14

At the same moment outside the underworld, in the human world or Earth, Nero and Kuroka appear in mid-air falling from her teleportation circle directly into a river.

They landed with a deafening thud, landing close to rocky terrain that could have caused serious injuries in their current state, but in the end the landing site was in a river that crossed this small mountain.

Nero and Kuroka struggled to stay afloat as they were swept away by the strong river's current. Finally, they managed to grab hold of a piece of driftwood and were washed ashore.

"That was close," Kuroka choked on water as she looked around to confirm that she wasn't in any place filled with the devastation caused by her former master's explosion. She got out of the river and went to the bank to catch her breath.

Nero emerged from the river, shivering and soaked to the skin. He looked at Kuroka, who was standing beside him, grinding her teeth. She was clearly irritated by the situation.

"This is all your fault," Nero told Kuroka, with an annoyed expression. "If you hadn't been so brash and reckless, we wouldn't be in this situation."

Kuroka sighed and shook her head. "I know, I know," she replied. "You don't have to remind me all the time."

Nero looks around but don't recognize the place. "Do you have any idea where we are now?"

"I was just trying to escape that explosion, the place we were supposed to teleport was in some populous city. It looks like the explosion interfered with the teleportation circle and sent us to this isolated place. I have no idea where we are, at the moment it's better that we try to locate ourselves."

Kuroka calmly analyzed the situation while sitting on a large rock at the riverside.

"Hey Kuroka, why did you get so nervous when I mentioned your sister's name after we defeated Master Naberius?"

He asked her with a pure curiosity while sitting on another rock.

"I didn't want Shirone to see what I did. She would probably think I'm a monster, and since I didn't have time to fully explain the situation, she's better off thinking I'm evil by hearsay than something she's confirmed by witnessing."

Kuroka sighed deeply and there was a tear trickling out of her eye which she quickly wiped away. She started drying herself with magic to disguise the movement she made.

"Do you care that much about her?" asked Nero.

"Of course I do," said Kuroka. "She is my sister. I would do anything to protect her. And I did."

"Kuroka, Shirone is your little sister, so what can you tell me about her?"

I ask her trying to take her focus off the idea of ​​being a monster from her sister's point of view.

"Shirone, is an extremely cute little girl, she always makes me happier just being around me. She is currently 11 years old, she is 5 years younger than me, but she has great potential to use the techniques of our nekoshou race because we have the latent talent to be masters of both senjutsu and youjutsu." Kuroka speak with a proud face.

Nero noticed the change in her expression to a sad one and asked in hurry. "What is the problem?"

"The problem was that this talent made us perfect guinea pigs for my former master, when I was no longer presenting new results he was planning to use my sister as a substitute to me just like I was used to substitute my mother, and that's why I did what you saw in that lab."

"No need to be sad, I know you were right to take your actions and your sister will understand your motives in the future, even if she misunderstands them at the moment."

The young devil try to comfort her.

"Yeah." Kuroka responds without much reaction.

They stand in awkward silence until Nero decides to take the initiative to break it.

"I also have a younger brother, he is known to be the most talented in the family as you may have heard rumors, the wielder of one of the thirtheen longinus sacred gear. The Divine Dividing who made him into the strongest White Dragon Emperor of the history."

"So whats his age?" Kuroka maintain the conversation with a certain curiosity.

"He's 4 years younger than me, so he's 12 this year." Nero smile thinking of the troublemaker in both his memory of childhood and his memory of reader of light novel.

"What happened with him? You talk as if you are not very close with your sibling." She keeps presuring to get more information.

"He ran away from home because of our family's internal problems, I wanted to have a closer relationship with him like you had with your sister, but I never had the courage to go against my grandfather to be able to talk to him." Nero speak with a distant tone as he recall the events of his childhood, or rather first life.

"If he is 3 years younger than you then we have the same age. I hope you can see your brother again."

Kuroka smile gently.

