Chapter 53 - Evil Spirit Madness

Elmenhilde Karnstein had only been living in Cebrail's secret base for a day and still, she hadn't fully explored it. That is to say, it was INCREDIBLY huge and a great deal like a maze.

It was so bad that Elmenhilde had to sleep in some random hallway.

This is where Cebrail found her, curled up in a ball in the middle of a random hallway sleeping. Blinking a few times she shook the girl with her foot only to get an exceptionally strange response back.

"Yeah, step on me you sadistic Angel~ I need to be punished~" Elmenhilde mumbles in her sleep. Raising an eyebrow in curiosity she puts a bit more pressure on her foot.

"Ahh~ I've been so bad~"

"..."

(It's like a talking string doll…) Cebrail thought before grabbing Elmenhilde by the leg and dragging her along the floor back to the guest room.

After talking to her uncle Raphael she wanted to take a nap but she knew she would have to pick up Tosca and Reginleif soon so she decided to simply hang out with Elmenhilde but now the Vampire was sleeping so what was she to do?

Cebrail pondered this thought for quite some time as she tucked Elmenhilde into bed and seemed to come to some kind of decision.

When Elmenhilde woke up you can imagine her surprise when she found Cebrail napping next to her the two facing one another.

(Ah! Ah! Ah! So close! We're so close!) Elmenhilde thinks frantically as she looks at Cebrail up and down.

"Ahhh~ her sleeping face is making me feel so refreshed~ is this the power of an Angel?" Elmenhilde felt like she could really stare at Cebrail's sleeping face for hours without getting tired of it, but something else drew her attention. Cebrail's shirt had a rather low neckline revealing just the uppermost parts of her petite chest.

"Ohhh~ with them squeezed together like that they look a lot bigger and more tantalizing~" Elmenhilde stared at them, fondling wouldn't produce any holy water right?

(So defenseless…) Elmenhilde felt like she could seriously get a nosebleed and she scooted a bit closer as gently as possible so as to not wake Cebrail.

"You're such a strange person." Cebrail's voice stopped Elmenhilde in her tracks and with an awkward smile, the Vampire looks up and meets the gaze of the Seraphim Princess.

(At least she doesn't seem upset… maybe she didn't notice what I was doing?) This thought of Elmenhilde's was crushed almost instantly by Cebrail's next words.

"How have you survived so long if you just let your impulses guide you like that? You know, if I had actually been asleep and woke up thinking you were an enemy you could be impaled to that wall behind you." Cebrail's words made Elmenhilde swallow a bit, it was obvious that she was dead serious, and it wasn't as though she lacked to the power to hang Elmenhilde up like a painting nailed to the wall.

"Ehehehe~ my bad~" Elmenhilde said donking herself on the head cutely while sticking her tongue out a bit.

"This house is built 'nowhere' so exploring it will be bad for your health. Don't go opening too many doors if you don't know where they'll lead. You may end up in space or worse the Dimensional Gap." Cebrail warns the girl of the dangers of wandering around carelessly in someone else's secret base. "Well in any case, now that you're awake what would you like to-"

Cebrail pauses for a moment and shoots up into a sitting position. Blinking a few times she frowns.

"I see… we'll continue this talk later." Cebrail cut their conversation short and just like before she dove out of the window.

(Why does she never use the door?) Elmenhilde wonders to herself before thinking about Cebrail's previous words.

"Wait what did she mean 'what would I like to do?' WAITTTT, TELLLL MEEEE!" Elmenhilde screamed out the window but Cebrail was long gone and it was unlikely she would remember once she visited again.

Elmenhilde would never get an answer to Cebrail's somewhat carelessly seductive provocation.

–

It was reaching the end of the day and after various activities and a great deal of stalking Kaori and Tosca had followed the couple back to the beginning, where the date had started, the fountain in the park.

They had been watching all day and so far there was no suspicious activity from Yuri. She's just been like a normal girl on a normal date, but this just made her even more suspicious in the eyes of Kaori!

"Kaori…"

"Shhh! Tosca, you already said that she was a supernatural being before right? This must just be an act!"

"Kaori… just because they're a supernatural being it doesn't mean that they're evil…" Tosca attempts to reason with Kaori but the brown-haired girl doesn't care at all. She didn't want to believe that Koga could be snatched away by some big-titted green tea b*tch.

