Edited by: Marethyu, Priapus, Old man of the mountain, immortal Spank

"Akane, I understand you only want to help, but—" Sona starts, following me closely as we're a mere five-minute walk away from where Rias is. "I don't think you should be getting involved in this. Please, let's just back down and—"

"Didn't you agree with me that he needs to be forced out of his hole?" I raise an eyebrow, looking back at her. "Make up your mind, sheesh."

"I know what I said, but this is between Rias and her Bishop." She argues. "Gasper is an anxious mess; you're too assertive for him."

"All the better, then." I snort. "I'll get him out of there in no time."

"I'm fairly sure you'd cause more problems."

"Watch me."

"You don't understand—there's a reason why Gasper is kept alone in there." She says, looking serious as she hastens her pace to walk beside me. "He isn't very good at controlling his power."

"Which is stopping time?" I give her a side-eye. "Rias told me already. A power like that isn't dangerous unless he's willing to hurt me."

And he's probably too much of a pussy to do that. Even if he did hurt me, it would give me an excuse to beat the shit out of him.

Plus, I'm fairly certain this type of power has some limits. I distinctly remember it not working against people who are much more powerful, and I'm pretty confident in myself. I can probably resist the time stop to some extent.

It sounds nice, but it also reminds me that this isn't as useful as it is. If stopping time doesn't work against people so much stronger, then that means it's not an actual universal time stop and has a limited range. Thus, it loses a lot of its usefulness. Sure, it's still incredible, buuuuut…

Yeah, not as good. I'd take the real Dio's time stop over it, even if that has a limit of eleven seconds per activation. Heh, he sucks even as a wannabe. What a fucking loser. Rias shouldn't have bothered with that little bastard.

Though, as I said, I'd take it if I had the chance. But thinking about it, is it really worth the trouble? Killing the guy wouldn't be hard, but it should immediately warn Rias because the Evil Piece in him would return to her, so it'd be highly risky. Even if I succeed, I'd have to actively hide Aeon Balor all the time, which is just one more thing to worry about.

Hmm, time manipulation sounds nice, but I don't know. The risks seem to outweigh the rewards by far. I'll have to think about it more later. Right now, I just want to kick his ass for making shit harder than they had any right to be.

And also to complete this quest.

[Therapy Session #1: Touching Grass] – Quest

Objective: Drag Gasper Vladi out of his room

Bonus Objective: Do it by force

Rewards: +25 to all stats, [Photosynthetic Skin] Perk, Major EXP

Bonus Rewards: +100 to all stats, [Exquisite Blood] Perk, Immense EXP

Funny quest name aside, I'm tempted because I don't know what would happen if I get a perk I already have. Would it stack? Enhance the perk? I don't know, but I'm curious enough to bother. The other rewards are pretty decent. too. 250 in everything is really good, and I feel like the Exquisite Blood perk wouldn't be entirely useful unless I involve myself with the Vampire factions. Or steal Gasper himself.

And I might. A free minion is a free minion, even though I legitimately dislike him.

Seriously, why the hell wasn't he there for Rias when she was nearly married off to that chicken dickhead? She saved his goddamn life, and he doesn't even have the fucking decency to help. Hell, we could've used his Sacred Gear in the fight against Kokabiel, too.

Had we suffered genuine casualties, then they would've been on him. What a clown.

She's seriously too nice. If I were in her place, I would've either kicked him out or outright just killed him. According to her, she even used a mutated Bishop on him. A mutated piece is, like, what, two or three times more powerful than a regular one?

God, what an absolute waste.

"He could very well suffer a panic attack if you go overboard, and I know you would," Sona warns me. "You'd put the two of you in danger."

"I can handle it."

"That is not the point." She huffs. "Akane, please, let's just leave this to Rias."

"Rias needed help convincing herself that she could beat someone who is barely on her level. I don't have a lot of faith in her." I open the door leading to the old school building with a scoff. "Besides, he doesn't need convincing; he needs to be pulled out of there kicking and screaming."

