Sitting back, I watch the argument breaking out. Xenovia is screaming something at me, Irina seems in shock, Rias has jumped to my defence and Sona is harshly questioning Gabriel who is trying to calm everyone down.
Whoops.
That was a mistake, it just slipped out when she was ranting about her precious 'God'... every time he is mentioned I feel myself grow annoyed, and it's making me act stupidly, would have been smarter to keep it secret and use it as leverage against Heaven.
I know this feeling, it's the same feeling as when I couldn't control the side-effects of becoming the Overlord, the feeling of a foreign influence in my mind... it took me only a moment to work out who'd want me to hate the Biblical God, and have access to my mind.
Me and Izanami need to have a chat...
"He's lying! God is flawless, perfect. He can't die!" Xenovia shouts at Rias drawing my attention back to the argument. Well, I've done it now.. might as well stick with it.
"Am I? Isn't lying a sin? Something about not bearing false witnesses, I wouldn't know I've never read your book. Let's ask an expert.. Lady Gabriel.. am I lying?" I ask the Angel making her pause, before she let's out a deep sigh.
-5 Affection with Gabriel [15/100] for putting her on the spot
"He... is telling the truth, my Father fell at the end of the Great War." she admits with a sad frown, which honestly makes me feel guilty. She looks so vulnerable. The horrified gasp and shell-shocked look from Xenovia fail to make me feel guilty though, Xenovia can kiss my ass with her self-righteous bullshit.
I vaguely remember that she is a member of Rias's peerage after the whole Kokabiel thing, but I never watched that far. I think she gets excommunicated because she finds out about God's death? Why was that again... shit, I know this, I'm sure I looked it up out of curiosity... oh, right.. Angel's rely on faith, if word got out that Big G was dead then people would lose their Faith in him, which was necessary for the Angel's to survive.
Basically it's an act of self-preservation.
"T-then who have we been praying to?! Who have I been fighting for?!" Xenovia shouts at Gabriel, her anger re-directed. I've just been a dick to her, I'm not the one who lied to her for however many years.
"Michael, Right? That's who's sat on your Fathers throne now, isn't it?" I ask making Gabriel smile slightly.
"You certainly seem to know a lot about Heaven. And that is correct, my brother has been managing the Heaven System in our father absence." she admits calmly with a sad smile. As Xenovia sputters something she sighs. "I don't think..." she trails off a a pitch-black void appears in the middle of the room, both exorcists going for their weapons, their troubles put aside for the moment.
The devils stay calm as Ophis walks out of the void with a annoyed look.
"L-lady Ophis?" Gabriel stutters slightly, being caught off guard for the first time.
"...Who are you?" Ophis asks with a bored head tilt... I already can tell what this is about.
"...But we've met before? W-well I am..." she starts before Ophis interrupts again.
"Enough, I don't care. Be silent." she orders making the Seraph freeze, walking over to me she stops right in front of me, after a moment of silence she pulls out the small bag she usually carries, opening it and showing me the empty insides, her lower lip quivering as her eyes start to water. "...I ran out." she says sadly, her voice wavering.
"I left you a pile twice your size... never mind, once I'm done here I'll bake you some more." I promise stroking her hair.
"...I see. Angel, begone or be erased. Devils, begone or be erased." she says quickly, her snakes rising out from under her dress as she prepares to wipe out everyone else at the meeting to speed things up.
Chopping her on the head harshly, she turns back to me with a surprised look as she stares at me with watering eyes.
"No erasing people who don't deserve it. You'll get your cookies soon, be patient." I scold her, making her pout.
"...okay." she says sadly, before she turns back to the shocked Angel. "Angel... please go away." she says before turning back to me hesitantly, checking if I'm going to hit her again.
"That's better, good girl." I say pulling her into my lap and stroking her hair.
