In this chapter: Rin and Mephisto talk metaphysics while getting on each others' nerves.

"Can we go back?"

It had been a while since they've gotten into the car. They've left the city and were now moving through more suburban areas and empty streets.

"What?" Fujimoto asked.

"When all this," Rin gestured vaguely to the outside of the car, "blows over, can we go back? Like, for my stuff and all. Plus I sort of have plans for the entirety of the week that I'd want to see through."

"Your personal belongings will be delivered to you. As for those plans, I can't see why you'd willingly put yourself in the line of danger for something frivolous. What could be so-" Mephisto began but was cut off.

"A friend of mine hired me as a bodyguard and by the end of the week I get a wet stone set and coffee machine for free."

"Possible death and damnation for a wet stone set and coffee?" Shiro groaned. "Rin, I can understand the wet stones but coffee? Your sleep schedule is chaotic as it is, I'm not letting coffee take that mess and launch it into the sky."

"You're the one who always drinks it though! If we're moving to True Cross, then we might as well." Rin interjected. While yes, the promise of infinite coffee options and a wet stone set was tempting, Rin's main concern was not in those two options.

It was in his colony and Reiji. Mostly Reiji. Rin had texted him back the long description of 'Sorry about not replying, some guy tried to kidnap me, I had to run through traffic, a truck crashed into the church and i think my dad's part of a conspiracy with the Japanese school system'.

Reiji's reply was a plethora of shocked kaomojis and the question 'are you okay' thrown around several times.

A few more texts and the warning that he might be late or not there at all tomorrow was enough to get Reiji to make somewhat coherent sentences.

'Where are you going tho?'

'True Cross City. Dad has a friend who's letting us stay until... not sure.' The part where Mephisto would graciously lend them shelter was a half truth because Rin wasn't sure how one could call an abandoned dormitory shelter.

'I can come over. Or smth. I'm gonna be living there either way, I can make some excuse to my parents.'

Aww, Reiji was worried about his abominable mercurial self, how sweet.

'Nah man, stuffs been crazy recently. Try not to sweat it but keep safe. Crackheads roam the streets at dawn'

'How do u know that?'

'24/7 delivery job for a month'

'Rip'

'Yea, anyway im fine, goodnight.'

'Night.'

And that was the conversation ten minutes ago.

And while the situation with Reiji was more or less resolved, the colony was what worried him.

After tonight's rudely interrupted moment, the cats of Rin's colony would no doubt be anxious and since his hideout had been discovered, he'd have to move them. To True Cross, if his knowledge from previous lives had any indication. To True Cross, which was miles upon miles away from their current colony.

Unless he had a truck and a mountain of carrier bags, ancient magic would need to be used. One that Mephisto would definitely notice.

Plus, he was a member of the colony. His presence was soothing to many of them and his constant patronage in the form of food and shiny trinkets was indispensable to half a hundred or so stray cats.

And the kittens. Oh shit, the kittens. He wasn't going to use eldritch powers to transport them, who knows what damage that could cause.

So going back there was necessary unless Mephisto wanted whatever plan he had to crash and burn thanks to Rin's petty multi-limbed ass.

"That still doesn't mean it's worth going back. At least not now. Demons will probably be crawling through the entire neighbourhood." Rin severely doubted that. If anything, demons would be avoiding the neighbourhood as of now. If not because of Hadoro-kun's down-right revolting aura that spanned a fifty meter radius, then definitely his example and show of power with Astaroth as the guinea pig of honour.

Hadoro-kun was like that. Fiercely loyal and brutal to the core, he had previously used his past opponents as examples and tributes. But his pettiness and short temper had been more of a driving factor. The loyalty and pettiness just so happened to be easily combined.

Still, Hadoro-kun must have painted the streets in Astaroth's blood and sludge, judging by the car being splashed in blood.

So yeah, their neighbourhood was now relatively safe. And if it wasn't, Hadoro-kun had no problems with extra food on his plate.

If he would even eat demons that is. He had previously, but the demons here were... weird, as he previously mentioned.

He didn't worry about Hadoro-kun. He was strong. Plus, if he wanted to find Rin, he would. They're both lethal presences, Rin more so with his radioactive eyes.

"Rin?"

"Hm?"

"Why do you need to go back so badly?" Rin started petting Doughnut behind her ear. She was currently making biscuits on his thigh, which was super adorable.

"Rin... Please tell me that's the only stray you have."

"Dad, you already know the answer to that." Rin replied sheepishly. Shiro stared at him for a split second before his head dropped into his hands.

"It's not... a lot of cats..." Rin rubbed Shiro's shoulder. "And besides, we need some form of demon repellent or detection."

A sigh escaped the withered exorcist.

"How many?"

"Around... 50 if we're including kittens."

The car immediately erupted in yelling.

"RIN, 50 CATS IS OUTRAGEOUS! I'VE SEEN CAT SHELTERS WITH LESS CATS!"

"You are not bringing fifty different types of vermin into my academy, pick one and only one!"

"I WILL SMUGGLE THEM ALL INTO THE DORMS, BOX BY BOX, ONE BAG AT A TIME!"

"RIN, WHEN DID YOU EVEN GET FIFTY CATS?! WHY DID YOU GET SO MANY?!"

"IT REACHED FIFTY ONLY TONIGHT AND THAT'S ONLY BECAUSE GLITTER BECAME A FATHER! A FATHER, DAD!"

"Who in their right mind names a male cat Glitter?!"

"Glitter hoards make-up and steals jewellery, what else was I supposed to call him?! Lupin the First?!"

