I spent a mere five seconds to decide that I’m going after the woman who allowed Beelzebub to possess her. If possible, I want to avoid a direct confrontation with her. I may have become much stronger these past few months compared to when I first possessed Akira’s body, but I’ve never forgotten for a second that Akira is a mere mob. Being one of the billions of mob in this world, he’s not protected by plot amour, the same thing that had given Yuuji his countless undeserved victories and/or survivals. Call me a coward all you want. I’m already being used to call that in my old world by my classmates and even my own family members.

Besides, unlike in the old world, there are actually people who would be sad if I kicked the bucket. For those people, I have to survive at all cost. Until I’m sure of my victory, I’m going to use my brains and fight as cowardly as possible.

First off, demons are supposed to be weak against salt just like the undead. I wonder if the same theory applies when the demon is possessing someone. Right now, the woman has her attention full with fighting off Sakuya, Amesaki-senpai and Motome-senpai. I use this opportunity to make a sphere of seawater appear on her head and make it fall.

The woman frail around and makes incoherent noises as she’s getting drowned by the salt water. Unfortunately, her flies aren’t stopping their attacks, which means that they’re moving independently after receiving her orders. Either way, I was going to let her suffer a little more when a pair of long insectoid wings appear from her back, ripping the back of her shirt. They immediately vibrate like crazy, and the next thing I know she’s out of the sphere.

While she’s hovering in mid-air, she looks around for the person who attempted to drown her. Her glare settles on me, and she somehow figured that I was the culprit.

‘YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS HUMILIATION!’ she screeches.

Her wings are sizzling after being drenched in salt water, but not the rest of her body. So the demon inside her is safe while it’s possessing her. And the sizzling didn’t last long as the wings are vibrating so quickly they dry up in an instant.

Her legion of flies fly towards me. I calmly make a wall of salt water appear in front of me to intercept them. I was worried that the flies will just drink up the salt water, but I was worried for nothing. All the flies that rammed themselves towards the wall drown almost immediately.

The woman curses loudly. I’m not going to repeat what she said since this is a family-friendly series. She was about to send more flies to attack me when Sakuya disrupted her train of thoughts by sending a gust of wind at her direction. A new group of flies fly towards the gust and made it disappear. I don’t get it. Why can they make the sleeping gas and the gust disappear, but not those salt water?

Against my better judgement, I pick up one of the dead fly which was floating inside the water wall that I still kept around with my fingers. I then take a good look at it. Once I do, I immediately know the reason why the seawater managed to stop them.

The flies are demons too. I mean, I’ve never looked closely at a fly before, but I’m pretty sure that none of them have humanoid faces and six heads. Also, this one has way too many legs to be counted as an insect. And those so-called legs end in tiny stubs that look suspiciously like fingers.

I drop the fly on the floor. Great. I don’t think I can sleep tonight after seeing that nightmare fuel. Anyway, enough idle observation and back to the fight.

While I was looking at the fly, the woman had turned both her hands into claws with sharp crimson nails at the end. Right now, she’s using them to fight my three senpais. And she’s actually holding her ground despite the fact that it’s a three-on-one.

Motome-senpai tried to stab the woman from behind while she’s getting distracted by Sakuya and Amesaki-senpai. Sadly, the woman parried off her attack with her wing without turning around. And in a swift motion, Motome-senpai was swatted away by the same wing. She was thrown to a distance of a few feet and landed on the ground back first. Thankfully, she doesn’t look hurt. She quickly gets up and rejoins the fight, but not before almost being swarmed by a huge group of demonic flies. I help her out by drowning the flies with seawater.

‘Thanks, Kagenashi-kun!’ Motome-senpai tells me gratefully.

The woman grits her teeth as yet another army of flies are being drowned by me.

‘You wretched cur! How dare you!’ she screeches at me.

Before she could fly towards me, Sakuya stop her with her opened fan.

‘You have to go through me first if you want to get him!’ the student council president tells the religious fanatic.

‘Likewise! You shall not get past me as well!’ Amesaki-senpai adds.

‘Don’t forget about me!’ Motome-senpai shouts.

Even when faced with three S Ranks, the woman has no problem in fighting all of them at the same time. By contrast, the three girls has a tough time in fighting her. Wow. And here I thought the priests are defenceless without their angels. Then again, she’s probably pulling it off thanks to Beelzebub.