Seemingly giving up, Sona groans but says nothing. I already made up my mind—I wanna beat up and verbally abuse someone, and Gasper is the unfortunate victim. I haven't bullied someone like this in ages. No, Ichiban doesn't count.

Though, being fair to me here, I never initiate.

Honestly, it's his fault. Should've acted like a real man and stood up for his friends instead of staying there doing absolutely nothing. Maybe then I wouldn't be so pissed at him. I hate nothing more than pushovers like him. They make me sick.

…Well, that's a lie. The thing I hate most is dark chocolate. That makes me sick. Literally. Whoever invented it should burn in hell.

As we make our way to the room where I sense Rias and her peerage, I find them all standing behind a door that emits ominous energy. Energy I've felt before. Huh, so that was what I felt on my first day.

Rias glances at us and blinks as she realizes that I'm standing behind her.

"Oh, uh…" She gives Sona a quick look before giving me her full attention. "What brought you here?"

"Rias, I sent you a message that we were on our way." Sona deadpans before I can respond.

"Phone's dead."

"Of course it is." Sona pinches the bridge of her nose. "I've told you to always keep it fully charged a hundred times already."

"I am charging it now. Back in the clubroom."

"While I find this conversation incredibly riveting, can we focus?" I snap my fingers to make a point. "Explain exactly what's going on."

"Well, we've been trying to convince Gasper to get out." Rias points at the door, with her rook standing directly in front of it. "More specifically, Koneko's trying to get to him."

"Koneko?" I repeat, finding this odd. Is she trusting the Kuudere to do this?

"They're close." She clarifies. I still find this odd. "We all tried, obviously, but Koneko seems to be making the most progress."

"And how much is that?"

Rias shuffles around a bit, breaking her gaze.

"Not much, I'm afraid." She sighs. "He isn't just shy; the boy suffers from an anxiety disorder. This could take us a while, to be honest."

So Sona wasn't exaggerating? That's annoying. I can't exactly be as gungho about this as I wanted, so I'll have to play nice with him if I want him out of there permanently. And that approach could take us months before we actually make progress with him.

Tsk, what a fucking pest. So he's completely useless either way. Being forceful or friendly won't help him. He's bound to stay there until we don't need him anymore. Even if we start now, by the time we fix his issues, we'll already be way more powerful than he could hope to imagine.

Ugh, I could use more of that shonen logic right now. Get him out in a few days at most.

Eh, whatever. I'll still try to bait him into attacking me so I can have an excuse to mop the floor with him. The main quest said to get him out of his room, not give him therapy.

Heh, at this point, I don't want him out of there to help Rias in the tournament. I just want to beat him up. You know, sometimes, having your anger issues known can be useful. Helps you get out of a lot of shit. Besides, they can't be mad at me for too long. I'm cute.

"Lemme talk to him."

"What?" Rias blinks, looks between me and Sona, and then responds. "I-I mean, I appreciate the offer, but we kind of have it covered."

"It's fine. I won't do anything."

"Akane…" Sona looks at me with a frown.

"I promise I'll be nice," I say. "I know what I said earlier, but I'll control myself if his problems are beyond shyness or laziness. Trust me."

This seems to make her relax a little. After a moment, Sona nods, signifying her foolish trust in me. I'm about to make this a nightmare for her, and while it isn't exactly intentional on that front, it would be kind of funny either way.

I like being annoying.

"Rias?" I look at the redhead for permission, knowing she'd give it to me.

"...Okay, but be careful." She says. "Remember, Gasper doesn't know how to control his power very well."

"What's the limit of his time stop?" I ask, wanting to be sure.

"As long as you stay out of his sight, you should be fine." She explains. It's even worse than I thought… "But that's not what you should worry about. I know you're powerful, but Gasper accesses an incomplete version of his Balance Breaker when he's pushed. You'd be in big trouble if he gets his hands on you, so we'll keep the door open in case something happens."