Behind the wheel, Belial tuned out the yelling in hopes of focusing on the road and not running into one person or another. He sighed.

This was going to be a long ride home.

Mephisto slammed the car door shut as everyone entered the perimeter of his private property. He could feel that infernal feline with the awful mercury spot trot right up behind him.

The past fifteen minutes were dedicated to yelling each other's heads off. Rin refused to leave his literal cat colony in his neighbourhood knowing that he'll move into True Cross. Fujimoto, while an avid cat person himself, saw the true insanity of semi-owning fifty cats and demanded that some- read, many- of the cats be either put up for adoption or left at temples so that the cat count could be at least manageable, while Rin would become the godfather of Glitter's bundles of soon to be sprouted evil.

It's halfway through negotiations that Rin revealed that he not only had a cat colony but a flock of fucking domesticated pigeons.

Mephisto promptly set his head in his hands and gave up at that.

He'd named the head of the flock Carbonara. He wonders when if there's a pack of wolves that Rin's named after types of fruit, that Rin had hidden away from them and planned to air drop into the woods of True Cross.

So now Rin was the proud owner of thirteen pigeons and fifty cats. One that was going to renovate his home to be cat friendly and turn the roof into a catio and pigeon safe haven.

Mephisto doesn't know how he'll get the money or resources for that and he doesn't want to find out.

So Rin's managed to wrestle Fujimoto into submission by saying that if the cats aren't there then Rin will sneak out to visit and take care of them every night, regardless of the demons that are prowling in the darkness of the evening.

Rin had threatened Fujimoto with the promise of multiple heart attacks each night on behalf of some fucking cats. Shiro had raised a heartless monster. A heartless, determined, cat-loving monster.

God help them all.

Meow.

Mephisto looked down to see the large brown feline, lovingly named Doughnut, stare at him as they're walking next to him.

Mephisto knows it's not staring at him out of curiosity but more so out of orders. The cat is marked under Rin's, or whatever their real name is, protection so by loyalty it has to either obey orders or care for Rin in whatever way it can. And right now it seems to be investigating him. Watching him, assessing him.

The cat licks its nose...

Or maybe it's just hungry and concluded that Mephisto had food.

So now that they're safe behind Mephisto's wards, they can actually start talking about what to do as of now. Rin, while still human, can no longer stay among normal humans because demons now know the son of Satan is real and has an identity and because giving an abomination that much relative freedom is bad.

They're spending the night in his mansion because it's closer and warded better. He's vaguely aware that bringing that thing into his own home is dangerous, but judging by his recent behavior, he has zero interest in killing him in his sleep. Just screwing over the entirety of the plot of the world.

The bet with Satan is already forfeit in this loop, unless the abomination decided that Yukio was able to stave off possession from Satan. There has been a plan to make Satan's vessel Rin in one of the past loops, on hopes that Rin would be indirectly protected by Géhenna. Boy, did that turn out swell.

Chaos beyond human comprehension had come about and ended up collapsing Assiah and Géhenna into one another. The literal apocalypse would've had less damage.

So the bet with Satan is already lost, the loops' continued existence is in peril, he has a loose canon abomination on his hands and if Rin were to actually draw the sword, his transformation might just blind Satan and the rest of the kings indirectly.

Shemihaza's power can't shield them from that but Armumahel might. Since Armumahel is able to kill metaphysical beings like himself, he might be able to redirect or absorb the oncoming explosion of that transformation. But Armumahel himself coming out unscathed is another problem-

"Boop." Somebody poked his cheek. Mephisto spun to his left. The abominable child had poked him. "You think too hard, Mephisto, we can talk it out."

"No," Mephisto said, a faint memory of dealing with one of his kind arose. "We cannot. Rather, you won't let me."

"But I will."

"How can I trust you on that?"

"You can't."

"Exactly."

"But you can gamble on it."

"I gamble with humans, not whatever you are."

"But then by your terms, I'm still 'human'. You know why." Damn this brat and all of his cats. "But later, Dad already hates us enough for making him go through this at four in the morning."

That's probably the only thing he can agree on. The time is clearly too late for bed and too early for waking up, so they're forced to tolerate each others' company until a reasonable arrangement has been made.

Speaking of Shiro-

"I've called Yukio. He's coming over to your office with the help of the keys, Mephisto, so that's where we're going first." Shiro said as he caught up to the two. "We have a long night ahead of us."

"So Yukio's part of this, too?" Rin asked but the question sounded more like a statement. Oh right, Shiro did say something about Rin staring at boxes full of exorcism gear a while ago. He might have already known that Yukio and Shiro were exorcists for a while now.

"Rin-"

"How long?" Rin said. There it was, the nerve-wracking tone that some abominations used. Clear, with its emotions so heavy in his tone but never showing a sign of whatever intent it had. "How long has Yukio been handling weapons and fighting monsters?"

"...Rin, what we do, we do for you." Shiro emphasised.

"And I appreciate it, but you're dodging the question." The light in Rin's eyes was bouncing off the lights of the street. Green, orange and a tint of blue.

Shiro didn't reply until Rin's hands were on the door handle.

"...Yukio has been a certified exorcist since he was seven." Shiro replied.

Mephisto promptly saw how Rin's hands morphed into something resembling a fast paced current and crush the handle. The boiling waters then retreated back into seeming human skin and the handle of the ruined door fell to ground.

The only saving grace of the moment was that Shiro saw none of it.

There was a beat of silence as Shiro stared at the now ruined handle on the ground and as Mephisto saw Rin's eyes glow a dangerous hue of green.

