“I am back!”

Opening the door of his home, Basara lightly massaged his shoulders while announcing his arrival to Lucia, his personal maid… of sorts.

He planned to enter his room to take a quick rest, however, he was forced to stop short at the sight registering his eyes in the living room.

“Welcome Basara-sama. Would you like a bath, a dinner, or perhaps…me?”

“*Sigh* How many times has it been now? Your joke is becoming old.”

Sighing, Basara did not spare a glance at Lucia as he advanced towards his room. It would have been one thing if she tried to act cute while uttering those words, but the way her cold stoic expression of complete indifference barely changed at all made all feelings of excitement, if there were any to begin with at this point, vanish like ice under the scorching heat of the sun.

“How strange. From the eroge I played, such an act should have been enough to make a teen male go in heat. Perhaps I should buy another one?”

This was a hobby of hers Basara had discovered during these short few days they were living together. It had been a great surprise for him to see the ever-serious Lucia playing an erotic game or eroge in short. She was so straight and cold that sometimes he forgot she was supposed to be a succubus.

It’s exactly because he commented that to her as such a few days ago that Lucia took it as a goal to seduce him and show him that she was indeed a succubus.

As could be seen, however, even though she was extremely beautiful and possessed a seductive body befitting a succubus, she never managed to make his heartbeat accelerate even for a millisecond.

It was not that Basara was extremely resistant to seduction, but the fact that Lucia was just that bad at seducing others.

———

After taking a hot bath and having some delicious dinner made by the succubus maid, he heard some concerning words escape Lucia’s lips.

“By the way, Basara-sama. You should be careful when moving at night for a few days. Stray devils have been sighted in the nearby area.”

‘A stray, huh...’

The term used to designate a stray was pretty broad but also very narrow at the same time. In essence, the term stray was used to designate criminals or dangerous devils that should be eliminated on sight, no questions asked.

The problem was that most, if not all, stray devils were devils who had left their peerages without the permission of their masters.

In short, all criminals were stray devils, but not all stray devils were criminals. Which made it possible for the elimination of an innocent devil who didn’t want to follow their master’s orders. For this reason, it was a moral conundrum to hunt stray devils. 

‘Then again, this isn’t my problem.’

The devils in charge of this territory were supposed to take care of things like this since there were no exorcists from the church in the surroundings. 

Though, thinking about Tsubaki and Akeno, he couldn’t help but frown.

“How powerful is the stray?”

“Strays, not stray. As for their power. The first one is just a small fry. But the second one…”

Lucia showed a worried expression for the first time before shaking her head.

“Just be careful when you go out. Even for you, as you are now, facing her would most likely result in your defeat. After all — She is an Ultimate class devil.”

———

The moon stood high in the sky and bathed the world with its stolen light. Despite the ungodly hour, though, the city wasn’t asleep. Lights filled the streets as people walked in monotone and minded their own business, holed in their own world.

But behind these lights and the apparent peace, shadows were lurking and dangers were roaming unrestrained.

Somewhere, in a deserted alley...

“Ugh!! Bitch!! Lord Zolgear won’t let you go. Lady Zest will avenge us."

A man groaned hysterically while he was being raised up and choked by a hand.

The hand around his neck was rather dainty and immaculate. It was the hand of a woman, no doubt enchanting in her allure. The darkness was hiding her beautiful features, but her deep golden eyes gave out an eerie, nigh majestic, glow as they shone in the dark.

It was a form of ethereal beauty. The like of which could make bards chant poems for days on end. Sadly, the man did not have the leisure nor the circumstances to appreciate the beauty as he was fighting for his dear life, or at least, he was trying to put up a fight.

Looking at the feeble attempt at freedom from the man who previously mocked her, the woman only had one thought.

‘Weak.’

Crack!!

The sound of broken bones resonated in the black alley, bouncing along its narrow walls.

She didn’t even intend to kill him, but the difference in power was so high that just a slight slip of control had been enough to snap the neck of the man she was holding.

The result was immediate. An incredulous light of shock and despair briefly flickered in his eyes before all forms of consciousness slowly faded from them.

Once she ascertained his death, she threw his body on the ground with a slight flicker of her hand with disinterest and began to walk away.

‘I wonder if the Zolgear Nebiros[1], as well as the Naberius clan, will send stronger people? It would be good if they gave up. But I need to prepare myself.’

Remembering the words of the dying man, she couldn't help but frown.

Zest. An ultimate class devil who was also known as the hunting dog of Zolgear.

Her companions weren’t accessible currently as they had been sent to another mission.

If Zolgear was to send that bunny-like devil against her, she would be in trouble. The last time she only managed to survive thanks to Vali's help.

A bleak laugh escaped her soft lips. 

She had taken the mission to infiltrate Kuoh town because she thought it would be easy and she could also observe her little sister from afar. But now, it seemed that she had far underestimated the undercurrents running along this small town allegedly home to small fries.

If she wasn't careful, she would really die this time.

“Fufuu~! Well, I can't die yet. I still have to give birth to the next generation of Nekoshou.”

She couldn't let her race face extinction now, could she?

‘Sadly, the White Dragon Emperor refused me. Fufufu~! I wonder what would happen if I were to meet the Red Dragon Emperor.’

Shaking her head while giving a wry smile, she walked to the end of the street and vanished without a trace. 

Nyaa!!

Meanwhile, on the main street, a black cat with an abnormally intelligent light shining in its eyes appeared before continuing merrily on its way with lethargic yet graceful strides that only a cat could make.

A ray of moonlight shined on the street where the woman stood previously, showing the scene of ten devils laying in a pool of their own blood—all dead.

———

The next morning, while Basara was on his way to school,

“Excuse me! May I ask for your help?”

Stopping at the call, he turned towards the source of the hurried voice.

What he saw was...

‘A nun?’

[1]: Zolgear is a bad guy in Shinmai. The Nebiros and Naberius families are teamed with bad guys in DxD. I won’t spoil it any more. But the identity of the cat is pretty evident for DxD fans. Yep, pretty sure everyone thought I would simply follow the DxD plot.