"I hope so. I also promise to help you explain about the murder of one of the 72 pillars and my disappearance, I hope this way your sister understands that you are not guilty." I sigh looking to the sky.

"Thank you." Kuroka smiles at me.

Nero and Kuroka sat down together, now more at ease with each other after having shared about their siblings. Nero decided to take matters a little more personally.

"Kuroka, you already talked about your sister, but what about your parents? What are they like?"

Kuroka sighed before answering. "Well, our parents weren't the best. They were members of the Naberius family, and as you know and saw, that is one of the worst families in the underworld. My mother was a nekoshou who for some reason met a researcher from the Naberius family, she fell in love and so my sister and I were the result of her choices, the same choices who made me and my sister belong to that crazy family after our parents died."

"I'm sorry," said Nero. "Do you feel sad that you grew up with irresponsible parents like that?"

"I don't know my father very well and I like my mother for the short time we spend together. I can't say I'm completely happy about my situation." admitted Kuroka. "But in a way, it made me stronger. I learned to survive on my own, and that ended up helping me escape that toxic environment."

Nero agreed. "I understand what you mean. My father wasn't exactly a role model either. He wasn't as powerful a demon as my grandfather, but he was definitely a bad father figure just like his father."

"Didn't you have a good relationship with him?" asked Kuroka.

"Not exactly," said Nero. "He always pushed me hard to be a strong and skilled warrior, but he never gave me much affection or attention. I think he preferred to spend his time messing with my brother Vali's life."

"Vali is younger than you, right?" asked Kuroka.

"Yes, he is," replied Nero. "He was always the one hated by my father, father hated being inferior in talent when compared to his own son who is only half a devil. I think that's why he trained me so hard, to try to make me better than Vali and prove to his own twisted ego that pure-blooded devils are better than half-blooded ones."

"And how did that work?" asked Kuroka .

Nero laughed. "Not very well. Vali is a prodigy in combat, whereas I've always been more... different. I was never as good as he was, but that never stopped me from trying. Rivezim on the other hand never had expectations that I would evolve or become useful for his plans. I guess I just need to take some time and grow at my own pace to be develop myself properly."

Kuroka smiled. "I can tell that you are very brave and determined after that previous battle. No matter how difficult the fight is, you are the type who is always willing to face it for allies."

"Thank you, Kuroka," said Nero, smiling. "You shouldn't judge others on just a brief impression, but that means a lot to me coming from you."

The two remain in silence for a moment before Kuroka spoke again. "What about your mother? Is she a devil too?"

Nero frowned. "To be honest, I don't know much about her. My dad never talked about her informations. I know she was a demon, but that's all about it. She died in childbirth."

"And you never tried to look for informations about her?" asked Kuroka.

"I've thought about that," admitted Nero. "But all I know is that she was my father legal fiancée and was a member of House Satanachia, one of the Six Houses of Lucifer. Apparently my father was not a very charming man – even though he was blessed by the looks of his lineage – and his fiancée was from an affiliated house to our main one so that he would not remain single. He wasn't that useful to my grandfather, so much so that you can see the fact that he had a relationship with a subordinate of his family and with a human he kidnapped."

Kuroka nodded. "I understand how it is. My sister and I don't know much about our parents past either. I don't remember about my father, but I have vague memories of my mother. All we know is that they died in a lab accident when me and my sister were younger."

"I'm sorry," Nero said.

"Don't worry about it," Kuroka replied. "It was a long time ago, and my sister and I are over it. In fact, we are now closer than ever."

After that they stayed in an awkward silence until Nero again took the initiative to speak, this time about the plan to look around and get situated.

"Well now we must analyze the surroundings and try to place ourselves if we are in the territory of another faction or of some devil of the 72 pillars."

I immediately focused on analyzing the situation when I remembered the trouble we could cause by invading territory that belonged to another faction.

"Sorry, I am exhausted from the last fight. But, lets follow your plan and look around. I will take the lead." She get up from the big rock and start moving around the montain.