The afternoon sun was beginning to paint the windows of the Student Council room orange. Classes had ended, and the silence in the main building of Kuoh Academy was broken only by the rhythmic tapping of Sona Sitri's pen as she signed documents.
It had been an exhausting Monday. The Sitri heiress rubbed her temples, trying to clear the incipient headache that threatened to take hold. Tsubaki was organizing some files on the nearby shelf, while Saji Genshirou muttered unintelligible complaints as he swept the office floor.
Suddenly, the magical seals on the door emitted a faint hum of recognition. It wasn't a threat; it was the demonic signature of his Pawn.
"Come in," Sona said, looking up, mentally preparing herself for Yugo Hano's usual intimidating presence.
The heavy oak door opened, but the scene that unfolded before the eyes of the Sitri nobility was so absurdly surreal that Sona's brain short-circuited for five long seconds.
Yugo Hano, dressed in his impeccable dark professor's suit, entered the office. But he wasn't alone. Walking beside him, radiating a smile capable of curing the world's depression, was Asia Argento.
However, what completely destroyed any semblance of seriousness was the professor's "luggage".
Beneath his right arm, strapped by the waist and hanging upside down like a depressed sack of potatoes, was Kalawarner. Beneath his left arm, in the same humiliating position, dangled Raynare. Both Fallen Angels wore their ridiculous garish green aprons emblazoned with the "Saturn" convenience store logo, and their eyes were rolled back, utterly resigned to their fate.
And to complete the picture worthy of a Renaissance painting of madness, Yugo was wearing a hat. A Gothic hat, blond and wobbly. Mittelt was perched on the professor's shoulders, clutching his hair with her hands and squeezing her legs around his neck, her expression one of pure, frozen terror.
Saji dropped the broom. The wooden handle hit the floor with a dry clack that echoed in the silent room.
Yugo walked to the center of the room, his face maintaining that usual gray apathy, although the deadly tension that he used to radiate had been replaced by something more like the resignation of an exhausted family man.
He stopped in front of the leather sofas. He opened his arms and, without the slightest delicacy, dropped Kalawarner and Raynare.
¡Thump! ¡Thump!
Grigori's two ancient assassins bounced against the cushions, groaning in pain, but not daring to complain aloud.
"Get off," Yugo said in a dry voice, giving Mittelt's knee a light tap.
The little fall let out a high-pitched squeal, disentangled itself from his neck at lightning speed, and leaped onto the sofa, curling up between Kalawarner and Raynare like a frightened puppy.
Yugo let out a long sigh, bringing a hand to his neck to stretch it. His gray eyes met those of the Council President.
"Good afternoon, Sona," Yugo greeted her. There was no longer any venom or challenge in his tone; it was a genuine greeting, tinged with a dry, weary humor. "I hope I'm not interrupting the paperwork, but we had to wrap up the store cleaning phase a little earlier than planned."
Sona blinked, adjusting her glasses to make sure she wasn't under the effects of an illusion.
"Good afternoon, Yugo," Sona replied, immediately noticing the casual use of her name and returning it with the same familiarity. "May I ask why you've brought your... cleaning staff to the academy premises?"
"Yugo-san said we'd have an afternoon of picnicking and games in the school basement!" Asia chimed in cheerfully, approaching Sona's desk and giving a small bow. "Hello again, Kaichou! I brought cookies we baked in home economics class."
Tsubaki, still stunned to see her faction's mortal enemies transformed into carry-on luggage, accepted the bag of cookies from Asia with an awkward smile. "T-Thank you, Asia-san."
Saji, who had finally restarted his operating system, pointed at the three women on the sofa with a trembling finger.
—Sensei! You walk down the street with Fallen Angels under your arm like they're groceries?! If anyone had seen you...!
Yugo glanced at him sideways. Before, that simple interruption would have been enough for Yugo to glare at him with a murderous look. Now, he simply offered a sarcastic half-smile and shrugged.
"Genshirou, unless your Sacred Gear includes an ability to complain silently, I suggest you use that mouth of yours to eat Asia's cookies," Yugo retorted with dark humor, crossing his arms. "Besides, we took shortcuts. And believe me, the humiliation of being carried like that is camouflage enough; they themselves were begging that no one would see them."
Raynare buried her face in her hands. "Kill me... please, someone kill me. I'm a human's cashier."
"You look less useless when you're quiet, Raynare. Remember, if you don't cooperate, I'll deduct it from the salary I'm not paying you," Yugo silenced her without even looking at her.
