The midday sun hung lazily over Kuoh Town, casting a warm haze over the windows of the Blake residence. Inside, the atmosphere was anything but relaxed.
Adrian Blake sat in the center of the living room, a stack of textbooks and scrolls spread before him. It wasn't just a casual study session—it was a battlefield. One where ignorance was the enemy, and he, unfortunately, had to play the role of teacher.
Naruse Mio sat on the couch, a pencil awkwardly clenched between her fingers, her brow furrowed in concentration as she stared blankly at a math problem. Across from her, Raynare—formerly a proud fallen angel—was trying and failing to feign interest in magical theory.
Adrian tapped a knuckle against his temple. This was harder than expected.
He had underestimated how vast the gap was—not just in knowledge, but in discipline. Mio had a decent base, but she lacked any real academic guidance. Raynare, on the other hand, had spent more time mastering seduction and politics in the Grigori than actually studying the fundamental laws of magic.
His first attempt at tutoring had turned into a mess.
The turning point came when Raynare, annoyed at the repetition, brushed her arm across the table—knocking over a bottle of red ink that spilled across the ancient scroll he'd been annotating.
A deep breath caught in Adrian's throat. His fingers twitched.
A cold, unspoken pressure rolled through the room.
Raynare went rigid. The look in Adrian's silver eyes wasn't violent, but it was heavy—like a mountain pressed onto her chest. She froze, stunned, as if suspended mid-air.
"You're a fallen angel," Adrian said slowly, his voice like a winter wind. "And yet you behave like an unruly child."
Without waiting for a reply, he raised his hand—and smacked the table beside her with the back of his palm. The sound cracked through the room like a whip.
Raynare flinched. The red ink dripped off the table's edge in thick, symbolic blotches.
"Do you think this is a game?" he asked, leaning closer. "Magic isn't just light shows and divine sparks. If you want to survive what's coming, you need to learn. Properly. Thoroughly."
He didn't give her a chance to respond.
Adrian grabbed one of the nearby training scrolls, the kind that funneled information directly into the mind through magical imprinting, and pressed it firmly against Raynare's forehead.
The scroll glowed violently.
She gasped.
What followed was not pain—but something far more overwhelming.
Visions exploded behind her eyelids—formulas, incantations, sigils, theories, all flowing in like a tidal wave. She felt herself spiraling upward, floating through heavenly clouds that looked like memories of a paradise she had long forsaken. Her eyes widened. Her lips parted.
Was this… heaven?
No.
It was Adrian.
Even with her resistance, even with her pride, he pushed past every barrier inside her mind. Her thoughts, once chaotic and distracted, fell into order. And amidst that forced clarity, a strange peace surfaced—along with reluctant admiration.
By the time the scroll's light faded, she was breathless.
Adrian stepped back. Raynare slumped forward like a doll, her skin pale, her wings twitching faintly.
On the couch, Mio's eyes had grown wide, her heart racing.
She had just witnessed something impossible: a fallen angel being humbled—not by violence, not by rhetoric, but by knowledge. By sheer willpower and presence.
And in that moment, Mio saw her own future.
The same pressure that had pinned Raynare down now turned toward her.
Adrian didn't speak, but his gaze said everything: Your turn.
Mio swallowed hard, trembling, but nodded.
She was no longer just a girl who had stumbled into the supernatural world. She was a host to immense power, a target of multiple factions, and she needed strength—desperately.
"I… I want to try," she whispered.
Adrian nodded, motioned for her to sit cross-legged before him. The scroll in his hand shimmered with violet light—tailored for her affinities.
As the scroll connected with her forehead, Mio was assaulted by a thousand conflicting sensations.
A great ocean surged in her mind. Thoughts became waves, crashing into one another. Her rationality tried to keep her afloat, but the gravity of the information was too strong. She felt herself being pulled under—by magic, by knowledge, by Adrian's will pressing into her like a divine current.
She choked on it.
Not literally—but emotionally. The data streamed in too fast. Her breathing hitched, and her fists clenched the carpet as she felt something inside her… unravel.
