21

Chapter 21: To the Underworld!

Sona Sitri could proudly say that she always kept a tight rein on her emotions. Compared to other Devils of her age group, such as Sairaorg or Rias, she had always been cool, calculating, and efficient. It was necessary. She was not ashamed to say that Rias had more raw power than her, and Sairaorg had trained himself to an extent that even not having his family's fabled Power of Destruction didn't hold him back.

So, whereas her fellow Devils were stronger, she made sure that she was smarter. She would take what abilities she and her peerage had, along with any resource available, to create a plan that had the absolute highest chance of victory. So much so that, by the time her foes figured out what she was planning, it was already too late. And for that to happen, she had to remain calm no matter the situation.

The news brought to her by Lilium served to test that emotional control.

Moving with a stiffness on par with her limbs being made of wood, she reached up and adjusted her glasses. Looking out at the rest of her peerage, who she had called to gather in the Student Council Room, she prepared herself. Standing near the back, she noticed, were Rias and Akeno, who she had asked to attend. Also there were that exorcist Keijutsu was letting live with him, Suzuno Kamazuki, along with Rasiel and the smaller form of Fronea. Even Serafall was present, having immediately come at her sister's call.

"Thank you all for coming here on such short notice," she said, watching as any side-conversation ceased as she was given their full attention. "I have summoned you all because we have an emergency on our hands. The latest member of my peerage, Keijutsu Hatsume, is missing. One of our own, a fellow Devil, who was kidnapped just a few hour ago."

Cue several gaspa from those in attendance, particularly from Suzuno, Serafall, Tomoe and Ruruko, while the others grimaced. "Do we know who's responsible?" Tsubasa asked.

Sona nodded, and waved her hand at Lilium, who was standing next to and behind. "According to Lilium, who was there at the time of the event, the kidnapper was an adult male dressed in black with silver hair. He only referred to himself as 'Undertaker' and… claimed that he was a Grim Reaper."

Serafall's frown deepened. "That's not good. The Grim Reapers are supposed to be under the command of Hades, after all" she began.

Before she could continue, however, Ruruko spoke up. "Wait. Hades? As in, that Greek God of Death? That Hades?!" she asked in fear.

Fronea grunted, raising her head while she sat in Rasiel's arms. "Technically, Thanatos is the God of Death from the Greek pantheon. Hades is also a god, but his sphere of influence only extends to those already in the Realm of the Dead. But yes, that Hades," she stated.

While Ruruko looked positively terrified, Sona cleared her throat. "That's correct. In addition to that and, as my sister mentioned, being the one in charge of the Grim Reapers, Hades is also notoriously hostile towards beings of other mythologies, particularly Devils. So, we have to account for the possibility that this 'Undertaker' acted on his orders."

Rias hummed, holding her chin as she thought. "Even so, what motive could someone like Hades have for kidnapping a member of a Devil's peerage, especially the peerage of a member of a clan like the Sitri? Doing so is almost a declaration of war on its own, but even he doesn't have the forces necessary for that. Especially with the new peace treaty in effect," she thought aloud, before turning to look at Lilium. "Did this Undertaker state what he wanted with Hatsume-san?"

Lilium nodded. "He said that he was fascinated with death being the end of life, and was trying to find a way to extend life after that point, creating a life that never ended. Since Father has already succeeded in combining magic and science to make life in the form of me, he thought he would be the perfect person to help," she explained.

Saji's eyes widened. "Wait. Father…?" he said, trailing off as the realization hit him.

Sona blinked, realizing what had just been revealed, and sighed. "…It's true. We were planning to hold this off until after the summer, when she could be introduced as a new student. But yes, Lilium is Keijutsu's biological daughter, who he created almost a month ago," she stated.

As one, all eyes looked towards Lilium in shock, taking in the similarities between her and the Artificer. Serafall, meanwhile, was wondering two things. One was how much Ajuka, as obsessed with research as he was, would flip his shit when he found out about this. And the others was who Lilium's mother might be, if she even had one.

The one to get over it the fastest was, surprisingly, Saji. "But wait a minute. If this Undertaker guy said that he kidnapped Keijutsu to help him with his research, that could that mean that he wasn't doing it on Hades's orders?" he pointed out.

Sona thought about that. If Undertaker hadn't acted on the orders of Hades, then that meant he was doing it of his own volition. And if the Grim Reaper was as smart as he implied, then he knew that kidnapping one of her servants could lead to a war, especially with her sister being the Satan in charge of Foreign Affairs. So for him to do something his master would have not ordered him to, and not care for the consequences… She turned to her sister. "Is it possible for a Grim Reaper to turn rogue, similar to a Stray Devil?"

Serafall hummed. After a moment, she said "I don't think I've heard of such a thing happening… but I can't see why it wouldn't be impossible." Then she smiled. "Luckily, I know a way that we can find out! We just have to ask!"

