"A blind spot. I'll have to be more careful from now on." Kuroka murmured.
BAM!
With a sharp sound, the black cat vanished, replaced by a stunning, voluptuous woman with long ebony hair and feline ears.
In the same instant, a barrier snapped into place around them. Its speed and strength surpassed even Akeno's, a flawless technique.
'That face matches the photo. No mistake.'
"The SS-Class Stray Devil, Kuroka. The Devil King has issued a warrant for your capture. Don't resist, come quietly."
As Kazuki spoke, Kuroka's wariness deepened.
"Hmm~? So you're an assassin, nya~? Who are you, nya?"
"Rias Gremory's Pawn, Kazuki Fuwa."
"! ...So you're the rumored [Guyver], nya~."
The moment she realized she was facing the man who had defeated Vali, Kuroka shifted into full combat mode.
A purple aura erupted around her, suffusing her body with battle-ready energy. Kazuki mirrored her stance, his muscles coiling like a predator's.
"SHAAAA!!"
Kuroka lunged with feline grace, her razor-sharp claws slashing toward Kazuki's throat. He dodged by a hair's breadth—strands of his hair fluttered in the air—but her speed forced a frustrated tsk from his lips.
"Too slow!"
He retaliated with a sweeping low kick, aiming to take her legs out. But Kuroka effortlessly flipped backward, landing with a dancer's poise.
'As expected of a Nekomata—her agility's insane.'
"...You really beat Vali, nya~? Not as impressive as I expected, nya."
Her smirk was downright taunting. Kazuki exhaled sharply—then erupted.
"You asked for it. Now!"
A torrent of battle aura ignited around him, blazing like hellfire. Kuroka's eyes widened.
'This guy can manipulate battle aura?!'
Channeling aura to enhance combat prowess was an advanced technique even among Senjutsu masters—yet here he was, wielding it at a level beyond hers. A shiver ran down Kuroka's spine.
Then, Kazuki vanished…
"!!?"
A spinning kick detonated against Kuroka's guard before she could react.
"Guh—!?"
Even blocking with both arms, the impact sent her skidding back.
"Tch...! You monster! Eat this, nya!!"
She condensed aura into her palm and fired a blast straight at him. Kazuki didn't dodge—he dug in and punched through it.
"HAAH!"
His [Tiger Cannon] met the projectile head-on, obliterating it in a shockwave.
"Nya—WHAT!?"
Kuroka's shock was palpable. Kazuki stepped forward to press the attack—
—And collapsed to his knees.
"Ghh...! What the—?"
"Fufu~ Looks like it finally kicked in. This mist's a special poison—works only on Devils and Yokai, nya~."
The fog had crept in unnoticed. Kazuki's limbs grew heavy, his breath ragged as toxins invaded his system.
"Can't risk leaving you alive after beating Vali. Sorry, but I'll finish you here~!!"
She thrust her claws toward his throat—but Kazuki caught her wrist at the last second, barely halting the killing strike.
"Still got fight left? Too bad—game over, nya!"
Her nails inched closer, drawing blood as they pressed against his chest. Yet even in this dire moment, Kazuki smirked.
"SS-Class for a reason... Can't take you lightly."
His grip on her wrist tightened. A sickening creak of bone made Kuroka's ears flatten as she struggled to pull free.
"───You bastard!? L-Let go!"
"Like hell I will───GUYYYYYYVEEEEEEER!!"
Pressed flush against her, Kazuki roared the activation command…
"Nngh───!?"
The moment the Guyver armor began its bio-boosted transformation, a violent barrier erupted around him, repelling all foreign objects with enough force to obliterate low-tier devils and fallen angels outright. And Kuroka──who took the full brunt of it──
"───Guhhaaah…!"
Was sent hurtling backward, her body smashing through trees like a broken doll.
Though her battle aura had reinforced her enough to survive, Kuroka was a wizard-type fighter; her physical endurance was far from exceptional. Every bone screamed in protest, her consciousness flickering as she clung to it by sheer will.
'───Shit… Gotta run… But I can't move…!'
Struggling to rise while weaving healing Senjutsu into her battered flesh, she heard it—the heavy, methodical footsteps of the Guyver approaching.
The armor's impervious defenses left Kazuki completely unfazed by her poison mist, his stride unbroken.
"Tch… Fine, ya leave me no choice!"
With a snarl, Kuroka pooled devilic energy into her right hand and Senjutsu into her left, merging them into a single, lethal strike—her ultimate curse bullet, a spiraling vortex of death that even high-class beings feared. It surged toward the Guyver like a ravenous specter…
Only for Kazuki to raise his left palm—and absorb the attack without a trace.
"The hell!? That's impossible!"
Her trump card, nullified in an instant. Kuroka's breath hitched, her mind blank with disbelief.
"Y-You monster…"
Collapsing to her knees, she could only watch as the Guyver loomed over her, the high-frequency blade extending from his right arm with a lethal hum. To her, it was the scythe of death itself.
'Ah… So this is it, huh…?'
Resignation washed over her. Her heart finally admitted it—she couldn't win against Kazuki, the Guyver.
'Lookin' back… my life's been one big mess~!!'
Memories flickered through her mind like a dying lantern—her parents, her former master, Vali, and his group… But the brightest, the most painful, was her beloved little sister, Koneko.
'The Gremory household… This guy Kazuki… He'll protect Shirone, right? …Sorry, Koneko-chan… Your big sis only ever made things worse for ya… Just forget about me, and…'
"Be happy, Shirone───"
The high-frequency blade descended…
Kuroka had already bid farewell to Shirone and prepared to accept her fate—yet, no matter how long she waited, the end never came. Puzzled, she cautiously opened her eyes.
