We reached 4000 collections! Hurray! Top 7 in the contest!
Thank you everyone for your continued support.
In appreciation of that, here is a massive 5500 word chapter.
Enjoy.
Do note, I tinkered with the death scene in the last chapter a little so take note of that. Otherwise, go on. Feast!
....................
After Ruval and my mother left, I finally took the time to check my phone as I relaxed and saw an entire line of texts and missed calls from Nurarihyon.
Oh, did he already do the first task?
I suppose it had been nearly a week since my fight with Tannin now, so it was only fair, though a bit early.
I clicked through the menu and finally returned the call.
The phone rang, once, twice- he picked up.
"Turn around." Was all he said.
"Woohaoho!" I blurted out in surprise and dropped the phone, as he appeared behind me all of a sudden.
"Hahahahaha!" Nurarihyon laughed and sat down beside me, "That was utterly satisfying."
"Scared the shit out of me." I chuckled in good humour and he gave me a suspicious look before pulling out a sheaf of papers.
"First job's done." He said as I looked through the papers.
Austria, huh? Guess I'll have Yubelluna make another trip. No, wait- that would inform my parents and they're already pissed at me for scheming behind their backs. Even more so now, because this time I was doing it intentionally.
Well, I did want to visit Vienna someday.
"Everything go well?" I asked to confirm.
"Mostly." He answered, a little nervously.
I raised a concerned eyebrow and he continued.
"I made her death look like an accident. Classic slip and fall after a bath. But the alarms were triggered…somehow. I don't know if they were keyed to her lifeforce or she managed to trigger them as she died, I didn't have time to check, but I erased all evidence of my presence there, including the magic recording of me being there. The overt evidence aligns with the apparent event at first glance."
I sighed in frustration.
"How often do powerful witches slip and fall?"
"It happens more often than you'd think." He joked.
I gave him a dirty glare and he relented.
"I admit, I may have panicked a little when the alarms started blaring. Time was short. You can't expect a masterpiece on such short notice."
"Why not just kill her in the bath?"
"The room was warded out the ass! Including the bathroom door. Do you think a witch that has infrared recording magic on top of three separate magical filters and a regular video record, wouldn't have proper safeguards against being killed in her bath, where she is most vulnerable?"
"I suppose." I nodded, "Are you certain there are no traces that could lead to us."
"None. Have some faith, in my experience boy. I was assassinating folk before your father was a wet dream in your grandfather's mind." He swished his kasaya sleeve with mock indignation.
I rolled my eyes. I knew what he wanted.
"Alright. Consider the contract amended. I will accept this as satisfactory performance."
He looked visibly relieved. I could understand.
The penalty for breach of contract was often a portion of your life, depending on the severity of the breach. Someone like him, at the end of his rope, he probably had little life left. If he suffered the penalty now, he might just become crippled, permanently. In a faction as warlike as his, that loss of status would likely be a death sentence.
"Scared of Magari?" I teased.
"The bitch has grown ridiculously powerful. Her clan is the most numerous and the most powerful in the faction, third among all youkai."
"All youkai?" I doubted that.
"In Japan." He clarified.
"I see." I nodded.
No wonder.
The youkai of China, especially the seven Demon King clans, were forces not to be reckoned with. Any of them alone could match either faction of the Japanese youkai, which really is a compliment to the Japanese youkai, considering they were a nearly extinct species going up against the massive vermin tides of the Chinese.
The Japanese youkai had been culled over the centuries through the combined efforts of the church and the five principal clans. If it hadn't been for the Shinto gods stepping in to maintain the balance of nature, there might not have been any youkai left in Japan.
This along with the limited living space for their kind had limited their population in comparison to the massive, state spanning Demon King clans of the Chinese youkai, whose average members were little stronger than the average human.
This same crucible however, forged them to their peak, producing more experts of unparalleled power than one would expect from their sample size. It was purely natural selection. The strong and talented survived. The weak died off.
