DOWNTOWN KUOH
Magnus and Lucien walked calmly through the city's streets carrying large black bags over their shoulders. The red liquid dripping from the corners of the plastic left small stains along the pavement, drawing suspicious looks from the pedestrians passing nearby.
A man in a business suit slowed his pace for a moment while watching the two of them. He seemed late for work, but even so, he couldn't ignore the scene.
'Could they be hunters?'
His eyes fell on the blood dripping onto the asphalt.
'It must be animal blood... it can't be anything else.'
In the end, he simply kept walking.
A woman heading in the opposite direction grimaced in disgust when she noticed the red trail spread across the ground.
"That's disgusting." She shook her head as she walked away. "People should carry things like that more carefully."
Magnus heard the comment but completely ignored it. To him, those people were nothing more than background characters in the Fallen Angels' plan.
After several minutes of walking, the two arrived at a small plaza near Kuoh's shopping district. Shops, cafés, and bus stops surrounded the area, with dozens of civilians going about their day.
Magnus smiled in satisfaction.
"This place is perfect."
Lucien looked around at the crowd and felt his stomach tighten.
"Yeah..." His answer lacked any enthusiasm. "Perfect."
'With this many people here... even more are going to die.'
The thought immediately bothered him, but Lucien shoved the guilt to the back of his mind. He was already too deeply involved to turn back now.
Magnus dropped the black bag onto the ground without the slightest care. The impact caught the attention of several nearby pedestrians, especially when a human hand partially slipped out through a tear in the plastic.
The silence lasted only a few seconds.
Then the screaming began.
"AAAAAAAAAH!"
"It's a body!"
"Oh my God!"
A woman collapsed onto the ground while pointing at the corpse. A man pulled out his phone with trembling hands as he desperately tried to call the police.
"Call for help!"
"There are dead people here!"
"Somebody do something!"
Panic rapidly spread across the plaza as more people noticed the bodies hidden inside the bags.
Magnus looked pleased.
"Spread the bodies around." He rested a hand on his waist before drawing a sword. "I'll silence everyone else."
Lucien felt his heart grow heavier.
But he nodded anyway.
"Yes."
He began opening the remaining bags while the civilians backed away in terror. Some tried to flee, while others simply stared at the corpses in complete disbelief.
Magnus spun his sword once before walking toward the crowd.
The screams immediately grew louder.
And at that very moment, the Fallen Angels' true assault on Kuoh finally began.
___
GREMORY MANSION – KUOH
Magnus gripped his sword as he walked toward the terrified civilians. The screams grew louder every second as more people discovered the corpses scattered throughout the shopping district.
At that exact same moment, inside the Gremory Mansion, Gasper abruptly interrupted the meeting without any warning. The shared vision from one of his bats showed him exactly what was happening in Kuoh.
"Damn."
Before anyone could ask a question, he wrapped one arm around Rias's waist and the other around Akeno's.
Both of them reacted immediately.
"G-Gasper-kun?" Rias was startled by his sudden urgency.
"Ara..." Akeno raised an eyebrow. "That's unexpected."
"I don't have time to explain." Demonic energy began gathering around them. "Someone is murdering humans right out in the open."
A magic circle immediately appeared beneath the three of them.
Kiba instantly stood up.
"What happened?"
"Kiba, stay here." Rias spoke before the teleportation could finish. "Protect the others and notify Sona."
"Understood."
Saji nodded beside him without hesitation.
"Wait!" Ravel stepped forward. "Gasper-kun, I'm coming with you!"
But the teleportation had already been completed.
SHUUUN.
The three disappeared before everyone else's eyes.
Ravel remained standing, staring at the empty space where Gasper had been only seconds earlier. Her expression made it painfully obvious how much she wished she could have been useful.
Asia immediately stood up from the couch and walked over to her.
"Calm down, Ravel-san." She gently took her hand. "Everything will be alright."
Ravel sighed as she lightly squeezed the former nun's hand.
"I know... but I wanted to help."
"Kiba is right." Koneko spoke for the first time since the meeting had begun. "We have things to do here."
Kiba nodded.
"Rias-sama gave us orders. Let's carry them out."
Ravel remained silent for several seconds before finally agreeing.
"Okay."
___
KUOH SHOPPING DISTRICT
The teleportation ended in the middle of complete chaos.
The smell of blood hit Gasper, Rias, and Akeno immediately. People were running in every direction while bodies lay scattered across the ground like discarded garbage.
Akeno felt her stomach churn at the sight.
"Look at these bodies..."
