Beta read by n1ch, Shigiya and Solidary heart.
-House basement-
-Hachiman POV-
This part of the house was the most unbelievable part of this place.
Why, you might ask.
Well, it's because it's a giant underground space that could fill my house a dozen times over. I wonder if there was a hidden candy shop somewhere connected to this place, where a certain Mr. Hat-and-Clogs would like to visit.
At this point, it must have been pretty obvious who was chuuni enough to spend literal mountains of resources to recreate such an unbelievable room.
This cute redhead weeb beside me.
In another part of the underground basement was basically an empty room where a weak, literally smoking Raynare was held. Some parts of her skin had whip-like red marks and her legs kept twitching with dry stains going down her legs. 'Just what did Akeno do to her?'
Better not ask for the safety of my innocence.
The moment she saw us enter, Raynare backed up in a corner, staring at the person behind me with both fear and anger.
Akeno merely found her behaviour funny, while Rias mirrored me and kept massaging her forehead in exasperation. We both knew this would happen, but at least we got our answers.
Rias was the first one to speak, "Fallen angel Raynare of the Grigori, by your own words you have revealed to us that your group had gone behind our backs and broken our agreement to harm innocent bystanders in our territory. Your attempt at Hyoudou Issei's life and this sacred gear extraction plan of yours include in total two people who would have died if we weren't informed of your plan. Do you have anything to say for yourselves?"
Now that I think about it, why would she try to acquire a sacred gear? To my knowledge she is a full-blooded Fallen, so implanting herself with one of God's creations would certainly kill her as they were meant to be wielded by humans. They also worked for half-humans like Akeno, though it was a very rare case.
'Well not half-human anymore, cause she is a devil now.'
Surely she wasn't so stupid to forget that small detail, right?
"This isn't something for you to meddle in Gremory! That boy would have become our enemy with you devils turning him sooner or later, so it was our duty to kill him. As for the sacred gear extraction, that person is nothing more than a witch, who has been cast aside by her own people! Hahaha, she doesn't deserve to live as they threw her out to the wolves, so what if we want her power to ourselves? No one wants her!"
That last sentence didn't sit well with me, at all. "Who is this person?"
She just sneered at me, her eyes not hiding the hate she felt against me. "And why should I tell you?" Her eyes gleamed in sadistic joy as her grin showed up on her face, "Do you want to kill her yourself...Black Death." She whispered that last part to me.
"-!"
Crash!
"Hachiman!" Both Rias and Akeno cried out in shock as they saw me grab Raynare's face and smash her unconscious through the concrete walls. Her head is now bleeding profusely and she might have also gotten a concussion, but this time I didn't care to heal her up. The stupid girl doesn't know when to keep her trap shut…
'But that's no excuse for me to lose control…'
Black Death, the name the people of Europe gave to the plague that once killed over 60% of the continent. Yet my action in the past brought back the memory of that time, even during the Great War between the factions, never had there been so many deaths in a single day.
My dark dome of the void was a clear reminder for everyone, of why dragons were once the most feared beings in the world and the consequences that came from angering one. They symbolised destruction and chaos itself, a single regular dragon could match lower-tier gods. While the strongest of dragons occupied the top space in the ranking of most powerful beings. Too bad the Vampires were too arrogant to acknowledge that fact, but their actions showed otherwise.
The other supernatural beings of the world feared me more than the White Dragon Emperor himself. I was even denied access to places like Kyoto, Greece, Rome, parts of India and China.
To them, I was nothing more than a ticking time bomb.
I despised that moniker.
I wish it would vanish, to never be heard of again.
I felt both Rias and Akeno hug me from behind, their warm embrace calming down my turmoil of emotions. "Everything is going to be okay, we are here for you."
I let go of Raynare, letting her fall face-first into the floor, before Rias came up and healing her a little bit from the concussion. Her head will still hurt like hell when she wakes up, the girl was asking for it.
