Chapter 2

-[Liam]-

He hadn't slept a wink in the last week but he had no regrets.

As someone who came from a world where magic was just a thing of imagination, studying it for himself was more exciting than anything he could have imagined.

He moved away from the desk in the room, the book on charms and transfiguration magic still open.

•••

[Charms Mastery: Apprentice]

You have a good understanding of charms magic and its many functions.

[Transfiguration Mastery: Apprentice]

You have a good understanding of transfiguration magic, how to transform one type of matter to another, including living beings to inanimate objects and vice versa.

•••

'I love magic.' He thought just before his stomach grumbled in hunger.

He hadn't starved himself but his predecessor had only recently moved here so the kitchen wasn't fully stocked and its content had been consumed over the course of the past week.

He sighed as he moved to the bathroom, staring at his face in the mirror. Messy black hair and grey eyes stared back at him. The absence of sleep was a bit visible by the bags under his eyes.

'I'll have to get used to seeing this face as mine.' He thought, throwing it in the back of his mind and taking a quick shower and throwing on some clothes.

He lived alone so he didn't have to worry about anyone checking up on him only to find him missing when he was in his library.

He spotted the glasses on the desk, a strange feeling welling in him. His eyes were perfectly fine, the glasses were more sentimental than for the sake of sight.

His predecessor's mother passed away when he was young, which might have also been a factor in his father's lavish way of raising him. His mother wore glasses so he wore the same kind of glasses to remember her.

Out of respect and pity for his predecessor, he put on the glasses, as a reminder of the boy whose life he had usurped, not that he was too affected by it.

Using a shrinking charm on his journal, he fitted it into his pocket. 'Another reason why magic is amazing.' He thought as he made his way out of the house, whistling at the sheer size of it from the outside.

It just practically screamed 'rich'.

Quickly recalling the layout of the town, he made his way to the nearest store to acquire some nourishment.

-[Sona]-

She was filled with a mixture of irritation and concern. Even after not arriving in school on the due date, the supposed transfer student hadn't reached out to the school to offer an explanation nor had he shown up during the week.

Normally, she wouldn't be bothered and would simply revoke the student's admission but with the knowledge that fallen angels were in her and Rias' territory, she couldn't help but wonder if they had something to do with it.

There was nothing that indicated a connection between Liam and the supernatural world but it was worth investigating. She'd send someone in her peerage to pay him a visit and find out what was going on.

For now, she had to discuss it with Rias.

-[Liam]-

He didn't know whether he was lucky or unlucky.

He had taken a shortcut on his way back home when he felt the intruder charm he set alarm him of someone in his home.

After entering an alley that would shorten the time it would take to get home by a few minutes, he found himself cornered by a middle aged man in a trench coat.

The alarming part was that he recognized him.

"You magicians know better than to lurk around here." The man who Liam recognized as Dohnaseek said snidely.

Liam raised his hands, showing the shopping bags in his hands. "I apologize for the disturbance. If you don't mind me, I'll get out of your hair."

He was about to move when a spear made of light formed in Dohnaseek's hand. "I don't think so. Filthy mages thinking they can do whatever they please…you'll die here." The fallen angel said, a deranged smile on his face.

Liam hid a grimace at that. His physical stats were seriously low, even among his fellow humans. He wasn't at the stage he could content with a fallen angel…not physically at least.

He also remembered that Raynare, Dohnaseek and the rest of the fallen in Kuoh were so weak that even Issei stood a chance. Though it was after he became a devil, the point still stood.

Forcing a calm smile, he lowered the bags to the floor. He was anything but calm but it would only take one wrong step for him to die, leaving him no choice.

"If I'm going to die, can I at least show you something interesting before you kill me?" Liam asked, discreetly casting a silencing charm, disguising the wrist movement as him stretching his sore wrist.

Dohnaseek's arrogance/lack of proper skill shown as he didn't seem to notice it, his deranged smile only widening. "Oh? Begging for your life? Your life is forfeit so don't bother."

A drop of sweat rolled down Liam's back as he slowly picked up a stone from the floor. "Nothing like that. I just want to show you a simple party trick." He held the stone up for the fallen angel to see before covering it up with his hands.

Dohnaseek didn't speak, watching Liam's 'trick'. The boy quickly opened his hands as a number of birds flew out and towards the fallen angel who was immediately confused.

Before Dohnaseek could decide on what to do, he heard a low whisper.

"Bombarda."

A thin white light collided with his chest, a small explosion sending him stumbling to the floor.

*Boom!*

"What?!" He muttered as he got up only for another explosion to occur on his chest, pushing him back down.

His eyes cleared enough for him to see Liam standing over him.

"Bombarda." The boy whispered again, a white light shooting from the boy's hand towards the fallen angel's face.

Another explosion occurred as Dohnaseek received serious injuries to his face. That wasn't the end of it as Liam repeated the spell multiple times, all aimed at his opponent's face, until Dohnaseek stopped moving.

Dohnaseek's face was no more than a splatter of blood on the floor. He felt the journal in his pocket heat up as he gained some essence he could spend.

It was more than be expected but then again, he was a human fighting a fallen angel, if it could be called a fight.

'My first day out of the house and I've already fucked up the timeline of events. That's a record.' He thought sarcastically as he picked up the bags he dropped before disappearing into his library pocket dimension, not noticing the tiny batlike creature lurking nearby.

A cleaning charm was all it took to remove the blood stains as he took a seat in one of the study chairs.

His chest heaved as he digested his first near encounter with possible death. He would have gone back home but there was still the fear about the intruder there, making it unsafe.

On top of that, he hadn't fully recovered the magic he spent. It would be suicide.

Opening the journal, he thought through his options. At the moment, he was a glass cannon, a weak glass cannon.

He invested some of the gained essence into Constitution and Magical Regeneration, raising them both to D- and exhausting the essence.

He also confirmed that the higher the stat, the more essence required to raise it. D- was still below average but it was a start.

'Since I'm here, I might as well get back to studying.' He thought.

Call him a coward but this experience was enough to jolt him awake. He chose charms magic and transfiguration magic mostly to entertain himself but now he needed more offensive magic.

Though the Harry Potter set of dueling spells were unique, they left much to be desired. He also wasn't at the level to cast any of the unforgivables yet.

Moving through the library, the instinctive knowledge of the position of the books led him to the section he was looking for. He took a book with a dark blue cover and the symbol of a snowflake on it before heading back to the study table.