Multiple footsteps moved through the now empty gray corridors of the prison, with a faint sound of chains clanking in between. Six people, all wearing black suits, surrounded Hilbert. The Devil's hands were restrained with handcuffs made from the same material as the walls of his containment room.

The Personnel knew of the threat the man they surrounded brought, but they can't help but wonder why the man they surrounded acted so casually. Harmonia was the only one left out; she was anxious, and her face was sweaty even though the corridor was cold.

Clueless of the situation, the girl asked innocently, "Where are we going?"

Clarke glanced over his shoulder to the clueless Harmonia, "Interrogation room," he shortly replied, "Your Father and the other Grand Sorcerers are there."

"E-eh, F-Father? Is there?" Harmonia said in a panic, but before she was able to continue her words, the Devil spoke, "Don't you think this is too many, Swordsman?"

"Quite the contrary, I suggested more restraints and guards on you," said Clarke as he turned right on the pathway. The other Personnel followed as well as Hilbert.

"Oh, are you scared of me?" Hilbert scoffs.

Clarke stopped walking, clenching his fist. Immediately a blue sword created from mana manifested in front of Hilbert's face, "Shut up," he glared towards Hilbert. Even without knowing their history, Harmonia could tell that Clarke wasn't joking.

"Fine," Hilbert sighed. "You haven't changed at all since I first met you. What a disappointment," the Devil thought.

As the heat died down, Harmonia looked forward to the corridor, spotting a door sliced in two. She peered inside and saw steel boxes connected with cables, ransacked, and destroyed with the same type of damage as the door. She considered asking Clarke about it but dismissed the thought.

"Here we are," said Clarke, in front of them are two doors, both of them darker colored than the wall of the corridors. Clarke pointed to the right door, "Harmonia, you go inside the door on the right, while the rest of you guard the door."

Without any more words, Harmonia opens the right door, inside was a small room with metallic walls and a window to the interrogation room. Inside was Hiro and a black-haired girl wearing a red and white shrine maiden outfit, Miwa, one of the Grand Sorcerers. But those were not the subject of Harmonia's focus, in front of her now was her father.

"A-ah, F-Father..." Said Harmonia in a rush, but before she was able to say another word. Fremund hurried at her, opening his arm and hugged her, "I'm so glad you're safe."

Harmonia was dazed, she was expecting scolding from her father, "I'm sorry," said Fremund, "If I cared more for your needs, you wouldn't have gone through that.”

Before Harmonia was able to hug her father back, a fake cough broke the mood. Fremund let go of the hug; the lady from the information table was there behind him, sitting in front of a computer screen showing the surveillance feed of the interrogation room. She pointed her hand to the window. Hilbert and Clarke had entered.

She then turned her head towards Harmonia, "Nice to meet you again, Harmonia," said the lady.

Harmonia scratched the back of her head, "I'm sorry for lying to you," Harmonia said meekly.

"It's fine, what matters now is that everyone is alive and well, thanks to-" She glances to the window, "I don't want to say it, but everyone is safe thanks to S number nine."

On the other side of the window, Hilbert has sat down in the other chair, with Clarke leaning on the door behind Hilbert.

The Devil looks around the room, "I have to say I'm honored. To think that I was such a high priority that three of the four Grand Sorcerers are here to guard me.”

Hiro stayed silent, opening a file filled with paper in his hands and showing it to Hilbert. "Hmm, what is this?" He wondered.

"Reports and eyewitness accounts. We suspect that you're the one that orchestrated the breakout," Hiro pointed to one of the lines on the paper. "It says here that you are the only S rank in the scene after the teleportation. What do you have to say about that?"

"Huh, so that's the case," Hilbert sighed, "You see, I was teleported further away than the rest. I stayed around because I felt a cluster of mana coming from somewhere,and to my surprise, a fight had broken out."

Hiro stared at the file, "That explains my assumption why the S ranks and A ranks were not at the grass plains. Except for one person: Ales."

Hilbert laid back on his chair, "What happened to him, anyway?"

"After all the Personnel and Prisoners were handled with, we sent a prison escort to get him, but on the way, it was ambushed."

"Ambushed? By who?" Hilbert asked.

"Unfortunately we don't know who did it. What we do know is that it's the same person as the one that attacked Superintendent Nell. She's wounded, but safe. That rules you out as the one who orchestrated it."

"I can't accept that!" Miwa intercepts, "This man, whatever he is, definitely did it."

"Ah, Teleporter, didn't see you there. You're as short as I last remembered you," Hilbert chuckled.

