Stray devils were a blight in places where devils dwelled. From the conception of the evil pieces system they became. Rating games encouraged devils to seek the strongest champions to join their peerages, to be reincarnated as a devil. Oftentimes personality was overlooked for martial, mental, or magical power. Morals never played into the equation.

By the time the devils realized the danger in giving out power to unscrupulous and the insane, the damage had been done. Hundreds of thousands of devils who held no allegiance to their pureblood masters, having either fled or killed them, had flooded into the world. Stray devils were ordered to be killed on sight, and strict warnings were given to all those who held evil pieces.

Still, there would be devils daring or stupid enough to ignore the warnings. The world of devils was such that prestige meant everything, and the most prestige could only be gained through one method. Rating games, where power was vital. While there were alternative ways to rise up the meritocracy devils had, it was either too tedious, or required a war, which devils hadn't experienced in hundreds of years.

One such stray was making its way into the Hyoudou residence. Like a massive spider, the eight-legged and six-eyed monster scuttled through the house.

Once, the creature had been an ordinary human being. Perhaps it might have been beautiful or handsome, but now no such statements could be made. Paper-thin flesh stretched over its many bones. Blotchy rashes coated its pale skin, from months out of sunlight. Two pairs of extra arms erupted from its torso, while its legs had become so deformed they were indistinguishable from the other appendages. Instead of feet, it had yet another pair of hands, forcing it to crawl along the ground like the spider it resembled.

It hungered, for flesh, for blood, for magic. Uncontrolled demonic taint had reduced to a cursed state where it endlessly hungered but could never be sated. At night it rose from its hiding places, and prowled under the moonlight for unsuspecting victims. It had fled to this backwater town where there were few devils and even fewer exorcists. The abandoned ruins of a church where the only evidence there had even been exorcists in Kuoh to begin with.

Last night, the devil had awoken to taste sweet wisps of mana in the air, leading to a certain household. It had observed a sleeping girl emitting a strange, irresistible mana signature. It had never tasted anything like it. Perhaps its eternal hunger could finally be sated.

No doubt the other devils had sensed the mana bleeding off the girl, so it had to hurry. The stray devil previously retreated from the household when it became clear the girl wasn't going to fall asleep. It didn't have patience or self-control past the few remnants of personality that remained within it. Tonight though, it was ready.

Even as its instincts screamed that its target was dangerous, it went deeper into the home. Creatures that emitted noticeable amounts of mana were using that mana for a purpose, to empower themselves usually. Past two sleeping humans, perhaps deserts for later.

Once it had slammed open doors, crashed through windows with reckless abandon. Discolored blotches of regenerated flesh testified to why it did so no longer. Magic users or magical beings were no weaklings. Carefully opening the door, it entered the room of its target. Like a shark tasting blood in the water, the devil grew less and less restrained as it came up to the sleeping girl, trembling in anticipation.

Its maw churned with poisonous saliva. One drop landed on the girl it towered over. The colorless droplet ate away at her skin, a red blossom growing where it had landed. The sleeping girl's fitful sleep worsened, her face scrunching up in discomfort. The paralytic properties of the liquid numbed nerves, unnoticeable in small quantities. The stray devil opened its jaw wide, two incisors slick with venom prepared to sink into the girl.

A small fist lashed out, latching onto one of the devil's limbs. A horrible snapping sound issued from the limb. The devil found itself staring into red eyes devoid of mercy or compassion. Raising another hand, a gilded rifle materialized out of thin air in the girl's grip. It was an antique, a gun from the fifteen hundreds called an arquebus. The girl twisted her weapon just in time to jam it up the monster's throat as it lunged for her. The girl was about to pull the trigger, when she suddenly realized something, stopping herself from blowing the devil's head off.

The stray devil took advantage of the pause, whipping its other arms at the girl, all while trying to dislodge the arquebus lodged in its gullet, but could not. The girl dropped the devil's broken limb, reaching down for a phantom sword that wasn't there. Grasping nothing, she blocked the clawed limb aimed at her heart, snapping it with contemptuous ease. She was smiling now, a devil's smile. Gone was the appearance of fear or discomfort. The aura of a devil, no, the aura of a demon oozed from her. A miasma of bloodlust and hatred so thick it was almost tangible filled the room.

"What might you be," the girl asked, narrowing her eyes. She scratched her chin with a finger, before intercepting another claw and snapping the arm it was attached to. The devil would have screeched in pain, but the rifle up its throat turned it to more a whimper. It swayed and fell forward onto the girl's bed, spewing venom all over the sheets as it tried to remove the arquebus.

The scene mirrored a curious child plucking the legs off an ant or other insect. The girl was toying with the devil, not fighting seriously in the slightest. She seemed more interested in the weak regeneration the creature exhibited than its attempts weakening attempts to kill her.

The stray devil's rage and anger had been replaced with fear. Fear of overwhelming power. Fear of of pain. Fear of death. Too many of its limbs had been broken for it to escape, and every attack it initiated had failed. The stray devil was an ambush predator, a creature that relied on surprise and not much else. The poison had been effective when she was sleeping, but now the venom was vaporised on her skin rather than the other way around.

Pressing an ear to the wall, the girl listened. Turning back to the cowering creature, she opened the window and lifted it with a single hand. The sheer malevolence radiating from her had vanished, leaving her an ordinary girl once more. She tossed the devil out, and grabbed her cap before following.

Servants and demi-servants didn't require sleep. They could enjoy it, but didn't feel fatigued if they went without it. Nobunaga Oda was no different. She didn't sleep at night, staying on guard through the early morning hours.

