Kenji was pissed.
Not the mildly irritated kind of pissed that resulted in a stern lecture or a cold shoulder. No, this was the "I will rip your wings off, shove them down your throat, tear your legs off, and beat you to death with them" level of primal, unadulterated fury.
And right now, he was thinking about doing those things to this winged perverted bastard for disturbing his peace.
One moment, he had been at home, relaxing on the couch after putting the kids through a brutal training session, one that involved gravity-amplified sprints and magical dodge-ball against controlled elemental spirits, he was making sure their bodies were up to standards, and the next, he felt it. The residual fatigue from the heavy session instantly vanished, replaced by confusion, annoyance, and then anger.
A pulse. A ripple. Then baam.
Something brushed against the very edge of the detection field he had layered over Shizuoka, near the city woods. This wasn't even a subtle flicker, it was a deliberate action. He was sure of that because it felt more of a powerful declaration of presence than anything else.
Then, a massive magical flare, and a barrier the size of a small mountain swallowing the entire district, covering most of the city. He could feel the mundane people either passing out in their homes or just straight up vanishing.
After that came the Hundreds of distinct magical signatures, ranging from low-class foot soldiers to High class, which were suddenly clustered in one spot, all surrounding the larger signatures he felt.
The three signatures stood out like sun-sized blights in his mental landscape, signatures that he knew well, having already met the people.
Kenji's eyelid twitched violently. A muscle jumped in his jaw.
"Those damn pests…" he hissed, the sound barely audible, yet vibrating with dangerous intent.
Sirzechs. Serafall. Azazel.
He shot up from the couch, his movement so fast the couch broke behind him..
Weren't these idiots supposed to be holding their critical summit in Kuoh, for the future of their factions or something? So why were they here in his city?
He stood there for three seconds, his mind running through the only logical conclusions, his fury rapidly giving way to clarity.
"…No. They wouldn't pull a stunt like this. Sirzechs shouldn't be this stupid." The crimson haired devil wouldn't do something like this, not right after the talk they had had about Him leaving Kenji out of things.
A pause, heavy with disbelief and self-mockery.
"…Who am I kidding? Of course, they would. They're that stupid, or rather, one of them is actively trying to provoke me."
He quickly analyzed the three leaders. Sirzechs was cautious and calculating, still trying to figure Kenji out and likely aiming for an alliance, he wouldn't risk alienating a new, ultimate-class being for a simple meeting relocation, especially not after the Kokabiel incident, when it showed that Kenji was not an enemy. Michael, the Archangel, while he didn't know personally, seemed too inherently decent and risk-averse, bound by his angelic nature, to instigate such blatant disrespect to a powerful neutral party. Serafall? Honestly, the Leviathan Devil King was too unpredictable, and Kenji hadn't done anything to make Leviathan want to make an enemy of him.
That left the overgrown pigeon, the one who no doubt was trying to annoy him. Azazel.
"Crow-brained dumbass," Kenji cursed inwardly, the word burning with absolute hatred. He knew this was a deliberate action, a childish attempt to drag Kenji into their political theater by staging the event on his doorstep.
He immediately called the training to an end, his voice piercing through the entire house.
"Kids, inside. Now."
The children, sensing the sudden seriousness in his voice, a tone they rarely heard, blinked but didn't argue. They had figured that it must be something supernatural if he was calling them back like this, abandoning the half-finished chores that he had given them. They rushed back into the house.
He instructed Anastasia, who had been in the living room looking over some work documents, to keep them locked down in the house and make sure that they didn't come out, no matter the reason. He stepped out of the house, and he added a few more wards before he sighed and made his way to the fools.
The destination was the massive, opulent hotel standing right on the edge of town, its luxury now tainted by the supernatural infestation.
Floating around it were dozens of fully armed Angels carrying gleaming holy lances, High-Class Devils in battle armor, and grim-faced Fallen Angels, forming a dense, impenetrable supernatural perimeter.
He ignored all of them.
Some Angels started to descend toward him, some Devils braced for a fight, their auras flickering—
—but the Fallen Angels parted instantly, it seems like they had been expecting him already, so that answered his question.
"Oh yeah. Definitely Azazel's doing."
A Fallen woman near the entrance stepped forward to greet him, a practiced, placating smile already forming on her lips—
Kenji walked past her like she was thin air. He didn't come here for a chat, he came for a crow, and he'd settle for nothing but the head.
He didn't slow. Didn't speak.
He followed his senses, following the path he could feel all the way to where they were having their meeting, and before long, he found it, found the room, a penthouse suite that had likely would have been rented for its amazing panoramic view.
And kicked the reinforced, soundproof door open with a single, thunderous, gravity-amplified smash that sounded like the collapse of a mountain, the door frame ripping out of the wall, and the heavy steel door buckling like tinfoil.
