Their gazes met.
For Ravel Phenex, this encounter was akin to colliding with a natural phenomenon—one you had witnessed only once but would remember for a lifetime. There he stood, Izayoi Jin—a being who existed outside all rules, the one who had saved her clan from disgrace while simultaneously becoming its cause. He stood here, in casual clothes, with a faint, almost lazy smirk on his lips, studying the ice cream display as if they were old acquaintances who had happened to bump into each other in a park.
"You…" she breathed, her aristocratic composure cracking.
Jin slowly turned his head; his violet eyes seemed to gaze directly into her soul, stripping away all her defenses. His smirk widened slightly.
"Ravel Phenex," he uttered her name in an even, calm tone, which nonetheless carried velvety, mocking notes. "What an unexpected meeting. Decided to cool off as well? Judging by your selection, the day has been a hot one."
He spoke as if they had parted only yesterday. As if there hadn't been that hasty, almost panicked flight from her clan's territory, not a single word of farewell. This nonchalance simultaneously infuriated her and… drew her in. The entire speech she had mentally rehearsed for their next encounter—full of gratitude mixed with reproach—instantly flew out of her head.
"I…" Ravel struggled to compose herself, proudly lifting her chin. Her cheeks flushed faintly. "I'm here on clan business! It's none of your concern what I'm doing here!"
Jin laughed quietly. "Of course. Clan business is always so important."
His gaze drifted past her, toward the path where three figures sat frozen on a bench, watching their conversation with tension. Jin seemed to have completely forgotten about them, his attention fully shifted to Ravel.
"Well, if you have business, I won't keep you," he turned back to the display.
"Wai-it!" Ravel's voice came out louder than she'd intended. She immediately grew flustered, but it was too late to retreat. "I… I just wanted to say… I'm here at the invitation of the Gremory clan. The Young Devils' Gathering will take place soon, and I arrived a little early to… look around. There."
"The Young Devils' Gathering," Jin repeated thoughtfully. "Sounds… official. And, probably, dreadfully boring."
"It is not!" she immediately retorted, stung by his tone. "It's an important event! We discuss the future of the Underworld, exchange opinions…"
She trailed off, realizing she was making excuses. She took a deep breath and changed tactics, going on the offensive.
"And what are you doing here, Izayoi Jin? I thought you preferred the human world? Or have you grown tired of hiding and decided to barge in where you weren't invited again?"
Jin turned; his eyes glinted dangerously. He took a step toward her, forcing Ravel to step back involuntarily. He leaned in a little closer.
"I'm out for a stroll," he answered simply, his voice quiet but all the more weighty for it. "I had simply… delightful guides."
"Guides?" Ravel didn't understand what he meant.
"Oh, right. I completely forgot about them. Come on, I'll introduce you."
Without giving her a chance to recover, he lightly took her elbow and led her toward the bench. Ravel allowed it, her heart pounding from a mixture of indignation and a strange, inexplicable thrill.
As they approached, the three girls on the bench leaped up as if on command. Their faces were pale, and their eyes were frozen in panicked terror. Ravel froze. She recognized them. Or rather, she recognized their auras.
"Fallen Angels?!" she whispered, her eyes widening in shock. "Jin, what is the meaning of this? Why are you… with them?"
She looked at Reynalle, Mittelt, and Kalawarner—disgraced, broken, the ones despised by all of devil society. And they were with him.
"They've been showing me the city," Jin tossed out casually, releasing Ravel's elbow. "Most obliging ladies. A bit skittish, though."
"But they're… Fallen!" Ravel couldn't recover. For her, a pureblood devil of high station, this was unthinkable. "Consorting with… with them…"
Jin looked at her with the same cold smirk.
"What, do you have a problem with racial segregation, Phenex?" His tone turned caustic. "Honestly, I couldn't care less how many wings anyone has, or what color they are. I'm only interested in how useful they can be. Or amusing. And these," he nodded at the trembling girls, "have been both today."
He turned to the Fallen. His face instantly hardened; all his recent languor vanished.
"Well then, the tour is over. You're free. You may return home."
Mittelt and Kalawarner exhaled with relief, their shoulders slumping. They had already begun forming a teleportation magic circle, but Jin raised a hand.
"Except you," he said, looking directly at Reynalle.
The Fallen froze, her face turning ashen once more.
"We haven't finished our conversation, have we?" His voice was quiet, but carried an unmistakable threat. "Do you remember my… requirement?"
Reynalle flinched. The meeting with Issei. He wanted her to meet the one she had killed. It was the most exquisite humiliation imaginable. Pride, however trampled, overcame fear.
"I… I'll think about it," she sniffed, trying to preserve the remnants of her dignity.
"You'll think about it?"
