In all recorded history, there has never been a genuine device that would hold true to its results; there has been many attempts to create such a device and all have failed. It was not the fault of the geniuses of humanity, neither was it their creativity, but rather a force so powerful that its unpredictability forces other beings to be banished back to where they came from. Despite its power, the amount of times it has been felt throughout the centuries has become a common experience to the inhabitants of Japan; so, even when its force was felt once again, the people of Kyoto prefecture went about their day as usual. It was a minor greeting, hardly acknowledged from its repetitive wave, and only those that focus on the force would take note of it.

Fighting against the force was unthinkable, for there was no greater power to counter an attack, and only through the creativity of humanity did the people create a way to lessen the consequences, but sometimes, the force was too unpredictable its result was felt throughout the globe. There was no way to fight; no way to prevent; no way to predict. The Force always wins.

When the second greeting came, pebbles rolled across the soil of Kyoto, and people kept walking; the third, the trees trembled, their roots attempting to remain in the same place it called home, only a few group of people faltered, but they too kept on walking. One individual began to call someone on their phone, the receiver beginning the first stages of protection, and when the fourth came, it was not a greeting. The pebbles paused in their rolls, the trees swayed against a current unseen, the noise of nature halted, and the people felt their hair raise, some managing to instinctually look for safety whilst others stopped in confusion.

It was not a moment later when the earth erupted under their feet.

The screams followed seconds after.

Desperate feet pounded the ground, searching for salvation and finding none as the force stretched in their direction – they're screams stopped. Cries went up in the air mixing with other indistinguishable voices; running, running, ducking, dragging, leaving and falling under its power. The earth roared in each attack, thundered against the soil, ripping apart and smashing together; it heaved its enormous strength pushing everything in its path, not caring what was left behind.

'SENSEI!'

'Quickly under your desks!'

They moved as fast as they could, their hearts beating loudly, breaths out in pants and holding hands tightly for support. They stilled in their spots, observing in trepidation, not letting go until the earth stopped its movements. It was a minute of no movement did the inhabitants relax, and it was only a heartbeat later they all watched in horror as a section of the wall crumbled against the renewed onslaught taking others with it.

When the earthquake was over, the company monitoring the force breathed a sigh of relief and went about assisting the clean-up process nothing else on their mind besides helping as much as they could. Any force of nature bearing destruction mostly always took priority in everyone's minds during and after the attack, barring one person.

The Chairman of Events Management for the Kyoto prefecture looked over the piles of papers on his desk, sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. The festival was needed to proceed no matter what, it was a must not many would realize, but currently, he has no idea how to go about the process when the earthquake happened the day before the festival and destroyed nearly everything needed for the fest.

He sighed, drumming his fingers on his desk.

After bringing up the situation to the mayor, the meeting did not go well to put it mildly. How could he think to keep running the festival? How could he be a heartless, money-grabbing man when the rest of the prefecture was in mourning?

Yes, it did not go well, the Chairman repeated to himself, sighed again and leaned back on his chair.

On the morning of the festival, the Chairman breathed a sigh of relief when nothing happened; when afternoon passed the man relaxed at the thought that it was gone permanently, and when twilight came the moon was blocked.

The Chairman was one of the first to scream, and the first to be stopped abruptly, with it the slight breeze ceased to exist, the flutter of frantic wings rose in the air and the nocturnal animals fled into the night.

When day break came, the sun shone its morning rays and chased the shadows of night away enlightening on one individual. The sight had the woman tremble in place, her eyes wide, and hand on her mouth and nose. 'O-Oh my g-go-' she didn't get to finish the words she choked out when the overwhelming stench became too much for her, stomach churning unhappily.

Mephistopheles stared at the woman wrapped in a blanket, his eyes lazily scanning her features to finally land at the cause of his current situation. He frowned in thought, eyes narrowing at a flyer informing of a festival cancellation. He checked the date his eyebrow rose at the conclusion.

It seemed he would need to pay a visit to his dear old partner.

'Eins! Zwei! Drei!'

Hidden behind barriers, traps, and illusions lay a warehouse where its withering walls were crawled by weeds, eating away any nutrients it could find. The grounds surrounding the building had tree roots bursting forth from the earth, spindling across the yard, embracing, pushing and choking the objects standing in its way. A peculiar, stubborn root had a medium sized boulder wrapped around it, a pale hand reached for it using two fingers, a whisper and a swipe and the roots shuddered tightening its hold on its prize. Crumbs of rock began to fall rolling away from its origins, the boulder groaning against the roots until with a silent crack, a single, zagged line appeared in the middle -thickening and stretching outwards forming a rectangle where once a boulder lied.

A few second after the last flutter of clothes disappeared the roots tightened together, pulling towards each other and relaxed its hold – the boulder, whole once again.

Following the flutter of fabric, men and woman rushed past in a brightly lit hallway, some carrying beads, tomes and staffs visible on their person. Turning to the left and trailing after a red and blue kimono, they entered through the intricate carvings on the shoji, though none paid attention to the artistry of it.

The group that greeted them sat on their knees on pillows around a long, low, polished wooden table holding various pictures and papers between the members. When the newer group entered, the one at the head stood, followed closely by the rest and bowed in greeting.

'Paladin-sama, I'm glad you and your team could make it.' Low, gravely, and scratching – slight tilt of the head showed a thin jagged line on the man's neck. The sight of the wound had the other man frown pushing away stray thoughts.

He nodded to the members of the room, 'The pleasure is all mine,' he returned, lips pursing as he browsed through the reports, speculations and evidence.

It wasn't long before one of the devices lining the walls of the room wailed, the hallways flashing orange and the screens in another room flickered with images. The people in the meeting room didn't give it another thought before they all rushed out, adjusting earphones and gears on the way.

'Appearance recorded at 2100, 3.5 kilometres east-north of base…'

'…target changed direction to…. two captains injured on the path….'

'Civilians recorded 500 metres from…request backup for team G86…'

'…backup for team D13…'

'…pillars been erected…. Has been destroyed …'

They arrived at the scene of flattened trees, flaying branches and a small tornado of sharp leaves twirling around the area preventing most exorcist access to the source. Leaping into different directions, a tree crashed where the group had once been. Scattered, they regrouped to the nearest team in need of backup, some already going through their beads and scriptures.

Muttering a line, the sharp leaves curled away from the body enabling him the view of the closest team to the target. Yelling out a verse, he stopped a few attacks, grabbed two more exorcist he knew were more capable than being in the intelligence area and ordered for them to set up barriers against the onslaught.

Once done, he instructed three more that he knew were being useless and demanded for them to set up barriers for the other teams whilst he held the one for the centre team. At precisely five minutes, eighteen exorcists including himself slammed their hands on the ground, the last line yelled in unison and the world went white.

A scream followed, tremendous and ear-bursting tones tearing through the air ripping a few more trees off its roots; a great slam shook the ground, the exorcists doing their utmost best to remain in position or lose their focus. In the ensuing silence, one man broke it.

'Are you effing kidding me!?' The Paladin swore as he finally took in the demon that caused all the ruckus.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I'll be overseas for Easter Hols from tomorrow. Let's see what I can write up while I;m there.