ripped out of the ground towards the Exorcists.

The two attacks slammed into each other with a powerful shockwave, the holy fire element shielding the exorcists from most of the damage as the backlash was forced back towards the Archon of Gluttony while breaking some windows.

Meanwhile Rin was still pounding furiously on the trap door, refusing to leave his family behind. Despite everything, he still held Kōttatenshi in his other hand as he'd told to.

"Let me out, damn geezer! Let me out!" he demanded, punching the door with all his strength but it still wouldn't budge despite the many cracks he had now caused on it.

Eventually, he stopped and just stared brokenly up at the door. 'I'm... half demon... half angel...?'

Remembering his past in horror, he thought back to all of the happy memories he'd lived with his brother and father.

"Damn it." Rin muttered as his memories soon became muddied with those regarding his unnatural abilities and bad temper. 'I-It can't be true. I can't actually be inhuman.'

Rin's breath slowly grew desperate. 'All those people... can't be right...'

"Salamander!"

Shiratori(Beelzebub) ignored Seishiro's cry as he pulled his forearm free of the creature's chest, leaving it to disperse to ash as he dodged Naoya's holy-infused punches.

'It's not fair for a caster-type to be such a nimble shit!' Naoya thought with every failed punch.

Catching one of the punches, Shiratori(Beelzebub) ignored the burning backlash to his hand and blew a blast of toxic spores right into Naoya's face, who cried out and fell as mushrooms began to rapidly grow out of his skin.

"Kyodo-san!" Izumi shouted, rushing over and pulling out the mushrooms while reciting their Fatal Verse. "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away! He shall bestow you life and joy! Praised be the name of the Lord!"

Naoya groaned in relief as the mushrooms immediately faded away into black miasma.

"Get down!" Maruta roared as he took a deep breath before blowing out a huge spout of fire, setting Shiratori(Beelzebub) ablaze again.

"That won't work a second time!" The Grand Lich charged forward and landed a powerful roundhouse kick into Maruta's chest, sending the fat Exorcist crashing through many wooden pews until he hit Seishiro and slammed them both into the wall.

"Maruta! Seishiro!" Fujimoto yelled in worry, before glaring back at the Grand Lich.

"What a splendid evening this has been." Shiratori's features transformed even further, his possession finalizing as his fleshed faded away to reveal nothing more than bones within a nether-composed body with shadow over it, his eyes now orbs of emerald lights. "Not just the nephalem, I'll be sure to devour you all as well."

"C-Complete possession?!" Izumi exclaimed from where he was tending to Naoya.

"Get down!"

Suddenly, Beelzebub was suddenly hit and buried by the entire altar being flung at him.

"Do it again while he's down!" Rin panted from where he'd thrown the entire blockage away from he'd been trapped, his knuckles bleeding. "That exorcism thing!"

"You-" Before Beelzebub could do anything else, Fujimoto stepped down on his shoulder, slamming him down to the ground with his weight as the Archon of Gluttony had tried to lift up the altar.

"O' Lord, bind a millstone around it's neck so that it shall never again rise from the depths inhabited by Leviathan!" The high priest began, clutching the True Cross emblem hanging off his neck and ignoring the Archon's enraged cries. "Chain it in darkness eternal, where it shall neither see nor hear!"

Once again, Beelzebub was exorcised out of Shiratori's body, returning the lilac-haired teenager back to normal.

"Seishiro, get the car ready!" Fujimoto ordered as soon as he got his breath back, relaxing a little as everybody around him was still alive.

"Yes, sir." Seishiro grunted as he and Maruta got up from the wall, albeit painfully.

"Izumi, Kyodo, I wat you to brand this youngster with the Mark of Tetramorph." Fujimoto ordered as Izumi moved to check Shiratori's breathing and heartbeat. "And don't forget the purification ritual."

"Wait!" Rin protested. "Shouldn't you guys deal with your wounds?! Maruta's still coughing blood!"

Maruta chose that moment to cough again painfully, a few flecks of blood matting his hastily raised sleeve.

"Our first and foremost priority is to hide you." Fujimoto turned back to look at him after handing a handkerchief to Maruta. "Beelzebub just now was one of the many that are soon to come for you!"

Rin could only stare around the monastery he'd grown up in mute shock and hurt, before he grit his teeth in defeated acceptance and kicking at a pew. "FUCK!"

The pew exploded into burning pieces from the kick, the flames a deep crimson instead of the bright gold lightning from before as the fire quickly spread out much faster than regular flame was supposed to. And instantly, he knew which part of him those flames belonged to. 'So there's the demonic part of me... So I really was...'

