The news of the appearance of a demon and a mysterious winged young woman spread like a fire throughout the city.
Although the authorities arrived shortly after, the classroom shattered and the unconscious body of the devil were evidence impossible to hide.
The students were evacuated while doctors reviewed their wounds and psychologists tried to calm them.
But none of them could erase from his mind the image of Arthelia Luxiel Mikaelis.
Ryu was sitting in the ambulance, with an improvised bandage on the arm and broken glasses in a pocket.
Beside him, Ren talked to an officer who asked questions without stopping.
"And you say she appeared floating ...?" What stopped the attack with one hand?
Ren nodded without looking at him, with the absent gesture.
-Yeah. I saw it with my own eyes.
Ryota, Daiki and Haruto were close, just as stunned.
No one seemed able to assimilate what happened.
And in the meantime, Arthelia stood next to the demon's remains.
His sword no longer shone, and his wings folded gently behind him.
When his heterochromes posed in Ryu, he felt a chill.
It was not fear. It was the certainty that his life had changed forever.
While the paramedics reviewed the injured and the officers tried to put order, a new shudder toured the place.
Before everyone's stunned look, the demon's body began to fade into a dark mist.
A red circle, covered with symbols that no one could understand, opened under it.
"What is happening now?!" Shouted one of the officers, step back with his hand on the hilt of his gun.
Arthelia looked at him calmly, as if he had expected.
"It's a return portal," he explained serenity. They are claiming it.
The demon report sank into the opening, disappearing completely.
The circle closed with a crimson flash, leaving only the cracked ground.
For a moment, silence became even heavier.
Even sirens sounds seemed to lose strength to that impossible event to explain.
Ryu squeezed his teeth.
He knew that this would not be the last portal that would appear in his world.
Arthelia turned and walked to where Ryu was sitting on the edge of the ambulance.
The paramedics separated cautiously when they saw her approach.
His boots echoed gently on the cracked asphalt.
When he stopped in front of him, his wings were fully collected.
Ryu looked up, with his eyes still murky for pain and fatigue.
"Why ... why did you come to save us?" He asked just a whisper.
Arthelia watched him silent for a moment.
His heterochroma gaze showed neither superb or forced compassion: only a firm calm.
"Because no one else was going to stop him," he replied finally. And because allowing creatures to destroy this world ... it would be a mistake that I will not tolerate.
Ryu looked down at his bandaged hands, remembering how the demon had destroyed him effortlessly.
"And what are we supposed to be for you?" Only ... people to protect?
Arthelia was silent, then breathed deeply and replied gently:
"It's not just that." But I can't give you all the answers now.
For a moment, his light and green eyes seemed to shine with a nuance that Ryu did not know how to decipher.
"The only thing you should understand for now," he added, "is that this was just the beginning."
Ryu's friends were waiting for him at the exit of the improvised hospital where he had been discharged.
His faces showed concern and relief in equal parts.
Ryota was the first to get closer, giving him a strong palmate on his shoulder.
"You were about not getting out of that, idiot."
Haruto, trying to relieve the atmosphere, he joked:
"And without your glasses, how are we going to recognize you at school?"
Daiki smiled calmly, but his eyes reflected that he had also felt the fear closely.
"The important thing is that you are fine."
Ren, always serious, stared at Ryu:
"This ... this changes everything." We have to prepare for what comes.
Ryu nodded with effort.
"Yes ... I don't know what exactly is, but I know that this starts."
The sun began to wear while walking together towards their homes, their shadows lengthening on Tokyo's asphalt.
Meanwhile, somewhere distant, Arthelia observed the city from the top of a building.
His heterochromesThey shone with twilight light, contemplating the uncertain future that awaited everyone.
The demon was kneeling, his battered body trembling slightly under the weight of defeat.
In front of him, on a throne of shadows and fire, an imposing figure remained sitting, barely visible in the gloom.
"My Lord ..." The devil's voice was a broken whisper, "I failed."
The air was loaded with an almost palpable tension.