In the next instant, Jin was before her. His hand shot up and seized her face, fingers digging into her cheeks and jaw. Effortlessly, as if she weighed nothing, he lifted her off the ground, holding her at arm's length.
"A-agh!" Reynalle choked, her legs thrashing helplessly in the air.
"You don't seem to understand," Jin hissed, his violet eyes burning with cold fire. "That wasn't a request. It was a condition of your continued existence. You will do what I said. You will meet with him. And you will do it when I say. Or I will finish what I started back at the church. Only this time, I won't be so merciful."
He spoke quietly, but every word drove into her consciousness like an icy spike. Fear—pure, animal terror—paralyzed her. She saw in his eyes not just anger—she saw an emptiness, ready to consume her without a trace.
"U-unders… understood!" she squeezed out, gasping. "I… I'll do it! I will!"
Jin held her a second longer, then released his fingers. Reynalle collapsed to the ground, coughing and gulping for air. Mittelt and Kalawarner rushed to her, helping her up.
"Glad we've reached an agreement," Jin said, unflappable, dusting off his hand. "Now—get lost."
The three Fallen, saying not another word, activated their magic circle in panic and vanished in a flash of dark light, leaving behind only the scent of ozone and fear.
Jin turned to Ravel. She stood pale, her blue eyes wide with shock. She had seen his power in battle with her brother, but this cold, calculated cruelty, this aura of absolute dominance… it was something else entirely.
"Shall we walk?" Jin offered, as if he hadn't just threatened to grind a living being into dust.
Ravel nodded silently, unable to utter a word, and obediently walked beside him down the park path.
***
They walked in silence for several minutes. Ravel gradually came back to herself, trying to process what she had witnessed. This young man was dangerous. Dangerous not only for his power, but for his unpredictability. Yet… he hadn't touched her. He had been… polite to her?
"How is your brother?" Jin asked unexpectedly, breaking the silence.
Ravel started. The question caught her off guard.
"Riser?.." she looked at him, trying to discern the reason for his interest. "He… he's recovering. Surprisingly quickly."
A proud smile appeared on her face as she spoke of her brother.
"Your… encounter, it… it changed him." Ravel spoke haltingly, but with enthusiasm. "He's stopped being… the way he was before. He's grown more serious. He no longer boasts about his immortality. He… he's started training again! For real! Can you imagine, he gave up training ages ago, deciding his regeneration was enough. And now he spends hours in the training hall!"
She spoke faster and faster, her cheeks flushing with excitement.
"And he said he'll participate in the Young Devils' Gathering! Not just attend, but take part in the exhibition matches! I'm… I'm so happy for him!"
Jin listened attentively. Not a single emotion reflected on his face, but inside, something clicked. Interest. Pure, unclouded interest.
There it was.
He had broken the canon. Broken it carelessly, almost by accident, and now that canon had begun to regrow, but in a completely different, unpredictable direction. Riser Phenex, the canonical failure of a villain, the arrogant peacock, had turned… into what? A motivated fighter? This was new. This was something even he, with his fragments of plot memories, didn't know. And it stoked his desire to act.
"He… he even asked about you," Ravel added more quietly, noticing his strange, frozen expression. "Is something wrong?"
Jin blinked, returning to reality.
"No, no, everything's fine," he feigned a light smirk. "Just surprised. Didn't think my method would prove so effective. Well, in that case, I look forward to our next meeting with him."
Ravel pressed her lips together; she didn't like his smirk.
"You… you're not going to…" she swallowed, "…maim him again, are you?"
"Why would I?" Jin seemed genuinely surprised. "He's already learned his lesson. Now I'm simply curious to see where he ends up."
Ravel relaxed a little. She recalled that Riser himself had spoken of Jin without his former hatred. His words had held stubbornness, anger, but most of all—a strange, almost boyish desire to prove that he, too, was worth something. He didn't want revenge. He wanted a rematch. He wanted to catch up to the one who had shown him the peak.
"Perhaps," Ravel thought, "this Jin, for all his cruelty, became the very push Riser needed."
They reached the end of the path. Ravel stopped, fidgeting with the ribbon of her dress.
"Listen… Jin-san…" she began, her cheeks flushing again. "I… I wanted to thank you. For everything. For my brother. And…" she raised a determined, though embarrassed, gaze to him, "…if you don't mind… not that I really want to, but… could you drop by our place? Our temporary residence here? I… I could make tea. As… well, as a token of gratitude."
She blurted it out in one breath, her tsundere nature fighting desperately against a sincere impulse.
Jin looked at her. At this proud, young aristocrat trying to be polite. An invitation for tea. It was so… human. He found no reason to refuse. It was a new interaction, new data.
"I'm not against tea," he nodded.
Ravel beamed, but immediately tried to hide her joy behind a mask of severity.
