Tokyo International Airport.
Tobio Ikuse played with the tie that the girls forced him and Kouki to wear along with their suits, while the girls themselves were dressed in professional-looking business suits.
"How are we even supposed to fight in these...?"
At Kouki Samejima's complaining, Shigune Nanaderu gave him a glare and shoved her elbow into his side.
"We need to show a good image to Mr. Mephisto and give off a proper image as his bodyguards to the Five Families in the meeting. If we do this in our school uniforms, no one will take us seriously. Also-"
She pulsed her magic, making her dress shimmer, revealing its original form as a combat uniform made of a leather jacket over a shirt with combat pants and boots.
"This is the Governor's latest invention. Just push your power into the clothing, and they will go back to being proper combat clothing."
"...Fine."
Natsume Minagawa stared at the display above them, tracking the plane details, before asking a question that had been on her mind for some time now.
"Why is Mephisto Pheles, the famous devil, coming to meet the Five Principle clans out of the blue like this?"
Vali Lucifer yawned and leaned back into his seat with his hands behind his head.
"Beccause the Five Principal Clans are scared shitless right now."
"Va-kun! Language!"
"Hm?"
The teenagers gave the young half-devil an intrigued look while Lavinia pulled on Vali's cheeks, making the kid pout in anger and embarrassment.
After composing himself, Vali spoke seriously as the group listened.
"Think about it. The Angels have been going around making alliances with literally every pantheon in existence. Some of them are non-interference pacts, excluding the Greeks, because we all know how the Greeks are and what is the worth of a pact with those things."
"Other pantheons have straight up joined hands with the Heavens, like the Hindus, the Chinese, Grigori, what remains of the Native Indian gods in North America, and recently, the native tribes of Australia."
The teenagers nodded as this was general information that they were all aware of, thanks to everything happening in the supernatural community these days.
"The only factions that have not joined hands with the Heavens openly are the Shinto, the African gods, and the realm of the Fae in European lands. And nobody has seen any of them out and about these days after their meetings with the Heavens."
Suddenly, a chill went down their spines as they heard those words.
"You mean....?"
"I don't know. Even Azazel doesn't know. But there are....speculations...among the supernatural community. One in particular that has the Princile clans panicking."
It made sense to Tobio. The bulk of the power that the Principal Clans have comes from two sources. Their connection with the Shinto Gods, one that is even higher up the food chain than the Yokai, and the guardian beasts that they have with them.
And now, one of these two sources of power might have been cut off completely, which is not something those prideful and arrogant people will tolerate.
Vali smirked as he continued speaking.
"Azazel says that those fools have tried everything to contact the Shinto gods these days. Ranging from their regular method of contact through prayers or offerings to straight-up human sacrifices, but nothing has worked so far except for making their karma value worse by the minute."
"That is why they have reached out to Mephisto Pheles to see if the devils knew something about what is going on, and if possible, make an alliance with the Underworld in case the Shinto have really abandoned them."
"...Damn. I didn't know the Angels were this ruthless in crushing their opposition."
"They were even worse, once upon a time."
The children jumped as the aged voice rang out behind them. On instinct, they took combat stances and prepared to unleash their powers, but stopped when they saw the old man standing in front of them, along with another middle-aged man with blond hair and blue eyes.
On the outside, the old man looked no different than an average human. With white hair and beard and simple glasses, wearing a simple suit that would not be out of place on a diplomat or a high-level employee of a large conglomerate.
The middle-aged man, on the other hand, looked like a typical bodyguard with nothing to write home about.
But the sheer power rolling off of both of them, despite the Heavenly System's suppression on the devil, showed just how powerful he and his companion were, and more importantly, who the devil was.
He smiled and extended his hand towards Tobio.
"Mephisto Pheles. I assume you are the escort that Azazel arranged for me?"
His words snapped the teens out of their shock.
Tobio took his hand and shook it.
"Yes. I am Tobio Ikuse, and this is my team."
He introduced the rest of his friends as Mephisto nodded. However, Tobio did not miss how Mephisto refused to comment on his companion or give his name.
Soon, the group took off in the sedan provided to them by Azazel, with a driver and everything.
However, as they were halfway through the journey, Tobio could not supress his curiosity anymore and asked the question that had been bugging him.
"Mr. Pheles, I have a question, if you don't mind answering."
"Please, go ahead."
"Why did you hire the Grigori to escort you to this meeting? Aren't we currently allies with Heaven, and by definition, opposed to your people?"
"You are thinking that Azazel should be opposed to my meeting with the Principal Clans, who might end up allying with the Underworld, which the Heavens would not like?"
Tobio nodded at Mephisto, who smiled while swirling the wine in his glass.
"There are many things going on behind the scenes that you are not yet ready to know, child. You should ask Azazel about this once you get back. Suffice to say that we have our own plans for this meeting."
Tobio fell silent at the strange answer that did not give him anything, nor did it fulfill his curiosity.
Then, it happened.
One minute, everything was normal. Next, the driver swerved the car to the side as a light sword tore through the side of the vehicle's body. If it were not for the driver's fast reaction, that sword would have taken Tobio and Mephisto's heads.