"Got it."

I walk up to the door as Koneko opens it for me, looking at me hopefully and almost pleadingly, and I'm reminded once again that I don't like her much. She's kind of troublesome for her potential to detect Lucifer. I might need his advice on handling this, and she's kind of in the way.

The room is dark, and I see the light of a laptop screen on the other side of the room, with the boy in question tapping away at the keyboard as he's covered up in a large blanket. He freezes as he feels my presence, slowly turning his head towards me, eyes wide and face sweating.

They do keep the door open, unfortunately, but I quickly come up with a plan. I still have that little magic concealing chip in my inventory—the one I plan to make the base for my device. It'll still be risky, though I'm fairly certain it doesn't need to be in my ears to work, and I already forced a sort of factory reset on it, so the Amon shouldn't be able to track it.

It activates once it sticks to my skin, so I should be okay if I hold it in my hand. I guess they put it in their ears to avoid it getting damaged in battle? That makes sense. Doesn't make it as big of an issue as I first thought. I am still going with my glove idea, though.

Why use the chip now? Because masking my mana is required if I want to use it next to so many people without them noticing anything. I already have it lowered naturally, so they shouldn't notice anything weird once the chip does its job.

Maybe Koneko, but I don't think she's smart enough to figure anything out. Besides, it's about damn time I found a good guinea pig to test my illusions on.

I already tested visual illusions, so let's see how good and useful the auditory type is.

– Gasper –

"Hello." The girl greeted him gently. "So you're Gasper Vladi, right?"

He said nothing.

"I'm Akane Amamiya." She introduced herself politely. "A friend of Rias, though I'm sure you already knew that."

Gasper knew who she was. Who didn't? Especially after defeating the Warhawk. She probably didn't know it yet, but word about her killing Kokabiel had spread like wildfire across the internet. Or at least the Devilnet.

The reports he'd found weren't particularly detailed, but they mentioned a few key points. The daughter of the Immortal Dragon led a group of devils, exorcists, and her yakuza. She managed to bring down one of the most fearsome generals in the Grigori in response to his abrupt invasion.

People were either dismissive of the news or completely shocked. Humans usually get underestimated by other races, and while that has become less common throughout the last few decades, it was still absurd that a human teenager spearheaded a successful confrontation.

True, she was the daughter of Tatsu Amamiya, one of the most powerful humans in history, but, unlike her, he had been genetically modified to be powerful—the Yakuza's first and only successful attempt at creating a super soldier.

She allegedly had no such luxury, even with her Yokai blood. All prior reports had stated that she, while much more powerful than your typical human, wasn't even low-class. But then suddenly, in only a month, she became powerful enough to defeat the Warhawk? That was insane.

Thus, many people online say it was probably some sort of PR campaign or something. And Gasper would've also believed that had he not felt her immense power skyrocketing during the battle. True, he hadn't exactly been there to see how the fight played out, but there was no doubt that this girl was massively more powerful than people thought.

She'd either been trained in secret and her public reports were just there to fool everyone into not giving her much thought, or she was unbelievably talented. Gasper didn't know, but what he did know was that behind that fake, soft smile of hers…

"You don't mind me asking you a few questions, right?" She said, slowly walking toward him.

Her blood was boiling.

"P-Please don't come any closer…" He said quietly, almost in a whisper. The air was getting colder. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I-I don't want to talk."

She terrified him. Something about the way she was just… strolling his way made his heart pound in panic. He could almost feel the rage and hatred she held in her one visible eye, and while she was controlling it rather well, it was evident to him.

But what was more frightening was the fact that he couldn't feel her presence. No, more like she had no presence in the first place. It's like he was imagining this—as if she wasn't even here in front of him.

It scared him. Something was off about this. About her.

It almost felt like she wanted to kill him.

