It's True Love 62 (Patreon)

"A spider ghoul huh...?" Ciel tilted her head, clearly thinking about given by Yuta.

After dealing with the Kohaku situation, everyone naturally calmed down. Still, he couldn't just ignore that a massive monster had attacked him during the night out of nowhere. If he had been a normal human he would have been dead.

She sighed. "So, was it super strong?" To tell the truth, she was struggling with trying to think of a spider ghoul.

Though... there was one worry in her mind.

Yuta made a so-so gesture with his hand. "Kinda? Maybe? I was handling him without Rika's assistance, but at the same time I didn't actually see the fight through the end. Touko's puppets showed up to kill it, and I went my way."

So he had no way to tell if that thing was more powerful than it appeared or not. For all he knew it had some super broken form of immortality, or maybe it had some hidden weapons. He definitely needed to ask Touko if she had noticed anything special later.

Ciel pushed her glasses up. "Um... That's annoying. The Holy Church doesn't have any registered accounts of spider ghouls." That was no good. "But I do have an idea of what it could be." That was good!

"Back in the French Incident, there were a few ghouls that took spider-like characteristics." The French Incident huh? So this was definitely not something Ciel wanted to talk about.

Yuta put a hand to his chin. "Okay, but how spidery are we talking here? That's very important."

A sigh escaped her mouth. "Not very... They had the faces of spiders." So that wasn't it.

Yuta shook his head. "The thing I faced wasn't just an ugly human, it was damn immense... and grotesque too." He would say it was about the size of a car. Basically, there was no way those two were related.

She nodded. "I see. Well, while I can't recall the Holy Church knowing anything about something exactly like this, it might just be my memory failing me. I'll contact them."

Yuta smiled. "Sounds good. Though I doubt it's your memory failing you." Ciel just wasn't the type to forget things, it was in her very nature. "Still, does Roa have spider powers then?" He knew it was a uncomfortable question to ask.

But he just had to know. All his information about Roa... and then French Incident in general came from Ciel. That was just the nature of being her apprentice. And since he would one day have to face Roa, he needed to start collecting information like this.

"Roa doesn't have anything like that, no." Ciel bit her lip. "He is a magus that focuses on lightning magic... well, it's actually a lot more complicated than that." Yuta wouldn't doubt it.

He also wouldn't doubt that Ciel knew what Roa was and wasn't capable of. They were literally the same person at one point in time, even if it felt horrible thinking something like that.

He tilted his head. "So... why were there spider ghouls back in the French Incident?" He guessed it was due to some other third party.

Naturally that third party would become Yuta's enemy. For Ciel he would defeat anything in the entire world.

She looked down. "Because... well... the truth is that the French Incident wasn't just orchestrated by Roa." As expected. "At first it was just him, but since he was being particularly monstrous this time, quickly other monsters approached. These monsters were Dead Apostle Ancestors."

Yuta flinched. "For real?" He was surprised France even existed at all after such an assault. He still remembered how scary Vlov was.

Though that could be a case of Yuta putting too much hype on himself. While he had massively struggled against Vlov, there was no real reason to believe he was a monster when compared with the high hitting members of the Holy Church.

Sure, he knew he had incredible potential, but in the end potential was just potential. For example, his reserves of energy vastly outclassed his Senpai, but she would still put him down onto the dirty any day of the week.

"For real. The members were these, as confirmed by the Holy Church... Roa, though he really is considered a Dead Apostle Ancestor only by us. Even the vampires dislike him." Wow, talk about a black sheep.

Yuta listened attentively to the list. They were his sworn enemies for hurting his Senpai after all. "Number 22, Chromclay Petastructure was another one of these invading Dead Apostle Ancestors."

"He was of fairly new blood, barely a thousand years old. He's dead nowadays though, I put him down." As expected of his Senpai! She was already decreasing the size of the list!

"The next was... well, you have already met and killed him. Number 19, Vlov Arkhangel was involved in the French Incident." Ah, he was glad he helping with the list too.

Wait a minute. "Vlov was in the French Incident!? What the hell was he doing there!?" Well, he was probably being a massive piece of shit as usual.

Ciel shrugged. "I don't know to be frank, but I do remember him trying to have some... alone time with Roa." Her face became red. "And not in a perverted way!" Then why put it in that way!?

Though now that Yuta thought about it, didn't Vlov dislike Roa? He was most likely looking for an audience so he could kill him. So in other words, it was just another classic Roa interaction. And besides, what Vlov wanted didn't matter, he was dead, and Yuta didn't even think his Idea Blood had survived.

The Mystic Eyes of Death Perception did truly kill something when a point of death was struck after all. So in a way, outside of the copy being carried by Rika, the nineteenth seat of the Dead Apostle Ancestors had been truly destroyed.

"Continuing past Vlov though... Number 15, Rita Rozay-En had also made her way there. It was actually her first appearance ever since she had an encounter with Touko Aozaki, funnily enough." Touko made a Dead Apostle Ancestor hide for years?