"Rin, calm down!" Fujimoto grabbed Rin's shoulder. "Those flames are reacting to your negative emotions! You need to calm yourself!"

"How the fuck am I supposed to stay calm?!" Rin shouted back, the vermillion flames surging behind him. "After everything today, how could you even say that?! How dare you ask me of that?! You can't derail my very knowledge of self-existence and say something stupid as 'calm down'!"

"Ri-HURK!" Fujimoto's head suddenly rocked forwards as he gagged on something, starting to cough up smoke as he collapsed to the floor. "Oh, shit..."

"Reverend Fujimoto!" Izumi cried, getting up and beginning to run towards the older man.

"Stay back!" Fujimoto ordered as he tried to get up, only to jerk back as the action produced a cloud of smoke from his mouth, along with blood starting to trail down his nose. "Get away from me!"

All of a sudden, all the lightbulbs shattered and turned the chapel dark, leaving just the red flames as their illumination.

Rin looked around in fear. "Wha-What's going on?!"

"Haaa... It's been a while since I've had this body." A distorted voice passed from Fujimoto's lips. "I spent quite a while looking for you..."

"Old man?" Rin asked in concern, immediately forgetting his previous anger and rushing to his father's side.

As soon as he reached the priest's side, the man looked up at him with a moment of disorientation, before his lips rose to a pleased grin, showing off his now beastly fangs. "There you are... MY BOY!"

Rin stumbled back as vermillion flames surged off Fujimoto's body, the man gaining more scaly features as his possession progressed rapidly. "What's wrong with you, old man?!"

"He's possessed!" Seishiro explained, standing upright with the help of a pillar and cradling his broken ribs. "Satan has taken over his body, just as Beelzebub did that kid!"

"What?!" Rin turned his horrified gaze back to the entity now possessing his father.

"Exactly as he says. I am Satan the Indomitable, lord to all dragons and serpents, and Archon of Wrath." Fujimoto(Satan) introduced himself with his grin widening. "All these years, I thought you to be dead, but to see you alive feels me with joy! Let's make up for all of the lost years!"

"Reverend Fujimoto!" Izumi cried as he rushed toward the possessed man, causing the Archon to glare at him.

"WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO INTERRUPT OUR REUNION?!" Fujimoto(Satan)'s jovial mood evaporated in an instant, a glare from him setting Izumi and the other exorcists ablaze in painful scarlet.

"Guys!" Rin shouted in horror before flinging his arm out, with instinct as his guide. Bright golden lightning followed his movement and struck the burning men, the two elements clashing and cancelling each other out, leaving the men alive.

"Aah..." Fujimoto(Satan) looked like he was going to cry from the sight. "Not just my flames, but her lightning as well... What a miraculous existence you are...!"

'Is he...?' Rin stared in confusion at the possessed man's eyes, wondering if he was imagining the tears that had briefly mixed with the blood starting to dribble down.

"We don't have much time. I'm too strong and big in my original form, so if I'd come in that, I'd either crush you by accident or not be fast enough. Add that to my lack of compatible hosts in Gaia, everyone I usually possess tends to burn out. Literally." Coughing up a little blood and smoke, Fujimoto(Satan) clutched at the air behind him, Rin gasping as the man seemed to be burning the very atmosphere until he'd ripped out a hole in space, revealing an alternate dimension that bathed the whole monastery in red. "This right here is a gate connecting Gaia to Hell. With this, we can finally go home and become a proper family!"

Fujimoto(Satan) beamed as he causally walked towards his son.

"St-Stay away!" Rin shouted, his terror reacting with his powers and causing yellow lightning to burst to life around him protectively. "Don't come near me!"

Fujimoto(Satan) stared at Rin in surprise for a moment, the much stronger vermillion flames surging off him. "Wow. Every time I see those sparks, it just- This is weird, feeling my heart pump in non-adrenaline related manners. Oh, wait. It's this guy's heart. Well, whatever. Come on home, my little demon!"

Fujimoto(Satan) grabbed Rin by the back of his jacket, dragging him towards the gate to Hell.

"I'm not a demon! I'm a human!" Rin protested, desperate to escape the possessed man's unbelievably tight grip. However, his cries halted as he passed by his reflection in the shattered remains of a mirror. Sharpening fangs, midnight hair whitening at the tips, shrunken and glowing eyes, and the unnatural flames burning off him. 'What? is that me? Then, I really am-?'

Fujimoto(Satan) seemed utterly oblivious to his young son's horror as he just continued to drag the boy across the floor, seemingly talking to himself as he did. "Possessing both my blood and that of an Archangel, you're quite the extraordinary being to live, you know? Which means that if you can survive that, you can survive in Hell, too!"

