Chapter 12

After 3 days of riding the train, the group of 4 finally made it to the last station in their journey. Now all they had to do was walk up a mountain and they'd make it to their destination. During these 3 days, nothing much happened except for Vincent deepening his bond with Sophie, John, and Russell. Well, that and Vincent's hair slowly turning albino. Almost half of his original tan-brown hair had been converted to white by this point. In anime, the hair-style would be considered "bad ass looking", but in real life, people just looked at him as if he was a weirdo or a some kind of punk. This didn't bother Vincent that much though, since he had been looked at worse because of his left arm. Besides, ES had said the hair looked cool on him!

After the 3 days of riding the train, the 4 travelers had then walked an hour up a mountain. During the walk, Vincent learned something important. Something that should have crushed his spirit into pieces. Something that a certain group of men feared with all their being...

.

.

.

His legal loli was already taken... It was obvious from the way she talked with John that the two had a "special" connection. Despite the fact that they sometimes fought, Vincent would always see them make up in the end, with both of them blushing and fidgeting most of the time. It should have been utter torture for the protagonist of our story to have been ntr'd so early on, and yet, Vincent just let it happen.

You see, while Vincent might be a very lewd man who dreamed of acquiring a goal that many men secretly share, he still had a shred of logic left in him when it came to his love life. Even though he had accepted his desire, he still retained a certain set of morals that allowed him to pass through the current crisis unhindered for the most part.

For example, in the case of ES, the reason he accepted her in the beginning may have been largely attributed to his lust, but it was also because he knew that she would never be able to accept anyone else. To live a life where you would be forced to spend years with the one you love and yet not have them reciprocate your feelings, would be a fate worse than death. That's why Vincent decided to accept the poor girl. He did not know if he could ever truly love her, even if he was to live several lifetimes together with her; however, he wanted to at least give it a try which is why he would always try his best to spend time with her and keep her happy.

In the case of Ana, the same situation could be applied. She came from his soul, and was born from his secret "wish". They would always have a deep connection with one another, one that probably no other bond could ever compare to. Though it might have been possible for Ana to have eventually loved someone else, it would make things awkward for Vincent since she would still be connected to him... so, taking into account rule 4 and all these factors, the logical conclusion was for Vincent to try and add her into into his.. er... "family"(harem).

Love experts throughout history had always said love cannot be forced, but at the same time, they also said it was something that could be grown. Vincent wanted to see if they were telling the truth...

As for Sophie, well, she was just a beautiful girl who sympathized with Vincent's situation. He had known all along that even though she was pretty and had a nice personality, that didn't automatically make her his. Rule 4 might have changed his standards, but it didn't make him a full on vegetable. After realising his chances with her would be 0, he just went for the next best thing. Having her be his "elder sister". After all, Vincent had no problems whatsoever having such a beautiful older sibling...

The trip up the mountain wasn't as bad as when the original Allen Walker climbed up his mountain, but the area where the Black Order headquarters was located in looked like it came out of a horror movie. It had dim lighting and was hidden inside a light fog. It really didn't give off the "good guy" vibe.

Vincent: So this is exorcist headquarters... It's way scarier in real life.

Russel: It's not that bad, it's mostly just to scare off normal people. Well, let's go inside. You aren't going to become an exorcist any time soon if you stand out here the whole time. Come on.

After they reached what seemed to be a door with a stone face on it, Russell asked for permission to come inside.

Vincent: (Just by looking at the door, I can tell this isn't the original headquarters Allen Walker went to. This either means that they remodel in the future or its one of the differences between this world and its counterpart.)

Just as Vincent finished his thoughts, the stone door came to life and looked at them as if it was analyzing them.

Stone Face: Scan in progress. Please don't move, this will determine whether or not you are an enemy.

After waiting around for a few minutes, the 4 travelers were allowed to go inside the building. Vincent was worried that he might not be allowed to go inside since the scan might show that his soul is different from a normal person, but in the end, the scan showed nothing strange about him other than the innocence in his left arm.

After they entered, the group was soon greeted by a man with black hair and dark blue eyes.

Jack: Hi there, the name’s Jack. I'm basically the head here at the European Branch headquarters. So Russell, who's the new guy.

Vincent: (Seems like this really is the same part of the world as the original D.Grayman.) Hi, my name’s Vincent. I'm here to become an exorcist.

Jack: Well you're a little too young to become one, don't you think? Looking at your arm, I can see that you possess innocence, but that isn't everything you need to become an exorcist.

Vincent: Then what should I do?

Jack: Well, let's first examine your arm to take a look at your inno-

?: Jack, why's there a kid here?

As Jack was just about to lead Vincent somewhere, a bishounen (pretty boy) appeared from a separate hallway. He was a small boy with girlish features and a sword strapped to his hip, sheathed in a scabbard that contained strange runes that seemed to be constantly shifting.

Jack: Oh, Alexis. You came just in time. I have someone here who's your age and will most likely be staying here for a while. I know there's not anyone your age here, so he can be your friend. Aren't you lucky to have such a thoughtful big bro-

Alexis: Why would I want a brat to hang out with when I could use the time to train?

Vincent: You look only a few years older than me though. Aren't you also a brat.(Who is this? I don't remember anyone that looked like this in either the anime or the manga.)

Alexis: What was that! Just because I'm 9 doesn't mean I'm a brat. I'm more mature than most people that live here!

Jack: Now, now, settle down. We need to examine Vincent's innocence and then have one of the exorcists here test his abilities.

Now, let's get a move on.

Alexis: Hold on a moment. If you need someone to test the kid, I can do it. I need the practice, and for some reason my sword won't calm down as long as I'm near him. It seems like the there's more to him that meets the eye.

Jack: ...Sure, why not. It'll give us a better insight to the capabilities of his innocence. We can also heal him afterwards while we examine him. Good luck Vincent. Alexis might seem as a kid as well but it would do you good to fight at your best. I'm assuming you can since you have the same aura as my younger sibling.

Vincent was surprised that Jack had picked up on how he was different, but shrugged it off since he had learned that he knew a child with the same level of maturity as himself.

After moving through a series of hallways, the group of 6 eventually found themselves in a large, roofless room with an arena in the middle of it.

The arena was only a block of stone about 100 meters square in area and a height of 2 feet. It was well maintained save for the few cracks that seemed to tell the tales of fierce battles.

After arriving there, Alexis jumped about 10 feet away and landed on the stone arena. Vincent also jumped the same distance and landed on the platform. This surprised everyone other than Alexis who seemed to be excited at the thought of a fight.

After both Alexis and Vincent went to their respective positions, they got ready to fight.

Alexis pulled out his sword that was in the golden sheath, and it started to make a strange sound. Vincent immediately recognized the sound that came straight out of an anime as something that is made when an object vibrates at a high frequency; however, this wasn't all that occurred. The golden sheath started to glow and changed into a small circular disk that started to revolve around Alexis, giving off the impression that it would protect him.

Vincent didn't stay idle either. He stared straight at Alexis's eyes, which seemed to be around his height, and started to prepare. Despite being born with the same genes as Allen Walker, he still had his increased stats which helped develop his body to look like that of a 6, 7 year old child which was enough to match the small Alexis.

He then had his arm instantly shift into its giant metal hand form. His anti-akuma weapon was about more than half the size of his body, and had an intimidating aura around it. Though, this wasn’t all there was to it. Vincent had also found out some interesting things during his conversations with Ana, and he intended to test them out and see if what she said was true or not.

After the both of them called out their anti-akuma weapons, Jack signaled them to start the match.

The second he did, both sides became a blur as they engaged each other to determine who was the stronger of the 2.