DxD: Like a Devil Chapter 73

Edited by: Priapus, Marethyu

– Sona –

She’d figured that this was going to be difficult. What she’d asked of Serafall, well, even masters of magic would struggle with. Changing your spell temperature was no easy task, and to the degree Sona’s sister was capable of it, it was almost unheard of.

Of course, ice and fire magic users had a significantly easier time than, say, wind and earth, as they relied on temperature for the power of their spells. They had an inherent understanding of the concept. A fire started by sticks and wood shavings can never burn even the weakest of devils, but a blast of flames from a proper wizard would incinerate them.

But as already established, Serafall never used ice magic. At least not like Akane. Her sister simply used the Sitri’s clan trait of water magic, supercooling her spells right before firing them. This was all caused by a birth mutation that Sona never had, and at this point, she had cursed her luck for being born normal.

Birth mutations. Such an intriguing concept, Sona thought. They were an extremely rare occurrence, even more so considering the devils’ low birth rates. Usually, only one devil in every five hundred years would be born with a mutated clan trait, so it was a wonder how two mutated devils were born in the same week. Serafall and, of course, Sirzechs. Some would argue Ajuka as well, considering his intelligence.

Nobody knew what had caused these mutations to form. This wasn’t like how some humans were born with birth defects— devils, while looking similar on the surface, were very different biologically. Their mutations were magical in nature, as magic was intricately woven into their DNA.

Some scientists theorized it was the fetus’s acknowledgement and response to an unsafe environment, thus forcing itself to evolve while in the womb. Others believed it was similar to how human heroes seem to reincarnate every other generation, with devils from an ancient past returning with no memories. Old devils like Lord Zekram thought it was simply the fading echoes of the Devil God blessing or cursing whomever they choose.

None truly agreed on the answer. It was an age-old debate that had been going on since before her sister was even born.

Not all mutations were the same, either. Some, like her sister’s, altered the biological and magical structure of the clan trait in its entirety, while others, like Sirzechs’, maintained it, with the mutation vastly increasing the power output of the clan trait instead. Even Sairaorg was technically a mutant, considering his inability to use his clan trait at all, though he was seen more as a defect.

Regardless of what mutations truly were, Sona understood just how easy some had it, and once again cursed her luck for being born normal. Because how could she ever hope to catch up to the human mutant named Akane like this?

Even after a week of constantly refining her magic, she had barely gotten any closer to her goal. While she’d gotten a slightly better handle on her water magic, her overall power remained essentially the same, and it frustrated her to no end.

She huffed in annoyance and exhaustion as she released a water bubble from her hand, barely a degree colder than usual. This was as far as she could reach. Hours upon hours of practice amounted to this.

Even after Sera had explained how she did it, Sona had barely made any progress. Using her own frustration and anger? How could that even work? Demonic power didn’t function on emotions like Akane’s magic. It was based on imagination, control, and output. Yes, anger could affect her magic power, but never beyond what she was actually capable of.

“Damn it…” Sona cursed under her breath.

What the hell was she supposed to do? She couldn’t even grow her power normally like she had during Rias’ training before her Rating Game with Riser. She had already returned that training belt to the yakuza. Sona knew that if she wanted to make any progress, she needed to struggle. Actually struggle.

“Ah, you were right there. So close!” Her sister cheered, though, this only frustrated Sona further. “You can do it, Sona! I believe in you!”

…Unfortunately, the person she had asked for help kept treating her like glass.

“But your problem is increasing the output. That only makes it more difficult to change the properties of the spell.” She advised. “If you wanna change the weight, mass, or temperature of the spell, you have to start small.”

“I am starting small,” Sona replied.

“I mean smaller,” Serafall said. “Let’s try again. The weakest spell you can conjure up.”

“How can I reasonably do that when in the same breath you tell me to use my anger to cast the spell?” She pointed out, struggling to keep her temper in check. “Don’t you think it’s contradictory?”