"Why not?" She questioned, being just nice enough to stop her advance toward him. "I'm not gonna hurt you. Relax, Gasper. I'm only here to help."

Gasper didn't buy it. She was lying. He could tell.

"I-I'm… N-not today, please." He responded as he looked away. "I-I wanna be left alone…"

Akane said nothing momentarily, content with staring at him, judging him in silence. Gasper began to tremble as the pressure began to creep upon every inch of his body. Something felt like it was blocking his throat, as if the air was freezing.

After a few seconds, this silence felt louder than thunder, and it quickly became unbearable for him. He worked up just enough courage to look at her, perhaps out of curiosity, to see if she was behind this terrible feeling, and Gasper immediately regretted it.

The fake smile was gone, replaced with a scowl of absolute contempt. A look he was very familiar with back before being reincarnated as a devil. A look that brought memories so terrible it made him tear up.

"W-what do you want from me?" He asked, beginning to lose his composure. "Please leave me alone."

"You make me sick." She sneered, making him flinch. "I don't know why Rias even bothered with you."

Gasper didn't expect such a seething response from here, even with how angry she looked. What shocked him more was the fact that none of the devils behind her reacted to her words in any negative way. Did they not hear her?

"W-what–"

"I'm speaking here." She said, cutting him off. "You don't talk until I tell you to talk."

He remained silent.

"Good, at least you're smart enough to follow basic instructions," Akane said. "Though, even a toddler could, so not really a high bar. You must be proud of yourself, huh?"

Why was she being mean? What was going on? What did he do? And why was everyone just… being so casual about this?

"When we were all out there fighting for our lives, you hid here, waiting until the storm passed so you could continue going back to your silly little contracts." She scoffed. "Worthless as you are. What's so important about these contracts that you'd rather let your own King, your goddamn savior, die than pause your work on them?"

Gasper didn't know what to say. He was too shocked to say anything, more like. That wasn't true– he didn't see contracts as more important than Rias, not in a million years.

"You'd let invasions in your territory slide because you're too busy working on some useless contracts for even more useless contractors? Are you seriously that self-important?" The scary girl mocked him further, walking closer. "You pompous fuck."

Gasper felt it was so much harder to breathe suddenly. He looked away from the terrifying glare of the yakuza girl as his trembling intensified. Why was she walking closer? What was she gonna do to him?

"Or is it something else?" She asked with an icy tone. "Maybe it's not self-importance. Seeing how little and weak you look… maybe it's just cowardice."

"I-I'm… not…"

"Shut the fuck up."

He flinched violently.

"Maybe you were just too scared to fight. Even with such incredible power, you'd rather curl up in a ball and wait until everything calmed down as the people who cared for you got slaughtered one by one." Akane said, twisting and tearing his heart apart. "If that was the case, then you didn't deserve to be given this second chance."

Gasper shut his eyes as he tried to drown out her words. No, he shouldn't be listening to this. He didn't think he was self-important; he loved Rias very much. She'd saved him, and he didn't want to imagine her ever dying. She and others in the peerage meant a lot to him.

He needed to control himself. He might lose the restraint over his power if he let anything she said into his head. He'd had that happen several times to know that it was never pretty. He needed to breathe. Slowly. He had to calm down.

He did not know her end goal or why she was doing this, but what was clear was that she was being a total bully. He didn't know why Rias, or anyone for that matter, would want to hang out with someone like her.

Nonetheless, he couldn't let simple words mess with his head. He was anxious, sure, but he was better than this. For as much of a jerk as she was, he couldn't endanger her, himself, and his peerage standing there.

…But then, if he weren't such a doormat, he wouldn't have just… stayed here when they were trying their best. He hadn't moved a muscle to help against Riser, nor against Kokabiel. Frankly, he was a pushover and a coward. He was scared of the outside, and not like the 'vampire' excuse would help—everyone knew he was a daywalker. He was simply terrified of being judged.

