C 148:
The Ancient One portaled away as soon as Gabriel returned the Time Stone to her. I knew that the reason the Ancient One was always slightly hesitant with me was due to not being human. Gabriel giving the stone back with zero hesitation had definitely improved both of our reputations with the woman though.
[I've been thinking. It's good that the Ancient One did not hand you the Time Stone…]
'Why is that?' I asked the System.
[There is a possibility that the Eldritch Eye in your Sacred Gear might have tried to eat it the second it touched your skin…]
I cringed. I'd like to say that wouldn't have happened, but the Eye had been more than happy about gobbling up the Space Stone from the Zombie Universe…
"Well, that was an interesting experience." Gabriel commented as she looked around. "I'm glad that I was able to help restore such a beautiful landscape. I'll have to show Michael this place once the worlds come back together. If the system truly collapses, he'll have a lot less work to do by then at least." She said with a shrug.
"Are you leaving now?" I asked her. Gabriel was only supposed to stay a few hours at most, but she'd already been here over a day. I was very thankful for that, of course. Gabriel's impromptu vacation was what ended up saving me.
Gabriel looked depressed. "Yes. I've been away for too long. Michael is probably crying over all the backed-up paperwork. I need to be a good sister and go help him." Gabriel sighed as she spread her arms wide towards me. "One last hug before I go?"
Gabriel and I hugged goodbye. "I'll see you later then. Take care." I said. I opened a portal to send Gabriel back to Earth DxD's heaven.
"I suppose that I might as well head home now too." I muttered out loud as I opened up another portal back to my New York penthouse. Before I could step through though, I heard a boom directly above me in the sky. I looked up and saw a familiar rainbow light descending towards the ground.
The Bifrost slammed down onto the ground nearby! The bright rainbow light died down, and I raised an eyebrow when I saw who had arrived. It was Sif. She was fully donned in a new set of Golden Armor, and her sword was already drawn.
"Layla! My love! I am here to aid you in glorious battle!" Sif declared as she brandished her sword and held it high in the air. "Come, Demon! I shall slay you where you stand!" Sif rapidly looked around the area for the enemy Heimdall probably told her I was facing. She frowned when she didn't see the Demon anywhere. She was a tad bit late…
"You're a bit late for the fight Sif…" I said. "Gabriel and I killed him a few minutes ago. I was just heading home, actually." I said as I gestured to the still open portal next to me…
Sif sheathed her sword and blushed in embarrassment. "I went out of my way to make a heroic entrance and everything to impress Layla, and it was all for naught…" Sif mumbled quietly to herself. I heard everything of course. She turned towards the heavens and scowled. "Damn you, Heimdall! You should have told me the battle was over before you sent me down here!" She yelled while shaking her fist at the sky angrily.
I couldn't help but laugh at that. "Come on, I just had a crazy battle and now I just want to relax." I said and started walking towards my portal.
…
"Miss Layla! You're back! Oh, and Lady Sif is as well!" Asia said excitedly as Sif and I stepped through the portal. Akeno and Asia were sitting on her couch watching TV. Natasha wasn't in the penthouse though. I wondered if she'd left.
Akeno was frowning at me. "It's about time you came back! In case you forgot, neither Asia nor I have any money here and we're starving! You've been gone for hours!"
"Oh…" I felt bad about that. It completely slipped my mind. 'Now that I think about it, I wonder how Gabriel managed to go around for an entire day with no money either…'
[She's Gabriel…people probably just gave her free shit as soon as they laid eyes on her…]
That's true.
"Layla! If you've taken in two charges, then it's only proper for you to provide them with an allowance." Sif admonished me.
"I'm sorry, you two." I said to Akeno and Asia. I reached into my inventory and pulled out whatever random cash was inside. "Here's…" I took a second to count the money with [Observe], "14,734 dollars… Split that between the two of you until I get your identities here set up. Then you'll both have your own bank accounts and credit cards." I said. I was thankful that I would probably never be hurting for money again at least. Not with my inventory still full of plundered asgardian gold.
Akeno looked at the wads of cash with surprise and Asia was just stuttering speechlessly as she held more money than she'd ever seen before. Akeno took half of the money and quickly put it in her own magical storage space. "At least you're more accommodating than Rias was..."
"Her family was filthy rich though. She didn't give you money?" I asked.
Akeno scoffed. "They were rich, but she didn't get a lot of money from them because they didn't approve of her being in the human world. Most of the money we also got was spent on her growing anime merchandise collection. On top of that, Kuoh wasn't a community swimming in money so the people we mainly formed contracts with were usually broke as well."
The more you know, I guess…
I turned towards Asia who was looking at her pile of cash awkwardly. She didn't know any storage magic… She didn't know any magic at all now that I thought about it.
Thankfully, Sif came to the rescue. She pulled out a small gold ring. "Here you go, young Asia. In Asgard, many people need a way to carry bulk items but the society looks down on magic. Therefore, we buy these storage rings from the Vanir. I don't use it because I have been practicing my own storage magic more often. You may keep it as a gift."
"Asgardians look down on magic, but they still buy magic rings from the Light Elves?" I asked as Asia took the ring from Sif and slipped it on. Asia looked utterly delighted to receive a 'present.' She even had some budding happy tears in her eyes.
Sif shook her head with a sigh. "No one ever claimed Asgard's warriors were the brightest in the universe…"
XXX
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