“Um, well, no? But I see where you’re coming from.” Serafall nodded patiently. “I’m not telling you to just pour your anger into your spell, but to control it. Focus it properly on what you want it to do.”

Easy for you to say. Sona thought, almost saying it out loud. You were born with this gift.

Sona immediately shook those poisonous thoughts out of her head, feeling a little guilty. While Sona didn’t think her sister was being very helpful at the moment, Serafall was still just trying to help. She took time off from her important work to happily assist her little sister.

Sona didn’t want to feel ungrateful.

“Okay…” She said, extending an arm.

“Do you wanna take a break?” Serafall asked. “I mean, we’ve been at it for a while now.”

“No, I’m fine,” Sona replied, giving her older sister a strained smile. “I’m hoping I can make some progress today.”

“Alright, if you say so.” Serafall smiled back. “Now, focus on your energy.”

Sona took a deep breath as power began gathering in her palm.

“Remind yourself of your frustrations. It could be about anything, from your work at school to your responsibilities as a heiress to former enemies.”

But none of that was what frustrated Sona. None of that was what had angered her enough to do this in the first place. It wasn’t the stress of her work as a temporary governess of Kuoh, nor was it the enemies she held grudges against.

“Draw from ice-cold anger. Let it swallow the spell, not empower it.” Sera told her. “Then command it to freeze everything in your path.”

It was her own weakness, her complacency, and her growing feelings of inferiority to a human who had grown vastly more powerful than her in just a few months. A human who kept showing her up over and over, barely even trying or acknowledging Sona as a rival in any meaningful way.

A human who always seemed to stand in the forefront of every conflict they had gone through, leading them to victory time and time again. A human who, frustratingly enough, was someone Sona called a dear friend and perhaps even more. A friend who Sona was utterly mortified once she recognized her own resentment for.

How had it come to this? Since when had Sona developed these venomous thoughts toward Akane? No, the question was why. Sona didn’t want to hate her friend, not when this was her problem to begin with.

Yes, perhaps Akane wasn’t always the most modest, and that added to her frustrations with her, but did their friendship mean so little to Sona that she would begin resenting Akane over something so utterly ridiculous?

As guilt crept up with her growing rage, Sona wavered, temporarily losing focus, releasing another half-assed spell.

Before her sister could try to cheer her up, Sona tried one more time, casting another spell. Again and again, over and over. Each attempt was no different than the last, only adding to her frustration. Her anger grew hotter and hotter as she gritted her teeth.

“Um, Sona?”

Why couldn’t she do this? She was doing the exact same thing Serafall was telling her, and yet— even a WEEK of refining her magic wasn’t enough. She’d gone through Serafall’s ridiculous, pointless pre-training just for it not to amount to anything!

Countless hours and attempts without even a lick of progress made. Was this all for nothing? Was she hopeless? Was Sona simply inferior after all? She couldn’t get it. She just couldn’t get it. 

“Sona, relax,” Serafall said as Sona kept casting spell after spell. “You’re not really helping yourself right now.”

And this… this idiot next to her still treated her like a child. Like someone who’d only just started casting spells. Even though Sona had grown to the level of Ultimate-class devil in power, Serafall refused to treat her like one.

It’s like her sister didn’t want to acknowledge any progress Sona had already made. Like she was still her adorable little ‘Sona-tan’ who hadn’t gone through SEVERAL life-or-death battles. It felt insulting.

“Stop.” Serafall insisted. “Sona, this is too much. You have to stop.”

Had Sona known this was what was waiting for her, she would’ve ignored Rias’ advice and gone off to figure something out on her own. It would be infinitely better than to be constantly belittled by her own sister.

She didn’t even give Sona the courtesy of a simple spar, saying it was too early. How would she even know that?! Sona didn’t come back here to be mocked and infantilized! What a fucking joke!

“Sona—”

“Shut up!” Sona yelled back, making Serafall flinch. “Just shut up! Stop patronizing me!”

