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'Til the End of Millennium

Chapter One: Of Love and Death

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NEITHER KYO KARA MAOH NOR MAN IN ANY SUCH MANNER OR WAY

Summary: Earth was around the turn the 19th century instead of the 21st century when Conrad came to deliver Julia's soul. The contemporary demon king of Earth had Julia's soul placed in the unborn baby of the Shibuya family (at the time living in the United States). However, due to the most unfortunate events, the future demon king was abandoned on the streets of London where he was found years later by Mana Walker. Now, 15 years after his birth, Allen Walker has been called upon by the great demon kingdom to lead it as its king. But will Allen be able to handle the strain of two world's survival being dependent on him and his only losing battle against the Noah inside of him? Or will everyone and everything be sucked into the chasm of destruction.

The time has come... For the final stage to be set...

Sir Conrad Weller walked through the empty stone corridors of Shinou's Temple as he made his way to the Room of the Great One. Earlier that day, Conrad had received a rather urgent message from the temple's oracle, Lady Orikei (1), asking him to come to the temple as soon as he could. To be honest, Conrad was glad he was out of Covenant Castle. That place seemed too bright and cheery to be appropriate for a kingdom that had just come out of a bloody war. It wasn't right, especially since she was no longer here to be a part of it. The stone walls dark and cold appearance matched Conrad's current grim expression perfectly.

The two female gaurds standing in front of the door to the tomb of the great one noticed Conrad as he walked towards them. "Your Excellency," they said, bowing their heads quickly before moving to the sides of the doors. "Please enter. Lady Orikei will like to see you now."

"The soul of the next demon king?" Conrad asked disbelievingly as he kneel before of Lady Orikei.

"Yes," Lady Orikei confirmed. "The great one deems this soul to be the next demon king and wants it to be raised where the current demon's kind influence can not be reached. Therefore, it must be taken very far away from this land. And you Conrad, are entrusted with this important mission. We obey the words of the Great One and therefore we gladly entrust you with this precious soul."

"I might just run away," Conrad began, steadily, emotionless as he turned to look at the 800 year old priestess in the eyes. "I could betray your hopes and run away with this." Conrad lowered his gaze to look upon the soul that lay in the jar. "I could even throw the jar against a boulder, remove the soul and bestow it on anyone I choose." Conrad got up, smirking. "And I could raise that child as I choose, manipulating his enormous influence as the great and powerful demon king, and conceivably I could then become an unstoppable threat to this land."

Lady Orikei stared sadly at the floating soul, "I suppose what you say is true... but would you rather erase her soul and end you own life (2)?"

"Ah?" Conrad's expression turned into a confused one.

"If that is what you wish, then do so," Lady Orikei said, looking back at Conrad. Her voice was laced with sorrow. "No doubt, I wish only for your success. There is so much I would like you to understand. I wish we could show you how we shrine maidens are granted the words of the Great One. Actually, in past, many who were not shrine maidens also heard his glorious words."

"What are you trying to tell me?" Conrad demanded.

"I heard before Susana Julia's passing she herself conversed with the great one and wholeheartedly accepted the great one's proposition- the proposition that her soul become the next demon king. The only thing she wished for was that the soul of Susana Julia be entrusted to you."

Conrad rubbed the back of his head as he struggled to his feet. Lady Orikei had warned him that the travel wouldn't be so pleasant, but he didn't know it would be that disorienting. This must be the Great One's way of punishing me for talking with such disrespect earlier, Conrad thought as he got a good look as to where he landed.

The sun's rays were beating down mercilessly on his head, and the air was stifling, so he guessed that the time was around mid-summer. During the trip, his clothes had been changed. How, he didn't know, but he simply chalked it up to one of the Great One's many powers. Conrad was now wearing a white silk shirt with a red vest with the crest of the great demon kingdom on the breast pocket and long, red pants with black boots. He was standing in front of a large and elaborate mansion with several rows of trees in front of it. The mansion had three entrances, two side ones and one main one. (Description of mansion)

"Greetings!" an unfamiliar voice called out. Conrad turned to see a man on a brown horse coming from the direction of what appeared to be the front gate of the estate. The man had a tall frame with shoulder-length black hair tied back in a pony tail and dark, onyx eyes that contrasted sharply with his pale skin. He wore a loose white buttoned-up shirt with a green vest and matching trousers along with white stockings and forest green, glossy shoes. Two bags were hung by the horses' side and appeared to be filled with wrapped parcels. He rode over to where Conrad was with a smile on his face. "I'm glad you arrived safely! Please excuse my tardiness, but I was doing some gift shopping for my brother's wedding," the man called out as he brought his horse to a stop a few feet from Conrad. Unfortunately, Conrad did not understand what language the man was speaking, and, though the man did not look so threatening, Conrad knew first hand how deceiving appearances could be.

