Have You Decided How You Want to Die?

"—!"

Yukino Yukinoshita suddenly stopped in her tracks, her heart lurching for no reason.

It was a shiver born of human instinct, a latent wariness that stirred only when a living creature sensed danger.

"Tap... tap... tap..."

As Yukino felt that inexplicable thump of fear, the deliberately loud footsteps drew closer and closer, until their owner appeared right in front of her.

He was a man dressed in a highly unusual fashion.

He looked to be around thirty. His clothes were old-fashioned, and he wore a black robe over them, making him look like an ancient man who had suddenly wandered out of the Middle Ages and into the modern world. He stood out terribly from his surroundings.

His appearance wasn't especially remarkable, but his eyes were vicious. The way he looked at Yukino didn't convey admiration for a beautiful woman. Instead, he regarded her like someone inspecting an item that was about to be thrown away.

His gaze was deeply disrespectful. Under normal circumstances, it would have made Yukino frown and scowl in displeasure.

But under the influence of that inexplicable shiver in her heart, Yukino didn't feel annoyed. Instead, she felt... afraid.

"W-who are you?"

Yukino unconsciously took a step back and demanded an answer.

Her question sounded assertive and composed, but the unease beneath it was impossible to conceal.

The man wasn't intimidated. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and sneered.

"You've already sensed the danger, even if only vaguely? No wonder. With something so loathsome dwelling inside you, it makes sense that you'd be a little different from ordinary people, even if you look like nothing more than an ordinary little girl."

The man didn't seem to be talking to Yukino so much as speaking to himself.

His attitude made it abundantly clear that he didn't think Yukino was worthy of a conversation.

Sensing the real danger in his manner, Yukino instinctively glanced around.

Only then did she realize that there wasn't another person in sight. The area had become utterly deserted.

They were near a train station, where the crowds remained thick even at night. Yet now, not a single person was around. There was no doubt that something was wrong.

"What is it? Trying to call for help?"

This time, the man spoke directly to Yukino, but he was clearly enjoying her fear.

"Give it up. No one's coming to save you." He began walking toward her, one step at a time, grinning maliciously as he continued, "I've already set up a barrier to keep people away. Even the Church's personnel, who've been stationed in this city for years, will need some time to notice anything's wrong. Ordinary people won't even come near."

At his words, Yukino couldn't help retreating as he approached, but she forced herself to speak through her fear.

"Who are you? What are you going to do to me?"

The man merely sneered at her question.

"People say ignorance is bliss. Knowing too much won't do you any good." He bared his teeth like a savage beast. "You have no right to question me. You're only human, an inferior creature. All you need to do is accept your fate and await your punishment."

As his words fell, the scene before Yukino's eyes utterly overturned everything she had ever believed.

"Clap!"

With a flapping sound, a pair of black wings appeared behind the man.

They weren't batlike wings like Leo's. These were black angel wings, with feathers hanging from them.

"Y-you're a Devil...?!"

Yukino's eyes widened as the words escaped her without a second thought.

To her surprise, those words infuriated the man.

"A Devil? You dare call me one of those filthy, lowly creatures?" The man's anger was plain to see. "Damn humans! I—Vaden—am a noble Fallen Angel! I belong to a noble race that dares to scorn and betray even God!"

"You called me a Devil? Unforgivable!"

Vaden stretched out his hand, and a ball of light gathered in his palm.

The light was dim and seemed tainted, yet it formed into a Light Spear that Vaden grasped in his hand.

"Insulting me is your first sin."

"Being favored by a creation of the God whom we despise, and having a dangerous Sacred Gear dwelling inside you, is your second sin."

"For both sins, you must die today."

Yukino didn't hear the end of Vaden's low declaration, which sounded as though it came from the depths of hell.

Sensing that mortal danger was about to fall upon her, Yukino finally remembered to run. Without a second thought, she turned and fled.

But after she had taken only two steps, a tremor rang through the air.

"Thwack!"

A sound like something being torn apart rang out.

Yukino's steps faltered, and she couldn't move another inch.

Her pupils trembled. Her face went pale as she stared blankly down at her abdomen.

The Light Spear that Vaden had held only moments ago had pierced through her flesh. Hot blood spilled from Yukino's body.

