Becoming an Eminence in Shadow in the New World (DxD / StrikeTheBlood)

Only three people had died and things were already this chaotic. Wasn't this a little excessive?

Inside Christina's mansion, Cid looked through the window at the large group of young nobles gathered before the main gate, confronting Christina, the owner of the mansion.

Their faces seemed vaguely familiar. Looking more closely, Cid realized they were the same "rabble" whose Houses had sent them to report the incidents caused by the [Thirteen Nightblades] to the Midgar Royal Family. The day before yesterday, a single threat from some woman he had already forgotten had been enough to make them kneel, and yesterday they had simply withdrawn from the alliance.

What rotten luck. A whole bunch of turncoats.

Especially that green-haired guy leading them. He practically had "traitor" written all over his face. The day before yesterday, he had been groveling before that woman Cid had forgotten, yet now he had the nerve to throw his weight around and argue with Christina, the one who had been speaking up for everyone.

"This is outrageous! What a bunch of bastards, especially that scumbag Isaac! Lady Christina is clearly doing all this for everyone's sake. Instead of thinking about how to unite against the evil Thirteen Nightblades, they're actually turning against Lady Christin... Cid-kun, why are you looking at me like that? Don't you think this is terribly unfair to Lady Christina?"

Halfway through passionately defending Christina, Kanade suddenly noticed a strange gaze on her. Following it, she found Cid staring fixedly at her. She froze for a moment before asking indignantly.

"I won't tell Christina-san how you were acting just now. There are only two of us here, so you're putting on that performance for the wrong person."

Cid had no intention of playing along and answered coldly.

Kanade's response was immediate.

"Tsk. How did you figure it out, Cid-kun?"

Heh. Because you're a potential turncoat too. You were just a little slower to surrender, and right now you're still riding on Christina's coattails.

Completely ignoring the fact that he himself had once wanted to run away and wash his hands of the entire affair, Cid thought this without the slightest shame before answering Kanade's question.

"Because you were trying way too hard."

"Huh? Do you have absolutely no emotional intelligence? Talking to someone like you could drive a person to an early grave. That settles it, Cid-kun. I'm blocking you!"

"You'd be better off muting me. We probably won't ever see each other again after two days anyway."

Kanade had just taken out her phone and was about to block Cid, whom she had only added to her contacts yesterday, when his words made her freeze.

Her face darkened, and she immediately started pounding her fists against him.

Since her punches did not hurt in the slightest, Cid could not even be bothered to dodge. He merely continued looking out the window at the crowd arguing with Christina below, as well as the people on the distant streets whom his exceptional eyesight allowed him to see. The Knights' Order, the Guard, and the oppressive atmosphere throughout the city had left everyone visibly uneasy.

"By the way, what are they even arguing about?"

Cid finally withdrew his gaze and casually asked as he watched Christina and Isaac continue their dispute below.

"I'm not completely sure either, but I'm guessing it's because the entire city is under lockdown. Several members of the Knights' Order and large numbers of Guards are stationed at every city gate to maintain order and stop the killer from escaping. Those people used to belong to our alliance, which is currently the only alliance openly opposing the Nightsword society. Even though they've already withdrawn, they're still considered major suspects and are forbidden from leaving the city. So they came to Lady Christina demanding an explanation."

"So that's what happened. Then it makes sen..."

Cid's voice suddenly stopped.

He turned toward Kanade, who was holding her phone, and tilted his head.

"How do you know that?"

"Of course I... guessed! I guessed!"

Kanade nearly answered without thinking, then suddenly caught herself and shouted her response with suspicious enthusiasm.

How suspicious...

Cid narrowed his eyes at the strained smile on Kanade's face. One hand slipped into his pocket.

He could smell a lie.

Under his stare, Kanade's smile grew increasingly stiff. Fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead until, finally unable to withstand the pressure, she lowered her head.

"Come to think of it, if I remember correctly, after dinner yesterday, when you saw the message saying two more Nightswords had died, you mysteriously disappeared for a while."

Technically, saying she had "vanished without a trace" would have been more accurate.

But if Cid's guess was right, "mysteriously disappeared" suited the atmosphere much better.

"Heh. I didn't expect you to be so observant, Cid-kun. Fine, I admit it. After learning that two Nightswords had died, I got scared and tried to run away. But the Knights' Order turned me back at the city gate. So what if you know? What can you possibly do to me, Cid-kun?"