When the man got closer to Conrad to see Conrad's face, the smile slipped from his face to be replaced by a worried one. "Oh dear. You can't understand what I'm saying, isn't that right?" *Sigh* "What shall we do now?" The man dropped his bags and sat on the cobalt ground cross-legged, hand on chin. "I doubt talking slow with him will help... Sigh Language...? No, how about pictures? No, can't draw to save my life. Oh, I know!" The man then got up and began shuffling through his pockets until he found what he was looking for.

Conrad's eyes widened as he saw the other man take out a bottle holding a white, perfectly round soul. Just like Julia's. "That's..."

"Ha, Ha, see? I'm carrying something precious, too!" The man exclaimed. "I think I'll be able to help you, good sir."

The next day when Conrad woke up, he found himself in a rather tasteful room. Yesterday, the strange man had brought Conrad to the room where, through badly drawn pictures, was able to tell Conrad to sleep in the room. Though Conrad did not feel tired, he still decided to humor the double black. Surprisingly, Conrad fell into a deep sleep the moment his head touched the pillow.

"What is this?" Conrad thought aloud as he saw that he was covered in a strange green mist.

"Good, your awake!" A cheerful voice proclaimed. Conrad turned towards the door to see the same man from before. "Can you understand me now?" The man asked.

"Yes, I can," Conrad replied. "But how?"

"Oh, that," Claudius waved his hand, as if to wipe the question away. "That is just a special skill of mine. Pay no mind to it." Claudius then snapped his fingers, causing the mist around Conrad to compile in Claudius' hand. The green mist condensed into a green ball of light, but, before Conrad could get a better look at it, Claudius had closed his hand around it. The next time he opened it, the green ball had vanished. (3)

"What magic was that?" Conrad asked.

"A rare one," the man replied.

Conrad, realizing he was acting rude, said, "I thank you for your help, but would you be so kind as to tell me your name and our location?"

"Well, I guess I could start by saying that my name is Claudius Sardini. I'm the adopted younger brother of the man who owns the mansion we're in right now." The man, Claudius, walked over to the bed side table and pulled out a folded up piece of paper from the drawer. He unfolded it to reveal what Conrad recognized as a map. "You see, this is the map of this world. Right now we are in Rome, the capital of Italy, which is the boot-shaped country over here. And, in case you want to know, the year's 1884."

"I notice that you have black hair and black eyes. I pressume you are a very high ranking demon tribesman."

"What?" Claudius looked a bit surprised before smiling and saying, "Oh, its nothing like that! You'll be surprised at how many people in this world have black hair and black eyes."

Conrad gasped silently. Is he serious...?

"Besides," Claudius continued, "demon tribe and humans have been living together without discrimination these past centuries. In fact, many people live here without knowing if they're demon tribesmen or not, nor caring if they're either one."

Conrad looked out from the private carriage Claudius borrowed from his older brother (Conrad had been given the honor of meeting said older brother and could clearly see that Claudius was telling the truth about being adopted. The head of the Sardini family had brown eyes and hair and rather fat figure contrasted sharply to Claudius' more slim and refined frame). So far, Conrad hadn't seen much difference in the way the inhabitants in this and in his world lived.

The two men had been sitting in comfortable silence for a while when Claudius tried to start a conversation. "I don't know what kind of arrangement was made with your world and you really don't have to tell me but I'm taking you to meet our demon king here named William. He's staying in his townhouse in the next town over. I'm pretty sure he'll treat you well."

"Why did the Great One have Julia's soul brought to a place like this?" Conrad asked out loud, finally. It isn't much different from my world.

"Ah, so that's who you brought along. You're carrying a former Miss Julia? Well, I'm the guardian of a former Miss Cecile. I guess you could say that certain circumstances left her in my care." Claudius turned to look out the carriage window, frowning a bit. "The truth is there shouldn't be the tiniest trace of the previous souls and yet here they are. These two seem to be rather special, don't you agree?"

Perhaps... Conrad thought as he too stared at the passing scenery.

When the two men were half-way through their journey, Claudius decided that the two of them take a break by a few apple trees alongside the road. The man who had been driving them was tending to the horses as Conrad and Claudius sat in the shade of the trees.

"Did you know that some people say that souls with regrets in their life aren't perfectly round," Claudius commented after taking a long swing at his water container.

