"Thank you, thank you, thank you…"
Sairaorg's voice trembled as he repeated the words like a prayer, his arms wrapped tight around Raytherion's shoulders. Tears ran freely down his cheeks, falling onto Raytherion's shoulder where Sairaorg had buried his face.
Raytherion didn't flinch away from the embrace. He simply grinned as he raised a hand to pat his friend's back. "You're gonna squeeze the life out of me, man…it's okay, Sairaorg. Really."
But Sairaorg didn't let go. Another shudder ran through him as he pulled back, wiping at his face with the back of his hand. The boy's voice cracked as he tried to compose himself. "Sorry, I just… I didn't think I'd ever get to see her awake again…"
Raytherion's grin softened. "Well, you technically haven't seen her yet, you know? She's waiting for you." He nodded towards the door behind them.
Sairaorg froze, looking back to where Raytherion had motioned. Slowly, he detached himself from Raytherion, nodding.
"Yeah… yeah, you're right. I'll be back… thank you."
He moved away, turning back to give Raytherion one last grateful look before he walked towards the door. As he approached it, the door slid open. Sairaor walked through, and at the same time a familiar head of green hair left the room, likely to give mother and son privacy.
Ajuka waved at Raytherion as he walked over to him.
"She asked for him the moment she woke up. Needless to say she was shocked to see my face next to her."
Raytherion scoffed, a smirk on his face. "From fear, right?"
"You wound me."
Raytherion laughed softly, shaking his head. "We were training when your message came through. We dropped everything and rushed over immediately."
Ajuka nodded softly. "It's understandable. He's been visiting her every day, asking me what progress I've made… you do realize this will make you a hero in the eyes of the underworld's populace, right? The sleeping sickness has baffled us for centuries… and now you've given us the key to curing it."
Raytherion's brow quirked, waving the older man off. "Please, you did all the work. I wasn't the one sitting in a lab for hours doing all the research."
Ajuka examined him closely.
"... how curious. Based on your somewhat arrogant attitude, I would have assumed you'd preen under my praise."
Raytherion smirked. "I live to subvert expectations. You should know that by now."
Ajuka chuckled, running a hand through his hair. "I suppose that is true. You've been quite consistent in your inconsistency."
The older man shifted, becoming more contemplative as he folded his arms. "In any case… now that we've successfully applied your Reverse Demonic Energy to the soul, I can begin researching its potential applications for the body. The fact that you can personally use it to heal lost limbs means that I can probably find a way to do it for others. If I can do it… this could become the greatest medicine in the underworld. It would absolutely surpass everything we have now."
Raytherion's brow lifted. "… more unwanted publicity?"
"Most definitely… I believe the Phenex family would not be thrilled to learn that a competitor to their monopoly is now in development. And knowing them… they'll try to secure their market share."
"... what do you mean by that?"
"Well, Raytherion… Ravel Phenex is around your age, correct?"
Raytherion groaned, dragging a hand down his face. "Great."
Ajuka's expression turned absolutely gleeful. "It really is."
"You know I meant that sarcastically."
"Of course you did," Ajuka replied, clearly enjoying every second of Raytherion's misery. "But forgive me for indulging in a little payback for all the teasing you've subjected me to."
Raytherion folded his arms and leaned against the wall. "All jokes aside… what about the corpse I brought back for you?"
Ajuka blinked once. "Ah. Well, come along, I'll show you."
He gestured for Raytherion to follow him, and the two walked down a corridor. After a few minutes, they arrived at a door which opened up with Ajuka's approach.
Inside was a sterile chamber. In the center, suspended in the air was the familiar corpse of the artificial super devil Raytherion head decapitated. The corpse was naked, its gray skin and disproportionate body on full display.
Ajuka stepped beside him, voice turning clinical. "Just from the first glances, it was obvious that this was a prototype. Hastily constructed and optimized for magical output. It wasn't made to last. The creators poured everything into raw strength and threw caution to the wind."
"Sounds like it was never meant to survive," Raytherion muttered.
"Precisely. I wouldn't doubt that they had them both in stasis and only let them out when necessary to preserve them for as long as possible."
"A living weapon?"
"Yes," Ajuka said. "But not a good one. It's… crude, for lack of a better term. Along with the other one you completely annihilated, this was probably one of the first ones they ever made."