Sona, fighting with all her might to suppress a laugh unbecoming of a Sitri heiress, rose from her seat and circled the desk. The change in Yugo was palpable. He was no longer the suicidal block of ice she had known. Asia's embrace and reincarnation had done their work. The scars of his murders and his past were still there—she could see it in the maturity of his gaze—but he had finally accepted that he was alive. And, in his own strange and twisted way, he was beginning to heal.
"Very well, Yugo," Sona said, stopping in front of him, forcing herself to maintain a professional tone, though her eyes gleamed with intrigue. "I'm glad to see the sunlight no longer makes you want to disintegrate. But I know you didn't come all this way just to bring us desserts and complain about your employees. What's going on?"
Yugo nodded, his expression becoming a little more serious, though without losing that strange new relaxation.
"The Saturn opens to the public tomorrow morning," Yugo explained, raising his left arm and tugging back his coat sleeve. "Which means my free time is going to be considerably reduced. I wanted to fulfill my part of the bargain today. Your peerage's training."
Sona, Tsubaki, and Saji fixed their gaze on the professor's wrist.
Saji took a step back, remembering Four Arms' trauma and Beast's blind terror. "W-Wait... today? But we've barely recovered from the beating the other night!"
But Sona's eyes widened. The strategist noticed the change immediately.
The massive, clunky, white bracelet Yugo used to wear was gone. In its place, strapped to his wrist, was a sleek, black, streamlined device that looked like futuristic technology straight out of a science fiction film. The hourglass symbol was still there, glowing a clear, steady emerald green, with no trace of the dangerous static of the days before.
"Your... Sacred Gear," Sona murmured, moving a little closer to examine it. "It changed shape."
Yugo looked down at his recalibrated Omnitrix. A slight, almost imperceptible smile of satisfaction crossed his face.
"Let's just say pure light attracts good updates," Yugo said, glancing sideways at Asia, who returned his smile brightly. "Last night, the watch completely recalibrated to adapt to my new cellular structure and heal the system errors. The prototype is a thing of the past."
Tsubaki frowned, intrigued. "Does that mean his previous transformations are stronger?"
"It means the catalog has changed," Yugo explained. He looked directly at Sona, genuinely enjoying the shock he was about to cause. "Sona, I promised you I'd teach you how to survive my arsenal of ten monsters. Well… the terms of the contract have just changed in your favor. Or against you, depending on how much you value having all your bones intact."
Silence fell over the room.
"Did it change?" Sona asked, squinting, her analytical mind already calculating the impact of the information. "What do you mean, Yugo?"
The history teacher adjusted his glasses with his index finger.
"I no longer have ten transformations, Sona." Yugo paused dramatically, savoring the moment. "I went from ten to twenty-one. I have a whole new repertoire."
The sound of Saji's broom falling to the ground for the second time went unnoticed.
Tsubaki let out an audible gasp. Sona took a half step back, completely stunned.
"T-Twenty-one?!" Saji shrieked, clutching his head. "Are you telling me he's got twenty-one apocalypses implanted in his wrist now?! We're all going to die! President, this man is a walking cheat code!"
Raynare, from the sofa, let out a muffled groan and curled up next to Mittelt, inwardly praying to disappear. If ten forms had been enough to humiliate and destroy an elite Grigori squad, twenty-one forms were enough to conquer an entire country.
Sona, regaining her composure through sheer aristocratic willpower, took a deep breath. Her heart was racing, torn between the terror that power inspired and the absolute, undeniable, and irrational tactical (and personal) attraction she felt toward her Pawn.
"Twenty-one ways..." Sona repeated, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Yugo, if Rias or her brother find out about this, they're going to label you a global strategic threat."
"That's why the training is private, President," Yugo replied with a shrug, displaying astonishing composure. "I need to test these new biologies. I don't know how heavy, fast, or destructive I am in these new forms, and I need to familiarize myself with my new demonic limits before using them in the real world."
Yugo turned around, pointing his thumb towards the sofa where the three Fallen Angels were hugging each other as if they were watching a horror movie.
"And that's why I brought the cannon fodder," Yugo announced, a wicked, sarcastic smile sending shivers down the spines of the three women. "Pigeons have decent regeneration and natural magical resistance. They'll make perfect punching bags for my non-lethal strength tests. And while you're at it, your nobility can observe the weaknesses of each alien form, and if you're feeling brave, you can join the fight."
Kalawarner turned pale. "N-No! The deal was to clean the floor! I'm in vendor relations! I'm not a punching bag!"
"Consider this a corporate team-building exercise," Yugo retorted dryly. "If you survive, I'll give you Sunday off. If not, I'll use you as mops. Asia, can you take the cookies to the observation area?"
"Of course, Yugo-san!" Asia said happily, taking her bag. "I hope you don't get hurt too much in the games!"