Someone with the power to stop time itself, even if only to an extent, got frozen in fear of being stared at. Was this a joke? But it wasn't like he could help it. He couldn't just decide not to be scared anymore, right?

"You're just proving my point, aren't you? Only cowards keep making excuses and NEVER decide to do something about their problems." She said, and Gasper exhaled shakily. How did she– "I wonder how many excuses are you going to make? And until when?"

His breathing got more erratic as he struggled to control the storm brewing within him. However, even with that, the darkness of Forbidden Balor View was slowly leaking out of him. He needed to calm down. Fast.

"Look at you, writhing and trembling like the worm you are." She added. "You don't even have the balls to say anything or try to deny it. You know I'm right."

He said nothing, continuing to hyperventilate. His head started to hurt him immensely.

"Akane…" Rias said the girl's name. "This isn't really working. Just leave him. I'll try to get through to him tomorrow."

Gasper opened his eyes slowly. He looked at his peerage and Sona, remembering they were there, watching the scene, looking… hopeful. What? Did they not see the problem with this? Wasn't the human girl mean? Was he imagining things? What was going on?

Did…they agree with her? Did they think he was that a coward? Was that it? Gasper had so many questions swirling in his head that it nearly drove him to retch. Were they perhaps so sick of him that they wanted him out but didn't want to be the ones doing it?

He didn't know. He didn't know anything. Did they hate him? But if they did, who was he to blame them? Gasper was a coward. He had a responsibility to protect Rias and help his friends, yet, more than once, when given the chance, he opted to just… stay in his room and do nothing.

…Perhaps he deserved this.

"Yes, yes. I know. I'll be done soon." Akane waved off Rias. "Just one more thing."

"You know, Gasper." She crouched to his level, perhaps a foot away from him, and her frown turned into a sadistic grin. "Valerie would be so disappointed in you."

Gasper's heart nearly stopped as he heard her utter that name.

"So do her a favor and kill yourself."

As Akane put a freezing hand on his shoulder in the next second, he lost his grip on the violent power within.

– Akane –

I couldn't have hoped for this to work any more perfectly.

I wince at the pain in the right side of my abdomen after getting smacked out of the building by a massive tentacle made of darkness, but this doesn't stop a satisfied smile from showing itself on my face. Nobody even noticed anything weird—everything went exactly as planned.

"Are you okay?!" Rias glided toward me, looking concerned. "That looked like a nasty hit there."

It was. Had I not made a few defensive spells to protect myself just in time, I could've been cleaved in half, but I was fully aware of the risks before I tried this, even though being reminded of how squishy I am is annoying. I fully intended for him to hit me to make myself look less like an instigator, even though to everyone else, Gasper went apeshit for no reason.

To them, I was incredibly encouraging to him, which was the reality. I did nothing but be friendly, almost to a degree where I sounded a little fake. I kept saying that I fully understand what he's going through, but trying his hardest is what he should be doing. You know, typical shonen speech.

But to him, in an illusion… I said the complete opposite. The things I wanted to say. My true thoughts and feelings about him. How unrepentant cowards like him are the lowest of the low, undeserving of any of the goodwill they're given.

And I made sure to be perfect with that, too. Not just voice but attitude and visuals. Everything from the way I moved to my tone of voice to even facial expressions. He must've found it weird when he saw none of his peerage do or say anything, but he didn't notice anything else because of the chip.

And neither did they. I immediately activated my illusion magic when the cloaking device did its thing, as it made all illusion spells completely undetectable. None of them could even notice anything odd.

But I had to be quick. I needed them to sense my ice magic because if that was undetectable, they could've found it suspicious. Might be just me being very paranoid, but everything needed to be perfect. Everything I built here could've been ruined if I made a singular fuck up.

This is incredible. This plan worked much better than I thought it would. Perfectly, even.

I fucking love it when it happens.

