Faking Death

"Hahaha... I am sorry I couldn't control myself."

Mike kept laughing for a while after knowing the truth. Masaomi and Cleria had a dumbfounded look at Mike's reaction. Mike started questioning again.

"So, how many know about this before us?"

"None" Cleria replied

"Your brother is the Champion, right? Did he too..."

"No! Nii-sama doesn't know about it! He came to the top with his own efforts!"

Before Mike could complete Cleria defended her brother.

"Oh okay. Why didn't you tell anyone about this till now?"

"Because it's a sensitive topic. I wanted Nii-sama to be the first one to know about this. But he's unavailable at present but will be back in a couple of days."

Mike sighed at Cleria's confession. "You are a fool. Not only you let them find out about your investigation but also you kept that dangerous info all to yourself."

Cleria couldn't say anything against that comment. Just at that moment, Masaomi raised his hand.

"Wait, are you saying that the reason they want to kill us is not because of our forbidden love?"

Hearing it, Cleria and Mike looked at him with a deadpan expression " "Did you seriously realize that just now?!" "

Masaomi awkwardly grinned at them for which Mike and Cleria just sighed. Mike went back to the topic.

"So, we know the real reason they want to kill you. And as for why they can't do it themselves, they are afraid that their little secret would be revealed if your death is investigated. So, is Zekram involved in this mess? No, he shouldn't have been. He's prideful but not that bad to encourage corruption. He definitely wouldn't agree if they said 'Dude, that gal found out the corruption we're doing. So, kill her cuz she's in love with an exorcist. If ya want, we'll pay ya too', right? So, they must have just told him about your relationship. That means he still has other ways to deal with you guys. So, why did he still request for your death?"

Just at that moment, Mike's phone started ringing, Mike looked at the caller who turned out to be Vasco. Mike picked up the call and switched on the speaker.

"Hey, Gramps, what's up?"

(( Your Eminence! Did you already kill them?! ))

Mike looked at the lovebirds in front of him who are giving him an awkward smile.

"Umm... Yes, I already killed them... Any problem?"

Suddenly few other voices came from the call

(( Well, we can do nothing about it then. ))

(( Poor child, if we were sooner... ))

(( He fell in love with a devil! He deserved it! ))

This meant that the other higher officials of Church were with Vasco when he made the call. Mike already figured that out because he already got two clues. Vasco called him 'Eminence' and Vasco asked if Mike killed them even though he knows that Mike will fake their death. So, Mike lied casually about the couple's death.

"What happened, Gramps... I mean, Vasco-sama?"

(( Ah, actually, we sent a letter to tell them that we are going to investigate and kill them if it's true, right? We got a reply from Zekram Bael just now stating that there is no need to kill them, he just wants us to persuade the exorcist to stop his relationship and he will try to persuade the devil from their side. ))

"..."

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Vasco-sama, why did Zekram Bael change his mind?"

(( It seems he asked Lord Bael to write the letter and send it. He told Lord Bael to write 'Take care of this matter.' and Lord Bael, being the prideful person he is, misunderstood it and he was already in the mindset that 'Cleria Belial must die for falling in love with exorcist'. So, he wrote 'Kill them' instead or that's what the letter we got says. ))

"..."

There was another moment of awkward silence.

"If it's persuading, then we can forget about it. I showed them that they aren't a match for me and I can easily kill them first. Then, I asked them that they could live if they broke up. But in the end, they didn't listen. Even their final wish is to die together while holding hands. They are deeply in love with each other. So, this will just be another case of Romeo and Juliet even if we tried to persuade them. So, I had no choice but to kill them. Hey, Gramps, did I do the right thing?"

((...))

No one answered from that side. But Vasco didn't answer because he's trying real hard to hold his laugh. While the other higher officials are silent not knowing how to answer it. Some of them still think that Mike did the right thing but couldn't say it out loud after hearing Mike's tone.

Meanwhile, Masaomi and Cleria are dumbfounded at how Mike can lie that easily. Even they were having a hard time believing that he's lying even though he's talking about their death.

By lying like this, Mike not only made the officials think about the Church's ways but also made everyone believe that the couple is dead. Two birds with one stone. So, Mike didn't hesitate to lie. Because Mike has this devilish way of thinking, Vasco gave Mike the title 'Heaven's Devil'.

(( This is how things should be, Mike. Don't blame yourself. ))

Vasco said that after some time. Mike stayed silent for some time. He understood the meaning behind Vasco's words.

"Alright"

(( Now, when are you coming back? ))

"I will be staying in Japan for a while."

Now there was silence from the other side. It seems they were deciding on what to do about Mike's request. After a while, Vasco spoke

(( Alright, take your time. ))

And the call ended. Masaomi and Cleria didn't know what to say. Mike started laughing out loud again.

"Hahahaha! Man, I don't know that I should thank Lord Bael for his mistake or kick his ass for his way of thinking. Hahaha!"

Masaomi was the one who interrupted that laugh "Umm... Michaelangelo-sama..."

"Just call me Mike. What is it?" Mike asked casually.

"Is Vasco-sama like that too?" Masaomi questioned about the person he looked up to.

"Ah, no. Gramps just goes along with my lies. He doesn't lie for himself. As long as I commit a sin for a good reason, Gramps is okay with it. Well, I will be lying if I said I didn't influence him at all. Gramps lost a lot of his comrades due to this war. So, he accepted when he heard my decision."

"Ah, thank goodness..." Masaomi sighed in relief.

"Alright, now that everything's over, let's fake your death. I need your belongings, some of your blood. Oh, by the way, you can't meet anyone related to you from now."

When Mike said it, Cleria had an anxious look. "Can't we just meet in secret?" She asked.

"Nope. Don't even try. Understand my situation, please. The most I can do is to let them know that you are alive." Mike explained.

Cleria sighed and nodded. He did the necessary things to fake their death and sent them abroad to his secret research base while he stayed back in Kuoh.

"Now, the real game starts..." Mike said with a grin.