With that said, he carelessly tossed Rin towards the Hell Gate, along with Kōttatenshi. The teenager tried to get away, only to find strands of energy from the gate itself entangling his limbs and starting to drag him back as Rin tried to escape.

"Don't struggle so much, son!" Fujimoto(Satan) advised. "Wait, I can call you that, right? What am I thinking? Of course, I can call you that. Especially as nobody has better claim to that than me-"

"Th-That's wrong." Fujimoto's voice returned with a growl, his human features slowly making a return despite the vermillion flame still burning. "I have more right than you to the twins!"

Fujimoto's right hand jerkily reached for the True Cross emblem hanging off his chest and thumbed it so that a long pin shot out, before stabbing himself in the chest. "So don't you dare think of touching Rin and Yukio!"

"How foolish!" Satan raged. "Your body won't be able to die from a measly stab like this, even without my possession enhancing it! It's impossible for anyone possessed by an Archon to die from anything else than the burnout! ...no, this thing you stabbed into yourself is holy-infused lucibufagin?! You prepared this specifically against my possession again?!"

"Sixteen years ago, you possessed me for almost a whole month and did whatever you wanted with it, including impregnating the woman that was their mom!" Fujimoto coughed bloodily as he fell to a knee. "His demonic part may come from you, but Rin and Yukio's human forms are of my seed! Add in my actual history as their guardian, and you've got no right to show up here and now!"

"So you mean to sacrifice you own life for him? That's pretty fatherly enough, I'll admit." Satan grumbled as his flames slowly vanished from Fujimoto's body. "But it's too late. The Hell Gate already has it's grasp on him and will not let go. And there's absolutely nothing... your... dying self... can do to stop it..."

"Old man!" Rin cried and forced himself forward and grabbed Fujimoto, despite the bindings of the Hell Gate trying to pull him away. "Get a hold of yourself!"

"Hey, Daddy?"

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"Why am I so different from everyone? Am I really a demon?"

"Well, that can't be possible. 'Cause you're my kid. Both you and Yukio."

Crying as he found himself dragged away from his father, Rin scrambled helplessly until he found himself holding Kōttatenshi again, remembering what Fujimoto had earlier said about it. "The Snow Warrior Blade... If I draw this..."

"Stop, Rin!" Seishiro shouted as he saw the boy grab the sword and try to stand up from the Hell Gate, his intent scarily clear. "Did you forget what Reverend Fujimoto told you?! You might die from the full brunt of your antithetical powers awakening!"

"My angel side's electricity could save you guys from Satan's flames!" Rin pulled himself up, reaching up with both hands to take hold of the handle. "If I draw this and gain more power, I'll be able to save him, even from whatever he did to himself! And I absolutely refuse to die!"

"If it's that embarrassing, show me how much you've grown!"

"Besides... I still have that promise to uphold!" Rin cried before wrenching Kōttatenshi free of it's sheath for the first time since it's sealing, the white blade glowing brightly just as golden lightning and vermillion flames blasted from his form.

When the electric blaze had cleared enough to reveal Rin, his form had changed. Snow white had replaced the midnight black of his hair, his eyes had become slit and bioluminescent, his fangs having grown more prominent along with scales covering his hands and jawline. However, there were also angelic features upon him as shown by the bright halo above his head and the massive pair of tintless wings that burst from his back.

"I can... save you... like this...!" The young nephalem gripped Kōttatenshi tightly in both hands, raising it high above his head with a roar, before stabbing it into the ground with all the strength he had. The angel-demonic power once more exploded outwards, the golden lightning engulfing Fujimoto and the other exorcists and the vermillion flames disintegrating the Hell Gate and it's restraints, Rin's new wings whipping about from the strength of his powers.

As they faded away, they left behind a destroyed home and an emotionally wringed young man. As the sun began to rise at last, Rin slid Kōttatenshi back into it's scabbard, his features returning mostly back to normal, leaving behind only slightly pronounced canines and white strands amongst his hair.

"Rin... Reverend Fujimoto..." Izumi grunted as he made for Fujimoto again, not being impeded this time. Soon enough, he was next to Fujimoto's body, hastily opening up the vest to reveal-

"Th-The wound?!" It was gone. The fatal stab wound that the Reverend had inflicted upon himself to drive Satan away from his body had been healed, leaving behind only a tiny scar as evidence of it's existence. Even the slow charring caused by Satan's possession had been fixed. "You saved him, Rin!"

Apparently, it was thankfully the best thing to say because the still quiet nephalem choked and started to silently cry in relief. "Daddy..."