"I do still need to speak with you more, Lord Kuro... but I think it's better if I wait till a later date... it would appear I need to have a talk with these two anyway." she says gesturing to the Exorcists who seem to have frozen in terror when Ophis was getting ready to erase them all. "It was a pleasure to see you again Lady Ophis." she says with a curtsey.
"...I still don't know you. Why are you still here?" she replies before she turns to me hesitantly, before turning. "...I'm sorry I don't remember you? It was... not terrible to see you Angel?" she tries again, getting a head-pat for her attempt.
Gabriel doesn't seem particularly upset about Ophis's rudeness, smiling at Ophis's second attempt. Still, she can read the room and when the Infinite Dragon God says leave, you don't stick around. With a small bow towards me she grabs the exorcists and does the smart thing, teleporting away before Ophis loses her patience.
+20 Affection with Gabriel [35/100] for protecting them from Ophis.
+40 Affection with Xenovia [5/100] for opening her eyes to the truth, she still thinks your a dick though.
+10 Affection with Irina [10/100] for opening her eyes to the truth, she believes that Gabriel would have protected her from Ophis even without you're interference.
"Well... I need to speak with my sister, and I believe you have some baking to do." Sona says as she rises, making Ophis smile at her, anything that gets me baking faster makes Ophis a happy Dragon.
"I'll come with you Sona, I ]want some answers as well... an I don't feel like talking to my sister any time this millennium." Rias says with barely restrained anger, giving me a quick kiss before they leave.
"Can we go now?" Ophis asks as she looks up at me. The moment I nod a void engulfs us, and when it clears I'm sat on a chair in the kitchen, Bennia staring at us in surprise as she pauses, a spoon hovering in front of her mouth.
"Hi Boss? Taking the Dragon Loli express, huh?" she asks going back to her cereal.
"...What is a Loli? Answer me tiny reaper." Ophis asks as I get to baking, not wanting to keep her waiting any longer than strictly necessary.
"Err.. you? Oh, and me, Asia and Mittelt as well. We're all Lolis. Don't worry, it's a good thing, flat is justice after all." Bennia explains making me pause, before I continue baking. I don't want to get involved in that conversation.
Focusing on Baking, I get the first batch done quickly, placing them on the table making Ophis promptly lose interest in Bennia.
"Oh! Cookies!" Bennia cheers grabbing one and taking a bite before I can stop her. Looking at Ophis I can see her grip digging into the table before she lets go, pulling the plate closer to her with a pout.
"You may have one... and only one." she says hoarding the rest with a scowl.
"Ehh, that's not fair... gimme another." Bennia says quickly as she reaches for another, courting death for a single cookie.
"Ophis, more are coming. Just give her one and I'll make you more, Bennia don't be greedy, they're Ophis's cookies." I say with a sigh making them both pout at me. I can see Ophis physically struggle as she hands one over, pulling it back several times before she gives it to Bennia, who suddenly realises that trying to steal the Dragon Gods snacks might not have been the smartest thing she could have done.
"Good girl, Ophis. There's no need to be so greedy, I'll always make you more." I say stroking her hair making her calm down. Seeing Bennia pout I reach over and pull her hood down, stroking her hair as well. Making my Second Form appear, I make it take over baking as I keep the pair calm and happy.
Such is my life now.
- Later -
With two sets of hands, making enough Cookies to satisfy the Dragon Loli... Dragon God for a while was easy. She'll be nice and docile for couple of weeks at least.
Which leads me to my next problem.
"Yes, I understand that it's a bird... why did you bring it to me?" I ask watching the Raven struggle in my Bayrok's hands, pausing for a moment I focus on Sensing the Ki inside the bird.
...That's not a normal bird at all.
"No, I see it now. Thanks." I say making the Bayrok grin. Using observe I freeze as the pop-up answers the question I was asking myself.
Huginn
One of the eyes of Odin
Great, just great. My undead kidnapped one of Odin's Ravens. As if I didn't have enough problems already.