This night was just filled with awful occurrences.

"...Let's go." Rin said as he pushed the door open. Mephisto is pretty sure he didn't have the keys to that door, nor did he even attempt to open it.

Damned eldritch magic, now he needs to replace the handle and the lock.

The silence that followed as Mephisto lead the two to his office was almost poisonous. He thought for a minute that he's going to cough up polonium at some point and ruin his custom made carpet. And maybe even the whole floor.

Okumura-kun is definitely going to make things even worse. The only emotionally stable person in this building was Rin's mercury enhanced cat, Doughnut.

Mephisto can already hear time and space rip each other apart.

They reach his office and the minute he opens the door he sees Okumura sitting in full uniform on the leather couch in full uniform.

Oh yeah, his office is about to trashed. With a quick snap of his fingers, whatever important merchandise and figurines he had in his office as motivational items are teleported into the room of his floor. There's nothing he can do to stop the oncoming slaughter of property and relationships, so the least he could do was make sure nothing important got destroyed.

"Sir Pheles, Father, I came as soon as-" Yukio stands up from the couch and his sentence is interrupted the minute Rin squeezes his form through the door.

"Yukio! What are you doing up so late?!" Rin sneers in a way that is all too similar to a mother catching her child playing video games on the computer at night.

Yukio seems stunned for a moment before shaking off the question.

"That's not important, right now we're dealing-"

"Yes, it's important, don't you have classes tomorrow?!" Rin interjected again, now fully facing Yukio. Had Yukio known what Rin is, the question would have been seen as a threat. But since Rin is more or less human at the moment, covered in dirt and cobwebs as well as holding a gargantuant cat in his arms, it sounds more like a nagging older sibling.

"Classes- no, I do not have classes tomorrow, Rin, we have more important things to attend to." Yukio says with a no-nonsense voice. His gaze turns towards Mephisto and Fujimoto at the doorstep.

Mephisto sighs and teleports behind his desk and Fujimoto joins in to sit next to Yukio on the couch.

Rin sits down on the couch opposite to them and places the feline on the table. Yukio gives the cat a confused stare before setting whatever he was thinking of aside.

"Anyway, let's talk business." Mephisto said, putting up a cheery facade.

"Rin, I know you must be in shock-"

"Not really, no."

"Or having a delayed reaction. But the point stands - we need to talk about this." Fujimoto said and left it at that, probably showing a sign that Rin should ask questions.

"So let me get this straight," Rin began. "Demons are real, they live in a parallel dimension, me and Yukio are the son's of Satan, who's at the top of the food chain, I got all of Satan's nasty genes because me and Yukio are fraternal twins but Yukio was part of a corporation that hunts demons ever since he was seven while I was oblivious to it all?"

Oof, that's a loaded paragraph. Mephisto could tell that Fujimoto and Okumura were thinking the same thing.

"In essence, yes, but there's more to that."

Rin thought for a moment.

"If Satan's our dad, then what happened to mom?" Mephisto cringed. Bullseye and right into the most touchy part of the back story.

Not even the youngest twin knew about it. He could see Fujimoto panic inside his head and wonder what should he omit and what needs to be said.

"I knew your mother as a child. It's one of the reasons why I took you in as well. She was a very dear person to me and i probably wouldn't have been the same person who I am today if it wasn't for her. There's a lot of nasty details when it comes to how the two of you were born, and it's probably not a good idea to spill it all in one go, but something needs to be said: your mother loved the two of you, dearly, so much that she didn't care who you came from and wanted to protect you at all costs."

It was obvious that Yuri was no longer among the living, for the past 15 years actually, but Fujimoto wasn't lying. Yuri had loved both babies with her whole heart, and protected them until she died. Even if one of them was a flaming demon child that was actually an abomination and the youngest was probably affected by it.

Yukio and Rin were both silent before Rin decided to drop a nuke of a question.

"Did Satan rape mom?"

Mephisto genuinely wanted to kick himself out of his own office. Why? Why was Rin asking all the wrong fucking questions?

The question must've caught Fujimoto severely off guard and Yukio did not help by seemingly jumping onto the bandwagon of "are we unwanted children?".

"I... I genuinely do not know. The period of when the two of you were... conceived," smooth words, Shiro, "is out of the reach of my knowledge. But Satan and your mother had a- God, help me-"

"So they had consensual sex." Yukio butted in. Mephisto genuinely wanted to tune out the entire conversation.

"Yes, most likely, but-"

"But what?"

"Their relationship started out well enough but it deteriorated at some point, then it got better and then at some point it just all crashed down. It was a... fluctuating dynamic." Fujimoto answered.

"And the burning point of it was the Blue Night, right?" Yukio asked. He was surprisingly calm during it all.

"Blue Night? Wait, like the thing you told me where they tried to kill mom and Satan killed them instead?"

Yukio and Fujimoto shared a look between them before Fujimoto began.

"Fifteen years ago, a few months before we were born, the Vatican found out your mother was pregnant. When they found out who the father was, they issued a code red and began an operation to have you both exorcised when you were born. This operation was called Blue Lightning. I was part of it. I can't share the details of it, I'm not authorised to, but apparently the idea of his children being exorcised made Satan fly into a fit of rage."

"A fit of rage is an understatement." Mephisto elaborated, thankful that they had moved onto a more important topic. "On the night of your birth and exorcism, Satan had gone and killed thousands of exorcists across the world. Many high ranking exorcists were either incinerated or hurt to the point of retirement. It was a blow to our numbers that made previous code reds seem like nothing."

