Before parting ways at school, Akeno gave him a neatly wrapped package containing a homemade lunch.
Classes passed as usual. For the next three days, there was no word about Asia. Arthur spent most of his time with Akeno and the Occult Research Club, training, talking, and helping with minor tasks, but no one was summoned for a contract. Even Rias looked slightly bored.
It wasn't until the fourth day, while Arthur was chatting casually with Rias on the sofa, that the clubroom lights flickered faintly—followed by the crackle of magic energy. A summoning circle illuminated the floor beneath Koneko, its violet glow reflecting in her golden eyes.
At the same moment.
Ding!
[A new mission has been generated]
=====
Save the sacred maiden
Difficulty: Normal
Type: Side Mission
Convince Asia Argento to return home with you safely.
Save Asia Argento from the fallen angels.
Time limit: 8:00 AM
Reward: Special roulette draw, 50,000 system points.
=====
"Looks like there's finally more work," Rias said, smiling with mild relief.
"I'll go with her, if you don't mind."
Koneko stood up and glanced at Arthur with her usual blank expression, though her tail flicked, betraying tension.
"Let's go, senpai."
They stepped into the glowing circle, and a rush of wind enveloped them. The world warped, colors bending and twisting like liquid—until everything snapped back into place.
They materialized inside a nearly pitch-black room, lit only by a few dying candles. The faint flicker of the flames cast monstrous shadows on the cracked concrete walls.
The air was thick—heavy—and the metallic scent of blood clawed at their noses.
Koneko stiffened instantly, her ears twitching sharply. The aura here was hostile, suffocating.
"Senpai, there's someone dangerous here."
She slid into a combat stance, fists raised, pupils narrowing like a predator.
"I know..."
Arthur raised his hand and silently pointed toward a gruesome scene in the corner.
The corpse—no, the remains—of a man lay sprawled across the floor, butchered so brutally that pieces of flesh and bone clung to the walls. Blood pooled in thick, dark puddles, dripping slowly, loudly in the silence.
"I think that was your client."
A creaking sound echoed through the room. On a ragged, dusty sofa sat a silver-haired man, legs crossed casually, one blood-soaked blade resting on his shoulder. A wide, trembling smile stretched unnaturally across his face—like a mask glued on with madness.
His eyes gleamed with manic excitement as he looked at them like prey.
"Hey, you, are you responsible for this?"
Arthur asked, voice colder than steel.
The man chuckled, then burst into hysterical laughter.
"Well, well, well... What do we have here... A lovely devilish piece of trash and an idiot accompanying her, but unlike her, you're not a devil."
The man stood up and scanned us with a crazed expression. With eerie precision, he drew a pistol and a sword hilt, which instantly ignited into a long blade made entirely of blazing white light.
"I'm Freed Sellzen, and I'm going to have so much fun with that insignificant girl after I kill you~"
His face twisted grotesquely as his hungry eyes crawled all over Koneko, his tongue sliding out like a deranged animal.
Koneko's body trembled uncontrollably - part fear, part instinctive rejection of the holy aura radiating from the blade.
"Senpai… he's an exorcist. I think he's stronger than me."
I stepped forward, placing myself solidly between her and the maniac, blocking his view with my own body.
"Hey, you disgusting bastard. Stop staring at my cute junior with those rotten eyes."
His face contorted with hatred.
"I changed my mind. Before I kill you, I'll let you watch me break that pretty thing."
With terrifying speed, Freed lunged forward. But reality crashed around him in the next moment.
My gauntlets materialized with a thunderous crack, dark lightning roaring around my fists.
I drove my fist deep into his stomach - an eruption of black energy exploding outward like a tidal wave of darkness. A beam of anti-magic tore through the air, shredding the floor and wall behind him as if they were paper.
Freed rocketed backward, slamming into concrete hard enough to fracture its structure.
He vomited blood violently, gasping for breath.
Antimagic surged through my veins like liquid fire, bursting outward uncontrollably. Unlike Asta's jagged black energy that clings to swords, my manifestation was raw and unshaped - an eruption of wild dark power.
Black lightning crackled around me, fused with streaks of deep blue, writhing like living chains violently shaking against restraints similar to Midoriya's Blackwhip in form, but heavier, thicker, and more oppressive.
My aura nodes ignited one by one, opening like floodgates.
The energy swallowed the light around us, warping the air itself - every spell, every trace of divine power, every particle of holy energy evaporated on contact.
Antimagic nullified everything.
My gauntlets pulsed, veins of black energy crawling across their metal surface, forming claw-like patterns that leaked smoke-like tendrils.
The world seemed to shrink beneath the crushing pressure radiating from my body.
Freed stared in horror, trembling.
"Y-You damn bastard! That hurt! I'll cut off your legs and put a hole in your head!"
He raised his pistol and unleashed a rapid burst of blessed bullets.
The projectiles screamed through the air, but I deflected them with sharp, brutal strikes from my gauntlets, sparks of black lightning flaring with every impact.
Freed grew even more frantic.
"Just die already!!!"
Before I could finish him, someone else entered.
A trembling cry echoed through the room.
"Wait!! Please stop!"
Asia stood at the entrance, eyes wide in terror, frozen at the sight of carnage. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked between the mutilated corpse and the hellish energy radiating from my body.
"Asia-chan, did you finish setting up the barrier? Come help me kill that bastard already."
Freed stepped closer to her with a chilling smile.
"Why so quiet? Oh right… you're still new. You'll get used to watching people die. It's our duty to purge those tainted by demons."
I tried to move to shield her, but Koneko was still behind me, desperately trying to establish communication with Rias - completely vulnerable.
Freed raised his gun again, aiming straight at my head.
Before he could pull the trigger, Asia ran forward, spreading her arms wide in front of me.
"Father Freed, please stop! Don't hurt him! He's a good person!"
Her voice cracked as tears streamed down her face.
She was terrified, but she didn't move an inch.
"Please… I beg you."
Freed's expression warped into pure disgust and fury.
"You've got to be kidding me. Enough of this pathetic trash!!"
He raised his blade to strike Asia down.
The moment his sword descended, my hand shot forward, catching the blade mid-swing.
A pitch-black armored gauntlet enveloped the glowing steel - the holy light flickering violently before extinguishing completely.
The air vibrated with tension.
"You dare try to touch her in front of me? Do you so desperately want to die?"
My voice was unrecognizable cold, murderous, and resonating like thunder.
Antimagic flared out from my body in violent waves, black tendrils lashing at the air. The blade disintegrated under my grip, dissolving into light the instant it touched the aura.
Freed's instincts screamed.
His body froze.
His pupils shrank to pinpoints.
Monster.
That was all his brain could comprehend.
Panicking, he suddenly spun and emptied an entire clip of bullets directly toward Koneko.
"Shit—!"
I couldn't reach her in time normally, so I used Shunpo, ripping the air apart as I appeared in front of her, shielding her with my body.
Freed didn't hesitate - he grabbed Asia's wrist and yanked her toward him, slamming a blessed grenade onto the floor while activating a teleportation circle.
"Arthur-san!!!"
Asia screamed, reaching toward me as light swallowed her. Regret and fear twisted her expression - she understood immediately that she had made the wrong choice days ago.
She vanished, crying.
A blinding flash and a deafening explosion engulfed the room.
And the last thing she saw was my back
standing between her and death.