I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth tightly, ready to take the blow to my back.

…sigh… it's gonna hurt like hell…

I waited for the stinging pain of Constantine's sword tearing apart my back…but it never came…

I could hear a loud screech right behind me…someone had saved me, if I had taken that blow head-on, I would’ve been incapacitated, and it would’ve been an easy feat for Constantine to take my life.

“You humans from the Capital Virtues are truly pathetic, aren’t you?”

I had been saved. Even though they could’ve easily taken down one of the biggest thorns on their side…why would you save me?

Beelzebub… the sin of gluttony…

I could feel tears well up in my eyes. But this wasn’t the time to cry…

I got up immediately and jumped aside. She may have saved me, but I can't let my guard down...

“Hey BB!! Why can’t you wait for me huh?”

And the person who came running behind her, another one of the Seven Deadly Sins, Lytta: the sin of wrath. They say that she’s got two different personalities, but I’ve only seen the side of her that one-sidedly massacres her enemies.

“Sorry about that Lytta. But I kind of feel like chopping this guy in front of me to pieces right now.”

She parries off Constantine’s sword skillfully with her fan. The weapon Beelzebub uses is really special among all the adamantine weapons out there. It’s the only weapon that can switch its shapes any way it wants. This reminded me of the fight we had when I came searching for the child. She held back against me as if she were making sure I didn't die.

“Woah! BB…it honestly isn’t funny when it comes out of your mouth you know. Well, you can take care of him, while I take care of this cute chick here…”

Constantine lungs his sword at her while she skillfully dodges his parries and strikes his gut with her fan, sending him flying across the field. She then turns to Lytta and stares daggers at her.

“I'm sorry Lytta, but I won't let you lay a finger on her.”

“Huh?! Do you even know what you’re saying, BB? This is one of our biggest chances to take out two of the Seven Capital Virtues. Are you being serious right now?”

"This wasn't part of the plan Lytta."

"I wasn't involved in this so-called plan in the first place. And what difference is it gonna make if I just one human? These pesky titles keep being inherited no matter how many times you kill them anyway."

I thought of giving the child to Kelvin and telling him to run with her, but there’s no telling what Beelzebub and Lytta would do to them…and if Constantine gets his hands on the child he’ll surely try to kill her. Constantine gets back on his feet and throws himself at Beelzebub again.

“How dare you ignore me, you monsters?!”

Beelzebub blocks his strike with her fan and kicks Constantine in his gut once more. If it were the usual her, she wouldn’t use such methods against even her enemies. She’s always so graceful no matter how she fights.

That Beelzebub is glaring at her friend and companion to protect me…

“…don’t involve a child in this…Lytta…”

…ha-ha, right as if she’d ever worry about her enemy…I feel stupid for getting my hopes up…Aah this is so embarrassing!!!

“You do know that I won't touch the child, right? I'm not some demon you know...oh wait, I am a demon aren't I? Anyways, I’d only be killing the one who’s carrying the child…”

Beelzebub stares at Lytta for a while. She looks at Constantine. While they have their weapons clashed against each other. She grits her teeth in disdain as he stares down at him. She opened her mouth; a swarm of bees came out of her mouth. They covered Constantine’s face and spread across his whole body slowly.

She turned to Lytta and looked into her eyes, while Constantine was writhing in pain, trying to get the bees off of him.

“Lytta…let them go…just this once…please…”

She stared at Lytta with a desperate look in her eyes. While Lytta gave her a cold expression in return as if she didn't care about anything she said. The both of them were completely silent, but the tension between them kept increasing by the second, neither of them backing down.

“BB…you. Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for Zen?”

“Huh?!”

I couldn’t help but be surprised at what she asked Beelzebub.

And why does she get to call her BB anyway? I wanna call give her a cute nickname too!!!

The Beelzebub…the embodiment of elegance…falling for someone like me? Hahaha…that kind of joke hurts my consciousness you know…

Beelzebub raised her head and looked at me and, in a few seconds, her face turned bright red. She looks back at Lytta and spouts a few words in a low voice.

“…yes…I…have…”

“Huh?! I can’t hear anything if you’re talking like a goldfish you know. Where'd that insect-spitting mouth of yours go huh?”

“I said…that I have fallen for her! You got a problem with that?!”

W-what? What did she just say?

Fallen? …like in love?

…with me?

This time…it was my face which was beet red.

“W-w-what…are you?!”

“Pfft…Hahaha…Oh my gosh. I can't believe she actually said it Hahaha...”

Lytta bursts out into a fit of laughter, while Kelvin covers his mouth with his mouth and tries his best to hold back his laughter.

“Hahaha…alright-alright, I got it. I won't hurt you cute little crush then…at least for today. But seriously… I knew that you had your eye on her for a while, but I didn’t expect you to actually fall for her…”

“…shut up…”

The two of them looked at me as if they were observing how I'd react to all this.

Why are they looking at me like that?

What kind of expression do I have right now?

W- What am I supposed to do right now?!

“E-eh? Uh…d-did you hate it that much? Can you please stop crying…I didn’t mean to…”

Crying? Who…me?

Ah…I see. I’m relieved…I never realized…

No…I forced myself to accept the fact that…there was nothing I could do...

I loved Beelzebub…

I handed the baby in my hands over to Kelvin who was standing next to me. I lunged at Beelzebub as fast as I could. She closed her eyes assuming that I’d attack her, and Lytta got her guard up at my sudden charge.

But I didn’t care…I didn’t care if I got hurt a little bit or even slashed in the gut blown away by Lytta's explosions…

I held Beelzebub’s head and threw myself at her lips. I kissed …her plump lips. They felt so soft, and it felt like heaven…

Aaah…I wonder if this is all a dream…

I opened my eyes to look at Beelzebub who was staring at me with pure surprise in her eyes. And that’s when I realized what I had done. My eyes went wide and I instantly backed off. Beelzebub had …disbelief… imprinted on her face. My whole face went red, like a ripe tomato.

I can’t believe I did that!

W-what is wrong with me?!

No…wait how do I look at her now?

After doing something like this…she’s gonna think of me as a disgusting…

I pushed Kelvin into the carriage. Took the reins on the horses and drove the carriage as fast as I could.

Both Lytta and Beelzebub were left speechless at what had happened…

While Constantine Starfield was filled with bumps on his face, unable to witness any of the happenings that transpired before him…

While Acedia who was the mastermind behind all this was squealing at this heartwarming scene from behind the scenes.

Ruby's skills are the best!!! I can stalk people all I-...I mean patrol-survey-Aah! I don't need romance movies anymore!!!

---

Aoi here,

The first matchup is officially revealed!!!

What are your thoughts on Beelzebub X Zen?!