CHAPTER 2: Terms of a Silver Contract

# CAPÍTULO 2: Términos de un contrato de plata

Antes de que Rias pudiera responder, el círculo carmesí apareció bajo sus pies sin previo aviso, sus líneas geométricas brillando sobre las baldosas del pasillo.

*Mierda,* pensó Ren mientras el mundo se disolvía en un torbellino de luz roja.

Cayó sobre madera, su cuerpo golpeando el suelo de la oficina sin gracia, con los palillos entre los dientes y el tamagoyaki medio masticado en la boca.

"¿Estás bien?" preguntó una voz.

Era Rias, apoyada en su escritorio como si teletransportar a la gente sin su consentimiento fuera lo más normal del mundo.

Ren escupió los palillos en un cubo de basura y se levantó despacio. Paredes de madera, libros, un sofá de cuero. Exactamente lo que esperaba de una conspiración sobrenatural.

"Ni siquiera terminé mi tamagoyaki", dijo.

"Hay gente que quiero que conozcas", respondió Rias, sin perder la compostura.

La puerta se abrió. Entró una chica felina masticando un palo de Pocky, observando a Ren como si fuera un problema interesante. Detrás de ella venía un chico rubio con rasgos un poco demasiado perfectos.

"Kiba Yuuto, caballero", dijo Rias rápidamente. "Ren Akatsuki, nuestro nuevo Equilibrador."

Kiba le tendió la mano. "He oído que anoche mataste a tres ángeles caídos."

"¿Se supone que eso es impresionante?" preguntó Ren.

"Debería serlo."

"Los maté antes de que pudieran hablar", dijo Ren, soltando su mano. "Fin de la historia."

Kiba sonrió y luego se movió.

Un parpadeo, y una katana de luz apareció entre ellos, apuntando al pecho de Ren.

Ren levantó un dedo y tocó la hoja.

Desapareció.

"¿Qué has hecho?" preguntó Kiba, paralizado.

"Your power is energy. I balance energy. It goes away," Ren said, lowering his hand. "It's boring."

The cat girl made a sound that could've been a laugh.

Kiba stepped back slowly, his eyes studying Ren with something new. Fascination, maybe, or respect.

"You're more useful than I thought," he murmured.

The door opened again and Akeno walked in carrying a cardboard box.

"This is Gasper," she said, setting it down in the corner. "He's shy, so we keep him in here during the day."

A muffled mumble came from inside the box.

*A crossdressing vampire in a box,* Ren thought. *Perfect. I joined a madhouse.*

"Everyone's here," Rias said. "Your team. Now let's talk about the contract."

She pulled a glowing scroll from a drawer, its lines writing themselves as she unrolled it.

"You're not a demonic servant," she explained. "Too unpredictable. What we're offering you is Free Agent under supervision."

Ren skimmed it fast. Protection from fallen angels, protection from supernatural investigators, and the compensation was generous.

"Catch?" he asked.

"Expectations," Rias answered. "When the Student Council moves, you move with us. When stray devils show up, we take them out. Wars between factions, no."

"Stray devils?"

"Lost ones with no masters," Kiba explained. "Out of control."

Ren looked down at the scroll. "Two conditions. First, no weird uniforms. Second, if the fight isn't mine, I sit down and eat ramen. I'm not interested in cosmic wars."

Akeno smiled. "We don't have uniforms for you. Twenty four hours ago you were a wild Balancer."

"I get the ramen part," Rias added. "Your job is defense and observation. That's it."

Ren held the scroll over the flame Akeno materialized on her fingertip. The paper burned and the ink dissolved into smoke.

*I just swore myself to devils,* Ren thought. *I hope my grandma never finds out.*

Three minutes of peace.

Rias's phone let out a horrible chime.

"Stray devil in the forest," she said as she scanned the message. "Class E. Hunting livestock."

Kiba stood up immediately. "How strong is it?"

"Weak. I want Ren to see how we work."

"Controlled?" Ren asked.