Yeah, they always had my back, especially during my worst moments...sometimes I wondered how things would have turned out in Sobu High if both of them existed back in my reality. Maybe they did and it would have just never worked out. I was a different person back then.
"I'll be fine...I...just need to hit something." Raynare gave me the perfect place to do so, without worry.
Too bad I didn't set up any anchors near the abandoned church, guess I'll have to hoof it on foot or maybe just go on a fly, not like anyone will be able to see me. 'And I'll let myself loose for a bit.'
{Break}
-Abandoned Church-
I chose the walking option instead of flying.
True, it would take me more time to reach the place, but I needed some time alone after losing control back there. Rias and the rest would join me soon enough, they had to prepare a field and inform the rest of the supernatural beings to evacuate the church area.
We didn't know what to expect, so I advised them to not take any chances.
The veins in my arms were showing, my muscles pulsing with strength ready to tear someone up in pieces. I closed my eyes to relax, to meditate, and sure enough that desire to destroy, to kill started to fade away.
'It's getting worse.'
Another reason, I delayed Rias and her peerage, was because I wanted to finish this up before they arrived. I wouldn't trust myself in my frenzied state to not accidentally hurt my friends.
Oh sure, if they surrendered first then I would avoid any conflicts, I wasn't so far gone...yet.
"Hmmm?" I sensed something approaching far in the distance at super speed, beyond what I could accomplish. A powerful presence...a familiar one. "It can't be...after all this time."
A white streak of light in the sky soon became visible as it made its way towards me. I recognised that person immediately, how could I forget someone who once gave me such a beating that I still felt like my bones were broken till this day?
"Vali!"
Even though I was allied with Azazel and the fallen in general, it didn't mean that I'd become buddies with this battle-hungry prick. Good thing we never really met each other ever since that day he attacked me. I think that Azazel made sure to keep us apart, especially after Vali learned about what happened in Paris, that guy desires nothing more than a competent opponent.
I willed my sacred gear to form around my body, violet lights shone brilliantly in the dark night, my [Prison Wings] stretched behind my back and my torso was enveloped in black armour. The loose black fog encircled my limbs, almost taking the shape of the rest of the armour before breaking apart. The dark metal contrasted perfectly with the violet light outlined by the edge. My form was far more intimidating and luminescent than it was at first.
Despite my transformation and battle ready stance, Vali did not seem to care.
"What is he doing?" I was positive that he must have sensed my aura at such a distance, yet he didn't stop nor change his trajectory. "Wait…" Soon, he passed over my head, not even giving me a glance or attention.
He was heading towards the church!
'Gotta follow him!"
My [Prison Wings] extended behind my back, as I rocketed upwards destroying the pavement beneath my feet. As I continued to track him I noticed the defensive barrier the rogue Fallen had formed around their church. An entire squad of ex-exorcists and magicians were waiting outside the church, casting spells after spells to take down the White Dragon Emperor.
These spells travelled beyond the barrier without destroying it in the process, which was very impressive for whoever had placed that in the first place. Yet I knew it was useless, as even my eyes could easily track the trajectory of the spells and their speed were quite slow.
None of them touched him, they didn't even come close to Vali as he easily manoeuvred around each spell, doing barrel rolls, twists and just weaved around like a sparrow making sharp turns that left behind traces of after images.
"Go fucking die, you white cunt!" A white-haired exorcist used two holy guns and fired rounds after rounds of bullets, Vali didn't even bother with him as he focused more on the spells. The metal shells of the bullet crumbled into pieces the moment they made contact with Vali's [Balance Breaker]. "Oh come on, you cheating fuck!"
"Freed Sellzen?" I recognized the face of that stray exorcist. In my studies of all Rias's peerage members in the past, I had done lots of research on the holy sword project. With Kiba's help, we uncovered a lot of dirty secrets pertaining to the church, which really made my opinions on them dip even lower. In some of our travels around the world to uncover more on this matter, our clues led us to a former church scientist.