Rias's eyes widened. "Hold on, a confrontation with Hades is exactly what we want to avoid!" she called.

"Oh, no, no, not Hades. We just have to ask Orcus!" she replied cheerfully.

While Sona's, Rasiel's and Fronea's eyes widened in comprehension, the others looked confused. "I'm afraid I don't understand," Suzuno said.

"Well, you see, although Hades has ultimate authority over the actions of the Grim Reapers, he doesn't actually spend his time actively managing them—he has enough time overseeing the rest of the Realm of the Dead as it is. So they're mostly run by themselves, and not all of them feel the same way Hades does about other mythologies. In fact, one of them, named Orcus, doesn't possess any hate towards Devils at all!" Serafall explained.

Akeno's eyes widened. "And since he has no ill feeling towards us, if we could get an audience with this Orcus, he'd be willing to tell us if a Grim Reaper can turn rogue or not, and if Undertaker is one. He might even have information on where to find him," she finished.

Serafall nodded, causing Sona to smile. "Then we know what to do. How do go about setting up such a meeting?" she asked.

The Satan's smile grew even wider, pleased as punch at making her adorable little sister happy. "I can actually arrange the meeting myself, being in charge of Foreign Affairs and whatnot. I'll probably have it ready by the time you get to Sitri estate in the Underworld," she declared, before conjuring a magic circle. "In fact, I'll get started on that now. Toodles!" she said, and vanished.

Ignoring the small sweatdrop that appeared at her sister's enthusiastic personality, she looked over at the rest of them. "Alright, we have a plan. Everyone, return back home and resume packing your things for our summer trip to the Underworld. Once there, we'll meet with Orcus and learn what we can about Keijutsu's kidnapper. The sooner we can find him, the sooner we can find Keijutsu," she finished.

The rest of her peerage nodded, getting up to leave while Rasiel used a magic circle to take herself, Suzuno, Fronea and Lilium back to Keijutsu's apartment. Rias conjured her own magic circle, but before she left, she looked over at Sona. "I can't begin to imagine how worried you are right now, Sona. Just remember, if you need any help, I'll be there," she promised.

Smiling at her friend/childhood rival, Sona said "Thank you for that Rias. I mean it."

The redhead nodded and left alongside Akeno. That left just Sona in the room, who also immediately slouched in her seat.

When had her life begun turning so stressful? And how was Keijutsu holding up now?

Well, that decided it. Making a soul was even harder than he thought it would be.

Of course, Keijutsu had known that accepting Undertaker's 'request' and following through on it would probably be the hardest task he would have accomplished yet. But he couldn't exactly say 'no' to the one who kidnapped him, could he? Even so, he had underestimated just how out of his depth he was when it came to researching how to recreate something like the soul.

The biggest problem was that he didn't even know any real, concrete information about the soul's nature. Was it some mass of energy, and if so, what kind? Was it only another word for consciousness, or rather an emergent property from it? Was the soul connected to the body in some way, and if so, where was the connection? The heart? The brain? Every cell in the body at once? And how did the ability to use magic figure into it?

He barely had any clue where to even start looking. He had begun brainstorming—what, four or five hours ago?—and he still had no clue. It was baffling.

At least Undertaker had chosen to leave his scythe behind for Keijutsu to examine while he manned the shop upstairs. Apparently, on top of being an actual undertaker, the Grim Reaper was also an information broker for those who could make him laugh. Which was harder than one might think, given the number of jokes he'd heard over the centuries.

Looking at the almost cliché weapon laid out on the wooden table to the side, Keijutsu leaned back in his chair. 'Okay, so the Grim Reapers use these scythes on the dying in order to access their Cinematic Records, a collection of all their memories and experiences in life, even the ones they had forgotten,' he thought. Reaching forward, Keijutsu created a spectral hand that then grasped the scythe, moving it for him. Undertaker hadn't said that anything bad would happen if Keijutsu touched the scythe, but he'd rather not find out the hard way.

Moving it over towards one of the Bizarre Dolls, which he had strapped down an examination table, Keijutsu manipulated the spectral hand to swing the scythe and cut across the Doll's stomach. The scythe passed through like a knife through warm butter, and the Bizarre Doll hissed in anger. But rather than a spray of blade and gore, what emerged from it was a mass of several strips of film, the kind that one would find for a vintage movie reel.

The film strips showed that, from what Keijutsu could see, this person had been a simple construction worker, whose job had been to repair roads, curbs and street gutters, as well as de-icing them during the winter. He had also been a single father, who shared custody of their only child with his ex-wife, and doted on said child, a girl, whenever he had the chance. Then Records vanished, and Keijutsu didn't have the chance to pry into this Doll's former life any further.

