Rusting of leaves leaves a reverberation throughout the forest.
A forest a fair distance in any civilization. Although it is close to night, the forest is in a state of silence. A forest of such should be brimming with wild life, yet all of it refuses to utter a sound, only letting wind whistle and leaves rustle.
Above, dark clouds blanket the world blows in shadows.
The silence of the forest is interrupted with a child running.
An feminine face is plastered in fear. The little girls body is slightly riddled in bruises. Her breathing is hagard, legs weak with constant running, vision blurry with tears. The only thought she has is to escape so that her friends sacrifice won't be for nothing.
The dark clouds above the skies drops small water below.
"Ah!"
A root of the tree tripped her, landing face first on the ground. She hurriedly tried to stand back up but only to be given weight on her back making her effort futile.
"Who thought a vampire would appear just when we were taking a walk through this forest, huh? Aren't we lucky boys?"
"Yeah yeah, just kill that thing already."
"Well aren't you impatient? Like it could do anything anymore."
The feet of the vampire hunter presses harder against the vampire's back.
Behind where the vampire came, six people came out beneath the shades.
The vampire's heart beats faster in distress. A fear for life made her already teary face become even more so, like the slowly building rain.
She gripped the grass In front to try to crawl away. Knowing even if she begged, they would only laugh at her, the only thing she can do was to try to escape as much as she could.
But a stab from the back, once again denied a hopeful possibility.
"Gah!"
"Ah, shit. You shouldn't move so much then that wouldn't happen, you know? Sigh..."
The vampire hunter that was above sigh lamented that his hunt was cut short at the vampire's struggle.
"Stop talking to a dead body. We still have to look if there aren't more of them."
"Yeah yeah, cut me some slack. Couldn't let me have some fun here?"
"Like I said, we still have to search the area if there's anymore of these things here."
The old man of the group that came with the hunter above the vampire reprimanded the guy and he bantered back.
The four others just sigh and shake their heads at the usual banter of their companions. It's always been like this with their previous expeditions, the new guy being too carefree and the old one being serious.
"S-Someone... Please, anyone. Help... I don't want to die..."
A desperate voice came from the dying vampire.
"Quite a durable one, eh? Unfortunately for you, there's no knight in shining armor to save you and It's unfortunate for me I can't play you. Well, anyway."
Shaking his head at losing an opportunity to have a toy. The vampire hunter raised a silver sword to end the vampire girl's life.
"Of course there's no knight in shining armor, we're in the 1990s. Only pew pew and boom boom are here in this era. If someone were to see you people, they would pick up their ultra max universal super pro two million omega wow amazing phone to record a video and post it on the internet to get clout rather than to help. What a society we live in."
A foreign voice came at the front of the group, hidden by the shades and trees.
The group of hunters tensed and turned their heads the voice's direction.
Beneath the shades walked out a man dressed... Weirdly casually.
A cat sitting on a man's brown hair and holding a dog growling in his hand and an umbrella on the other to shield from the rain. The guy is dressed casually, like he is inside his home. White shirt and a hello kitty pant.
"Hello there, Bloodborne cosplayers. Tis' I, a man lost in the woods."
The hello kitty guy spoke to a group of vampire hunters casually.
The group tensed. A seemingly normal guy got past their barrier, is no ordinary civilian.
"Who are you?"
The old man that was talking with the youngster questioned the guy.
"Tsk tsk, didn't you hear? I am a complete normal guy that's just taking a walk with his pets and got lost. You got a hearing condition if you didn't hear what I said previously."
The guy shook his head and lament to the old man's inability to hear what he previously said.
"I doubt that. A guy getting past a barrier is not normal, more so the guy seemingly got lost in the woods that's quite a distance to the nearest city."
The weird man only shook his head again at the old man's trust in his words.
"Now that you said your question, let me ask mine."
The hunters only stood on guard. Ready themselves of any sudden attacks.
"Speak."
"Well, ahem."
The guy cleared his throat before opening it.
"Is it right that some people are still getting paid 7.25 of minimum wage in of their country? This number is not properly adjusted to today's time of the modern economy. Like, this wage was adjusted in 2009. Have the government not thought that the economy haven't experienced any inflation in that amount of time? 7.25 per hour is less than enough for a person to live for themselves alone, even more torturous when it's a whole family. How can a man get a proper life if they have to work more than one job, taking more time than to spend for themselves and their love ones? Such an economy cannot provide equal treatment to their citizens fairly. Ludicrous for such to still exist in today's time."