"I don't think I should've touched him." I wince, watching the uncontrollable blob of pure darkness in the middle of the room, its tentacles thrashing around violently. "Fuck…"

Nearly the entire section of the building we were in was destroyed, but thankfully, no one was seriously hurt by Gasper's tantrum. All of them were able to dodge his lashing tendrils, backing away into the hallway leading to his room, just out of reach.

"You think?!" Rias looks at me incredulously, offering a hand.

"I'm sorry," I say, faking a guilty tone. I take her hand, and she pulls me up. "I'll take care of it."

"There is nothing to apologize for." She shakes her head. "Honestly, he acted weird, even for him. I think you just unintentionally intimidated him. You're pretty terrifying, to be fair."

It's so fucking funny to hear this.

"And here I thought I looked friendly," I say, chuckling for all the wrong reasons.

Rias pauses, looking at me with a mixture of surprise and relief.

"You're not as mad as I thought you'd be." She says.

Ah, shit. I was supposed to act mad.

"Being mad at him feels pointless. I should've been more careful, I guess." I wave it off, quickly changing my plans. "I'll try to calm him down."

"How? He wasn't exactly listening to you earlier."

"He won't listen to anyone. Not like this." I agree. "But he doesn't have endless energy. I'll exhaust him."

"Akane–"

"I'll be gentle, I promise." I lie. "Just don't get involved."

"But you–"

"This is my mess, Rias." I insist. "Let me clean it up."

The redhead looks conflicted, but eventually she relents and nods, flying away to Sona and the rest of her peerage. Finally, now I get to have fun. But to beat him up without it looking like I'm trying to kill him…

That might be a little tough.

I cast several defensive spells and wings, leaping to the ball of dark magic in the old school building. Sensing me approaching, Gasper tries to strike me with his uncontrollable magic, which I effortlessly evade, weaving between the tendrils with a confident smile.

I roll around a tentacle trying to impale me, giving it a light touch and promptly freezing it in less than a second. His magic is dangerous because I'm not very durable, but to compare it to my Cryomancy is insulting.

I do the same with every tendril that comes close to me, disabling his clumsy approach to attack momentarily. At least until he makes new tentacles, but he's too slow because I'm already freezing the blob surrounding him, shattering it nearly instantly.

He's in the middle of hyperventilating, but I snap him back to reality after grabbing him by the throat and slowly freezing it. His eyes open wide as he tries, but fails to scream in pain. For some reason, I'm unable to react to another tendril coming to hit me, moving much faster than the other ones and hitting me in the face.

Right, time stop. But if I've seen it move, then that means I'm strong enough that his time stop isn't stopping me; it's just slowing me down. It's tripping me up a bit– I don't feel slow. He feels fast.

Gasper coughs violently, looking at me in a mixture of terror and shock—a look I genuinely love seeing.

"Calm down," I say, knowing he won't calm down.

"Stay away from me!" He screams, launching more of his magic at me.

This time, sharp blades of darkness rain down on me from above, and I'm forced to take this a little seriously as I'm still in his line of sight. So instead of playing defensive, I activate Touki for a single second.

And a single second was more than enough to get in front of him and punch him in his stupid fucking face, causing a shockwave so powerful that it made the rest of the building collapse, launching him several hundred feet away.

Though, I doubt that's enough to knock him out, so I'm quick to follow, catching up immediately. I grab him by the leg mid-flight and drag him down, slamming him against the ground before freezing his leg to it.

As Gasper tries to defend himself, starting by activating his Gear and looking at me, I begin wailing on him, mercilessly beating his face until he's barely recognizable. I keep an eye out on his HP so I don't accidentally kill him.

I deliberately let one of his tendrils hit me, moving away just enough for it to stab my shoulder and nothing vital. I can't have this look as one-sided as it actually is. I'm fighting to calm him down after all, nothing more and nothing less.

But considering what he is and what he's doing… I can afford to be a little mean.

As more of his attacks land, cutting my face, chest, and stomach, I grit my teeth and quickly cast an ice knife, slashing his eyes and blinding him temporarily. The shriek of agony coming from was more cathartic than I thought it would be.

