001 - What Makes it Hard to Go Home ?

Grayfia and I are floating in the sky, looking down at a large mansion situated in the middle of this dead forest.

"Did they really use a mansion in the middle of a dead forest as a base?" I say to Grayfia while staring at the large mansion.

"...They use a barrier so normal devils aren't going to find it easily, and since this location is pretty far from the city, I think this is a pretty good base," Grayfia says to me while looking around.

"Oh well, so what do you want to do with all of these devils and magician? I'm pretty sure they're just terrorists following Rizevim. Do you want me to kill all of them and be done with it?"

"Wait, what about my brother? If you do that, is my brother going to get caught up in it too?" Grayfia is a bit panicked when she hears that I might destroy this entire place.

"He's in the basement right now, doing some experiment, so i can make sure that my attack isn't going to reach him." I can see that the mansion only contains ordinary devils, and unfortunately, I don't see Rizevim here.

Grayfia seems to be thinking for a moment before she finally sighs. "I'm sorry, but can we not kill all of them? Our devil race numbers are so few because of the civil war before..."

Hmm, that's true. Their numbers right now are too small for a race compared to others, and because of that, they use evil pieces to turn other races into devils.

But all of it is their fault in the first place... They just keep waging wars and killing each other, so yeah, not my problem.

"Well, whatever you say," I raise my right hand. "Gopherwood Ark," and then everything slows down and time finally stops.

Then, in front of us cracks began to appear in the air, eventually shattering and opening a portal that I entered together with Grayfia.

In a room, a young-looking man, appearing to be in his early twenties, with silver hair tied in a braided hairstyle, could be seen. The man seems to be doing something when he suddenly stops because he senses something happening, making him look around.

He doesn't know what's going on, but he's sure something is happening because his instincts tell him so, and he always trusts his instincts.

Finally, he hears the sound of cracking, which quickly makes him turn towards it.

The cracks widen more and more until they finally shatter, revealing a place behind them that is very dark and feels strange.

The sound of footsteps begins to echo from inside it, making him prepare to attack whatever gonna appear using his magic.

But when he sees who coming out from it, his power instantly disappeared, and he wears an expression of shock. "Sister!?"

"I see that you still remember me, Euclid, but why did you disappear and never return?" Grayfia responded with a voice full of anger directed at Euclid.

"And now you're involved with a terrorist group. Maybe I wasn't strict enough when I was guiding you."

"You!? Why are you here?" Euclid asked Grayfia while trying to calm his expression.

"What else? Of course, to discipline you so you can actually think straight."

"Think straight? Do you think you can say that to me? It was you and Lithia who betrayed the Lucifuge name and joined that fake Lucifer."

"And now you're here with an angel? I never expected you to sink this low, Grayfia," Euclid said, glaring at me with a look of disgust.

"You!!" Hearing that makes Grayfia furious. She doesn't care if Euclid insults her, but it is different when he mocks the man she loves.

"That's enough."

Hearing that, both of them immediately shut their mouth because I use the power of Lucifer when I say it.

"Hmmm," Euclid looks confused and tries to open his mouth, but he can't do it at all.

He fumbles around his mouth and tries to open it, but it is as if something is pressing tightly, keeping his mouth firmly shut.

"I know you said you want to handle him yourself, Grayfia."

I step closer to Euclid and change my multicolored wings into black ones, shrouded in a purple aura. "But I really want to punch him right now. Oh, you can talk, Grayfia."

Hearing my words, Grayfia is able to open her mouth again and looks at me with the 12 black wings wrapped in a purple aura on my back.

"Just please don't kill him..." is all she can say because she remembers that when she sees Rei using those wings, it means he is serious.

"You don't need to worry..." I stop in front of Euclid, who stares at me, unable to use his powers. I am sure he can feel the pressure I am exerting on him.

"If he dies, I can revive him."

*BAAAAAAM* A loud punch is heard, and then Euclid is sent flying, crashing through the wall above.