From this were born the great Daiyoukai of Japan. Yasaka, Magari, Nurarihyon, among others like the five cat elders underneath her, the grudge spirits and samurai revenants, the alphas of the lightning beasts and kamaitachi and the twin Oni.
All said they had over twenty Ultimate Class youkai.
Sure, only three were peak Ultimate Class, but that alone is an achievement for their kind whose total numbers could be dwarfed by a single ward of the Tokyo Metropolitan Area.
"Alright." I said, storing away the documents, "Rest for a few weeks. I will get a safehouse ready in the meantime. Then we commence with the second task."
"What about the girl?" He asked.
"Let her be. Once Glenda fails to show up to her court date next week, it'll break her up inside. Once she's been in despair for a week or two, when she has lost all hope of being adopted, I'll swoop in and bring her home. A home I have yet to arrange." I added that to the list of chores.
"Why not just use the home the witch prepared?"
"We don't know who else might know about that home. Or her plans for it." I rejected the notion, "Better to have a new one prepped."
"By that logic, aren't you worried she might get snapped up before you get to her?"
I grinned.
"Anyone smart enough to follow those cookie crumbs to its source will also be smart enough to keep their hands off the merchandise. Especially after they see their comrade gets butchered like livestock, without even being able to fight back. That fear is a good deterrent."
"Won't stop them from snooping around. Then poof, your secret isn't secret much longer." Nurarihyon countered.
"That is exactly what I am banking on." I explained, "I need to have a few words with the person responsible for that particular piece of research. Now I certainly can't be seen getting in cahoots with those kinds of unscrupulous characters, but if they come to me, in a covert instance, all alone… well, that's just asking to be taken advantage of, wouldn't you say?"
"You planned this all from the start?" Nurarihyon realized, a flash of fear flitting across his eyes, "You're one scary brat."
"How can you be sure they won't bring an army of magicians with them?" He added.
"And risk exposing their plans to the world? Might as well put up a sign saying 'We found a Longinus, please come steal it from us.' No, she'll come alone. I'm certain."
"She? You know who'll come- of course you do." He didn't even question it at this point.
He just threw up his hands, and I laughed.
"You know, the last man who underestimated me lost his arm to that little folly."
Augusta, Witch Of The East, is about to lose a whole lot more.
But that is for later. I stood up and cracked my knuckles, watching the sun begin to dip in the sky.
Hmm…better get going before office hours are over.
"I'll be back in an hour or so. If anyone asks, make an excuse, please."
"Please?" Nurarihyon laughed, "Who are you and what did you do to Riser Phenex?"
"I'm just… feeling good today." I shrugged.
Ever since I overcame that little hiccup, and especially after that fight with Tannin… I was feeling a little different. More powerful.
My demonic power and physical body that had both been lagging at the edge of peak High Class had finally broken through to Ultimate Class, and that feeling was refreshing.
Where before I was among the weakest of the low Ultimate Class, I was now squarely somewhere in the middle of that ranking. Far from mid Ultimate Class, but comfortably in the lows.
I have a feeling that once I learn to use Touki, I will finally step in mid Ultimate Class directly.
On instinct, I tried pulling at the Touki I had awakened and… nothing. A little fizzle, a little wafting steam escaping my palms. A flash in the pan, nothing more.
Practice, practice. I wonder how far those two have gotten in this time?
As if on cue, two sweaty boys appeared at the back gate, their eyes sparkling as they saw me.
"Riser!" Sairaorg shouted, waving his hands excitedly, as he tumbled over the gate like a golden retiever, "You're back to normal!"
Dulio on the other hand was much more muted, walking through the now open gate, though his fire burned ever stronger in his eyes.
"How are you feeling now?" He asked, "Are you better?"
"Yup. Nothing can stop me." I smiled, "Why?"
"Because you're Riser godsdamned Phenex!" Sairaorg chirped as he jumped back to his feet.