Her sister backed off, looking back at her in shock. Sona huffed, angrily scowling at Serafall for a few seconds. Then, Sona’s eyes widened, white-hot anger immediately dwindling as she realized that she had momentarily lost her temper.

Remorse quickly replaced every ounce of frustration within her, making her lower her arm and look away from Serafall. This was the first time she had spoken to her older sister in such a way. She felt ashamed and embarrassed.

“I…” Her voice now much quieter, Sona stammered. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

Serafall, however, only smiled at her.

“It’s okay.” She replied in a soft, even voice. “I get it. I really do. I know I’d be mad in your shoes.”

The younger devil said nothing.

“But it happens. All of us hit a wall eventually.” Serafall added. “But every wall can be broken with enough hard work. Always remember that, alright?”

Sona’s frown deepened.

“…Alright.”

She knew her sister was just trying to cheer her up, but this didn’t help at all. Sona only felt worse about herself. ‘Every wall can be broken’ meant nothing when she was the only one who couldn’t break hers.

She had been left in the dust, and once, or if, she ever broke that wall, it would’ve already been too late.

“Sona?”

The Sitri Heiress glanced up at her sister, whose smile was now replaced by a concerned look.

“You know you can tell me if anything is bothering you, right?”

Sona knew that, of course. And she knew Serafall well enough that she’d do everything in her power to help her if Sona ever decided to tell her about her feelings of inferiority. She’d probably try to assure her that she was doing great or whatever…

“I’m fine,” Sona replied, swallowing up the urge to vent. “Let’s just take a break.”

“Well…” Serafall didn’t press. “If you say so.”

But if today was anything to go by, then she highly doubted her sister could help.

Because words of encouragement meant nothing to Sona.

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– Lucifer –

It had been several hours after Akane’s amusing little tantrum, and thankfully, the girl had gotten over it enough to start working on her new project. Honestly, the longer he had spent with her, the more she reminded him of his younger self. He used to be just as arrogant and volatile as she was, always self-important and constantly feeling slighted by any word or action that didn’t suit his fancy.

Beyond thinking it was hilarious, Lucifer had found it utterly pathetic, of course. Idiotic and infantile, but, well, he couldn’t expect too much from a child like her. Rather, he was impressed at how quickly she had reined in her anger to focus on her job. True, she was still seething with rage, but she did not let it deter her from working on what needed to be done.

After taking a few minutes to calm herself and think about her next move, Akane had put on those little earplugs that emit music and started to silently tinker with the loot she had gotten from that underground marketplace. She mainly focused on the Agreasite crystals, laser-cutting them into proper shapes before stuffing them into cylinder tubes plugged into her computer.

First, she tested the crystals, activating them through simple calculations that grew increasingly complex as she tried to determine the crystals’ limits. Finding none — at least not yet — Akane decided to proceed to the next phase of her plan: testing whether her programming language could do the same.

And after countless attempts, thousands of these strings of words she called ‘codes’, Akane found… nothing. No luck in that regard. Nothing she had coded into the crystal ever responded beyond a mere faint glow that died down just as quickly as it had appeared. A sign that this was possible, yes, but that was as much as she was able to get.

Lucifer found this highly fascinating. ‘Programming.’ What a superb concept. He’d gleaned an understanding simply by seeing Akane, and it made him marvel at human ingenuity. Not only had they relied on mathematics to even the odds against the supernatural races, growing more powerful with every generation, but they’d created entire languages that could power machines and, now, magic.

Truly, it was no wonder that his father had grown obsessed with them. Every day, Lucifer himself had become a little more infatuated with humanity as well. Especially the little girl next to him. Such remarkable talent from a human was so rare back in his day.

Though Akane didn’t share his excitement, instead, she was quite frustrated, but she was too focused to throw another tantrum. That or too tired. She’d been on that chair of hers for a while, listening to extremely loud and guttural music with an ashtray filled with cigarettes on her desk, as well as several empty cans of those ‘Energy Drinks’ scattered around.