He was kind enough to not see us as enemies, though I had to restrain Kiba in the beginning from killing the guy. "True Descendants of Sigurd'', that's the project he worked on, to artificially create humans with the blood of the Norse hero, Sigurd. The greatest hero in Northern Europe. So they can have someone wield the legendary sword, Gram the Dawn of Ruin, the Sword of the Sun.
Talk about go big or go home.
In exchange for asylum in our territory, a decision which Kiba opposed quite a bit in the beginning, we came to an agreement. He shared many files on the children born of this project.
Freed was a natural 'born' genius but due to his bloodlust for battle, killing and even cases of raped victims was deemed as a complete failure as a wielder compaired to his 'sibilings'.
Though we couldn't find more information on the Holy Sword Project or Valper, this revelation was still quite a find.
'How interesting for me to stumble on this guy, here in Kuoh of all places.'
Two Fallen angels came out of the church with a panicked expression as soon as they saw Vali, a middle-aged-looking man with short black hair and dark blue eyes that were focused on the sky.
His attire consisted of a pale grey trench coat over a white dress shirt with a pair of black gloves and a black fedora.
While the second Fallen, to my surprise, was a little cute girl with blonde hair styled into twin tails, with a Gothic Lolita attire.
I knew Fallens could live indefinitely if they wanted, so some did age slowly. Most of them were created as pure angels so everyone kept their original appearance. But still, it felt weird seeing such a young kid who most likely was older than any grandma alive.
They both sent volleys of light spears that Vali just to be crushed in between his hands. That seemed to shock the Fallen, as they saw their attacks being dealt with like nothing. The two Fallens were getting desperate, they yelled at their subordinates to shoot faster, use stronger spells or just distract Vali long enough for them to escape.
This battle was so one-sided, that not even once had Vali used his scared gear's ability, [Divide] or any other skills. I remembered the sensation of that overpowered cheat power, having your reserves halved all of sudden, really made you despair of the chances to beat this guy.
I stayed in my corner, cloaked in my invisibility spell. Watching the carnage take place.
I didn't care whether the stray exorcists and magicians lived or died, I just needed the Fallens alive, bruised and beaten sure but alive nonetheless.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the white-haired ex-exorcist escape the group, disappearing into the forest behind. Though he may be mad and a raging psycho, he was smart enough to know when to retreat, I had to give him that. "Since I couldn't vent on those Fallens, you'll do."
With that said, I vanished in a violet streak of light that followed in the general direction of Freed.
{Break}
-Third POV-
"Hahahaha! Fucking idiots, they'll all die to that white armoured shit!" Ever since that bitch Raynare vanished, her two followers began panicking, with the Dohnaseek guy suggesting a full on retreat. Unfortunately for them it was too late. "Fucking great, I haven't even killed any heretic or shoot holes in one of those devil scums!"
Not to mention that other nun was supposed to arrive tomorrow, she would have been put under his care and...hehehe showed her a good time.
Schrk!
"Hurgh, fuck!" Freed stumbled forward as he felt a massive amount of pain coming off his left ankle. To his surprise a spearhead whip that came from the ground had stabbed through, and wrapped around his leg, staining his pants and shoes in blood. "Wha-what the fuck is this!?"
Immediately taking out his sword while ignoring the pain, he tried cutting away whatever this whip-like tentacle was, but even his light sword couldn't even leave a scratch.
Bang!
Bang!
He used his alternative weapon, a holy gun to shoot the damn thing off! But the bullets merely bounced off it, only leaving behind a slight dent which quickly reformed back. "Fucking cunt! Who did this!? Show your stupid ass face, I'll rip it off and shove it down your ass!"
This only caused the tentacle to tighten further around his foot, increasing the pain. "NnnaaAAAAARGG!!! BITCH!!!" It didn't stop, it went on further, his bones straining from the pressure until…
Crack
...his leg got completely crushed.
"AAAAAAAARGH!!!!" Freed let out a guttural scream of pain that shook the forest. Tears spilt from his eyes as he clenched his teeth so hard, almost chipping his teeth. "I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU AND YOUR WHOLE FAMILY, I FUCKEN SWEAR!!!"