"I told you he'd be fine." He wrapped an arm around Dulio's shoulder, smiling brightly, something I was glad to see. He had been entirely too broody and nervous these past few months as he wrestled with self-doubt and that massive chip on his shoulder- his inferiority complex.
The same was true for Dulio too. They both looked better.
And here I thought they were going to need therapy for that.
"Weren't you on the verge of tears when they brought him back?" Dulio teased Sairaorg, pinching his cheek.
"Those were manly tears!" Sairaorg blushed as he spoke, "Of- of awesomeness!"
"Looked an awful lot like little bitch boy tears~" Dulio snickered mischievously.
"Shut up…stupid!" Sairaorg playfully punched his shoulder and they devolved into a catfight.
I couldn't help but sigh.
They are picking up all the wrong habits, living around these ruffians.
Maybe its best I get them a tutor sooner than later.
Though, I did notice that their Touki use was much more pronounced than before.
"Careful, chicken boya." Magari spoke from up on the roof, noticing my gaze, "If you keep missing practice, these two will leave you in the dust."
"Nah. I'll catch up soon enough." I grinned, "If anyone should be worried, it's them. My bloodline is a literal cheat."
"We'll see about that." Dulio challenged, with a cocky smirk and Sairaorg jumped in, pumped up, "Bring it on!"
"That's the spirit nya!" Magari praised, as she smacked the tiles on the roof with pride.
"But that's for tomorrow." I waved them off, "I'm going out for a bit. Want me to bring back pizzas for dinner?"
"Pizza!" Sairaorg's eyes sparkled with excitement, drooling at the thought.
"It's been so long since I ate one…" Dulio reminisced fondly.
"I'll take that as a yes." I smiled, "What toppings do you want?"
"Farm style. Double cheese. Extra bell peppers." "Extra mushrooms and bacon!" They replied.
"I want one too." Magari chipped in.
"Do you even know what it is?" I asked.
She was an 800 year old shut-in kitty.
"Who cares nya? It sounds delicious. Get me one. No, two!"
"Why should I?" I teased, and she just brought out her sharp, youki infused nails, sharpening them menacingly.
"See how I treat you in training tomorrow." She spoke with a tone that sent chills down my spine. I was in no mood to get my ass handed to me a second time this week.
I gave in.
"What toppings do you want?"
"All the meat! And cheese. Lots of cheese, and lots of meat." She said, before scrunching up her face at a thought, "But no bell peppers."
Of course she doesn't like bell peppers. Such an adorably childish kitty cat.
"Aren't cats lactose intolerant?" I asked. At least adult cats were.
"Munya?" She huffed, sounding almost offended, "My bloodline has no such weaknesses!"
"Maybe nekomata are built different. Either way, no skin off my nose.
"Alright. See you at dinner." With that, I teleported away.
----------x----------
"Quite the sudden request for a meeting, young man." Cleria Belial looked down at me from behind her desk, smiling curiously, "What brings the youngest of the Phenex boys to my Kuoh today?"
"Your Kuoh?" I took a seat opposite her, and replied teasingly, "I was under the impression that the city was owned by devilkind as a whole. What would Lord Zekram think if he heard of your views? After he worked so hard to get this city for us."
"Hm? Nice to see at least one of you has a sense of humour~" She chuckled.
"What do you mean?" I was confused. We were all rather good humoured.
"The less I speak of the dour nature your father the better. Rigal is strictly business 100% of the time. Complete waste of that goth core twink ass. And your oldest brother…" She sighed dreamily, "He's just become so neutered. The perfect, gentile heir. Ugh! I liked him better when was a sadistic, tyrannical, bad boy. Umph~" She bit her lip, "All that leather, bet it just seals in the juices-"
Horny on main! Alert, Horny on main!
"Alright, I'll stop you right there." I raised a hand and hissed, "I'll need a lobotomy to get rid of that image from my head."
"Hahahaha!" She laughed, making an apologetic gesture, "Sorry, I just get so bored around here. Nothing ever happens in Kuoh. I don't understand why we even need someone stationed here."