Even with little to no progress, Akane vehemently refused to give up or even take a break, hellbent on getting her new power source to work as soon as possible. Her perseverance was quite admirable, Lucifer thought. However, her performance seemed to have deteriorated a little.

She was typing more slowly, taking longer pauses to process her thoughts, and seemed to zone out more often. Beyond the evident exhaustion, that recording hadn’t just angered her, but made her significantly more paranoid.

He supposed that this was where they differed. In his youth, Lucifer hardly ever felt paranoia. Despite the terrible odds stacked against him, he had been more than influential and powerful enough to spread fear across all worlds. Many heroes and legends had fallen before his might, and no ‘outmaneuvering’ from his enemies came close to felling him.

Such was the power of the one reborn. Who had cast his doubts, fears, and worldly desires away all for the sake of his ambitions. Lucifer had only perished at the hand of his own father. The one being that was powerful enough to kill him.

But Lucifer had had quite a few advantages over the young girl. She was, first and foremost, still a human. A flawed being tethered by her worldly weaknesses. She hadn’t yet reached her full potential, and Akane herself knew that. She knew it, but refused to do what was necessary to overcome these weaknesses.

She still hesitated. That tiny human part of her that yearned to love and be loved, writhing within the endless wickedness in her heart. It was miserable and weak, utterly dominated by her fierce sense of ambition, not unlike his, aimless as it may be. Otherwise, Akane would’ve never even considered using everything at her disposal to get what she wanted.

…But her humanity was still there. And as long as it remained, that line would never be crossed.

At least not intentionally.

She is young, Lucifer. He thought to himself, silently looking at her. You were the same, too.

He, too, had once hesitated to do what must be done.

And just as you have been reborn into something greater, He smiled. Perhaps she will reach that summit as well.

Only time would tell.

After another unsuccessful attempt, Akane huffed angrily, rolled her chair back, and rubbed her temples.

“I don’t get it.” She hissed, taking off her earphones. “I’m doing the same thing the yakuza are doing with their own sphere generators, but it’s not working. Am I missing something?”

Despite her impressive perseverance, she was clearly reaching a boiling point. At this point, Lucifer doubted she’d make any progress even if she were to work for three days straight.

“Perhaps it’s time you took a breather, darling.” He told her. “You’ve been working for quite a long time. You’re tired.”

“I don’t need a break.” She disagreed. “I need to get this stupid thing running.”

“And being impatient will not help you achieve that,” Lucifer argued. “A little rest could go a long way, and you have all the time in the world.”

Akane said nothing as she continued staring at the screen.

“Besides,” Lucifer continued, glancing at the digital clock. “There’s not much time left before your friends start to wonder where you are.”

“I know that.” She scoffed, crossing her arms. “…I thought this was going to be easier.”

She was like a small child complaining. How precious.

“We all hit our roadblocks eventually.” The Devil God said. “And if I may suggest…”

“What?” Akane looked at him.

“Seeing that the Tojo clan has accomplished this… programming magic,” Lucifer answered. “Then they must have the knowledge you need to do so as well.”

“Like hell I’m asking them for help.” She scowled. “I’m literally better than them. My programming skills are superior, and Nemesis’ original code is proof of it.”

“Now, now,” Lucifer chuckled. “That wasn’t my suggestion. I never said you should ask for help.”

Akane paused.

“You have all the tools you need to take what you need.” He elaborated. “And if your skills really are superior, then perhaps it is time that you proved it to them.”

Instead of dismissing his very dangerous suggestion, Akane predictably thought it over for a few moments. Lucifer had spent quite a while around the girl and had come to understand the type of person she was. Perhaps better than she understood herself. There was a good reason why she reminded Lucifer of himself when he was young.

