(✔︎) ❝𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐁𝐔𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐑❞

104 | Bait

*I wanna end this arc right now before I lose it

*Also, what do you mean by original in this book?

Bonus:

(How Barbatos and Luke's first meeting went) It was finally time to introduce the new exchange students from the Celestial Realm. Everyone was quiet after getting a beating from the demoness butler of Diavolo for being nosy...

     "Welcome to Devildom!" Diavolo greeted the two angels who entered the student council room. He shook the tanned man's hand, "Nice to meet you, I'm Lord Diavolo. You must be Simeon?" He asked.

     The older angel nodded, "I'm glad to meet you, Lord Diavolo. Thank you for having us," he thanked and smiled at him. He looked behind Diavolo, "Ah, you must be (Name)! Nice to meet you as well!" Simeon chortled, holding the demoness's hands.

     She smiled at him, "Hello there, Simeon-san."

     "Everyone knows you in the Celestial Realm because of how good you cook and I would like you to meet Luke," Simeon showed the angel hiding behind him, earning stares from the demon brothers. "I would like to ask for your help to—"

     "I don't need her help, Simeon!"

     Barbatos chuckled, "A feisty angel, I see."

- The Coral Sea, above the sea -

The demoness looked at her phone, hoping for Yuu to text her since it's been days since he last updated her. She was worried that something bad has happened to him—not until her phone rang. It wasn't Yuu, but rather Vil...

     "Hello?" She placed her phone near her ear. "There you are, (Name)! Have you seen the morning article yesterday?" Vil asked, he seems to be inside a car because of the honking sounds.

     "No, I don't read newspapers. Why?" She asked, curious about what was wrong with the morning article yesterday. "Crashed wedding of Malleus Draconia, Leona Kingscholar's girlfriend stolen by the Prince of Thorns... Do you have an idea about it? Or are you the girlfriend they're talking about here?!" He sounds furious.

     "Oh, that... Yes, I think I'm the girlfriend they're talking about," she nervously smiled and chuckled. "It's not funny, (Name)! I'm gonna give you some lecture once holidays are over—" The line got cut off, surprising the demoness.

     The pilot cleared his throat, "Sorry about that, Ms. (Name), but we're currently in the middle of the ocean. The line gets cut off if we're within this area," he told her. "We might as well wait until we get to a land area, so you can call him again."

She felt a tingle of her magic tickling her somehow and it pointed at the floating balloon above the helicopter. She peeked and stared at it to see if there was something wrong—the balloon is protected with high-quality magic, blocking her magic somehow...

     "Don't worry, Ms. (Name)! We're close to the campus!" The pilot assured as they started to change directions.

- ??? -

The person underneath the white cloak smiled in satisfaction once the dismembered (unknown sender, future) Barbatos is placed back in their water tank. Her body is slowly coming back together, but she's not awake because of how painful the sudden dismemberment and the magic the person underneath the cloak used on her...

     "Chairman, the Headmaster is currently asking for updates about the upcoming event..." A guard told the person underneath the white cloak. They turned their head to look over their shoulder, nodding in response, "Understood, Chairman. I'll quickly send him the documents..."

The person underneath the white cloak touched the water tank Barbatos is in, watching how slow her breathing is. A large hose is attached to the water tank—sucking off the said Barbatos's magic slowly, but painfully. When the person underneath the white cloak clicked the button near the tank, her breaths of Barbatos quickens...

     "Just a little wait, Barbatos... I'll come to your sweet, little past self..." They whispered and left the cold room.

Barbatos might not be awake, but her consciousness is—she was supposed to go back to (future) Diavolo once she finds the hideout of the culprit behind the tampering of those timelines, but she was nowhere near the strength of the said person underneath the cloak. She went there to ambush them without any plan in hand as well...

     "Please, (Name)... Find me..." She begged, trying to wake herself up.

- Scarabia Dorm, Lounge -

Everyone was inside the lounge, eating after everything they did earlier. They went through a sparring of magic to fix how they cast spells and stances to attack their opponents, Jamil was sighing through the lessons. They also cooked different kinds of food earlier to fix the balance of their diet...

     "That was so good!" Kalim cheered, finishing his meal. Azul smiled, "Eating nutritious food and resting after doing training can help you focus more. Especially if you're studying during the evening," he remarked.

     Kalim's eyes brightened and took Azul's palms, amazed by his knowledge, "You're very smart, Azul! I'm so jealous!" He exclaimed. "Maybe I'm trying too hard to improve to the point I didn't notice I'm hurting my dorm mates. I still need a lot to learn about being Dorm Leader," he sighed.

     "Don't worry, Kalim-san. Everyone makes mistakes," Azul assured. "There's still a lot of time to improve. No need to rush yourself to immediately improve in a nick of time," he chuckled.

The dorm students sighed since today's training isn't as severe as before as if they woke up from a nightmare—Jamil tensed when he heard that. Scarabia students are good in both astrology and ancient spells...

     "The Sorcerer of Sands is good at seeing future possibilities, so students who had the same abilities are selected to be in this dorm. I dunno how I got here, but I'm glad I'm here now," Kalim shared, scratching the back of his head. Azul chuckled, "Rumors said that the Sorcerer of Sands managed to do such feats with his magic with the help of specific types of equipment."

     Kalim grew interested and listened to Azul, "Continue, continue."

     "I think that the Sorcerer of Sand managed to do such a feat because he's smarter among the bunch and quicker than them," Azul shared. The dorm leader of Scarabia was amazed, "Man, the Great Seven sure are interesting!" He praised.

It's finally 3 pm, and they need to study before resting again. Azul presented himself to get some green tea, advised by the demoness and Jade, that can soothe their body while studying. Jamil volunteered to help him and the Octavinelle dorm leader gladly accepted the offer...

- Scarabia Dorm, Hallway -

     Azul cleared his throat to lighten up the mood, "Well, the Scarabia students have progressed to 15% of all the tasks. A satisfying result if I say so myself," he remarked, sharing it with his introverted classmate. "I heard from Yuu-san that your dorm leader has been quite strict these days, but ever since we've come to join your training—I guess he regained the trust of the dorm students and back to his usual self."

     Jamil stopped as Azul kept rambling nonsense, "I'm afraid that'll be a problem..." He whispered. The dorm leader of Octavinelle looked at the Vice Dorm Leader of Scarabia, confused, "Sorry, but I need the Octavinelle dorm out of my dorm right now."

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(バルバトス)