Raytherion's voice dropped. "You think there are more like it?"
Ajuka nodded, looking at the corpse. "Undoubtedly."
"So what's the plan? What do we do now?"
"For now, I'll continue examining this one to see what other secrets it holds, but…"
"But?" Raytherion echoed, wondering where the man was going with this.
"I'm not confident I'll be able to get far. Not with how this thing was made."
Raytherion tilted his head. "Why not? Isn't the body mostly intact? Minus, you know, the obvious."
"The issue," Ajuka said, "is the soul… Well not quite. I couldn't examine that considering you brought me a corpse, but its DNA, its flesh… is composed of different species, including Devil and Nekomata."
"What, like Frankenstein's monster?"
"Essentially," Ajuka confirmed. "But… it's not just made from multiple species, Raytherion. It's made from multiple individuals of those species. And if the flesh was harvested this way, then it's highly likely the pseudo-soul was made the same way."
Raytherion hummed. "Sounds like a piece of work… can you replicate it?"
Ajuka's answer was immediate. "No. Not unless I am willing to start abducting and dissecting living beings from different species."
Raytherion chuckled. "I had no idea the great Ajuka Beelzebub had limits."
"Do you seriously think a man like your father would call me his best friend if I went around kidnapping civilians for my projects?"
"Fair point."
Ajuka rubbed the back of his neck, stepping away from the suspended corpse. "At the very least, we now know what kind of monstrosities the Old Satan Faction is creating in the shadows. That gives us time to prepare."
The two stood in silence for a moment longer. Finally, Raytherion turned toward the door. "Keep me updated on anything new. Even the smallest thing."
"I will," Ajuka replied. "And Raytherion…"
He paused.
"…thank you. For trusting me with this."
Raytherion nodded softly.
"Don't sweat it. It's the least I could do for your help in transferring Kuroka to my peerage."
There were dozens of little things in Sona Sitri's room that most people would never expect from her.
Tucked between tomes on magical theory and strategy were tiny souvenirs.
A panda plush from the first time she and Raytherion had gone out to the human world with none of the other girls tagging along. A prize won from a fair, given to her by the boy after he promised her she wouldn't leave empty handed.
A pot of magical blue hyacinths sat by the window, tall and luminous, grown from seeds they'd gathered together in the Familiar Forest while searching for her future familiar.
But the most important keepsake was a photograph, framed in silver and sitting by her bed on her desk.
It captured a moment in the Sitri garden with Sona and Raytherion sitting across from each other with a chessboard between them.
In the photo, Raytherion was mid-smirk, his glasses off and white hair tousled. Sona, on the other side, had her fingers hovering above her Queen… but her eyes weren't on the board. They were locked onto him, the photo catching the precise moment her concentration had slipped.
He beat her.
Serafall had taken the photo, laughing and running around in dramatic circles after he had declared checkmate. In her Serafall-esque way, she had flopped onto the grass and cried out about her poor "So-tan" being swept off her feet by a "cocky, white-haired, blue-eyed pretty boy".
Sona had rolled her eyes hard, but later, when Raytherion had left, she had begged Serafall to have the photo printed out. Serafall had agreed, only after being promised that she'd be the maid of honor at the wedding.
That game… she had remembered every move. They had been evenly matched nearly the entire time. They had a rhythm, matching each other.
Until she hesitated.
Just once.
He had moved his rook, sliding it across the board with a smirk as he whispered "checkmate" to her.
She hadn't believed it, of course. And then he ruffled her hair and said those words…
"You hesitated."
At the time, she had brushed it off, but the words followed her like a shadow.
Even if he hadn't realized it, just like he hadn't known what it truly meant to beat her, those words had reached deeper than strategy or competition.
She had hesitated with him, too, but lately that hesitation had begun to fade, softened by moments like this, with him in her room.
A soft laugh escaped her lips.
Her shoulder brushed against his, pulling her out of her thoughts.
"Something wrong?" He asked softly, turning his head to look at her.
Sona shook her head, smiling faintly. "No," she said quietly. "Nothing at all."
He gave her a long look, one brow raised, his bangs falling over his eyes. His gaze was always so…intense, like he could see the parts of her she worked so hard to keep hidden,,,
Probably because he could.
Raytherion didn't press her for more, instead leaning back just a bit.