Sona Sitri burst out laughing. It was short, elegant, but genuinely surprised by the absurd dark comedy her life had become since this man stopped trying to die.
He adjusted his glasses and looked at his Pawn, and then at his nobility, who were already beginning to sweat profusely.
"Very well, Hano-sensei," Sona said, walking toward the secret door that led to the underground. "Let's go down to the training room. I'm eager to see what new nightmares you've brought to my board."
...
The Kuoh Academy's underground was heavily illuminated and fortified with multiple layers of defensive magic. Sona Sitri's entire peerage was lined up on the observation platform. Alongside Sona, Tsubaki, Momo, Reya, and Saji, were now also Tsubasa Yura and Tomoe Meguri, who had been urgently summoned by their King to witness the upgrade of their Pawn's arsenal.
In the combat zone, Yugo Hano removed his suit jacket and loosened his tie. His body, now purified by demonic energy, no longer trembled with exhaustion.
Before stepping into the ring, Yugo turned toward the nearby sofa where Asia was sitting. Beside her, Mittelt was still trembling like a chihuahua in the rain, curled up in a ball and waiting for the monster to throw her into the fighting arena alongside her former teammates.
Yugo approached the small blonde Fallen Angel. Mittelt closed her eyes, bracing for the impact.
But the blow never came. Instead, she felt two fingers gently pinch her cheeks and pull them to the sides.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch!" Mittelt complained, opening one eye, confused.
Yugo looked at her with an expression that, while still expressionless, lacked its usual lethal coldness. There was a glimmer of dry, sadistic humor, but strangely harmless.
"I'm going to spare your life, Mittelt," Yugo said, releasing her cheeks. "I've discovered you make an excellent stress-relief teddy, and I'd hate for blood to ruin your gothic dress. Stay here in the corner with Asia, eat a cookie, and make sure you don't make a sound. If you behave, I'll promote you to head cleaner."
Asia let out a crystalline giggle, covering her mouth. Mittelt rubbed her flushed cheeks, completely bewildered, but nodded so vigorously she almost felt dizzy. The monster had been teasing her. She was safe.
Yugo descended the stairs toward the center of the arena. Ten meters away from him, Raynare and Kalawarner, still wearing their humiliating green Saturn minimarket aprons, took up their fighting stances.
"Simple rules for the demonstration," Yugo announced loudly so the Sitri nobility could hear. "I'm not going to kill you; I just need to test my new biological and physical limits. You attack with lethal intent. If you survive, I'll give you a ten-minute break on your shift tomorrow."
Raynare gritted her teeth, summoning a spear of light. Kalawarner did the same. "Don't underestimate us, human!"
Yugo raised his left arm. The new, sleek black Omnitrix glowed. He pressed the side buttons and the central disc rose, projecting a three-dimensional green hologram.
"Observe and learn, President," Yugo said, looking at Sona. "Let's begin."
He crushed the dial.
¡FLASH!
Emerald light flooded the room. There were no screams of agony or boiling blood this time. The transition was smooth, perfect.
In place of Yugo, a tall, robust creature stood, its body seemingly composed of rotten roots and dark green mud, its head ablaze. The intense smell of methane filled the air.
1. Swampfire
Raynare didn't hesitate. She hurled her golden light spear straight at the creature's shoulder. The impact ripped the alien's left arm clean off.
Saji and Momo gasped in horror from the stands, but before Yugo could even blink, thick vines sprouted from the stump and caught the severed arm mid-air, reattaching it to his body in a millisecond. Yugo opened his palms and unleashed a blast of thick, green fire that burned away the oxygen around Kalawarner, slamming her against the barrier wall with sheer force.
—Extreme regeneration and botanical-thermal control—Sona dictated, frantically jotting down notes in her notebook, marveling.
Yugo touched the symbol on his chest. FLASH!
2. Echo Echo (Echo Echo)
A small, white alien made of what looked like silicone, with headphones built into its body, appeared. Raynare lunged to kick it because of its size.
Yugo didn't move. He simply split. In a second, there were five, then ten, then twenty exact copies of the small being surrounding Raynare. They all opened their mouths in unison and unleashed a sonic scream. The frequency was so devastating that it shattered the Fallen Angel's light spear as if it were made of glass and sent her to her knees, bleeding from her ears.
¡FLASH!
3. Humungosaurio (Humungousaur)
The room shook. The small, sonorous creature was replaced by a colossal brown humanoid dinosaur, nearly five meters tall, with muscles that looked like mountains.
Saji's mouth fell open. "K-Kaichou! That's a freaking Power Rangers monster!"