Keijutsu moved the scythe back and examined the Bizarre Doll, ignoring its thrashing as it mindlessly tried to escape its bindings. 'No wound. So the scythe itself doesn't actually inflict any physical injuries. But it must be interacting with something in order to force the Cinematic Records to manifest. Could the thing it interacts with be the soul, or what of one this thing has left?'

According to Undertaker, the Bizarre Dolls were human bodies that no longer had souls, but still had memories, thanks to the Grim Reaper tacking fake memories onto their Records past the point where they were no longer alive. But that would imply that souls and memories were two separate entities that could exist independently of one another. Was it actually the opposite, and memories were actually part of the soul?

If so, then what a Grim Reaper's scythe actually did was cut away the memories from the rest of the soul, forcing them to manifest as Cinematic Records, which the Grim Reaper could then examine to determine what kind of life that person led. Then, after the examination, they would recombine the Records with the rest of soul, and allow it to pass on. Or perhaps, if the soul was to be reincarnated, the memories would be kept separated and the rest of it was what was reincarnated?

Keijutsu grunted. It was time like this when he could use a second opinion, or at least someone for him to bounce ideas off of. 'Fronea would be a good choice. She's definitely smart enough to discuss this with, and being a sphinx means that she'll have a different outlook on it than I,' he thought. Actually, it would probably be a good idea to call for her anyway, in case his sudden disappearance worried anyone.

With that in mind, he reached forward and focused, creating the magic circle on the ground needed for summoning familiars. In a matter of seconds, there was a flash of light, and the miniature form of Fronea appeared before him.

Her eyes instantly went wide, seeing him standing there. "Kei! You're alright!" she called, bounding over to him.

He nodded. "Indeed I am," he replied smiling.

As she ran closer, the female sphinx began growing in size, returning to her normal massive form. Then, making sure not to hit him with her claws, she raised up a single paw and smacked her master over the top of his head.

"Ow! Hey!" he shouted, rubbing the spot where she hit him. Even without her claws, the strength in those paws was nothing to joke about. "What was that for?!"

"For not calling me sooner, you idiot! It's been hours since you vanished, and some of us are besides themselves with worry. Sona has already called in her whole peerage, and Serafall's even going about setting up a meeting with one of the other Grim Reapers to get more information on your kidnapper," she said, glaring at him.

Rather than be chastened, however, Keijutsu's smile only grew. "Oh? And were you among those who were worried?" he asked teasingly.

Sniffing haughtily, Fronea responded "Of course, I was. I'm your familiar, after all, so what exactly am I supposed to do if you were to up and die? Go back to the forest and wait until some other Devil shows up who's both insane enough to enter my den and smart enough to solve one of my riddles? No, thank you."

Chuckling, the Artificer decided to refrain and moved back to the matter at hand. "I see. I'm sorry to have worried you and other others, but as you can see, I'm alive and well. Not only that, but I've made a deal with Undertaker to secure my freedom to leave as I please," he explained.

She stared at him for a moment, raising an eyebrow. "Really? And what kind of deal is that?" she questioned.

Clearing his throat in slight embarrassment, he said "Oh, nothing special. I just have to… well… help him figure out how to make a soul."

…

…

"Excuse me?" Fronea said, reaching up with a hind leg to brush at some of the fur near her ears. "I don't think I quite heard you right. Could you repeat it, please?"

"I said, I agreed to help Undertaker figure out to make a soul. It's the only part left in his quest to create a life after death that he hasn't figure out," Keijutsu explained.

The sphinx continued to stare at him. "You're serious? You've actually agreed to help research the soul, something that philosophers, magicians and many others have been trying to figure out since, oh I don't know, at least the time of Plato? Are you insane?!" she said, her voice rising in volume until she was nearly yelling at the end.

Keijutsu nodded. "It's going to be difficult, I know, and yes, I'm aware that others have been trying to do at least somewhat the same thing I am for over two thousand years now. But then again, they never had me," he said, grinning.

Fronea's stare turned deadpan. "Are you aware of how egotistical that statement just now was?" she stated.

He shrugged. "You never know. I may just figure out how to do it, I may not. But I have agreed to help, and in return, Undertaker has agreed to let me come and go from here whenever I want, with no fixed deadline for when I need to make progress. He even agreed to join my peerage once I become a High-Class Devil, should I succeed," he explained.

There was another moment of silence, before she sighed heavily. "Well, at least I know you're safe, relatively speaking. Do you want me to report this back to Sona?" she asked.

"It would probably be best if you did. But even if you do, tell her I said to go ahead with meeting this other Reaper. Who knows, he might tell us something about Undertaker that we don't know. And despite our agreement, I'll stay here and continue to work until I manage to make at least some progress, just so he doesn't think I'm trying to go back on our 'deal'," he told her.