Tosca couldn't help but pity the girl greatly as she could imagine how she felt. If Tosca thought Cebrail was being manipulated and couldn't do anything about it she too would be incredibly upset.

"Koga…" Yuri says softly with her back turned to the boy and her head low.

"Y-Yes Yuri?" He stammers, this was it, what he had been truly waiting for! All the saving he did for this date! All of his time spent planning! All of his efforts to bring up her affection gauge! It was for this moment, the confession scene!

(Seems like nice guys really can get the girl sometimes!) Koga cheered in his head. There was a whole celebration party going on up there and he smiled brightly.

Kaori on the other hand was having a funeral in her mind as her face got darker upon seeing Koga's expression.

"Koga!" Yuri suddenly turns around and hugs Koga tightly causing him to stiffen up with a blush on his face.

"Koga…"

"Y-Yes?!?!?"

"You're a dog that doesn't need to be humping my Kaori's leg any longer." Yuri whispers but due to their close proximity Koga hears it loud and clear.

"Huh?" He said in confusion. He suddenly felt a chill go down his spine. His instincts warned him to get away from this girl, however, as he stepped back he felt as though his legs were stuck in place.

"You've just been using her for her money haven't you…that's why you've never noticed until now…I don't get what she sees in you at all." Yuri's voice had turned ice cold and deadly and when she looked up her glowing eyes ensnared Koga, trapping him.

Her grip on him grew tighter and he felt his crotch growing uncomfortably tight and his body desperately hot.

(W-What's happening to me?) He thought, feeling his energy beginning to drain from his body bit by bit.

Tosca's eyes widened and as Kaori was about to come out of the bushes to desperately confess her feelings the rookie Angel charged at Yuri with her spear already out.

Yuri only just barely had enough time to turn and block a lethal strike with her sharpened fingernails. The power of the strike still sent her back quite a bit, surprising her greatly.

(W-What! How can she overpower me when I'm a Devil now!?!) Yuri had no idea that Tosca was actually an Angel, that is why she was so bold as to such Koga's life force while knowing that Kaori and Tosca were in the bushes.

"You! Don't get in my way homewrecker!" Yuri yells in outrage.

"I can't just stand by and watch you kill that human!"

"Tsk!" Yuri charges Tosca with her nails out like a monster baring its claws to its prey.

Unfortunately, though Tosca may consider herself weak as she's always comparing herself to prodigies such as her homunculus siblings and the Angels she's met like Puriel. In truth, Tosca was quite a bit stronger than the average Devil and her spear was quite special as well with its ability to bypass a target's immunities to deal damage.

That is to say when Yuri and Tosca clashed it was barely even a match.

Tosca blocked Yuri's swipe with her spear before pushing the girl back and countering with a wide horizontal swing of her spear, cutting Yuri on her stomach.

Oddly however Yuri didn't react at all to the damage and instead attacked again with both hands. Now her true form was completely visible and she was sporting a set of goat horns along with a slim pointed tail.

Slash after slash came for Tosca but the girl calmly and skillfully countered each and every one of them. Cuts began riddling Yuri's body but she paid it no mind at all as though she didn't particularly care about taking damage.

"Koga!" Kaori yelled seeing the boy on the ground laying there motionless.

Upon seeing Kaori begin to run over to him Yuri finally dodges one of Tosca's attacks sending her a bit off balance due to overextending, however rather than capitalize on this opening Yuri rushes over and grabs Kaori pulling her off of Koga.

"That guy doesn't deserve your love! Have you already moved on? How could you Kaori!?!?!" Yuri's eyes looked crazed, and obsessive scaring Kaori as her grip tightened.

"Get away from her!" Tosca yells, dealing a devastating combo by first cutting off the hand that was gripping Kaori and then kicking Yuri away, sending her crashing against the hard stone of the fountain.

"You! I bet you haven't known Kaori for very long at all! Not as long as I have! Who are you to butt in when I'm just saving my friend from this disgusting man!" Yuri screamed. The place where her arm once was was bleeding profusely but she stood up as though it were no problem at all.

"Friend! Who's friends with you!?! Not me!" Kaori yells trying not to think about the blood all over her body and the dismembered hand lying on the ground.

"Huhhhh!?! So you really have forgotten about me!?!?! KAORIIIII!!!!!" Yuri screamed, her eyes turning into bottomless swirls of insanity. "Then I'll have to make you remember."

