Azazel's cave.

A hideout that he has used for quite some time. The cave hosted both the Fallen and his son Akihisa who sat on a rock, adjusting the straps on his black arm warmers. Instead of those identical clothes he wore at the mental facility he found some sense of self.

Fitting his slender frame was a purple v neck shirt with no sleeves. Instead his arm warmers stopped in the middle of his biceps and covered parts of his fingers like a fingerless glove. Around his neck was a black leather choker that fit tightly.

His legs were smothered by black leather pants that hugged him too tightly, though he didn't seem to mind. At his feet were a pair of purple converse with white at the toe area. His long lavender hair was similar to Terios' aside for the fact that his bangs weren't side swept.

"I don't understand your logic. Tell me again why you can't break these seals yourself?" Akihisa asked his father who paced around the area.

"Because, Fallens can't reach that sector of space." Azazel answered, annoyed by the questioning from his son.

"Explain."

"When we fell from Heaven we lost a portion of our power. Our power was greater before. I'd say we lost about 35% of our power. Along with the right to follow in God's footsteps. We suffer more from human desires and each day we become more and more mortal, mentally." He placed a finger to his head.

"Go on. There has to be more."

"The area with the four seals are places that we cannot enter. The only people who can enter are humans."

"Only humans?" Akihisa asked.

"Or half humans. It was an insurance policy placed to make sure that when the Angels betrayed him they couldn't access the function to start the revelations of mankind."

"So we're the only ones who are able to enter? Why can't the other humans enter?"

"Because you have to unlock the entrance. And the only way to do that is to fuel it with divine energy. Then after that you'll be taken to the realm of that particular horseman."

"Then what?"

"You have to defeat it. It'll only be broken when you make it submit to it. If I had to rate their power level I'd say they place somewhere around the middle of a mid tier Demon or Angel. What makes them dangerous is their area of effect."

"Area of effect?"

"Each horsemen can induce their rite of passage. For example, War would bring forth uncontrollable rage in humans leading to carnage."

"I see. Why not use them to get what you want then?"

"You underestimate our enemies. I've had a lot of time to think about this plan. The best course of action has already been decided."

"You know Terios will disappoint you, right? He'll never help you do something like this."

"I know."

"Then why bother?"

"Because this is mostly for you son."

Akihisa looked shocked for a moment and gave him a confused look.

"Your feelings are obvious to me. All of those years you spent have filled you with envy. You lusted for my affection and instead was reminded of how you'd always be second best to your brother. To add insult to injury, you two are so alike."

"Shut up... we're nothing alike."

"Tell me if given the chance to meet your dear brother. How would you feel?"

"How would I feel...?" Akihisa repeated the question as he did not know himself, his dull purple eyes looked elsewhere before speaking. "I'd want to erase him from this world. He doesn't deserve to exist when I don't."

Meanwhile.

Terios met up with Akari at the Vhaal family dojo. She came out with a backpack full of snacks and water bottles as if she was going on a trip. His eyebrows raised, questioning why she would even need all of this stuff.

"Akari? What's with the survivors kit?"

"Teri-kun! Umm, well." She scratched the back of her head lightly. "We're meeting the others at Kodomo's house..."

"Kodomo?"

"He's sort of a wild one. Always throwing parties and stuff. So I'm just making sure to bring stuff!"

"Well, ok then. Lead the way."

"Come on! I hope you're excited to meet others like you!" Akari smiled brightly as she tugged on his arm and dragged him along.

This house was pretty far away, they walked for a good 50 minutes before finally making it to a simple looking neighborhood. All of the houses were quite ordinary, yet he could sense a combination of divine energy flowing from one of them.

Akari led him to this particular house, knocking on the door loudly before a woman greeted them, a woman who wasn't wearing a bra. Terios' face flushed red as he couldn't help but stare at the woman's bare chest.

"Teri-kun! Don't look!" Akari demanded.

"I-I can't just not look!"

"I don't care if you look or not. If you're here for the party you should hop in." She winked at Terios before walking back inside.

Akari shot Terios a glare before looking back at the door.

"Men are such perverts."

"B-but, you're the one who brought me here!"

"I wasn't talking about you, Teri-kun! Just be careful where you let your eyes wander while inside!" Akari yelled as she went in.

Well, I wasn't expecting that. On the plus side... I got to see a woman's chest. That's a new experience.