"Don't call me that, you Devil," said Miwa.

Hiro raised his right hand and glanced back at the shrine maiden, "Calm down," he muttered, "Don't let personal affairs get in the way of common sense. That applies to you too, Clarke."

"Tch, no fun," Hilbert grinned, moving to sit upright on the chair. His eyes forward on Hiro. "How's Fynn?" Hilbert asked. The note of his voice changed, turning smoother and low.

"Fynn is safe, he's in hospital being taken care of." said Hiro.

The Devil let out a sigh of relief, "Good," Hilbert then grinned again, nodding towards the file, "Now time to stop with the small talks. You said there are eyewitness accounts there, right?"

"Yes, there are."

Hilbert let out his horrific smile, his voice turned erratic, "Then, you should know what I want."

Hiro sighed and glanced at the one-sided mirror on the wall. Harmonia could feel the Agent's gaze at her.

"The deal. Sadly, I can't allow that." Hiro shook his head, "Now, can you undo the deal that you've made with Miss Harmonia?"

"I don't hear a please."

The Agent groaned, " Can you please undo the deal wi-"

"HAH!" Hilbert cackles, "You fell for it. No can do Agent, even if I wanted to." Hilbert laid back on his chair, "Hey Swordsman. I know you're mad, but can you lay down the sword aiming at my head?" Said Hilbert, without looking back at Clarke.

Hiro glared at Clarke, who was holding a mana sword aimed at Hilbert. Reluctantly, Clarke put down the sword as it dispersed into blue smoke and disappeared.

"Tch, he has this entire situation under control," Hiro thought, annoyed. The Agent thought of ways to get Harmonia off the hook, but his line of thinking was cut short by what the Devil uttered.

"I think I should thank you- the only one who sees my request as a benefit was only you and Fynn." Hilbert laid his back on the chair, facing his head to the ceiling. His tone turned calm, "I don't know what kind of miracle happened, but it all led up to the deal."

"What are you going on about?" Said Hiro, seemingly confused with the Devil's tangent.

Hilbert laughed, "Thinking back on it, on the breakout. If it weren't for me, every Personnel would've died, huh?" He turned his head back on the man leaning on the door, "Well, not everybody, considering Mister Swordsman here was nearly there. But I think that still warrants me being a saviou-"

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

When the word almost left Hilbert's mouth, a fist swung into the side of his head, strong enough to throw him into the wall with the window.

Hilbert's back hit the wall, and he fell to the floor, "Oh? Did I strike a nerve?" Said Hilbert as he opened his eyes. Right in front of his face, a blue sword manifested nearly grazing the skin of his nose. Two blue teleportation circles formed between where his chest was.

"You're the direct opposite of that!" Clarke shouted.

"One more word from you creature, and I'll teleport your heart far away from here," said Miwa.

Seeing the anger-filled expression of the two Grand Sorcerers, he merely laughed, "You two really need to work on your anger issues."

The shrine maiden clicked her tongue, "It's your funeral then." The two teleportation circles lighted up and turned, but before she could finish, a loud thump stopped her. Both of them turned her head to the Agent on the table.

Hiro, with his fist steaming a yellow aura on the table, glared at both of them. "You two, get out!" He shouted.

Shocked with the sudden change of Hiro's usual relaxed mood, the two of them dropped their magic and walked outside, starting from Miwa. Clarke stopped right at the door, giving Hilbert a single glare before stepping out.

At the same time, behind the one-sided window, Harmonia was slowly shaking her head. She couldn't believe that two of the Grand Sorcerers, the people she idolized, could act so irrationally.

She looked to her father, "Father, what happened between those three?" Harmonia asked, innocently.

Fremund turned his head to his daughter with a half-hearted smile, "I'm sorry, Harmonia, this is one of the things your father can't tell you about."

"Okay," said Harmonia with a downturned head.

Outside of the room, Clarke had no intention of waiting for the interrogation to finish. He walked down the corridor that he passed through before to Miwa's confusion.

"Clarke, where do you intend on going?" The shrine maiden asked.

"Anywhere else but here," said Clarke.

"I can tell you're not telling the whole truth."

"You can always tell, can't you?" Clarke stopped his step.

Miwa started to giggle, her mood seemingly has brightened up, "Of course I could, we've been t-to— I-I m-mean, working together for a long time, don't we?"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Clarke said, scratching the back of his head. "I'm going to check around the place of the accident, If I'm lucky, there should be some B or hopefully A ranks around the place."