"As much as it can be," Rias answered.

Twenty minutes in the car. Akeno drove while Kiba cleaned his armor in the back seat and Koneko slept against the window. Ren stared outside at gray houses and bare trees, watching the city disappear behind them.

The forest was gray and wet, with bare trees and rotting leaves, and the smell of earth and decay hung in the air. Rias pointed toward a ring of ruins.

"It's back there," she said.

Ren saw the thing.

It wasn't big and it wasn't smart. Just a mass of dark gray flesh with multiple limbs sprouting out without purpose. Its eyes were black holes that radiated a dead red light, and even though it had no mouth, screams came out of its body anyway.

"Class E," Kiba confirmed, drawing his light weapon in one fluid motion. "Nothing complicated."

"Complicated?" Ren asked.

"Not for us. For you, we'll see," Rias answered with a smile that suggested this was a test.

Kiba attacked first, his light katana moving in a perfect arc against the devil's flesh. He didn't shout or howl, just attacked with precision, like he'd done this a hundred times before.

Akeno threw lightning from the side, scorching the creature with every strike. Every attack was coordinated, no waste and no drama.

Koneko moved between Kiba's strikes, hitting specific points on the devil's body, her fists landing with dull thuds.

"This is it?" Ren asked.

"A Class E is weak," Akeno answered without breaking her rhythm. "Easy."

"Looks like a routine drill."

"Because it is," Koneko said, jumping back as Kiba attacked again.

Ren leaned against a tree. "Wake me up when it's over."

He was closing his eyes when the devil did something.

Its energy exploded outward, not directed and not elegant, just pure desperation turned into power.

The shockwave sent Kiba flying backward. Akeno screamed something that wasn't really words, and Koneko slammed into a tree hard enough to leave a crater in the bark.

Ren opened his eyes.

The wave was coming toward him like an invisible wall.

He raised one hand.

The energy vanished, just stopped existing the moment it touched his palm.

Absolute silence.

"What... was that?" Akeno asked from the ground, panting.

Ren lowered his hand. "I told you. My power erases what you guys do. It's boring."

Kiba got up slowly. Koneko pulled herself up, leaning against the tree, and her eyes looked at Ren with something that hadn't been there before. Respect, maybe, or fear. Hard to tell.

"So..." Kiba started, brushing off the dust.

"So nothing." Ren walked toward the devil that was still convulsing. "You guys kill, I clean up. Different jobs."

He stretched his hand out toward the devil and his power flowed. No drama, just pure contact, and the devil stopped existing.

What was left was a body without energy, dead and quiet.

Ren turned back to the group.

"I've got a math test tomorrow. Can we go?"

Akeno laughed. It wasn't the controlled laugh from before but something real, something that actually came out of her throat.

"Seriously?" she asked between laughs. "You just saved us all from a lethal explosion and the only thing you want is to leave because you have a test tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Ren answered.

Koneko made a sound that could've been a laugh or a snort, and Kiba smiled, shaking his head.

The drive back was silent. Koneko didn't sleep this time; her eyes watched Ren like he was a puzzle.

Rias dropped him off at his dorm at six. Ren changed clothes and pretended to study for a test he didn't actually have.

Eleven at night.

Something was watching him.

It wasn't vague. It was pure presence, a weight pressing against his consciousness. Ren went to the window and scanned the yard.

Nothing out there but darkness, trees, and the distant city lights.

Then he saw the eyes.

Golden and bright, ancient looking. They were under the storehouse nearby, watching him without blinking.

These weren't devils. The scent was different, hotter and more direct.

The eyes blinked once.

Luego desaparecieron.

Ren esperó veinte minutos en la ventana. Nada.

*Genial,* pensó. *Ahora hay otra cosa.*

Se tumbó pero mantuvo las manos bajo la almohada, preparado. En el fuego de su poder plateado, algo resonó, un llamado proveniente de lo más profundo de la tierra.

Algo despierto. Algo que quisiera saber quién era el nuevo Balanceador.