Walking inside of the house the room was tinted and people gathered around drinking alcoholic beverages while watching a fight on the flatscreen. Akari spotted someone walking and immediately approached this guy and kicked him in the shin.

"Ow! Come on Akari if you keep physically abusing me I'm going to get a restraining order." He sighed softly.

"Why must you always throw these crazy parties!?"

"Because I get bored?" He blinked a few times before looking at Terios. "Who's this, your boyfriend?"

"N-no! This is my sweet big brother."

"Uuh, Terios Kiyomizu, nice to meet you." He said while offering a hand.

"Kodomo Bloodworth. The girls call me Domo-chan. You can call me Kodomo."

"R-right."

Kodomo seemed like a wildcard. Both of his ears were pierced and had silver studs. He wore a white t-shirt under a blue hoodie along with light blue pants. Strange enough his eyes were red and he had wavy blonde hair. A Nephilim just like him.

"Well, I suppose you want to talk about our group, Akari?"

"Yes, Kodomo. Where are the others?"

"Ira's getting it on with someone. And Eli's playing games with the boys in my room."

"Ira's just as disgusting as you! Atleast Eli has some sense. Come on, Teri-kun."

Akari took him along upstairs into Kodomo's room. His room was filled with various posters of anime girls in lewd positions. Was Kodomo some sort of Otaku or something?

And I thought I was bad.

In the middle of the bed was a group of people taking turns playing Street Fighters with a lot of them cheering on the two who were in a heated match. Buttons were being mashed and eyes stared at the flatscreen until a winner was declared.

"Damn Eli. You beat me again."

"Don't feel bad. I've had a lot of practice." Eli said before seeing Akari and waved at her.

"Hi Eli!" Akari greeted loudly.

Eli quickly stood up and approached her before scooping her up into his arms and twirling her around a bit before setting her onto the ground.

Eli had bright scarlet hair which was very spikey, few strands were standing halfway up on their own. His orange eyes were as bright as fire and his body was toner than the usual person. He must work out.

He wore black pants and a black leather vest buttoned with straps and no sleeves, showing off those muscular arms. On his feet he had on black boots which were also buttoned with straps.

"Hey I'm Elior Mizuno, but most people call me Eli." He said while bowing softly to Terios.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"O-oh? I'm Terios Kiyomizu." He gave a bow in return.

"Eli here works as a police officer, Teri-kun! He fights to keep our city safe!" Akari announced.

"Well... anyone would do it. It's a fun job and I love being able to help people."

"That's neat." Terios said.

I never expected one of our kind to be in such a position.

"We should step out for a moment so we can introduce Teri-kun to how our world is." Akari stated.

"That would be best." Eli said before saying goodbye to the others.

The three of them stood outside of Kodomo's house and later walked along the streets of his neighborhood.

"How did you guys find out?" Terios asked.

"Good question." Eli stated. "Well, some of us already knew we were different. A lot of us were raised by our parents and they told us about our heritage."

"Oh that's different. I had to be adopted and learned from a certain sensei what I was."

"Haha, sucks man. I wish I would have known about you back then. Adoption isn't uncommon. Some of the Fallens were on the run and didn't want their child to discover about themselves while others didn't care."

"I see. And the Angels are hunting us down?"

"Yes. They're trying to get rid of us even though most of us just want to live in peace. It's sad, but, I don't know. They have their orders. We don't want to die so we fight. I as a person want to do things right." Eli stopped and clenched his fist. "That's why I sworn to use this power for good. To help people. I figure if we show the Angels how much good we can do we can change their minds or atleast make them question their actions."

"What if it doesn't work?"

"Teri-kun..." Akari said.

"Huh? I don't really like to think about that, but if it doesn't. We keep trying until it does."

Could that really work?

"How many of us are there?"

"No one knows for sure."

"Do you know any others? Or are they all at this party?"

"There's a few more. Unfortunately, they chose to walk a different path." Eli's voice was a bit saddened.

"Different path?"

"Kazuki Mikami... chose the path of vengeance."

"What?"

"He chose to take revenge upon the Angels for the loss of his mother..."

"His mother died...?"

"Yeah, right infront of him when he was just a young boy. It crushed him. Now he's not going to stop until he kills the one who killed his mother."

"That's sad..."

"Yeah. He's considered the strongest Nephilim out of everyone."

