[5 Years Later]
It was night time in the streets of London. Compared to the busy and bustling atmosphere of the city during the day, the calm and quietness during the night was easily perceivable. It was the time when most people had retired to sleep leaving very few outside, which mostly consisted of the homeless and those involved in shady business. But of course, this only applied to normal human society. For those of the supernatural world, it was the opposite. This was especially true for creatures born of the darkness, like vampires and devils.
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"Huff… Huff…"
A figure darted through the streets clutching his stomach, as blood seeped out from a deep wound. He had unkempt long grey hair which flew in the wind. His face was deadly pale while his bloodshot eyes revealed the mix of emotions going through his mind - Anger, anxiety, and fear.
The man's name was Zealvig and he was an A-Class Stray Devil, quite infamous in the underworld for his sadistic tendencies and unhinged psyche. Gotten drunk on power, he severely injured his former master and killed one of his peerage members before escaping, cementing his spot as a dangerous stray devil.
But now? The situation was not in his favour.
"AAGGHHH!!!" He screamed in agony as a blue spectral arrow pierced his left thigh, sending him tumbling forward. He tried to pull out the arrow, only to find it disappearing into small particles, leaving behind the wound.
"You sure are persistent..."
The sound of slow footsteps was heard as a person appeared in the devil's view. It was a boy appearing to be in his late-teens with messy and wavy chin-length black hair. His pair of eyes - one amber and one grey - were focused on the devil, sending shivers down his spine. He was dressed entirely in white, wearing a double breasted trench coat, trousers and boots.
In contrast to his actions till now, Noah sported a confident smile on his face - One which harboured neither malice nor pity towards the devil. This wasn't his first time hunting a stray devil, and it surely wasn't going to be his last. The gap in strength between the two was quite obvious for him.
Zealvig kept silent, staring at the boy who slowly walked towards him with fear and apprehension. When he first attacked the boy, assuming him to be a normal human, he didn't expect things to go like this. But now, it was too late. The roles of the hunter and prey had switched, and he knew his chances of survival were growing slim by the second.
'No! I won't let things end like this!'
Noah paused when he sensed a change in his opponent's energy. He looked on as Zealvig's body began to morph. His right arm began to bulk up, as bones started protruding out of different parts of his body. The tone of his skin began to shift as well, turning into a dark shade of grey. Two pairs of bat-like wings sprouted from his back, as he let out a deafening roar.
"... So what has changed other than your appearance?" Noah commented, seemingly unimpressed by his opponent's theatrics. This only served to anger Zealvig even further.
"I am going to enjoy ripping out your entrails, human…" He commented with a low growl. "You should have finished me off when you had the chance. But don't worry. I'll leave something behind for whoever put you up for this." He extended his hand as the bony protrusion on his right fist enlarged.
"I see." Noah replied, stroking his chin with a thoughtful expression.
"Your demeanour changed as well."
*WOOSH*
In the next instant, Zealvig was already right in front of him, wounding his fist for a punch.
"DIE!!"
*BOOM*
The impact of the punch was felt all around the area. The ground-shattering impact of the punch raised a layer of dust with the resultant shockwaves. Zealvig smirked mockingly as he was sure there was no way the human could have survived that. But when the dust settled, he could only stare in shock. His fist was stopped by Noah, using only a single finger.
"You've gotten louder as well. But I suppose that's about it."
"Wai-"
*SLASH*
Before he could even complete his sentence, Zealvig found the world around him rotating. By the time he realised what was actually going on, it was too late - His head was chopped off cleanly from his shoulders and was sent rolling on the ground. The remainder of his body followed suit, first falling to its knee before collapsing to the ground.
"That was surprisingly easy." Noah commented to himself, dispelling the sabre he had created to finish off the stray devil. "And how much longer are you going to keep hiding there?"
"Bah, you're no fun." Flapping his pitch black wings, a new person landed near him. He was quite tall with black messy hair, golden bangs, and a black goatee. "Long time no see, Noah."
"Azazel, we met like two days ago." Noah deadpanned.
"Meh, don't sweat on the finer details." Azazel casually shrugged it off. "Also, it's 'Uncle Azazel'. Kids these days have no manners…"
"Says an adult who is actually worse." Noah quipped. "You are literally the biggest pervert I've met in my life, and I doubt that's going to change anytime soon."
"... I shall neither confirm nor deny that claim." Azazel commented. "Anyways, are you leaving immediately?"
"I don't have any reason to stay here any longer, so yes." Noah confirmed, as his shadow began to expand. "Goodbye then, and send Vali my regards." Slowly sinking into his shadow, Noah left the place leaving behind Azazel alone.
