Chapter 15: Chapter 14: Devils
I have been receiving comments on certain chapters or paragraphs, but when I go to check them in the story instead of inkstone, I don't see some of them. Does it only happen to me or did it also happen to anyone else?
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Izumi felt the demonic energy emanating from somewhere. He ran to his house, dropped everything in his room without alerting his mother, who was asleep after a very long day at work, ran out of the room, and went to look at the source of the demonic energy. As he was approaching the area, he remembered Dulio and the tracker that he had implanted on him. Izumi closed his eyes and searched for his Dark Matter. After a few moments, he felt his tracker close to an abandoned building. it seems that Dulio was also close to the source of demonic energy. Izumi formed his mask on his face, with Dark Matter, and made his way to the source. He didn't make his debut in the supernatural world just yet. As he started running, black particles of dark matter started to form behind his back. The particles then attached to his back and began to shape themselves into 5 pairs of beautiful pitch-black wings. Once completed, Izumi leaped into the sky and with the beats of his wings, he started flying in the sky toward the source of mana.
Once he arrived, he saw nothing, but he could feel a disturbance in front of him. Cautiously approaching whatever it is in front of him, tried to look around to see anything suspicious. Once he reached it, he could feel that something was there in front of him. It was like a literal was blocking him, but this was not the demonic energy that he felt. It felt more like the holy power that he felt from Dulio. That's when Izumi felt compelled to do something. In a trance-like movement, he opened his magic circuit, even if they were still a little damaged, but did not use the rotation technique. Instead, he activated only one spell (Structural Grasp) and gazed at the wall of mana in front of him. In the Fate route series, Shirou Emiya only used this spell on objects such as his swords, but it was never mentioned if it was possible to use this spell on none physical objects like spells. Maybe Shirou couldn't do it or maybe that spell was never meant to be used like that. But Izumi did. He used this spell on the spell in front of him and, suddenly, information about it appear in his mind. The whole process took not even a second, but it felt longer for the teen.
'So this is a bounded field from DXD.' Izumi thought when he finished. He could feel it, something just happened to his soul, but he didn't know what.
'I'll check it out later, right now, I have to deal with this.' Keeping his magic circuits open, but not using them because it increased his sensitivity to magic, he got ready to use his Dark Matter.
[Activating Personal Reality]
[Analyzing unknown energy]
[Energy detected: Holy Power]
[Analyzing Barrier]
[Confirmed Barrier made of Holy Power]
[Reverse calculating properties of Holy Power Barrier]
[Reverse calculation complete]
[Integration of calculation into Dark Matter]
[Integration complete]
[Activating magic circuits]
[Converting mana into Holy Power]
[Conversion complete]
[Integrating Holy Power into Dark Matter]
[[Integration complete]
[Producing Dark Matter]
After finishing his calculation, Izumi began producing his Dark Matter to deal with the barrier. Glowing white Dark Matter began to appear in front of him until it coalesced into a thin almost imperceptible barrier around his body. It was almost like a second skin over him. When he completed his barrier, he walked forward. He passed through the barrier like it was air; nothing stopped him. It was as if the barrier recognized the holy power in the Dark Matter.
'Seems like it worked.' Izumi grinned. Inside he was giddy, as he discovered a new aspect of his Dark Matter. Letting his thoughts go, he concentrated on the view in front. Taking the sky with his now black Dark Matter wings, he looked at the view. There he could see a swarm of devils. No, it was more accurate than it was a swarm of monsters. The very air was filled with the nauseating smell of the intoxicatingly sweet smell of demonic energy. The biggest concentration was gathered at an abandoned warehouse with a small hint of holy energy.
'How could I have not sensed this
There he saw Dulio fighting against multiple enemies. Dulio was dodging and taking blows from what seemed like a peerage of devils. Truly, Izumi was impressed by the exorcist's fighting prowess. He could see a huge magic circle forming in the sky. Getting once again an urge, he performed [Structural Analysis] and paled.
'Time for me to enter.' he thought.
[***]
Dulio was having a great day before it all went to hell. First, the church sent him to investigate strange phenomena happening in one of the cities of Japan. Luckily, no devils had a claim over the territory therefore he could enter the city without announcing his arrival to someone. Plus, it was supposed to be a secret mission to investigate. He still had to be careful because it was so close to Kuoh Town and that territory was occupied by the two sisters of the Maous. Since the church decided to send him, the one dubbed "The Strongest Exorcist", it must be very important. But nothing was more important than the cake shop that he had heard about Cake Shop Iori. When he entered the shop, he could see a tall teenager coming out of the back.