"Strongest? What makes him stronger than the rest of us?"

"He's more in touch with his angelic side. He's extremely powerful and I'd hate to fight him, but at the rate he's going at."

"More than you guys?"

"Yeah, we've reached our limits along time ago. The ranking of the top 3 Nephilim includes Kazuki at number one, Raanan at number two, and Alvah at number three."

"What are Raanan and Alvah about?"

"Well unlike Kazuki, Raanan sees himself as the only hope this world has and vows to be king. He's a bit off if I must say. Alvah is someone who follows him for whatever reason and together they're quite a formidable team."

"Geez. This is a lot to take in."

"Now let me ask you something. Akari texted me about your father and him forcing you to grant him a wish?"

"Yeah, Akari thinks that he wants us to unlock the four seals keeping Hell away from Earth. That's her guess though."

"It wouldn't be surprising knowing how crazy our father is." Akari added.

"Well, we'd need to know where they were to stop him. He's probably strong, but with all of us together he should meet his match." Eli said.

"I can really count on you to help me?"

"Sticking together is the only way we'll make it through this. Here's my number, text me whenever." Eli reached into his pants and pulled out his smartphone while Terios did the same, exchanging numbers with him.

This is the first time I've ever gotten a guy's number for a friend. I guess good can come from any situation.

"Thank you, Eli. I feel a lot better now."

"Good to hear."

The three made their way back inside Kodomo's house, the party just about over now and all that was left of the guests was a large mess of food, used condoms, liquids of various kinds, clothing and vomit.

"Here comes my not so favorite part about throwing a party." Kodomo sighs.

"Sorry bro. That's what happens when you're a party host." Ira mentioned.

Ira wore a blue shirt with dark blue shorts. His hair was blue with purple ends and his eyes were a light blue color.

"Eww, this is so disgusting." Akari said.

"Oh Terios, this is my best friend, Ira." Eli introduced his friend to Terios.

"What's up, Terios?" Ira said while offering a fist.

"Oh, I'm good." Terios said while moving his fist lightly into his.

"Boom. Didn't think I'd meet a new edition to our group. Chill."

"Yeah, I filled him in with our situation." Eli added.

"If you guys could help me clean that'd be a help." Kodomo yawned softly, sporting a lazy expression.

"I'll pitch in a hand." Terios said.

"Nice. You get bonus points in my book."

Terios decided to pitch in and help Kodomo clean along with Ira and Eli. Akari simply watched after being grossed out by the perverted things which contributed to the mess. After a job well done they wanted to relax for the rest of the day and headed off to the roof.

"You'll have to start out as our lacky, Terios. You probably don't have that much experience with your powers." Ira said.

"H-hey! I have some experience." Terios defended himself.

"Oh? Care to prove it then bro?" Ira challenged him.

"Yeah, if I have to."

"It's chill man. Eli and I will be your mentors. Akari probably taught you the basics, but there's much more to what we're capable of. Just ask Domo."

"Huh?" Kodomo seemed confused.

"Domo here has X-Ray vision which allows him to see things like..." Ira leans in to whisper into Terios' ear. "Bras and panties."

"What...?" Terios was lost."

"What did he say, Teri-kun!?" Akari yelled.

"Nothing, nothing." Ira said.

"Yeah, it's useful." Kodomo admitted.

"Come on guys." Eli sighed.

"Eli here has superhuman levels of durability and strength. This guy once took a bullet without flinching." Ira complimented him.

"It's not that impressive." Eli said.

"What can you do, Ira?" Terios asked curiously.

"Me bro? I'm not all that, my powers chill. I mainly focus on manipulating water."

"That's cool! So you can control water? To what degree?"

"I can create it from nothing. Just add water." Ira held out a finger, generating a small gush of water which soon evaporated. "What have you learned so far?"

"Uhh, I can manipulate darkness and shadows."

"Sounds dark man. I don't know anything about that, I guess it could be useful."

"It's not like I chose this ability."

Kodomo released a giant yawn before he was ready to call it a day. "I'm going to hit the hay. Let's meet here bright and early and train this rookie." Kodomo stated.

Everyone agreed to this and went back home after exchanging numbers with Terios. After escorting his sister back home he was ready to head back home. It was a long day for him and now he'd have to resume training.

Walking alone the lone street he had no idea that someone was following him.