As though she had suddenly gone mad and achieved enlightenment on the spot, Kanade raised her head with an arrogant, darkened smile completely unsuited to someone of her small-fry status.

Despite being shorter than Cid, she somehow looked up at him with an expression of utter condescension and issued the provocative challenge of a bratty little devil.

"I can't believe you're actually a filthy traitor! That's absolutely unforgivable. It's the kind of profession that gets you cursed to death by evil spirits! Aren't you afraid I'll tell Christina-san, Kanade?!"

Cid widened his eyes, looking utterly devastated by Kanade's betrayal.

"Sodayo. Don't forget what you just told me. There are only two of us here. As long as I refuse to admit it, who's going to believe you?"

Kanade wore a triumphant grin, thoroughly enjoying the satisfaction of having suddenly awakened to the darkness and turned the tables on him.

"Actually, I should thank you, Cid-kun. If you hadn't reminded me just now, you might really have scared me stupid enough to run over and kneel before Christina. Ah... It's been like that ever since the two of us first met. But now, everything is different. From now on, I'll stand above you. You'll be the one kneeling!"

Kanade declared this with unwavering conviction.

"Damn it. Even so, I'm still going to Christina-san. I trust Christina to see through your lies."

Stunned by Kanade's descent into darkness, Cid briefly wondered if perhaps he had pushed her too far.

Then again, she had handed him the leverage herself. It would have been such a waste not to use it.

"Sigh... Cid-kun."

Apparently impressed by Cid's righteous determination, Darkened Kanade slowly walked over to the window and sighed.

"Don't be so stubborn. Aren't you afraid I'll frame you?"

With a playful gleam in her eyes, Kanade looked at Cid, then at Christina still arguing with the crowd outside, and finally back at Cid.

"Hiss!"

Cid sucked in a sharp breath and stared in shock at Kanade, who seemed like a completely different person now. There was even a faint, unusual allure to her expression.

Still not as good as...

Gamma, Alpha, Beta, Epsilon, Victoria, Zeta, Rias... and so on.

"A man and a woman alone together in a room. If I scream right now, you'll never be able to explain yourself, Cid-kun. I trust you're a smart man."

Unable to see what Cid was thinking, Kanade spoke in a bizarre mature-woman voice that sounded like someone trying to paint a tiger and ending up with a dog instead. Her tone was unmistakably threatening.

"Kanade, aren't you afraid I might have evidence?"

Cid forced the words out with difficulty.

If possible, he still wanted to save Kanade...

Just kidding.

The atmosphere had already reached this point. Even if he did not want to play the righteous hero, he had no choice now. Otherwise, Kanade's glorious descent into darkness would go completely to waste.

That was how these bouts of insanity worked.

As the righteous hero, Cid only had to slap the lunatic twice and see whether she would keep acting crazy.

Kanade, as the one responsible for going crazy, had much more to think about. When to go insane, when to take the two slaps, when to regain her senses and clean up the humiliating history she created while insane, when to kneel... Just kidding.

All of that required careful consideration.

"Hmph... Hahahahaha!"

At Cid's threat, Kanade suddenly doubled over laughing.

"This is your final warning. If you go apologize to Christina right now for betraying her and swear you'll never betray her again, I won't hand the evidence over to Christina."

At those words, a look of vindictive triumph appeared on Kanade's lowered face.

She lifted her head and stared firmly at Cid.

"Cid-kun, the weak Kanade who used to fall for your empty fort strategy is dead! The one standing before you now is Darkened Kanade, who has abandoned all moral restraint!

"I know you. If you really had evidence, there's no way you'd give me a chance to reform!"

"I'm a genius! Hahahaha!"

"Sigh..."

Looking at the girl who seemed to have been driven insane by him, Cid sighed and shed crocodile tears.

Unfortunately, the corners of his mouth kept rising higher and higher no matter how hard he tried to suppress them.

Eventually, he stopped trying.

There was no point enduring something when there was no need to.

Cid pulled his hand from his pocket along with his phone and pressed a button.

["Fine, I admit it. After learning that two Nightswords had died, I got scared and tried to run away. But the Knights' Order turned me back at the city gate..."]

Kanade's own voice came from the phone.

The moment she saw the device and heard the recording, her laughter stopped dead.

Her pupils widened as she stared at the phone playing back her confession.