‘You ignorant fools! You have no idea who you’re dealing with! Surrender, and I will make the punishment of defying us less severe! Defy us any further, and we will show you no mercy!’ the woman tells us.

The girls didn’t even bother to give her a reply and continue with their attacks. That somehow made the woman even more hysteric. As a result, two demonic arms sprout out from right underneath her two regular arms. Her two canine teeth on the top have grown long and sharp just like a beast’s. It’s like she’s slowly turning into a demon.

Wait. That gives me an idea. The plan might backfire on us, but I have to take the chance. Right on time, I see Saya, who had been guarding Yui together with Ichika, throws a fireball at a fallen angel who got too close to them. The angel swats away the fireball with her heavy axe, and it lands harmlessly on the ground. I look at Yui. She held out three fingers. Three more minutes until the sealing barrier is ready. I have to weaken the woman by then.

‘Oh look, a fire! How fitting, considering that there’s a witch who needs to be burned here!’ I say loudly.

I feel the murderous glare from every single extremists, especially from the woman.

‘Don’t you people enjoyed doing it since the ancient times? Come on, let’s do it right now!’ I continue while ignoring their glare.

‘...dare you.’

I look at the woman. Her face is purple in rage. This is actually the first time I’ve ever seen someone’s face become that color.

‘HOW DARE YOU! YOU SHALL RECEIVE GOD’S JUDGEMENT!’

Her voice is completely different from before, and it’s obvious as to why.

Her upper arms have lost all shreds of humanity and totally transformed into a demon’s just like her second set of arms. Her eyes have become compound ones just like a fly’s. Her tongue has become long and thin. Her two legs have become long, thin and spiny. Her shoes are torn from the sudden transformation, and three toes that ends with blood red claws are seen. Somehow, even with her full transformation, most of her clothes are still intact. It’s probably because her body size didn’t become large.

‘I AM GOING TO-’

I didn’t bother to let her finish her sentence. I just created another sphere made of salt water and trap her in it.

This time, the woman didn’t escape from it. By contrast, she’s being drowned in it. Her arms and legs are flailing around, and she looks like she’s suffering. At least, I think she’s suffering. I can’t really tell her facial expression since it barely has any resemblance to a human’s. Splendid, her vulnerability to salt has increased by a lot after she did a full transformation.

The fallen angels who were charging towards me changed course immediately to save the woman after being given order by their contractors. However, it’s already too late.

‘The barrier is ready, Akira-kun!’ I hear Yui says loudly.

‘Got it! Let it rip then!’ I tell her without looking back at her.

I immediately make the sphere disappear so that the woman doesn’t drown. In the next moment, she’s encased by an invisible rectangular barrier.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Almost at the same time, all the fallen angels have disappeared. I look towards their contractors. All of them are unconscious and lying down on the ground. A gecko Destroyer is squatting on the ground a few feet away from them. It’s outside, so the sleeping gas has dispersed much faster than the interior of the warehouse in Kyoto. Some of our allies are still wearing a gas mask just in case.

Mashiro turns to look at me. Slowly, she raises her tiny hand and give me a thumbs up. I give her one too. With its job done, the gecko Destroyer is dismissed and disappeared without a sound. The bee Destroyer is still here since we still need the light.

I notice Kaoru holding her right arm. I immediately go to her.

‘Are you all right, Kaoru?’ I ask her.

‘Don’t worry, aniki. It’s nothing serious.’ she assures me.

I take a look at it just in case. True enough, it’s a shallow wound, but she’s still bleeding from it. I take out a bandage with my teleportation magic and tied it around the wound.

‘After we wrap things up here, I’m bringing you to see a doctor and have that wound treated.’ I tell her.

‘There’s no need for that aniki. It’s not that serious.’

‘Nonsense. A wound is a wound. Besides, you’re a girl. You won’t look good with a scar on your arm.’

For some reason, that made her blush. And it even infected me too.

‘Just, um, take better care of your body, alright?’ I tell her.

Kaoru nods bashfully without saying anything.

‘And don’t accidentally use your power on it, okay?’ I whisper.

That got her attention.

‘Got it aniki. Don’t worry, I’m more careful than I look.’ she tells me in an equally low voice.

‘Good. It’s not like I don’t trust Amesaki-senpai and her colleagues. Still, the less people knows about your power the better.’

She nods again, this time with a more serious expression.