She leaned into him more, reaching up to gently move the white strands of his hair so she could see his eyes without obstruction.
"Raytherion."
He turned to her again. "Yeah?"
"…Do you remember the chess game?" she asked softly.
Raytherion blinked, then grinned, leaning into her touch.
"Oh, you mean the one where I absolutely crushed you? Yeah, I remember it quite fondly."
She didn't roll her eyes.
Instead, she laughed, still running her hands through his hair even though all the strands had been moved out of his face already.
"It was close, actually… but yes. That one."
He tilted his head curiously. Something flickered in his eyes, surprise, maybe, at the fact that she wasn't really fighting him on it.
"You're not denying it,"
"No," she replied. "Because you were right."
That caught him off guard. He studied her, unsure if she was setting him up for something.
"…about crushing you?."
She giggled again, shaking her head in amusement.
"You told me I hesitated… and you were right. I did. Just for a second. And it cost me everything."
He frowned.
"Sona… it was just a game. You don't have to beat yourself up over that."
"I'm not beating myself up," she said gently. "I just… I realized it wasn't the move that lost me the game. It wasn't a miscalculation. It was that hesitation."
She glanced back at him.
"And it's not just on the board where I do that."
He was silent.
She continued.
"I hesitate with you," she said, almost whispering. "Even after all this time. I tell myself I need to be careful. It's… stupid, but I can't…. couldn't help it."
Raytherion shifted slightly. His eyes never left hers.
"Couldn't? Does that mean–"
"It means that even though I know what I feel for you… I'm not like the others."
She gave a soft smile. "I'm not as bold as Rias. I don't flirt like Kuroka. I hesitate and overthink. I hold back, even when I don't want to."
Her voice dipped lower.
"And you… even though you do hold back with us… in other aspects of your life you never second-guess. Even when you're reckless, you do it with certainty. When you said those words to me that day, telling me that I hesitated… It made me realize how true that was."
She took a breath.
"You saw something I thought I didn't want anyone to see."
Raytherion stilled, his smirk gone.
"…I wasn't trying to call you out," he said at last. "I was just messing with you."
"I know," she said. "That's why it mattered. I'm just saying that it wasn't about the game… it was about you."
That silenced him. He stared at her, unsure of what to say.
Sona's eyes drifted back to the photo again, the one in the silver frame. Her fingers tightened just slightly in her lap.
Then, just as the air began to grow too still, too fragile, Raytherion shifted.
"Maybe it was my handsomeness that threw you off?"
Sona blinked, the unexpected joke in the middle of their talk throwing her off… and then she laughed again.
"Even when a girl is pouring her heart out to you… never change, Ray."
That was the first time she had ever called him by that nickname.
It made something in him stutter. Not just his heart, but his thoughts, his breathing… everything.
She shifted towards him. Carefully, she rose just enough to face him fully, and without breaking eye contact placed her hands on his shoulders as she swung one leg over and settled gently in his lap.
"... Rias and Kuroka are always bragging about doing this… is this okay? For me to do it?" she asked. There was… no confidence about it. Just vulnerable hope.
His expression didn't shift, and it lasted too long… something flickered in her. Her gaze dipped, and she began to draw back.
"I…. I'm sorry… I shouldn't have–"
"I thought you were done hesitating."
The words stopped her. When she looked back up, his hands had risen, not to push her away, but to rest lightly on her hips, grounding her.
His eyes met hers and there was no cocky smirk.
Just quiet reassurance
He tilted his head, studying her. "No eye roll?"
"No," she said easily.
"No exasperated sigh? No snarky comeback?"
"Not this time."
"Something's different tonight," he said, quieter now.
"Yes," Sona agreed. "Because I'm ready."
He blinked. The position she was in made him wary about what exactly she meant by that.
"Ready for what?"
"There's something I never told you," she said quietly.
Raytherion's posture straightened. "That doesn't sound ominous at all."
"I'm serious."
"…You're not dying, are you?" he asked after a beat, his tone only half-joking.
She gave him a flat look. "No."
"Oh… good. That's good! You had me worried for a second."
She examined him for a second and then continued speaking.
"I made a deal with my parents. A long time ago. Before I began… feeling like this for you."
Raytherion blinked, tilting his head slightly. "Okay…?"