'Something is off about him' thought Dulio. He couldn't place it. It was normal that he couldn't detect the magic in Izumi since he had closed his magic circuits effectively making him seem like a normal human. He let the suspicion in the back of his mind when he heard the teen greet him. When he tried the samples, he couldn't express the deliciousness of the sweets in words. The soft and fluffy feel of the cake as he bit into it. The taste of the strawberry exploded in his mouth. The feeling of the chocolate cake melting when put into his mouth. It was simply exquisite. After ordering a piece of everything, he left the store. He was going to share these cakes with the kids at the orphanages after finishing the job that he came for.
Leaving the shop, he went to the local church to put his stuff and to get information from the priests there. Once he did, he went to start his investigation. He searched the city until it he can across an abandoned building. he felt a barrier was covering the building giving a mental command to any none magically-aware individuals. It also had the function of hiding the demonic energy emanating from it. He first noticed something odd about this building when it looked brand new. But the more he observed it the more he grew wary. If the building looked brand new, why was no one going in? There wasn't even a no-entry sign. People just walked past it ignoring it. At night, when no one was around, he approached the building and entered it. Cautious, he walked inside and started observing his surrounding. The building completely changed as the appearance of it shifted once he entered it giving Dulio a creepy feeling. It didn't matter because he had dealt with many similar situations. Walking around, he arrived in front of a door to what seemed like a warehouse. As he was about to open the door, his instincts flared and he jumped backwards away from the door.
BOOM!
Not a second late, the door was blown away including a majority of the wall.
"Well, well, well. Look who we have here." said a deep male voice. When the dust from the attack cleared, Dulio could see a group of devils in front of him. He could see 11 of them in front of him surrounding one devil. The devil they were surrounding was tall, but lanky and had black hair and red eyes. He also had toned skin and wore a malicious grin as he looked at Dulio. He wore the elegant clothes of a high-class devil indicating that he may be a part of a noble family of Devil
'Seems like a peerage and the guy is their King.' Dulio thought.
"It seems as if a rat of the church has crawled its way here. So tell me what should I do with you" the king asked with a menacing aura.
Not being deterred by the menacing aura the devil was producing, Dulio quipped
"You could probably just stop whatever you are doing and do nothing to me." The devil's grin grew larger,
"A jokester. The church sent a clown to me. Very well then. You can die." the devil said and as soon the words left his mouth, Dulio once again jumped backwards, dodging an incoming magic blast from one of the Devil's peerage members. The king kept his grin even when the spell did not hit its mark.
"Oh? You dodged it. I supposed it's to be expected from a church mongrel." mocked the devil. Dulio could've finished it if he used his sacred gear, but he didn't want to be alert of his presence in the part of the country.
'It was supposed to be a simple investigation, how did this happen?' thought Dulio as he looked at the devils. The devil then continued with an arrogant tone,
'Then I shall introduce myself. My name is Erigor Halphas. And you shall have the honour of dying by my peerage's hand."
"Halphas? Aren't they supposed to be extinct after their last heir conducted experiments that he was not supposed to?" Dulio said when he heard Erigor's family name. Even if he was a member of the Church, because of his position, he also had information about the Underworld.
"So you are informed. Yes, the Halphas family became extinct, but it seems that you were wrong. Because here I am." Erigor said as his eyes narrowed into a glare., but he suddenly smiled wickedly and Dulio saw the insanity in his eyes.
"But, now I am here and I have perfected a method to become stronger than even the four Satans. With it, I will be able to help the old Satan faction and they will overthrow the New Satans, and I will restore my family." Erigor finally said his plan. Dulio tensed and entered a combat stance while drawing his holy sword.
"I can't let you do that. This whole debacle will cause a war between the Three Factions."
"Very well then, you can die then," the devil said and everyone went into action.
Dulio dodged to the side when two sword slashes headed straight at his last position before an arrow when for his head. Using his instincts, Dulio deflected the arrow.
"Come let me cut you up!" shouted in delight a swordswoman.
"No thank you! I like my body very much!" replied Dulio as he dodged another sword strike.
"Surrender, we have you outnumbered. So, Just die peacefully," replied Erigor. He turned towards his two bishops,
"Start it up," he ordered. His bishop nodded and started drawing a large magic circle into thin air which soon ascended in the sky.
" With this spell, I will be able to absorb all of the souls of any nearby creature and absorb them to become even stronger than the Satans!" The king of the peerage shouted with maniacal glee.
