Chapter 37 - The beginning of change

"L ... Leo-san" Akeno stuttered.

"What are you doing here? You should be with Rias," Leo asked after removing his mark.

"Rias-sama and Sona-sama went to seek help for the boy. So Rias-sama ordered me to help you," Akeno explained.

"Mn. You don't have to worry about that, I can take care of them alone. " Leo concluded. Her excuse was not credible, but now he had no time to find out her true intention.

"But..."

"Sorry, if I take longer he can run away," Leo said quickly and immediately closed his eyes.

'As much as you escape, I have you marked.' Leo thought as he concentrated on the mark he put on the leader of the group of exorcists.

"Fuuu I hope this works," Leo muttered.

"Leo-san, Leo-san !! ..."

"I'll talk to you later" Leo replied before disappearing.

"Ha .. ha .. ha" The leader gasped as he kept running.

After running for a few minutes, he managed to get to the exorcist base.

"Kusunoki, what happened? Where are the others?" An exorcist asked noticing Kusunoki's condition.

"Dead, everyone is dead. We meet a child, he killed them all by extracting a strange sphere of light, I managed to escape but surely he is following me. How many people are left at the base?" Kusunoki replied.

"Few, most have evacuated."

"Gather them all"

"Everyone? most are helping investigators to evacuate bringing them all together just to deal with one child is not necessary," The exorcist refuted.

"I don't care, that boy is very dangerous. If it's fast, it will take about five minutes to get there, that gives us enough time to prepare and set up some traps," Kusunoki explained quickly.

But before the exorcist could respond, a voice that Kusunoki didn't want to hear intervened.

"I don't think it will take too long. Although it may not seem like it, I am a great hunter "

* Puchi

Kusunoki had no time to react when an arm pierced his stomach.

Leo withdrew his arm from Kusunoki's ċhėst and quickly swallowed his soul. Taking a step forward, he quickly approached the other exorcist and extracted his soul.

"Now it only remains to explore the base"

Looking around cautiously, he placed his hand on the ground and sent out a pulse of demonic energy.

He waited a few seconds for his demonic energy to locate the base.

Fortunately, he didn't have to wait too long before he can feel a great pulse of magic.

"What is that?" Leo muttered in surprise.

What he just did, was something he usually wouldn't do since when he used demonic energy to examine the area, his position would be discovered but he didn't care.

"Hmm ... it's about twenty exorcists." Leo muttered.

Heading for where the base should be, he paused for a few seconds to make sure the path was correct. Once he made sure the path was correct, he continued walking to a partially empty area.

"Well ... this seems to be the entrance," He muttered.

Transforming his hand into a huge claw, and hitting the ground with all his might, opening a large hole in the ground, exposing a metal door. And when he removing the door, it revealed a huge hallway.

After forcing his entry, he continued to walk down the long hallway for a few minutes until he reached what appeared to be offices.

'Tch' Clicking his tongue, Leo narrowed his eyes as he examined his surroundings. The room was small but quite messy. The papers and furniture were scattered throughout the room chaotically.

"I don't think I can find anything of value." Shaking his head, he continued his walk around the base.

For the next few minutes, all he found at the base were more and more offices in the same condition as the first, but it didn't take long before he found a companion.

"It took too long," Leo muttered. Looking at the group of exorcists, a smile appeared on his face.

_____

"There is no doubt, souls are the most delicious" Leo smiled as he brought the soul of the last exorcist to his mouth.

Finishing his meal quickly, he continued on his way to where the remaining exorcists were but stopped when a huge door caught his attention.

Walking towards the door, he transformed his hand into a sword and created an opening for him to pass but before he could enter, a rush of gas left the room.

When he breathed in the strange gas, he felt a brief numbness in his body followed by a burning sensation in his throat. The feeling only lasted a few moments before it completely disappeared.

"Poison," Leo muttered as he entered the room. But what was inside, left him stunned.

The bodies were piled up in the room, every one of them belonged to small children but the worst was the deplorable state in which their bodies were, malnourished and bruised.

Leo closed his eyes trying to calm down and after a few seconds, he opened them again and looked at the room again, only this time, he could see the souls that were in the room.

If seeing the multitude of bodies scattered on the ground wasn't enough, what he was seeing right now was much worse.

Light

The souls in the room were so many that they lit up the room as if it were daytime. He did not need to count them to know that there were at least hundreds of souls.

His hands trembled slightly, that was what he feared. It was too late, the resentment of these souls was so much that they abandoned their conscience and anchored themselves in the room unless they were forced to leave the place by force, they would not leave this place.

"I killed them too fast ..." He thought before stomping his foot. As if called, the souls stirred violently before scattering around the room and leaving the place.

Once he was sure they left the room, he waved his hand and a black flame appeared in the palm of his hand and shot out into the room. Letting the flame go wild, he quickly left the room and made his way to the location of the remaining exorcists.

*BOOM!!!

Just as he had left the room, the flames exploded and began to spread throughout the entire base. The fire fighting systems were activated and the water began to spread throughout the room but even so, the flames were not extinguished.

As the flames began to consume the place, Leo had already reached where the remaining exorcists were.

"Co ..." A man exclaimed as soon as he saw him.

* Slash

Leo didn't give him time to speak before cutting off the man's head and extracting his soul and summoned a small black nail-sized flame that spread across the ball of light.

"Only you two are useful, the others are not necessary," Leo said coldly as he looked at the two men in lab coats.

Upon completion of his words, dark matter gathered on his arm and branched out into several spears that pierced the remaining exorcists and burned their souls.

With the exorcists out of the way, he looked at the two remaining investigators but before he could get close to them, the investigators began to convulse and foam at the mouth.

Leo watched all of this unhurriedly and when their lifeless bodies fell to the ground, he quickly caught the souls trying to escape.

"Don't think you can escape so easily"

As if they could understand his words, the souls trembled and moved violently as if trying to flee.

"Now, what shall I do with you?" Leo muttered as he looked at the small barrier.

Approaching the barrier, he could see a small figure within it.

Inspecting his memories, Leo tried to remember something related to the strange barrier but could not remember what it was.

Thinking of what to do for a few seconds, Leo touched the barrier before disappearing.

_____

After Leo left, it wasn't long before a squad of devils appeared around the enemy base.

"Sirzechs-sama, we have only been able to find five dead exorcists a few kilometers from here. There were also clear signs of battle in the area "A devil reported.

"Mn. Give the order to retreat," Sirzechs ordered as he looked at what was once a forest.