The room, filled with the leaders of Heaven, Hell, and the Grigori, along with their subordinates, all snapped their heads toward the ruined entrance.
Just the sight of Azazel's smug, satisfied face, seated comfortably at the head of the table, made Kenji's blood boil. The Fallen Governor wore the look of a child who had successfully played a trick on his elder, and Kenji wanted to rip the man's head off and feed it to him one feather at a time.
"WELL?" Kenji roared, his voice thick with raw, murderous intent. His gravity aura blasted outward like a visible, purple-tinged shockwave. "Explain, crow. How do you want to die today?"
Azazel lifted both hands casually, the picture of infuriating calm, clearly enjoying the chaos he'd wrought. "Whoa, whoa, easy there, champ. We haven't done anything yet. We simply relocated our meeting spot. We found this specific penthouse suite more… acoustically sound for our highly sensitive political discussions. The place in Kuoh had noisy neighbors, apparently, so we decided to relocate, that's all."
"Relocated," Kenji repeated slowly, his voice a low, terrifying vibration that cracked the silence. "To my city."
"It's not like you own Shizuoka, Kenji," Azazel said, using his first name like they were close, with a grin that sealed his immediate, agonizing fate.
Kenji's mana pressure doubled instantly.
The room creaked ominously as the structural integrity of the hotel itself began to fail. The heavy mahogany table cracked down the middle with a sound like a gunshot.
Sirzechs tensed, his face hardening in surprise. Serafall's pupils shrank to pinpricks, her smile melting into seriousness. Even Michael, the Archangel, looked uneasy, his celestial aura flickering defensively.
Vali stepped forward slightly, a faint crackle of Divine Dividing power appearing at his back, a reflex of the White Dragon Emperor's innate desire to challenge overwhelming power.
Baraqiel moved too, placing himself in front of Azazel, but Azazel waved them both back dismissively, a dark confidence still radiating from him.
"It's fine. I got this.."
Kenji was looking feral here, the golden light in his eyes blazing bright as miniature suns, his patience completely exhausted.
Gravity thickened exponentially. Even Ultimate-Class beings would feel it in their bones. The gravity increased as the kids there, too, started feeling it, the strain, pinned to their seats by an invisible, crushing weight equivalent to dozens of atmospheres. The air in their lungs felt like lead.
Michael too stood, "Please, Mr. Takahashi, we mean you no harm or ill will." Kenji looked at the man as if he were stupid
"THIS is the second time I've met this feathered idiot," Kenji growled, the words delivered with icy precision, dripping with utter contempt, "and both times he's done nothing but tempt me to tear his spine out and use his feathers as toothpicks."
Everyone stared at Azazel, waiting for the Fallen Governor to explain his incredibly dangerous provocation.
The Fallen Governor gave a sheepish, unapologetic shrug, trying to play it off with a casual laugh that died quickly in the crushing silence.
"Look, in my defense—"
"He entered my home uninvited". "Hey, I was invi.." "He used a charm spell on my wife the first time we met," Kenji cut in savagely, when the man tried to speak.
Michael's eyes widened, Gabriel gasped, her hand flying to her mouth, the innocence of her reaction confirming the severity of the offense. Sirzechs froze. He knew instantly that that was the reason Kenji was looking like he wanted to kill Azazel.
Kenji didn't like them, sure, but he hadn't shown this type of hostility to Sirzech or anyone else.
Baraqiel frowned deeply at his leader, a silent accusation in his eyes. "Azazel, you absolute fool…"
"It was a minor spell! A harmless scan! She's human!" Azazel protested, now looking genuinely flustered.
Kenji stepped forward, and every being in the room, from the Devil King to the Archangel, felt a certain tenseness, certain that he was ready to butcher someone right there, consequences be damned.
"He is only alive," Kenji continued, his voice dangerously soft, "because my wife was in the house and I did not want to terrorize her with the sight of a Governor's head rolling across the carpet."
Kenji continued, his voice dropping to something low, cold, and utterly terrifying, a verbal extension of the gravity crushing them:
"And then he has the gall to drag all of you, all your armies, all your political baggage, and all your future enemies, into my territory, close to my home, without even asking, once again bringing danger to my home. Again."
The atmosphere cracked like thunder, punctuated by the sound of the structural steel beneath the floor groaning.
Gabriel, despite the palpable danger, stood carefully, pushing against the gravity field. "Please, everyone… calm yourselves. Violence does not solve—"
"Angel," Kenji said coldly without even looking at her, his golden gaze fixed solely on Azazel, "don't tell me to calm down. I am calmer than you think. If I were truly upset, he wouldn't still be alive."
Gabriel paused, her expression shifting to empathy. She could feel the purity of his wrath, the uncorrupted motive of a man protecting his own.
She was giving him these eyes, and he could see the children, too, were scared. He sighed internally. He wasn't here to bully children, he would get Azazel one day.