Sighing again, Fronea nodded, and slapped her tail against the floor. Another magic circle appeared around her, and she said "Just take care not to get yourself killed. I'm actually fond of having you for a master, and I know Sona would be heartbroken if you died," she said.

Keijutsu blinked. "Wait. Heartbroken? What do you mean Sona would-?" he started, but then his familiar activated the circle and vanished in a burst of light. Leaving him sitting there, contemplating what he just heard.

Two days later…

It was with no small amount of relief that Sona and her peerage arrived at the Sitri estate. Fronea's message from Keijutsu had done much to soothe their worries over his safety, but they still needed to know more about just who pretty much forced Keijutsu to help him. Each member of the student council got on the train in a neat, orderly fashion, with Sona in front and Saji brining up the rear. Lilium and Rasiel were also on board, having been invited to come for the summer. Suzuno, uncomfortable with the idea of traveling to the Underworld, had politely declined.

Having become a Devil after the summer of last year, this was Saji's first look at the Underworld, and the territory owned by the Sitri family in particular. What he saw left him in awe.

Apparently, the Gremory were not the only clan to possess incredible amounts of land, even if the exact amount owned by the House of Sitri wasn't exactly the same. To put into perspective, while the size of the Gremory territory was about equal to Japan's main island Honshu, the Sitri lands were approximate to that of Hokkaido. But the different in size was then more than made up for in the beauty of the landscapes.

Like something pulled from a fantasy novel, the Sitri territory was covered in vast swaths of forests and lakes. Each patch of green was vibrant and almost glowing with life, while the water appeared like sapphire. Even from their place on the flying train, everyone aboard could see that the lands were teeming with not just plant life, but animal life as well, while numerous cities dotted the landscape.

"Wow…" Ruruko said, stars in her eyes as she admired the scenery.

Sona smirked, looking up from her book. "The House of Sitri has always been proud of the richness of its lands, so much so that we have the largest number of natural reserves among any High-Class Devils. We also have one of the best medical facilities in the Underworld, known as the Serafall Memorial Hospital," she told them.

Saji looked back at her. "And your family owns all of this?!" he said, somewhere between awed and flabbergasted. Despite herself, Sona could help but straighten in her seat, smiling with pride over her family.

The rest of the trip consisted of Sona, with Tsubaki as well, explaining the various features of the Sitri territory. The flying train deposited them at the station, wherefrom they were able to make their way to Sitri family manor. During the last few minutes of the trip, the family manor finally came within sight. Not too surprisingly, the manor was inhumanely large, enough to house an entire city within its walls and probably have room to spare.

The architecture was distinctly Gothic in nature, with many of the windows being tall, thin and made of stained class. The walkway to the front door was paved with white limestone of the highest quality, with two fountains on either side releasing crystal-clear water into tiny canals that then spider-webbed into a large front garden. Atop the manor was a single golden spire that ended with the Sitri crest made of blue steel.

But the biggest surprise came in the form of the front doors. Made from lacquered wood of the highest quality, they depicted a being that had the body of a human man wearing tattered leather armor, wearing a set of beads and a smile that somehow reeked of cunning and manipulation. Which was all the more disturbing when you accounted for the fact that the man's head was that of a leopard, while a pair of griffin wings sprouted from his back and each outstretched hand was a large paw.

Even Momo, calm as she usually was, was shaken by the image. "Sona-kaichou, who is this?" she asked hesitantly.

Glancing at the image embossed on her family's front door, she explained "That is Cupidatem Sitri, the founder and first member of the Sitri House. He was said to have reign over sixty legions of Devils, and could enchant men and women to fall in love with each other whenever he wished. He was also supposedly renowned for his cunning and skill at outwitting his foes, something our family has always tried to emulate."

Despite it being only a carving—albeit one that towered over him due to the size of the doors—Saji couldn't help but gulp. It felt almost like those feline eyes were watching him, tracking his every move even though the eyes themselves weren't moving. 'If this guy was the one that founded Kaichou's family, so wonder she's so good at predicting others,' he thought.

Then the front doors parted, revealing not a maid or servant as one might expect, but Serafall. Though, she was not clad in her usual magical girl outfit, but a blue formal dress similar to the one she wore the Faction Summit. That didn't stop her expression from lighting up like a Christmas tree the moment she caught sight of her sister.

"So-tan!" she called, launching herself forward at blinding speeds. As much as Sona had expected this kind of reaction, she was still miles away from outpacing Serafall, and thus she had barely any time to blink before she was enveloped in her older siblings embrace, her faced stuffed between Serafall's bountiful breasts.