For those of you who have forgotten, Kaoru possess healing power. It might not seem like a big deal when compared to normal RPG games and animes with magic in it, but the power of healing is unheard of in this world. The last time people caught wind of it, Kaoru was being targeted by the extremists of the Church. I shudder by just imagining what would Lost Children do if they ever hears of Kaoru’s existence.

I take a look around. Some of the civil servants are injured, but those wounds are nothing serious from what I could see. Right now, all of them are busy cuffing the extremists’ arms.

I look at the imprisoned woman next. Most of her transformation are undone after getting soaked in the salt water that is a demon’s weakness. Her right lower arm has disappeared, both her insect wings are full of hole, and her left eye has turned back to normal. It may or my not have been due to the fact that getting soaked in salt water for too long, that woman is currently unconscious.

‘Are you okay, Yui? Are you tired after making a powerful barrier?’ I got to Yui and ask her.

‘Don’t worry Akira-kun, I’m fine.’ she assures me.

She’s saying that, but she looks kind of pale. I’m just glad that the fighting’s over since there’s no need for her to push herself.

‘Just remember to tell someone if things ever got tough.’ I tell her while stroking her head.

‘Don’t worry. I will. Hawawawawa~!’

Sakuya, Amesaki-senpai and Motome-senpai walk towards us.

‘I’m sorry for provoking that woman earlier. I needed her to be weaker before she’s being trapped by Yui’s barrier, but I couldn’t think of any other way.’ I apologize to them.

‘It’s fine, Kagenashi-kun. You did what you had to in order to subdue her.’ Amesaki-senpai tells me. ‘Besides, even if things got wrong, we could definitely have managed to overcome her if we work together.’

‘Exactly. You did a good job.’ Motome-senpai tells me.

‘It wasn’t just me. All of us contributed to their defeat.’ I tell her modestly. ‘Speaking of them, they’re going to be locked up right?’

‘That’s right. That woman especially needs to be locked up inside a special cell so that she can’t use her powers. For that, we need at least Kiryuu-san to come with us. We have to keep her contained in that barrier until she’s safely locked up.’

‘All of us will go, senpai.’ I tell Amesaki-senpai.

‘Very well. If you insist.’

‘By the way, where are we heading?’

‘One of the larger holding cells located in Kyoto.’

‘“One of the”? Are you saying that you have multiple of them across Japan?’

‘That’s right. We have at least one in each prefecture, with some having up to six depending on the size of the land. We have to send all of you back to Kyoto anyway, so we might as well head for the one there.’

As we’re talking, Yui is handing out her talismans to the civil servants so that they could stick it on top of the extremists’ forehead. Lots of talismans are being stuck to the woman’s barrier to further reinforce the seal and to prevent her from knowing what’s going on.

I let out a huge yawn. I check the time on my phone and realize that it’s now almost half past one at midnight. And now that the tension during the fight is gone, I’m feeling very hungry. Mashiro is letting her hunger known with the loud growl of her stomach.

‘Can Mashiro go and buy some food at the convenience store?’ she asks.

‘Of course. But don’t take too long. Our ride might arrive at any minute.’ Amesaki-senpai tells her.

‘Okay.’

‘Can you buy something for your big sister, Mashiro-chan?’ Sakuya asks.

‘No problem. Mashiro will buy something for everyone here while she’s at it.’

‘I’m going with you. I’m hungry too, and you probably need some extra hands to carry all the stuff.’ I tell Mashiro.

‘I’ll go too.’ Saya says.

We take orders from everyone else, then we have Sogdrul teleport us there. However, instead of outside of a convenience store, the four of us are in a dark alley.

‘Why are we teleported here?’ I ask Mashiro.

‘Just in case someone was outside the convenience store.’ she answers.

‘Oh, right. Nice decision.’

After Sogdrul got dismissed, the rest of us follow Mashiro to go to the convenience store. The store is manned by a bored and sleepy-looking employee. He didn’t even bat an eye when he saw three kids going inside a convenience store in the middle of the night. I’m real grateful for his indifference though. The last thing we need is an employee who asks way too many questions.

We quickly got our things and paid for them. After we’re done, we head back to the alley so that Sogdrul can teleport us back to the open field.

We got back right on time since the reinforcements are already here, and Amesaki-senpai’s colleagues are busy escorting the now-conscious extremists to the armoured vehicles they came here with. They even got an armoured truck just transport the woman. To carry her while she’s still inside the barrier, they use a large trolley.