Jumping out of the car with their combat uniforms on, team Slash/Dog saw to men wearing clergy clothing. But given that the System had given them notification that this was PvE and not PvP, it was clear that these two men were stray exorcists with negative karma.
The younger one, who looked a bit younger than Tobio, grinned maniacally as he stared at the group.
"Alright! Let's gank this shitty devil and his bitches!"
"Freed, do not forget our mission."
The older man said calmly, but the madness that Tobio could see in his eyes told another story altogether.
There was no need to talk as the group knew exactly what to do.
"Jin, get ready."
Tobio called out to Canis Lykaon, which took the form of a regular dog, much better than the pup it was after his Sacred Gear was reset, but still not on the level it once was before.
However, for this fight, this would be enough.
Sae Toujou closed her eyes and called on her own power while also using Onmyodou to strengthen herself and her friends.
"Leo, protect our friends."
With her call, the Cowardly Leo, the Utsusemi, the dangerous creatures created by the Utsusemi Agency all those months ago, manifested through her call and roared at the two stray exorcists with a challenge.
The rest did not stay idle either.
"Griffon! Take flight!"
Natsume's sacred gear, the Qiongqi, took flight.
"Byakusa! Become my lance!"
Kouki's grin matched the mania of Freed as his sacred gear, the Taowu, manifested in the form of a cat before merging with his arm, turning the limb into a deadly spear.
"Poh! Time to hunt."
Shigune called out with her hands clasped with her own Onmyodou spell, bolstering and magnifying Sae's spell, while her sacred gear, the Taotie, manifested as a small white beast with four horns and a mask.
Vali, on the other hand, grinned as Touki manifested around his body in an off-white aura.
Ever since losing his Sacred Gear and rejecting the offer to become a full human to regain it, he had been true to himself and forced himself to train brutally, finally achieving mastery over his own life force. This is what allowed him to manifest Touki.
Lavinia smiled as she saw her friends prepare to fight and chose to stay by the side of Mephisto and his nameless companion, manifesting her own Sacred Gear, Absolute Demise, which was much smaller than before since it too was reset just like every other Sacred Gear on the planet.
Freed's grin turned savage as he saw the performance in front of him.
"Oi! Oi! Is this some kind of shounen manga or something? What's with the power-up scenes? You want to make us look like villains while it is you who is escorting a literal devil!?"
"While my companion's words are crude, he is right about one thing."
The man by Freed's side, the former exorcist, David Cerro, pointed his holy sword, the legendary Galatine, the sibling sword of Excalibur, at Mephisto.
"Hand over the devil, and we will not harm you-"
"Enough words! Old man! We are not paid to talk!!"
Freed shouted and crouched low, like a sprinter getting ready to run.
And run he did.
One second, the group had their eyes fixed on the two strays, and the next, Freed literally blurred in their vision.
Next thing they knew, Jin was clashing with Freed's light sword and cut through the weapon like butter.
The group reacted instantly.
Kouki jumped forward, clashing his spear with David's Galatine while Vali attacked the older man from his back.
Cowardly Leo provided support for the Canis Lykaon and forced Freed to back off lest his face be torn apart.
David, too, pushed back the attack through a burst of Holy Energy from the sword, pushing his two attackers back.
The whole exchange happened in less than five seconds, yet the team was already tense while the two exorcists had strange expressions on their faces.
Freed clicked his tongue when he saw the handle of his light sword break apart in his hand.
"Damned System's suppression. That shitty Angel has such a hard on for his so-called Karma and whatnot."
David hummed as he looked at his own hand, feeling the suppression of the System.
"Hm. I still fail to understand why Heaven is helping out people like you who associate with Devils and Fallen alike. But we will still carry out our duty, even if it is the very heavens that try to supress us."
David glanced at Freed and spoke words that sent a chill down the children's spines.
"Do it. Freed."
"For real!? Fuck yeah!"
Freed threw his light sword away and took out the case that he was carrying on his back all this time.
David smiled as she spoke with glee.
"Let's see if the Heavens will supress one of their own artifacts, eh?"
As Freed opened the case, dense and tainted holy energy spilled out, making Mephisto stiffen a little in surprise while the children tensed up with caution.
Freed looked at their expressions and spoke with a smirk.
"Ladies, Gents, and shitty devils, I present to you, CHR-02 of the Corrupted Holy Relics project."
Black flames erupted from the simple-looking long sword as Freed held it up high.
The name of a specific being engraved on its blade in ancient Hebrew made Mephisto tremble involuntarily, while the tainted energies of the sword made the children sweat.
"Bear witness to the sword that once killed ninety-four myriads, or 940,000 demons, in ancient times, including the fearsome demon Moloch."
Power flared from the sword, for even in its twisted and corrupted state, it still recognized the presence of the Devil nearby as David continued peaking with awe and reverence.
"The Righteous protector of humanity"
"The Sword of Methuselah."
Flames erupted from the sword in a torrent in response to its name being called out while Freed swung it down at the children.
That day, the only thing that anyone could see for miles was the cursed flames that consumed a part of Tokyo.
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Author Notes:
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