<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>

Euclid continues to be thrown through many walls before he finally stops above the mansion by using his devil wings.

He holds his chin, which hurts immensely from just one attack by that strange man who can change his wings, and he still can't open his mouth at all.

"Did I hold back too much?" Suddenly, he hears the voice of that man, who then appears in front of him while observing him.

"Hmm, from your wound, I probably could have used more power to fight an Ultimate Devil class..." Rei mutters again.

Euclid looks very angry because Rei isn't taking him seriously at all, but he still tries to remain calm and starts thinking about who this man in front of him is.

He thinks quickly and tries to recall any information about the man in front of him...

"Hmm, are you trying to figure out who I am?" Rei says in a mocking tone towards Euclid.

Euclid can only stay silent because he still can't open his mouth, which makes Rei realize, "Oh right, you can open your mouth now."

Hearing that, Euclid slowly tries to open his mouth, and unlike before, he is now able to do so.

"Who are you!? You're definitely not an Angel or even a Fallen Angel! I've never heard of someone with abilities like yours," Euclid immediately asks Rei in a calm tone, trying to analyze the answer from the man in front of him.

"Me? I'm Lucifer, and unlike the descendants you're following, I'm the real Lucifer," Rei says with a wide smile as he answers Euclid.

"Lucifer? Hahahaha, you're so funny! I didn't expect someone as strong as you to make a joke like that," Euclid laughs heartily after hearing Rei's words.

The original Lucifer tyrannically desired to become the King of the World by destroying it to create a new one under his rule.

But the Lucifer in front of him is so soft and doesn't act like the real Lucifer, so it's laughable when he says his name is Lucifer.

Euclid even knows that Lucifer's cruelty and tyranny extended to his own wife, Lilith, as he continuously forced her to give birth to devils non-stop.

"Sure, sure, whatever you believe. So are we going to fight now, or do you still need time to cast that teleportation magic you're trying to use?" Rei says to him, glancing behind Euclid.

"!?" Euclid is shocked when he hears this because he was sure he had prepared the teleportation spell secretly, making it nearly impossible for anyone to detect.

Since he is an expert magician, casting a spell without being detected is an easy task for him.

But now that he has been found out, he doesn't waste any more time and quickly uses his teleportation magic to retreat from this place and inform Rizevim.

A magic circle immediately appears beneath Euclid, signaling that he is about to teleport away.

"Cancel." And instantly, the magic circle breaks, and the spell fails.

While Euclid is still confused, suddenly *Bam* "Arghhh!?" He feels something hit his stomach hard.

"Too bad you can't run away," Rei, who punched Euclid's stomach hard, says with a smile.

Rei quickly delivers a barrage of punches, finally ending with a strike to Euclid's head that sends him flying again.

Euclid is thrown quite far before he finally stops in the middle of the dead forest, crashing through many trees and creating a crater.

"*Cough* *cough*," Euclid coughs up a lot of blood his body is also covered in wounds.

He can't use his Demonic power at all to cast spells since the moment that man said, "Cancel."

Because of this, his body can't regenerate as usual, so all he can do is feel this pain.

"You really want a tyrannical Devil, right? And you want to see how cruel a devil can be?" Suddenly, he hears the voice he despises the most right now, making him look up.

"Then let me show you The Devil." Rei pulls out a card with a monster image on it and throws it in front of him.

"Come to me, The Devil."

The card floating in front of him begins to shine brightly, and soon, five large magic circles appear in front of the card.

The air around them starts to heat up, causing the dead trees nearby to catch fire. But then the flames begin to move as if being drawn into the magic circles.

The fire swirls around the five magic circles, and from within the circles, two hands and two legs start to emerge. Then, from the top magic circle, a body appears.

[IMAGE]

"#######." As the body forms, the creature immediately utters something that Euclid doesn't understand.

But he can sense that the being in front of him is no ordinary creature—it's even stronger than anything he has ever encountered.