RSE CH 35 (Patreon)

Looking at the decapitated corpse at his feet, Leo sighed. It had been a long time since he’d had to kill someone. He knew Barlowe deserved

Looking at the decapitated corpse at his feet, Leo sighed. It had been a long time since he’d had to kill someone. He knew Barlowe deserved it… that it had been a mercy killing. Mercy to the man’s twisted psyche. And a merciful blessing for all those the man would have gone on to kill.

He still had a sinking feeling in his gut. Killing felt like a… a stain on his soul. He hated the sinking feeling, but he’d had to do what needed to be done. There was no way around it sometimes. 

Unfortunately. 

Sighing once more at the complicated mess his life was becoming, Leo waved his hand and made the gleaming silver sword and black gauntlet vanish. For a brief moment, they left sparkles of black and green in their wake.

Barlowe had been wrong—just plain evil. But Leo had made a mistake in killing him the way he’d done. 

‘Why should I care about the masterminds backing you?’

It wasn’t his problem to deal with. And since Tyrfing had devoured the crazy exorcist’s soul, there was basically no way for anyone to find out more about what he’d been up to. 

A competent detective could perhaps put all the pieces together with their keen abilities of analysis and trace what had happened here back to him. But the mistake most supernaturals made in their hubris was that they were so used to looking down on humans that they practically despised humanity’s genius—no matter how useful their methods might be. 

Forensic study was beyond them. Such hubris was, strictly speaking, downright retarded. But Leo wasn’t about to complain, because that hubris tilted things in his favor.

‘The Fallen Angels will be coming; their portal should be completed soon.’ Leo thought. ‘Better get well away from here and cover my traces.’

Leo checked around quickly, wiping off any surfaces he might have touched and smearing any bloody footprints he’d left in the kitchen. He didn’t know if the Fallen Angel creating the portal was Abaddon—and he didn’t want to know. Leo wasn’t willing to make that gamble. As he was now, facing the powerful Fallen while protecting Asa would literally be suicide. 

“Ha!” he chuckled to himself. “Suicide by Fallen…!”

Leo pushed his hair out of his eyes and blew out a breath. Centering himself, he turned to the shivering girl whose legs had given out on her. 

Below the tatters of her destroyed t-shirt, which left her perky breasts visible for all to see, he noted a growing stain in the crotch of her torn black jeans. That she’d pissed herself only showed how shocking and downright terrifying tonight had been for her.

‘Asa…’

She was still the girl he had befriended in Chemistry class… his lab partner, Asa Silvers. She was a gentle, slightly clumsy, and extremely naive young woman. Before, Leo would have said she knew little about the cruel world, probably because of a clearly sheltered upbringing. But the woman at his feet seemed too familiar with cruelty, if the glassy eyes that remained locked on Barlowe’s still grinning head were anything to go from.  

Who would have thought that he would find her here, in such circumstances?

Groaning at the headache this would surely bring him in the future, Leo walked over and kneeled down in front of her. He had to wave a hand in front of her face to even get the poor girl to blink.

“I missed you in Chemistry… been ages since I’ve seen you. Are you alright?”

Even as he gently spoke, Leo took off his jacket and put it around Asa’s shoulders to cover the expanse of pale white skin and cute breasts displayed in all their naked glory. In such a situation, Leo had no salacious thoughts; all he wanted was to comfort her.

Feeling the warmth of his jacket surrounding her, Asa’s blue eyes flickered to his face as a steady stream of tears ran down her cheeks. She opened her mouth and tried to answer him, but it proved to be too much. Asa fainted and Leo had to lunge forward to catch her before she landed in a pool of blood. 

It may have been relief at Leo saving her from the likes of Barlowe, but her poor mind had been strained beyond its limits. Clearly, the events of this night had been too much for her. 

‘Now what do I do?’

Erasing her memories was impossible, since she was clearly more than just a simple human.

‘Let’s get her home, first.’

Leo scooped the petite woman up in a princess carry, wrapping her fully in his jacket. Leo breathed out in irritation as his boosted gear once again appeared on his arm. He didn’t want to use it, but given the situation, he had little choice.

Taking one step forward—

[Boost!]

WHOOSH 

—Leo and his burden both vanished from the bloody room that screamed of death and desolation.

***

After Leo and Asa left the scene, just as the portal was about to be completed, a magic circle appeared. Overlapping the portal, the glowing circle blocked it before it could form. The portal crumbled slowly, restricting entry to those on the other side of the dimensional gate.

Appearing out of a dark corner, a beautiful ebony black cat with golden eyes carefully stepped around the blood and viscera. A shadowy second tail flickered in and out of visibility, disappearing completely when in shadow.

“How interesting, Nyaa. I was curious about the energy fluctuations, but to think I would find this era’s Black Dragon Emperor. He seems quite strong, Nyaa. I am sure Mona will be delighted with this information.”

The cat talked to herself as it looked at the sealed gate with mockery. While her understanding of space magic was lower than a witch like Le Fay Pendragon — it was impossible for a bunch of Nephilim or even low-level Fallen Angels to create a portal if she wanted to stop them. 

The difference in their respective power levels made it impossible.

Tonight, she had observed the confrontation between Leo and Barlowe from start to finish. Thanks to her mastery over the Sage art which allowed her to fuse her aura with nature and what she knew of the Shadow arts, which allowed her to hide within shadows, she’d stayed hidden—even from someone like Leo. 

She’d been surprised at how sensitive he was to the auras and presence of the supernatural. She felt a strange attraction to the young human—so strong that twice she’d had to stop herself for stepping out of the shadows and introducing herself.

“I see these exorcists are as distasteful as ever.”

She ignored Barlowe’s headless corpse and looked at the mutilated corpses of the poor innocents scattered all over the room in a bloody display of inhumanity. She was not a gentle person—she had the blood of many people on her hands, after all. But it had always been in self-defense. 

She had never killed anyone who hadn’t tried to kill her first.

Sighing in a very non-cat-like fashion, her eyes flashed golden, and a ball of fire covered the bodies—or rather, what remained of them. The mutilated pieces and parts were reduced to ash in mere seconds. Then, as if she wasn’t satisfied with that, she released her control over the fire. It covered the entire house in a destructive conflagration as she walked away from the room and then the house.

‘I might have found a way to get some news about my sister,’ she thought to herself.

The young man she’d been drawn to, wielder of the powerful gear, had mentioned Chemistry class. She knew the only college in the city was the one where the heiresses of the Mephisto and Sitrin families went to school. If Leo went to that school, there was no way he didn’t know about Devils.

Leaving the burning house after ensuring the teleportation portal would never complete, the strange black cat decided to follow the scent of the young Black Dragon Emperor.

‘I hope he won’t disappoint…’

Power-wise, he met the criteria she’d set for a mate. As one of the last remaining Nekosho—and the older of the two of them—it was her duty to find a worthy mate. And that strange attraction she felt was a good sign. 

She was cautiously optimistic that she’d somehow stumbled on her true mate—one who would help her give birth to a healthy and talented litter to continue her Nekosho bloodline. She only hoped that this man’s personality would suit her tastes as well as the power coursing through his very being did.