29 But it has already left a scar.

"How careless of me…" Azazel sighed before slumping back to his chair, all the energy leaving his body. "I should have sent someone from Slash Dog as Grigori representative at least, instead of leaving it to my subordinates…"

Kuoh being under Devil's territory, and more so under the rule of the sisters of two Maou—with the current high tension between the factions—it was impossible to send someone of higher position to Kuoh.

After all, sending a person of power could be taken under many different premises by the other side.

Despite having no ulterior motive, you can't be sure what the other side would think.

For this reason, Azazel had only passed the order and had asked to send someone of lower position rather than someone of higher position, but now he was regretting doing it.

In his mind, he had thought that since the mission was to only keep an eye over Noah Pendragon and to see what he is up to these days, and most importantly, where his power lies currently—he had never imagined that Kokabiel would interfere in it.

"What is done is done…" He breathed a long sigh out of his mouth before a contemplating look took over his visage. "But where did he get the information about Vitra's Sacred Gear and Reversal? A rat?"

Thinking of such, his eyes narrowed a little.

Of course, once you run a massive organization like Grigori, it was impossible for there to be no spies in your ranks—it was something he had no control over as Fallen Angels had their own will, it was possible to get swayed by money or whatever riches out there.

Yet he was quite intrigued by who provided information to Noah.

'He doesn't have the power to bribe a Fallen… is it the Red King?'

Or a more possible scenario could be that a Fallen Angel has joined the Red Clan.

After all, joining a clan doesn't change your race or anything. You just get to use the power of the King, providing you with different possibilities like enhanced strength, perception, fast brain processing, and many more—though it differs from individual to individual.

"Hmmm. I should scan the whole Faction once… or at least those close to me."

Finding a member of a clan wasn't hard, since once you join a clan, your body, at a random place, would have the emblem of the clan engraved on it—which acts as the core or source of the King's power.

So a full body checkup should do the work.

"For now…" He again sighed. "I guess I'll have someone from Slash Dog send the items to his place."

Of course, it was not to just send items to Noah's place since anyone could do it, but it was because he wanted the members of Slash Dog to check up on Noah and his current strength.

'Can't send Vali, I don't want him to start a fight…'

He knew that if Vali were to be sent, and if he saw that Noah is strong, he might start a fight with him.

He never understood battle maniacs.

|Noah's Appartement, Kuoh Town|

"Begone evil! Magical Girl Sera-tan is here!"

In his small apartment, Noah sat on the ground with his back resting on his bed and snacks on the table in front, a pack of chips in his hand and a bottle of cola at his side, he stared at the screen with intense focus enough to put even a professional athlete about to do some performance at Olympics to shame.

"I wonder if Sera-tan will be able to defeat the Evil Embryo or not." He muttered, putting a handful of chips into his mouth before gulping it down with a sip of cola. "How exciting."

At the side stood Sona and Rias, staring at him with a silent gaze, alternating between him and the screen—though one could see that Rias was more focused on the screen rather than on him.

It seems that she also wanted to sit down and watch the show but remembering how Azazel was going to send the White Dragon Emperor—which was a shock to them knowing that this generation of White Dragon Emperor had joined Grigori—made her tense.

"I thought you were joking…" At the side, Sona couldn't help but say with a soured face, staring at Sera-tan on the screen as she spun and layer upon layer of ice covered her surroundings.

"Is my nose red?" Noah inquired, his gaze still on the screen, not willing to miss anything. "Anyway, it is going to take him at least an hour or so before getting everything ready, informing White Dragon Emperor about his mission, and then sending him here. It is enough time for me to finish this episode."

"That's not the point…" Sona sighed before asking. "Can you fight White Dragon Emperor?"

"Nope." Noah answered right away. "If the current me fought him, I'll get beaten to a pulp for sure."

Though there might be a chance to catch him off-guard and defeat him, it was a what-if scenario. And not like Sona and Rias needed to know that.

"Then…" Rias stayed silent for a while before asking with a worried tone. "Should I inform my brother?"

The current deal could very well be the thing she needs to defeat Riser in a fight, she would never ask anything of her brother unless the situation was completely out of her control, but knowing that Noah's life might be in danger due to the deal made her have other thoughts.

After all, despite her desperate situation, she didn't want Noah to get hurt because of her.

"No need." Noah rejected before putting another chip in his mouth, gulping down another sip of cola. "Azazel would never try to hurt me nor anyone else here in this town, as a matter of fact. He is the biggest pacifist in this world right now. He would rather avoid causing another war."