"Whoa." Rin said. "Did- was he, like, stopped? Was Satan exorcised?"

"If only. To this day, there is no fatal verse or specific weakness that Satan has. He appeared all over the world on the Blue Night and hasn't shown head or hide for the past fifteen years. However..." Mephisto trailed off.

"It doesn't mean he's not acting out on it." Yukio continued. "There's statistics concerning all sorts of demon attacks. In the first year of our birth, demon attacks and appearances had almost tripled. The numbers managed to stabilise to what they were only six years later."

"That's crazy! Wait, you weren't there when it happened, right?!" Rin asked, worrying for the safety of his twin.

"I became an exorcist only when I was seven, Rin. I wasn't allowed to go on any medium risk missions until I was ten, though."

"But that doesn't mean it's okay! You..." Rin began. "You had to live the past ten years worrying about both our safety all while- while using guns and lethal weapons against fucking demons! Demons! You have a therapist, right? It's not- it's basically becoming a child soldier-"

"Rin-"

"And I couldn't even help you! You had to come back from home from a near death experience every other day and I just- I didn't even try to help you..."

"Rin, you didn't know. Well, you were close to knowing it though." Yukio said. Mephisto remembered Shiro saying how Rin was hyperaware of Yukio's emotional state. Comfort, favorite foods, quality time - Rin could read Yukio like a book and acted on it. "You were always terrifyingly perceptive, Rin. There were times when you nearly stopped us from going to riskier missions simply from intuition. You cared without knowing what it was. That was enough for me. And I wasn't forced into this - I chose becoming an exorcist."

Mephisto hid his scoff. Yukio was seven and Fujimoto didn't know how to properly communicate. But essentially yes, Yukio chose to become an exorcist.

Rin was silent for a while.

"But now that I know, can I help?"

"Rin-"

"I wanna help! I want to actually support Yukio in some way!"

"Nii-san-"

"And besides, I got this cool sword now so I can fight too, right?" Rin pointed at the sheathed Kurikara.

"No!" Fujimoto and Yukio yelled unanimously. It caught both Rin and the cat off guard, with the cat flinching awake from its sleeping position.

The cat, Doughnut, meowed loudly in displeasure. Yukio was about to open his mouth as the cat meowed again, louder this time. Yukio glared at the cat. The cat glared back at Yukio before stretching up and jumping into Yukio's lap. Yukio sputtered as the cat began kneading his lap before curling up in it.

There was a minute of silence. It seemed like all the previous hostility had evaporated into thin air.

Shiro sighed before getting back on track.

"Rin, you can't draw that sword, ever in your life."

"Because I'll cease being human, right? But I could use it as a battering ram or a bat instead!" Rin exclaimed. Yukio groaned into his hands.

"Rin, that sword is the only thing keeping you human. If you draw it, you'll become a demon and by that, it would mean-" Yukio didn't finish but the point was clear.

Rin suddenly turned serious.

"Wait, so this sword holds my demonic half."

"Yes."

"But I was born half demon, half human, which means whatever power that I would have had should've been growing with me, right?"

"...yes."

"Then doesn't that mean if I draw the sword then it would've been fifteen years of power just flooding in? Wouldn't that kill me?!" Rin exclaimed. Mephisto suddenly had a revelation. Oh, that was actually a good point.

"Technically, you're right but it shouldn't kill you-"

"There have been other half demons but how many half Satan sons have there been?" Rin asked. He already knew the answer - none. "Satan's power is destructive, right? How do we know it won't try to kill me in the same way human chimeras have autoimmune diseases?"

Mephisto stopped for a moment. Oh yeah, Rin definitely knew he was a son of Satan before this, there's no other way he could put this much coherent thought into the issue in the approximate time of one hour.

Yukio seemed to have the same revelation.

"You might actually be right. But human chimeras are usually a by-product of one twin absorbing the other in the womb. Technically your powers shouldn't try to kill you in that way since they would be a part of your DNA. There's no other DNA in you to attack so it shouldn't."

"Unless mom had triplets in the early stages and I absorbed one before they could make an ultrasound." Rin replied.

Okay, they were officially going off the deep end now.

"Father!" Yukio looked at Shiro expectantly. Shiro could only balk at the sudden biological turn of the conversation.

"I- there shouldn't be. Fraternal twins are already rare, fraternal triplets is even rarer. And for one to absorb the other... It technically shouldn't be the case. And if Rin was a human chimera, there would've been obvious signs like heterochromia, two sets of DNA and quite possibly being intersex."

"But what about the first trimester? Or before the time when the sex is formed in the DNA? What if it happened then?" Rin asked fervently. Mephisto was getting a headache from all the scientific talk.

Shiro could only give out a loud sigh as he rubbed his temples.

"We're getting off topic!" Mephisto intervened, clapping his hands loudly. These were not the type of conversations they meant to have at 5 in the morning.

"No we aren't! This is serious!"

"Long story short, if Rin were to draw the sword, you'd either become a half demon and be hunted by the order, which includes Yukio and Shiro, or your wild theory of chimeraism could come true and you'd suffer biological consequences. Either way, if you draw your sword, you'll die!" Mephisto ended the conversation on that.

There was silence.

"So... what now?" Finally, a question that made sense.

"Well, since your identity has been compromised and we can't issue you a bodyguard without questions and possible leaks, you'll have to move to True Cross City, both for your own safety as well as integrating you into the know-how of exorcism, since you are adamant about becoming one. That would mean you will enroll into True Cross Academy and-"

"Wait, is that why you wanted to go to True Cross Academy for highschool?" Rin asked Yukio.

