The twelve-year-old boy shot towards me with great speed, his silver aura erupting around him like a volcano as he upped the ante on his attacks.
But I was still faster than him even without using any spells, and moved to the side, avoiding his attack and using my training spear to try and pierce through his side.
The boy anticipated my attack, just like I had predicted, and used his wings to dodge while activating the Sacred Gear.
[Divide]!
With a burst of strange energy, the space between me and him shrank as he delivered a powerful uppercut, filled to the brim with his silver demonic energy.
But my reflexes were still faster despite suppressing myself to his level, so I easily caught that attack.
"Hm. Not a bad application of your gear's power."
"heh! Of course it is! Who do you think I am!?"
I just chuckled at his arrogant words and let him go.
It is really hard to believe that this brat is the descendant of the original Lucifer with his attitude.
To me, he looked and behaved no differently than any child of his age.
But still, staring at the Divine Dividing, the sacred gear meant for humanity in the hands of the half devil, I could not help but contemplate once again how broken Heaven's System must be to allow such a loophole to exist in its programming.
Yet, those are thoughts and things to be tested at a later date. For now, I should concentrate on the present and relax as much as possible until I properly kick things off with my research soon.
The sound of clapping brought me out of my thoughts, making me look at the human children who were staring at us with awe and excitement.
"That is really cool! Vaa-kun!"
"Yeah! You two were really great."
The airheaded mage, Lavinia, picked up Vali and embraced him tightly, making the half devil flail helplessly in her grip while Sae Toujou just smiled at the interaction.
As for the resident delinquent, he just snorted at the display, but the respect in his eyes was clear to see for everyone.
In the past two months I have spent here, relaxing and concentrating on self-development, I have come to really enjoy the company of these little kids.
Originally, I was planning to wait here until Michael was done setting up the ritual for the System Core, but who would have thought that the ritual would take longer than expected and would be delayed until now, with no proper date set yet?
However, I don't think all the time that I spent here was a waste.
For one, I found out that my attempts to become stronger by using that wish on the Ouroboros had been largely a success, even more than I had ever dreamed.
I first observed the chance when I started sparring with the Fallen Angel called Baraquiel, who seemed to be strangely averse to even looking me in the eye, and another Fallen Angel called Benemune, who seemed to have a strange form of reverence whenever I talked to her.
During our spars, I observed a small increase in something within me. The same kind of energy that I associated with EXP.
Invigorated with that discovery, I have taken to trying anything and everything to observe the changes. And much to my delight, it would seem that every action that took significant effort on my part contributed to my EXP.
A change that I definitely did not expect. But a welcome one nonetheless.
With that discovery, I threw myself into training like crazy. Refining my Spear arts, my magic, and even my crafting skills.
However, aside from this effort to improve myself, I have also been learning to meditate and sort through my mind and its unstable emotions, trying to control the strange bursts of emotions that seem to come out of nowhere within my mind.
And I am happy to say that I have learned to control these emotions to a certain extent. Not completely, but to the point that I won't suddenly blow up on others at the slightest annoyance.
All in all, these two months have been very productive for me, and I feel really glad that I got this opportunity to enhance myself, both physically and mentally.
After the girls were done smothering Vali (much to his embarrassment), we started moving towards the dorm where the children lived.
"Oh! That reminds me, Azazel-sama wanted to see all of us for some reason, Aetherion-sama. Do you know why he called for us?"
At Lavinia's question, I shook my head negatively.
"Who knows what goes on in that guy's head? I think it will be better for you to learn about this yourself. Speaking of, how are you children settling in?"
Sae smiled brightly along with Lavinia as Vali and Kouki smirked.
"We are doing fine. Aetherion-sama. Thanks for asking."
"Hm. That's good. I was just worried."
Lavinia smiled softly at my words.
"I know. It was pretty obvious after you tried to 'sneakily' ask us separately about our motivations and desires."
'Busted' I thought to myself with amusement.
That day, when Azazel told me about how the Grigori and his institute operated, I wanted to know if these children were coerced in any way or if they had joined Azazel of their own free will.
So, I took it upon myself to slowly learn their motivations, their desires, and by extension, try to see if they had joined this place willingly or if they wanted out of here.
Of course, I did not want to make this obvious, so I tried to corner each of the children individually and learn about these details from them.
But given Lavinia's words and the way the other children were giving me knowing looks, it was clear that I was not sneaky enough.
Shaking my head to get rid of those thoughts, I continued walking forward with the children.
'At least, I can leave these children alone when I have to leave in the next few days, satisfied in knowing that they willingly chose Azazel's side and would be well taken care of given Azazel, Barakiel, and Benemune's strength.'
Soon, we arrived at the dorm that Tobio Ikuse lived in.
Kouki walked forward and shouted out.
"Yoo! Ikuse! You up yet?"
There was no response, making Kouki sigh.
"Still not up? Fine, I'll do it."
Lavinia smiled as she shouted as well to let her presence be known.
"I came with Shark since you were being too slow to gather with the rest of us!"
Kouki gave Lavinia an annoyed glare for being called Shark, but let it be, knowing that she did not mean anything by it.
Sae tilted her head in confusion as there was still no response, and finally moved towards the door.
"It's unusual for Tobio to get up late. Did something happen?"
Annoyed with no response even after shouting for so long, Kouki finally kicked the door open.
"Yo-! Tobio-!"
Suddenly, everyone fell silent as Lavinia covered Vali's eyes on instinct.
"What!? What is it!? What's going on!?"
"....These things are not something you should see. Vaa-kun."
Lavinia's words were oddly serious despite her smile, while Sae looked like a broken puppet.
Kouki, on the other hand, was giving the boy and girl inside the room an appraising look.
"I see. So we were interrupting something, eh? Sorry about that, Minagawa, Ikuse."
"W-Wait! You are misunderstanding! This is-!"
"Tobio....?"
Looking at the drama in front of me, I could not help but lament that I did not have any popcorn with me to enjoy this drama.
Truly, such an entertaining bunch, these kids.
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Author Notes: Read 5 chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/Ruijard1