"Also, the things I've asked of him are not really that valuable to him. All of them are defective in one way or the other—except of course the training gear—so you don't really have to worry too much."

In spite of Noah assuring them, both the girls still held silver doubt in their hearts.

After all, the one they were talking about was the White Dragon Emperor of this generation. Someone with the potential to kill a God, that alone puts them on their nerves.

They were but High-Class Devils after all.

Staring at them from the corner of his eye, Noah wondered if he shouldn't have told them about White Dragon Emperor.

It only caused them unnecessary worry.

Not everyone was like him, acting normally in front of death, after all.

'Guess dying once made me quite resistant to such things as fear. After all, the biggest fear of any being is death.'

"Actually, it is not sure that it would be White Dragon Emperor." He thought for a while before adding. "It could be Azazel himself. So you don't really need to worry."

"..." Seeing his wide smile—showing his teeth—and thumbs up, Sona and Rias didn't know how to respond.

"That definitely didn't make us less worried. Not so thank you." Sona sighed, massaging the increasing headache.

It always has been like this, whenever Noah did something, it increases nothing but worry within their hearts.

'Can't he be just normal?' Sona wondered.

"Ahhhh!" Rias gripped her head and shouted in frustration before slumping down at Noah's side with a huff. "Thinking about it hurts my head! I'll also watch the show!"

"Good decision. Worrying would only make you go bald and nothing else." Noah nodded before pushing a bottle of cola and chips towards her. "Here, take this and relax. Murphey is watching over us."

And so the black-head and the crimson-head kept putting chips into their mouth while gulping cola like some heavenly nectar, one bottle after another, ignoring the stare boring down at them from the side.

"Damn you Magical Girl Sera-tan! You and your kind… I'll kill them all! After that, I'll kill every human too!"

"As long as I, Magical Girl Sera-tan, is alive, I'll not let you touch even a single soul!" She shouted. "Here, take my ultimate attack! Magical Girl~ Loooovvveeeeee!"

A flare of white light covered the screen, hiding everything behind it before it died down, revealing the world of ice and snow.

"Ha… Ha… Ha… with this… the world can finally be at peace…" Sera-tan said between bathed breaths, a radiant smile covering her face as she stared at the frozen Evil Embryo.

"Damn! Sera-tan sure is something else. Freezing the whole area just like that… My determination to shake her hand during the "Hand Shaking Event" has reignited. Maybe I'll get her blessing for my future fights."

"If you show up in front of her, I'm sure she is punching you to death instead." Sona added from the side, knowing full well that her sister has been spying on her and should have known about the ambiguous relationship between her and Noah.

"Don't worry…" Noah looked towards her with eyes filled with determination, making Sona take a surprise step back. "... I'd be happy if she punched me. You don't get punched by Sera-tan everyday."

"..." Her temple twitched, demonic energy flaring within her body, "How about I punch you first then?"

"Come on~" He rolled his eyes with a smirk. "How can you hurt your man?"

"Humph!" Despite her acting tsundere, one could see a small blush creeping over her cheeks, making her look cute to an onlooker.

"Ouch!" Noah bellowed, rubbing his waist while staring at the sulking Rias at the side with puffed-up cheeks. "What happened?"

"Nothing." She grumpily replied. "I just felt like pinching you. Is there a problem?"

"Of course there is…" Noah answered, his hand blurring before pulling Rias—who screamed "kyaa"—into his lap. "Seeing your jealous state makes me want to tease you all so much more."

"S-Stop!" She stuttered, feeling his hand creeping over her body, slowly tracing her waistline and going up to her neck, swiping her hair at the side and revealing her nacked neck as he softly kissed on it. "D-don't…"

Her voice was quite soft and reluctant, yet her body didn't protest his touches.

"Should I?" He softly nibbles over her earlobe, making her moan slightly. Her breathing fastened and a shade of crimson took over her face. "Do you really want me to stop? Aren't you enjoying it too, darling Rias?"

"N-no… I…" She turned her gaze away, feeling embarrassed at the fact that she indeed was enjoying it.

After all, she was a Devil and a lover of Shounen Manga, such scenarios could be said to be directly out of her everyday imagination.

"You guys…" At the side, with her eyes closed and fists clenched, Sona tried her best to not below the whole appartement away to smitten with the inhabitant inside. "... CUT IT OUT ALREADY!"