"That's not a part of our contract Nene Suzuki." The familiar voice of Mehi Satanchia came as he stepped from behind a nearby tree.

"Ugh… I'm called Yuri Kurokawa now… you're the one who changed my name to that." Yuri wanted to complain but he was right. She had already begged him to edit the contract once due to wanting to test the disgusting leech that was Koga Oogami, which she found out isn't as easy as changing a few words in a document so asking him to change it again would be unreasonable.

"If you've resolved yourself to kill him then kill him. We have important work to be doing."

"But-"

"Did you say Nene! You're Nene?!?! How???" Kaori's eyes widened in confusion.

"If you're worried about the Angel then it's no problem. I'll keep her out of the way."

"Right…" Yuri says walking toward Koga to finish the job.

"Nene!" Both Kaori and Tosca stepped forward, but the blue-haired Devil appeared in front of them stopping them in their tracks.

(I need to make this quick… if "that" Angel shows up it'll be a bigger problem than I think I can deal with alone.) Mehi didn't feel like revealing his trump card, his royal authority too early especially not to an Angel which could kill him before he used it with the huge racial advantage she has.

Tosca gripping her spear tighter and seeing Koga's body slowly being drained of life charged at Mehi but he simply dodged and caught her by the arm he tossed her into the fountain.

A loud splash sounded but Tosca didn't really take much damage at all, Mehi was definitely not attacking with the intention of actually hurting her it seemed.

Kaori could only stare in horror as Koga's body began visibly growing paler and skinnier. "Stop it…"

"Is it hard to bear?" Mehi questions the girl. "The weight of just how unfair the world is?"

"..."

"You know Nene's story don't you? Abusive drunkard of a father, having to do anything she could for money so that she could eat. And finally of course her tragic death…"

"Shut up! STOP IT!!!!"

"Right next to your school. If you just hadn't had club activities that day you could have saved her. If you had paid more attention to the bullying you could have saved her. It was recorded you know… what those men did to her…"

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

"Tragic… her only solace was that she died before they finished… however… now ironically she's stuck in the body of a Succubus. Clinging to life using the very same trauma of her death… it's enough to make anyone go crazy."

Kaori covered her ears not wanting to hear anymore of the Devil's words.

"Do you hate it? The injustice of the world? If only you had more power… it always comes down to power."

Before he could continue his words Tosca was facing him again and he turned his attention to her.

Gripping her spear with one hand pulled back she grits her teeth.

She hated people like him.

She didn't know him very well at all but she could tell that he was the kind of person to blame the world for all his problems.

She didn't want this guy who has already given in to despair to drag Kaori down with him! It was her duty as an Angel to provide her with hope. To answer her prayer. And to help her with everything she had!

The spear seemed to respond to Tosca's feelings and glowed red.

A single word came to her mind as if whispered into her ear by the spear itself urging her to say it. Urging her to borrow its power and rely on its support.

"Ibar" Tosca whispered as she threw the spear.

It wasn't a very strong throw, at least not strong enough to impress Mehi who stood his ground prepared to swat away the desperate spear throw easily.

However, as the spear flew straight as a bullet towards him he felt a strange sensation. As though something was incredibly wrong and when he moved his hand to hit it he realized what it was.

The spear rather than be deflected phased right through his body, it was a demon spear that was enchanted to always hit its mark upon a special magic word being uttered and Mehi was not its target.

"Sh*t! Yuri-" He turned to warn her but it was too late as the spear soared and impaled the girl through the chest sending blood everywhere.

Yuri was for all intents and purposes a zombie.

She was an evil spirit shoved into a corpse by Mehi due to him being, understandable, unable to revive ghosts with the Evil Pieces. She couldn't die per say from taking a spear through the chest however based on the fact that she wasn't healing any of the other wounds given by Tosca's spear such an injury is more than capable of incapacitating her.

And that it did. As Yuri's body fell over. She was still wide awake but her body had taken too much damage.

"Tsk!" Ripping the spear out of her he threw her over his shoulder. Unfortunately not only was she beaten but the two of them were out of time.

She was here.

So with an angry thuggish glare at Tosca he teleported away.

"I'll admit that I made a mistake by underestimating you, little Angel." Mehi gave a few more words, almost complimenting Tosca for getting one over on him just as he vanished.