13

After Nero entered the residence, Grayfia decided to trust the boy's abilities and follow Nero's instructions to summon her master Sirzechs Lucifer.

Grayfia and Shirone stood outside the Naberius residence, watching as Nero Lucifer made his way towards the building. Grayfia's unease grew as she thought about the suspicious behavior of the Naberius family. She turned to Shirone, the young girl they had rescued from the family, and said,

"We need to contact Sirzechs immediately, so you just have to stay here and not go anywhere else."

Inside her mind she was feeling that something bad is about to happen.

Shirone nodded in agreement, her eyes widened with worry thinking about the punishment that would be imposed on her sister when this was all over, but at the same time she was worried if Kuroka really was all right in there. She had seen firsthand the cruel and merciless fights between her sister and the researchers, if she can call these actions a fight rather than a one-sided massacre against the Naberius, yet she questioned what was really going on in her life. Her sister was never violent before and the researchers were acting in strange ways today.

Grayfia quickly contacted Sirzechs, with some long distance comunication magic, she explained the situation and urged him to come to the Naberius residence as soon as possible. As they waited for Sirzechs to arrive, Grayfia couldn't help but feel a sense of dread. She knew that the Naberius family, was up to no good, they were clearly tied with the Old Devil King Faction and she feared for what they might do next.

When Sirzechs arrived, Grayfia filled him in on the situation. She told him about the strange behavior of the Naberius family and the ominous feeling that something terrible was about to happen.

Without wasting a moment, Sirzechs led the way to the Naberius residence, with Grayfia and Shirone close behind. As they approached the building, they could feel the tension in the air, as if the very atmosphere was charged with danger.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion, and the three of them were surprised by force of the blast. The adults still reacted quick enough to protect themselves and Shirone from the shock wave. When they regained their senses, they saw that the Naberius residence had been reduced to a smoldering pile of rubble.

Soon after, they continue to approach the explosion site. When they reach the epicenter, they find only the charred body of the master of the Naberius family and remnants of magic used to cause the explosion and to activate the teleportation circle, in addition to feeling traces of senjutsu and youjutsu used in the area.

Sirzechs cursed under his breath, knowing they had lost their chance to interrogate the head of the Naberius family.

Right after that, he turned to Shirone, who was completely shocked by the situation, and asked with a serious tone.

"Shirone, was your sister an expert in youkai techniques? Specifically youjutsu and senjutsu?"

"Yes, my sister is very strong in both styles. She is also a high-class."

Shirone answers the question still confused and scared by the situation

"Could you tell me if from when you were running away until the moment you ran into Grayfia and Nero, did you see your sister acting strangely after using senjutsu? Was she possibly more aggressive? This is very important, please don't hide any details."

Sirzechs asks in a hurry.

"One of the scientists from the Naberius family came to get me earlier saying that it would make me stronger like my older sister, but when Kuroka heard that she immediately killed him. After that she told me to get out of there and hide we would meet later, but I decided to follow her to see what she would do and I ended up seeing her coldly murder countless devils of the Naberius family without any mercy with black flames, illusions and blows extremely strong. I ended up getting scared and so I followed Kuroka's orders, I went to hide near the entrance of the mansion where I was attacked by some members of the Naberius family and later saved by Nero and Grayfia."

Shirone begins to recount the events she has witnessed since she woke up, and when she begins to describe the murders committed by her sister, the confused expression on her face begins to fade and by the time she finishes telling her version of events she has a completely different face. A complete expressionless face, used to hide the pain he was feeling.

Grayfia came to Sirzechs side and whispered some words to him, then she deliver some documents that reported on the insanity of a nekoshou called Kuroka when she used youkai techniques.

There were also some documents theorizing that the nekoshou was being candidate for the negative energy of the underworld, after all, senjutsu draws energy from nature itself around the practitioner. The document ended by the words written and signed by the Naberius master himself: 'The nekoshou named Kuroka represents a flaw in the super devil project due to her instability in terms of control and sanity. It is necessary to eliminate the threat immediately to prevent future problems.'

"The senjutsu your sister Kuroka was using is probably the reason for her actions, she had her aggression and desires amplified with the natural energy of the environment, she might have become addicted to her own power and that could be problematic. The underworld, being naturally an evil realm, may have played a role in slowly corrupting your sister and I believe she got corrupted to the point where she became addicted to its power which resulted in this fateful event." Sirzechs explains.

Shirone briefly widened her eyes in shock at what she just heard, but returned to expressionlessness.

"There is yet another major problem, Nero Lucifer is not here. The disappearance of Kuroka who was possibly abusing senjutsu powers must be directly related to Nero's disappearance, I believe she kidnapped him to use as a bargaining chip in case we managed to follow her." Grayfia butts in on the conversation to raise this issue.

Kuroka is the only suspect and clearly capable of causing the disappearance of a demon from a new generation of Lucifer's family in which he himself wanted to see if this boy would reach the peace he also longed for.

The only possibility being that Kuroka was responsible for Nero's disappearance was the last straw for Sirzechs. His suspicion grew stronger when Grayfia confirmed that the remnants of senjutsu flow and demonic energy used to ativate the teleportation circle belong to at least one high-class devil and that might be Kuroka.

Sirzechs becomes even more convinced that Kuroka is responsible for all this and that she must be found and punished. He believes it's important to act quickly before Kuroka can do more damage or escape justice. He concludes that she is a dangerous criminal and decides to call a meeting with the other three demon kings to declare her an SS rank stray devil and find a way to recover the Lucifer heir.

After that he talks to Shirone and offers to take her to the Gremory residence where it would be safer, plus there are two girls of similar age to her that she can become friends with.

Shirone simply nods in confirmation, maintaining the lack of expression she's been showed since discovering her sister was now a wanted criminal and her race's techniques could drive her insane to gain power even if it means making a killing as described by Sirzechs.

The two adults then leave the area with the young girl, they take her to the Gremory family while they go to prepare for a meeting with the other devil kings, furthermore Sirzechs sends a devil from his peerage to further investigate the wreckage of the Naberius family. But the investigation did not bring any new results, which made him follow the idea that Kuroka killed his master and kidnapped Nero.

Sirzechs also prepares to convince the Great King Faction to just put the crimes committed by Kuroka on her without affecting her younger sister, he wanted to convince them not to order the execution of the young nekoshou. The nekoshou race was already on the verge of extinction, killing one of the last two members of that race the other being an SS-Class Stray Devil would only bring problems for future negotiations of a peace treaty with the youkai as he already planned with Michael and Azazel, but Yakasa and Nunarihyon they may be furious with such attitude.

In the end, he managed to convince them that Shirone wouldn't be a problem for the underworld, under the condition that he take responsibility for the girl's actions. He then decides to encourage the young nekoshou to join the peerage of his younger sister Rias who was already starting to recruit members and a youkai of her race who had extreme talent would be a great member to protect his little sister.