"A little bit more salt for the sauce," I muttered.
I was in the kitchen of my dorm at True Cross Academy completely in my element, creating culinary perfection.
After giving the Order a verbal lashing and issuing a challenge to Lucifer, my body was in need of fuel. I was rapidly tossing dough into the air, chopping vegetables at blinding speeds, and managing internal temperatures of dishes all at once. Ukobach was right beside me, chittering happily as he manned the deep fryers and the massive ovens, tossing me ingredients the exact second I needed them.
Within an hour, we had cooked a feast fit for a small army.
I pushed through the swinging doors into the cafeteria, balancing several massive trays of food with effortless ease.
The cafeteria was dead silent.
Mephisto was sitting at the head of the table, happily munching on a slice of Wagyu beef while gleefully recounting to the room exactly how I had completely shattered the Grigori's centuries-old pride. Shura was leaning back in her chair, sipping a beer.
The Exwires—Bon, Shiemi, Izumo, and Konekomaru—were all sitting rigidly in their seats. As I set the towering plates of pizza, roasted meats, and pasta down on the table, they all stared at me with painfully awkward expressions. None of them knew whether to treat me like their fellow Exwire who just made dinner, or drop to their knees and pray to me.
"The hell is wrong with y'all?" I asked, roasting them as I pulled up a chair and grabbed a massive slice of pizza. "Eat the food before it gets cold. I didn't slave over a hot stove just for y'all to stare at me like a museum exhibit."
Before anyone could properly answer, the cafeteria entrance doors swung open.
Yukio walked in. He looked completely exhausted, the bags under his eyes practically bruised. But he wasn't alone.
Trailing right behind him was a man I didn't quite recognize, but he seemed familiar. He looked like a complete slacker—messy black hair that covered his eyes, sticking out of a bucket hat, unkempt stubble, and a loose-fitting jacket.
Did Yukio pick this guy from off the streets?
"Looks like we got another mouth to feed," I noted, pointing a thumb at the new arrival as the man casually slid into an empty chair next to me like he had lived in this dorm his entire life.
Bon practically jumped out of his skin. He stood up so fast his chair scraped loudly against the linoleum floor.
"Lightning?!" he shouted, his eyes wide in sheer disbelief. "What are you doing here?!"
I took a bite of my pizza. Lightning? I thought, confusion adorning my face. Who the fuck?
Izumo saw my confused expression. "Lewin Light, he's an Arc Knight and the Right hand of the Paladin." He's practically the Order's second-in-command."
I nodded and took a closer look at him. I've definitely seen him from full page covers and leaks from the manga, but that was where my knowledge of things ended. The story itself had gone on hiatus right around the time Lucifer attacked the Academy and the Exwires went to save Izumo. Everything past that point, including who this guy actually was, what his motives were, and how powerful he could be, was entirely unknown to me. From here on out, I was flying completely blind.
But what am I worried about? I'm a God! I chuckled in my head, grabbing another slice of za.
"Well, aren't I the popular one," Lightning said casually, reaching over and grabbing a slice of MY pizza. He took a massive bite, a look of pure bliss crossing his face. "Man, this smells incredible. You made this, Okumura?"
"Yea," I replied flatly, glaring at his enjoyment of MY pizza. "Who's asking?"
"Right, right, where are my manners," Lightning mumbled around a mouthful of cheese. He pulled a greasy, crumpled notebook and a half-broken pen out of his pocket. "I wanted to meet the Son of Satan with all the amazing abilities. I saw the fascinating show you just pulled off with the Grigori."
"You were there?"
"In the back," Lightning nodded, swallowing his food. "Man, you really put the old geezers in their place. But breaking those seals? That's going to be a lot of paperwork for me."
"Paperwork? Dang, you really are in a high ranking position."
"Mhhm," he replied, flipping his notebook open and clicking his pen rapidly. The lazy slacker demeanor vanished for a split second, replaced by the sharp, calculating eyes of a mad scientist.
"So, let's get right into it," Lightning said, pointing his pen at me. "How did you manifest the halo? That's pretty irregular for a demon."
What the hell? An impromptu interview? I thought, another slice of pizza stopping halfway to my mouth. Then I shrugged internally. Whatever, let's see where this goes.
"It appeared after I reached Enlightenment in Kyoto," I answered simply, taking a bite.
Lightning stopped chewing. His eyes widened slightly behind his messy bangs. "Enlightenment?" he repeated, his pen pausing over the paper. "A demon achieving a state of Nirvana... that completely breaks the established theological laws of Assiah and Gehenna. Fascinating."
He started scribbling furiously in his notebook.
The what?