"Partly. Considering it's the epicenter of Japan's exorcism activity, there's no other place with better warding against demons as well as being the headquarters for Japan's branch of the Order."

"The Order being the overall international organisation against demons?"

"Precisely." Mephisto replied.

"Even though the headmaster of the academy is a demon too?" Mephisto nearly choked at that.

"I believe you have misunderstood the scheme. There are demons who are contracted to humans and there are demons who actively seek out harm but that doesn't mean it's usually one of the two. There are grey areas."

"And you are?"

"I am a demon who aligns myself with humans. My faction explicitly defends humans." Mephisto said in a matter of fact way.

"..." Rin staring rather intently at him. Mephisto didn't exactly like that look on him.

"Anyway, since that's well and over with, we can retire for the night. Okumura-kun, you can head back to your dorm. Rin will have to stay here for the night." Mephisto said, fully aware he's walking into the biggest mistake he's ever made.

This needs to be addressed. Rin's current circumstance needs to be laid out in front of him. Somehow, otherwise the way this loop will go may just be out of his reach.

He can't see the future, rather, he can see possibilities of the future. Outcomes based on specific actions and probable reactions to them. They're not always accurate nor are they always correct, but the insight has meaning to it.

He needs to know what he's dealing with. That means Rin needs to drop the human charade and have tea with him. Without Shiro or the youngest twin interfering.

"I- I'm not sure if that's a good idea. It's a rather... unreasonable hour, maybe we could head to a nearby office or infirmary." Okumura the youngest said reluctantly. He could already tell Shiro was giving him stink eye. "Nii-san looks... terrible."

Understatement of the month, he looked like he tracked through enough dirt, spiderweb and grime to kill a man, all while Mephisto could see the motion marks of grass and mud on Rin's back, side and half of his face.

He looked like he was left in the wilderness for the past three days. Astaroth might as well have tried to bury him in an open grave and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

"Agreed... Rin is... not looking too good. Plus you must've gotten injured running and all. We can't exactly use one at the Base but that would leave either the Moriyama's or Shura's appartement." Shiro groaned to himself.

"Dad, please, anywhere but Shura's." Yukio bemoaned. "We could go to my dorm or-"

"That might be problematic, Okumura." Mephisto interrupted. "Father Fujimoto has to do damage control at the church and the Order has requested Okumura to come as support."

The two exorcists glared at him, as if he had a say in the problem. He did, when he specifically ordered for those two to be deployed beforehand but that was out of his hands once he'd sent it to Administration.

Rin was just staring at him.

It's unnerving.

Fujimoto wouldn't leave Rin with him because he does not in any way trust him. Yukio is still paranoid and hyperaware that Mephisto is a demon.

It's like saying you'll throw the birthday cake at a fan, nobody is going to agree to that.

So Mephisto decides to flex a little bit and teleports the two exorcists to the nearest bus station. Which, considering his neighbourhood, is quite far.

The moment the smoke is gone, Mephisto is knocked out of his chair with something acidic pressed to his neck.

The spur of the moment causes his vision to blur but at the moment he already knows what had happened.

Rin had tackled him and was apparently holding him by the neck in eldritch glory.

Six eyes, each in a different colour and shape, plumes of levitating tar dripping from the shoulders while the arms look like a sickly, rusted pair of golden mechanical arms that clink and tinker a melody much too high for his ears. The legs are hard to describe, since Mephisto can't move his head but he assumes they're the same glowing knife legs with glass eyes writing on them.

Rin looks down at him in a way that reminds him of Satan. High and mighty with just a hint of mania in it. However, the key difference between those two stares is that Satan is still unaware of the power he holds.

Rin has it all in the palm of his hands with seven different types of trauma to back it up.

"Well, aren't you being impolite?"

"Where'd you send them?" Rin's voice is layered and watery, switching from pitch to pitch. There's something in it that makes Mephisto's ears burn.

Mephisto tried to brush against Rin's soul like he did years ago. It's a sort of... connection between demons of high standing.

He's met with a small flicker which is then replaced by something akin to frostbite swatting at him.

"Don't try anything, where'd you send them?"

Ah, so Rin thought he sent them to danger.

"Not to worry, Okumura-kun," Mephisto hacked. The hand on his neck wasn't exactly hurting him but it was hard to breathe. "I sent them to the nearest bus station. While it's true that I want them out of here for privacy, I'm not lying about the report and investigation. News flies fast in True Cross and you and your little friend left quite the mess there."

Rin narrowed his eyes at him. The whole world then suddenly blurred again and Mephisto realised he was in his chair, sitting upright, as if nothing had happened.

Rin was sitting on the arm of the couch, back in human form.

He's still staring at him like that. Manic but controlled, feral but tame.

Alive in the most chaotic sense but peacefully dead all the same.

Mephisto sighed as he rubbed his eyes. He checked his clock. Still the ass crack of morning.

Well, might as well get an early first breakfast.

"We need to talk."

"We should."

"And I want breakfast."

"Same."

"My usual chef is not awake yet. So we'll settle for drinks. Belial." He called to Belial, who came in through a door on the side.

"Prepare us some green tea on the terrace with some snacks. Me and Okumura need to have a few words." He said as he got off his chair, took his phone and yawned into his hand. "And maybe some coffee jelly, if we still have some from yesterday."

"I'll have something different, please." Rin spoke up. "Hazelnut Cappuccino with Irish Cream. Heavy on the cream. And a bowl of water."