Yeah, that was his future crazy wife alright. Still... "I'm surprised Touko could fight make a Dead Apostle Ancestor so traumatized like that." Even Vlov who was clearly inferior was a nightmare to deal with.

His Senpai had killed Dead Apostle Ancestors of course, but she had her own brand of cheats, not to mention the support of the Holy Church. Meanwhile Touko was a rogue mage who got by with whatever she had at the time.

An awkward smile appeared on her face. "At the time Touko Aozaki was accompanied by some sort of golden wolf god. They made a mess whenever they went." Ah, that explained things.

"Please don't ask your cute Senpai where that wolf went by the way, I have no idea what she did with him." Knowing Touko, it was totally possible she sent him away out of the fear of getting attached.

She was stupid like that.

Ciel raised a finger. "The next Dead Apostle Ancestor was number 14, Van-Fem. It was quite weird of him, since he is typically quite uninvolved with the affairs of humanity." As she talked, she seemed to lose the starting tension she had.

There was no doubt on Yuta's mind that she was disassociating herself from the topic at hand. He didn't know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Even during the French Incident, Van-Fem didn't do much, it was clear he was there more to watch than anything. Which was lucky. As a Dead Apostle Ancestor from the Age of Gods, he is truly insanely powerful." In essence, if Vlov was the weakest of that faction, Van-Fem was among the strongest.

"The last Dead Apostle Ancestor was number 12, Lululily A. Paranohdalia... she was the member responsible for the spiders who may also be our current enemy." Ciel pushed her glasses up. "But..."

"But we don't know much about her, outside of her being some grotesque giant spider." It would be hard to hide in a city for someone like that. "She is a reclusive, one of the Dead Apostle Ancestors who used to be mages before thei-."

Yuta cut her off. "A NEET!" He totally understood.

Ciel's eye twitched. "Indeed." He should have probably controlled himself huh?

In his defense, even he... especially he, had weaknesses. He naturally hated Dead Apostle, so if an opportunity to make fun of one came up, he wouldn't waste it!

All that aside, there was something more he was curious about. "Were they really all there just to... make some chaos with Roa?" With the probable exception of Vlov of course, who was probably there to kill the snake.

Yet again, Ciel could only shrug. "I'm not exactly sure. To be honest, much of what I did... what Roa did is a blur." A blur of despair. "But eventually they almost killed Arcueid, so maybe that's why?"

"They what!?" Should he call the vampire for this conversation!? Where the hell had this come from!?

Ciel chuckled, as if something like this was funny... Yuta definitely paying the karmic price for his previous NEET comment.

Nonetheless, after a big more giggling, Ciel started to explain. "As you know, Arcueid always hunts down Roa. That is one of her one constants." Though Yuta had changed many.

The Arcueid Brunestud of one year ago was much easier to predict than this one, that was for sure.

"And as usual, she made her way to his location... Not exactly a hard thing to do, considering Roa wasn't exactly hiding." It was definitely a different approach from the one he had taken here in Souya.

But that had happened mostly due to Ciel's unbelievable magical talent. Even if Roa did not have great political or monetary power in her body, and therefore had to built from scratch, the rest outshined it. And so he could truly play demon lord.

"Once she got there... well, she ended up losing. Even she had difficulty with so many enemies. Though Vlov abstained." Probably due to the fear of death. Any stray blow from the princess could have erased him from existence.

Yuta tilted his head. "Well, she clearly survived, so what happened?" Had the French Incident really been one big assassination attempt?

Ciel crossed her arms. "Her sister, Altrouge Brunestud intervened. She jumped in with her pet Primate Murder, and the tides of battle changed." Even Roa and his little entourage couldn't match so much firepower.

Yuta immediately flnched. This was not the first time he had heard the name Altrouge Brunestud, but for some reason this time it had resonated within his brain in a awkward way...

Yes, a awkward way... Yuta had not flinched due to pain or anything like that. He had cringed out of embarrassment, like he had just heard the name of a old friend who did some dumb shit online and would be forever mocked for it.

Ignoring that strange feeling however, he had more important things to ask. "Wait, Altrouge came to Arcueid's rescue? Aren't they enemies?" Maybe a semblance of a sibling bond existed after all?

Surprisingly enough, that actually sounded bad for Yuta. Altrouge was nothing, but a bad example for the White Princess, he didn't want the two siblings to get close, as awful as that sounded.

He may have been trying to reconnect with his family after his talk with Noel back in her apartment, but Yuta still firmly believed that cutting a toxic family member out of one's life was sometimes the healthier options. Most times even.

Ciel's face became serious. "The reasons for Altrouge's interference can only be theorized on. I do agree that they are enemies however. There is no way Altrouge came there just to save her sister." Ayup.

She continued. "The common accepted theory is that it was just petty revenge against Roa. The Black Princess had once been humiliated by him, so this was the perfect opportunity to pay him back." Good ol' Roa, make the entire world his enemy.

In a way that just showed how scary he was. He was still alive after all, even after so many fuck-ups.

