Kira

~

A bead of nervous sweat trickles down my brow at Motoichirou's demand.

We had guessed something of the sort would come up earlier during our planning session but speaking felt several times harder now as we stood before those who had to be part of the strongest people in Tokyo City. My chest felt tight with trepidation, almost like there was little I could do to suppress it.

I share a swift glance with both Troy and Kuro, the younger boy smirks, sending an encouraging nod my way while Troy simply speaks directly to me in my mind.

'Don't screw up, Vermillion.'

Whatever had to be said, has to come from me. We were all here because I trusted the Demons enough to keep the Seal and because of that, I had to make everyone in this room trust me and my team.

I stand straighter, doing what I can to ignore the shiver of anxiety that crawls up my spine. Motoichirou's aura was sizzling through the air, traces of cold, oppressive energy that surprised me at their lack of Dark magic.

"You want to know what I have? I've got a team that can take on Nightmare and make him run off tail between his legs," I hold up a finger, emphasizing my point with a smirk, "All within a couple weeks of becoming Demona."

It was a stretch but we had to play all cards up our sleeves. If they actually knew a lot of we'd been up to, they wouldn't need this trial. Kuro had deduced that earlier. They hadn't been watching us as closely as they wanted us to believe, if they had, we probably would have been here earlier but Ryoichi's appearance had forced them to take action for whatever reason. They wanted to gain something from this too and he'd given them an opportunity.

The hall, eerily silent up until now, is filled with the rumble of murmurs from the stands on both sides. I want to listen in on what they're saying but Motoichirou has my full attention now.

He scoffs at my statement, "Impossible."

I vanish my, staff, reaching into one of my side pouches, from its depths I pull out Ahlai's dagger, "We did, and this is proof that we defeated one of his Demons," there's a slight smirk on my face.

"Two actually, Ahlai, Bringer of Despair and Beelzebub, Lord of the Undead," Troy adds for me.

Kuro grins, "Let's not forget about how we saved part of the city from being destroyed by that Arius guy."

"That's great and all but who do you think had to deal with the fallout kid?" Lady West chuckles at Kuro's words.

My eyes widen, 'Fallout?'

Yasushi has a tired disapproving look on his face, "Think about it child, after a devasting incident like that, mass panic should have set in almost immediately, yet here the city is calmer than ever with barely traces of the incident left," he holds his left hand forward, it glows, silvery sparkles springing forth to form a talisman with several symbols scattered across it, "They're made to not be recognized by anyone but the Overseers. Calming wards all over the city to keep the people in check and cleanse the tension of the incident from their minds."

"With this, the amount of fear and negative energy for demons to feed on is greatly reduced, genius don't you think?" Tokiya-san grins.

"Isn't that like brainwashing them?" My mind spins at this newfound information. I'd never paused to realize just how calm the city became one incident after another. I simply thought people had gotten used to the strange happenings and the cops covered everything up efficiently.

This, on the other hand, was unnerving, all those people walking around, unaware of their emotions and thoughts being altered without their consent.

My eyes moved to the talisman, just how much power did he wield to be able to mind control hundreds and thousands?

"It's either that or we risk strengthening the Demons already running around here," Motoichirou's tone is contemptuous, "So much you don't know and you expect us to believe you defeated Nightmare?"

"We never said we defeated him, but we have enough info to know what his plan is and what we need to put an end to him once and for all," Kuro points out. We'd gotten lucky over the past few weeks; Yamagata's tip, Akio showing up with the scroll of the calendar, and Agawa-san's directions while I was in the Pavilions. From here on out, it was our move, we took the fight to Nightmare, and convincing the Overseers we were allies would make things more efficient than working on our own.

"You may not think much of us, especially these two and the Demons but we're more capable than we look," Troy has his arms folded across his chest, and he's staring right at Motoichirou. He looks like he's starting to get suspicious of this whole thing as well.

Tokiya-san claps his hands together once, his eye slits sparkling with the amazement clear in his voice, "We've only received reports of the aftermaths so far, we really should have kept an eye on you three," his brown eyes move the stand on our left, those seated were mostly dressed the same as Inoue was, they all bore a similar a gold tag I was just noticing on him, either pinned to their uniforms or as other accessories.

More Captains.

At least six of them, all looking much older than him all seeming to flinch as Tokiya-san's attention was directed to them.

"You all said it was nothing serious and we had no need to start fully monitoring the Keeper once more."

Inoue has a hand up in front of our group, he bows slightly, "Apologies, but the Captains decided it was best we save manpower for more pressing matters, the cracks-"

"That's enough Inoue-kun," Lady West cuts in sharply she obviously doesn't want him saying the rest, "We'll discuss more once our guests leave but you Captains know that shouldn't be your decision to make."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Some system you've got here," Mammon snorts derisively from behind me which has Yasushi leaping up to curse at him while the oddly quiet Council member between him and Lady West attempts to calm him. I glanced up at their name, 'Hayahiko'.

I feel piercing eyes on me again and when I look, this time it's Shigeru-san and her look is one of appraisal, moving from one of us to the other. Had I managed to convince her?

Motoichirou speaks up again, guiding the discussion back on track, You must all think so highly of yourselves. Proposing you have a means to stop him, a brave gamble, I'll give you that."

"I was thinking the same thing, why don't you go ahead and tell us, team Demona?"

My skin bristles at Ryoichi's request, I turn to face him, his eyes are full of mockery, but there's something else to them. Interest? Worry? Confusion? I can't place them but he's looking away before I get a good read.

Lucifer walks forward, brushing past me, and I have half the mind to yank him back by his stiff ugly jacket. The guards tense and Inoue has his hand wrapped around his sword handle.

"Stay in your place demon," he hisses.

