~Second-Year Classroom, Beginning of Afternoon Lessons~
Sona looked toward three empty desks.
Soutarou’s…
Rias’s…
Akeno’s…
Her expression became still.
That was considerably more dangerous than visible anger.
Tsubaki adjusted her glasses and quietly observed, “They haven’t returned.”
Sona turned toward Yumi.
Yumi sat at her desk with the expression of someone who had already accepted responsibility for another person’s bad decision.
Sona coldly asked, “Where are they?”
Yumi answered truthfully, “The clubroom.”
Sona’s gaze sharpened.
Yumi continued, “Rias wanted to watch the next episode.”
Sona looked toward Soutarou’s empty seat.
Sona asked, “And Takashina-san?”
Yumi hesitated for the smallest moment before admitting, “He attempted to return.”
Tsubaki’s lips moved almost imperceptibly.
Momo looked up.
Sona slowly questioned, “Attempted?”
Yumi calmly explained, “Rias told him that leaving on a cliffhanger would leave a bad taste in her mouth.”
Silence filled the surrounding desks.
Momo imagined Soutarou and Rias sitting together in the clubroom for the entire afternoon.
Her pen stopped moving.
Momo curiously asked, “Are they watching alone?”
Everyone looked toward her.
Momo stiffened.
Momo hurriedly corrected, “I mean…
Is Akeno-san supervising them?”
Sona’s eyes glanced at her bishop slightly before Yumi nodded and answered, “Akeno remained.”
Momo lowered her gaze to her notebook.
She wasn’t certain whether that answer made the situation better or worse.
Sona turned toward the front again.
Sona quietly promised, “Looks like Takashina-san and I will be discussing attendance tomorrow.”
Tsubaki looked toward the empty back row before softly adding, “Assuming Rias-san lets him leave the building.”
Sona’s eyebrow twitched.
~Occult Research Club, Late Afternoon~
One episode became two.
Two became four.
The afternoon light gradually shifted across the clubroom floor while Soutarou and Rias remained on the couch.
At some point, Soutarou’s jacket disappeared across the back of a chair…
His tie loosened farther…
Rias removed her shoes and folded her legs comfortably beneath herself…
Akeno refilled the teapot twice before settling into a nearby chair with a book she barely read.
Soutarou had forgotten to maintain most of the mannerisms he intended to present at school.
The charming smile became unnecessary.
The calculated pauses vanished.
He argued openly…
Complained without restraint…
And laughed loudly enough that Akeno occasionally looked over her book just to watch him and Rias lose control over another ridiculous scene.
Rias changed too.
The noble composure remained somewhere beneath the surface…
But the girl beside Soutarou was warmer…
Louder…
More competitive…
Every time they disagreed, she leaned closer as though physical proximity would somehow strengthen her argument.
When they agreed, she looked absurdly pleased.
Akeno watched the distance between them disappear by inches throughout the afternoon.
She also watched Soutarou’s concealment.
His control never weakened enough to expose the full truth…
But whenever he laughed, a faint golden warmth moved beneath his demonic power.
Sacred energy.
Akeno’s fingers tightened slightly around her book.
The latest episode ended.
The television shifted toward the closing credits.
For the first time in several hours, the room became quiet.
Soutarou leaned back and looked toward the ceiling.
Soutarou contentedly said, “That was totally worth every lecture President Mitori is preparing.”
Rias smiled and replied, “I told you~.”
Akeno closed her book and lightly teased, “You’ve known each other for less than a day, and Rias already convinced you to abandon your education.”
Soutarou turned toward her and defended, “Technically I tried to leave.”
Rias lifted one shoulder and unrepentantly stated, “He lacked conviction.”
Soutarou stared at her.
Rias stared back.
Akeno laughed softly.
Then the humor faded from Rias’s expression.
She looked at Soutarou more carefully.
Throughout the day, she had thought of him as human.
An unusual human…
One who noticed more than he should…
One whose confidence occasionally felt too complete…
But human.
And unfortunately human lives were painfully short…
Rias had grown up surrounded by beings who measured time in centuries…
Even reincarnated Devils could remain beside their Kings for lifetimes beyond anything humanity considered natural…
Soutarou had entered the classroom that morning…
By afternoon, speaking with him felt easier than speaking with people she had known for her entire life.
The thought of watching that connection age and disappear suddenly felt intolerable.
Rias turned slightly toward him.
Rias seriously asked, “Hey…
If you could have eternal life…
And a path to supernatural power…
Would you take it?”
Soutarou’s amusement vanished…
Akeno’s eyes moved from Rias to him.
The question was a cautious opening intended for a human who knew nothing.
Soutarou studied Rias’s face.
She was serious.