"Oh, quit whining, you little bitch; you'll heal soon anyway," I growl. "This is all for the times you hid away while we risked our lives, cross-dressing cunt."

I let another one of his tendril cut through my leg, and as painful as that was, I knew it was necessary to stop them from questioning shit. Blinding him like this, even though he's a vampire, might horrify them a tad too much.

Once I sense the devils close by, I point two fingers close to his chest, activate Touki, and then hit him with a one-inch punch, using Flux Fissure to send my ki into his body. He gasps in agony, and with teary eyes, he looks at me.

"Why…?" He struggles to breathe before finally falling unconscious.

I get off him and walk away as the devils descend next to me, seeing how badly in shape I am as well as Gasper. 'Why' he asks. Well, for one, I hate him. Two, I got a quest to kick his ass. And three, I hate him.

"Goodness, what happened?" Sona asked, looking concerned. "You need medical attention immediately. Both of you."

"It's fine, I'll manage." I wave it off.

"There is a hole in your shoulder," Akeno says.

"I said I'll be fine." I snap at her, encasing the wound in ice.

Seeing her flinch is funny. She's so fucking scared of me, and it's hilarious.

"I never thought Gasper would ever do such a thing," Rias says, looking confused and slightly hurt. "Why was he so scared of you? To this extent?"

"Yeah, I don't know what his problem was, but the kid's wild." I wince. "I tried getting through to him, but he's convinced I was going to kill him for whatever reason."

"Maybe his mental health was a lot worse than we initially thought," Sona says. "Rias?"

"Yes, I think we're gonna need an expert for this." The redhead sighs before glancing at me. "I'm… sorry. You tried to help us, and–"

"It's fine, I did it on my own." I shrug. "Honestly, if anything, I should apologize for making it harder than it should be. Heh, I guess this is what I get for sticking my nose in other people's business."

"Not at all. I think it's very sweet of you to lend a hand." Rias says as Sona chuckles. "Even though it didn't exactly end up helping much."

They're so fucking dumb.

"I guess so. I'll leave you now; he'd probably lose it if he sees me again." I'm just happy they're buying this shit. "I'm also sorry for being rough on him. I know I said I'd be gentle, but he didn't really give me a choice."

"We understand." Rias nods. "It looks terrible, but he's a vampire. He'll heal in a few minutes."

I nod back and flap my ice wings–

"Wait." Koneko stops me, making me twitch nervously. "Just now…"

Fuck, don't tell me she noticed anything? Shit, I knew she was a problem, but I made sure to do everything perfectly. Did she notice? If so, why didn't she say anything earlier? Damn it, and Rias just said she was close to Gasper. If she really did notice anything, then I'm screwed.

Fuuuuck.

"Yeah?" I slowly look back at her.

"You used ki." She says. "How?"

Oh.

That.

Oh thank god.

"I was taught how to access it recently," I answer truthfully, seeing no reason to lie. "Though, I can only use Touki."

"I see."

…That's it? I nearly had a heart attack. Good god.

Ugh, whatever.

"See you girls tomorrow." I wave, leaving the group to handle that mess.

I need a bath.

– Lucifer –

"I must say, what you did earlier today was rather…" He paused, looking for the appropriate word as he watched her work on the gauntlet, adding the finishing touches with her blowtorch. "...Barbaric. I've yet to understand the logic of such an act."

"Showing sympathy? Really?" She glanced at him before refocusing on her work.

"Oh no, not sympathy. I'm confused." He waved it off. "I understand your hatred for the boy, but the risks seemed quite high for you to do such a thing for mere self-satisfaction."

"Please, we both know I have better things to do." She said. "I just felt like testing what I have."

"Testing what you have?"

"The chip. My illusions." Akane shrugged. "I needed an actual test before I could put them to use."