Mephisto raised an eyebrow. Those were some specific tastes, but Shiro did mention a sleeping disorder and a taste for hot chocolate.

Belial looked between the two of them before bowing and heading off to prepare the drinks.

Mephisto looks back at Rin. Rin stared back.

"I don't want an apology but if we're to cooperate, then I suggest you use some manners. I am the head of this house, I expect to be respected as such."

"Fair enough." Rin said as he jumped off the arm and went to grab his cat. Mephisto noticed that the cat was no longer on the table, rather, it was sitting on the floor. "Tea time?"

"Tea time." Mephisto acknowledged. He got off his chair and pulled out one of his keys. The terrace was connected to his room, which had a specific key all together for it.

Rin followed behind him as they went through the door to his room. He could already see the table and chairs set up on the balcony with Belial setting the drinks. Belial probably didn't want to be present during their talk which was understandable.

"Your room?" If he was going to sass Mephisto about his love for anime, he was going to throw Rin out regardless of necessity.

"Yes."

"It's quite nice. A bit weird to see familiar faces on walls but it's nice. Could lose the pink though."

Mephisto ignored the entirety of that statement as he opened the balcony doors. His room had a view that spanned a panoramic view of True Cross City's upper levels. While it was a sight to behold during the evening, the mornings were usually chilly with a lovely sunset, but Mephisto never really bothered with the view of that.

Belial opened the door to the balcony to reveal the sunset and the table lined with a cup of matcha tea, a coffee cup topped with whipped cream and an array of pocky and confectionery next to the bowl of water. No sign of coffee jelly but it had some of Mephisto's favorites.

Ah, Belial always knew how to cheer him up.

Rin immediately put the cat down and grabbed the bowl of water, setting it down next to the cat. Seeing one's arms split into pieces to reveal torrents of glowing mercury was unpleasant but seeing as how Rin wasn't bothering to hide anything meant that business was necessary.

Mephisto sat down on his chair and gave a curt thanks to Belial, who bowed and left.

"How much do you know?" Mephisto began.

"Everything that you said in the office and a bit further. I would've satanized, entered True Cross cram school, Neuhaus attacks my dorm, we'd go to your theme park, Amaimon harrasses me, Shura reveals herself and we start my training, the summer camp incident happens, Neuhaus starts acting up again, the pope is revealed to be our grandfather, the demon purge begins-"

"Stop, stop, stop- the pope is revealed to be what?" Mephisto cuts in, carefully sipping his tea. That's not... how this timeline goes.

"Our grandfather. From Yuri's side?" Rin is clearly befuddled by the interruption. He says it as if it's the most obvious thing in the world and not some random bullshit that Mephisto just heard.

Mephisto massaged the side of his head. The notion of a pope seemed familiar but where, oh where-

Oh. One of the distant timelines. That's right, the one where he and Azazel experimented with by going back further than expected and placing an orphaned baby Yuri in the future pope's lap. That was not the case this time, however.

"Ooooh, that. You're not... wrong you're just missing the mark. What you saw was most likely an alternative timeline. One where you and Yukio are related to the pope and all hell blows loose. That's not the case here." Mephisto elaborated. He's partially relieved. Maybe Rin doesn't know everything-

"Oh, okay then, then if we're looking past the Neuhaus nonsense, then later there's a hostage situation where Yukio starts slipping, the eye of the Impure King in Tokyo is stolen, we're sent to Kyoto to protect the other one, a mole is revealed, we get Suguro's backstory, there's an epic battle and Yukio punches me in the end. That's how far I have."

Mephisto stood corrected. That's not far but at the same time too far for his liking. He stared tiredly at Rin, who began eating the cream off his drink with the cookies and poky provided.

"You're going to change some things, aren't you?"

"I already have."

"Shiro doesn't count."

"Then I will." Rin replied smugly.

"You're planning to derail the whole timeline or just the parts that you don't like?"

Rin just started drinking his coffee. Mephisto sighed.

"If I may ask, considering this is relevant, why the sudden revelation about chimeraism?"

Rin sipped his drink for a moment before turning to him. His eyes, that used to be royal blue, were now a striking mint green with the color orange taking up the rim of the eye and the pupil.

"Satan's a dimensional abomination. He's a blue phosphate type with a possible red cursing."

Mephisto got none of that.

"Blue phosphate shows that the power is not so much a burning fire so much as it is shining fire and purifying in property. It primarily purifies rather than incinerates but that doesn't mean it can't. If driven farther, it can incinerate. Which is why I called his ability something that could erase."

Ah yes, the talk on top of the building all those years ago. That was what he meant by erase.

"And let me guess, the red cursing is a sign of impure origin?"

"No. It's a sign of corruption. Red corruption shows that he was corrupted through emotional instability and constant stress. Burnout in a way. Extreme flammability. " That was the most on point description of the Blue Night he had ever heard.

"Ah, so you categorise the cursing by the hazard square?"

"Yes, but the white square is ommited. It's a specific hazard group, so considering we're talking about abominations..." Rin drew out. Mephisto nodded. Every abomination probably had all the specific hazard points checked out. So you can't really apply it to categorise them.

"And let me guess, you're a green silver with orange corruption?"

"Green mercury; my affinity is primarily flexibility and creation with poisoning and toxicity as the secondary." Rin did not elaborate on the orange corruption. Mephisto had a feeling that was the main reason for the whole "What if I die if I open the sword?" dilemma.

"Where is this going?" Mephisto asked, feeling awfully dreadful.

