Kouske's POV

After ending my call, I focused on the one who had been spying on us all this time. I didn't want to show my back to the fallens back then, so I didn't pay him much attention. But that guy is still here and seems to be trying to get out of my barrier. So I teleported right behind him.

*bang* *bang*

I could hear loud sounds as he was trying to break the barrier using light guns. His whole body was covered. He was wearing sunglasses, a big cap, a mask, and a big backpack on his back. But he was extremely weak, not even on the same level as trained exorcists. He looked like he didn't have any sort of training, but he had some mana on the same level as F- ranked (beginner low-class) beings.

"Are you an exorcist?" I asked.

"Waah! Do-don't kill me! Please! I am still single!" he started begging after looking behind him, seemingly stunned for a while, but then he had a terrified face.

"First, answer my question. Who are you?" I asked in a monotone voice as I activated Truthful Trace, but I was a bit annoyed by his voice.

"I am James, just a passerby! Please don't kill me! I won't tell anyone about this!" replies the man.

But my skill tells me he was lying. He has probably been here since the first barrier was cast and has probably seen everything. He should be thankful that no one pursued him when he was trapped. Well, the others must have wanted to catch him later, as they were quite busy fighting.

*sigh*

"Look, James, I can tell between lies and truth, and I do not have much time. So tell me the truth at once. I won't give you a second chance," I said as I let out some of my aura, making the guy more frightened.

"S-sorry! Please, don't kill me! I am just a broker. I got news from one of my friends who happened to see Ouryuu coming this way. I just thought maybe he was just going to do some exorcism, and I thought I could film him and post it on DeviNet. I needed some money as my job was not doing well. I thought this would be a nice side hustle, as many are making money by posting videos on DeviNet nowadays!" he replied at first, frightened, then bawled out, crying as snots and tears covered his face.

My skill was telling me he was telling the truth. So he's just unfortunate enough to get caught up in this, and he's not even a skilled broker, as from the looks of it, he's broken and starving. And he's just crying out so loud with snots and tears, which is disgusting and annoying. Seeing a grown man be like this is not pleasant at all.

*sigh*

Talk about being annoying!

"Stop crying if you don't want your neck to be snapped! And where did you get that light gun, then? Don't only exorcists use them?" I asked in an annoyed tone.

"I-I got them from a dealer. He had made a deal with an exorcist, and he gets all kinds of weapons through him and sells them," he replied quickly, then shut his mouth after hearing my threat.

"Did you record anything from before?" I asked.

He looked lost about what to say, but probably remembering my skill, he admitted. He had all the fights recorded, both Ouryuu's and mine.

"I will delete it now if you want! Just let me live!" he pleads.

"You don't need to delete them. Post them on DeviNet with my name," I said.

He looked surprised, as he must have thought I would ask him to delete it. But it's a good chance to spread the news about me in an impactful way.

"I am Akatsuki," I said.

"I am James Bond," he replied with a stupid grin on his face.

I just looked at him incredulously. I am more shocked that that's his real name. His parents must have really wanted to defame that legendary guy.

"Give me your contact information and address," I said

"Why?" he asked.

But after a glare from me, I got his every piece of information and even put a bug on him. A literal bug, a familiar one of mine. I will see if I can make use of him later. Then I kicked him out of the barrier by teleporting him away from this place in a certain trash dump, as Azazel should be here soon. Let's just hope he doesn't smell that bad.

*
*
*

After a while, I could feel someone teleporting outside the barrier. I opened a path in the barrier for them to enter. From the outside, entered Azazel and Shemhazai. Even though it was our first time meeting, it wasn't hard to recognize them.

As they came flying in the air, I also flew up in the air, releasing my own jet-black wings. Azazel and Shemhazai were looking around the place, as it was still wrecked so awfully. I could also feel Azazel using some sort of magic to look into the surroundings, probably trying to see if anyone else was here.

"So, I suppose you are the one who called me," said Azazel as he looked intently at my wings and my aura.

"Yes. I am Akatsuki. It's a pleasure meeting you, even though the circumstances are not so pleasant," I replied.

"You probably already know us. So I won't stick to the pleasantries. Where's Kokabiel and Satanael?" asked Azazel.

"Here," I said as two portals opened behind me, and both of them could be seen unconscious and bound by vines on the other side.

Azazel and Shemhazai looked agitated. Even though they wanted to get them ASAP, they probably held themselves back, considering what kind of dangers could be on the other side. I also closed the portals as quickly as they were opened.