"Isn't it a cushy desk job?" I asked, "People would kill for this posting."
"That much is true. Can't complain on that part." She shrugged, "But you need a little bit of excitement in your life too! A little pizazz! That old razzle dazzle! A little romance!" She shook her fist in the air, burning with passion.
That explains so much about what happened to her.
She got bored and used her brilliant deductive and investigative abilities to gossip with high level secrets.
She wanted an exciting romance so she fell for a church exorcist. The classic forbidden love that could never be!
That just shattered all my preconceptions about her.
Tragic love? Willing sacrifice?
This bitch was just delusional!
Now that I looked around the office, I'm seeing an awful lot of smut and B-grade romance literature.
She is just a teenage girl in the body of a 50 year old devil re-enacting a discount version of Romeo and Juliet!
"I have lost all respect for you." I shook my head.
"Have you now?" She giggled, leaning her chin on her palm as she traced a finger against then marble desk, "Was it the erotica or the perving on your brother's hot, sweaty, leather pants?"
"A little bit of column A, a little bit of column B." I played along.
"Come now. We're all devils here. A little erotica is just fine." She argued playfully.
"Yeah. I lied. It was all because of my brother." I threw up my hands, "Highly inappropriate, by the way. I'm ten."
"Are you going to tell on me? To whom?" She asked amused, and gotta say. She is not wrong.
"Don't you have a boyfriend?" I asked.
"A husband. He is wonderful. Doesn't mean I can't window shop. Or dream~" She replied, before leaning back into her chair, "But enough of about me. What can I do you for today?"
"Such course language. One might mistake you for a yakuza chick." I gave mock criticism.
"And now wouldn't that be super cool?" She made a yakuza-like pose, one leg on the chair as she spun in place, carrying a cane sword she created from her demonic power, "Cleria Belial, Kantokai-Shichou! I can even get the tattoos for it! Which would look better on me? A Dragon or an Oni?"
"A Phoenix."
She made a disgusted face.
"That is so not the yakuza aesthetic." She grimaced, "Ew! Just ew!"
"And they say the worst she can say is no." I joked.
"Oh, that reminds me of the time I sent a guy to the psyche ward with a burn so sick he became suicidal." She began narrating her story as I thought back on my plans for her.
Can't say her personality isn't at least a little refreshing, compared to the rest of the nobility's slavish adherence to tradition and etiquette.
I can see why someone as prudish as a church exorcist fell for her.
Shit, if I was grown up, I might have fallen for her manic pixie dream girl aesthetic.
She's ridiculously cute too.
Thank fuck, I haven't entered puberty, because that is a bear trap with my name on it.
"So…" I broached the subject, cutting her off.
"Ah, yes. Of course." She took her seat again, and faced me seriously.
I placed a Phoenix Tear on the table.
"I have a request to make, but first I require a guarantee of secrecy." I said, in no uncertain terms, "If you're not comfortable with that, we can end this here."
I knew she wouldn't, though. She was a massive gossip after all. I could see that her curiosity has already gotten the better of her. She was locked the fuck in.
For me to offer something as valuable as a Phoenix Tear,
"Tell me more." She swiped the Phenex Tear so fast I almost didn't see it disappear.
"Swear it first, upon pain of death. You will not reveal what happens here today to anyone in any way, shape or form. Not even my own father. This is between only you and me. Unless the instructions in the contract mention otherwise in regards to certain parts of the request."
That only served to increase her interest. I could practically see her tapping her feet with how impatient she was getting.
"Yes, yes. I agree." She said and the contract began, "Now spill!"
"I need two requests for you. For each request, I will offer a compensation of one Phoenix Tear."
"Why? What is so valuable about these requests?" She asked, intrigued, "Or is it that dangerous? I love me some danger~"
"I am getting to it, chill, girl." I chuckled.
"My first request is that you find out all that you can about the church's Holy Sword Project and Sigurd Institution, including its members, their personalities, strengths and weaknesses, facility locations and layouts, etc. Everything you can dig up. But make sure to not arouse suspicion or alert the church or any of their subsidiaries."
