Cultivator in a World of Angels, Demons, and Super Heroes

"What can you see?" Havvah asks her demon driver who is currently suspended a few meters above the ground, looking at the view above the tall trees.

"Nothing, master. Just a regular hill." The demon reports.

"Seems uninhabited too…" He adds.

"No…" Ahdem who was looking around, shakes his head as he gets on one knee, lowers his face to the ground, and sniffs it.

"Yep… Someone's been here, recently." He says as he stands back up.

"... How recent? …" Havvah asks, not wanting to sniff the footsteps Ahdem saw.

"Two? Three days?" Ahdem says as his eyes get busy again.

"There." He spots another object of interest in the ground nearby.

This prompts an investigation from him.

A few minutes later.

"So… the footsteps are heading to the same direction as us." Havvah notes the obvious.

"What have you surmised?" She asks Ahdem.

"Just one man. If his superioris ability is not morphing his body shape, then I estimate he's around 176-183 tall and very light for their height. Probably a physically enhanced superioris. Based on the consistency of the footsteps, the man knows, really knows where he is going." Ahdem reports.

"Like he's been here more than a few times?" Havvah asks.

"Exactly." Ahdem nods.

"That makes me sure that the other indentations around here really were old and weathered footsteps, made by the same person around a week ago."

"Any guesses on who they are?" Havvah asks, worried.

"Unfortunately, no. But he seems to have been beyond relaxed, lazy even, while walking. Not the footsteps of a warrior, at least not a melee one." Ahdem guesses.

"So, a lone man living around this area…" Havvah does not know what to make of it.

"Shall we continue on?" She asks.

"I think so. We don't know if whatever or whoever is attracting the fragments will stay for long. I mean, 'the pull' stops quite a few times a day. It stopped pulling my chip for two entire days last week. I don't know when it will happen again, or how long it will stop." Ahdem suggests.

"Happened to me to, but ... " Havvah meanwhile, is hesitant.

"That Brotherhood member who was killed. Where did they find him?" She asks.

"Outskirts of Wajima City. Around 200 kilometers away from here at a linear distance. What's ahead of us might be related to that, but the direction of the pull on my chip has not changed even during the time that member was killed.

"So while it might be related, I think we can still risk it." Ahdem says.

"Haaa…" Havvah sighs at Ahdem's recklessness.

However she does not feel any danger nearby, and she also fears that the attracting force will one day just stop before they find what is causing it, so she too is tempted to finish their search as soon as possible.

"I will protect you two." The demon driver lands back to the ground as he transforms into a car sized horned beetle that is made out of grey colored stone.

"Later for that…" Havvah orders her demon to switch back to his human form.

"Let's use the cover of the woods for now so we stay undetected." She accepts Ahdem's suggestion to continue their search.

A few minutes more pass and the party stops following the footsteps when Ahdem gestures to stop.

"What's wrong?" Havvah asks.

"Something is wrong with that patch of grass." Ahdem says as he points at the grass they were about to step on.

"A trap?" Havvah asks as she studies the surroundings.

"It's not." Ahdem says as he walks closer to the patch.

He gets on one knee, digs his hands on the soil, before doing a lifting motion. The entire patch of grass is pulled up, and then folded once by him like how one would partially fold a rug.

With the soil under the grass patch exposed, he once again lowers his face on the ground, and sniffs the exposed soil.

After doing so, he continues to roll the blanket of grass like a carpet to expose more soil and carefully sniffs around a quarter of a basketball court size of land.

A few minutes later, "Damn…" Ahdem stands back up with a grunt, done sniffing around.

"Four separate holes were dug here, containing one body each. A total of three humans and one demon." He reports while returning the grass patch to its original state.

"Thank FUCK for my immunity." Ahdem says, scrunching his nose while dusting off his hands.

"They were killed somewhere else." Havvah notes as she finishes scanning the surroundings, finding no signs of battle anywhere.

"They were." Ahdem agrees.

"How long were they dead? Were they all killed in the same day?" Havvah asks.

"If I were to base it on when they were buried, then no. But as for when exactly, I can only roughly estimate.. December weather makes the ground cold after all..." Ahdem shakes his head.

"I'm guessing that they belonged to two different groups. The first group was alone, and was buried around two or three weeks ago. The second, three of them including the demon, were a day or two ago." He estimates.

"Shall we still continue?" Havvah asks, seeing the uncertainty in Ahdem's expression.

"Peak Knight Rank, right?" Ahdem asks the demon driver.

"Yes." The demon nods.

"How easy can you defeat a Shinnanim?" Ahdem asks.

"Rather easily." The demon claims confidently.

"..." Ahdem looks at the ground, pondering.

"What are you getting at?" Havvah asks Ahdem.