Dulio seeing the magic circle got shivers.
'By the Lord in Heaven, I need to stop this otherwise a lot of people will die!' thought. He jumped back to avoid a strike from a pawn and deflected another sword strike from a swordsman before taking out a metal cross.
"Oh Lord in Heaven, I humbly beseech to grant this child your everlasting protection [Sanctuary]!" Dulio threw a cross in the air and a dome made of holy power appeared around the area they were fighting.
"Tch! How annoying! Destroy that barrier!" Erigor shouted at his servants. Before anyone could do anything, a single voice interrupted them.
"Am I interrupting something?" Everyone turned towards the source of the voice. There floating in the sky is a teen with 10 black wings on his back flapping to keep the person in the air.
"Who are you fallen angel?" demanded the devil as he glared at Izumi.
'Fallen angel? Maybe it's because of my wings and the holy power? I could use this to my advantage and create an identity.' thought Izumi.
"I came here to see what the fuss was about, but it seems like I stumbled upon something interesting."
'A ten-winged fallen angel! What is a being like him doing here?'
Dulio had met many fallen angels before, but none had an atmosphere like the masked fellow. He stayed silent to gauge the intentions of the newcomer. The other devils warily glared at Izumi. A fallen angel with 10 wings must not be underestimated. Seems like Erigor did not have a season about that.
"No matter just die," Erigor said and sent a blast of demonic energy. But before he could even summon his demonic mana, he felt pressure on him and everyone in the area was brought to their knees.
'W-What is this? It feels like I'm being crushed by a boot!' thought Dulio as he too was affected by whatever Izumi did. As they were struggling to stand, Izumi slowly descended from the sky and started to walk toward the king. Izumi finally stopped in front of the kneeling king and lowered himself to the kneeling devil. Erigor looked up with furious eyes and before he could say anything, Izumi spoke
"And who permitted you to try and kill me?" he asked as he tilted his head to the side.
"Who... the fuck... are you?" asked the struggling devil.
"Me? I'm just your friendly neighbourhood fallen. And you, my little devil friend, are trespassing."
"It does... not matter. Once the spell started, it won't stop. No matter what!" shouted Erigor still kneeling.
"See. That's where you are wrong. Observe," Izumi said and turned towards the spell in the sky. He had already analyzed the spell before putting pressure on the group. The spell used the inherent magic of the Halphas which was Absorption. With this bloodline magic, Erigor could've absorbed almost any magic. But there was a limitation, he could not absorb holy power and he had to be at a certain distance to be able to use the magic. What this spell did was amplify the bloodline magic and its range while also identifying the souls of every living being. As it absorbed the souls, it would then extract the mana before refining it and converting it into demonic energy for Erigor to absorb effectively making him stronger.
[Identifying spell]
[Searching possible counters]
[Counter identified]
[Creating Dark Matter]
Izumi's held out his hand and a black arrow appeared on top of his hand. It glowed as it was filled with holy power and Izumi shot at a specific part of the circle. After analyzing the magic circle, he found a weak long in it and used it to destroy it. As the arrow touched the flaw, the magic circle started to break down until only particles of demonic mana were left and dissipated into the atmosphere. All of the devil's eyes widened when their plan fell apart. Izumi then turned towards the shocked Erigor,
"Now what are you going to do?" At first, it was only a whisper before it grew louder and louder until he started shouting like a mad beast.
"I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'llkillyouI'llkillyouI'llkillyou. I'll KILL YOU!"
Izumi got up and started walking away,
"And that's why I can't let you live. Goodbye little Devil," Izumi waved.
As soon as he started walking, the pressure of using Dark Matter was lifted and without a word, they tried to attack him. Before the peerage could even reach him, spikes of Dark Matter materialized on top of each of them and planted themselves into their bodies, stabbing their hearts, and killing them. I'm Izumi shook his head,
"Well, that anticlimactic," he said. He sensed Dulio getting up and Izumi turned towards the exorcist.
"I suggest that you run back to the church so that they can clean this mess up," Izumi said.
"You're not a normal fallen angel are you?"
"You could say that I am unique." Dulio nodded.
"Than I thank you for helping me. May I have your name?" Izumi contemplated it before answering,
"You may call me Enigma."
"I see. Then thank you Enigma. I shall return to the church and they will send a cleanup crew." Dulio then removed the barrier and went to the church for the arrangements while Izumi went back home to sleep.
'Now I know how to infuse magic into Dark Matter. Today was a good day' Izumi thought before closing his eyes to sleep.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone