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The SS-Class Criminal (DD Chap 43)
🕑 Added 2025-04-04 09:33:35 +0000 UTC“It’s changed a lot, nya~” A black-haired busty catgirl mewed, lying casually on top of one of the many towering trees in the Familiar Forest. Below her, a collection of short men worked with evil-looking chipmunks to build a rather modern-looking house.
Kuroka was well acquainted with the Familiar Forest. In fact, she was likely more acquainted with it than nearly any other devil in the entire underworld.
When she killed her previous master to protect her sister, she had become one of devil society's most wanted criminals. It was rare for any stray devil to be granted the ‘S-Class Criminal’ ranking in general, but she had gone beyond that to get the almost-unused ‘SS-Class Criminal.’
As a result, her face was plastered around the entire underworld and a huge reward was put out for her capture. At first, she had been strong enough to defend herself from anyone who was unlucky enough to be hunting her, but that couldn’t last forever.
The reward wasn’t large enough to draw the attention of any truly powerful devils, as any high or ultimate-class devils who could pose a serious risk of capturing her tended to have immense wealth already, but the constant running and fighting eventually took a toll on her. She needed somewhere to hide, and the Familiar Forest was the perfect hiding spot.
Just the requirements to enter the forest and look for a familiar - which included either having money, prestige, power, or connections - eliminated a large number of her hunters. Beyond that, the majority of the forest was off-limits because of the Maou’s agreement with the Dragon King Tiamat.
That agreement wasn’t well known, but Kuroka had learned a lot of things weren’t public knowledge during her time as a criminal. She had spent a couple of months holed up in the forest as the heat around her name died down, then eventually managed to escape to the human world.
Now, she was back here, lounging on the very top of a tree, because she needed a peaceful place to consider her options.
After reaching the human world, she had been recruited by this generation's White Dragon Emperor: Vali Lucifer. The current group was filled with other powerful members, most of whom could at least match, if not exceed, even her in pure fighting power.
For a while, the group had been rather… stagnant. They were a ‘team’ in name, but they never really did anything. Kuroka didn’t mind that - it wasn’t like she was a truly evil or violent person. She had just joined the group for protection more than anything.
But recently they had been recruited by another group: The Khaos Brigade.
This group was a lot more violent than the little band of misfits Vali was leading, and they had much grander goals. Goals that Kuroka didn’t particularly care for.
There was a lot of ‘flipping the world upside down,’ ‘killing faction leaders,’ ‘creating a new world,’ and a handful of other ideals being thrown around by the members. Ideals that Kuroka didn’t agree with.
She just wanted to protect her little sister, Shirone. That was the reason she had betrayed her previous master, and it was all she had ever wanted. Considering that Shirone was a member of Rias Gremory’s peerage now, who was the little sister of one of the very faction leaders that many Khaos Brigade members wanted to kill, these ideals weren’t helpful in her ‘protect Shirone’ goal.
So, Kuroka was now left with two choices. She could either ditch her current team as they joined the Khaos Brigade - which likely would cause her to be a target not just to devil society anymore, but also to the Khaos Brigade - or she could join the Khaos Brigade with the rest of Vali’s team.
The second option was the safer one, but it was the one that would hurt Shirone the most. To protect her sister, she’d have to kidnap her from Rias Gremory’s peerage - forcing her to join a group that was actively trying to kill the new family she had joined after Kuroka ‘abandoned’ her.
Kuroka didn’t like either option, but she didn’t have any others. The three major factions - the Devils, Grigori, and Heaven - were out of the picture.
She was a criminal in the underworld, so any devils she tried to get help from would turn her in. The Grigori wouldn’t help her because of the tense relationship they had with the devils, as taking in a SS-Class criminal would strain that relationship. Then, obviously, Heaven would kill her for being a devil.
The Youkai Faction in Kyoto was also out of the picture - Kuroka’s betrayal of her master had greatly strained the relationship between youkai and devils, so they would turn her in to repair that relationship.
“...I wish I could just live in one of those,” Kuroka giggled lightly, staring down at the forming town below her. But she knew she couldn’t. She needed to find a way to protect Shirone.
The last time she had been here the forest had looked much different. Compared to the wild area with wandering monsters and only a couple of small cities spread throughout it, it now looked like a developing civilization.
Seems like they started to get along.
Kuroka stared down lazily at the various creatures working below her. She didn’t remember the different races getting along the last time she was here. In fact, she seemed to recall seeing them eating each other more than a few times.
“Stop what you’re doing! If you can fight, follow me!” Kuroka opened her lazy eyes a bit as a short man ran up to the group of builders, barking out frantically, “The Beast King is fighting with the Great Dragon! Anyone who can fight must go to his aid!”
The Beast King?
Kuroka’s lips twitched up lightly at the title. Any creature in the little forest calling themself a King was kind of cute - in a naive kind of way.
It really is like a little civilization.
However, she had yet to see any monsters in this forest that were particularly strong throughout her time here. They had no idea about what lay in the greater world around them.
“How the hell would we help him?” Kuroka turned her gaze down again as a couple of the short men grabbed their weapons, running towards the initial man who had given the orders. However, there was one who was strangely laughing.