She looked down at her hands where they rested on his chest. "A boy from another noble family requested my hand in marriage… I told my parents that I didn't want that. I wanted to choose. They pushed back, of course, so I gave them a condition…"
She looked up again, her violet eyes meeting his blue.
"I told them I would only marry someone who could beat me in chess."
Blink.
"…You what?"
"I told them chess was a reflection of compatibility. That if someone couldn't match me there, they couldn't match me anywhere else."
"So…"
"So, by the terms of that agreement, you and I are now unofficially betrothed."
He let his head fall back slowly against the bed's headboard.
"…You're telling me that because I beat you in a chess game, one that I didn't even know was a secret compatibility trial… we're engaged?"
"…Yes."
"…Huh."
He ran a hand through his hair as he exhaled.
"You could've told me that before I made the move…"
"You wouldn't have taken the match seriously," she replied without missing a beat.
Sona shifted on the bed, drawing one leg up slightly, angling herself more toward him. Her expression softened again.
"I made that agreement because I thought I wanted someone like me. Someone who lived by the rules. Who was measured and controlled and, like me, followed logic above all else…"
She leaned in to whisper softly.
"And then you happened… you were the opposite of everything I told myself I needed. You interrupted me. You challenged me. You made me laugh when I wanted to be serious."
He shrugged softly, smiling at her.
"Sounds like me."
She nodded with a smile.
"You made me feel things I didn't want to feel. Things I didn't think I was allowed to feel… but you also reminded me that it was okay not to be perfect. That maybe… letting go didn't mean losing control. I didn't need someone who'd mirror me. I needed… need someone who can make me feel alive."
Sona's hands found his and moved to rest over them.
"I've liked you for years, Raytherion," she whispered. "And for years, I thought I'd find a logical solution to deal with it."
She looked up at him now, eyes bright.
"But love doesn't work like that. Not with you… and not with me. Not anymore. I… I'm not saying this to rush you. I'm not asking for anything more than what you have already given the others tonight… I just wanted to let you know… that I'm yours… and when you're ready to say that back, even with all the other girls… I'll be here."
"…You really don't get flustered anymore, huh?"
Her smile deepened, warm and unwavering. "Not when it's just you."
"Come on."
Seekvaira didn't wait for a reply, just grabbed Raytherion by the wrist and tugged him down the gilded hallway of the Agares estate. Her long hair bounced with each determined step, her boots clicking softly against the marble floor.
"You know, most girls invite you in slowly," Raytherion muttered, trailing behind her. "Maybe offer tea first. Conversation. A little preamble."
Seekvaira glanced back, her expression a smirk. "This is worth skipping all that."
She stopped in front of an ornate double door, pushed it open with both hands, and stepped aside dramatically. "Welcome to my sanctum… or well, technically, welcome back… semantics!"
He stepped into the familiar room, a massive space lit by chandeliers that hung off the ceiling. The bookshelves from the many times he had been here before still lined the walls, but in the center of the room stood something new…
A colossal table that took up almost the entirety of the room. On top of it lay a miniature city.
Skyscrapers, roads, hospitals, bridges… it had everything you would expect from a large human city… only scaled down.
In the center stood two humanoid mechas, around two feet tall each.
One was sleek and white with blue accents, carrying a long sword… or what counted as a longsword for its size on its back.
The other mecha was bulkier, green with pink scattered throughout its body. It carried a long lance in one hand, letting it rest on its shoulder.
"You built this? This… is amazing! A whole entire miniature city—are those mini people too!?"
"Yep! The city was the easy part. Those little guys?" She pointed at one of the figures the size of a fingernail running around. "They were the biggest pain… get it?"
He laughed softly, nodding his head.
"Of course, of course! Feed me more terrible puns, please."
Seekvaira blushed, laughing. "I'm all out for now, but maybe I'll think of one later."
She looked towards the two mecha's in the middle, pointing at them so he could follow what she was saying. "They're prototypes. Eventually, I'll scale them up, but I needed the mechanics down first."
Seekvaira grabbed his hand again. "Come."
He let himself be pulled, wanting to see where she was going with all of this. She guided him to a large armchair positioned right against the table where they could see everything that was about to unfold. She gave him a gentle push, and he sat down. Without letting go of his hand, she sat beside him, her thigh brushing against his.
"Okay, now…" she murmured, her voice low and focused, "feed a little demonic energy into that one."