"So basically, what you've done your whole life?"
"What!? Who's there!?" Freed picked up his gun and sword to prepare himself for whatever danger or enemy he might face. He traced the direction of the voice, and turned his head upwards to find his assailant.
"Another dragon bitch but black-themed, spit how original." He mocked, unafraid of his opponent even with his broken leg. "So, why don't you land down here so that I can cut you up into pieces!"
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! The name is Freed Sellzen. I belong to a certain Exorcism organization. Ah, just because I introduced myself doesn't mean you have to. I don't want to remember your name in my memory, so please don't. It's okay, since you are going to die soon. I will make sure of it. It might hurt at first, but later you will feel so good that you will cry, hehehe-"
Schrk!
"Aaaaargh!"
Another spearhead tentacle pierced through his foot, rendering him completely crippled. As the pain soon came, it was followed by a torrential amount of foreign energy that filled his every cell. The amount was so much that Freed, even with Sigurd's blood and body enhancement, began feeling bloated, unable to speak from the strain.
"You talk too much." The winged figure of Hachiman descended, his face partially showed as the black fog kept forming a half-done translucent helmet that kept on breaking apart. "What do you know of the person from whom your group was about to steal a sacred gear?"
Freed felt the invading energy inside him weaken a bit enabling him to talk again. "Why should I tell you, bitch! Just die!" He aimed his gun and fired all of his rounds.
[Vajra Diamond Body]
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
The bullet ricocheted off of the armour while for the exposed skin, a translucent blue film of energy surrounded him, making the impact sound like the bullets hit a metal wall.
"Oh, come on! That's cheating!" Freed complained out loud. "Stupid sacred gea-"
Schrk!
Schrk!
"MOTHERFUCKER!" Two more spearhead tentacles now pierced both of his hands, making him completely at the mercy of his enemy. The tentacles made sure to wrap around his every limb tightly so that Freed does not pass out from blood loss.
"I can go on like this the whole night buddy, just tell me."
"F-fuck you…"
A of resignation escaped Hachiman's mouth.
.
.
.
"I tried."
"-!"
"Grrugh!!"
A thousand spearheaded tentacles burst out of the ground, turning Freed to a porcupine with blood and gore everywhere. His body struggled for a bit, twiching every one in a while. The pain in his eyes showed the pain Freed went through before dying.
The lights in his eyes fading away, for good.
{Break}
-Hachima PoV-
"At least now I no longer feel like killing everyone," I said as I called off my sacred gear. The unrecognisable body of Freed fell to the ground with a disgusting splat sound. All of his facial traits were now just many tiny holes.
I promised to never kill unless absolutely necessary, but leaving this guy alive would only harm other innocents as well, so in a sense, his death was a necessity.
If the 'me' from the past were to see such a gruesome scene, I would have certainly fainted. Heck, didn't I vomit during one of my past hunts with Bawler?
Now, barely anything phased me that much, there was still slight amounts of disgust and regret but they soon passed.
"Still...he deserves a burial at least, no matter how much of a monster he was." I picked up whatever was left of his corpse and brought it near a tree where I dug a hole. After covering him up, I offered a slight prayer to whatever god or gods who was willing to listen to me.
Using some slight magic, a tombstone was created, engraved with the following words.
-Here lies Freed Sellzen, an unfortunate soul who got lost in the wrong path of life. May he find peace in his next life.-
Some might wonder why I bothered to even do such a thing. A waste of time, a useless act that brought me nothing. All I could say to those people is that this act of burying everyone I killed, grounded me to reality, it kept me somewhat in control. Death was quite common in the supernatural world even more than the human's world.
One could easily forget the deaths of a few supernatural beings the next day. Take the stray hunts, none of my close friends even gave a thought about killing those people, they moved on as quickly as they killed them.
That's just how things worked around here.
