Silence dropped in the place, they couldn't help but step back in unison at this rather eerie sight.

"First thing first."

A shadow immediately appeared from behind him before swallowing him. By the time they understood what was happening the shadow of Akeno stretched before he slowly appeared from it.

"I can't stand the sight of seeing her bound like a criminal."

His hand shined with light as he got her out of the net.

He kneeled in front of her and hugged her tightly as he caressed her hair,

"I am so sorry Akeno. Please wait a little, I will clean this place from all that trash."

Tears gathered on the corner of her eyes as she nodded,

"Nn~ !"

After wiping her tear, he slowly got up before sending a condescending gaze to the members of the Himejima clan.

"Let's end this fast. I have some illustration to draw."

It took a while for them to wake up, but once they did, they couldn't help but become angry.

"Bastard!!"

"How dare you insult us? Brothers, attack him!!"

Four of those present didn't hesitate to summon monsters. One each. Those were shikigami. One of the ways the exorcists from Japan fought.

The four shikigami they summoned looked rather imposing. A python, a crow, a lion, and a bull. Each of them was more than two meters tall.

From afar, Azrael looked like an ant facing them, but it was this same ant that let out a sneer of derision.

"It seems like I really need to revise my opinion on the power of the five clans if it's all you can do."

"GET HIM!!"

They couldn't control themselves anymore and ordered the beast to attack.

"Onii-Sama please flee!!!"

Akeno screamed as she tried to extract herself from the net. She didn't want him to suffer because of her. But…

"Akeno. Did I never tell you? Your big brother is very strong."

What followed allowed Akeno to observe a new world.

----

The four beasts stood up to their full height and bellowed, as they rushed towards him at full speed. It was like four cars were trying to crush him. Still, in his view, those four were so slow it was boring. He could have already destroyed them before his training. So now they were nothing

'Let's finish fast and take back Akeno home. She suffered enough.'

While he was idly thinking about the future, the four beasts arrived upon him.

*Rumble!* The rhinoceros utilizing its speed, unleashing a slash with its horn.

The python spewed out a torrent of toxin as if wishing to drown him. The lion sent out a torrent of fire with the intensity that seemingly covered the sky. The crow blocked out his escape route with tidal sound waves.

The four of them worked together perfectly and attacked from all directions. It really seemed as if Azrael had no chance to run.

He couldn't help but admire it a little,

'Their coordination is rather good. But…'

Azrael's body began to tremble in this crucial moment. Time seemed to be slow and everyone saw the scene in slow motion.

First came ripping noises before the screaming. They saw him grabbing the jaws of the python and tearing it in halves starting from the mouth.

This creature was spanning more than 5 meters. It was lifted up in the air and torn apart truly a magnificent scene. Thankfully they were Shikigami. Otherwise, a disturbing scene full of blood and gore would have followed.

"Gaa-" They then saw him stomping on the rhinoceros, grabbing its horn and ripping it out of the beast's head. Every bone in its body was also crushed from the stomp.

The crow was the next target and started screeching. Azrael unleashed a tiny light onto the bird, the moment that light touched it, it was instantly vaporized into nothingness.

"Roar!!…" The lion's scream abruptly stopped because Azrael also ripped its head away from its body. The spine was still connected to the head. Before it vanished with a puff.

It felt as if there were four of him attacking at the same time - tearing the python in half, stomping the rhinoceros to death, reducing the crow to nothing, and decapitating the lion.

Of course, there was only one Azrael. His speed was just fast enough to leave afterimages everywhere. This created an illusion that there were multiples of him killing the four beasts.

In the next moment, he showed up in the same place again while crashing noises resounded. The massive corpse of the lion dropped before slowly vanishing in motes of lights.

This slaughter happened in the blink of an eye so Azrael looked like he didn't move from the original spot.

The atmosphere froze as the members of the Hajime clan were stunned, unable to react to the situation in front of them.

His speed was unreal. More importantly, these powerful beasts fell like ants when fighting against him.

Their expression soured. They realized that they have underestimated him. What they didn't know was that,

'Too slow.'

Azrael was in no way satisfied with this current speed. He wanted to become way faster than that. So fast that they wouldn't even be able to see his afterimage.

'I want to break the sound wall before reaching Ultimate.'

It was one of his goals. The cause of it was when Vali beat him so easily in a flying race.

'[DIVINE DIVIDING] is simply cheating.'

-----

Even though he couldn't know what Azrael was thinking, Suou Himejima couldn't sit still as his expression darkened with a fierce glint in his eyes. He hasn't seen such a powerful foe in a long time.

"How can he be this strong…?" The previous scene was simply too shocking . One of them couldn't help but stagger several steps backward in fear.

"Just who the hell is he? Why do we not know anything about someone so strong?" Another one found this strange.

Azrael's eyes couldn't help but shine in disappointment,

"So this is the Himejima clan? The emissaries of the Shinto god of fire? Acting high and mighty when trying to kill a powerless little girl but thinking of fleeing when meeting someone stronger? Truly. You guys are lesser than dirt."

Those words infuriated them. Some of them began to gnash their teeth in anger. But none was bold enough to retort.

Intuition told them that Azrael was very dangerous. They were at a loss; some even wanted to retreat. However, Suou Himejima, Akeno's grand uncle slowly began to walk toward Azrael, his presence indirectly calming .

Azrael glanced at this man, aware of the situation right away.

'It should be the leader.'

"I am Himejima Suou. The head of the Himejima clan. Who are you? I have never heard of someone of your power in Japan."

Azrael frowned.

'I thought only the wielder of the sacred beast Suzaku could become the leader of the Himejima.'

The five clans had a rule. The wielder of the sacred beast would give up on his name and take the one belonging to the beast. As such, the leader of the Himejima should have been called Himejima Suzuka.

'Perhaps the Suzaku didn't choose a wielder in this generation.'

Still, while he was surprised to face the head of the clan, it didn't matter in the slightest.

"I am Geminis Azrael. The title Uncrowned Prince of the Church should ring a bell, right?"

The situation fell in an even stranger silence at those words.