"But ... I could confirm something," he continued, in a hoarse and desperate voice.
"The traitor's successor is on earth."
"I saw it with my own eyes."
A deep silence fell in the room, while the figure on the throne remained motionless, as a judge waiting for the sentence.
The figure on the throne slowly raised a hand, a dark shadow undoubted around him like a nightmare mantle.
"The traitor's successor ...?" His voice was deep, full of contempt and fury contained.
"That's right," the demon replied, trembling. I saw it with my own eyes.
A cruel brightness appeared in the gloom where his eyes were hidden.
"Then I will not allow that hindrance to remain alive or one more moment."
"Prepare your strength," he ordered. It gathers others. This war just begins.
The demon bowed his head in obedience, while the shadow of the throne seemed to grow, darkening the entire room.
That night, the Tatzuki house was quieter than ever.
Ryu was sitting in his room, with the light off. Only the weak clarity of the moon entered through the window, illuminating its bandaged hands.
On the desk were his broken glasses. He watched them for a long time, as if they could find an answer.
He closed his eyes, remembering the moment that his fists were of no use against that demon ... and then, how he had felt for a moment a strange power traveling his body.
"What ... I'm really?" He whispered, barely audible.
In the room, his mother Akane spoke by phone with a worried voice, but he barely listened.
The words of the silver hair girl echoed in her mind:
"This was just the beginning."
Ryu breathed deep and joined, with difficulty.
Although I did not understand what happened, I had decided something:
He would not stay with crossed arms waiting for the next attack.
The sunlight sneaked through the curtains of Ryu's room, waking it gently.
Despite tiredness, he got up determined, while the recent battle still weighed in his thoughts.
In the kitchen, his mother already prepared breakfast.
"Good morning, Ryu." Did you sleep well? He asked with a warm smile, trying to hide his concern.
"More or less," he replied, sitting at the table. Everything is still confusing.
Before leaving, he took his broken glasses, inspected them for a moment and then kept them in his backpack.
"I have to go to school." I can't stay behind.
His friends waited for him outside, but this time Ryu felt something had changed.
Not only for what had happened, but for what was still coming.
When taking the first step out of his home, the air seemed different, loaded with a mystery that he still did not understand at all.
Ryu arrived at school with his heart beating hard.
His friends were already waiting for him at the entrance, as always, but this time his eyes were full of questions.
Ryota was the first to approach, crossing his arms with serious expression.
"Hey, are you okay?" Yesterday you saw you quite bad.
Haruto, with his typical Pícara smile, added:
"What happened to your glasses?" Did a demon ate them?
Daiki gave Ryu a little push, smiling to relieve tension.
"More important, what was that all that mess of yesterday?" Not every day a demon appears in class, you know?
Ren, as always, was calmer, but his eyes didn't lose detail.
"We have to be prepared." This is not something we can ignore.
Ryu breathed deeply, aware that his life had changed forever.
"I don't know much yet ... but I promise that I'm going to do everything possible to protect them all."
The four friends nodded, the determination shining in their eyes.
Together, they knew they had to face whatever came, because nothing would be the same as of that day.
In the school library, silence was deep. Only the soft moving from the pages and the slight pounding of the pencils on the tables were heard.
Ryu and his friends were gathered aroundof a battery of ancient books, all with dusty titles on mythology and supernatural creatures.
Ren adjusted his glasses while checking a thick volume.
"Here says demons have very marked hierarchies." Some are simple beasts, but others have intelligence and power comparable to that of an entire army.
Ryota frowned, leafing through another book.
"And how are we supposed to fight something like that?" We could barely move when it appeared.
Haruto, with an uncomfortable expression, scratched his head.
"We should notify the authorities or something ...
"What will we tell you?" Daiki replied quietly. "A giant demon left a portal and almost kills us." No one would believe it.
Ryu remained silent, with his eyes fixed on an engraving that showed a circle of invocation surrounded by strange symbols.
For the first time, I felt that everything was not a simple coincidence.