While I still wanted to keep my human side alive, to value life so I buried and prayed for all those who died by my hands.
To never forget that they once existed.
"Time to go back." I'm sure no one would discover this place for a long time, so his grave will remain unbothered for a few months or years at least.
I dropped my [Vajra Diamond Body], a spell I learned not from books or tomes that Rias gave me, but from my dreams. All powerful foes Vritra fought against possessed great defensive spells or physique. This one was the most common one and easiest to learn, it was mostly used by the golden armoured soldiers.
Even if I could only spread it through the exposed parts and not my whole body said a lot of my talent in magic...the worst. "Hard work never gives up on you, I guess."
Still, it was one of my trump cards, I only showed it to Freed for he wouldn't know the meaning behind it and also because he was gonna die anyways.
As I flew back to the church, as expected nothing remained. Not even rubles or destroyed parts of the building but just a clean flat land of nothing but dust. The guy literally flattened the land. I didn't even know if I could do that.
I was not worried if there were any innocents locked up inside, Raynare did explain to Akeno that they hadn't met the person yet, all was left to figure out their identity and when will they land in Japan. "Guess Akeno can have another round with Raynare and the rest."
I saw Vali sitting on a rock, his legs crossed as he ate an apple.
The guy hadn't changed a bit, still that devilishly handsome face that made me kinda jealous. His black and grey clothes with those silly chains attached to his pants.
I landed in front of him, showing the same courtesy and cancelling my sacred gear.
"..."
"..."
We just stared at each other for an unconfirmed amount of time, if I didn't know better I would question his sexuality and tell him that I don't swing that way.
"You've grown stronger since last time we met." Vali was the first one to speak. "Glad you didn't remain as a pathetic weakling."
And you certainly haven't changed a bit, the same old douche.
"Kinda was forced to become this way. Or else I would have died." I answered him. "Did you kill the Fallens?"
Though I still wanted to punch his face and return the pain from two years ago, I had a task to complete. Also, I was not fully certain whether I could even beat him in the first place. My strength grew to the equivalent of a high-class devil according to Rias. But Vali gave me the feeling that he was beyond that point.
"Heh, they were not worth my time." He pointed me to the left where two unconscious Fallens laid down. They both were heavily injured with the Fedora guy having lost his right arm. The young girl had half of her face gone, all charred.
"Gonna need some phoenix tears for this." I don't want to spend my entire fortune on two bottles. I already gave one away to Raynare, which made my wallet feel lighter.
Vali just didn't give a shit and shrugged his shoulders. "Unfortunately, I can't fight you. Azazel and Baraqiel gave me enough trouble as it is, but I swear to you on my pride as the White Dragon Emperor, I won't let you go next time we meet. My mission here is done, I must go back to report to Azazel. Oh, and he also told me to pass you on a message, something about finding a possible answer to you question."
So he was sent here to take care of the church and be a message delivery boy by Azazel, huh. Guess the man didn't want more trouble on his hand and this was a good way to keep this rabid dog busy.
"Humph, bring it on douchebag, I'll break YOUR nose this time." Don't misunderstand this situation, we may act cordial now but we also didn't bother hiding our hostile intentions from each other. Vali still felt like a crazy battle maniac and if he wasn't on order, I do not doubt that there would have been another major fight today.
"By the way, wielder of [Delete Field] why can I not sense Vritra's presence in the sacred gear? He remains alive but has returned to a dormant state which should be impossible after awakening." Albion asked out of nowhere, nearly surprising me.
Dormant...yeah, Vritra had done something to be able to absorb all those pieces of his souls whilst keeping me alive. Through a miracle, he somehow succeeded but this process left him silent for two years.
"Don't worry about Vritra, Albion. He is just tired and will wake up one day...I'll force him awake if I have to." I said while touching my heart, where I thought the soul resided.
"A fine host you are, Vritra must be fortunate to have you."
No, I am the lucky one.
-------------------
Chapter 29, 30, 31 and 32 already available on my p@treon /NimtheWriter