The 9th

Time

Mephisto smiled as he sorted through the mountain of paperwork the Grigory had given him, some small part of him was annoyed, but the rest of him shushed that part down cockily, the Grigory gave him paperwork to try and bunker him down, to show their power one might say. Mephisto laughed at the thought, the Grigory could only keep a leash on him as long as he didn't decide to bite it off. The Grigory knew this, so they maintained a somewhat even relationship with Mephisto. They didn't know that other than Lucifer, Mephisto was, no is, the weakest of the kings. Rin was able to take him down after he turned ninety-nine. It was so embarrassing that Mephisto left for a couple of decades, but he brushed it off as beginners' luck, though the other half of him knew better. The strength in each king was almost even besides Mephisto, Lucifer, Amaimon, and Rin. Amaimon and Rin were the strongest, only Satan could beat them, Mephisto and Lucifer were the weakest, a high enough demon could take them out. It made Mephisto a bit angry, especially since Rin was smart enough to know he could overpower Mephisto.

This was why Mephisto had a large part of Rin's power leashed. It was stored safely away in a sword locked deep down inside the Suguro Family Household. Only a large burst of emotion could release Rin's power. A large part of the reason why Rin is fighting in the arena, he'll grow to have less and less emotion with every battle, eventually becoming a soulless weapon. That was what the exorcists need Rin to be, a weapon. Mephisto would not lie, he wanted the throne, but he did lie because the Grigory didn't need to know that. They think Mephisto is helping them for the good of humanity, which is, to put it kindly, stupid. Why in Heaven and Hell would Mephisto, a demon that betrayed his own people, going to help worthless and useless ants? What could they offer him? Nothing. And what could being the king of Gehenna give him? Everything. It was a worry of Mephisto's for a while that his brothers would dethrone him, but that was before he learned about the King's Gifts. Satan didn't use them because of his overwhelming power, but for someone as weak as Mephisto, it was a one-way ticket to power. One of the King's Gifts gave the King power over the princes, should they oppose him the gift reacts and takes their powers away, leaving them helpless to Mephisto's wrath.

Mephisto grinned at the thought, the brothers that had scorned him for so long would dance at a twitch of his finger. What a glorious day that would be. All he needed to do was break his youngest brother, that's it. If only it's as easy as it sounds, Mephisto thought snarkily to himself. Breaking Rin would prove to be difficult, very difficult. One wrong move and the entire operation would be blown to smithereens. One wrong word and Mephisto would be punished mercilessly for his crimes. He had no doubt in his mind that his Father had found out about his treason, so he had to absolutely ready when he opened the gate if he wasn't..... he didn't want to think about it. He has to be cautious, more so than he's ever been, his only safe point and guarantee that he would survive was the fact that he hadn't severed his cord to his people. Whatever pain they felt he felt, but if he were to die, they would suffer for eons. Only Satan could cut the cord...if he was able to find it. Mephisto had it hidden away somewhere in Assiah, the one place where Satan could not travel freely.

His plan was near flawless. The only big factor being could he break Rin, but if he is able to, then Gehenna was as good as his. Mephisto felt giddy with joy and nearly jumped out of his chair as he reviewed his plan, it was just too good.

Mephisto sat the final file down in front of him and smirked in content, everything was just perfect.

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Shima felt guilty, extremely guilty. He had used an underhanded tactic to fight against a being who was showing him mercy, and he wasn't stupid, the way Rin reacted to the water wasn't normal. Shima had only learned after the fight when he asked where Rin was that the demon was encased in a tank of Holy Water and would be released in the next twelve hours. Shima swore that he wouldn't use Holy Water if he ever had to fight Rin again. He also didn't miss the bland look Rin had in his eyes before he knocked Shima out. It was Shima who put that bland, distasteful look in Rin's eyes, and he swore to the gods that he would fix it.

Bon was damn proud that Shima had blinded Rin, praising the pink-haired Munk for 'giving that demon what for!'. It only made Shima feel guiltier. Bon paraded around the dorm for the rest of the day, patting Shima on the back and cracking up whenever he saw a video of the fight. Each wheeze was another knife stabbed into Shima's conscious.

Izumo was a bit better than Bon, but she was worse, in a way. She looked at Shima as if he were a heartless freak. It was only after Shima broke down crying that Izumo finally listened to him. Neither of them liked the fact that the arena was a thing in the first place, they disliked the fact that Rin was being treated like a wild animal even more. He had a heart, he had a mind, he had a will. Why was it that the human race had to make everything that was not them inferior? Why must they always rid the world of the things that do not obey them? It was pathetic.

Why must they treat demons the same way they'd treat a wild panther? No, some treat panthers with respect. They treat demons as if they were monsters, which some of them are. But must they think that every demon is like that? True Cross only exorcises a limited number of demons each year, do they really think that those demons are the only ones in Assiah? They only become aware of a demon when the demon acts up, and even though it's kept secret, many of the exorcists know that other demons handle the trouble maker. (The demons stake claim to their own little areas, these areas are noticeable because miracles happen there, misfortune does not fall on anybody who resides in the area. Some exorcists have protection deals for the demons in said area, but the Grigory had no need to know that.) A large part of True Cross knows that not all demons deserve to be killed, especially after learning of the demons 'Red Night', a parody, as some say, to Assiah's 'Blue Knight'. An invisible line had been drawn, and Izumo and Shima were standing in the red. People like Yukio and Bon were in the blue. With the recent battles for Rin, more and more people were beginning to see the line and cross it. The question Shima and Izumo were asking, however, made everyone wither in anxiety. When the time comes, would they have enough people to cross the line and bring the red with them?