This Tojo clan, her supposed allies that had once nurtured her father, was nothing more than a stepping stone. Unlike her closest confidants, it was an entity that she had no strong feelings towards— a faction of useful fools that supplied her with tools and resources. To betray them for her own gain was never out of the question.

“I guess it would make sense. If I ask them about it directly, it might give them a reason to investigate me in case I screw up down the line.” She muttered to herself. “But if someone else hit them and compromised their systems, they wouldn’t have anything to link me to future mistakes.”

Yes, of course. All because she wanted her alter ego to remain anonymous for as long as possible. It was so bizarre and equally comical to even think about, Lucifer supposed. She thought she would be one of the first suspects to investigate because she had just so happened to ask her closest backers about their programming knowledge once upon a time. What sort of paranoid freak would even come to such a conclusion?

But Lucifer knew better. This wasn’t solely about her feelings of paranoia. No, this was something much more childish and petty. After all, Akane felt completely ridiculed by the Overseer for the way he had manipulated her. Her pride was wounded— her overinflated ego was hurt, and she would go to any lengths to soothe that pain. If it meant betraying her own allies, she would eagerly do so, all in the name of her own sense of superiority.

Truly, she was rotten to her core, and Lucifer found this to be oh-so delightful.

“I do hope you’re not planning to do such a thing right now,” Lucifer said.

“Why, scared I’d fuck it up?” Akane huffed, this time a little more playfully. “Please. I bet I can scrape their entire database in minutes without them even noticing.”

“I am fully aware of your abilities,” He assured her. “But overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer, Akane. You are exhausted, not at your peak, and have little time before someone at the resort decides to look for you.”

For a split second, as her eyes narrowed, Akane looked like she wanted to argue with Lucifer, but quickly relented and sighed deeply.

“Yeah, you’re right.” She said. “As easy as it would be, I shouldn’t risk it when I don’t have to.”

“Precisely.” Lucifer nodded.

“Something to do later, then.” She added, standing up and stretching her arms. “After I’m done with Dwight, maybe.”

Akane walked toward the teleporter, checking something on her phone before activating it. A portal leading to the interior of a small shed in the resort opened, and as they walked through it, it quickly closed behind them. A strategic place to teleport to and from her private base— far away from the main building, while also good enough to use as a ‘workshop’ for her tinkering. At least for the things she was willing to build in front of her friends.

Akane left the shed and went back to the building. It was still early in the morning, about 7:15, so fortunately for her, her friends were still asleep.

Well, except for her dragon toy.

“Oh, hey. Good morning.” The Red Dragon Emperor, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, greeted Akane as she closed the door of their bedroom behind her. “You done with the hacking thing?”

“Yes.” She nodded.

“Great! So when do we—” He paused as Akane dropped to the bed face-first. “What are you doing?”

“I’ll beat him up later.” She replied in a muffled voice. “I’m taking a nap now.”

“Oh, yeah. For sure. Take all the time you need.” Ichiban said, patting her on the head. “You’ve done a great job, Akane. You deserve to rest.”

She let out a pleased hum before grabbing the boy’s arm just as he started to pull it back.

“What?” He asked, confused.

“Keep doing this until I fall asleep.” She told him. “And praise me more. ‘Great job’ isn’t enough.”

Ichiban sighed. However, he seemed more endeared by her antics than exasperated.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Seeing this, Lucifer couldn’t help but chuckle. He had always found this dichotomy of hers so strange and eccentric. One second, she was this methodical, egotistical evil who cared for nothing other than her own benefit— a human whom even Lucifer himself wanted to make his successor over his own devil son.

…And the next, she was a needy princess who wanted to be pampered.

A younger Lucifer might’ve found this utterly pathetic and embarrassing, but now? He hoped she would enjoy these moments while she still could.

Because at the rate things were going, he highly doubted they would last forever.

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– Akane –

You know, I always had a feeling things would come to this eventually. Having to go directly against the Yakuza, that is. After all, they have a lot of information I could use, classified or otherwise. I just didn’t expect it to be so soon. Yeah, they may be backing me up, but I still don’t trust them, because at the end of the day, I’m not their leader.