The modern world was just so exciting for Nobunaga. In the scant few hundred years since her death, the world had become so advanced. People traveled in cars, trains, machines of metal on land on the sea, and in the sky. The knowledge the grail provided was not enough. She wanted to see the Japan of today, to see what her actions had created.

Watching Issei's memories was how she spent her time, learning more about modern culture, life, people. The knowledge given to her to fit in was not enough. The array of culture was so extreme, and Nobunaga wanted to experience all of it. She wouldn't forget that someone had drawn the circle her host had stumbled into on purpose.

Her viewing of Issei's memories was interrupted by the warning signals she felt. She had let her guard down in the morning, a mistake she would not repeat. She heard the downstairs door slip open, the muted sound of something coming up the stairs, finally the creak of a door as the intruder entered the bedroom.

She held back the urge to wrest control from sleeping Issei and combat the new arrival. She still waited for whoever stood above her to let their guard down. A drop of something landed on her, upsetting the sleeping body. She took direct control, dragging Issei into the waking world with her motions.

To Nobunaga's surprise, it wasn't a person that stood over her. Not a person anymore anyways. She didn't let the surprise show, moving to snap one of the abomination's many limbs. Issei was screaming, but she didn't have time to send a message. The devil was upon her, aiming to bite her flesh.

Materializing a rifle, she slammed it up the monster's throat. Even though she never possessed the ability in life, her movements were clean and perfect. About to pull the trigger, she stopped herself when she realized the troubles that would result from the action. A gunshot from her arquebus would not be quiet. It would waken the entire neighborhood and bring the authorities running, and she was not quite ready to experience what the penal system was. Or perhaps this world's mages.

While Nobunaga's stats should have been reduced due to the poor mana producing capabilities of her host, they remained normal. It was clear she wasn't in her home dimension, considering the mana saturating the world. She could operate at full parameters without worrying too much about mana consumption and upkeep, a good thing since she couldn't exactly shift into astral form to eat ghosts. Her strength was enough to snap her attacker's brittle bones with ease.

Thinking about it, Nobunaga realized it made sense for there to be such creatures. In a world full of magic, there would be magical creatures. She reached down for her sword, only to remember it was in another room. Blocking another attack, she snapped another leg like one would snap a stick of celery.

"What might you be?" she asked the creature as it thrashed around. Any glimmer of intelligence in tits eyes had gone, so maddened was the monster. Nobunaga eyed the creature, pondering its purpose. A once-human or human-resembling revenant that felt demonic in nature, a mindless predator. Unfortunately for the devil, Nobunaga was a far larger monster.

Ignoring Issei's shrieks, she broke another one of the demon-spider's limbs. He was a little young to be witnessing such events, she admitted. His screaming she could ignore. Her heartbeat rapidly accelerating, a sense of irrational terror overcoming her body less so. Issei had far more control of the body than she had let on.

Crushing the feelings, Nobunaga intercepted another limb, leaping off the bed as the monster crashed into it. The creature was so starved it's impact was nearly silent. Only the slight creak of the mattress could be heard, the attempts to retch the weapon still up its throat far more audible, though not by much.

As Nobunaga approached to end it, the creature shied away, weakly waving its remaining limbs in the air.

"Not so scary is it?" she thought at her host, who was still in denial that a demon had invaded his home. Pressing her ear to a wall, she checked to see if her host's parents had been wakened by the commotion. They somehow hadn't, so she made a split second decision on what to do with the simpering creature on her bed.

Hefting open the window, Nobunaga let the humid air in, stepping closer to grip the creature's neck and tossing it out. Grabbing her cap off the dresser, she followed out the window. One last despairing glance was given to the room with the monster's venom sprayed all over the room. A demi-servant was immune, but her host's parents wouldn't be so lucky.

Nobunaga landed next to the creature, materializing another rifle and ramming it through one of its hands like a rail spike. It did bleed red, she noted. The creature was a mystery she wanted to get to the bottom of. What was it and why had it come after her were her questions. Since the creature in question didn't seem willing or capable of rational conversation, she would have to do things the hard way. Having her sword would have made her next actions far easier.

Nobunaga was no scientist when it came to the human body so she couldn't really say much on the subject of whether or not the creature was related to humans besides the obvious resemblance. She let the pinning rifle fade, and grabbed the creature again. Using her supernatural agility, she made her way to the park where it had all begun. Like a deranged surgeon, Nobunaga began poking holes in the still-living demon.

From what she could tell, it was pretty much a person. It had all the organs people had she figured. Issei learned all about anatomy, and would have thrown up a dozen times over had he been in control. Nobunaga didn't think it was a demon, perhaps a half-devil instead. It had the aura, but none of the power they were supposed to possess. The creature's regeneration had been quite helpful during the examination when she destroyed a delicate organ. A rifle supported with brute force wasn't the finest of surgical tools.

By the time the sky had begun to brighten, the creature had perished, its regeneration unable to keep up with Nobunaga's grim curiosity. In death it would serve another purpose, a lure for other magical residents of the world. The public at large knew nothing about the existence of magic, which meant some degree of suppression of the information, or the rarity of magic. As the world was overflowing with mana, she doubted the latter.

Whoever the local cleanup crew when it came to such creatures was, would be forced to deal with it, and she would be waiting.

Or clothes shopping, sometimes waiting was boring.

A/N : I was too lazy to write more content so I wrote the same chapter twice. Kek. Look at me switching around Oda Nobunaga to Nobunaga Oda cause Oda was the last name actually... Oops...