Mephisto was glad he'd had Amaimon on the lookout during that assembly. Someone had been planning to shoot him(a spy, most likely)and that would've been very bad. He was still holding onto that spell to slow the opening of the Artificial Gehenna Gate created by the Illuminati. If he'd taken a bullet to the head, he would've had to let it go lest his body deteriorate and he be hostless.

Unfortunately, something he considered to be even worse happened. Rin had been sent on a mission with Izumo and Konekomeru to take care of a small Salamander nest somewhere east of Tokyo.

There was a complication with said mission. It wasn't the Salamanders, they'd dealt with those just fine.

Todou was there. He'd spring from the trees seemingly out of nowhere and Rin had held him off long enough so Konekomeru could call Bon and get him to pass it on to whatever superior was available that they needed backup. Todou still unfortunately had the abilities of Karura even while Bon had the demon as his familiar. It was a complicated matter that needed to be taken care of.

But what was more important that that matter was the moment Toudou struck too hard and broke the sword.

There was a moment of shocked silence and then screaming. Terrible, blood curdling, agonized screaming. And it was coming from Rin. Mephisto made it just in time to move the two other students farther away and shield them. He didn't want them seeing Rin's body deteriorate and fall apart.

Mephisto's heart felt like it stopped as he watched the body crumble to ashes in a steaming pile, blue flames still alight around it. If he lost Rin now, he wasn't sure what he'd do. Emotions were difficult things. He'd kept his locked away for a reason until he'd let Rin poke and prod at his cold, dead heart. He'd let Rin pull out the emotions he'd locked away and kept buried for so long. He'd let himself love the boy because he found he just couldn't deny Rin a single thing he asked for.

They all watched with bated breath.

Please, don't do this, Rin. You're stronger than this. You can come back, I know you can.

Come back to me, Lovely.

The blue fire still flickering and dancing over the pile of ashes jumped higher and suddenly, a blinding light lit the area. He saw a new body forming in the fire. Part of him was elated, and the other was.... scared? Yes, that was the frantic pounding in his chest. Fear. Would Rin be the same if he was reborn? Would the humbled boy from the slums if Tokyo who'd won his heart come back?

His answer came in cackling laughter that grated on his eardrums and made him want to hit something. It was almost familiar in the most irritating way.

Rin stood up, naked and wreathed in bright, electric-blue flames. His demon heart floated over his chest and there were horns made of flames sprouting from his forehead. Rin's hair was a pale blue-white and his eyes were the same blue as his flames, irises warped and red pupils slitted. His fangs were longer and sharper and so were his claws. His tail whipped about behind him, the end glowing with blue fire.

And yet all Mephisto could think in those first few seconds was that Rin was beautiful. He was stunning, lighting up the night and looking like a god. He appeared to be taller, too.

Rin first turned to Todou and Mephisto did not envy the man. Rin grabbed him by the throat and watched the body burn under the blue flames, crumbling in the clawed grasp. Todou tried to reform, but Rin's presence was so oppressive that the man couldn't pull himself together. His soul was seemingly lost as Karura reformed as it's Phoenix form and flew away, presumably to Bon to tell him of what just happened.

Then, Rin turned and that gaze locked on Mephisto and narrowed. Hope bloomed in his chest when he saw that the top of Rin's heart had a sort of crown that Satan also had, but the spikes signaled that it was unstable, also reminiscent of Satan. Mephisto knew he had to handle this now or watch Rin tear the world apart in a haze of fury and insanity. If he could just reach Rin, he could do it!

"Don't fight it, Darling! Let it happen! It won't hurt you, I promise!" He called, refusing to let his voice waver and standing tall. He was the King of Time and Space and third most powerful Gehennan Royal. He wasn't weak and if he showed fear at Rin's display of power, they'd all die at the boy's hands.

Rin's intense and furious gaze wavered and his brows furrowed. He looked at Mephisto uncertainly. "Let it happen? But...." He seemed confused. Mephisto smiled gently at him.

"Yes, Lovely, let it happen. You'll only hurt yourself and everyone else if you fight whatever is trying to merge with you. You'll still be you, I promise. But you must let the transformation complete itself. Do you understand?" He responded. Rin nodded and for a moment, he swayed, before the flames all suddenly went out, plunging them all into darkness with only the stars and the moon for light. Mephisto didn't need light, he had perfect night-vision and caught Rin before he hit the ground.

He wrapped Rin up in his cape and snapped all of them back to his mansion. He turned to the two ExWires. "You two, get back to your dorms and tell no one about this. Especially Shima. Once word gets out, hell will break loose. I need to come up with countermeasures for that. I'll update you on his condition when it changes." He said quickly. They nodded and left.

He snapped Rin to his room and summoned Belial to gather the supplies he needed. He then called Amaimon, Bon, and Shiemi  to explain what had happened.

§~•~§~•~§

An explanation and three cups of tea later, they were all anxiously waiting in silence in the living room. Rin's body was at least stable, his vitals all normal. No random bursts of flames. Every once in a while, his eyes would flutter open just slightly and tiny blue flickers of fire would ignite on his shoulders, but Rin would always fall back asleep.

He seemed to be dreaming a lot, which was a good thing. That meant he was going through the process of working out his identity. Mephisto had no clue what Rin would be when he woke up, but he knew that Rin wouldn't just stop loving them. He'd still be Rin. His soul couldn't have changed with his body.

Mephisto had heard Amaimon and Rin's quiet conversation when in Section 13. About the clones. About remembering what it was like to be one of them. He wondered if that little sliver of a nobody had finally fully formed itself into Rin's Ego. It hadn't been able to latch onto Satan and join him, but that little nobody was what Rin was made from. It was why he'd been so strong and perfectly coherent seconds after birth.

There was something else to Rin other than that, though. Something that had to do with both whatever force was talking to him that only he could understand and that pink glow that appeared around him whenever he was being affectionate. Ever since he'd drawn the Symbol for Love and used it, it felt like he was always using it. It was like his affection was amplified and he could broadcast how he felt to them.

Mephisto didn't know how to dele about any of this yet, but he couldn't sit still like this forever. Might as well en productive. He summoned his stack of papers to sign. Amaimon had told Belial to make food and was eating anything and everything sweet. Bon was trying unsuccessfully to do homework and Mephisto was sure the boy had the one line he was staring at memorised and he'd probably remember it until he died.

He didn't know how long this would take, but he'd be keeping it a secret as long as he could u til he could form a plan to keep them safe once the Order found out. They could still use the order and it's resources to defeat Satan and the Illuminati before they turned on the Order in the war.

These next few days would be stressful, to say the least.