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“Demon Court?” Amano Yuma’s grip tightened on the Light Spear.
She fixed her eyes on the golden-haired, pointed-eared woman in front of her.
An Elf Clan member.
A race nearly reduced to slavery.
But that power…
It wasn’t demonic magic.
It wasn’t the holy light of angels.
And it certainly wasn’t the nature-born power the Elf Clan came into the world with.
“Never heard that name.” She pulled her lips into a cold smile.
“Daring to meddle in Lord Azazel’s affairs — you’re dead!” The words were barely out of her mouth.
She had already exploded forward as a streak of black shadow!
The Light Spear tore through the air, driving straight at Alpha’s brow.
Hyoudou Issei sat slumped on the ground, his mind completely blank.
Black wings.
Light Spears.
An outfit that changed in an instant.
His gentle, adorable first-love girlfriend was actually a winged bird-person?!
“What the hell kind of monster did I hit on?!” The spear tip was almost there.
Alpha’s expression didn’t change.
She gave her wrist a light turn.
That pitch-black longsword traced a dark arc.
CLANG!
A piercing ring exploded outward.
The Light Spear was knocked violently off course.
Alpha spun with the momentum, her blade sweeping a pitch-black crescent that launched forward.
Amano Yuma beat her wings and wrenched herself back in a panic.
The slash grazed her feathers and split the stone pillar behind her clean in two.
A column of water erupted toward the sky.
“This woman…
she’s strong!” Amano Yuma gritted her teeth.
Her aura surged higher.
Several Light Spears condensed in the air around her.
“Ten Thousand Spear Assault!” The Light Spears poured down like a storm!
Alpha’s eyes sharpened.
Her sword began to move, weaving a curtain of steel.
She noticed something.
Her grip on this power kept getting cleaner.
Sharper.
Like she was finding the edges of it in real time.
The Light Spears were obliterated.
Every last one.
Alpha extended a finger and ran it slowly along the flat of the blade.
Black light erupted.
From the sword tip, straight up into the clouds.
She raised the longsword high with both hands, then brought it down.
“Dark Night Execution!” “What…
what is that?!” Amano Yuma’s pupils blew wide.
This power…
It didn’t belong to any system she had ever encountered.
Her face went ashen.
She braced to block the strike.
“Stop!” A sharp cry split the air.
A crimson meteor crashed into the plaza.
It smashed through Alpha’s towering curtain of dark sword-energy and resolved into a figure with red hair streaming behind her.
Kuoh Academy uniform.
Azure eyes.
Power of Destruction roiling around her body like a living thing.
Rias Gremory.
She had arrived.
“Fallen Angel Raynare.” Her voice was cold.
“You dare make a move on my territory without permission?” She swept a brief glance over Amano Yuma, but her gaze caught on the longsword in Alpha’s hand and stopped cold.
What kind of weapon was that.
Even she felt a knot forming in her chest just looking at it.
And another thing.
She had clearly sent her familiar to deliver a flyer to Hyoudou Issei.
The teleportation array had failed?
“The House of Gremory wants to stick its nose in other people’s business?” Amano Yuma forced a bold front, but the retreat was already in her eyes.
Facing Rias Gremory, she couldn’t win.
She knew it.
“Other people’s business?” Rias let the thought go and gave a light laugh.
Sparks of destruction flickered at her fingertips.
“I’m more interested in what this human is carrying.” Alpha stepped sideways, planting herself in front of Hyoudou Issei.
Her sword came up.
“Rias Gremory.
What belongs to my master is not yours to covet.” Hyoudou Issei was beyond stupefied.
Rias-senpai.
From the Occult Research Club.
Something inside him?
What thing?!
Why did everyone want to kill him!
And these two both had wings?!
So they were bat spirits or something…
Honestly, when he looked at it that way, the golden-haired older sister standing in front of him right now seemed like the most normal person here.
“A master who won’t even show his face?” Rias raised an eyebrow.
The Power of Destruction surged toward Alpha like a tide.
The Law of Darkness met it head-on.
The ground split.
The shockwave sent rubble flying.
Neither of them moved an inch.
A vicious glint crossed Amano Yuma’s eyes.
Now.
She gathered a Light Spear in silence, angling it toward Hyoudou Issei.
The instant before she moved.
An invisible weight dropped over the entire plaza.
Cold.
Absolute.
The pressure was so real it felt like something solid pressing down on the air itself.
Breathing became an effort.
Alpha and Rias both went still at the same moment, their clash cutting off as if a switch had been thrown.
Amano Yuma locked up completely.
Her wings shook and wouldn’t stop.