Then Izumi and the others rose in panic when Rin keeled over himself.

"I'm sorry about your father, Rin-kun." Nanaka placed a consoling hand on Rin's shoulder, his fellow coworker having come to see him in the hospital. "I hope that he recovers well."

"Yeah, thanks, Nanaka-san." Rin choked back before waving her goodbye from the hospital lobby. His risk the previous night had paid off, with his father having slipped into a healing coma instead of dying.

By now, he was the only one of the monastery to still be in the hospital, the others having left earlier. With Kōttatenshi beside him in a kendo sword bag, the awakened nephalem sat there numb to the world around him.

Remembering one of his father's words from last night, he finally fished out the flip phone and called the sole number that really was in there before raising it up to his ear. As the dial-tone began, the sound of trumpets could be heard close by- a ringtone. Looking up, the boy found himself surrounded by masked suited men clad in black, the hallway somehow now devoid of civilians.

"Nice to meet you." A voice said, the split-second time gap between the person before him and the phone's speaker creating an eerie echoing sound, before the call was ended. The one who had just spoken was a man dressed in what looked like an elegant suit with a top hat, except the matching cape with purple lining and jester-like pants ruined the image, making him resemble a harlequin. "I am Mephisto Pheles, Sentinel of the Japanese branch of the True Cross Order. Reverend Fujimoto is a dear friend, and you have my hopes that he has a swift recovery."

"Are you all Exorcists like him?" Rin hung up the phone after the shock wore off and put it in his pocket.

"Indeed." Mephisto walked towards him. "And we also know lots about you. It seems Reverend Fujimoto tried to raise you as a human, but contrary to his wishes, you've awakened as a monster. Frankly, I'm astounded at how you haven't dropped dead from those opposing powers rampaging within you, but the existence of an Archon's child wandering around Gaia has unfortunately been deemed for you to be an extermination-level threat."

Mephisto brought up a finger and slid across his throat. "In the name of the His Excellency, we are to dispose of you."

"Wait!" Rin protested in confused anger. "Dad said that you were supposed to offer me protection or something?!"

"I prefer not to mix private and public matters. And this is very much public. Of course, I'm still very grateful for your intervention in saving his life, as well as intrigued in this rather strong wrinkle in time." Mephisto's eyes narrowed slightly as he grinned, the gesture itself menacing in it's casual nature as he eyed both Rin's two-toned hair and the sword. "You have two choices left. Be killed by us, or kill us and run away. Oh, there's still that third option of killing yourself. Now, which one would suit you best?"

"The fourth option: Making me an Exorcist like my Dad." Rin immediately decided, causing Mephisto to stare in shock. "I don't care what you or a bunch of geezers over at Rome say or think. My father has always been Shiro Fujimoto and no one else!"

"I see." Mephisto deadpanned as he tilted his head in confusion. "So you wish to follow Reverend Fujimoto's footsteps in livelihood? But tell me, what do you intend to accomplish by doing that?"

"I'm gonna beat the shit outta Satan!" Rin declared furiously.

Mephisto stared at the boy incredulously for a moment, before bursting out into uncontrollable laughter.

"What's so funny?" Rin demanded in a deadpan voice, glaring daggers at the jester-like man.

"What? A demonic monster becoming an Exorcist?" Mephisto asked incredulously, his laughter reverberating through the halls again. "This is great! I haven't had such a great laugh in a while!"

"I'm serious!"

"Oh, I can tell! Very well!" Mephisto calmed down and snapped his finger at Rin. "I'll take you under my wing."

"But... Sir Pheles?!" One of the men protested, all of them confused.

"Huh? You're agreeing?" Rin asked in shock, having expected more resistance from the man who had stated his intent to kill him not even five minutes ago.

"This is a completely unprecedented event, which means that orthodox rules no longer hold any precedent on this. Besides, he's also half angel, which ironically makes him genetically predisposed to an option like this." Mephisto replied. "However, Rin Okumura-kun, the path you've chosen is not a simple one. One day, you will look back to this day and regret not dying here."

"I don't care. According to everybody so far, I'm an existence that shouldn't be alive, which means that I have no predetermined path to follow." Rin's face hardened in determination. "Therefore, I can only go forward in what I choose to become. Beelzebub called Dad a Paladin and got his ass beat by him twice. If that's a rank I can reach, I'll be able to do the fucking same to Satan myself!"

KingVessel: I always felt like they kinda did Fujimoto a little dirty in Canon, him being touted as a SuperDad and Paladin yet not even providing much in the story beyond being a constant source of angst. Now he's got a much better showing in my story! Gimme your thoughts!