Kenji paused, and without any warning, he just turned around and started to leave. He needed to be near his family when the inevitable attack happened, not here playing political games.
"What, you're leaving?" Azazel spoke up, surprise in his voice. He turned and looked at the fallen, "what did you think just because i came that what, i would now sit down and entertain you or something" he said mockingly. "come on youre here already why not stay" he ignored the man and started leaving, if the attack happened he want to be close to his family just incase something happened.
Then—
"Mr. Takahashi," Michael called, pushing himself up, the true weight of his office asserting itself despite the pressure.
Kenji didn't stop, his hand already reaching for the ruined door frame.
"We understand Azazel's lapse in judgment. But you were involved with the extermination of Kokabiel, a key figure in the factional cold war. It would help all of us if you remained here to—"
Kenji kept walking, refusing to be drawn into a political obligation.
Azazel tried next, his voice quick, cunning, and perfectly timed.
"Come on, think about it. You have all three faction leaders here, right now. All three leaders of the biblical faction are here. Don't you think it's better to lay out your terms now? If you stay, you secure your family's safety against the entire world."
That made him pause. The word "terms" had the desired effect.
Terms, huh?
Could he trust them? Hell no. They'd break any deal eventually, devils and angels alike, as soon as the politics favored them.
But…
His eyes narrowed, flicking between the three leaders, Sirzechs, Michael, Serafall, Azazel, and the high-level retinues they brought: Vali, Baraqiel, and Gabriel.
Hundreds of invaders, High-Class, Ultimate-Class, maybe even Satan-class, would be coming soon for the leaders here.
If I kill them all, from the leaders to the lowest grunt, I can steal their stats and gain quite a bit. The opportunity for a massive grind was right here, delivered right to his doorstep by Azazel's arrogance.
He checked on his house with his senses. Then, he enhanced his home with a gravity bubble to keep them safe. As long as he kept his concentration, nothing would happen.
"…Fine. I'll make my deal. But you idiots aren't getting off easy."
He turned back toward the table, the gold in his eyes settling into a steady, intense flame. He walked back and stood over the cracked table, forcing the leaders to look up at him through the immense gravitational pressure.
"And what do I gain by staying? Any deal I make with you would be worthless when most of your kind don't keep their promises and prioritize their ancient conflicts over all else." He pointed at each group sharply, his voice dripping with contempt that was completely unfiltered by diplomacy.
"Devils are devils. You cheat, and you prioritize your own aristocratic system over justice." "Fallen are no different, hell, you might be worse. You are opportunists who hide behind technology and tempt others into sin." "And Angels? You hide behind human proxies and disposable shields, sacrificing the innocent for your supposed greater good and refusing to interfere until the last possible moment."
Michael stiffened, his face pale with offense at the blunt assessment of Heaven's flaws. Gabriel looked genuinely hurt by the truth. Sirzechs looked deeply uncomfortable, knowing the accusation held merit and that the history of the factions was written in betrayals and broken vows.
Sirzechs finally stepped forward, his own immense demonic aura pushing back slightly against Kenji's gravity, asserting the authority of a Devil King while maintaining a cautious distance.
"…What do you want?" he asked again, his voice firm. "State your terms. Clearly."
Kenji smiled.
"I want Shizuoka."
The room froze, the silence returning, this time filled with disbelief. Even Vali looked surprised.
"…What?" Azazel said flatly, the grin finally wiped clean from his face.
"You heard me," Kenji repeated, crossing his arms. "Shizuoka. Not officially, I know you can't make it a new domain under human laws, and this land belongs to the Shinto, yes, but I want one thing from all three factions."
He held up a single finger, his gaze sweeping across the faces of the most powerful beings in the world.
"One, None of your people step foot here, causing trouble. If they do, they are trespassing on my territory. Their lives are forfeit, and they will be executed by me, personally."
Silence fell like a guillotine, they were being asked to hand over a territory in Japan to a single, unaccountable human, and that too not these to give.
The three leaders exchanged looks, quickly discussing the impossible demand behind a powerful sound-dampening barrier woven by Michael.
After a tense minute, they dropped the barrier and returned.
Sirzechs nodded, "We agree to the terms. Shizuoka is declared neutral ground and off-limits to all conflict and unauthorized personnel from our three factions."
Michael sighed heavily, a sense of religious obligation weighing him down, but nodded too. "Heaven will respect the boundaries."
Azazel shrugged, the grin returning, now laced with cunning as he tried to bind Kenji with their laws. "Sure, why not. But if you are attacked first, by enemies of the biblical faction, or by anything else, and you ask for help, you have to let us know."
Kenji sat down at the table, leaning back in the chair with an expression of bored patience, the gravity pressure lifting slightly, allowing them all to breathe.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. But I want all that in writing, "
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