She pointed at the white, sword-wielding mech.
Raytherion smirked. "You sure it can handle my power?"
"Just do it," she said, rolling her eyes, but her grip on his hand didn't falter.
He did as instructed. The glow in the mecha's chest pulsed to life, its visor-like eyes lighting up with a deep electric blue. Across the battlefield, the lance-bearing counterpart powered up as Seekvaira channeled her own energy into it, its own eyes glowing pink.
The two mechas took a second to gather themselves and look around before locking onto each other.
A low hum vibrated through the table and then the sword-wielder stepped forward.
Its movement was fluid, as if it wasn't mechanical at all. It drew its blade from its back in a clean arc, causing a slight distortion in the air with the movement.
The lancer dropped into a ready stance, pointing its weapon at the swordsman.
They charged.
Mecha slammed against mecha, the sword from Raytherion's mecha being blocked by the lance.
Raytherion leaned forward. "Oh, hell yes."
The wind pressure from the sword's strike curved outward, cutting clean across one of the skyscrapers, making it slide down into the streets of the small city. It exploded into debris, and he laughed softly as he heard the small, high-pitched screams of the mini people.
"You've been holding out on me, Seekvaira."
She giggled, her shoulder leaning more fully into his. "I take it you approve, then?"
"Yep! This is ten out of ten. Would pilot."
"Mmm. Maybe in a few months."
"I'll be anxiously waiting."
The sword-mecha sidestepped a spear thrust, then tried to swing once more. Seeing this, the lance-mecha activated a booster in its palm, blasting the two away from each other.
Raytherion grinned, pointing at the sword-mecha as it adjusted its stance. "That one is clearly the cooler of the two."
"Wrong," Seekvaira said. "Yours is the flashy idiot. Mine's the tactician."
"Exactly! Flashy equals cool! Thus, my point still stands."
The sword-mecha dashed forward again. It ducked beneath another thrust, circled around the lancer and leapt onto the side of a building before launching itself towards its opponent, the movement causing the windows of the building to shatter.
The lancer caught the blow once more with its shaft, digging its feet into the asphalt of the street. The entire table shook with the force.
Raytherion grinned. "You were saying?"
Seekvaira gasped with mock outrage. "Excuse you. Mine's just waiting for the opening."
"Yours hasn't landed an actual—"
The lance-mecha spun, planting its weapon into the ground as it slammed into the sword-mecha, which was launched through a miniature warehouse, dust and wood flying everywhere.
"--hit…" Raytherion finished, blinking.
Seekvaira smiled smugly. "Patience."
His mecha recovered and they once more began exchanging blows, their fight reaching the airport where a small plane that had tried taking off slammed into the back of the lancer in an explosion of fire.
The two machines danced through the airport.
"I always knew you'd love this," Seekvaira murmured. "I wanted to show you the moment it was ready."
Seekvaira was leaning into him now, and not just from excitement. Her eyes were on the battle, but her fingers still lightly touched his.
She didn't need to say it aloud. Her heart was in the project, and she'd chosen to share it with him. Just him.
"This is insane," he said, grinning.
"In a good way?"
"In the best way–there's even a military response!?"
He pointed at the small fighter jets that had arrived on the scene, launching missiles towards the two mecha's.
Seekvaira laughed, nodding.
He turned to her.
"Seekvaira, if you're trying to win me over with a personalized mecha war, you're doing a damn good job."
"Is it that obvious?"
Their eyes returned to the battle, where the mecha's were once more circling each other, the sword crackling with demonic energy, the lance's tip glowing red. After a moment, the two opponents used the thrusters on their backs to fly through the air towards each other.
"... I love that you always believed in me," she murmured, breaking the silence. "You didn't laugh when I said I wanted to build these things. You asked questions instead of brushing it off like it was just some noble girl's hobby."
He turned toward her fully, his grin softened.
"I mean, you're building magical war machines with swords and jetpacks. I'd be insane not to care."
"I want to show you the big ones when they're ready," she whispered.
Raytherion smirked. "Only if I get to pilot one."
Seekvaira tapped his chest gently with two fingers. "Deal."
The sword-mecha landed hard, one knee digging into the concrete of the battlefield. Its visor flickered as the lance-mecha stood a distance away, waiting.