+++

The luminescent light softly covered the bar, reflecting over the neatly cleaned shelves filled with bottles containing different drinkable liquids.

Behind the counter stood a young man with short black hair and pale green eyes with a shaker in his hand, making a drink for the middle-aged man sitting in front of the counter.

There weren't many people present in the bar, only six—including him and the middle-aged man—but all of them seemed to be doing their own thing.

But a keen observer should be able to tell that despite them doing their own thing, their eyes and ears were directed towards the middle-aged man and the young man making a drink.

"So you want me to go and deliver the items he asked in return for the lives of Fallen Angels, right?"

"Don't make it sound like he is kidnapping them… well… I guess he is?" The middle-aged man laughed at the situation before saying. "It can't be helped. I was careless and should have handled the situation with more caution. But I guess I still treated him like the weak kid he was in the past. I never had thought that he would threaten to start a war if I didn't comply with his 'request'. People do grow fast."

The young man sighed, giving the middle-aged man a slightly annoyed look.

"It isn't like you." He said. "You predicted something like this would happen, didn't you?"

"Oh? Why would you say that?" Azazel asked with a smirk.

"It's obvious." Tobio sighed, showing how tired he felt dealing with Azazel. "You are not stupid to let your subordinates send someone weak to look over a person who has been set off-limits by the whole supernatural world. You should have seen Kokabiel using this opportunity to cause trouble, but at the same time, you wanted to know how powerful he has grown so you let it slide."

"From one side, you can obtain information about Noah Pendragon while on the other side, you can use the surviving Fallen Angels as proof of Kokabiel's rebellion. In simplest terms, you were testing waters to see how deep it is."

"You give me too much credit, Tobio." Azazel shook his head while taking a sip from the glass of wine provided by Tobio. "Even I didn't think he would demand something in return. It was either he would kill them or ignore them. Using them as a bargain to get Sacred Gear and Reversal was a surprise to me."

Tobio stared at his face for some seconds before asking.

"So all you want me to do is hand the items to him? Isn't handing an ability like Reversal to an outsider dangerous?"

"Not really." Azazel shook his head. "He is a human, and with the defect of Reversal, he shouldn't be too keen on using it."

"But the fact that he asked for it, you think he didn't know about its shortcomings?"

"That's the point." Azazel's smile widened, obviously, he was excited. "Our Research Department has been researching this ability for so long yet haven't been able to get an optimum result. We only know that this ability can only show its full potential when used by its original user. The fact that he is asking for it only means one thing—"

"He found a way to perfect it huh." Tobio nodded, understanding what Azazel was trying to say. "But that makes it all more dangerous. Are you sure he won't use it for anything bad?"

"I don't care." Azazel shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "I'm more interested in knowing the perfected Reversal instead."

"... You just reminded me why I don't like scientists."

"Hahaha!" Azazel laughed, taking another sip from the wine. "With the abilities he showed on that day, Reversal is like a cup of water thrown into the ocean to him. Even without it, once he reaches his full potential, I doubt anyone can stop him from doing whatever he desires."

"And that makes him all the more dangerous. Sometimes, I just don't get what you are thinking." Shaking his head, Tobio added. "With him reaching seventeen this year, all other factions should also have their eyes on him by now. It is either going to be a battle royal to get him or kill him. What side are you going to choose?"

"To make him our ally." Azazel stared at his reflection in the cup and said. "My gut feels are telling me that if we fought him, it might come backbiting us. One mishap and Fallen Angels may end up annihilated. I'm not willing to take such a risk."

"After all, an enemy in the dark is more dangerous than the one in the light. If we fail to kill him, who knows what the future will hold for us. Adding the fact that we still don't know where his power lies. All we know is that he uses a completely different Power System than Angels, Devils, and Humans."

"There is too much unknown to just make him our enemy. It is better to be prudent when dealing with him."

"Are you sure you're not saying this because you want to know more about the Power System he uses?"

"Hahaha!"

Another sigh left Tobio's mouth as he shook his head.

"Very well. I'll deliver the items."

"Great!" Azazel said with a smile. "I'm sure you will be able to find more about him than what we've gathered so far. So I will be counting on you. You can take another member with you if you want, just don't bring the whole team, it will alert Devils and would just create even more complications. In the meantime, I'll go and talk with Sirzhechs about this."

Tobio nodded.

The whole bar soon fell into silence with Tobio returning to cleaning glass and Azazel drinking the wine, both lost in their own thoughts.