They don’t work for me. They don’t answer to me. I’m not their most important member, and if it ever came down to it, I’m sure they’ll get rid of me in order to further their goals. So I don’t owe them any loyalty. As far as I’m concerned, they’re just temporary allies until I can fully take over the clan or crush it beneath my boots.

Perhaps it’s sad to view it in such a way, but I know what I am. This little relationship with them will never last. I’m too ambitious and they’re not ambitious enough. I’m sure that we’ll clash at some point, for one reason or another.

Before that time comes, I need to lay the groundwork for that inevitable confrontation. If I want to counter them despite their vast resources, then I have to prepare. I need to figure out everything about them and know all they know. Every bit of knowledge they might have, I need to take.

This isn’t just about their information on the programming magic. Really, that’s just the excuse to start my little coup. I want everything they know. Information about other factions, history of the clan, general knowledge about magic and powers like Sacred Gears, and files on each and every personnel member who works for them. Powers, backgrounds, strengths, and weaknesses. With terrifying monsters within their ranks, I’d be stupid not to do my research.

For example, all I know about Goro Majima is that he has yokai blood like me. Proficient in Shin Youjutsu and has the strength, speed, and durability of a Satan-class combatant. But that’s it. That’s all I know. I’ve trained with him a few times, even sparred once or twice, but besides his unpredictable fighting style, he’s given me nothing else to work with.

Then there’s someone like Saejima, and all I know about him is that he has one of the Four Gods' Sacred Gear. And mind you, he managed to one-hit KO Ichiban in his cape mode. If I pick a fight with either of these monsters unprepared, I don’t think even Excelsis would save me.

If I prepare accordingly, though, then I know nothing can stop me.

Though if I really want to hack into their systems, then there’s something else I must do first, and that is to provoke them further using my villain persona. I’ve already planned out her whole motives and reasons for attacking the clan, so I want them to feel targeted. That this ‘terrorist’ isn’t just doing this for the hell of it, but because she’s an enemy of theirs.

…As well as every supernatural faction in existence.

I want this villain to gain a name for herself. I want her to be feared across all the realms. I want to give her a reason to attack indiscriminately. And, more importantly, I want to distinguish her from Akane Amamiya. And to do that, I had to give her a motive that I personally wouldn’t give two shits about.

It’ll all be exaggerated theatrics and drama when I assume that persona, and something tells me that’s going to be very fun.

What can I say? I like acting.

But for now, there’s a little fish that needs to be caught, and I’m hungry for sushi.

“Crystal Aloha resort…” Kiba mutters once I reveal Dwight’s location to the group. “That’s the place Issei and I were investigating.”

“Hiding in the flashiest suite in the whole city,” Irina sighs. “Somehow, I’m not very surprised.”

“Same hotel we’re staying at,” Xenovia adds. “Can’t believe we’ve never noticed him.”

“I knew it. I knew he was there!” Issei says. “I even said it! Oh, it feels so good to be right!”

“Yeah, yeah, stop gloating.” I roll my eyes. “Literally a child could’ve suspected it.”

“Let the guy have his moment,” Ichiban tells me. “So how are we gonna do this? Are we just gonna bum rush him before he gets a chance to escape?”

“First of all, it’s how I’m going to do this.” I remind him. “And I prefer to stroll right in there and politely knock on his door.”

“I feel like he’s going to see that coming,” Xenovia says. “He probably has access to the cameras in the resort. If he sees you…”

“He won’t see me coming.”

“How do you know that for sure?”

“Cuz I’m going in with a disguise, obviously,” I respond. “He won’t even notice I’m there until I punch him in his stupid face.”

“You got a disguise?” Irina raises an eyebrow.

“Yup. Snagged it off a cosplay store in Honolulu.” From my inventory, I pull out a mildly familiar maid outfit and a short, light blue hair wig. “Among other things, of course.”