"Was there another bird with his one?" I ask quickly making the Bayrok nod, the spirits telling me that the other bird escaped. Which means Odin knows I have his pet. Why were they watching my castle in the first place? Because they were spying on me obviously, so why is Odin spying on me?
"Let it go, we don't need it's master coming for revenge." I say making the Raven cease it's struggles, it's clearly intelligent. "Tell your master that if he wants something from me he can make an appointment like everyone else, now go away." I say as my undead let it go, it stares at me for a moment, before it takes off flying out of the open window.
Great, the Norse are joining the list of growing problems.
For a moment, I feel something... odd. It's almost like someone is... knocking on my mind, trying to get my attention. I can feel something telling me to sleep, but it's something I could ignore if I wanted to...
Heading upstairs, I lay down in my bed and close my eyes, feeling myself slip into a slumber immediately, falling into an all to familiar void. Looking around the pitch-black void I scowl.
"You better have a good explanation for this, Izanami." I say in annoyance. "I don't remember agreeing to let you fuck with my head." as I say that the pitch-black brightens up, golden light surrounding me as it banishes the darkness.
"Izanami isn't here right now..." a menacing voice said attracting my attention, turning around I stare into a pair of cold icy blue eyes, trying to place who this new pain in the ass is.
"Lovely, and you are?" I ask using Observe as I speak.
Lucille Eis, the Daughter of the Gamer
Race – Divine Dragon God
Tier – ?
LVL – ?
...Shiro you asshole, what have you done?
"My Father has done nothing, he has nothing to do with this anyway... or you could say he has everything to do with this." She says coldly, making me sigh.
"Fine, what's Player One want? Is it time for another movie night?" I ask making her scowl.
"No, now be silent and listen... I have dedicated tens of thousands of years to defeating Father, to crushing him beneath me... and I have failed over and over again. Eventually I realised what I was missing... The Game. It makes it's users unbeatable, if they play it right... and my father has had countless millennium to master it, I cannot defeat him. So I am building a team to defeat him, and you are being.. enlisted, it takes a Gamer to defeat a Gamer, and father has killed all the other Gamers, leaving you my only option." she says with a glare.
"...You want me to fight Shiro? Mr 'I have unlimited levels and stats'? Yeah, I'm going to go with no, he could destroy me and all my undead by glaring in my direction." I say with a derisive laugh.
"I have a plan for that, don't worry... a hundred thousand years of intensive training should help with that. My father is a slacker at heart, you can catch up if you don't eat or sleep." she explains clearly not seeing the problem with that.
...Shiro you dick, why am I getting dragged into your family problems.
"That's insane, and you're crazy if you think I would ever go for that." I say bluntly. She's much stronger than me, but Shiro could kill us both with a single gesture, I'm not going to fight him for her.
Wait... Shiro you asshole. Someone is watching me? Nothing to do with you? You lying bastard, of course it's to do with you if it's your daughter.
"Oh really?" she asks clicking her fingers with a smirk, my Tower Heart... my Phylactery appearing next to her.
...Fuck.
"Last chance... you can defy me and die... or join me, in which case you will only probably die." she says clenching her fist as cracks start to appear in my Phylactery as she does.
My Phylactery has never taken damage before... which is why I wasn't prepared for the feeling of my soul taking direct damage, biting down on my lip I hold in my scream not wanting to give her the satisfaction.
Fighting Shiro is certain death, and it wouldn't be a quick or painless death either. Shiro might be my 'Player One' as he describes it, but I know he would make me suffer for an eternity if I attacked him.
So that makes my choice a fairly obvious one.
"Fuck you." I bite out through the pain making her scowl at me.
"Fine. They'll be other Gamers eventually, the Game and Father can't stop themselves from experimenting with new Gamers after all, goodbye worm." she says with a shrug, closing her fist making my Phylactery simply crumble to nothingness, my consciousness fading with it even as I struggle to hang on.
"Dammit Lucy, you are so grounded, young lady."
...Oh, now the asshole himself shows up.