The two vanished before his eyes — as if they had been pulled into complete nonexistence.
In the wake of it, Romero dropped to his knees, stunned, letting out a heavy sigh.
"What the hell just happened here?"
The question echoed in his mind, unleashing a flood of others: why, who were they… Then a light burst forth. And he was alive — not because of some guardian angel, but thanks to a demon.
That demon.
And unlike the blessed — graced with the salvation of inconvenience — Hideki crashed down onto the earth of a cold desert. No signs of life. Not even dead vegetation. He tumbled violently across the ground, having emerged from a rupture in space-time alongside Asmael, the one who had brought him there.
It took his mind a few moments to recover from the journey — they had crossed countless spatial dimensions and separate points in time.
A brutal rush of information slammed into him.
His vision blurred. The moment played out before his eyes like an unstable image, and he felt reality collapse around his being.
Still, he forced himself off the ground.
Blood ran from his mouth and eyes.
"Shit!" he cursed, hands and knees scraped. As he opened his mouth, air failed him. His eyes bulged with red veins.
There was no oxygen.
He looked around, trying to make sense of where he was — and noticed the absence of a sky. What hung above was deep black, pure space stretched out endlessly, with floating islands scattered across the void and bright lights glittering on the horizon.
"Where… did you… bring me…" he gasped, hands tightening around his own throat. Veins throbbed across his body, and his words came out in choked bursts.
He staggered.
His hands clutched the ground — hard as diamond — as he coughed violently.
"Where? Oh, we're billions of kilometers from Crea… and 281 cycles in the past," Asmael replied calmly, standing just a few steps away. He then crouched down and grabbed Hideki's chin. "I know it was you… the human who made a pact with Bezeel. You have no idea the shit you stirred by freeing him from his punishment!" he snarled with seething hatred.
"Be…zeel?" Hideki managed.
"Because of you… my daughter… became a target of Luciel's fury. My princess — trapped in a time I can barely reach without losing myself!" His once composed gaze blazed with wrath. And then he punched him — letting loose every ounce of pent-up rage. The impact made the surrounding space quake — that was the power of a demon king.
Shockwaves pulsed through the void, strong enough to subtly shift distant celestial bodies from their orbits.
Blood exploded across the barren ground. Hideki blacked out, his jaw shattered, nearly torn off. Agony consumed him. His body was almost obliterated — but the darkness inside him, the demon within, shielded him from instant death.
"Lucky you… that bastard inside is keeping you alive. By my estimate, you two won't disappear for hundreds of years," he spat with contempt. Turning away, he exhaled slowly. "Enjoy it… and don't forget to thank him for keeping you from my daughter…"
Then, a portal appeared in front of him — no words needed. A spiral of black formed before him. With a single step, he entered it and vanished.
It was a manifestation known as a mutual bond: when traveling through time, across the branches of the grand multiversal tree, a permanent link was forged with the visited timeline — allowing natural passage between space-times.
The only catch? Time would always flow from the present of the last branch visited.
With another step forward, he emerged onto another deserted island — this one ringed by a breathtaking coastline, like something from a postcard… if not for the heavy, gray veil that blanketed the skies.
There, another demon awaited. Scales of green shimmered across his back, a fish-like tail rose above his coccyx, and long, jagged horns curved toward the heavens. He faced the sea, quietly admiring the isolated paradise far removed from the three continents.
"Romero is safe. Bezeel has been chained again. Now we wait, brother… you and Gael are next to act."
"Next…"
His words fluttered like seagulls over a corpse. Unsettling…
"You think you're ready?"
Then he glanced over his shoulder, red eyes gleaming.
"The tides are favorable… so if nature says yes, then yes!"
His words struck like an ultimatum — like a rally cry hurled at the walls of the Spiritual Order.
Thousands of voices rose in unison, lifted by calloused hands shaking with pain and fury. Signs waved like war banners: "The Order doesn't serve me," "Genocide is not exorcism," "We want humanity!" — each one a scream long silenced.
Yami and Amai arrived just after turning onto Mae Avenue. They parked in front of the crowd blocking Ekibyō Avenue and quickly read the slogans scrawled across the signs.
Hatred. A sense of injustice…
Everything pointed to the gravity of that moment. Protests were common throughout the cycles — but this one held a different weight.