"Ve-ry well! Then let's go…"
"But before that," Jin interrupted her, "there's one thing to do."
Ravel blinked in surprise, her enthusiasm instantly replaced by wariness.
"What… what now?"
***
The room was steeped in semi-darkness; the only source of light was a dim magical crystal on the ceiling, casting uneven, jittery shadows. Kuroka lay on the bed, her face buried in a pillow, her two black tails splayed limply across the rumpled sheets.
She hadn't planned this. None of it.
Her mission had been simple: infiltrate the enemy's lair, assess his strength, find weaknesses, seduce if necessary, and leave, making a fool of him.
But everything had gone wrong.
She jumped up from the bed and began pacing the room. The sheet slipped, revealing her flawless body, clad in an elegant black kimono. Chaos reigned in her head.
He wasn't like the others. He wasn't like Vali, obsessed with power, or like Bikou, hiding his insecurity behind a jester's mask. Jin was… different.
Having spent these days with him, she had seen what she hadn't expected. She had seen him deal with enemies with icy cruelty, and there was something familiar in it, something that resonated in her own soul. Rage. Uncontrollable, pure rage, the kind she herself had once experienced.
Memories she had kept locked away for years surged back with renewed force. The day she, unable to endure her master's experiments any longer, lost control. Blood, screams, fire… and the small, terrified figure of her sister, Shirone, staring at her in horror. She had fled, abandoning her. She had become a murderer and a traitor.
And then there was that night. She hadn't planned to sleep with him. It was supposed to be just a game, manipulation. But when he entered her, there was no lust in his movements, but despair. The same rage, the same desire to stifle the pain. He wasn't taking her—he was trying to erase himself within her. And at that moment, to her horror, she felt not triumph, but… kinship.
He was the same as her. Lonely, broken, hiding his pain behind a mask of strength.
"Nyaa, I've gone completely soft," she muttered, shaking her head, trying to drive away the unwanted thoughts.
The door to her room creaked open.
"Hey, Kuroka! What are you holed up in here for? I was starting to think you'd decided to hibernate!"
In the doorway stood Bikou, descendant of the Monkey King, with an eternal grin on his face and the Nyoi-Bo staff behind his back. He wore his usual loose clothes and, as always, radiated carefree energy. He was secretly in love with her, and it was so obvious it sometimes irritated her.
"How was your jaunt to the human world?" he winked.
Kuroka turned slowly. Her usual playful mask had cracked. She fixed him with a long, heavy gaze, devoid of any mirth.
Bikou's grin slowly faded from his face.
"He-ey… what's up? Did something happen?"
"None of your business, monkey," she hissed.
"Alright, alright, I get it, not in the mood," he raised his hands in surrender. "But Vali's looking for you. He's in a foul mood. It seems you've…"
"She's here."
A new voice, cold and commanding, made them both turn. Vali Lucifer stood in the doorway. His white hair seemed to crackle with static electricity, and cold anger swirled in his silver eyes. He had immediately realized where she had been and what she had done. Or rather, what she hadn't done.
"Had fun?" His voice was quiet, but all the more menacing for it.
Kuroka instantly donned her usual mask. She stretched elegantly, showing off her curves, and purred:
"Nyaa, Vali-tan, are you jealous? Girls don't like being watched so closely. It spoils all the fun."
Vali ignored her cheap provocation. He stepped into the room.
"What did you learn about him?"
"What, can't wait to get your ass kicked again?" Kuroka snapped, her tails twitching nervously. "I'm not telling you anything. It was my mission."
"Your mission?!" Vali rapidly closed the distance, his aura flaring. "Fine then, what's the result? You failed!"
Hearing this, Bikou instantly placed himself between them, his staff pressing against Vali's chest.
"Hey, hey, take it easy, White Dragon!" he growled, his cheerfulness evaporated. "Don't you dare talk to Kuroka like that!"
"She didn't carry out her orders!" Vali barked, shoving the staff aside.
"Maybe you're the one who screwed up!" Bikou pressed on. "Maybe something happened?! Kuroka, did he hurt you? Say the word, and I'll…"
"Shut up! Both of you!"
The air in the room heated to the breaking point. Vali was ready to activate his armor; Bikou was ready to charge into battle. But suddenly, they both froze.
They heard a new voice. Quiet, colorless, almost childlike.
"You are very noisy."
They turned. In the corner of the room, levitating a few meters away from them, was a little girl in a gothic dress. Ophis. The Infinite Dragon Ouroboros, the leader of the Khaos Brigade. They hadn't even sensed her enter.
She was calmly looking at Kuroka, her void-like eyes seeming to see straight through her.
"Nekomata," her voice was devoid of emotion. "This new variable. I want to know."