"!!?"
The crimson blade had stopped just a few centimeters away. The sight made her breath hitch in disbelief.
"Why…?"
The words slipped out before she could stop them. The Guyver then released its transformation, its scarlet armor vanishing into another dimension. As Kuroka stared in confusion, the man—Kazuki Fuwa—spoke.
"Kuroka… Did you really kill your master because you were drunk on power?"
She had told the truth countless times before, yet no one had ever believed her.
In the end, none of them cared about the truth. All they wanted was a villain who fit their narrative—a foolish reincarnated devil who succumbed to her own strength. So, she had given up on speaking the truth and accepted their script.
And now, this meaningless question? She scoffed, a mocking smirk twisting her lips.
"Yeah, that's right. I killed that damn master. Happy now?"
But Kazuki didn't look away. His piercing gaze remained locked onto hers, making her skin crawl. Uncomfortable, she spat out her next words with venom.
"Not like it matters anymore. I can't move anyway, so do whatever the hell you want. Or—" Her smirk turned seductive as she deliberately loosened her kimono, exposing her shoulders and the upper swell of her breasts.
"—You gonna take advantage of me while I'm helpless and rape me? Heh, fine. Big sis'll take you to heaven with her skills~!!"
She expected him to flinch, to finally look away—but his eyes never wavered. Instead, he spoke with unwavering conviction.
"I don't doubt that you killed your master. But what I want to know is why. No lies, no deflections—tell me the truth."
Kazuki's words were sharp, unyielding.
"You're fucking kidding me!" Kuroka's voice trembled with rage.
"What's the point of telling the truth now?! You nobles twist reality just to protect your own fucking authority! Who the hell would believe me even if I told you?!"
Her scream wasn't just anger; it was the howl of a soul crushed under injustice, of a woman whose fate had been warped by cruelty.
'So that's how it was. No one had listened!! They had branded her a "power-hungry stray devil" just to preserve the nobility's image, then tried to dispose of her.' Kazuki thought.
'What a fucking tragedy.'
And that was exactly why Kazuki had to say it.
"I'll believe you!" His voice boomed, cutting through her fury. "I'll believe every word you say! So don't give up! Don't you dare give up before you make it back to where you truly belong!"
"Wha… What the hell…?"
His intensity left her stunned.
"…Why? Why would you believe me?"
"Your last words." His voice softened slightly. "Even when you thought you were going to die, you wished for your sister's happiness. Someone truly lost to power wouldn't give a shit about anyone else in their final moments."
"…That's it?"
"For me, that's more than enough. So, Kuroka… will you tell me?" When he asked again, she let out a slow, shuddering breath.
Then—
"…Fine."
And so, Kuroka began to speak—to reveal the truth of what had really happened to her.
Kuroka was born to a human researcher father and a Nekomata mother. Her father was a man who cared only for his work, refusing to even acknowledge his own daughter.
After losing both parents in a lab accident, Kuroka sought out the high-ranking devils of the Naberius House through her father's connections in order to raise her younger sister.
There, a man offered her the chance to become his servant. Under the condition that he would never lay a hand on her sister, Shirone, Kuroka agreed to the contract, becoming his Bishop.
But her master was a man who would resort to any depraved method if it meant strengthening his servants.
Though Kuroka awakened her Nekomata powers and grew stronger, some of her fellow servants were subjected to grotesque experiments, some even losing their lives.
Eventually, the experiments extended beyond just the servants to their families. And then, her master set his sights on Koneko. Despite the contract, he tried to force the still-childish Shirone to use dangerous Senjutsu, risking her life.
When Kuroka learned of this, she stormed the lab, killed her master, and barely managed to save Shirone. But just as she tried to escape with her sister, interference forced Kuroka to flee alone.
Though she attempted to explain the situation, her pursuers refused to listen. They weren't there to capture her—they came to eliminate her. Eventually, Kuroka gave up justifying herself. As she cut down those who came for her, she was branded an SS-Class Stray Devil, a fugitive.
The only thing that weighed on her was Shirone's fate. She later heard that her sister, nearly executed for Kuroka's crime of killing their master, had been taken in by the Gremory family, becoming a servant of Rias Gremory, the next heir.
With nowhere left to go, Kuroka was scouted by the Khaos Brigade. There, she met Vali, and that was how she ended up where she was now—
Hearing her story, Kazuki was stunned.
This was nothing like what he'd been told. Kuroka hadn't killed her master out of lust for power—she'd done it to save her sister. And clearly, the master was the one in the wrong.
"Devils value contracts above all," Rias had once told him. If he broke the terms, he had no right to complain about being killed.
Though Kazuki's knowledge of the "original story" had already told him Kuroka wasn't power-hungry, he'd forgotten the finer details. Either way, something about this whole situation was off.
Did that certain Maou know about this? For all he knew, that Devil King could even be the mastermind. But—
"Hey, Kuroka. You wanna help your sister—Koneko-chan—out?"
Kazuki placed a hand on Kuroka's shoulder, locking eyes with her.
"Me… help Shirone…?"
Her golden eyes wavered with uncertainty.
"Yeah. Right now, she's trapped in the past, unable to move forward. She needs you."
"...Shirone… really needs me…?"
"The reason she refuses to use her latent power is that deep down, she's terrified of it. And the only one who can erase that fear is you, the source of it. If things go well, you two might even be able to live together again. It's all up to you. So… what'll it be?"
Kuroka closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again, filled with resolve.
"Got it. I'll trust Nya~, Guyver."
"Alright, deal sealed. And the name's Kazuki Fuwa. Just call me Kazuki."
"Got it, Kazuki!"
Kuroka's golden eyes now burned with determination, no longer trembling.