The darkness vanished from her face instantly.

Her body began to tremble faintly.

She was completely sober now.

Looking at White Kanade, who had devolved from her Darkened form, Cid gave her shoulder a regretful pat and spoke in a strangely solemn tone.

"Modern technology, Kanade."

"Gah... no..."

There was no need to pay attention to that tiny sound, which resembled the cry of a duck.

Cid's so-called super hearing could not hear a thing.

With that thought, he withdrew his hand from Kanade's shoulder, walked around her, and headed toward the door.

"Tap!"

"... please!"

Rapid footsteps struck the floor behind him.

Cid stopped.

Feeling someone grab his hand, he turned around expressionlessly and saw the panic all over Kanade's face.

"If you give that recording to Lady Christina, I'll..."

"Let go."

Cid spoke with an awful attitude and shook his arm, trying to throw Kanade off.

The next sound was the sharp impact of knees striking the floor.

"What do I have to do for you to forgive me?! If Lady Christina finds out, she'll definitely kill me for being a traitor! I'll do anything, as long as it's something I can do!"

Kanade's desperate plea made Cid stop moving.

He said nothing.

Cid quietly looked down at the top of Kanade's head with his pitch-black eyes, sensing the genuine fear coming from her.

"What kind of attitude and position are you saying that from?"

"Huh?"

"Christina regards you as her companion. Are you capable of carrying the weight of that trust?

"You can say something as serious as 'I'll do anything,' yet you refuse to even apologize to Christina-san. Don't say things you aren't willing to do!"

"But if Christina finds out, she'll definitely kill me..."

"Even someone like me can feel the kindness she's shown me, so I've tried to repay her by doing what little I can."

"No one would blame you for running away. In a certain sense, you and I are the same kind of person. I just happen to have a few abilities you don't. But assuming malice from someone who has shown you nothing but kindness…"

"Kanade, you really..."

"Smack!"

Cid tore his hand free of Kanade's grip and gave her one final look as she remained on the floor.

"All you ever think about is yourself."

With that, Cid shut the wooden door.

Kanade's shaken expression disappeared behind it, leaving Cid alone as he walked through the mansion's spacious corridor.

...

That battle was amazing!

As Cid walked down the hallway, not a trace remained of the grim, anguished expression he had worn in front of Kanade moments earlier.

He had to admit, that little exchange had been one of the most enjoyable things he had done lately. He had gotten so emotionally invested that for a moment, he had almost convinced himself Kanade had actually done something wrong.

To tell the truth, neither Christina nor Cid cared in the slightest about Kanade's betrayal.

Christina's attitude was basically, "Do whatever makes you happy."

Cid's was simply, "I don't care."

Seriously, Kanade was giving herself far too much credit if she thought Christina would kill her.

There was no way that crazy woman's thought process was that simple.

If Kanade just honestly apologized, no one would care that she had tried to betray them.

After all, suddenly realizing you had become entangled in something this serious and wanting to run away was perfectly normal.

Be strict with yourself and lenient with others.

Still, Christina-san really was unlucky.

Not only did she have a turncoat like Kanade around her, she also had Cid, an Eminence in Shadow who wanted to settle everything as quickly as possible and could not be bothered thinking about other people's feelings.

The corner of Cid's mouth curled upward as he smugly considered this.

His performance and the things he had said earlier might have been acting, but he had not told a single lie.

In a certain sense, he and Kanade really were the same kind of person.

At the very least, when he first learned about the situation, his immediate reaction had been to run away.

He could not care less how many people disappeared.

As long as the problem did not happen to spawn directly in front of him, his policy was to leave it to fate.

He had never regarded either Kanade or Christina as his companions.

It was simply that the whole affair had already dragged him into it, the enemy happened to be a business rival of his little buddies, and Christina really had shown him genuine kindness.

So he had done a few things within his power in return.

For example...

Killing an entire family.

Entrusting your feelings to someone else was a stupid thing to do.

Not only did it amount to saying you did not trust yourself, it also placed a burden on the person receiving those feelings.

So...

Once he finished killing them, they would be even.

Still, he might have accidentally revealed a little too much to Kanade.

It could not be helped.

Even when acting, you were supposed to put real emotion into the performance.

And Kanade had not been acting at all.

That was why the atmosphere had become almost too perfect.

Kanade and Christina might be friends.

But neither of them would ever be friends with Cid.