“Wh…
what level of existence is this?!” The Power of Destruction around Rias nearly fell apart.
She had never felt anything like it.
It was like standing at the edge of an abyss and realizing the abyss was staring back.
Alpha turned to face the empty air.
She sheathed her sword and lowered her head.
Amano Yuma broke entirely.
“I’m out!
I’m withdrawing!” She screamed it, and didn’t waste another second.
Her black wings hammered the air.
She became a streak of light and was gone.
Rias pulled in a slow breath and pressed the shock back down.
She looked at Alpha for a long moment.
“Your master.
Who exactly is he?” “You don’t need to know.” Alpha turned to the shell-shocked Hyoudou Issei.
“Follow.” Hyoudou Issei scrambled to his feet and tucked himself behind her.
Only one thought was running through his head.
College life is terrifying.
Rias watched them go.
Her red hair lifted in the evening breeze.
She pressed a hand over her pounding heart.
Something fierce and hungry ignited behind her eyes.
“Never once showing himself…
yet possessing that kind of power…
hundreds of times stronger than last night, at minimum!” She clenched her fist.
The corner of her mouth curved sharp.
“No matter who you are, I am going to find you.” Her black wings spread.
She shot into the sky and vanished into the dusk.
The plaza was silent.
Up in the void.
Li Ancheng stood with his hands clasped behind his back, watching the disturbance below settle and fade.
He pulled out the flyer.
A flame rose from his palm.
It burned to ash.
…
Alpha brought Hyoudou Issei to the villa entrance, then stopped.
She lowered her head.
She’d embarrassed her brother.
First independent mission, and he’d still had to step in from the shadows.
She didn’t want to admit it, but she wasn’t Rias’s match yet.
Not even close.
“Elf older sister?” Hyoudou Issei ventured carefully.
“Are we here to…
meet your master?” Alpha shook herself back to the present.
She was reaching for the gate when Li Ancheng’s voice came through in her mind.
She paused, then turned to Hyoudou Issei and produced a jade stone from her palm.
“Master’s instructions: keep this on your person.
It will keep you safe.
As for meeting him, there will be a time for that.” Hyoudou Issei took it quickly and scratched the back of his head.
“Elf older sister, is there something I need to do?
Let me at least show some kind of gratitude…” Alpha’s voice was quiet.
“Master says he needs you to stop Itou Makoto from pursuing Katsura Kotonoha.
That’s all.” “Haah?!” Hyoudou Issei stared at her.
That request…
Wasn’t that completely out of nowhere?!
A life-saving debt this heavy, and the payback was…
that?!
He couldn’t even begin to trace the logic!
Alpha nodded.
“In return, Master will give you back a normal Amano Yuma.
Human.
No memories of being a Fallen Angel.
She will only remember that you’re her boyfriend.” “Deal!” Hyoudou Issei snapped to attention and thumped his chest.
“Leave it to me!” Alpha smiled lightly and nodded.
“One more thing.
There’s a power sleeping inside you that hasn’t awakened yet.
That’s why the Fallen Angels want you dead and why the devils want to make you their servant.” “Master will speak with you personally about what comes next.” “So…” Hyoudou Issei swallowed.
“Without you people, I was going to die no matter what?” Alpha nodded.
Hyoudou Issei drew a deep breath.
Then he squared himself toward the villa’s main gate and shouted at the top of his lungs.
“My lord!
I will complete the mission!
I don’t want to die!
I don’t want to become a devil either!” Alpha watched him, and the corner of her mouth twitched.
She nodded once.
“Master heard you.
Don’t let him down.” “Yes, Elf older sister.” Hyoudou Issei scratched his head and grinned.
The Demon Court was something else.
They didn’t just save your life.
They assigned you a girlfriend.
Sure, today Yuma had turned out to be a winged Fallen Angel out of nowhere.
But the time they’d spent together as a couple during the day…
Ahem.
All things considered, he felt pretty good about his situation.
He cleared his throat and tested his luck.
“So, uh…
hypothetically…
if I do a lot more work for the Demon Court going forward…
could the girlfriend situation maybe…
expand a little?” Alpha didn’t answer.
She just looked at him.
Calm.
Still.
Those unruffled azure eyes landing on him with zero expression.
A chill ran straight down Hyoudou Issei’s neck.
His shoulders went up.
“Ahaha…
kidding, kidding.
Yuma.
Yuma is absolutely enough.” “Anyway!
It’s late!
I’m going home for dinner!
Goodbye, Elf older sister!
Goodbye, my lord!” ➤ Next: The Demon Emperor’s Discourse on Family, and a Nun’s Lesson in Faith