Ao No Exorcist: More Than Human ch13

Yukio looked down at his brother’s sleeping form with worry. Mephisto said he would wake up when Mira—no, Salvuun had ‘collected all the stones’, whatever that meant. Where the Hell is Mephisto anyway? He said he’d explain everything today…As soon as he had thought that Mephisto strode through the door and sat next to Yukio.

“Sorry about the wait, dear boy. I had a few things to, ah, check up on.”

“It’s fine. I just want to understand all of this…”

“Alright…Where to start?”

“How about with the stones?”

“Right. I hope you have a few hours to spare.” Mephisto took a deep breath before he started the explanation. “Many millennia ago—before my time, even—Gehenna was just a place of war. There wasn’t any order at all. Ten demons were known as undefeated in this time. They each respected each other’s strength and decided to look for the legendary shadow—a demon that had never been seen before.

“While those ten did indeed find the shadow, its power was greater than the ten combined. Trying to show them mercy, the shadow sealed their hearts into ten different stones but destroyed their original bodies. It then gave the stones to one demon—Satan. They each amplify a demon’s ability based on what the original demon specified in. Satan used this to rise to power and bring order to the war ravaged world.

“After a few centuries the stones started reacting to each other. Even when they were dispersed to different corners of Gehenna their power drew them back to each other. To keep the seals from breaking, nine of the stones were sent to Assiah where they wouldn’t be surrounded by demonic energy. One stone had to stay behind so they wouldn’t come together again. That stone—the stone of illusions—was the one…the one that was hanging around Salvuun’s neck.” Mephisto ended with a sigh and waited for Yukio to react.

“Salvuun had one of the stones? How did she find it?”

“It was most likely given to her by Satan.”

“Why would he give it to her?”

“That I do not know. What I do know is that he wouldn’t trust her unless something happened to corrupt her.”

“Who exactly is Salvuun anyway?” Yukio put his head in his hands.

“Well…I can’t tell you everything, but what I can tell you is this: Mira was too powerful when she was born so she was split into two entities. She can only exist in Assiah while Salvuun can only exist in Gehenna. They can each spend about an hour in the other’s world before switching. Salvuun was only here for about forty-five minutes so she still had full control. Technically, they are the same person with slight personality differences. I don’t know why she would willingly attack. Especially with the Timelock…” Mephisto’s eyes grew darker as he spoke.

“What does the Timelock have to do with this?” Yukio questioned.

“There’s a double meaning to that statement. Sure, Salvuun used it against us willingly, but it’s the same spell I used on Mira to separate her personalities. I don’t know how she learned it, either. I created it.”