"I'm so happy to see you! We didn't spend nearly enough time together when I visited your school, and then the next time I heard from you, it was to set up a meeting with a Grim Reaper. And here I though I could finally cash in on the girls' night out you promised me!" she cried out dramatically. "But now that summer's come and you're spending it here, you and I can finally have some quality bonding time!"

And thus one of the highest-ranking Devils in the Underworld went on, talking about all the things they would do together even as she spun around, keeping Sona's face smothered by her chest. Seeing such an event was enough to cause Tomoe and Ruruko to blush, feeling somewhat inadequate by comparison. The rest of the Student Council, being either well-endowed themselves or—in both Saji and Tsubasa's case—completely unworried about having a large bust, were unaffected.

As for Sona herself? She was becoming increasingly dizzy due to both being spun around and having her ability to breathe hampered significantly by her current position. As the moment dragged on and it became clear the Serafall had no intention of releasing her on her own initiative, she began struggling and trying to break her sister's grip.

Her efforts might as well have been for naught, compared the strength of a being who was both an Ultimate-Class Devil and a complete siscon. Even after Serafall stopped spinning and just stood there, holding her close and simply savoring the moment, she couldn't break free. Eventually, with no other option in sight, Sona used a magic circle and teleported herself out of her sister's arms, reappearing in front of her peerage.

Trying to regain some semblance of control over the situation, Sona took off her glasses and pulled out a cloth to begin wiping the lenses. The image was ruined by how frazzled her hair had become during her short ride, but no one saw fit to tell her that. In any case, Sona cleared her throat and said "We'll have to postpone that promise for another time, Onee-sama. Were you able to set up the meeting that I requested?"

At that, Serafall lost some of her cheer. "Well… not exactly. I tried setting up a meeting with Orcus, but it turns out that he was already out on an assignment from Hades. All of the higher-ranked Grim Reapers weren't available actually; with the global human death rate being what it is, they're apparently spread really thin trying to keep up," she told them. Then she perked up. "Buuuut… Once I 'let it slip' that we were dealing with a rogue member of their group, they were able to set up a meeting with two of their other members. They're waiting in the study now."

Sona nodded, glad to be getting back to the matter at hand. "Very well. Lead the way, then," she said, before turning to look at the rest of them. "Except for Tsubaki, the rest of you get settled in. In you need to, ask a maid or butler to assist."

The rest of the Student Council, plus Rasiel and Lilium, obeyed without question, though Saji plainly looked as though he'd rather be with her than away from the meeting. Still, when the others began filing inside, he went with them. The trio of Sona, Serfall and Tsubaki, however, made their way towards the western section of the manor, where a room for speaking with arriving guests had been set up years ago by Sona's father.

The interior of the room sported a pair of ornate yet comfortable couches in blue, in between which was a table for tea. Near the back was simple wooden desk, in turn flanked by bookcases. Off to the side was a permanently engraved magic circle, enabling guests to teleport in and out without issue. Though, as with any such circle, wards and seals had been set up so that anyone who entered the manor via that circle could only exit that room with permission from a member of the Sitri house.

Sitting on one of the couches was their two guests, who stood and faced them once Serafall opened the door. Taking a look at them, Sona was taken aback by how both of the people before her could be Grim Reapers.

One of them looked like a young girl with pale skin and long, dark blue hair that reached her hips and was held in a braid by a purple skull. Her eyes were golden and partly closed, as if she was about to fall asleep any moment. She was wearing a light blue dress and a white cap with an emerald at the tip, along with black gloves with golden neon lines that reached her elbows. Though her eyes were sleepy, the rest of her expression seemed cheerful and upbeat.

The other Reaper, by contrast, looked less like a gatherer of souls and more like a stereotypical bureaucrat. They were a tall man with short dark brown hair that looked to be combed with utmost care. He wore rectangular glasses over chartreuse, phosphorescent eyes, and wore an immaculate black suit with a white undershirt, black tie, and a pair of black gloves. While the girl's expression was positive, this man's face was stern and almost completely emotionless.

Once all three of them entered, the stern-looking Reaper bowed at the waist, even his posture honed to precision. "It would seem that everyone who is part of this meeting has arrived. In that case, let us begin with introductions before moving onto the business at hand," he said calmly. Straightening, he said "My name is William T. Spears, senior member of the Management Division of the Grim Reaper Dispatch. The young woman with me is Bennia, junior member of the Retrieval Division."

Serafall bowed in return, shifting with practiced ease into her role as the Satan of Foreign Affairs. "It's a pleasure you make your acquaintance, Spears-san and Bennia-san. My name is Serafall Leviathan, of the Four Satans. With me is my sister, Sona of House Sitri and heiress to the house, and her Queen, Tsubaki Shinra."