“You guys know how powerful the King is!” The same short man chuckled, “You think he needs our help? We’d just be in his way!”
“But it’s the Great Dragon!” The short man who had given orders shot back, “Even if the Beast King is powerful, he can’t take on the dragon alone! Even the devils outside fear that beast!”
He’s not wrong.
Kuroka was silently amused by the conversation, nodding appreciatively as one of the short men was clearly in the right. Tiamat was a Dragon King, and a powerful enough one that even the Maou thought that striking a deal with her was easier than trying to remove her from the forest.
This ‘Beast King’ guy is as good as dead.
It was his own fault for calling himself the ‘beast’ king. Like, who was so arrogant that they’d claim they ruled over all beasts?
As a Nekoshou, Kuroka was slightly offended.
“So? You are aware that he killed many dragons in the war, right?” The non-frantic short man argued back, “He sliced the head off two Flame Dragons in a single swing! General Thrain said he even killed two Blizzard Dragons while facing down an army of succubi!”
Kuroka blinked rapidly at the man's words, her gaze becoming a bit more interested as she sat up on the thick branch she was lounging on.
He killed two Flame Dragons? And two Blizzard Dragons?
Killing any type of dragon was considered a feat, but two species that were considered ‘high level?’ That was actually impressive, even to Kuroka.
I could probably handle one just fine, but two?
Kuroka herself was no weakling, and she estimated that she’d probably be able to take on a high-level dragon on her own, but two at once was pushing it.
…I could maybe do it, but…
If this ‘Beast King’ really had taken down two high-level dragons at the same time, not just once but twice, then he was at least equal to an ultimate-class devil in strength. For someone that powerful to be in this little forest was odd.
Any monster that powerful should’ve already been made into a familiar. Devils were greedy - especially noble and powerful ones - and they wouldn’t let such a creature roam free.
I’ll just go take a look.
Even if it was just to get a quick look at this ‘Beast King’ before Tiamat squished him like a bug, it would take her mind off her current predicament. She knew how lazy Tiamat was, so it was unlikely that she’d do anything to Kuroka just for being nearby and watching.
Kuroka leaped off the tree, soaring into the air for a moment as she glanced around. As her supernatural eyes glowed lightly it became easy to spot Tiamat - the nearly hundred-foot long blue dragon was pretty hard to miss - even from hundreds of miles away.
She landed on top of a tree again and then dashed forward, her body becoming a blur from how fast she was moving. In less than a minute, she had climbed partway up the mountain and was crouching on top of a tree. She narrowed her eyes, taking in the sight of the ‘Beast King.’
He’s… surprisingly tough looking.
Compared to the average stupid monster in the forest, this man looked more human-shaped. He was also decked out in rather intimidating armor.
Is he a devil?
It wouldn’t surprise Kuroka if he was the son of some noble family or even if he was a criminal who was hiding away like herself. She could sense demonic power coming from him, though it wasn’t all that high.
Kuroka’s eyes widened as she watched Tiamat stumble forward, her huge frame unintentionally knocking over a tree. She opened her mouth, and a beam of blue fire shot from it faster than Kuroka’s eyes could track.
She looks injured, but he’s dead now-
Kuroka blinked in shock as the armor man didn’t incinerate. Instead, he looked largely unbothered as he not only dodged the attack but was walking casually toward Tiamat.
He dodged that?!
Kuroka had never once doubted her own speed, but she knew Tiamat’s attack would’ve turned her into a charred corpse. Her eyes could barely track the intense flames, much less her body being able to move out of the way in time.
If her eyes could widen even more, they would’ve as Tiamat slumped over onto the ground. Her huge body made the tree under her shake even from the distance between them, and Kuroka couldn’t help but let out a small noise of surprise.
That’s… that’s definitely Tiamat… right?
She had seen the Dragon King before, and she knew only someone of her level could let out such a powerful breath of flames, but the situation in front of her didn’t make sense. Tiamat had lost? She was about to die?
This wasn’t the typical way famous beings of legend died. Usually, there was a lot of build-up, and the news would be spread far and wide throughout the underworld.
A long and destructive battle amidst a war, or perhaps a dragon had overstepped their boundaries and taken something important - causing Sirzechs Lucifer or Serafall Levithan to publicly announce their execution and then go take down the beast themself.
For a legendary Dragon King to die in this quiet little part of the forest, with no fanfare or destruction? No cities being wiped off the map through the course of the fight?
To a nobody?
To this ‘Beast King’ guy who she’d never even heard of?
This shouldn’t be possible.
But it was. Kuroka watched with bated breath as Tiamat pressed her huge snout into the man's hand. Her body glowed for a second, a strand of blue energy stemming between her and the man, and then she slumped over - defeated.
He… made her his familiar?
A Dragon King becoming a familiar? Had anything like this ever happened before?
I can’t miss out on this. This is my opportunity.
Slowly, a huge grin formed on Kuroka’s face. Her tongue shot out from her mouth, licking her lips.
I’ll be meeting you very soon, Mr. Beast King.
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