"Ooh~ Planning a heist, are we? Interesting! Very interesting! Can I come along-"
"No." I rejected her immediately. She'll only be a liability.
"Cheh! Spoilsport." She pouted. A grown ass woman. Still cute though.
Damn, I'm being charmed. She is like, my exact type.
"Do you accept this commission?" I place a second vial before her.
"But really! The church! What are you trying to do? Steal a holy sword? No, you can't even use it! Steal their research? And what is the Sigurd Institution?"
I smiled.
"Isn't that for you to find out?"
"Come on, you have got to throw me a bone! I'm starving here." She pounded the table.
"Are you really? I haven't even heard you do a sad little howl like a puppy~" I teased.
"Awoo!" She howled. She really just howled like a sad little puppy.
That's so cu-no. No. I'm not falling for her and her magic pixie vibes.
Focus, Riser! Don't get swept away in her momentum. That is a married woman and you are ten. Ten!
Ignore the urge to NTR. It is heresy!
You are not that kind of guy.
"Alright." I gave in. Be kinda rude not to after she just abandoned all her shame and acted that way.
"The Sigurd Institution is a research institute in the Vatican."
Hehehehe~
Of course, I'm no sucker.
If she wants to find out, she'll have to put in the legwork to get it.
"Bastard. After I even howled for you!" She planted her face onto her table, in shame.
"If I knew, why would I pay you to find it out for me?" I poked at the vial on the table and asked again.
"Do you accept this commission?"
"I think we're past the point of me being able to say no." She snatched it up and huffed, crossing her arms in protest.
"Well, if that's how you truly feel, I suppose we can stop here~" I said, and made to get up from my chair before she leapt onto the table and pinned me to my seat. Her wings unfurled, balancing her weight against the chair, her hands firm over mine. Her beautiful face mere inches from me, her silver-grey hair falling in silken bangs across it like a lace curtain. Her pale grey eyes peering into mine, her ample bosom hanging just out of sight, like the temptation of cold grapes on a midsummer day.
"You're not going anywhere~"
I gulped as my heart skipped a beat.
And I certainly did not have to fight the urge to say 'Yes mommy'. No siree. Not at all.
I think puberty just came early for me. And if she continues, so might I.
No! Focus. Focus. Think of grandma. Wait- I don't have a grandma. Never did, in either life.
Shit!
God-Ow! The taboo gave me a searing headache that snapped me out of it and I focused again, saving what little dignity I had left.
"Lady Cleria-"
"Its Lady Cleria now, is it?" She giggled.
"Maybe we should discuss my um- next request." I gulped again as I tried hard to hide my blush.
She noticed it too and laughed as flew back into her seat.
I ignored it however, a little miffed, and moved on to the topic at hand.
"My second request is that you investigate the Naberius clan and its members, their peerages, strengths and weaknesses, their schedules and routines, the layouts of their research labs and other associated facilities, personnel files, everything you can get on them. I want to know everything there is to know about them."
"Another heist? How many heists are you planning?" She asked, excited, "And if Lord Phenex doesn't know about it, how will you-oh. Wait a minute. I see now." She seemed to realize something, "Aren't you training with the nekomata right now? Oh, this was so obvious. Why didn't I see it before?" She smiled mischievously as she looked back at me.
"What are you talking about?" I raised an eyebrow in confusion, perfect acting, "I just want some research. Isn't it obvious?"
She smiled, amused.
"Is that so? Because I heard from a childhood friend of mine who works in their labs that they had a rather pitiful nekomata working there. A truly tragic tale of one-sided love.
She fell for a scientist who didn't love her back, but she stuck to him, through the years and two childbirths hoping he would accept her. The poor little, lovelorn kitten~
He didn't even acknowledge his children and trying to earn his love, the nekomata got too busy to care for them as well. I hear the older kitten is raising the younger one now.