The Demon pays him no mind, from what I can see, he's looking right at Shigeru-san, "We have nothing to say until we're considered allies," his tone is deadpan, showing how serious he is. He's probably picked up on it too, the flitting gazes they all throw her way, she's probably the most influential one.

Lady West barks out laughing kicking out her feet and shattering the tension, "That's one of hell a request, Demon! I think I'm starting to like you lot!"

Shigeru-san smiles slightly as well, the corners of her lips lifting visibly within her Mask, "Your accomplishments within a short time are very impressive. You children stepped up and saved the city while we contemplated stealth and for that, I think we can look past the reskless destruction of the last few months," she looks on either side of her inquisitively and a few of them nod begrudgingly.

The rapid beat of my heart comes to a halt as a burst of relief fills me, I fist bump Kuro who's already forcibly dragging Troy's hand to join ours.

Our celebration is cut short with her next words.

"The fact still stands though, you're susceptible to Demon influence, and we can't trust you...unless..."

Mammon growls, "What now, Lady?"

Yasushi seems to pick up on her intentions, "She simply means, Demona, and therefore, her team, must join the Overseers."

"Not possible," Lucifer scoffs.

As if in agreement, more murmurs rise up from the crowd. It's all a disapproving drone and I'm admittedly kind of pissed, would it really be that bad to have me here? Not like I wanted to anyway.

Ryoichi's magic flares beside me, it's quick and weirdly unstable in feeling, "Shigeru-sama! You can't-"

The woman raises her hand to quiet him and the whole room follows simultaneously, she's looking at us once more, "With you as one of our members, we'll easily be able to monitor your actions. You'll of course have a few more teammates, and you'll take action by our rules but that has to be a small price to pay if you're so eager to keep the power slowly consuming you."

There's the insinuation in her words, that I'm slowly being corrupted by the Demons's magic. It pisses me off, I'm a lot of things, but power hungry isn't one of them.

Hayahiko who's been silent suddenly speaks up, her voice is clear and Kira can tell she's a bit young, with an accent not quite from Tokyo, "Shigeru-san, you sure that's okay? Sounds pretty risky."

Motoichirou picks up on her words, "Allowing the Keeper into our ranks? You can't be serious!"

Yasushi let go of his staff, it stands on its own as if held in place by some invisible force, and brings his hands together, rubbing them together menacingly, "You only feel that way because you're not looking at the bigger picture, with the girl and the Seal in our grasp, we'll be capable of crushing evil at a far more efficient rate."

"Wasn't that why we wanted Ryoichi-kun over there?" Lady West gestures in his general direction and the old man merely waves dismissively.

"Does it really matter which of them? An easy way to keep an eye on the Seal is all that matters, and a Keeper whose powers develop rapidly makes for a better offensive weapon."

Hayahiko snaps at him, "She's a child, not an object Yasushi-san!"

He ignores her, "If she wishes to keep her powers, then it has to be on our terms, much better right?" He shares a look with a few of the others who seem to agree.

My hand unconsciously moves to the exposed mark on my shoulder. It's all clear now, they were after the Seal, and for whatever reason Ryoichi was their key to getting a Keeper without risking any of their forces. I can feel the slow boil of blood flowing through my veins, a trap of their own and now we're here here unprepared.

I spare a look Ryoichi's way, he's seething, almost like he wasn't aware of this as well. His gaze meets mine and he schools his features into one of tepid standoffishness.

"Don't give me that look, 'Demona', worry about yourself," he snarks.

I huff out a breath, I shouldn't have had my hopes up, but we weren't backing down that easily.

Kuro addresses the Council members before I can, voice seething with probably as much irritation as I felt, "And if we don't accept your terms?"

Motoichirou flips his coin with lazy ease, he speaks matter-of-factly now, "We'll take it, by force."

Sounds about right, Ryoichi would still be there no matter what we decided.

"Kuro..."

"Got it."

I feel a bubble of magic swallow our group whole, the world beyond becomes an unclear shimmering blur, and just like that we are shielded from the world in one of his many sound barriers.

"I've also made it so they don't hear our thoughts if they try."

"We should hurry so they don't get suspicious," Troy advises and I understand, the last thing we need is for them to think we're plotting something else when all I really wanted to do was collect my thoughts.

"Can't believe they backed us into a corner," Kuro snaps, frustrated.

"The best thing to do would be to accept their offer, we'd keep the Seal from Mochizuki, and keep them from being our enemies," the blond adds but Mammon cuts almost immediately.

"Who's to say they won't force her over once she's under her boot," he's shaking with rage, fingers twitching, "I say we give them them a piece our minds!"

"I'm with Mammon on this one," I say, then quickly add, "Not the 'give them a piece of our mind' part. That's out of the question, we are not fighting them, not now at least but we know their true intentions, they've kind of strung us along from the start but we can't let them go any further."

"Are you really sure about that, Kira?"

We all face Lucifer with shocked expressions, and I can feel the blood sort of drain from my face, surely he more than anyone would be against this.

"Don't look so shocked, you've been given an easy way out, and I'm pretty sure if not for both our efforts," he gestures slowly at himself and Mammon, "You would have handed the Seal over to the smug brat."

My eyes narrowed darkly, sure I'd weighed our options, sure the Council had given us an easy way out, but I couldn't let myself become a tool to those scheming bastards. They had their way of doing things but I had no desire to be part of it.

On the other hand, joining them would mean we wouldn't have to fight, I wouldn't have to run or drag anyone else into this at the end of the night.

If I agreed now, I could go home, and wake up to another day.

But I'd have lost the respect of everyone watching me here now.

Lucifer tilts my head up so my eyes meet his, "The ball is in your court now, Kira just know, if you do choose to work with them, we won't be so complacent when you order us around," his silver eyes flash menacingly but I wasn't going to be bossed around by him either.