"Ri-chan! Come on~ I want to meet Shirone-chan!"

"Yes. Yes."

It has been a week since the day both Shirone and Kuroka joined our picnic, and it looks like Shirone and Rias became close friends. While Shirone and Rias were playing, Kuroka and I had a pleasant conversation.

After her initial shyness, Kuroka begins to open up and show her personality in the canon timeline. Her playfulness and how she likes to flirt even after knowing that I'm a seven years old devil.

When I say that to her, her only response is.

"So?"

Yeah. Sometimes I forget that I'm not a human but rather a devil, and Kuroka is not human either but rather a nekoshou.

Right now, both Rias and I are walking toward the Nekomata Village in the underworld where Kuroka and Shirone live. I look around and see that the Nekomata Village is designed after a traditional Japanese village.

Kuroka and Shirone house on the edge of the village where they lived in a rather small house.

I raised my eyebrow when I saw a group of people gathering in front of Kuroka's house. Without wasting any more time, I begin to walk faster toward Kuroka's house while Rias follows me from behind. I can see a worried expression on her face.

"Ne, Ri-chan. Do you know what is happening?"

"I don't know, Rias. However, I have a bad feeling about this."

"T-Then we need to help them."

"That is why we need to hurry up."

A few seconds later, we arrived in front of Kuroka's house. When I arrived, the man in a suit looked at me for a second before saying.

"You cannot get into this house, kid. Getaway."

"No. This is my friend's home. You guys can fuck off."

Before the man could say more, Rias decided to beat him to it by shouting.

"Shirone-chan! Kuroka-san!"

I can hear someone running from the house, and a second later, I see Shirone running toward us and hugging Rias tightly with her eyes tearing up. Without any hesitation, I walk forward, and when the guard tries to stop me, I release a huge amount of demonic energy and make them kneel in front of me.

A few seconds later, I can see five people lying on the ground like a fish on the land searching for oxygen. I decide to ignore them and look at Kuroka, who has tears running down her cheeks.

"Kuroka, are you okay?"

Instead of answering my question, Kuroka hugged me tightly and began to sob. I pat her back while continuing to release my demonic power to the air, making the other people here on the ground.

"O-our parents are dead."

"I see."

Hearing that Kuroka and Shirone are okay, I decided to stop my demonic energy and let the other devil get some air and let them sit down.

"Tell me what happened."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

|Ardos Naberius POV|

I slowly sit down on the chair and look at the little monster in front of me with fear and hatred. I know him. He is the rising star, Riser Phenex. The son of Hardius Phenex, the destroyer, the man that fought the Biblical God for half an hour in the Great War.

The young man that fought against Karnelly, the son of Lord Zepar.

I only see them fight through the hologram, and when Karnelly said that Riser is a monster in a child's body, I did not believe him, but when I feel that intense demonic power, I know that Karnelly is telling the truth.

"So, is there any reason why you guys are still here after telling her the news?"

I snap from my thoughts when I hear Riser say something.

"We are here to ask her how the agreement between Naberius' house and her house is going. Her mother has a debt to us, you see. Large debt, and we want it to be paid."

Lie. Her mother did not have any debt at all.

"How much?"

"2 billion dollars. US dollar"

"Do you have the document?"

"Of course."

I gave him the document and let him read it. That is the document our family made to tied Fujimai to us. We did not want to let our valuable experiment run away after all. With Fujimai dead, we need to make sure her daughters stay and continue our experiment.

"We will pay for it."

"What?!?"

"The phenex clan will pay for it."

"What? Why would a phenex clan pay for their debt?!?"

"Kuroka and Shirone are my friends, and I will help them. Expect the money in a week. With that being said, the other nekomata did not need to work for you anymore. We will take them to the Phenex territory now."

"What? Wait!"

Before I could say more, the little monster got up and led my precious victim away from home. Dammit. How should I tell this to father? Nekoshou is the main ingredient for our project.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Why, nyaa?"

"Hmmm?"

"Why are you helping us, nyaa?"

"Because you are my friend."

"And? While they cannot see it, I can see your hatred for them."

I look at Kuroka right in the eyes before sighing. How do I explain this?

"Let's just say that I know what kind of experiment they do."

When I say that, I can see the shocked expression on Kuroka's face. It looks like she knows about her parents' work.

"If… If you know about that, why?"

"Why?"

"Why did you decide to help us? My parents kidnap many devils to be used in their experiment…."

Wait. They did? Well, it looks like I really need to send Medea to gather enough evidence. While I can destroy their base just fine, I also want to make the Naberius pay for what they did. If I only destroy their base, it only puts a little bit of dent in their pocket and nothing else.

I need to make a large stain in their name before killing them. I know that the lord of the Naberius clan will not get punished because of his position. Because of this, I need to punish him myself.

Or sell him to the company. Now, that is an option.

"... We did not deserve your kindness."

I snap from my thoughts when I hear Kuroka finished her moping about how she did not deserve my kindness. I smile at her before flicking her forehead and say.

"You are not your parents. You are Kuroka. The young woman who likes to tease and flirt with me is a seven years old boy. You are Kuroka, who loved her little sister so much that you are willing to give your body and soul to them in exchange for Shirone being spared from being experimented on."

"H-How do you know?"

"As I said, I know you, Kuroka. Behind that flirty behavior is a kind big sister that is willing to do anything to protect her sister."

"I see."

Kuroka stays silent beside me as we sit down on the couch, waiting for my father to take care of the other Nekomata in their new home.

"Oh yeah, I want to ask this earlier. How come the other Nekomata come to the underworld? I thought you guys would have a home in Japan."

"We are getting kicked out of our home, nyaa."

"Oh?"

"Yes. There is a war, nyaa. A civil war. A civil war between youkai. Yasaka-sama's ascension to the throne did not come as smoothly as they said it would. Many old families disagreed with a woman becoming the leader of their race even though Amaterasu-sama appointed Yasaka-sama as the leader."

"The old families decide to declare war against Lady Yasaka, ignoring the consequences of them angering Amaterasu."

"Yes. Our tribe decided to side with Yasaka-sama and invited the wrath of the old families. We defended our home for two months waiting for the reinforcement. However, the reinforcement did not come, and we decided to get away from Japan."

"Let me guess, was it the time your mother suggested going to the underworld?"

"Yes. It was my father's suggestion, but the others did not know about it."

"I see. Because of that, you have 'debt' to the Naberius family even though you guys should not have any debt."

I got up from the couch while Kuroka looked at me, confused.

"Riser?"

"Do you know the location of Naberius lab?"

"Yes. I sneak into their lab from time to time."

"Good."

I look at her and give a large toothy grin.

"Because it is time for payback."