"""Huh?"""
The guy blabbered and vented his frustration on the group.
"Did you know that Indian citizens are scammed to fight for Russia? Such a malicious act is immoral. Some people are signing what they thought should be a security job only to be turned into a military. Tension is rising, leaders are becoming immoral, lives are lost. North Korea and Russia are signing treaties. The Philippines and China are fighting for a part of the sea. Drought and water scarcity are becoming more and more obvious. Global warming. Speaking of global warming, we are not killing the planet in fact. Did you know that the meteor that hit the Cretaceous era is more than millions times than the tsar bomba. The earth has experienced more cataclysmic event than humans can do. We are not killing the planet, we are killing ourselves."
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"Some little facts."
"..."
"..."
An awkward silence took place after the guy talked about a completely-normal-and-should -be-ignored-words.
The silence was broken by a question from one of the vampire hunters.
"Are you an accomplice of this vampire?"
"Nah, do I look like a vampire to you? I just found something interesting and all."
"So you're not going to fight us."
"No. I'm not someone that bully the weak."
"The fuck you say!?"
One of them took offence seriously. But the old guy stopped him.
"Don't, we won't win."
"But sir! This asshole ju-"
"Stefan! Stand down."
"...Yes sir."
"...I'm sorry about that."
The old man bend his head and apologized for his subordinate. The way this man stands and their uncaring eyes staring at them who has weapons, that can be seen on those who are confident in victory.
The guy shrugged.
"Anyway. Go, shoo."
"...Before I go, What will you do to that vampire?"
The old hunter turned to the dead body of the vampire. The vampire died when the guy was yapping about the very not political stuff. The vampire is dead, so their job is only scouting the area if there's any more. But he turned to ask his question for maybe a little information.
"What I will do will only be known by me."
An unsatisfactory answer. The veteran can only walk away.
"Now then, seems you're already dead."
The guy turned to the unbreathing vampire on the ground and turned his head to the trees.
"Are you going to take him?"
A minute of silence but the guy did not move, only watching the trees.
Two people came out and a silver haired maid and red haired girl walked out. The maid greet the guy
"Greetings, sir Lucius."
"Grayfia Lucifuge."
Grayfia Lucifuge, the current Lucifer's wife and queen. The red haired girl next to her is Rias Gremory current Lucifer's sister.
"So, are you going to take this boy, the possessor of the sacred gear Forbidden Balor View? The powerful sacred gear that can stop anything in view in time."
His smile looks like a door to door salesman trying to sell a product.
"A sacred gear that can stop someone in time?!"
Rias Gremory spoke in surprise. A sacred gear that can stop time in anything in the user's view is something that can almost scratch the spot of Longinus.
"C-Can we have it, Grayfia?! Can we? pleasssee."
"Calm down, lady Rias."
The girl begged the maid and the maid tried to calm down the girl.
":)"
All the while the Caelum watch with a business-like smile.
After calming the girl, Grayfia looked back at him.
"What is your condition?"
"Condition? What do you mean?"
"Surely you jest, sir Lucius. You surely have a condition before giving us the boy, no?"
The smile on Caelum's face turns bigger.
"A small favor. A favor that comes from you, Lucifer's wife."
Although it isn't the current age's Lucifer's favor, a favor that comes from his wife is still big.
"..."
And Grayfia knows that and giving a favor to this diabolical guy might also involve her husband. But after looking at Rias begging face.
"Nothing that is big and nothing that may cause harm to us."
She put a condition on the favor.
"Deal."
That's more than enough for him.
Then stepping front and getting the limp boy's body.
"Then we will be leaving first."
The maid bowed and retreated back to the underworld with a magic circle.
"..."
Now alone with his pets. Caelum picked up the cat in his head and put Bella with Duke. Patting them.
"Now then. Bella, Duke, you go home first, I have some things to do."
The cat purred at his touch and the dog barked.
With a flash, the cat and dog disappeared.
Standing back up, he turned his head to a direction and disappeared into motes of yellow light.
Now, unto his real reason for coming to Romania.
The Holy Grail.