The silence that followed the King of Light's arrival was deafening. He stood at the edge of the landing ramp, a pristine figure wrapped in blinding holy radiance, staring down into the ruined courtyard. His masked gaze didn't linger on the terrified Exwires or the burning festival decorations.
It locked entirely onto me.
Through the blinding, holy radiance bleeding off his body, I could feel the sheer weight of his perception locking onto my soul. Lucifer wasn't just looking at my physical vessel; as the King of Light, he perceived energy and conceptual power with absolute, terrifying clarity.
To him, looking at a normal upper-tier demon was probably like looking at a roaring campfire.
But looking at me? I knew exactly what he was seeing. It was like staring directly into the heart of a supernova.
I could sense the subtle, micro-shifts in his stance. The absolute certainty radiating from him wavered for a fraction of a second. He was feeling confused. Shocked, even. Because my energy wasn't just "demonic" anymore. It was divine, conceptual, and perfectly stabilized. Lucifer's own body was supposed to be rotting from what I remembered from the canon. A failing vessel unable to handle the sheer immensity of his own power.
Yet here I was—a supposed half-breed—perfectly containing the heat of a star without my body deteriorating in the slightest. I could feel the myriad of emotions cycling behind his pristine mask: fascination, profound curiosity, and a dark, undeniable flicker of primal jealousy.
Then, he unleashed it.
Photonic Pressure.
It didn't come as a blast; it simply descended, altering the fundamental laws of physics in the courtyard. The gravity seemed to multiply a hundred times over.
I stood in the exact center of it, completely unaffected.
Is this supposed to make me bow? I thought, my lip curling into a sneer at the genuinely insulting gesture.
I glanced back over my shoulder. Bon, Shiemi, and Konekomaru were plastered against the cracked pavement, completely frozen in absolute terror. Their lungs were being crushed; they couldn't even draw the breath required to scream.
I flicked my wrist and a dome of pure, blue-white flames bloomed outward, entirely encapsulating the Exwires. It severed Lucifer's pressure completely, creating a pocket of perfect, stabilized gravity. Bon gasped, violently sucking in air as the crushing weight vanished.
I turned back to the hovering ship.
"I guess it's my turn to indulge you," I whispered as I flared my Mantle, unleashing a fraction of my true power.
The air in the courtyard didn't just heat up; it ignited. The blinding white light of Lucifer's aura violently clashed with the roaring, conceptual blue-white heat of my own. The concrete beneath us instantly turned to molten slag, bubbling and popping.
On the landing ramp, the Illuminati officers instantly collapsed.
Homare fell hard to her hands and knees. Her green spectacles cracked straight down the middle from the sheer thermal pressure. She gasped for air that was no longer there. Her clinical detachment was utterly obliterated, replaced by primal, suffocating terror. She stared at me with wide, trembling eyes, her biological survival instincts screaming that she was in the presence of an apex predator.
Lucifer didn't fall. But for the first time in his life, he took a physical half-step backward on the ramp.
"Fascinating," Lucifer's smooth, echoing voice drifted down, polite but I could tell he was deeply unsettled. The absolute calm in his demeanor slipped just enough to reveal genuine surprise. "You do not bow. You do not break. You protect the weak while pressing the strong. The reports of your power were... woefully inadequate. I see now I am addressing a peer."
CRACK.
A spatial distortion violently tore open between us. It didn't open smoothly with a puff of pink smoke; it sounded like a mirror shattering as it forced its way through our colliding domains.
Mephisto stepped out of the rift, his umbrella raised high. He was actively using his manipulation of time and space just to carve out a pocket of breathable air so he wouldn't be instantly vaporized or crushed by the crossfire.
"Gentlemen, gentlemen! Please!" Mephisto called out, his voice cutting through the roaring pressure.
I noticed his grip on his umbrella was white-knuckled. The fabric of his pristine suit was fluttering wildly. A visible, heavy bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face. He was acutely aware that if either Lucifer or I accidentally twitched and unleashed our full power, True Cross Academy—and possibly the entire Japanese archipelago—would be wiped off the map.
"I must ask you both to rein it in!" Mephisto smiled, though it looked incredibly strained. "The repair budget for this courtyard is already a nightmare!"
Lucifer's blinding aura dialed back slightly. "Samael. It has been too long." He placed a hand over his chest, offering a polite, messianic bow. "Allow me to formally introduce myself to our sibling. I am Lucifer, Commander-in-Chief of the Illuminati. And the King of Light."
Mephisto politely inclined his head in return. "A pleasure, Brother."
I looked back up at Lucifer. I narrowed my eyes, analyzing his physical state.
Odd, I thought, my senses peeling back his layers. He doesn't look as sick as he should be. He's putting out country-destroying pressure, but his cells aren't rapidly decaying like they should be. What's going on here?
"You look pretty healthy for a guy whose body is supposed to be rotting from the inside out," I called out, crossing my arms. "Care to share your skincare routine?"
Lucifer let out a soft, amused hum. "Straight to the point. Very well. I suppose proper introductions to our grand design are in order. The true goal of the Illuminati is to bridge the two realms—Assiah and Gehenna—so that humans and demons can finally exist as one. We intend to revive our father, Satan, in less than one year to rule over this newly unified world."
He spread his arms wide, his voice echoing with terrifying, absolute conviction.
"It will be a world of true peace. A reality where all living beings are equal, and utterly free from the afflictions and suffering of this flawed existence."
Would you get a load of this guy, I thought, rolling my eyes. He's acting like he's doing this out of the goodness of his black heart. Just another maniac thinking they could "fix" the world. Mmm Mmm Mmm.