"Whatever whatever," he said finally, "we have to learn more." If they reappear, I do not plan to stay without doing anything again.
Everyone nodded solemnly, aware that this investigation could be their only advantage against what would come later.
While the others kept reading, Ryu turned away and sat next to one of the library windows.
He looked at his hands ...
They were trembling. As usual.
He closed his fists with force, frustrated.
Although he had hit the demon, although he had stopped him for a moment ... he was still weak.
"Tch ..." he sighed, resting his forehead against the glass.
"I wonder ... where will the girl who saved us will be ..." he murmured.
He clearly remembered his serene gaze, his silver wings, his sword ... and those eyes, one celestial and one green.
It was not human, that was clear. But neither did it seem an enemy.
"Why did it appear right at that time ...? Was he observing us?"
The doubt burned inside him, as much as the desire to understand what was happening with his own body.
The puzzle pieces were scattered, and he had no idea where to start.
But something was safe: that girl was key in all this.
Daiki, who was checking his phone, raised his voice with an expression of surprise.
"Loigan, guys ... Look at this."
They approached to see the screen.
On the local news site there were images of the destroyed classroom, with smoke and debris everywhere.
"Gas explosion at a Tokyo school. Fortunately, there were no injuries."
Ryota clenched his teeth.
"Gas explosion?" Oh really?
Haruto released a bitter laugh.
"Sure, because a three -meter demon is exactly the same as a gas leak ..."
Ren narrowed his eyes, analyzing the news.
"They are covering it." Or do not want panic to spread ... or have no idea what happened.
Ryu looked at the window, pressing their hands that continued to tremble.
"Anyway, we can't expect anyone to come to help us." If we pass again, we will be alone again.
An uncomfortable silence was installed among the five.
The reality was as clear as terrifying: that just started.
While the boys were still gathered in the library, at the top of a nearby building, a silver figure remained standing, looking towards school.
The wind gently stirred its silver hair and its white layer. His eyes, one celestial and the other green, shone with a slight glow.
"So he's here ..." Alice whispered, quietly. "
For centuries, he had entrusted to observe any indication of forbidden power that had belonged to Zarkhiel NoTareck.
And finally, after so much time, I had felt it ... in that boy of trembling hands.
"Ryu Tatzuki ..." He repeated his name, as if he tried his sound.
Their wings were deployed for a moment, before retreating again.
It was not time to intervene again. Not yet.
But soon, very soon, both would have to be face to face.
The afternoon fell on Tokyo while the street lights lit one by one.
Ryu walked with a tired step on the sidewalk, the backpack hanging from his shoulder.
His friends had already left, although he was offered to accompany him. He refused with a smile, ensuring that it would be fine.
But inside, I knew nothing was fine.
He looked at his hands, still trembling under the yellowish light of a lantern.
He recalled the demon's roar, the moment he thought everyone was going to die ... and the moment his body moved on his own toprotect them.
"What's happening to me ...?" -whisper.
Around him, the city continued with his normal life, completely ignoring the threat he had manifested.
Their steps resonated on the empty sidewalk as he advanced.
And, without knowing it, several meters above his head, two heterochromes eyes followed him in silence from a roof.
The figure of the silver armor girl remained motionless, observing each of her movements, as if watching something that could not afford to lose sight.
Ryu carefully opened the door of his house.
The allegant light illuminated his tired face.
"Well, Ryu," said his mother's soft voice from the kitchen.
"I arrived, mom ..." he replied, trying to sound normal.
He left his backpack next to the wall. He slowly climbed the stairs to his room and closed the door behind him.
For a moment, he stood, looking at the place that had always been his refuge: his bed, his desk, the poster of his favorite anime on the wall.
He put a hand to the chest.
His heart was beating fast.
"I have to get stronger ..." he murmured, with almost inaudible voice.
He dropped into bed and looked at the roof.
The memories of the day passed over and over again: the devil, the fear, the serene look of that girl who descended from the sky.
And, for the first time, Ryu was certain that his life would no longer be the same.