"It also helped that none of the members of Altrouge's own faction were present. Though she could have definitely turned a few neutrals into enemies, I suppose." Didn't the lack of allies made the situation even more dangerous?

Ciel looked away. "Of course, if you actually wish to know the truth about Altrouge's... let's call it a daring rescue... you can always ask Arcueid. She's watching it from the window ya know?" Of course she was.

It would be weirder if she wasn't!

Leaving Arcueid's stalker-ish mannerisms aside... Asking for her side of the story was a interesting idea. As said before, Yuta was interested in anything and everything when it concerned the French Incident, and Arcueid would definitely have interesting things to say.

However, would Arcueid really be able to tell a unbiased view of the events of that day?

Definitely not.

The first idea that came after such a realization was asking Altrouge... And then Yuta realized that he obviously couldn't just ask Altrouge Brunestud of all people! It wasn't like he conveniently met her every night or something! And besides, she would probably be biased too.

In the end bias was inevitable. One would just need to get as many perspectives as possible...

He waved Ciel off. "I'll ask Arcueid later." He definitely would. And not just because of the French Incident, but because he wanted to comfort Arcueid too.

She almost died. That must have been scary.

Ciel pouted. "Ugh, why am I pushing you to spend more time with that vampire of all people?" Did this even count as pushing?

Oh well, a jealous Senpai was a cute Senpai.

And speaking of Ciel. "By the way Senpai, I want to make a slight alteration to a promise I made to you in the past. Don't worry though, it's not a downgrade, just an upgrade."

She tilted her head... and then a smile appeared on her face. "Oh? Are you gonna do two things I ask!?" She was referring to what Yuta had promised as a reward for her little squirmish with Arcueid of course.

Yuta looked down, embarrassment on his face. "S-sure, that seems fine. I heard you got pretty messed up." It was a mistake of his.

He hadn't considered the difference in strength between Ciel and Arcueid, and his Senpai paid the price for it. She was immortal of course, so Arcueid couldn't kill her or anything, but pain was still pain.

And what kind of boyfriend let their girlfriend be in pain!?

Ciel had to hold back a smirk. "Ah, your Senpai gsts by. I'll definitely appreciate the upgrade though." As expected, getting beaten up by that gorilla hadn't been too bad.

That said, she definitely had to hide this from the White Princess. If she learned Ciel had obtained an extra reward, she would throw a massive tantrum until she got what she wanted. Which she probably would, since this was Yuta they were talking about.

A happy Arcueid meant a unhappy Ciel, so she had to avoid that possibility.

Yuta raised a hand. "Though... the truth is that this was not the promise I was referring to, Senpai."

Immediately Ciel raised an eyebrow. "Then what promise were you talking about?"

"The one about Roa." Her heart stopped. "I said before that I'll put him down, and I'll will do that for sure, but... I will also end the life of each and everyone of those vampires responsible for the French Incident."

He continued. "I've already sent Vlov to hell, or to the Root, or whatever places those guys go to." And Ciel had killed the castle guy. "So please trust my word when I say I will deal with the rest."

His enemies were Touko's old rival, a super old vampire, and a scary spider. Easy prey for an weird human alien. Right?

Ciel smiled. "I see. I accept that update of course, but just because killing those vampires is the morally right thing to do. You're a bit too revenge focused, Yuta." She didn't say whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

It was just a thing. The rest was up to him.

Yuta nodded without hesitation. "Yeah, but I just can't forgive the people who hurt you. Sorry."

Ciel played with her hair. "You hurt me so good back in the park though... Please forgive yourself." Even saying such words almost made her heart explode.

Yuta's expression made it worth it though. "Why is everyone acting so perverted recently!?" Wasn't Kohaku the pee watcher enough!?

Also, why was she making such a stupid comment when they were discussing such a serious topic!? Ah... Just like how he had been affected by his Senpai, she had probably been affected by him.

He had corrupted this saint. Without a doubt he would one day pay for that.

Thankfully he had the perfect weapon to fight back. And not, it wasn't acting as his usual perverted self, she was probably expecting her. Instead he would give her a shocking piece of information that he had to give her eventually anyways.

"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you Senpai, but Akiha has a secret murderous old brother. He went nuts because of his oni blood, and now he's wandering the streets." He was priority number 2, just bellow Roa.

As expected, Ciel's eyes widened. "Why did you drop that on me just now!?" To Yuta's surprise however...

Her shocked slowly morphed into realization. "The eldest Tohno. The male heir of the Tohno..." She was mumbling to herself.

Yuta had a feeling things were about to get a lot more complicated. Thankfully he knew what he had to do tomorrow though.

He would contact Touko, and try to learn more about the spider. And also maybe get a kiss. Touko was hot after all!



//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////



AN: This chapter came out super late... Sorry! I just couldn't write it... Originally it was actually gonna be a Kohaku chapter, but I ended up moving the ideas of that chapter for the future.

After that, writing it became a lot more smooth. So blame Kohaku! Not me! In fact, always blame the rape victim!