Classes were… normal.
Lucien sat by the window, quiet, unreadable, one leg crossed over the other. His gaze drifted between the teacher's droning lecture and the open world beyond the glass. Kuoh Town looked so peaceful from here. So unaware.
Whispers followed him through the day.
"He doesn't talk much, huh?""Did you see his eyes?""He and Rias-senpai actually spoke?"
Lucien didn't care. Not about attention. Not yet.
He spent the day learning. Watching. The subtle glances between Rias and Akeno. The presence of Kiba, hiding a warrior's instincts behind a polite smile. The way Koneko's gaze lingered on him when she thought he wasn't looking.
They could all feel it.
That something about him didn't belong.
That night, the mission came.
[New Mission Detected]
Stray Devil: Former Bishop, Location—Abandoned Church Outside Town
Objective: Eliminate target. Witnesses: None.
Reward: Partial Unlock — Sin Devil Trigger Wings (Stage 1)
Optional Bonus: Remain undetected by the Gremory Peerage.
Lucien didn't hesitate.
The Church Ruins
Moonlight filtered through shattered stained glass, casting fractured shadows across cracked stone floors.
The stray was a grotesque thing. Warped by obsession, devouring innocents for power. Its aura reeked of madness and magic.
Lucien walked in, slow and deliberate, hands in his pockets.
The stray hissed, voice bubbling through ruined lips. "You… another devil? Come to die?"
Lucien didn't answer. He just drew Rebellion, its edge gleaming red in the dim light.
The stray lunged.
Fast.
Lucien was faster.
He sidestepped lazily, blade flashing once. The arm the stray had raised was suddenly gone, still twitching mid-air.
It screamed.
He didn't let it finish.
Yamato appeared in his off-hand—dimensional cut slicing across space and flesh alike. The creature staggered, trying to phase through shadow, but Lucien was already behind it.
"Too slow."
He royal guarded the counterblow with a flick of his hand, absorbing the force and launching it back tenfold.
The walls cracked. The stray shattered like glass.
[Target Eliminated.][Reward Unlocked: Sin Devil Trigger Wings (Stage 1)]
Wings now available. Flight enabled. Demonic Authority enhanced.
Lucien stood amidst the dust and silence, his body glowing faintly with red-black energy. Ethereal wings unfurled from his back—sleek, jagged, and pulsing with raw power.
He looked down at the corpse.
"Pathetic."
A flick of Yamato and the body vanished, cut from reality itself.
He stepped outside, wings folding away.
Far off, hidden in the trees, a pair of crimson eyes watched from the shadows.
Rias Gremory bit her lip.
She'd followed him on a hunch.
What she'd seen? It didn't make sense. No summoning circle. No demonic pressure. No house crest. And that sword—those wings—
Who was Lucien Vael?