Bennia nodded, smiling. "We know that you actually wanted to meet up with my Dad, and I'm sorry about that. But over the last few centuries, as the number of humans in the world has been increasing, so has rate at which they've been dying. Meanwhile, the number of Grim Reapers had remained fairly the same over that time, so the whole organization is really understaffed right now," she said.

Sona blinked, picking up on the implications of that first line even as she processed the rest. "Wait, your father? You mean that you are Orcus's daughter?" she asked.

Bennia nodded. "Yup, that's right! In fact, I was only born last century when Dad met with a Human woman and-" she began, before William cleared his throat.

"You can discuss the circumstances of your birth with these… Devils… at a later time, Bennia. Right now, we have something else to discuss," he reminded her.

Sona nodded, moving to sit behind the desk while Tsubaki and Serafall stood on either side of her. That act alone—that Serfall was silently and willingly ceding control of the meeting to her sister, despite being the one to set it up in the first place—almost caused the prim Grim Reaper to tense up. Almost, but not quite.

Despite this, his previous hesitance at the word Devil caused Sona's eyes narrowed. 'So it seems that he's one of the Reapers that isn't fond of Devils either. Just my luck, too. Well, at least the other one seems polite,' she thought, before clearing her throat. "Yes, I was hoping we could move onto that subject. To put it bluntly, one of my servants was recently kidnapped by a man claiming to be Grim Reaper. I was hoping you would be able to shed some light on the subject."

Both William and Bennia frowned, with the latter saying "That's a little weird. I know our boss, Hades, doesn't really like Devils—or Fallen Angels, for that matter—but I don't think he's put out an order to have one kidnapped."

William nodded in agreement. "Quite so. The Grim Reaper Dispatch has enough on our plate trying to keep up the influx of souls to be judged and reaped. Going out of our way to find a live Devil and hold them in captivity would only cause us more problems while solving none. And as part of the Management Division, I can say with certainty that no Reaper has been recently dispatched with such an assignment," he explained.

Sona hummed, considering their words. While they could be lying to save face now that they had been caught red-handed, Sona was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, at least for now. "I suspected as much, which has led us to suspect it is actually a rogue or former member of your organization that is responsible. Perhaps you've heard of him? He seems to enjoy referring to himself as 'Undertaker'," she stated.

That time, there was no hiding how William tensed at that statement, his eyes widening in alarm even as Bennia blinked in confusion. "Uh… Undertaker? No, I don't think I've heard of anyone like that," she said, before looking over at her comrade. "What about you, Will?"

All eyes turned to him, and William sighed in both irritation and what seemed like exhaustion. "Unfortunately, yes, that is someone I'm all too familiar with," he said, before sitting back down. "Undertaker is a former member of the Grim Reaper Dispatch. Or perhaps the better phrase would be a 'deserter'," he said.

The others raised eyebrows but said nothing, letting him continue. "Undertaker was one of the oldest members of the our organization, and one of the best Grim Reapers in the entire Retrieval Division. He reaped souls with a calm, indifferent precision for several centuries, never showing any particular joy in his work, but no displeasure either."

"But eventually, reports from with those assigned to work with him began stating that he was becoming more bored than indifferent. Eventually, he grew tired of reaping altogether and tried twice to leave the Dispatch. The first time, he destroyed almost half of the entire headquarters in the process, and successfully escaped when he tried again twenty years later, taking his Death Scythe with him."

Sona barely fought back a grimace at that. A being strong enough to destroy half of the Grim Reapers' headquarters, likely fighting off dozens of other Reapers in the process? Almost dreading asking, she asked "Just how strong is Undertaker?"

William was silent for a moment, thinking. Eventually, he said "While comparing the strength of a Grim Reaper to that of a Devil is not always easy, if I had to put it in terms you would understand, he would be Ultimate-Class, without a doubt."

'An Ultimate-Class. Kei's made a deal with an Ultimate-Class being to help create a soul. Could this get any worse?' she thought. Out loud, she asked "Does Undertaker still operate in Britain?"

"Yes, he does. He runs a parlor in London, where he works as an actual undertaker. After an incident in the 1800's he was part of involving a cruise ship and a horde of undead, the Dispatch gave up trying to apprehend him. Nowadays, we just let him be and live his life, and he doesn't interfere with out work," William explained.

Serafall 's expression hardened. "I see. In that case, I take it the Grim Reaper Dispatch wouldn't be willing to help us rescue my sister's servant?" she questioned. Not that there was any need for such a rescue, they now knew, but it was a test to see what their response would be.

Bennia frowned. "Well, I know I'd like to help but-" she started, before Will cut her off again. "But as you know, we Grim Reapers are stretched thin right now with out normal duties as it is. Sending a handful of our own to attempt a rescue mission that would be doomed to failure is out of the question."

