Chapter 15 - Birth of Exodus, Demise of Supernatural Forces

Rias and Agrippa also remained silent, waiting for Ryuuga and Lavinia to respond. Was their introduction not elegant enough?

"Well, what are you devils doing here?" Ryuuga broke the silence.

"Did you both see a blonde boy around here?" Rias answered, feeling slightly offended that Ryuuga and Lavinia didn't introduce themselves.

She had been aiming to recruit Isaiah because she sensed the Sacred Gear inside him. She had been waiting for several days, and today she was late because she woke up late.

"You mean the boy with the Sacred Gear? He's already dead." Ryuuga pointed at the grave he had just created.

Rias was stunned by his answer. She didn't expect to be too late. She could use Evil Pieces to reincarnate someone into a devil, but she could only use them within one minute of death. After that, the soul would already be in heaven or hell.

Wait… The boy mentioned the Sacred Gear, so he must know about the supernatural world.

"Who are you both?" Agrippa frowned and stepped in front of Rias, ready to protect her from danger.

"Chill, old man." Ryuuga grinned, waving his hand. As he did, a gust of cold wind made the surroundings even colder, and suddenly, Agrippa was turned into a block of ice.

However, he didn't die because Ryuuga had only used Ice Magic, not the Eternal Ice of Absolute Demise.

"Agrippa!" Rias was stunned to see her butler turned into ice. She glanced at Ryuuga with a frightened expression. She knew Agrippa's power. He was an Ultimate-Class Devil. The fact that he was so easily subdued meant Ryuuga's power far surpassed his.

With a smirk, Ryuuga slowly walked toward the crimson-haired girl.

"Y-You! Don't come any closer!" Rias stepped back as Ryuuga approached, but she suddenly fell into the snow, her legs giving out.

"A-Are you not afraid of my brother?! My brother is a Satan!" Rias used her final trump card, invoking her brother's name, Sirzechs Lucifer. She thought if Ryuuga was truly involved in the supernatural world, he would definitely know that name.

But Ryuuga didn't even flinch. His expression remained unchanged as he continued walking until he stood right in front of her. 

He then squatted down and cupped Rias' left cheek with his right hand.

"Y-You…" Rias was stunned and a bit flustered. She had never been touched by any man except her father, brother, and servants.

"Listen, Rias Gremory. Although your brother is very powerful, it is his power, not yours. Keep training and don't be lazy until you reach his level. Don't act like a spoiled brat. The world doesn't revolve around you." Ryuuga said with a smile. He just wanted to lecture her, you know? After all, the original Rias was quite spoiled and lazy. She didn't even train for years, despite knowing she had to break off her engagement.

Well, he couldn't blame her too much. It was also because the will of the world made her act that way to follow the plot.

The moment he said those words to Rias, he immediately gained 10,000 Destiny Energy, bringing his total to 160,000 Destiny Energy. He also obtained 37,000 Destiny Energy because Isaiah died and he retrieved the Sword Birth.

Rias's eyes suddenly brightened, as if she had been released from a brainwash. She realized she had been foolish. Her engagement to Riser had been announced a year ago, and she hadn't trained at all since then. If she had, she might have been confident enough to defeat him by now.

Riser Phenex, her fiancé, had another problem—his, well, important parts had been chopped off by Cleria. She wasn't sure how he'd cope with that in the future.

Suddenly, the ice encasing Agrippa began to crack like an eggshell. The cracks spread rapidly until the ice shattered.

"Princess!" Agrippa shouted as he broke free, frantically looking around for Rias. When he saw her on the ground with Ryuuga cupping her cheek, he became enraged.

"How dare you touch our princess!" he yelled, summoning a magic circle in his palm. But before he could cast a spell, large chains burst from the ground and bound him.

This was a Sealing Magic trap that Ryuuga had set after encasing him in ice.

"Gahh!" Agrippa groaned, struggling against the chains. He tried to use magic again, but found himself unable to. The chains had been modified by Ryuuga to prevent Agrippa from casting spells.

"Agrippa! Who are you guys, really…?" Rias asked, her amazement at Ryuuga's power evident as she watched Agrippa struggle against the chains.

"Listen, devils. We are Exodus. We exist to release humans from the bottom of the food chain in this supernatural world." Ryuuga declared confidently. He had plans to create an organization that would challenge supernatural forces, putting humans at the top.

In reality, Ryuuga didn't particularly care about humans. In his previous life, he had seen humans rise to incredible heights, even becoming Land Immortals. But this wasn't about compassion or a desire to see humanity flourish.

It was a convenient slogan to justify his actions. He wanted to hunt gods and other supernatural beings to increase his own power.

Well, the organization is also filled with other races, so whatever, hahaha.

"Exodus..." Rias whispered, committing the name to memory. Agrippa also made a mental note to report it to his master.

"Well, this is goodbye. I hope you become stronger when we meet again." Ryuuga said as he stood up and turned away. There were still places he wanted to visit before leaving Italy.

"Wait!" Rias suddenly shouted as she saw Ryuuga walking away.

"What?" Ryuuga glanced back, feeling a sense of déjà vu. It reminded him of when he saved Cleria before.