Not evaluating him…
Not calculating his worth…
Not attempting to discover what he carried…
She’d spent one day with him and already disliked the idea of that day becoming temporary.
Soutarou slowly shook his head.
Using an evil piece just to let a friend live as long as you…
She didn’t even bother sensing me, or anything, just because she wanted a friend…
You’re really pure in your own way Rias…
I thought I should play around for a bit…
But if you’re this sincere…’
‘Then…
Then I should just be Soutarou too…
Not this pretending mastermind…’
Rias’s expression fell slightly, mistaking the movement for rejection.
Then Soutarou quietly asked, “You mean reincarnating me with one of your Evil Pieces and adding me to your peerage?”
Rias froze.
Akeno’s smile disappeared.
The final notes of the ending theme played through the silent room.
Rias’s blue-green eyes widened.
Rias sharply demanded, “How do you know about Evil Pieces?”
Akeno set her book aside.
Demonic power gathered beneath her pleasant expression.
Soutarou remained seated.
He looked from Rias to Akeno before releasing a small breath.
Soutarou softly admitted, “I planned to have considerably more fun with this.”
Rias stared at him.
Soutarou continued, “A few strange readings…
A few carefully chosen mistakes…
Maybe let you and President Mitori chase me around for a week or two.”
Rias’s confusion deepened.
Akeno’s gaze sharpened.
Soutarou leaned forward and rested his forearms upon his knees.
Soutarou quietly observed, “You didn’t check.”
Rias cautiously asked, “Check what?”
Soutarou looked directly into her eyes and he explained, “Whether I possessed a Sacred Gear…
Whether I had any magical potential…
Whether I would require one Pawn or all eight…
You didn’t even try to sense me properly before offering.”
Rias parted her lips.
No answer came.
Because he was right.
She’d ignored every practical consideration expected of a King choosing a servant.
Soutarou’s expression softened.
The game he intended to play had depended upon keeping both heiresses at a careful distance while feeding their curiosity.
Rias had destroyed that distance by asking him to remain beside her before knowing whether he offered anything useful.
He could continue pretending…
He could laugh…
Offer another half-truth…
And drag the mystery into the following weeks exactly as planned, but Soutarou no longer wanted to.
He rose from the couch.
Akeno stood as well.
Rias remained seated, watching him with open uncertainty.
Soutarou reached toward the concealment wrapped around his existence.
Then released it.
*WHOOOOOM!*
The Old School Building shook.
Demonic power erupted through the clubroom in a vast churning tide.
The windows trembled in their frames…
The hidden wards ignited…
Books shifted across the shelves…
And every trace of ordinary humanity surrounding Soutarou disappeared beneath the pressure of a High Ultimate-Class Devil.
Rias surged to her feet.
Akeno’s lightning gathered instinctively around her fingers.
Four pairs of black Devil wings unfolded behind Soutarou.
Eight wings filled the space around him…
Ordinary in shape…
Unmistakable in number…
Then golden light appeared.
Sacred power wound through his demonic aura without burning him.
A second radiance followed…
Black holy light that illuminated the room while carrying a pressure equally hostile to Devils, Angels, and Fallen Angels.
Akeno stopped breathing.
Her lightning vanished.
Rias stared from Soutarou’s wings to the golden light moving across his hands.
Soutarou stood at the center of both powers as though they had always belonged together.
Across Kuoh Academy…
Every supernatural being felt him.
~Second-Year Classroom~
The windows rattled.
Sona’s pen snapped between her fingers.
Tsubaki rose before the first wave of pressure finished crossing the school.
Yumi’s chair struck the floor behind her as she stood.
Momo’s notebook slid from her desk.
Demonic power…
Immense…
Controlled…
And mixed with sacred energy powerful enough to make every Devil instinct in the classroom react.
Yumi’s face lost all warmth.
Yumi urgently said, “Rias-sama and Akeno-san are there.”
A magic circle formed beneath her feet.
Sona immediately ordered, “We’re going.”
Tsubaki moved beside her.
Momo hesitated for half a heartbeat before joining the circle.
The classroom disappeared.
~Occult Research Club~
Yumi arrived first.
A sword formed within her hand before the teleportation light faded.
She stepped between Rias and Soutarou on instinct.
Then stopped.
Rias was unharmed.
Akeno remained beside her.
Soutarou had made no aggressive movement.
He merely stood beneath eight spread wings while golden and black holy power churned around his body.
Sona, Tsubaki, and Momo appeared behind Yumi.
Sona stared.
The lazy boy who loosened his tie after being corrected…
The shameless anime enthusiast who spent the morning posing beside Rias…
Now filled the clubroom with enough pressure to overwhelm every Devil currently inside it.
Tsubaki’s mismatched eyes narrowed.
The reading at the gate hadn’t failed, instead Soutarou had given it exactly what he wanted her to see.
Momo stood motionless near the doorway.
Her eyes traced the wings…
The sacred light…
The calm expression…
Then settled upon the same loosened tie she’d watched him adjust to irritate Sona.
<That energy really was him…>
The power didn’t erase the boy from that morning, but it made the contrast almost impossible to understand.
Soutarou looked toward the arriving group.
His gaze stopped upon Sona.
Soutarou pleasantly greeted, “President Mitori…
You made it.”
Sona’s eye twitched despite the crushing atmosphere.
Sona forced herself to look beyond the provocation and demanded, “Who are you?”
Soutarou’s smile faded into something calmer.
He folded his wings slightly without dismissing them.
Golden holy power continued moving around one arm while Apostate Light covered the other.
Soutarou clearly introduced, “Soutarou Takashina…”
His hazel-golden eyes moved across Rias, Sona, Akeno, Tsubaki, Yumi, and Momo.
Soutarou continued, “Lost heir of the former Sixth-Ranked House of Valefor…”
The golden light brightened.
Akeno’s expression changed.
Sona’s composure cracked.
Tsubaki stopped breathing for a fraction of a second.
Soutarou finished, “And the former Fifth-Ranked House of Marbas.”
Silence followed.
Rias was the first to move.
She reached toward a communication circle connected to her family.
Sona formed one of her own at the same moment.
Neither asked the other whether the situation justified calling home.
The answer stood before them with eight wings and churning holy power.
~Several Minutes Later, Occult Research Club~
The first teleportation circle formed before Rias finished explaining the situation.
A wave of cold demonic power swept through the room.
Silver light rose from the floor…
Then Grayfia Lucifuge appeared.
Her long silver hair flowed in a perfectly arranged long braid on each side of her front with small blue bows at the ends…
Her silver eyes immediately taking in every detail with the precise calm expected of the strongest Queen in the Underworld.
Rias stood a bit straighter, while Akeno lowered her hands.
Yumi dismissed her sword but remained near her King.
Grayfia’s gaze moved first to Soutarou’s eight wings…
Then to the golden light surrounding him…
Then to the black sacred radiance coiling across his opposite arm.
Her expression didn’t visibly change.
But Soutarou saw the moment recognition settled behind her eyes.
The holy authority didn’t resemble a stolen spell…
It didn’t sit awkwardly inside his demonic nature…
It moved with his blood…
Natural…
And painfully familiar to a woman whose life had once been redirected by the house that carried it…
Grayfia accepted the truth before anyone spoke.
A second circle exploded into existence beside her.
Pink light flooded the clubroom.
Serafall Leviathan appeared with one arm raised dramatically and a magical-girl wand already in hand.
Serafall loudly declared, “So-tan!
Your adorable onee-sama, Levia-tan~ ★☆, came as soon as-!”
Her voice stopped, she saw Soutarou, and the wand slowly lowered.
Serafall’s pink eyes widened as they moved across the wings…
The golden holy power…
The black light…
Her usual theatrical expression vanished and for several seconds, the room remained still.
Then Serafall shook her head as she quietly denied, “No.”
Sona looked toward her sister, and Serafall took one step backward as she repeated more firmly, “No…
That isn’t possible.”
Grayfia remained silent, while Soutarou watched Serafall with interest.
He’d expected excitement…
Questions…
Perhaps an immediate attempt to drag him into the Underworld…
Not denial.
Serafall stared at his light as though it had stepped out of a dream she had spent centuries teaching herself to treat as impossible.
Serafall’s voice became strained as she demanded angrily, “Who taught you to imitate that?”
Sona’s eyes sharpened.
Rias glanced between Serafall and Soutarou.
Grayfia finally spoke calmly, “It isn’t an imitation, Serafall-sama.”
Serafall turned toward her.
Grayfia’s gaze remained upon Soutarou as she continued, “The authority is rooted within his blood and demonic core…
I recognize it, you should too.”
Something flickered across Grayfia’s usually unreadable face.
Gratitude…
Grief…
And a loyalty that had survived long after the family deserving it disappeared.
Serafall still shook her head.
Serafall pointed toward Soutarou and insisted, “Valefor, perhaps…
But Marbas too?
Both houses vanished…
One surviving heir from either would be impossible enough.
He’s lying!”
Soutarou looked toward Grayfia, she’d already accepted his first claim, but Serafall needed more.
And so, Soutarou allowed his Apostate Light to fade from his left hand.
As golden holy power gathered instead.
The light lengthened…
Compressed…
And formed into a lazy radiant lance held loosely between his fingers.
Every Devil in the room felt the danger of it, but Soutarou didn’t aim the weapon.
He simply let Serafall see how naturally it obeyed him.
Then his hazel-golden eyes sharpened.
The air changed.