Hell was silent.
Not the usual screaming, not the endless roar of fire and torment—but a suffocating stillness that pressed down on every layer of the infernal realm.
Ifrit knelt.
Before him sat a throne carved from compressed damnation itself, black stone veined with molten crimson, pulsing like a living heart. Upon it rested Sebastian, Ruler of Hell—ancient beyond reckoning, his presence alone enough to bend lesser demon lords into ash.
Sebastian's eyes burned like dying stars.
Ifrit bowed his horned head.
"My lord," he said, voice steady but respectful. "I encountered the one who killed Lucifer."
Sebastian leaned forward slightly.
"Speak."
Ifrit did not embellish. He never did.
"He is not a double count user. Not an ascended demon. Not a god bound by hierarchy."
He paused.
"He is a circuit being—but not born. Manifested."
Sebastian's fingers tightened on the arm of the throne.
"…Go on."
"He wields the Luminous Circuit. Not as a path—" Ifrit's jaw tightened, "—but as a state of existence. He identified himself as an archetype. A persona."
Sebastian's flames dimmed.
"A persona of whom?"
Ifrit lifted his head, meeting his ruler's gaze.
"Of Him."
Silence.
Hell itself seemed to hold its breath.
Sebastian slowly leaned back, the fires behind his throne flickering uncertainly.
"A persona… of Arata Kurogane?"
Ifrit nodded once.
Sebastian did not speak.
For a long moment, the Ruler of Hell simply sat there, ancient mind racing—calculating, recalling fragments of warnings buried deep within the oldest infernal records. Names that were never to be spoken. Laws that were never to be tested.
"…Interesting," Sebastian finally said.
Then, quietly—
"Very interesting."
He raised one clawed hand.
"If he is merely a persona," Sebastian murmured, "then the original must still exist."
Ifrit's eyes widened slightly.
"My lord—"
Sebastian ignored him.
"I will see," he said.
And then—
He reached out.
Across universes.
Across dimensions.
Across laws that defined existence.
Sebastian extended his perception, an infernal probe refined over eons—capable of dissecting gods, unraveling concepts, peering into the essence of beings far beyond mortal comprehension.
His awareness pierced the void—
And found Kael'Ar.
Hoshigawa.
The restaurant sat quietly under a calm sky, lanterns swaying gently in the breeze. Inside, the clatter of dishes echoed faintly as children cleaned tables, laughed, argued over who missed a spot.
By the window—
Arata Kurogane sat comfortably in his chair.
Tea in hand.
Relaxed.
Smiling.
"…Since you wish to peek," Arata said softly, eyes never leaving the view outside,
"go ahead."
At that moment—
Sebastian's probe touched him.
And reality shattered.
Sebastian saw—
No.
He failed to see.
There was no boundary. No form. No soul. No circuit. No double count. No hierarchy. No scale.
What he encountered was not infinity.
It was absence of definition.
A presence that did not sit within reality—but from which reality borrowed permission to exist.
Layers upon layers of causality peeled away like paper.
Time lost meaning.
Space folded inward.
Concepts unraveled.
Sebastian's mind screamed as it tried—desperately—to comprehend what lay before him.
And then—
He saw himself.
Infinitely small.
Infinitely fragile.
Infinitely irrelevant.
There was no hostility.
No aggression.
No killing intent.
Just a simple truth:
You do not belong here.
Sebastian's eyes—
Exploded.
Not burned.
Not slashed.
They simply popped, bursting within their sockets as blood and infernal ichor poured down his face. He reeled backward, screaming—not in pain, but in existential terror.
The probe collapsed instantly.
Back in Hoshigawa, Arata took another sip of tea.
"…Rude to stare," he muttered lightly.
Hell erupted into chaos.
Sebastian roared, clutching his face as demonic healers rushed forward in panic. His eyes regenerated slowly—agonizingly—but something fundamental had been lost.
Fear.
True fear.
He stood abruptly, power surging through all layers of Hell at once.
"LISTEN TO ME," Sebastian thundered, his voice echoing across every hell, from the lowest pit to the highest throne.
All demons froze.
"All subordinates. All legions. All lords."
His voice shook—not with rage, but urgency.
"You will never set foot on the planet called Kael'Ar."
Murmurs spread instantly.
"IF," Sebastian continued, eyes blazing with absolute authority,
"you encounter a man by the name of Arata Kurogane—"
His voice cracked slightly.
"—you will not fight."
"You will not test him."
"You will not observe him."
"You will RUN."
He slammed his claw into the ground, hellfire erupting outward.
"You will not touch anything related to him. His allies. His creations. His shadows. His personas."
His gaze swept across Hell itself.
"Do you all understand?!"
Every demon.
Every lord.
Every creature born of damnation—
Dropped to one knee.
"Yes, my lord!" Hell roared back in unison.
Sebastian closed his eyes briefly.
"…Good."
Far away—
In a quiet restaurant—
Arata smiled faintly.
"Smart choice," he said.