"Regrets?" Conrad asked.

"Fact is everyone has one or two regrets about the lives they've led, but this one is snow whitec and completely round."

Conrad looked down at Julia's soul. So, you accepted it all willingly...

"You cared deeply for her, didn't you?" Claudius quietly said.

"Huh?" Conrad looked at Claudius, startled.

Claudius sheepishly rubbed the back of his head with his hand. "Well, when you look at that soul, you do it with love."

"No, she wasn't mine. She had a fiancee she was about to marry."

"But she's special to you, yes?"

There was a pause. Birds chirped in the trees above them.

"... It is true that I cared about her, but I lack the courage to tell her my feelings."

"I'm sure that she knew."

Claudius threw the container at Conrad who caught it reflexively.

"If she didn't," Claudius continued, "she wouldn't have entrusted her soul to you."

Music played in the background of the fancy London restaurant as Earth's demon King, a middlle-aged man by the name of William vW, said his farewell to Conrad and another man in his early twenties.

A week ago, Claudius had dropped Conrad off at William's rather fancy town house where Conrad explained the details behind the Great One's proposal. William had been very helpful, much to Conrad's relief. He had told Conrad that he knew exactly the kind of family that would be wonderful in raising Shin Mozoku's next Demon King.

"The family's name is Shibuya. It's currently a half-Japanese, half-American family that is planning on moving to the United States in a year or two. Currently, they're staying in London, the capital of Great Britain. If you give me a few days, I think I'll be able to get you a meeting with the head of their family."

And so, here Conrad was now, sitting in front of Shouma Shibuya, head of the Shibuya family. Shouma had black hair and black eyes. He was about as tall as Conrad was and worked as William's subordinate and had to travel a lot due to his job. The only reason why he was staying in London for so long was because he had asked William for a steady job for at least two years due to his recent marriage.

Shouma glanced over to William as he left the restaurant before turning to face Conrad once more. "So, tell me something, why did you decide to entrust an average Earth family like mines with the soul of your world's demon king. It's a big decision."

"Because the demon king on this side determined that your family is the best one to raise our demon king," Conrad said.

*Sigh* "But even if that's true, how can I explain it to my wife- hmm?" Shouma stopped talking, a weird look on his face.

"What is it?" Conrad asked.

"Are you feeling alright? You look rather naseous," Shouma said worriedly.

"Ah?" Conrad looked surprised at the other man before closing his eyes and exhaling deeply.

"Why do you have such a depressed look on your face? There are many exciting things in the world. You should go out and try experimenting and have fun."

"My health is nothing that should concern you," conrad informed Shouma.

Shouma sighed again (he's been doing that a lot. Is he really just 24?) and got to his feet. "Now that isn't true." Shouma smiled as an idea suddenly came to him. "Hey, I know, why don't I take you to some of the amusement parks and ballparks around England. It'll be fun!"

Conrad looked down at the half-full glass of wine he was holding. "This is very important. I'm here to confirm that the soul to become our demon king is born as your next child." Conrad brought the glass to his mouth. "But please understand, I have no intention of making contact with your family during my short time here, so don't try to interfere with me either."

"...You really are a miserable guy, you know that? Listen, I don't want you looking so dull-faced the first time my kid lays eyes on you. Don't you think I would be worried about letting my son go with a man like you? A guy who has such an apathetic attitude and insincere-looking face? I would have to be crazy. You are going to have to lighten up and lose the indifference."

"I'm not indifferent."

"Listen here, I promise you this: When your in front of my wife or kids, if you show that lousy attitude even once I won't let my kid go to the other world no matter how much you plead." Shouma banged his hands against the table. "And believe me, I'm serious! You got that?!"

Shouma stood there looking defiantly at Conrad before straightening himself and sitting back down again. He snapped his fingers, calling over a waiter. "Hey waiter, bring us a bottle of champagne and two glasses- oh and stick it on the big guy's tab."

Claudius looked up when he heard the sound of horses and saw Conrad getting off a black stallion. "Hey, Conrad, over here!" Claudius had been waiting at William's mansion's rather scenic front lawn outside of London during the time Conrad and William were meeting with the head of the Shibuya family and had been feeding some doves to pass the time.

As Conrad walked toward Claudius, Claudius notice something he hadn't seen Conrad do since they first met: Conrad was smiling. It wasn't simply a upward curve of the lips, but a genuine, content smile that managed to reach his eyes.

Claudius smiled as Conrad join Claudius on the bench. "What's this? You seem a bit different now."