"Where I was originally from, where abominations were common and at war with humans, there's no such thing as orange corruption. Red, blue, yellow - yes. Orange, purple and green shouldn't exist. There has only ever been one purple and he was regarded as an anomaly, especially considering his cannibalistic nature." Rin said in a way that was almost robotic, unnaturally calm and somber.

Mephisto thought for a moment. He had heard about a cannibalizing abomination from one rather friendly visitor. Their description was... more of a warning than a description.

"Was it purple?" He asked. Rin hummed at him. "Purple. The one with purple corruption. He was the one that killed you in your home life, no?"

Rin didn't answer. He just stared at him, unblinking. Mephisto took this as a sign to shut the fuck up.

"So you're the first of your kind in a way. What does your... satanification have that could be a problem?"

"If Satan had been a "mercury", regardless of colour, this wouldn't have been a problem.

But this is a problem. A very shitty problem. Having a vessel made with a soul of his kind meant that i am supposed to have a soul to match. But right now i have a body made from that and a soul that was not of the same element. Two different elements will either join and become one or contradict and repel each other. The later version resulting in a black hole and total death. Which, technically, I'd be dying for as long as the black hole will be open. So a painfully slow and starving death is the last thing that i want."

Ah. That's... a very shitty problem indeed.

"And the cursing?"

"Orange is regret and desolation. Red is rage and breakdown. We've never experimented with cursing that far. A merging of corruption usually ends up in either self destruction or something similar to water and oil."

Mephisto sighed as he watched the sun rise.

"So you either miraculously merge the two main elements and hope the corruption neutralizes each other or it's the end of the whole timeline."

"Yes."

Mephisto groaned and placed is forehead on his clenched hands.

"This is less than ideal."

"You were the one who said you've been through a million time loops. Hasn't there been any where Rin didn't awaken?"

"You're the one who knows the original timeline. Tell me, what effect did the original Rin have on his surroundings?" Mephisto looked up at him. Rin stopped drinking.

He was thoughtful for a moment before eyes turning wide. The mumbled a curse under his breath.

"So now you see." Mephisto picked up his cup and drank it. The tea had gotten cold in the early spring air but Mephisto could deal with that. Chilled matcha tea was quite lovely in the summer. "Even if you don't awaken, the first casualty will come within a week with the Moriyama's first. Then the numbers will grow and grow until they become meaningless, but the deaths will not follow suite."

"This is why you needed me to become half demon." Rin concluded.

Rin's flames would be absolutely necessary. If not for what he originally had planned with Neuhaus or Amaimon, then with the Impure King in Kyoto. Kyoto was a cornerstone for Rin's control and use over his fire as well as emotional state of being. Same goes for Yukio but rather...it went backwards.

"How long?"

"Hm?"

"Theoretically, I can fight without Satan's flames for the entirety of this game you have. But at what point will we absolutely need Satan's fire?"

Mephisto could see the reasoning behind the question. If awakening Rin's flames had such a large wildcard factor, then a substitute, even if temporary, was necessary.

"...In August at the latest in Kyoto. Unless your mercury can burn away the Impure King, then until the True Cross Festival. At that point we will absolutely need some form of absolute purification."

"Why?" Rin asked innocently. Mephisto wanted to laugh. He only gave out a chuckle.

"You just said why."

"Repeat it." This little shit. "No, really, repeat it. I blacked out for a moment. I haven't slept in four days, I'm not good at this considering that the memories I have are... distant."

Mephisto groaned. Rin was bloody annoying at this point.

"Besides the timeline of when a cardinal pope attempted to destroy all of Géhenna and it backfired so massively on him, once again I ask, how far does your knowledge go?" Mephisto asked.

"The Impure King operation in Kyoto. Yukio's mental stability starts deteriorating- no, maybe even before that."

Mephisto nodded to that. Yukio Okumura was just as much of a wildcard as Rin. Emotions, trauma and perspective makes a man do unpredictable things.

"Then it's foolish to think that everything would end after that." Mephisto began. "The students of the True Cross cram school aren't just any students. They're specifically chosen by me, with circumstances that would've otherwise been targets on their backs if left unguarded."

"First it was me with the Satanism, then it was Suguro with Ucchusma and his father's temple. Is the next one Shiemi?" Rin asked.

"No. Not quite..." Mephisto says. Maybe, just maybe Rin's factor as an abomination could help him dethrone Lucifer. After all, since no normal human means were able to defeat him, maybe use inhuman means. But telling him at the same time would compromise his own plan. Lucifer had the nine tailed fox in his possession for the sake of the elixir, which happened to be possessed by Kamiki Tamamo. The entire game surrounding the Illuminati was balanced on a fine line. Rin could easily destroy that line.

"It's Izumo, isn't it? And since she's a shrine maiden with fox like spirits under her possession, this has something to do with the god of harvest, Inari. Or foxes in general..." Rin said before he drawled off. He must have realised that Inari wasn't part of this, Nine Tailed Fox was. "You must be shitting me."

"Nope." Mephisto shakes his head.

"They're going to pull a fucking Naruto on Izumo?"

"You have no idea how close to home that statement hits." Mephisto said as he could see the lines connect between the anime ninja series and the Kamiki family predicament.

Rin sighed and dragged his hand down his face.

"And we're gonna need my flames for exorcism of the Nine tails."

"No. We need them to counteract the mutants and zombies." Mephisto said in a matter of fact way.

"This is Naruto all over again but the villains just don't give a shit anymore and go full blown madmen in terms of subtlety." Rin said with a sigh.

Mephisto thought for a moment.

"Is Naruto real? As in an actual functional dimension with its own timelines?" Mephisto wanted to be excited, truly, but the whole situation is just... draining him.