"I want to follow you." Rias said with determination. She knew she had acted spoiled before, but she wanted to become more powerful—powerful enough to decide her own future. Staying at home would only coddle her since she was the heir of the Gremory Clan and their beloved princess.

"Princess, don—" Agrippa began to protest, but he suddenly vanished, teleported by Ryuuga to the Underworld.

"Well, let's go, former princess of Gremory." Ryuuga said with a smile. Then he turned and walked away without waiting for her to get up.

Rias, now filled with a new resolve, quickly rose to follow him. She is also intrigued by how Ryuuga will elevate the human race to the top, considering those old gods, dragons, and super devils out there.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Ryuuga and the two girls stood inside a burned-down old building. Smoke lingered in the air, suggesting that the fire had only recently been extinguished. However, there was no sign of anyone—not even a corpse.

This was the institute where the Holy Sword Project had been carried out. It appeared that the building had been burned down in an attempt to erase all evidence of the research.

The Holy Sword Project was a research endeavor aimed at creating artificial Holy Sword Wielders. It was headed by Valper Galilei, an Archbishop of the Vatican.

He and his colleagues had conducted experiments on young children with exceptional sword skills and Sacred Gear abilities.

Despite numerous inhumane and cruel experiments, Valper Galilei repeatedly failed to produce a successful result. None of the children were able to become Holy Sword Wielders. Frustrated, he ultimately resorted to killing the children by gassing them with poison.

Isaiah had managed to escape from the institute today with the help of his friends, who had held the researchers back, resulting in their deaths. That's why he sought revenge against Valper Galilei, the one responsible for their deaths.

As he walked deeper and deeper inside, he finally found what he had been searching for. It wasn't a thing, but a human.

The young girl lay peacefully inside a protective bubble, exuding a calmness that seemed to fill the room. She had delicate features that showed she was young and innocent, with soft, white hair braided neatly around her shoulders.

Her eyes were closed, and her long lashes rested on rosy cheeks. Even though she was asleep, you could see her chest moving gently as she breathed. Surrounded by the greenish glow of the barrier, she looked almost magical, like she didn't have any worries or problems in the world.

Her name was Tosca, the other survivor of the Holy Sword Project. When the poisonous gas was released, her Sacred Gear activated, putting her into a deep sleep and protecting her with a barrier.

The thing is, time inside the barrier was suspended because she couldn't control it, which kept her physical form unchanged. In the original story, she was released from the barrier but remained the same as when she was sealed.

The Sacred Gear's name was Infinite Barrier, also known as Everlasting Forever Guardian, and it had the power to create any kind of barriers with multiple or single attributes.

"Oh... what a cute girl." Rias said, glancing at the young girl inside the barrier. She was even considering recruiting her for her peerage.

However, on the way to the institute, Ryuuga had told her to abandon the Evil Piece system. She wanted to argue, but since she had committed to following him, she didn't want to worsen her impression.

Ryuuga bent down slightly and touched the barrier. He was intrigued because it rejected any kind of energy he projected into it.

Then, a dark blue power appeared on his palm, and he touched the barrier. As he did, the barrier cracked almost immediately.

"T-That's... Worthless!" Rias recognized the power Ryuuga had just used, and she was shocked. She glanced at him, noting that he smelled like a human, not a devil. So how could he use it?

"Rias, Ryuu's body is special. He can use any power he's analyzed." Lavinia explained from the side. She didn't know about his cultivation technique, but she knew his body was different from any other being.

"T-Then, is Cleria-sama alive?" Rias asked, her mind racing. If Ryuuga could analyze the power from a Belial devil, then the only Belial devil she knew that was still missing was Cleria.

"Oh! Cleria is at our place. She's Ryuu's maid now." Lavinia answered with a smile. Hearing this, Rias immediately became excited.

Cleria had been her idol, and she greatly respected her. That's why she wanted to take care of Kuoh Town after Cleria's supposed death in the original series. She also felt pity for the town, which had become a dangerous place for humans because the current supervisor was lazy and allowed stray devils to kill recklessly.

Back to Tosca, the crack on the green barrier spread until it disappeared, leaving the young girl on the ground.

The barrier might have been resistant to Worthless, but due to the great difference in power, Ryuuga could break it easily.

"Wake up." Ryuuga muttered as he touched the young girl's head. He used a Recovery spell of Healing Magic to remove her sleeping effect and wake her up.

"Umm…?" The young girl woke up slowly, her beautiful yellow eyes fluttering open.

"Who…are you?" Tosca asked, touching her head as memories from a few hours ago rushed back.

"Ahhh!" She cried out, tears streaming down her face. Her friends, all of them, had died because of Valper Galilei.

"You're Tosca, right? Isaiah's friend."

"Isaiah?" Tosca muttered, recalling the boy who sometimes played and talked with her.

"Yes. I met him before he died. He said he wanted revenge."

"Isaiah…died…" Tosca's tears flowed even more. Even the boy they thought would survive was gone.

"Can you continue his revenge, Tosca?" Ryuuga whispered in her ear.

"Revenge…"

"Yes, revenge. You can't let your comrades die for nothing, right? This is all Valper Galilei's fault. No, it's the Church's fault, don't you think?" He continued.