Interlude

|3rd POV|

Touji Shidou, the overseer of Kuoh Town, kneels down in front of the Bishop placed in Japan and his boss, who orders him and his team to hunt down Cleria and Masaomi. He did not know what to think right now and ignored what his boss said.

His mind is filled with guilt that slowly gets bigger and bigger. He and Masaomi have been friends since the day they became priests. He can still remember when they were young, thinking about how the three factions could live in peace and love each other.

However, here he is kneeling in front of his boss after murdering his best friend, his friend since his childhood. Kneeling in front of his boss, who gives him a reward for murdering his best friend whose only 'sin' is that he loves a devil. A step that can promote the harmonization of the three factions. A step that shows that heaven and hell can co-exist.

However, instead of supporting him, Touji decides to kill him because he decides to side with the church.

"... the reward for this holy mission will be sent to you in a week. Don't worry. We will also replace your holy sword that gets destroyed when battling the heretic and his lover."

Touji held himself really hard not to strangle the Bishop in front of him. Masaomi is not someone that he can call a Heretic. Masaomi is not a heretic, and he will say that Masaomi is the holiest man in their group of priests.

He is kind, selfless, and always easy to forgive others for their faults. If not for his lack of Holy energy inside his body, Touji would think that he is a Saint.

"As your impressive job, I will also personally reward you. Tell me what kind of reward you want."

Touji looks at the Bishop right in the eyes for a second before saying.

"C-can I hold that request for a later date? T-today is a hard day for me. I lost so many friends on this mission."

"Ah! I'm sorry for my carelessness, my child. I'm so happy a heretic is dead that I forget that we lost many brave holy men in this mission. Take a rest, and tomorrow morning we will discuss your reward once again."

"Thank you, Bishop."

Touji got up from the ground and walked away from the meeting room, not seeing the smirk on the Bishop's face. It was a pleasant smirk of a heretic being killed, no. It was a smirk that showed the world that his plan was working.

After making sure that he is alone, the Bishop takes a communication orb from his robe and puts a little bit of mana into it. The orb shines for a few seconds before suddenly, a hologram of an old man appears in front of him.

This old man is the most influential person in the underworld regarding political matters. He is the Ancestor of the entire Bael clan, Zekram Bael.

"By the look of your face, is the mission a success?"

"Of course. We lose a few men in this mission, but we manage to kill both Cleria and Masaomi."

"Show me the body."

"Of course."

The Bishop moves his communication orb to show the corpse of Cleria and Masaomi that Illya created. Zekram looks at the body for a few seconds before nodding his head.

"That is her."

The Bishop moves the orb back so Zekram can see his face.

"With this, my end of the deal has been fulfilled. I hope that you will fulfill your end of the deal?"

"Tch. Who do you think you are asking for that? I always fulfill my promise. I'm Bael, not Shax who always uses a half-truth word to get away from the promise. The current Cardinal in Japan will soon have an unfortunate accident at the hand of a Rogue Fallen Angel and Stray Devil. With the only Bishop in Japan, you will soon get the position of Cardinal."

"And also the other deal."

"I know. Twenty-two young… unbloomed girls from different races will be sent to your private safe house."

"Good."

Unbeknown to both Zekram and the Bishop, Touji is not really leaving the room. He decided to hide without the Bishop knowing after he smelled something fishy when the Bishop only thought about rewarding him and not mourning about the people who died in this mission.

At first, he thought that it was only a small stink, but it looked like he had found a bottomless pit full of shit. Touji now understands the reason why he needs to kill his best friend, and after learning that truth, he feels even more guilty. He killed Masaomi because of corruption, a very deep corruption.

When the Bishop got inside the room is when Touji finally broke. He cannot hold back the tears any longer as he knows that he killed his best friend, who is now branded as a heretic because of corruption. He lost his men and his best friend because of deep corruption.

Never in his life had Touji ever cried this hard. This is the man who loses everything in a single day: his men, his best friend, and his trust in the church.

While Touji was busy crying about his misfortune, he did not know that he had been bugged by Medea, who watched all the events unfold before her eyes while munching popcorn. Medea decided to use her other talent, Plotting, with a smile full of teeth.

"Hmmm~ What can I do with this information, I wonder?~ Hmmm, which plan can make Riser-kun the only overseer of this place~ Ohh! I know the perfect plan. Fufufufufu~"

If someone gets into the basement right now, they will shit their pants at the sight of Medea giggling evilly while a black aura appears around her.