The moon stood high in the sky and bathed the world with its stolen light. Despite the hour, the city wasn’t asleep. Neon filled the streets as people walked and minded their own business.

But, this light, hides a deeper darkness.

Somewhere, in a deserted alley.

“Ugh!! Bitch!! The lord won’t let you go.”

A man groaned as he was being raised and choked up by a hand.

The hand around his neck was rather dainty and immaculate. It was the hand of a woman. The darkness was hiding her features, but her deep golden eyes gave out an eerie glow as they shined in the dark.

Despite the beauty of her eyes, they were filled with indifference as they looked at the man struggling in her hand.

‘So weak.’

*CRACK*

She didn’t even mean to, but the difference in power was so high that just her hand twitching was enough to snap the neck of the man she was holding.

The result was immediate. An incredulous light flickered in his eyes before all forms of consciousness slowly faded from it.

Once she ascertained his death, she threw his body on the ground with a flicker of her hand almost with disinterest and began to walk away,

‘I wonder if the house Naberius will send stronger people. It would be good if they gave up. But I need to prepare myself.’

She walked until the end of the street and went out of it. But, what appeared on the main street wasn’t a woman, but a black cat.

A ray of moonlight shined on the street where the woman stood previously, showing the scene of ten devils laying in a pool of their own blood, all dead.

-----

The next morning, a rather stereotypical scene was happening in Azrael’s house.

A young girl slowly opened one of the doors before entering a bedroom. Once she entered, she stood calmly and observed the owner of the room before slowly nearing him and spoke with an extremely gentle voice.

“Onii-sama, wake up.”

Azrael slowly opened his eyes. The vision still a little blurry,

“Onii-sama. You said that you had to meet your editors today for a contract.”

Hearing this, his blurry mind suddenly awakened as he raised himself out of the bed. He turned to look at the little girl in front of him,

“What time is it?”

“Not much. Just 7h30, you still have enough time.”

He nodded before getting up from his bed and patted the head of the little.

“Thanks for waking me up, Akeno.”

Akeno simply closed her eyes as she enjoyed the caress on her head.

“Don’t worry. I have already prepared your bath. The breakfast is also nearly ready.”

Azrael smiled brightly. Frankly, two weeks after Akeno began to live with him, he wasn’t sure he could ever live without her. She was simply too skilled. It was like having a little fairy around you. He crouched down and looked at her in the eyes.

‘She is doing all this in order to repay us.’

How could he not understand this? Akeno, despite her young age, was extremely conscientious. She didn’t want to live freely under protection without making some contribution.

As such, she basically became the housekeeper, and he had to say,

“The one who marries you will be very lucky.”

The smile on Akeno face twisted a little before changing into a pout,

“Hmph! I will go wake up Jibril.”

After saying this, she directly left the room without turning back.

“Sigh.”

Once alone, Azrael let out a sigh before his lips formed a wry smile. How could he not understand? He wasn’t blind, nor was he dense. But,

“I am not interested in loli.”

Technically, there were only 3 years of difference between them. But, he could really not feel anything but brotherly love for some who was only 11 years old.

“Oh well, it doesn’t matter. Perhaps it will fade with time.”

Be it him or Akeno, they were too young to truly understand love. Even more so for this current situation. He was basically sure that what she felt for him was some kind of hero-worship. After all, he was quite dashing when he saved her.

After laughing at his own joke, he was about to walk toward his bath when suddenly, a magic circle formed in front of him. He recognized it. It was a way of communication for contacting all or some specific exorcist. A stream of information entered his head.

[WARNING. A SS CLASS STRAY DEVIL WAS SIGHTED IN YOUR SURROUNDING. PROCEED WITH CAUTIONS. FURTHER INFORMATION WILL BE SENT LATER.]

Azrael looked at this image with an impassible expression before saying,

“Is it Japan that is cursed or I am simply unlucky?” (EN: both mate.)