"I also noticed you burn when you use it," Lightning continued without looking up. "How is that possible? Shouldn't you be resistant to your own flames?"
"My flames burn hotter on a higher plane of existence now," I explained, waving a hand dismissively. "So they override the older resistances I had before."
The Exwires tensed. I could feel Yukio gripping his fork tight under the table, at the mention of a "higher plane." Beside him, Shiemi and Izumo exchanged deeply concerned looks, realizing the physical toll my new power was actually taking on my body.
"So your body can't handle it?" Lightning pressed, leaning forward. "Will the power build up if you don't expel it? Will you leak anything?"
I sighed, dropping my pizza crust onto my plate. "Man, you sure ask a lot of questions. What do you expect to gain from all this anyways? You know you can't stop me, right?"
Lightning scratched the back of his head, dropping the intense glare and returning to his slacker persona. "Yeah, most likely. But you're not the only one to worry about. Lucifer being able to use the full extent of his powers without him having to worry about his body decaying because of your donation is pretty worrying."
"Tch, for y'all maybe," I scoffed. "But not for me. Besides, that was just an unfortunate and unforeseen accident."
"Yes," Lightning agreed carefully. "But the fact still remains that it happened."
"Ah, so that's why you're here," I smirked, leaning back in my chair. "You need assurance that I'll take care of him."
"In short terms, yes," Lightning said, tapping his pen against the table. "But my other concern is that if your flames can do that to the King of Light, then they could also possibly boost the lower-level demons, too."
"He's right," Mephisto chimed in, smiling over his teacup. "Your flames have become an unprecedented variable in this world."
I gave the clown a sideways glance. "Whose side are you on?"
"The side that keeps humanity intact and out of Lucifer and Satan's clutches," he answered smoothly.
I stared at them both for a second, feeling the anxious gaze of everyone else burning into the side of my head.
"Ight, ight," I sighed. "Here's my solution."
My hair instantly erupted into brilliant, blinding blue-white flames. The three-colored halo manifested above my head, illuminating the cafeteria in a terrifying, holy light. The Exwires flinched back, shielding their eyes.
I pushed my intent out into the universe. With a subtle, silvery ripple of absolute authority that distorted the air around me, I grabbed hold of the fundamental properties of my own aura and completely rewrote the rules of it.
No demon can absorb or be enhanced by my flames without my direct, conscious permission from this moment going forward.
I let the flames die down, the halo vanishing into thin air. The cafeteria returned to its normal lighting.
"There," I said, picking up a napkin. "My flames won't enhance anyone or anything without my direct authority going forward. But you'll still have to worry about the sample that Lucifer and his people have on hand."
I could've changed that too, but I'm curious to see what Lucifer plans on doing with it, I thought.
Lightning was completely frozen. His pen snapped in half in his grip. He stared at me, his manic grin returning as he realized what I had just done. I had just rewritten a fundamental law with just a single thought in mere seconds.
"That's... incredible," Lightning whispered, his eyes gleaming. He immediately opened his mouth to ask another barrage of questions.
"Save it nerd," I cut him off, standing up from the table. I looked down at the King of Time. "Sammy, I need you for something important tomorrow regarding Lucifer."
"Oho?" Mephisto's ears perked up. "I am at your disposal."
"I'm coming too," Lightning said instantly, dropping the broken pen.
"Me too!" Bon added, standing up, quickly followed by the rest of the Exwires voicing their agreement.
I waved a hand over my shoulder as I walked toward the exit. "Whatever."
I navigated the halls of the dorm and pushed open the door to my room, letting out a heavy breath as I flopped backward onto my mattress. Staring up at the ceiling, my mind immediately drifted back to the cafeteria.
Rewriting that rule had felt different.
When I used the Amethyst flame in Inari, it felt like I was pushing a massive, external force onto the world. But what happened moments ago felt more structured. Like I had reached out and plucked a string on the fabric of reality itself.
I didn't even burn to a crisp, I thought. How odd.
I held up my hand, focusing entirely on that strange, silvery ripple of authority I had felt.
A tiny spark ignited on the tip of my index finger. But it wasn't blue, white, or purple.
It was a brilliant, metallic platinum.
The strangest part wasn't the color—it was the movement. Or rather, the complete lack of it. The tiny platinum flame didn't dance, flicker, or shift. It was perfectly, unnervingly still, completely frozen in time and space, yet radiating an undeniable, conceptual weight to it.
Absolute Manipulation, I realized, my eyes widening slightly as I stared intensely at the frozen silver spark. With this I could do absolutely anything: create a person from thin air, pause reality at will, or even stop the concept of death itself.
I closed my fist, snuffing out the tiny flame. It was a great problem to figure out tomorrow during training. Right now, the scent of pizza grease and kitchen smoke lingering on my skin was driving me crazy.
I grabbed a change of clothes from my dresser, and headed towards the showers.
The stress of the day, the sheer scale of the miracles, and the headache of dealing with the Vatican had finally caught up with me. I slipped into the hot, steaming water of the large communal bath, leaning my head back against the stone edge with a heavy sigh.
As I relaxed, I decided to do a little digging. I needed to know exactly who I was dealing with when it came to this Lightning guy.
I tapped into my power, letting the blue-white flames ignite in my hair. The halo slowly manifested above my head, casting a serene glow across the water. The sheer heat radiating off my body began to rapidly boil the bathwater, filling the entire room with a thick, suffocating cloud of white steam.
I pushed my perception outward, tapping into the information grid of the universe to gauge Lightning's motives.
FLASH.
The information flooded my brain like a violent tidal wave.
I saw a young Lewin Light. The universe whispered that he was born with an exceptionally rare, high-level ability to see demons and possessed an innate talent to summon and control them with absolute authority from infancy.
But his parents refused to believe demons were real. They viewed his abilities as a curse, a sign of severe mental illness. I watched flashes of horrific abuse—they kept him locked away from society in a pitch-black basement. Driven to absolute desperation by the isolation and torment, his survival instincts kicked in. The infant instinctively summoned a group of Sylphs—wind spirits—that tore through the house, slaughtering both of his parents and five other individuals inside.
God damn, what the fuck am I seeing?! I thought. No wonder that guy's the way he is.
Following the massacre, Lewin remained trapped in the house alone for a prolonged period. I saw him surviving like a feral animal, eating scraps and barely maintaining his sanity, completely surrounded by the spirits that had murdered his family.
Eventually, a specialized team of Exorcists investigating the mass death found him. A Senior Exorcist named Osceola Redarm from the Mexican Branch took pity on the feral, highly dangerous child. He officially adopted Lewin, raised him, and taught him how to structurally control his terrifying chanting and channeling powers.
But there was a darker underlying thread. The universe hinted that he might not be entirely human, and that his biological lineage aligned with some kind of dark history tied to Section 13—the Order's secret, forbidden laboratory.
Not entirely human? Section 13? Forbidden Lab?I mused, attempting to go deeper into my visions.
"What's with all this steam?" a voice said, pulling me from my viewing.
I noticed the heavy steam in the air, and deactivated my powers. The halo vanished, and the flames in my hair snuffed out, leaving the room completely quiet except for the sound of sloshing water.
Through the thick, heavy fog, a silhouette emerged from the women's side of the bathhouse.
As the steam parted, Shura stepped out into the open area. She was dripping wet, her pink hair plastered to her shoulders, and she was wearing the same tiny white towel from my vision I had when I first woke up in the suite.
We locked eyes.
"What're you doing here?!" we shouted in unison, my tone a lot more pleased than annoyed.
"I'm taking a bath," I smirked. "What're you doing here? You missed me that much?"
"I live here, dumbass!" Shura yelled, crossing her arms defensively.
Then I blinked, genuinely surprised. "Huh?! What do you mean you live here?!"
"I've got a room on the second-floor!" she scoffed.
I stared at her, the realization slowly dawning on me. "So I could've seen your... uh, you, all this time?!"
Shura's face flushed red for a fraction of a second before her usual brash smirk returned. She put a hand on her perfectly sculpted hips, intentionally flaunting her figure. "In your dreams, halo boy!"
"Oh, I see you in there too," I replied smoothly, leaning back against the edge of the bath. "Amazing dreams, by the way."
Shura rolled her eyes, turning to walk away. "You're a menace. I'm going to bed."
"Wait, hold on, don't be like that," I called out, splashing some water. "Stick around for a minute."
To my pleasant surprise, she actually stopped, turned back around and leaned against the tiled wall.
"Yea, and why should I?" she asked, an eyebrow raised.
"The water's nice," I replied, pouring water on my arm. "Feels good on the skin. You should come and indulge in it."
"The water's nice," she replied unbelievingly, but a smirk appeared on her face. "That's the best you could come up with?"
"What more do I need?" I questioned. "Water's good for the skin, so logically your skin's gonna be even better. I just want what's best for you."
"Oh, you noticed my skin?" she questioned with a playful smirk on her face. "Do you really expect me to believe that that's all you've noticed?"
"I notice a magnitude of things. Come find out just how much I know," I said, inviting her to sit next to me. "Call it a private interview. Besides, don't you wanna find out more about what my powers can do?"
She didn't move for a moment, then she let out a sigh. "Fine, but keep yer hands where I can see them."
I raised my hands in a gesture of surrender, while she made her way to the bath. She undid her tower and sat a couple feet from me.
Tch, damn this steam. I couldn't see a thing, I thought. Hmm, maybe if I heat this water up some and get her to—
"What're you plotting brat?" she questioned, glaring at me. "You've been too quiet, so there's definitely no good being cooked up in that head of yers."
"Plotting? Me? I'd never," I responded. "Besides, what reason do I need to plot? Being in this situation with you tells me dreams do come true at times."
She shook her head. "Dreams… tch, yea right. The only thing you can expect from having a dream is to wake up quickly after. A dream ain't worth nothin'."
"I disagree," I said, causing her to scowl. But before she could say anything I continued. "Dreams show you what you desire most. Having a dream to strive for gives you another form of freedom."
"That's easy for you to say," she scoffed. "You can just make whatever you desire at the blink of an eye."
I smirked. "Yea, but if I didn't follow my desire I would have never achieved this power in the first place."
She went silent for a moment. "If having a dream is as important as you say, then what's your dream now?" she questioned as I turned my head away and went silent. "Ha, don't have one do ya Mr. Big Shot? I thought not. You were really sittin' here actin' all high and mighty—"
I grabbed her cheek, causing her to glare at me.
"Who says I stopped having dreams?" I questioned, bringing her face closer to mine. "I've desired to be strong and achieved that. I desired to not be the Vatican's lapdog and I've achieved that. And I've desired to see you with nothing on but a towel, and surprise, surprise here you are."
Her eyes widened as I spoke, but she didn't pull away as my lips drew closer to hers. "As long as I have desires my dreams will never end. And I'm filled with nothing but desires."
As our lips were about to connect, the fog around us started to clear up. And in that moment I quickly realized that I had an opportunity to get a clear view of what the towel had been hiding from me.
I instantly stole a peek at her chest. But that's when I saw it. The red, intricate tattoo winding its way down her skin.
"Oh yea," I said, pointing at the mark. "I need to fix that, right?"
"Fix what?" she asked, confusion on her face, but then she looked down to where I was pointing to and her eyes widened.
Before she could let out a single word, I activated my power again. My hair combusted into blue-white flames. I lifted two fingers, engulfed in flames, and pressed them directly against the center of the red curse mark on her skin.
The moment my flames made contact, a visceral, sickening sensation washed over my hand.
It didn't feel like human skin. It felt like cold, ancient, pulsing scales. A dark, suffocating miasma of a massive, multi-headed beast deeply rooted into her very soul, slowly feeding on her life force.
Instantly, the dark energy violently writhed under my touch. The demon on the other side of the curse had just sensed my presence.
Shura gasped, her eyes wide in absolute terror. Her casual, flirty demeanor violently shattered. She slapped my hand away with terrifying force, stumbling backward and clutching her chest.
"Don't touch that! Are you crazy?!" she practically screamed, genuine panic lacing her voice.
"The demon on the other side of that just felt me poking around," I stated calmly, looking at my fingers.
"It's not just a demon, Rin!" Shura yelled, her chest heaving as she backed against the wall. "That's Hachirotaro! A Hydra that put this curse on my ancestor, and it's been passed down ever since! If you poke around in there, he won't just retaliate against you. He'll go to the ends of the Earth just to crush you, there's no telling what he'll do!"
I stared at her panicked, terrified expression. I moved to her in an instant, deactivated my flames, and pressed my forehead against hers, locking eyes with her.
"Hey, it's okay. Just take deep breaths" I said, my voice completely devoid of fear. "Nothing will happen to you, I promise. And if you don't want it removed here, then all that's left to do now is to go to where he's at and remove it there."
Shura froze. "What?"
"We pack our shit," I continued casually. "We go to wherever this overgrown snake is hiding, and I burn him out of existence. Simple."
Shura stared at me, completely speechless. She had carried this curse her entire life, fully resigned to dying before she turned thirty. And I was offering to go hunt down an immortal Hydra like it was a weekend grocery trip just because I touched her chest.
"Whenever you're ready," I added, offering her a confident smirk. "You will dream again, I swear you will."
I turned around, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around my waist. I walked towards the exit, but made sure to take a long, deliberate look at her voluptuous figure.
"Catch you tomorrow, cougar," I winked, walking out of the bathhouse.
I left her standing there in the steam, completely dumbfounded. As I walked back to my room, my mind immediately shifted away from the Hydra and back to the true problem at hand.
Alright, I thought, cracking my knuckles. It seems I'm going to be very busy tomorrow. Better prepare some things.