"I can help you get a headstart with that," Miwa raised his hand to Clarke. Two blue teleportation circles manifested under his feet and head.

"I thought you said you couldn't teleport that far."

"Ah that, I'm only teleporting you as far as I can," Miwa explained.

"Huh, why didn't I think of that?” Clarke looked down, putting his hand on his chin.

The two circles between Clarke spun and lighted up. "Oh and also," Clarke averted his gaze, "...Thanks for that. I feel better now."

"Anytime," said Miwa with a cheery smile.

The two circles spun faster and faster until they disappeared along with Clarke.

Back in the room, Hilbert has fixed his bearings and sat back on the chair, "Phew, I could've died there," he scoffs.

"You know that's not the case," The Agent looked down on Hilbert's handcuff, "Take those off. After what happened, I know that thing isn't doing anything."

Hilbert smirked as he raised his hand and violently opened his arms. The chains between the cuffs broke, sending the parts across the room. "How can you tell?"

"I'm not an idiot. When Miwa was about to teleport your heart, I could feel faint mana manifesting behind both of their heads," said Hiro, unamused.

"Makes sense why you're their leader," Hilbert lets out his Horrific smile, "Now," as the word left his mouth, the room seemingly turned colder, "Let's stop with this pointless bickering and get to the point, shall we?"

The Agent coughed to clear out his throat. "Why should we accept this deal? I can only see demerits instead of merits," said Hiro with a winced eye.

"First thing, what I want is not Harmonia's soul, like what the usual deal asked in return."

"Then, what do you want?"

"My freedom," Hilbert said shortly.

Hiro raised his body to sit straight on the chair, putting his forearms on the table. "You know we can't just do that, right?" said the Agent with one eyebrow raised.

"I'm sure you can, Agent." The Devil grinned.

"What do you expect us to ask on our side?"

"I don't know, capturing all the escaped prisoners, maybe?"

Hiro looked up the ceiling, "Yeah, no. We have all of that under control." Hiro said confidently.

"You sure?" Hilbert laid back on his chair.

"Of course, I'm sure."

Hilbert chuckled as he pushed himself into the table, crossing both of his hands on it, mimicking Hiro. "How about S numbers two and one then?" The Devil laughed.

The Agent was taken aback, "H-how did you-" Hiro shakes his head, confused.

"Was it Fynn?" He asked, unsure about his thoughts.

"Wow, don't blame Fynn now," The Devil snickered, "Those mana isolator thingies don't work on me. I'll give you people props for splitting the S ranks cells far away from each other, but I could tell. There were only six other non-personnel magic signatures around that facility worth recognizing."

Hiro's shoulders lowered, "Tch… How long has he known this?" he thought. The Agent raised his eyes from the ground to answer back, but before he could utter a word, the door behind Hilbert opened to reveal Fremund, with Harmonia right behind him.

"Fremund, Sir? What happened?" The Agent asked.

Fremund raised his hand toward Hiro as he looked at Hilbert, "Give us two days," He said sternly.

Hilbert glanced over his shoulder to the stern Fremund, but his eyes were more focused on Harmonia, "Oh, the brat's here, well. I'll give you a day."

"Eh? Brat...?" Harmonia thought, clueless.

"Only a day, you say? That's too short for us to consider things," said Fremund.

"Can't help you with that, brat. Remember when I said I can't cancel the deal even if I wanted to? Yeah, making a deal with the Devil is like that. If it's not agreed in one day or so..." Hilbert points to the back of his neck, a red crystal shaped mana formed, nearly grazing the skin. "...Let's just say what's going to happen next is not pretty."

Harmonia reached for the back of her neck, and on her palm, she felt mana with the same shape as Hilbert's. Fremund noticed, and with a half-hearted response, he finally complied, "Very well, I agree but, you'll stay in this room for the remainder of the time."

Hilbert looked around the room, "It's fine, I stayed in that containment room for nearly two decades. I could handle a day in this." he shrugged.

"Two decades...?" Harmonia murmured.

"I'll take the incentive if you haven't decided on it. Whatever Mistress sees fit the deal at the current time. So that thing doesn't happen."

"Alright," Fremund turned to Hiro, "Everything is settled now, Hiro."

Hiro sighed and got up from his chair, blankly staring at Hilbert, He stepped outside as Fremund stepped away from the entrance, shutting the door behind him.

Inside the room, Hilbert grinned as he stared at the door, "Did you catch all of that, Anne?" The Devil whispered to himself.