Kalawarner tried to fly to escape the impact zone, but Yugo simply flexed his legs and leaped. His immense, scaly hand caught the voluptuous woman mid-air and slammed her against the barrier floor with a BAM that shattered Sona's protective magic. Pure, overwhelming kinetic power, superior even to Four Arms'.
¡FLASH!
4. Jetray
A reddish creature, similar to a humanoid manta ray with yellow wings on its arms, took its place. Yugo took off, breaking the sound barrier in the enclosed space. Its speed made the falls seem to be in slow motion. From the air, it fired bursts of green neuro-shocks from its eyes and the end of its tail. The lasers impacted Raynare's nerves, temporarily paralyzing her on the ground.
—Air mastery and paralysis—Tsubasa Yura murmured, completely mesmerized by the efficiency of her new clanmate.
¡FLASH!
5. Cold (Big Chill)
A slender, dark being, covered by a hooded robe that turned out to be a pair of folded moth wings, floated in the air. Kalawarner, enraged, hurled three javelins of light at it.
The weapons pierced Yugo's chest as if he weren't there. Absolute intangibility. The Necrofriggian opened its wings and exhaled a dense blue mist. The temperature underground plummeted to absolute zero. The icy breath froze Kalawarner's legs and wings to the ground, leaving her like a statue of bluish ice.
¡FLASH!
6. Cerebrón (Brainstorm)
A giant, asymmetrical crab-like creature, with an enormous, pulsating brain visible beneath its skull, fell heavily to the ground. Raynare, having regained her strength, charged furiously.
The crustacean opened the plates of its skull. A storm of yellow electricity leaped from its frontal lobes, but it wasn't a blind attack. The electrical discharge ricocheted off three different walls, calculating the mathematically perfect trajectory to evade Raynare's guard and strike her blind spot, electrocuting her instantly.
"His IQ just skyrocketed," Sona observed, smiling proudly. "He calculates trajectories as he attacks."
¡FLASH!
7. Piedra (Chromastone)
A being composed of dark space rock and glowing magenta crystals emerged. Kalawarner, managing to break through its ice, gathered all of its remaining magical energy into a desperate attack, launching a massive sphere of light and demonic energy.
Yugo simply opened his arms. He took the full force of the blast in his chest. The energy didn't harm him; it was absorbed by his purple crystals, which glowed intensely. In a second, Yugo channeled all that alien energy and fired it back through his hands in the form of a rainbow laser beam that sent Kalawarner flying to the other side of the room.
—Absorption of magic and light— noted Tomoe Meguri, trembling at the Pawn's invulnerability.
¡FLASH!
8. Goop
A puddle of green, viscous substance fell to the ground, controlled by a small, saucer-shaped anti-gravity projector. Frustrated, Raynare stepped into the puddle, trying to flatten it.
Grave mistake. The green slime coiled around the Fallen Angel's leg, creeping up her body at an astonishing speed. Yugo stretched out, enveloping Raynare like an unbreakable liquid serpent and using his projector to lift her into the air, hurling her against a pile of mats before she could even cut him.
¡FLASH!
9. Spidermonkey
The last of the demonstration was a blue ape with four arms and four eyes. Yugo bounced off the walls of the room with acrobatic agility that made the Sitri nobility dizzy.
Kalawarner and Raynare, exhausted, bruised, and completely demoralized, attempted a joint attack. Yugo somersaulted in midair, spun around, and fired two thick, ultra-resistant webs from his tail. The webs ensnared the two Fallen Angels, pinning them to the ceiling like trapped flies, unable to move a muscle.
The training room fell into complete silence, except for the muffled moans of the two slaves on the ceiling.
¡FLASH!
The green light flickered for the last time. Yugo Hano reverted to his human form. His suit remained perfectly smooth, and his breathing was as calm as if he'd just taken a walk in the park. He didn't cough up blood. He didn't collapse in pain. The Omnitrix's recalibration and his new nature as a Sitri Pawn had created a perfect symbiosis.
He adjusted his glasses and looked towards the observation platform, where the entire nobility stood with their mouths agape.
"Nine new tactical biologies," Yugo said in his usual bored tone. "I hope you took good notes. On Wednesday, we'll practice interception tactics against the flight forms."
Sona, with a fanatical gleam of admiration in her eyes, closed her notebook with a solemn nod. Her Pawn was, without a doubt, the most lethal and versatile weapon the Underworld had ever seen.
But as Yugo rolled up his sleeves to look at the gleaming black plate on his watch, a grim thought crossed his mind. It had displayed nine. One was missing. The alien that had laughed in the darkness and that, out of pure instinct, he had refused to use in this harmless training exercise.
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( ̳• · • ̳) ~ ♡ Thanks for reading ♡
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