"Ah, I see." Lucifer nodded. "I hadn't entirely understood your intentions. It's quite ironic."

"What is?"

"As I couldn't materialize, I could only see what you see. Through your own eyes." He clarified. "At the same time, I couldn't see what you planned. It's almost embarrassing."

"Don't be too hard on yourself. You just woke up from a coma after a few thousand years." She said, then paused. "Also, you're straight-up dead. So, you know."

He chuckled. That was true, though he wasn't sure if it worked as an excuse. Akane trying to make him feel better was, while unnecessary, adorable. Also rather manipulative. Lucifer found it both amusing and impressive. She sounded convincing. Very convincing. She was brave to try.

Her idea was sound, though. She needed to test her tools to see if they were up to the actual job, and while what she did was incredibly risky, it was only natural to push the testing methods further and further. That was how you knew prior successes weren't flukes.

After all, what she was planning to do was beyond risky. It would be crossing a line she'd never be able to go back from. One mistake, and her entire world would turn upside down. She could ruin her life and the lives of everyone around her.

Devouring the souls of others was the biggest sin one could commit. An act so vile and genius that it would cause her to lose her rights as a sentient being and would make her a wanted criminal across all the realms. From a living person to a beast that must be put down at all cost.

Of course, this hadn't stopped Lucifer himself from doing it. Frankly, why should he care? He was so powerful that even the mightiest of gods feared him. They needed entire armies and alliances to put him down.

Akane had no such luxury, though. She would quickly perish by her own people if they discovered what she could do. To him, though, he found her infinitely more fascinating. She understood the ramifications of devouring souls, but Lucifer doubted she knew just how terrible such a power was.

What a coincidence to be awoken by and bound to the only person who could and would do what he had done long ago. At first, Lucifer had only wanted to see how far Akane could go. How powerful she would grow, how many she would slay, and how much she'd conquer.

But now… he saw a bigger opportunity.

"And done." The girl said, putting the blowtorch and her welding mask aside. "What do you think?"

She held up the gauntlet to show him, and Lucifer approached to get a closer look. It was had a mirror sheen, reflecting the light emitted by the lamp above them. The design was sleek, with sharp edges and several buttons on the forearm. It was very well made, but…

"You are quite good indeed." He nodded, a hand on his chin. "But if you don't mind some critique, it looks rather dull."

"Yeah, I haven't painted it yet. I'll do that later." Akane explained. "I think I'll go with black and red. Very edgy, but fuck it, I'm embracing the edge. I'm tired of pretending it's not cool."

"What do you mean when you say edgy?"

"Don't worry about it. It's modern-day slang."

"I see." He hummed. "I assume it's fully functional?"

"It should be." She nodded, wearing it with her left arm. "Let's test out its first function…"

Akane waved her right arm, summoning several ice golems before her, and then aimed the gauntlet at them. In a flash, the gauntlet released several shots of plasma that instantly vaporized the targets, impressing the Devil King greatly.

"Holy shit, those tiny generators the Yakuza have are incredible." She chuckled. "Okay, I'm going to test out the cloaking function now. Tell me if it works."

She pressed some of the buttons on the gauntlet, and lo and behold her energy signature vanished instantly. Lucifer smiled and nodded, confirming that it did work. She grinned and squealed in joy at the success of her creation, which he found cute.

"Adding actual invisibility to this will make it so fucking busted." She said to herself, deactivating the cloak. "This is gonna be so good."

Yes, she will do. He thought. Her ambition will take her to high places, but perhaps… she could be more.

Oh he couldn't waste this chance. She was beyond just interesting—she was perfect. Excelsis, the power to steal and consume souls, and this incredibly powerful entity that lived inside her… Yes, she would do well.

Lucifer had already done everything he wanted to do in life. He was content, but perhaps this wasn't the end of his reign of terror. Perhaps the world needed to be reminded of who he once was, of what the 'Devil God' was capable of.

Perhaps Lucifer needed a successor.

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