"No, I just like manga." Rin said. And there's another disappointment lying on top of the pile of miserable events that have happened today.

"But the magic mafia fire universe is real." Rin added. Mephisto perked up. Was Rin... trying to comfort him?

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because why not. Who knows, you might just meet them one day." Rin said as he sipped the sugary coffee concoction he had asked for.

Mephisto sighed but a smile ultimately drew on his face.

"I suppose I can see the sentimental value that Father had put on you." He said as he sipped his tea.

"...Is this about Beelzebub finding me when I was ten and I blew up in front of them in my true form when they started talking about how the priests were experimenting on me?"

Mephisto projectile spat his tea. He closed his eyes, breathed in, digested the sentence, put his cup down and faced Rin.

Rin stared back at him, just as confused.

"Are you saying the reason why all of our siblings hate me to my very core for false accusations of mercury experimentation is because you couldn't find a reasonable way out of a conversation?"

"They hate you?"

"Satan and Lucifer hate me regardless but Beelzebub has been yelling down-right slander about me experimenting on your demon heart." Mephisto sneered.

"...Satan actually cares?" Rin asked as his face morphed into a mixture of confusion, disgust and shock.

"The reason why the past six years have been hell for exorcists and tamers is because of Satan assuming that Fujimoto is turning you into a weapon." Mephisto answered.

Rin opened his mouth before closing it again.

"Is there something you'd like to say?"

"Don't expect Dad to get possessed by Satan. I think I accidentally cut Satan off from Fujimoto when I was an infant." Rin said as he rubbed his temples.

Oh, right. After the Blue Night, Satan should've had nothing more to do than to whisper seeds of doubt into Shiro's ear for fifteen years.

But knowing the current Rin, he must've either gotten sick of Satan's presence in the church or something and did something to Shiro in his sleep.

Well... Shiro was a paladin, after all, so maybe he's still useful.

"What does sentimentality have to do with Satan's desire to have me?"

"I suppose he's concluded that he actually has the ability to feel paternal instincts and wants to coddle you. Or turn you into his vessel as some strange form of fatherly son bonding. Or maybe because his obsession with your mother has taken a huge turn for the worst and realizes that you and Yukio are all he has left of her."

"...Me and Yukio already have a father. Shiro Fujimoto."

"He and Shiro actually knew each other. There was an almost constant rivalry between them. Satan was easily jealous and a bit of a man child while Shiro was like gasoline. To know that Shiro had taken his own children and turned the youngest into an exorcist and the oldest into a living weapon..." Mephisto drawled off.

"Oof, that's not good for the mentally unstable father."

"It really isn't. And the fact that he's playing favorites with you is really getting to Lucifer."

"Is he the one that's going to attempt the Nine Tailed Fox thing with Izumo?"

"Yes."

"Don't worry, I'll kill him then." Rin said nonchalantly.

And there it was. The whole world falling down in seconds.

"You can't kill Lucifer. Out of all the demon kings, he's closest to Satan in terms of abnormality factor. So much that it rivals the two Emperors. He and Satan are the only demons who can't exist within a vessel with no repercussions for long periods of time. No one else shares that problem."

"I could take him on. Not the first god I would kill and not the last."

"Rin, Lucifer is a suicidal bastard with a judgement day plan that could destroy Géhenna and Assiah in one fell swoop. When you two were born, he had attempted to blow his own demon heart up, which would have eradicated all of Japan. He could do worse." Mephisto told Rin and watched as the realisation dawned on him.

"Ooooh. Oh." Rin breathed out. "That's not good. Killing him will only worsen the situation then. Let me guess, seals don't work on him?"

Mephisto suddenly perked up. Seals. Hmm, maybe Rin had something they could use.

"None that we have so far. You?"

"I have one. A seal that locks away all form of thought, ego and understanding of time. Basically putting someone in a mini-dimension and knocking them out. If we were to lock him like that and release him in two thousand years, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference. It'd just be like your vision blacking out for a moment if you're anemic." Rin explained. Mephisto blinked in surprise. This was... actually a solid solution. But something felt wrong. It felt too good to be true. He glared at Rin.

"What's the catch?"

"I have the seal."

"Is that a threat?"

"Let me finish. The seal is fickle in the way it must always be in use, which means it must always have a prisoner. Otherwise, it would expand until it finds something worthy to seal."

"You don't mean-"

"If we want to seal Lucifer away, we'll have to take the current prisoner out and shove Lucifer in."

And knowing the origin of the seal, Mephisto might as well be inviting another abomination into the mix.

"And the current prisoner?"

"Relatively speaking, they're an upgrade from Lucifer."

"Relatively speaking?"

"Lucifer wants a total utopia through annihilation, right?" Mephisto nodded. "Our prisoner wanted utopia through poisoning the world's water supply with hivemind venom into total obedience and no free will."

"How is that better?!" Mephisto yelled at him.

Rin smiled at him with a mouth full of glowing teeth.

"Because as I am now, I can easily crush him. We'd struggle with Lucifer but with the prisoner, whose death won't affect the world, the battle would last ten minutes at best."

Mephisto didn't trust a single bit of that.

Rin groaned.

"I don't like talking about my past."

"Me neither but look at where we are."

Rin sighed.

"Trust me on this. I'll take care of Lucifer if he bothers you so much and the Arctic Prisoner won't be a problem. I wasn't called the Beast of Neo Osaka for nothing." Rin said.

Mephisto thought about the term. Beast of Osaka. It sounded... familiar but he couldn't tell how.