News and police helicopters swarmed the skies. Old slogans reappeared, scribbled in chalk on the ground or spray-painted on walls and vehicles: "The Order protects monsters, not people!" "What happened to the promise of peace?!"
"Shit… that's a lot of people…"
The crowd was suffocating. Claustrophobic.
The atmosphere couldn't be more uncomfortable.
"According to officials, over 27,000 Aijians are gathered…"
A woman's voice echoed from the car radio. The redhead shut it off instantly.
"Damn… this is bad. That brat from Masaru's group… this is all his fault!" she muttered, stepping out of the car.
Immediately, they were met with hateful and indifferent stares. The eyes of ordinary people — united by suffering, drawn to the chaos.
"Murderer!" a woman screamed, hurling a tomato at her.
She raised a hand — and the fruit disintegrated upon contact with her aura. A simple gesture, but enough to make those around her recoil in fear.
"So… it really was Masaru who caused all this?" he asked awkwardly, trying to ignore the tension around them.
Or maybe it was that announcement online?
He thought it, but didn't say a word. Her certainty was something he didn't want to challenge.
If I could… I'd kill them all… how annoying. He fumed, though she didn't seem fazed at all by the situation.
"Yeah… and not even Gabriel can fix this now."
She stepped forward. Instantly, a path opened in the crowd.
"Hm… he's that bald guy who became a politician, right?" he asked from behind, his presence alone sending more ripples of fear through the onlookers.
She nodded.
"He's the one who destroyed Hiragana's sports academy…" muttered an old man to the woman beside him.
"They're all monsters! How could the government let these delinquents have so much power?!" she snapped.
"Braindead…" the exorcist grumbled, irritated.
He was so grumpy, he barely noticed when she suddenly stopped.
He bumped lightly into Amai and awkwardly grabbed her shoulders.
"Sorry… but why'd you stop?"
He looked ahead — and saw Masaru Jigoku standing right there, beside a tall, striking woman.
"Well, well… look at my antithesis right there!"
"Heh. If it isn't number two — Amai Shirasaki!" he joked, the only one not taking things seriously.
As always…
Beside him, the woman from the hospital, Zahira, stood tall with her hands in her sweatpants pockets. Her presence was commanding — the kind that made people instinctively bow.
"Huh? You mocking me with just one arm now?" Amai grumbled, catching on. Her outfit now bore an air of authority, golden wings stitched into her sleeves. She shot back with venom: "Getting cocky 'cause of your little promotion, huh?"
"Heh. Heh."
"Bullying? I thought you were above that…" the celeste remarked, unfazed by the protest that seemed to freeze around their reunion. "They say Amai Shirasaki is the shining star of the generation…"
"Yeah, well, he's a pain. Totally. Miss…"
"Me? A pain? Meh…" he chuckled, not even trying to deny it. "You women are the ones who—"
He stopped when he noticed Yamasaki behind the girl and slowly stepped up beside her.
"You look pumped. Guess that little date wasn't that exciting, huh?" he teased, only to be slapped by Elizabeth. "Ow! What the hell, woman?!"
"Cut the crap. The Council's probably out for your head as we speak," she warned.
Amai chuckled softly, then quickly composed herself. "Focus, idiot! Or Shirasaki's daughter is gonna want your head on a plate!"
The redhead then accidentally bumped into Yamasaki, visibly flustered.
"Boyfriend?" he mumbled awkwardly, changing direction and heading toward the building entrance.
What brats… they're no help. Don't even seem my age…
Yamasaki thought, watching the chaos around him. Everyone seemed disillusioned, convinced the exorcists were nothing but reckless kids. Just like him…
Just like you.
Azazel taunted, making him bite his lip in frustration. He fought the urge to respond, but—
"Yami?" Amai asked, tugging his sleeve. "Social anxiety kicking in again, sourpuss?" she teased.
Trying to cover the awkward moment.
"Oh, kicking in? What? Huh… nah…" he mumbled, lost in thought.
The celeste and the younger boy exchanged a look — then laughed.
"'Nah'? Then let's go already! Before that clingy ghost screws us over again!" she shouted, dragging him forward.
"Hey… hey…"
And that "ghost" grinned from ear to ear.
"Look at them… husband and wife…"
"Erh…" the celeste laughed awkwardly, seeing her reflection in the girl beside her. "Husband and wife…"
They stepped through the glass doors, followed by the other two — the married one and the one-armed one — right behind them.