"What do you want?" asked Azazel as Shemhazai kept quiet, observing me.

"You know, I actually have no intentions of making enemies with Grigori. I am quite the peace-loving guy," I said, which earned a raised eyebrow from them.

"Oho? And this is your way of being peaceful? First, you stole our Vritra's Sacred Gears from us, and now this!" Azazel asked, anger evident in his tone.

Then the wings behind me sparkled in purple hues as Vritra spoke out.

"When have I ever been your property, Azazel?" asked Vritra, a bit angrily.

Both Azazel and Shemhazai looked stunned, hearing a voice they thought they might never hear again.

"H-how? How are you speaking right now?" asked Shemhazai incredulously, but Azazel wore a contemplative expression.

"Did you manage to merge all the gears and her soul?" asked Azazel.

"Yes. Thanks to him, I can talk to you guys right now," replied Vritra.

"But how? No one ever succeeded. How did he do this?" asked Azazel.

"Even I don't know. Somehow his soul reacted with mine, attracting all the other pieces and combining them," replied Vritra, sticking to our story.

"And I didn't really mean to steal them, you know," I replied, awkwardly.

While Azazel didn't fully believe us, he decided to change the topic for now.

"Even if I believe you, you still caused us some losses, and now you even attacked us," replied Azazel.

"You can take these for your previous losses," I said as I tossed him two vials of health potions (D).

"What are these?" asked Azazel as he caught them, with Shemhazai also looking on from the side.

"Health Potion. It works similarly to Phenex Tears, but I reckon they are even better as they do not waste the recipient's energies, causing them not to be exhausted. And these are made without any of the Phenex's help," I replied, leaving them stunned.

Azazel looked intently at the potions.

"Are you serious? Nobody has ever managed to make something better than the Phenex Tears," Azazel says, eyeing me suspiciously.

"You can test its effectiveness back at your labs. Let me know if it works or not," I replied.

Obviously, both Azazel and Shemhazai were suspicious, but they held onto them for the slim chance that they were real.

"Now, why have you taken those two hostages if you're so peaceful and all?" asked Azazel in a slightly mocking tone, and I could even sense the hidden anger in his voice.

"We just had the same objectives, but being from different factions made us collide. I even politely asked them to give up on it, but they attacked me first. So I just retaliated," I said.

"And what was your objective?" asked Shemhazai.

"A Longinus, Telos Karma, to be exact," I replied honestly, knowing they would find out about it anyway if Kokabiel or Satanael spoke, and my skill still wasn't strong enough to erase memories of Ultimate Class beings.

Both of them were shocked, probably because they hadn't heard anything about this from those would-be traitors, and obtaining Telos Karma is very rare.

"If what you say is true, then I can understand the cause of the conflict. But how long do you intend to hold them hostage? What do you want?" asked Azazel.

"I want to learn about Sacred Gears from you and all your research on them. I will also sell my potions to Grigori in return, if you agree. I'm sure you can understand the impact those potions can have if you have a constant supply of them," I said, making them contemplate the offer.

After a while, as they finished some discussion, Azazel turned to me.

"If those potions are what you claim them to be, I have no problem sharing my knowledge with you," replied Azazel, clearly considering the potential benefits.

"Well, they are real. You can test them and get back to me with a response," I said, bringing both Kokabiel and Satanael from the portal to them, having already dealt with both of them, as I had already plucked out Kokabiel's tongue on Vritra's request.

As they observed both of their conditions, Azazel asked with a grin, "What if you do not get what you want now, as you have already given us what we want along with your potions, and what if we attack you now?"

"You can try, but you will be the ones to lose the most," I replied with a grin of my own.

After a bit of staring at each other, tension rising as both of us slowly raised our own auras, Azazel suddenly stopped and laughed a bit. Following suit, I retracted my aura.

"Alright, I will believe in you for now," replied Azazel.

I then provided him with a way to contact me, and we all teleported out of that place.

I went directly and withdrew all the money from the account, then returned home. I knew I needed to find a better way to create a bank account without being tracked, instead of relying on dummy ones.

After getting home, I found all three of them back with their shopping bags. Elle and Lavinia were lying on the sofa playing Final Fantasy X on PlayStation 2 (PS2). Elle was likely having a bad influence on Rey-chan. Sakuya was in the kitchen, probably cooking. Feeling tired from all that had happened today, I decided to go to sleep a bit earlier than usual after eating dinner with everyone.

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