Everyone at the lab thinks they're pitiful, some even tried to talk some sense into both her and the scientist, but neither budged so they eventually let it be. It is sad but what can you do at that point. I feel sorry for the two girls who have to suffer from the neglect of their parents." She shrugged, "Such a beautiful tragic tale. I even paid her to keep me updated on this trainwreck of a romance. I can't wait to hear what happens next. Will she eventually snap and kill him? Or will she wilt away like a flower left without the waters of love~" She swooned, spinning in her chair.
"I get it. I get it. Stop it already or I will die from cringe." I buried my face in my hands from second-hand embarrassment.
She only laughed harder and continued.
"The nekomata asked for your help in retrieving the kids so they can be raised with their own kind, didn't they? I didn't realize this little story had spread so far but maybe the mother finally grew some sense and asked for help. Who knows~" She guessed, and while she guessed wrong, it was the only logical conclusion she could come to.
"In return for helping save the kittens, Nurarihyon would help you steal the research from the church. After all, he's the only one who can sneak through undetected in these places." She was in full detective mode now.
"The only one thing I can't figure out is what you want with that kind of research?" She spun around in thought.
"Lady Cleria, that's enough. I get it. You're smart. Can we not?"
Lady, are you autistic? Stop already. You won!
"We certainly can't! I'm just getting warmed up!" She exclaimed, doing a little peacock walk as she continued her Sherlock Holmes act, even producing his signature hat and pipe, "Unless what you require from them isn't research but rather something else. What might that be, I wonder. Tell me, my dear Watson?" She pointed her pipe at me dramatically.
She thought for a moment, going through all the gossip she knew of, before she snapped her fingers with an 'Aha!'
"A holy sword wielder in your peerage. Someone with a sword based sacred gear maybe? Are they experimenting on children maybe? Orphans perhaps.
How amusing. Like one of those Victorian tragedies, a revenge fantasy, Count of Monte Cristo style!
Poor abused, lab experiment escapes with the help of a sympathetic devil, grows stronger in isolation, then returns to exact glorious vengeance upon his tormentors! Oh the drama~ Maybe he'll even have a childhood love or a sister that was captured and held hostage or oh! Oh! Died tragically in the experiments.
Oh, I love those Victorian tragedies too, all Byronic heroes and forbidden love."
Getting sidetracked again, are we?
She finally stopped to take a breath before turning to me with the most punch-able smug grin on her stupid, beautiful face.
"Of course, that's just a theory~"
But we both knew she had cracked it wide open.
Thankfully, she can't reveal any of this due to the contract or I would be fucked. And not in the good way.
"Dammit! Done in by your unending obsession for forbidden romance and romantic tragedy?" I groaned and leaned back into my chair.
Of course that was it. Because why else would it be anything else in this boob plot isekai!
Done in by Twilight fanfiction.
What a way to go.
"Don't forget gossip. My circle spreads far and wide." She spread her arms wide across in demonstration and stomped around the room happily, triumphant in her deduction.
"Yes. I'm gathering peerage members. Happy?" I sighed, "But you know there is such a thing as being too smart, right?"
"Is there?" She whistled innocently, avoiding eye contact, "Wouldn't know~"
"Haaah!" I sighed.
What have I gotten myself into.
.................
We're finally introduced to Cleria Belial. And she is delightfully autistic and cute. MC hits puberty early and we get a demonstration of exactly how smart Cleria can be. A little example of how she discovered the truth behind the King piece in the original story.
MC finally meets someone who matches his autistic attention to detail and its a damn shame that she is already married.
Tell me what you thought of the chapter?
Did you like Cleria Belial's personality?
Was MC too horny here?
Tell me in the comments.
No, this will NOT BE NTR.
Her husband won't die. She will not be in the harem. MC will just have to give up on a childhood crush.
Because not everything will go his way.
Anyways, thanks for reading.
Dont forget to donate your powerstones.
300 powerstones - 1 extra chapter
5000 collections - 1 extra chapter
Bye~