Rias clenched her teeth as she recognized those responsible.
"Those two humans."
Magnus also noticed their arrival.
"Devils." His face twisted with disgust. "Filthy."
Lucien felt something entirely different.
"Be careful, Magnus." He gripped his weapon more tightly. "Those devils are dangerous."
The warning came too late.
Lucien saw a shadow move in front of him.
That was the only thing he managed to perceive.
Gasper vanished from where he had been standing and reappeared directly in front of him. The speed was so overwhelming that Lucien's mind couldn't even process the movement.
"Wha—"
The word died before it could be finished.
Gasper's hand pierced straight through his chest like a spear, crushing his heart without the slightest resistance. Pain spread throughout his entire body as blood slowly flowed from his mouth and his eyes widened in complete shock.
"N-No..."
Lucien tried to step back, tried to breathe, even tried to raise his weapon again, but nothing worked. His body no longer responded to his mind as strength rapidly abandoned every muscle.
Gasper pulled his arm back out in a single motion. Blood splattered across the pavement, and Lucien remained standing for a few seconds, swaying like someone incapable of understanding what had just happened.
Then a shadow appeared behind him.
SLASH.
His head separated from his body before he could even feel the strike. The headless corpse collapsed first, followed by the severed head, which rolled several meters before stopping beside a shattered storefront.
Silence engulfed that part of the street.
Magnus stared at his companion's body scattered across the pavement, unable to hide his shock. The nearby civilians also stood frozen, unable to believe that a man had been executed so effortlessly.
Everything had happened in only a few seconds.
Lucien had been alive.
And then he simply wasn't.
"So fast..."
Magnus tightened his grip on his sword while staring at Gasper standing amid the blood and remains of the corpse. At that moment, he finally realized Lucien hadn't exaggerated when he warned him about the devils.
The man before him was far more dangerous than anything the Fallen Angels had told them.
"The smell of blood is much stronger coming from you than from that worthless piece of trash over there." Gasper pointed at Lucien's decapitated corpse without even looking at it. "At least he died quickly."
Magnus gripped his sword until his fingers turned white while glaring at the dhampir. His hatred for devils was greater than the fear slowly beginning to grow inside him.
"A devil and a vampire at the same time." His smile was filled with contempt. "You're even filthier than those two whores over there."
The reference was obvious.
Rias and Akeno stood several meters behind him, using magic to protect the survivors, erase memories, and prevent the chaos from spreading any further through the city.
'I'll teach you what happens when someone insults my women.'
The thought crossed Gasper's mind without changing his expression.
Magnus raised the Excalibur and charged with everything he had. The pavement cracked beneath his feet as he rapidly closed the distance, convinced the Holy Sword would pierce through any defense.
But before he could even get close, the shadows beneath him came to life.
SHHHHH.
Black arms erupted from the ground and wrapped around his legs like living chains. His charge came to an abrupt halt, and the momentum forced his body forward as he struggled to break free.
The Excalibur slashed through the air repeatedly, but the shadows kept multiplying around him. The harder Magnus fought, the more he realized he was being swallowed by something he couldn't even begin to understand.
Gasper slowly walked toward him.
Without hurry.
Without emotion.
Like someone observing an animal caught in a trap.
Magnus roared in fury and tried to raise the sword once more.
SLASH.
His right hand fell to the ground together with the Excalibur.
Blood erupted from the severed arm as his scream echoed throughout the shopping district. The civilians who hadn't yet been put to sleep became even more horrified as they watched the scene unfold.
Gasper continued walking.
His expression didn't change for even a single second.
Magnus dropped to his knees while clutching the bloody stump of his arm. The hatred was still there, but it was now shared with a growing fear he could no longer hide.
The shadows slowly wrapped around his body.
First his legs.
Then his waist.
Then his chest.
Like a creature devouring its prey.
Magnus struggled until the very last moment, but Gasper had no interest in hearing pleas, threats, or excuses. To him, that man was nothing more than a murderer who had just scattered corpses throughout the city.
CRRSH.
The shadows pierced Magnus's body from multiple angles at once.
Blood spilled from his mouth as his eyes slowly lost their focus. There was no heroism, regret, or redemption in that moment.
Only the end.
Seconds later, his lifeless body collapsed onto the blood-soaked pavement.
THUD.
Gasper stared at the corpse for a few moments before completely losing interest.
Magnus died exactly the way he had lived.
Without importance.
Support here: patreon.com/22Mirko22
Thank you so much for reading - see you in the next chapter!