Now it was Sona that was silent, trying to swallow her anger at the casual dismissal of Keijutsu's fate. Only the knowledge that Undertaker would allow him to come and go from his lab kept that anger in check. "I… understand. In that case, I thank you for your time. The information you've given us should come in very helpful," she said.

William nodded and stood back up, an uncomfortable-looking Bennia at his side. "You are most welcome, Miss Sitri. Know that while neither our leader or many of the Grim Reapers have any love for Devils, myself included, the issue of Undertaker has always been a thorn in the side of the Dispatch that we've never been able to remove. I wish you luck your endeavors."

Then he reached his hand forward and seemed to grasp at air, before his own Death Scythe appeared in a small flash of light. Despite the name, it actually looked nothing like a real scythe. Instead it was a pruner, a gardening tool consisting of a long metal rod with a clipper on one end and a handle fixed halfway along the rod. William gave the three of them a simple nod in farewell before he tapped it against the ground, creating a larger flash that, when it faded, showed that both Reapers were gone.

There was a moment of silence after they left, which was eventually broken by Sona sighing and leaning forward. "What a mess," she simply stated, burying her face in her hands.

Tsubaki nodded. "Yes. Even though Keijutsu was able to secure a deal for his release, if he doesn't manage to create a soul, he'll have angered a being with strength on the level of Grayfia Lucifuge, another Ultimate-Class being," she remarked.

Serafall looked contemplative, before her expression became determined. "Alright, that settles it!" she said, moving in front of them. "Although Keijutsu was able to talk his way out this time, there's no telling when someone might try to kidnap one of you again, and how strong they'll be when they try. So, the only solution is for all of you to become strong enough that anyone who does try is going to have their work cut off for them!" she declared.

Sona looked up at her. "I assume that means we'll be performing some sort of training regiment. What do you have in mind?" she asked.

Serafall rubbed the back of her head. "Well, I don't have anything right now, but I know someone who owes me a favor. I'll be back soon!" she said, before creating her own magic circle and leaving.

The next day…

Keijutsu hummed as he beheld the small animal before him. It was a regular brown rat, held in place by a simple paralysis spell. Nothing that would work on a human or magical creature, but it had its uses. Right now, he was trying to find a way that he could examine this rat's soul, hopefully without killing it, so that he could get an idea as to how a basic soul might function before he moved on to human ones.

Unfortunately, none of the methods he knew seemed to be doing the job of detecting this rat's soul. Scanning its brain didn't seemed to be doing the job, the rat was releasing no magical aura—and so, spells meant for detecting magic were rendered moot—even releasing a pulse of his own magic energy like a sonar wasn't doing any good. It was irritating.

"Why are you being so stubborn about this?" he muttered to himself. Sitting back in his chair, he tried to think of what else he could try. Maybe placing the rat in close proximity to the Death Scythe to see if there was a reaction? He doubted there would be. Should he gave say 'screw it' and tried to remove its soul with the scythe after all? And if he did, how would keep it contained instead of just dispersing?

…

Wait a minute.

Keijutsu looked down at the paralyzed rat. What if he was going about this the wrong way? What if the soul wasn't concentrated in a single place, like the head or the heart, but was instead diffused throughout the body, a presence that could only be detected while trying to examine the being as a whole? If so, how would he go about detecting it? All of the full-body analysis methods he knew were mostly related to detecting magic, and if he was right, the soul was made of a different type of energy altogether.

'Perhaps I could make a new spell, one that would detect the specific type of energy that a soul is made from? No, I'd still need to know the nature of that energy to do that,' he thought. Then he blinked. 'However, I do have a sort of general-detection spell I created a while back that would identify all forms of energy in a localized area. Granted, if I don't know the nature of what I'm looking for, it might get lost in the background, but it's worth a shot.'

With that in mine, he reached forward and placed both hands in the air over the rat. Concentrating, a small blue magic circle appeared in both hands, before the rat became enveloped in a transparent blue dome about 30 centimeters in diameter. Were the paralysis spell on it not still active, he had no doubt it would have run away long before now. But it couldn't, and thus Keijutsu was free to continue examining it.

As the spell stabilized, information began rushing through him at a blistering pace. 'Alright, I can immediately discard the magnetic field I'm getting from the earth itself. Then there's the heat radiation from both my body and the rat's. But I'm picking up two other sources… no, those are the Earth's gravitational field and the usual shower of neutrinos. I need to find something… something…

...

'There!'

Eyes widening, Keijutsu focused on that sensation he felt. Some slight energy source, spread out over… yes! It was diffused throughout the rat's entire body, with a slight concentration in the region of its brain. It wasn't electromagnetic, nuclear or gravitational in nature. In fact, it felt almost akin to the sensation he felt when channeling a large amount of magic, but different enough for him to recognize it as something else.