Hunger.
Not for food. Not for blood.
But for power.
More. She needed more.
She wanted to understand.
And so, minute after minute, she endured. Her body shook. Her heart pounded. But she held on.
Then, suddenly, she hit a threshold—and broke through.
The world slowed. Symbols made sense. The sea inside her mind calmed, and for a brief, dazzling moment, she saw. The structure of gravity magic unfolded before her, intricate and elegant. She understood it as if it had always been inside her, waiting to awaken.
Then came the chime.
[Ding! Favorability with Raynare has reached the threshold. Copied Entry: Fallen Angel Bloodline (Blue)]
[Ding! Favorability with Naruse Mio has reached the threshold. Copied Entry: Gravity Magic (Purple)]
Adrian's eyes snapped open.
That… was new.
Until now, all his abilities had come from plundering entries—usually through defeating or killing. But this was different. These were copied entries. And they hadn't harmed the girls in the process.
Interesting.
He flexed his fingers.
The gravity magic now woven into his soul felt more like a superpower than traditional sorcery—like bending the laws of the world with thought alone. He tested it with a flick, and the air shimmered around him.
Simultaneously, he could feel his magical reserves surging. The once firm ceiling that had marked the peak of a mid-tier demon shattered beneath his feet.
He had ascended.
A high-class demon.
His magic pulsed like a tide through his veins—deep, fast, and powerful. If he focused it into a beam, he could probably blast apart a small mountain.
"Lower demons are ants," he murmured, "and even mid-tier demons are just… slightly bigger ants."
He clenched his fists again, assessing the rest of his body. His magic had evolved, but physically, he was still at the level of an intermediate demon.
No matter. That could be remedied.
And now, with forbidden techniques within his reach…
A grin tugged at his lips.
He turned toward Mio again. Her body was slumped, her head bowed in exhaustion. Raynare lay beside her, still reeling.
But something stirred inside him—an urge to press further. To extract more.
Adrian stepped forward.
But before he could act, a voice interrupted.
"Stop," Maria Naruse said, stepping into the room with a towel in hand. "That's the eighteenth time. If you keep going, Mio's brain will literally fry."
Adrian blinked. "Eighteen?"
"Yes. I've been counting."
He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Alright. You're right."
Sustainability. He needed to pace himself.
Mio was a goldmine of potential entries—but overmining would only break the mine.
He backed off.
Later.
There would be time to explore more.
He sat back on the couch, and for the first time that day, allowed himself to rest. His eyelids drooped, and the summer air carried him into a light, dreamless sleep.
---
The next morning, sunlight filtered through the windows.
Birds chirped merrily outside.
Adrian stirred, his nose twitching from a tickling sensation. He cracked open one eye, only to find a tuft of red hair being dragged slowly across his face.
"Ah-choo!" he sneezed, startled awake.
Naruse Mio was leaning over him, mischief dancing in her eyes—but quickly replaced by a blush when she realized she'd been caught.
She tried to flee.
Too slow.
Adrian reached up, grabbed her by the waist, and pulled her back down onto the couch.
Mio yelped, squirming, her fists thudding softly against his chest. "You big jerk! You—you bastard! I'll kill you a hundred times over!"
Her words were sharp, but her voice lacked venom. The way her cheeks flushed, the way her body leaned into his warmth—it was clear she didn't mean a word of it.
Adrian chuckled.
He cupped her face gently, leaned in, and brushed his lips against hers.
It was soft. Hesitant.
Then deeper.
Mio's resistance melted almost immediately. Her arms wrapped around him, and her fingers clutched at his shirt.
When they finally parted, she was breathless.
"That was… my first kiss…" she murmured. "I should kill you for that…"
Adrian smirked. "Mine too."
She gave him a skeptical look.
"Well… let's just call this a mutual loss of innocence," he added with a wink.
Mio's lips curled into a smile despite herself.
She didn't argue.
Outside, the summer morning bloomed in full, but inside the Blake residence, something even more beautiful had begun to blossom.
Not just power.
But trust. Connection. And perhaps—just perhaps—something more.