"I didn't tell you that alongside that dead Brotherhood member that was found, was his subjugated angel. A peak-tier Shinnanim, bordering low-tier A Class. But that angel seemed to have been brutally killed without any resistance.

"So... if it just so happens that the culprit of that kill and the person who these footsteps belong to are, you know, the same, I'm worried if your servant here can protect us." Ahdem explains.

"Tsk. You should have told me earlier." Havvah clicks her tongue at their lack of preparation.

"I know. I'm sorry." Ahdem says sheepishly.

Suddenly, "hm?""huh?" Ahdem and Havvah notice something, and they exchange looks.

They hurriedly pill out their respective treasure fragments from their pockets. Their treasure fragments that cannot sit still in their pockets, have stopped moving.

"Let's take a break in silence…" Ahdem scratches his brows as he sits down on an exposed tree root.

"Let's… And maybe come up with a a plan for now." Havvah knows that Ahdem wants to wait for the wood fragments to start floating again.

A few minutes later, *Rustle* *rustle* the group is startled by the sounds of bushes and leaves being disturbed, drawing nearer.

They all look at each other before "..." Ahdem does a shushing gesture.

He then signals the two to hide in certain spots where each of them can have a view of the burial site.

Reaching their hiding spots, Ahdem and Havvah skillfully suppress any possible noise they can make including breathing silently.

Havvah also silently orders her demon to do the same.

With this, they wait.

A few moments later, the arrival of a tall and gaunt man, carrying what looks like a fresh corpse on his shoulder, and holding a shovel on one hand, makes the three observers apprehensive.

It is obvious what the tall man is here for.

Ahdem's guess was also quite accurate. The tall man seems to be underweight for his height, and is physically enhanced based on how easy and lazily he is carrying the corpse.

The next moment, the group is startled by the sudden but silent arrival of a young man who is holding a bundle of beautiful white flowers.

"Fumio-san, you're doing this again?" Nishiki asks as he lays down the body and kicks away the grass patch covering the burial site he made.

"It makes me feel better." Fumio solemnly says.

"It's obviously hard for you." Nishiki says as he starts digging.

"I… feel like I have to… face my guilt... It makes me feel human." Fumio shares.

"It was me who killed them, not you." Nishiki scoffs.

"But I did everything except for the last blow. You couldn't have killed them." Fumio argues.

"Fair enough." The demon of sloth chuckles.

"But, even though you had the choice to let them go, you didn't. Despite your hesitation, you still ultimately decided their deaths. Why is that?" He asks.

"I would have let them go if they were good people…" Fumio sighs.

"But you yourself heard them. Not only do they know how to use these wood chips, they also farm innocent people to fill their enslaved demons' cores. I had to take their power away and their future decisions to continue their activities." He explains.

"Oho~ … are you sure you're not doing it for 'justice'?" Nishiki asks snidely.

"Maybe? But I don't feel good punishing them." Fumio shrugs.

"Or maybe, it's just my justification for claiming their lives for my own gains?" He chuckles bitterly.

"Well. If it matters, I thank you for stopping them from enslaving my kind." Nishiki says as he finishes his dig and climbs out of the hole.

He then kicks the dead body to the hole with a laid-back kick, making it sail into the hole.

"Do you always have to do that?" Fumio asks with a frown, finding the demon's actions distasteful.

"According to your moral compass, do people like them who've got the blood of hundreds of innocent lives on their hands, deserve respect even after they're dead?" Nishiki asks.

"Aherm…" Fumio has no argument.

He instead stares at the body in the hole for a few seconds, before dropping the bundle of flowers on top of it.

After doing his sentimentality ritual, Fumio with his spiritual energy, manipulates the mound of soil, and starts to slowly pour it to the hole it was dug from.

"I wonder when they'll stop coming…" Fumio says with a sigh.

"I sure hope it won't be anytime soon. Out of all the visitors, I only ate the soul of one." Nishiki chuckles.

"You really can't eat the soul of a B-Class?" Fumio asks out of curiosity.

"I may. But the soul will either go to waste, or I'll implode." Nishiki explains.

"Can you eat demon cores? Aren't they souls too?" Fumio asks.

"I can. But I eat their desires too." Nishiki is repulsed by the idea.

"Imagine me, being a sloth, gaining the desire of gluttony. Gluttony will simply get in the way of my nature." He explains.

"Oh. That's inconvenient." Fumio cannot empathize, but he gets the gist.

Soon enough, he is done filling the hole, adding another unmarked grave to the area.

Fortunately for him, *Whhooooshhh* the cold December breeze blows gently to his face, making him feel better at what he just did earlier, even just for a little.

As he inhales the fresh fragrant air however, "hm?", he catches out of place scents.

Then, with his spiritual energy infused vocal cords, "PLEASE REVEAL YOURSELVES..", he demands with a booming voice.