Seekvaira wasn't really watching the fight anymore, though. She leaned enough so that her head rested against his shoulder. Her fingers were still on top of his, but her thumb now gently massaged circles along the back of his hand.
"I like this. A lot." Seekvaira murmured.
Raytherion glanced at her. "Mecha's fighting? Well, duh, I like it too."
She huffed a quiet laugh but didn't pull away. "No. I mean this. Sitting with you. Watching something I love, without feeling like I have to explain it."
"But you do explain it," he said, lips shifting in amusement "Every time. In detail."
"And you listen. Every time. That's the difference… a lot of people asked, but most stopped caring once they realized I wasn't pretending. They thought it was just a phase from my childhood, following my father's example… a quirky obsession, something I'd grow out of when I learned proper etiquette and politics."
Her voice wasn't bitter. Just steady. Honest.
"I hated that," she murmured. "The feeling that I had to defend what made me happy, that being passionate about something others didn't understand made me strange…"
He smiled, but let her continue.
"You never did that, Ray. You never laughed, at least not mockingly."
He met her eyes, calm and steady. "You didn't need permission, Seek. Not from anyone."
A soft smile curved her lips.
"I used to think I didn't have a chance," Seekvaira said quietly.
Raytherion blinked. "What?"
"With you," she clarified. "Back then. When we started spending more time together." She gave a small, almost apologetic shrug. "You had Rias. Sona. The others."
She leaned more into his shoulder, her voice gentler now. "Part of me thought I was just… a novelty. Something interesting for a while, but not someone you'd stay with. Not once things got serious."
His smile faded.
"I never saw you that way," he said, his tone low but sincere.
Raytherion hesitated, then added, "You. Sona. Rias and the others. You all looked at me like I was… something worth waiting for. And I don't want to pretend I have the answer when I don't."
Her hand tightened slightly in his.
"I'm… not trying to keep anyone waiting," he said, his voice calm, measured. "I just don't want to lie. Or rush something that matters."
Seekvaira nodded, slowly, her gaze thoughtful.
"But I need you to know," Raytherion said, finally turning to look at her, "you've never been a placeholder, and you sure as hell aren't a phase."
A pause passed. The tension between them softened, but didn't vanish.
"You've never needed to be anything other than who you are," he said. "Not with me."
She nodded, another blush spreading. "I know… you showed me that a long, long time ago. I guess I just wanted to hear it again."
Their eyes met.
Neither of them spoke.
She touched her forehead against his, hand slipping into his hair.
She didn't kiss him.
Not yet.
Soft, wet sounds filled the room, slow and unhurried. Almost lazy.
"I'm still not sure if I should be letting you do this."
A quiet giggle came from the lips against his skin. The sound came from just beneath his jaw, followed by the softest drag of those same lips along his neck.
"Mmm… If you weren't sure," Kuroka whispered, her voice silky smooth, "you would've teleported away already."
She let her tongue trail down the curve of his throat, slow and deliberate, savoring the barely-suppressed shiver that chased through him. Her hands, warm and graceful, rested on his chest.
"So…" she purred, her lips brushing the tender place between his shoulder and collarbone, "you must like it."
He turned his head to the side in… embarrassment? Whatever it was, it exposed more of his throat.
She saw that and laughed, leaning in to take full advantage of the new and unclaimed skin. Her lips found a spot beneath his ear, sucking gently until it began to flush red.
"You're adorable," she murmured against his neck. "You let us crawl into your bed, go out on dates with you, hold your hand… but the moment anyone tries to kiss you, really kiss you, you tense up like a shy little schoolboy."
Raytherion exhaled slowly through his nose, his hands staying at his sides even though he could've easily stopped her, pushed her away, vanished with a thought.
"You make it sound like I have no boundaries," he said flatly, though his voice lacked bite.
"Oh, you do," she replied easily, her fingers now tracing idle shapes over his chest through the thin fabric of his shirt. "But they're all over the place. It's like you don't know what you want..."
He let out a huff that might've been a laugh, or at least something close to it.
"So tell me, Ray…" Her lips stilled, then resumed their light path, dipping toward the middle of his throat. "Why is it okay for me to sit in your lap and lick your neck—" she pressed another wet kiss just above his collarbone, "—but not okay for me to kiss you?"
Her hand came up, slow and gentle, and tilted his chin toward her.