I opened my mouth to cut his monologue short, ready to hurl a freshly ignited insult at him, but Lucifer spoke again, his tone shifting from messianic to something much more intrigued.
"However," Lucifer said, his voice dropping slightly. "The trajectory of our plans has recently... evolved."
That got my immediate attention. Beside me, Mephisto stiffened, his umbrella twitching.
"Evolved how?" I demanded.
"I believe you are intimately familiar with one of my subordinates. Saburota Todo," Lucifer prompted gently. "Think back to your previous encounter with him in Kyoto."
My mind immediately flashed back to the toppling building. Todo eating the Karura. But more importantly... the Karura that had just been infused with my evolving divine flames. The combination hadn't just made Todo younger like it was supposed to in the canon; it had mutated him, skyrocketing his power to an absurd, unprecedented level.
"When Saburota returned to us," Lucifer explained, clearly noting the dark realization dawning on my face, "we immediately drew his blood. Our experiments revealed a miracle. His entire being had evolved into something completely new, far higher than we ever anticipated. And our scientists concluded it was entirely catalyzed by the lingering residue of your divine flames."
Mephisto whipped his head around to stare at me, his eyes wide, his jaw dropping in genuine, unmasked shock. The King of Time hadn't foreseen this variable.
You've got to be shitting me, I cursed internally. My flames mutated him?
"We synthesized his altered blood," Lucifer continued smoothly, lifting his hands to the sides of his head. "Even a small injection of that synthesized serum was able to halt my body's rapid deterioration."
Lucifer unclasped his pristine white mask and let it fall to the metal ramp with a sharp clang.
Beneath it was a young, flawless face, completely free of the rotting sores, bandages, and decay that should have plagued him. He looked healthy and radiant.
"Thanks to you, brother," Lucifer smiled warmly, his eyes shining with a sickening gratitude. "I can now comfortably exert up to a third of my true power without any strain on my vessel whatsoever. You have given me the time I needed."
A third. A third of the King of Light's true power was enough to crack the planet, and he could now wield it casually. Because of me. I had unintentionally buffed him. Ain't no way.
Behind me, I could hear the Exwires gasping.
"Rin's flames... healed him?" Shiemi whispered, her voice trembling in absolute horror.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Bon muttered, shaking violently as the terrifying reality of the situation crushed whatever hope they had left. "It made him even stronger?"
"So, I have come here to extend a personal invitation," Lucifer said, holding his hand out toward me and Mephisto. "Join the Illuminati. Stand by my side as a peer, Rin. Together, we can reshape this world and achieve true, everlasting peace."
The courtyard was dead silent, save for the crackling of the molten concrete beneath my boots.
I looked at his outstretched hand. The sheer audacity of the offer burned through my veins, igniting a fresh wave of absolute Sovereign fury.
"You're thanking me for accidentally giving you a blood transfusion, and now you expect me to be your subordinate?" I scoffed as the anger within me started to bubble up from the insult.
"Don't fuck with me," I let out as a dark, dangerous smirk spread across my face. "Are you dumb? I'm the God of Flames. Why would I follow someone weaker than me?"
Lucifer's smile slowly faded. The warmth vanished from his expression, replaced by a chilling one.
"I see. What a tragedy," Lucifer sighed softly. He lowered his hand. "Then, Rin Okumura, Knights of the True Cross... I formally declare war."
"You've got a lot of nerve, flashlight," I said as my arms began to be engulfed in flames. "Looks like I gotta show you exactly where our powers stand. Show you why I'm the strongest there is!"
"Okumura, wait! Don't do it!" Konekomaru screamed from inside the fire dome, realizing the catastrophic crossfire that was about to happen.
"Are you insane?! You'll blow up the whole school!" Bon yelled, throwing an arm over Shiemi to physically shield her.
I ignored them. I bent my knees, the concrete cratering beneath my boots as I prepared to launch myself directly at his newly healed face.
But before I engaged my thermal thrusters, Homare violently raised a trembling hand from the floor of the ramp. She was still gasping for air, her eyes wide with terror from my pressure, but her clinical duty forced her to act. She squeezed a small detonator in her palm.
SCREEECH.
The sky above the academy tore open. Thousands of high-level demons poured out of hidden summoning circles, swarming the airspace above the courtyard like a plague of locusts.
Beside me, Mephisto visibly tightened his grip on his umbrella, his green eyes scanning the sheer numbers blacking out the stars. "Well... this drastically alters things," he murmured tightly.
I paused. Inside the flame dome, Bon's screaming stopped, replaced by a horrifying silence as the Exwires looked up at the apocalyptic sky. I was forced to choose between pursuing the King of Light or letting them, and the rest of the school, get potentially slaughtered by the swarm.
"We will meet again, brother," Lucifer said.
"L-Later, Rin," Renzo wheezed from behind him.
I glanced over. He wasn't casually standing anymore; he was on one knee on the ramp, violently sweating and fighting just to keep his Yamantaka from extinguishing under my heat. He forced a weak, trembling two-finger salute, struggling to keep Izumo balanced on his shoulder. The playful, casual facade was completely stripped away by the sheer, suffocating gravity of my presence.
The landing ramp closed. The ship's engines roared, and with a blinding flash of light, the Illuminati vessel shot into the upper atmosphere, vanishing instantly.
Leaving me standing in the molten crater, surrounded by an army of incoming demons, with the horrifying realization that the board had just been completely flipped.
I slowly drew the Kurikara from its scabbard as the first wave of monsters dove towards the courtyard.
Welp, this ain't good.