The transit system connecting the Human Realm to the Underworld was not a closely guarded secret among the supernatural elite. For VIPs, Devil Kings, and high-ranking purebloods, instantaneous teleportation circles were the standard.
But for the working-class Devils, the familiars, and the authorized traders, there was the Hell Train.
The massive, steam-punk-inspired locomotive tore through the dimensional rift, its iron wheels shrieking against ethereal tracks. Inside the third-class passenger car, the atmosphere was dull, filled with low-level demons playing cards and merchants reviewing their ledgers.
Sitting quietly near the window in the back row was a nondescript, low-class Devil with pale skin and small, unremarkable horns.
It was Jin Kazuma.
He was maintaining a flawless, low-chakra Transformation Jutsu. To the magical sensors and the ticket conductors, his energy signature registered as a perfectly average, slightly exhausted worker returning to the Underworld.
Jin stared out the window as the landscape violently shifted. The blue skies of the human realm bled away, replaced by the bruised, eternal twilight of the Underworld. Jagged, purple mountains and crimson rivers stretched out to the horizon.
Why take the train? Jin thought to himself, watching a patrol of gargoyles fly past the glass.
He could have taken a route that only some old japense person or yokai know but by taking the public, mundane route, Jin was conducting a meticulous reconnaissance mission. He was observing the border security, the response times of the transit guards, the frequency of magical checkpoints, and the structural integrity of the wards protecting the Underworld's infrastructure and he was saving that route for some other time.
Miles away, in the heart of the Underworld's capital, Lilith, the Crimson Satan was entirely oblivious to the phantom riding his train lines.
Sirzechs Lucifer sat behind his massive mahogany desk, buried under literal mountains of paperwork. He pinched the bridge of his nose, exhaling a long, exhausted breath. For the past two months, the geopolitical landscape had been on a razor's edge. The Three Factions had established peace, but that had immediately triggered a frantic rush to finalize a non-aggression pact with the Greek Pantheon.
"Is that the last of it?" Sirzechs asked, his voice rough.
"Yes, Lord Sirzechs," Grayfia Lucifuge replied. The Queen stepped forward, flawlessly composed as always, and set a fresh, steaming cup of Earl Grey tea on his desk.
She offered a rare, slight smile. "Allow me to congratulate you. All the preliminary agendas have been completely resolved. The only thing remaining is the formal signing with the Greek Pantheon, which will take place at the conference this evening."
Sirzechs picked up the teacup, letting the warmth seep into his tired hands. "Finally. A unified front. It took entirely too much of my attention."
Grayfia nodded, her expression returning to strict professionalism. "However, my Lord, there is another matter that requires your immediate attention. It concerns the human, Jin Kazuma."
Sirzechs paused mid-sip.
"He is growing exceedingly impatient," Grayfia warned. "He has not received any information regarding the Great King Faction noble you were investigating. he even enlisted Rias's help to try and reach you."
Sirzechs sighed, setting the teacup down. "What can I say? I have been entirely preoccupied. Securing a peace treaty with Olympus takes absolute precedence over a single human's revenge plot. Yes, the subject also hold our intreset in it , but not align with priority right now."
"I understand," Grayfia said. "But he is volatile."
"It's fine," Sirzechs replied, leaning back in his chair with a slightly patronizing smile. "That brat sure is interesting, and he is growing undeniably powerful. But he was getting far too arrogant. He actually thought he could dictate the schedule of a Devil King. Perhaps this extended silence will force him to realize his actual position in the hierarchy."
Grayfia frowned slightly. "You are right, my Lord, but we do not know how would he react when cornered ."
Sirzechs waved his hand dismissively. "Well he is weak , what could he do?. "
Sizechs thinking again "Well ,You're right. It's best not to let him stew indefinitely. Why don't you head to the human realm, check in on him, and give him a minor update just to placate him?"
"Yes, Sirzechs-sama." Grayfia bowed. Before she teleported, she paused, voicing a question that had bothered her for months. "I am curious, my Lord. Why do you go out of your way to manage him? We could easily ignore him now. We are already dealing directly with Goddess Amaterasu. At the end of the day, regardless of his combat strength, he is just a human with no real political sway and enough power and potential .At the end he is a human without a longuis sacred gear."