“Huh. I didn’t know you were into cosplay.” Ichiban points out.

“It’s a recent development.” I give him a smug smile.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t get it, blinking at me obliviously, even though it makes him look more adorable. It’s fine, he’ll understand what I mean soon enough. I know what sort of things he’s into~

And I gotta say, good taste.

“Akane-san in a maid outfit…” Issei mumbles in awe. “Just what wouldn’t I do to see that?”

Irina, clearly growing jealous of my superiority, crosses her arms and pouts.

“Wouldn’t it still look odd?” Kiba questions. “A maid outfit in this weather is a bit… out of place, I would say.”

“Don’t worry, I still have this.” I flick my hand as sunglasses appear in between my fingers. “It’s the perfect disguise.”

“‘Perfect,’ she says…” Xenovia looks unconvinced.

“I got this, alright?” I roll my eyes. “Yeah, sure, a maid cosplayer in some luxurious resort might not seem like the perfect idea, but I highly doubt this little idiot would even spare me a glance while I’m wearing this outfit. You know why?”

“Why?” Ichi asks.

“Because first, he’d be too busy looking out for one of us,” I answer. “He wouldn’t even notice me infiltrating his hotel. Second, this disguise is too stupid, so even if he suspects me for a second, he’ll immediately dismiss it.”

And third, a few invisibility and mirage spells can go a long way. But they don’t need to know about my proficiency in illusion magic.

“Reverse psychology, huh…” Kiba hums. “I’ll admit, I’m still not sure if this would work…”

“Yeah, it kinda feels like you’re underestimating him a bit too much.” Issei agrees. “Why can’t we let Koneko do this? She’s the stealth master here.”

“You heard what Magnus said, didn’t you?” I argue. “Ichi and I are the only ones who can comfortably beat him in a fight, so he’s at least High-class level. I’m all for letting Koneko handle scouting missions, seeing her impressive track record, but I’m not willing to risk her safety for it.”

“I’ll be careful,” Koneko says.

“I’m sure you would be, but remember what we’re doing this for.” I remind her. “This isn’t a scouting mission. We want to capture and interrogate Dwight, and if he does end up being equal to you in strength or even stronger, then what hopes do you have of achieving that?”

“I can hold him off.” She responds. “Then you can come and take him down.”

Ugh, she’s so persistent.

“The area he’s in is very populated.” I point out. “The less we do to capture him, the better.”

“I suppose there’s sense in that,” Kiba says once Koneko struggles to find an argument. “But still, this plan feels risky.”

“Eh, it does sound stupid, but it’s like, too stupid it loops back into being smart. I got faith.” Ichiban says, giving me a smile of encouragement. “I mean, come on, since when did any of Akane’s plans get us in a bad place? I’m sure it’ll work.”

“Exactly.” I nod, liking the fuzzy feeling in my chest. “I’ve never led you astray, and seeing how perfect I am, that’s never going to happen.”

“Well, here’s hoping this will work.” Irina sighs.

“Just leave it to me, okay?” I say confidently. “Besides, even if he recognizes me, I highly doubt he’d be able to hide before I get to him.”

No way I’d let him get away, because unfortunately for Dwight, this Overseer asshole made this very personal. No way in hell I’d EVER let such mockery go unpunished. Just who the fuck does he think he is? He has no idea who he’s messing with.

He doesn’t get to fuck with me like this and get away with it. How fucking dare he even? I’m someone far above his pay grade. So utterly superior in every conceivable way that he should be honored to have gotten my attention. And I’ll prove it to him before I inevitably devour his soul.

I’ll crush everything he has built here. I will tear his little organization apart, make an example out of each and every one of his little pawns, then wring his neck as I kill that stupid goddess he’s trying to revive. I won’t rest until I’ve broken his spirit.

I want to hear him begging me for mercy.

I want him to fear me.

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I seriously need to learn how to compact my scene...