"You really think so?"

"You seem more relaxed. Anyway, how's the final destination for your soul? Did it work out?"

"They appear to be a very loving family."

"That's good. Miss Cecile's destination has also been decided upon. She's going to America. Oh, I know its a good thing, but I feel a little sad to depart from her." Claudius raised the bottle holding Cecile's soul. "Still, I want her to be a good kid in a good family and be real happy growing up."

Conrad suddenly got up and faced the setting sun. He lifted Julia's soul so that it would seem as if it were right beside the sun. "Walk straight,"Conrad began, "and be true to yourself." He moved the bottle until Julia's soul and the sun overlapped. "Radiate a grater brilliance than anyone around you. May you become everyone's shining sun."

"Hey, that was real nice," Claudius said. He turned his head opposite to Conrad and saw the moon rising over to the east. He lifted Cecile's soul until it was tangent to the moon. "Illuminate the way with the gentle light shining in the darkness, the one who nestles close to the sun. May you become the glowing moon."

Conrad turned to look at the moon along with Claudius. It really was a pretty sight, the sky.

Jennifer Shibuya, a young English woman, knew was in deep trouble. She had just come from visiting one of her friends and was now in the middle of London. Her friend had offered to take her back home by carriage but she had foolishly refused, saying that she wanted to do some gift shopping for first born son's upcoming birthday party. However, half-way through, her rather large stomach had begun hurting quite a bit. She had been pregnant for nine months and knew she would be expecting some time soon but she never would have thought it would happen when she was in the middle of shopping. Now, if that wasn't bad enough, she couldn't seem to be able to catch a cab to take her to a nearby hospital.

Suddenly, Jennifer's stomach began hurting again and she collapsed to her knees. "Be a good child- and wait a little while more, okay?" Jennifer whispered, smiling a little bit.

"Hey, are you alright?!" Jennifer looked up and stared. In front of her a carriage had stopped. The carriage door was open, and a dashing brown haired, brown eyed young man wearing a worried expression was leaning out from the carriage. "Let me give you a ride. I hope you don't mind sharing this carriage with me."

Jennifer immediately accepted his offer and gave him directions to her older brother's house, knowing that she wouldn't be able to make it to the hospital on time.

"Thankyousomuchforyourhelp! Thanks!" Jennifer called out to the man as her brother hurriedly carried her upstairs to the guest room followed by some of the female servants who were experienced in midwifery.

Conrad simply smiled. One of the servants asked if he would like any refreshments, but Conrad politely refused, saying that he had an important appointment he had to attend to. (4)

How dare you enter my realm. How dare you infect my army. How dare you meddle with my Heart. Unforgivable. So unforgivable. I will not allow you to win...

When I was just born, I was abandoned by my family...

My father... took me in and raised me, even though I was born with a curse arm.

Do not stop. Keep walking.

You are Allen Walker! You made your father into an Akuma back then!

Mana? Mana! Mana! Mana?!

Allen...Listen to me Allen... No matter what happens, never stop!

No Mana! I don't want you to die!

No matter what, keep walking!

Don't leave me alone!

Keep walking Allen! As long as there's a breath left in your body!

M-Mana! No... It's not true! Don't die! I don't want you to die!

A good evening to you.

Huh?

Shall I revive Mana Walker for you? If you wish me too, I need your help. I need you, the one he loved the most, to call out to him.

Call Mana?

Yes, you can steal back your Mana from that hateful God!

You... You can bring Mana back?

Now you must call his soul back from the afterlife.

MANA! I screamed. I fell for the devil's trap.

A slim stream of purple light gave way to purple flames. Mana's name appeared.

Mana... I was so hopeful.

A...llen...

Mana! I walked towards him, arms outstretched, hopeful.

How dare you! How dare you make me a demon! I curse you Allen!

I simply stared as Mana brought that blade down on me, widening the wounds inside my tearing heart.

My left arm activated, and attacked the demon which harbored Mana's soul.

Mana! Stop it! Don't kill Mana! Run! Run, father!

Allen... I love you. Destroy me. Destroy me, Allen.

Mana...

Were you lying to me?

Did you really care for me?

(1) This is how I'm going to spell her name.

(2) This line might or might not be accurate, sorry.

(3) Claudius is not an exorcist YET. He does not know that the power he has is called innocence, nor does he know about the Noah family and Black Order. The reason for this is because Claudius keeps his innocence powers a secret most of the time and that his Moboku scent mask the innocence's presence from Noah, Akuma and exorcist notice.

(4) He's going back to the Great Demon Kingdom