Sirzechs looked out his massive window, overlooking the glittering capital of the Underworld.
"Well, what can I say?" Sirzechs murmured. "I see something in him. I see what I see in myself."
Grayfia looked surprised. "My Lord?"
"He doesn't care about the established order," Sirzechs explained, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully. "He doesn't adapt himself to fit the world's views. He forces the world to change to fit him. Look at me, Grayfia. I despised the old Devil society and their archaic, pure-blood behavior. So, instead of submitting to it, I broke their society and molded it into something new."
Sirzechs turned back to his Queen. "For people like us, there are only two options: either the world breaks us, or we break the world and mold it to our liking. Even Issei shows a fragment of this quality, even if his version is ridiculously perverted. Jin has that exact same gravity."
Grayfia nodded slowly, absorbing the profound assessment of her husband. She bowed gracefully and activated a teleportation circle, fading from the office to run her errand.
Grayfia materialized in the quiet, mundane suburbs of Kuoh.
She stepped out of the magical circle, expecting to knock on the door of the Kazuma residence and find an irritable, angry teenager demanding answers.
Instead, she stepped into an active crime scene.
The Kazuma house was entirely abandoned. The front door was kicked off its hinges. The windows were boarded up, and thick, yellow caution tape surrounded the perimeter. More alarmingly, the property was swarming with heavily armed men wearing tactical gear adorned with magical warding tags.
Grayfia's silver eyes narrowed. She immediately dropped her presence, cloaking herself in a localized perception-blocking spell, and approached the command tent set up on the front lawn.
Grayfia stepped through the perimeter wards as if they were made of thin mist, her elegant maid uniform moving without a whisper of sound. She seamlessly bypassed the perimeter guards, stepping into the command tent .
Inside, a man who appeared to be a Special Squad Commander was barking harsh orders into a radio.
Grayfia materialized directly behind him. She didn't use force. Instead, a delicate, silver magic circle—no larger than a coin—bloomed at the tip of her index finger. She gently pressed it against the base of the commander's skull.
The commander's body went instantly rigid. The radio remained grasped in his hand, but his voice abruptly cut off. His eyes clouded over, completely glazing as Grayfia's mind-control spell effortlessly bypassed his non-existant defenses, plunging him into a deep, suggestible trance.
"Speak quietly, and speak truthfully," Grayfia whispered, her voice a soothing, inescapable compulsion weaving directly into his subconscious. "Where is the resident of this house? Where is Jin Kazuma?"
The commander's voice emerged flat and hollow, stripped of all emotion. "He is gone. He vanished."
"Vanished? where?" Grayfia pressed, her silver eyes narrowing. "Who are you? Why is this house under siege?"
"We are the national supernatural task force," the man droned on, staring blankly at the canvas wall of the tent. "We received orders from top this morning from the newly appointed President of the Japan... President Shukaku."
Grayfia's flawless composure cracked, a deep frown marring her features. Shukaku? That was Jin's own lieutenant. The man Jin had personally elevated to power.
"What were the orders?" Grayfia demanded, probing deeper into the man's locked memories.
"President Shukaku declared him a rogue entity," the commander confessed mechanically. "An arrest warrant has been issued across all human and Yokai territories. Jin Kazuma has officially been declared an Enemy of the State."
Grayfia's mind raced.
With a subtle, elegant flick of her wrist, the silver magic circle dissolved into the cool night air, erasing any trace of her intrusion from his mind. Grayfia melted back into the shadows of the tent just as the spell broke.
The commander blinked, shaking his head slightly as if recovering from a momentary daydream. He didn't even drop his radio. He simply brought it back to his lips, his voice barking out the exact same order he had been giving seconds before, completely oblivious to the fact that his mind had just been breached by the Queen of the Underworld. Outside, the guards continued their patrols, equally unaware of the devil in their midst.
Sirzechs had thought Jin was just a brat throwing a tantrum, sitting in his room waiting for an update. He had completely miscalculated.
Grayfia looked up through the fabric of the tent toward the night sky.