"Cough...!"

Yukino couldn't even feel the pain. She simply coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Her body was losing its strength.

Her warmth was slowly fading away.

Confused and dazed, Yukino came to her senses only after she had fallen to the ground, her cheeks and skin stained by the pool of blood spreading beneath her.

Vaden had somehow come up behind Yukino. He pulled the Light Spear from her body and looked down at her, haughty and malicious.

"That takes care of the mission."

"They said to investigate first and not act rashly, but... who wants to stay in a place occupied by the Church?"

"Whatever kind of Sacred Gear you have inside you, it won't matter once you're gone."

The smile on Vaden's face was steeped in depravity.

"I don't have that much time to waste on a lowly human."

Yukino could no longer hear him.

Her vision was shrinking, her hearing was fading, and her pupils began to lose focus. Even her consciousness was about to sink into eternal darkness.

At that moment, only one man's voice remained in her mind.

"Do you believe Devils exist?"

"Until you've seen the truth of this world and still cling to the ideas you've formed from the education you've received over the past seventeen years, continuing this conversation would be pointless."

"Once you've encountered something that can truly shatter everything you've believed until now, we can talk about this again."

The man's words surfaced in fragments in her mind.

"So... this is the truth of the world..."

With regret and resentment, the girl slowly closed her eyes.

By then, Vaden had already turned around and was flapping his wings as he flew into the air, preparing to leave.

This area ultimately belonged to the Church. For a Fallen Angel like him, who had betrayed God, entering the territory of a Church that worshiped God was like a piece of meat wandering into a wolf's den. The moment he gave off even the faintest scent, they would hunt him down.

That was why he didn't want to stay here long, lest he draw their attention.

But Vaden wasn't destined to get away today.

At the same time Yukino closed her eyes, the scarlet magic circle on the piece of parchment she had been clutching lit up.

The magic circle rose from the paper and expanded, and a figure emerged from within.

"Boom!"

Before Vaden, flying through the air, could even realize what was happening, a Magic Bullet tore through the air and slammed into him, exploding against his body.

"What?"

Vaden fell from the sky in shock and landed in a disheveled crouch, one knee on the ground.

Only then did he see it.

He saw the figure stepping out of the magic circle as it slowly faded away.

"I found out about you mangy birds from Sona at noon, and you'd already shown yourselves by evening. Couldn't wait, could you?"

A deep voice rang out, and Leo came fully into Vaden's view, his face twisting.

"A Devil?" Vaden spoke in revulsion and disgust. "Why is a Devil in the Church's territory?"

Leo hadn't revealed his wings, but the Magic Bullet he'd just fired and the Devil's aura emanating from him told Vaden everything he needed to know: he was a Devil, the very kind of being the Fallen Angels—Vaden in particular—despised and looked down on most.

Devils and Fallen Angels were not only ancient enemies but also rivals competing for territory.

In the hell humans called the Underworld, Devils and Fallen Angels both lived, each occupying one half of the realm. Since the Primordial Era, they had fought endlessly to rule the Underworld.

They loathed the sight of each other. Some Fallen Angels held Devils in especially great contempt, a trait they'd acquired as Angels, before they fell.

Angels were already hostile toward Devils, believing them to be evil and ugly creatures. Most importantly, Devils represented sin itself: they were sinners who defied God. As former Angels, the Fallen Angels still regarded Devils as filthy things even after their fall. Their long-standing conflicts in the Underworld had only made that hatred and revulsion more deeply ingrained.

But Leo ignored Vaden, who was glaring at him with undisguised hatred, and turned his gaze to Yukino, lying in the pool of blood nearby.

He could sense that Yukino's aura had grown incredibly faint. She could die at any moment.

So Leo turned to Vaden, his face expressionless.

"You dared lay a hand on someone I've set my sights on. Have you decided how you want to die?"

Leo's words only made Vaden angrier.

"You're the one who should die, you lowly—"

Vaden couldn't finish the sentence.

"Boom!!!"

A mass of Magic Mass, like black flames, suddenly crashed down and swallowed him whole.

"Ahhhhhhh...!"

Vaden's scream rang through the area, then quickly fell silent.

The flaming mass of Magic Mass vaporized him on the spot, leaving not even a single bone behind.