A stray thought came to him. 'Not sure if this is lends any credence to that idea I had of the soul being the source of magic. Something to look at later,' he thought. Refocusing, he could see that this energy source, while indeed in the same location as the rat's body, seemed to be moving about even as the rat itself was immobile. So the soul could act independent of the body, was it?

At that moment, the door to the lab opened and Undertaker walked in, wearing his trademark disturbing grin. Looking at the scene before him, he said "I see that you've been busy. Any progress so far?"

Keijutsu smiled and nodded, releasing both the detection and paralysis spells. As expected, the moment the rat found it was able to move, it sprung to its feet and ran off the table, scurrying towards the crack in the wall Keijutsu had originally found it in and escaping. Watching it go, he said "I found a way to detect the presence of what I'm fairly certain is the soul, which means that I now can start examining its properties. And if I can find a way to gather enough of the energy that composes it, along with enough data, I can hopefully start designing the recreation process."

Beneath his bangs, Undertaker's eyes widened. Just a few days, and this Devil had already found a way to detect and examine the soul? Even for one such as himself, the closest he could do to that was examining the Cinematic Records and, as he had proven, tampering with them. But despite being the ones charged with judging souls, Grim Reapers couldn't actual take apart a soul and examine its components. If he could, Undertaker would have figured out how to make one centuries ago.

But now? Now he could see that he made the right choice in 'recruiting' Keijutsu to help him. Given enough time, he could see that the white-haired Artificer would help him accomplish his immortal life's dream. And what was something as small as becoming a servant, in exchange for that?

While Keijutsu was making headway on his own project, the rest of Sona's peerage, along with Sona herself, were waiting in front of the Sitri manor. Standing before them was Serafall, who was back in her magical girl outfit and bouncing on her heels. Together, they were all waiting for this mysterious individual that Serafall claimed would help them with training, and who should be arriving any moment.

When Sona had tried asking who, she just winked and said that she had taken a page out of Azazel's book. Sona wasn't quite sure what she meant by that, but was willing to wait to find out.

It was as they waited, however, that they all became aware of a sound, slowly increasing in volume. It sounded almost like rushing wind, something moving through the air at high speed. And then, inexplicable, the land around them began to darkness, as if something were blotting out of the sun. Curious, Saji looked up at the sky to see if it was just a passing cloud.

It wasn't. There, moving through the sky like water, was a massive, serpentine shape. One that was growing larger and larger with each passing moment… as if flew straight towards them.

Saji's eyes widened, and he had just enough time to yell "Oh sh-!" before it suddenly rocketed down, leaving behind a sonic boom in its wake as flew straight down. At the last possible instant before it struck the ground face-first, the massive creature drew up and landed with a resounding impact, setting the ground to quake and dust to rise into the air.

The land shook hard enough that almost everyone, with the exception of Serafall, Tsubasa and Tsubaki, had to take a step back to avoid falling over. All eyes looked towards the cause of the event, that massive serpent-like creature that was even now writing within the dust cloud. Then, with an earsplitting roar, the cloud parted, giving them their first view of the creature.

In a way, it reminded them of the mythological leviathan, the great sea monster whose very presence conjured storms and capsized ships. Indeed, this creature's skin was in light blue in color all along its belly, while darker scales the color of cobalt covered its back, sides and face. Extending from the sides of its head was a pair of green fins while a spiral brown horn protruded from its forehead. To cap it off, the end of its tail took the form of a jagged, three-pronged brown trident.

It took only a moment for many of them to realize what this creature was, though it was Reya who said it aloud.

"A dragon…"

The massive blue dragon, who had to have been over a hundred meters in length, looked down at all of them its slit blue eyes. Then, after a long moment of tense silence, it turned its head towards Serfall.

"Are these the ones you asked me to train, Leviathan-san?" it asked, its voice surprisingly female.

Undaunted by the massive difference in size between herself and the dragon before her, Serafall nodded. "Yup, my precious little sister and her peerage, ready to learn!" she declared, before blinking. "Though, it might help the introductions if you changed into your other form. That way we can all talk at eye level."

Another moment of silence, and then the dragon sighed. "Very well," she said, before her form was abruptly enveloped in an aquamarine light. Her body began to rapidly decrease in size, as well as change into a form similar to that of a human.

When the light faded, standing before them was an adult woman with black hair dyed purple at the ends and a curvaceous figure. Even in this form, she retained the brown horn and blue eyes, while a large blue and turquoise tail sprouted from somewhere around the back of her waist. She was clad in a purple kimono with pink piping and a dark blue sash over a black leotard, as well as a tan scarf and wooden sandals. Bandages were wrapped around her legs and her sandals, and in her left hand she held a brown trident in a similar shape to how her tail had been.

Standing tall, the dragon in human form bowed once, looking at all of them. "It's a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Elma, and I look forward to working with all of you," she declared.