'That kid's growth is scary.' Azazel thought to himself, as he inspected the corpse of the stray devil. 'Hmm? What's this?' He frowned upon noticing a small object near the devil's hand. 'I guess he still lacks experience.' With a slight smirk, he picked it up revealing it to be a syringe with a colourless fluid inside it.
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"And that's the full report."
Noah completed a briefing of his mission to Walther in his office. The room was wood-panelled with Victorian style furniture along the walls. Noah stood opposite Walther, who was seated on a chair deep in thought on hearing the report.
"I see… So you allowed him to power up instead of finishing him off sooner?" He asked Noah in a sharp tone. "That was reckless, Noah."
"Maybe it was." Noah admitted. "But he really wasn't much of a threat to be taken seriously, even with that power up if you can even call it that. Besides, I even had some countermeasures in my mind if he ended up being more dangerous than I expected."
"You are missing the point." Walther said, rubbing his temples. "I'm not questioning your skill in combat. Your mindset to plan far ahead into a battle is truly remarkable as well. But in the supernatural world, nothing is set in stone. Unpredictable things can and will happen. In fact…" Adjusting his glasses, Walther continued.
"You could even say that our own arrogance was the cause of our downfall in the war."
"What do you mean gramps?" Noah stared at him curiously. While he did know about the majority of Quincy history, there was one part Walther always refrained from telling him - The war that happened a thousand years ago. Noah could easily guess that it was something that evoked bad memories in his teacher, and didn't try prying further into it. So it was a surprise to see him actively start a conversation with that topic.
"I suppose it's time I tell you." Walther sighed. "You might already know how we, the quincy, have been in conflict with the shinigami and hollows since as far as we could remember. In the beginning, we used to live in the human world, having created hidden societies of our own. But eventually, our father figure and emperor - Yhwach created a separate realm for us to live in, similar to how the shinigami resided in the Soul Society and hollows inhabited Hueco Mundo. Our realm, our empire - It was called Lichtreich. Almost every quincy relocated from earth to our new home. But this didn't sit well with the shinigami."
"According to them, the birth of our realm destabilised the balance between the three realms even further. So they demanded that we returned to earth, leaving behind our empire. Naturally, we were against it. And this was what led to us declaring war against the shinigami. On paper, there was no way we could lose - It was the golden age for the quincy. The time when we were at our peak. Several of our members were within the top 30 of the strongest beings in this world, and that was not including our emperor. We came up with plans and countermeasures for fighting the shinigami, on disabling their powers. We did everything we could in preparation. And yet…" He took a deep breath, as a look of sorrow appeared in his face.
"It was a war from which no victor arose. What we didn't take into account was the hollows interfering during the war. Using that opportunity when we were weakened during the fighting, they launched an assault planning to take out both us and the shinigami. You should already know how hollows are poisonous to our kind. Needless to say, the tables had turned against us."
"I was a relatively new member of the sternritters and hence I don't know the details myself. But towards the end, all three of our leaders - The Soul King, Emperor Yhwach, and the King of the Hollows - perished. The death of these figures also led to the collapse of our three realms, wiping out nearly all of us. The surviving quincy took refuge in the human world, the remaining shinigami joined the Shinto faction with whom they were close with, and we have no idea on what happened to the hollows."
Noah noticed that Walther's voice was becoming increasingly shaky with time, as he continued on. "Brothers and sisters in arms, childhood friends, lovers, family - We lost them all on that day. And it was all for nothing…"
"Had we even remotely considered what the shinigami asked us for, maybe we could have avoided our fate. But all of us, myself included, were too high on our horses. And in the end, we paid the price for it."
Clearing his throat, he got up from his seat and walked around his desk towards Noah. "Currently, the total number of quincy in this world is less than one hundred. But due to our bloodline thinning, nearly half of them can barely even conjure a bow. Geniuses do appear every now and then, but we can't force them to join us if they are against it."
"You mean to say it has happened before?" Noah asked him.
"Yes." Walther confirmed. "There was a girl born in Italy who awakened her powers at a very young age. But instead of joining us, she wished to join the Vatican instead and there was nothing we could do about it."
Noah's eyes twitched for a second upon mentioning the Vatican, something which was noticed by Walther.
"Noah…" Placing a hand on his left shoulder, Walther continued. "In all my life, the number of quincy I've met with talent comparable to yours can be counted on one hand. But that is why I'm asking you to not make the same mistake we did a long time ago. There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance. I am asking you, both as your teacher and as a fellow quincy, to not cross that line."
"I'll keep that in mind…" Noah replied after a short while. "And I'm sorry… for reminding you about that past."
"Don't be." Walther shook his head. "You had a right to know it. Oh, and while you are still here…" Searching the pocket of his coat, he picked up a note and handed it to him.
"What do you think about visiting the Norse Pantheon next week along with me?"
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