The refreshments are given out immediately, and we’re to depart to the holding cell immediately. The bee Destroyer is finally dismissed after its job is done as well. Yui goes inside the truck to watch over the barrier. Saya, Mashiro and I are also inside the truck. Everyone else is hitching a ride on other vehicles.

We’re the only ones inside the back of the truck, which is why we could kick back and relax without being restrained by the presence of a third party.

‘I hope we’re not having anymore adventures like this one after this.’ Saya says in a really tired tone.

‘No kidding. We’re supposed to be on a vacation, not doing missions for real.’ I agree.

‘Well, we went out by using that excuse. It would be convincing this way, right?’ Yui asks.

‘I guess.’

As for Mashiro, she’s too busy munching on the food the bought to join in the conversation.

After an hour or so, the truck stops, so I guess we’ve arrived at our destination. We head outside as the back-doors open by themselves.

Amesaki-senpai said that it’s a holding cell. Her explanations are way too brief. The place looks like a military base with thick metallic gates, watchtowers and armed guards. I guess this is to be expected when this place is chosen to imprison the woman that Yui sealed.

Before we go in, all of us have to accept a thorough body check and have our magic temporarily sealed off for security reasons. Yui is the only one exempted from the sealing since suggesting otherwise would mean that the barrier and the power of the talismans being undone. Kaoru’s wound was swiftly and expertly treated by a medic. The rest of us are more or less fine, so we don’t need the treatment.

We follow Amesaki-senpai to head inside the place. As for the extremists and the sealed woman, her colleagues are taking them in.

The extremists are the first to be take care of. We first head to the lower first ground of the building. All of them are being locked up inside regular-looking cells with laser fences.

The procedure to lock up the woman is more complicated. We have to head all the way down to the twentieth floor. After we reach the floor, we have to go through three doors that requires passwords to open up. The fourth one even requires five sets of passwords. While passing all these doors, we saw literally hundreds of guards, all of them armed to the teeth. Whoever that are being locked up inside must be pretty dangerous.

The fourth door opens, and we see the whole place being designed to be the shape of a octagon while being painted black. There’s a heavy bolted door at the middle of each side, and there are more guards inside watching our each and every move. The walls are so thick it’s probably not possible to penetrate them. The place is somewhat dark as lights here are barely enough to illuminate the entire place.

‘May I present to you the Octagon.’ Amesaki-senpai introduces the place. ‘This maximum security prison and many others like it are built to hold in the worst criminals we have ever caught. Once locked inside, one can never see the lights of day unless the PM himself allows it.’

One of the doors opens all of a sudden, and the woman is brought inside while being escorted by twenty guards. Yui follows them inside to undo the barrier. Once done, all of them exits the cell, and the door are being closed by an unseen force.

‘She was awfully quiet. I thought she was going to curse our entire family and some more the moment you undid the barrier.’ I couldn’t help but note.

‘She was still unconscious even after I undid the barrier.’ Yui informs.

‘Wait, she’s not dead, is she?’

Yui shakes her head. ‘No, she’s pretty much alive. One of the guards made sure of it.’

‘That’s good to hear. Now let’s get out of this place. I really want to sleep right now.’

Amesaki-senpai sends us back to the bunker where we left Assaf-sensei and Kuromi.

‘Can I have a few words with you, Kagenashi-kun?’ Amesaki-senpai asks as my girlfriends are heading inside the bunker.

‘Of course.’

She fidgets around bashfully for a while before finally saying something.

‘I, um, I really want to thank you all for your help this time. We owe you a huge one.’ she begins.

‘Please think nothing of it. Rather, if you want to show gratitude, shouldn’t you have make the others stay back as well?’

‘Well, the next thing I want to say is too embarrassing to be said in front of them.’

‘Which is?’

‘I, well, I had fun in our short stroll. I hope we can do it again someday.’

‘Oh. Of course.’

‘And, um…’

Her face is getting redder and redder. She mutters something next. It took me a while to decipher what she just said since she was speaking really softly.

‘Hopefully, our relationship will be one of much more intimate after our next outing.’

Before I could say anything, she kisses me on the cheek and gets inside the vehicle she drove here. She then sped off, leaving me to head inside the bunker while being too sleepy and tired to realize what just happened.