Chapter 89: You're Just Like Your Father…!
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The sky was painted with the color of sunset over this local park, where a brilliant light shone and four figures appeared. Of course, that was us – a human, a devil, and a god. Along with a half-human half-devil that was Mem-Cho.
"Mhm~" Quetzalcoatl took a deep breath and grinned it out. "Even the air in Japan is so… so unique and delicious and fun!"
'Fucking weeb.' I smiled at her, "Is this your first time in Japan?"
"It sure is~" She said, and I found that surprising.
I'd expect someone like her to have come to Japan before, but for whatever reason this was the first time she stepped into this land. Which made me more curious about why she was here. Was it really something to do with the Box? How odd.
"Seems like we're in Kuoh," said Mem-Cho as she looked around.
"We are. It's time we separate. I take it that you kids will not encounter any trouble?" said Grayfia as she looked at me and Mem-Cho. That was merely formalities, of course, she knew both of us were strong.
I wonder if she knew about Mem-Cho's abilities though; that'd expose which Devil Family she's from. I'm not sure if that'd be a good thing or not. One reason among many why I didn't let her join Rias' Peerage was that, if she fought and showed off her abilities, the Agares Clan might annoy her later.
"See you later, Aqua and Mem~ Don't forget to invite me to your house sometime." Quetzalcoatl waved at me and walked away with Grayfia, leaving me and Mem alone.
She was less uncomfortable now after I hugged her earlier, but she still looked slightly unusual. She rubbed one of her arms and fidgeted, "Um, then… I will be going too. We don't have shooting anymore, so tell me if you want to meet anytime."
Indeed, the filming ended. It felt weird now. The activity I had last month was more varied than most of my life in this world, so it felt longer than a month. It was honestly not boring; it was fun. Now, I might not see Mem-Cho as often as before.
Then again, I had a plan to fix that. I should talk about it with her. Tomorrow, in my home.
"Isn't your house quite far?" I stepped closer to her and she blushed slightly, feeling her blood rushing faster since we were the only ones around now. "Let me drop you off. The sun's setting, it's not safe to walk around alone at nighttime."
"It's all right, I can just take the train…? Kyah~" she gasped when I picked her up and kicked the ground, taking to the air.
"Stop acting like a shy little girl, hold on tight."
"Ugh… punk." She put her arms around my neck and grumbled. That suited her better.
She was my girlfriend now, for better or worse, and I would at least try to fulfill my role.
* * *
"That was fun." She said as I dropped her in front of her apartment.
"Do you not fly around usually? You have wings." I held her close and said, my face too close to hers. She didn't look uncomfortable anymore as she smiled.
"I am a scaredy-cat. What if I fall from too high and die? Someone needs to teach me how to fly properly." She said and I hummed.
I did have wings like her back in my 5th life. Vampire wings are pretty similar to the Devil wings of this world, so I could teach her how to fly. Not tonight though.
I pulled her into a kiss, and after a moment's hesitation, she gave in, putting her arms around my neck. When the kiss ended, I looked into her sparkling eyes which looked hazy from the foggy breath that came out of her mouth.
"I will show you the rope tomorrow, after school. We also need to talk about something. And I think my mother would like to meet you as well. So you should come to visit my house after my school ends. Do I need to pick you up? Fly you back and forth like today?" my hands felt her tight waist as I spoke to her, making her cheeks red.
"Nope, I'll manage myself. See you tomorrow then, my pegasus?"
Did she just call me a fucking horse? Crazy. She was fitting well into the girlfriend role. I gave her one last goodbye kiss and took off to the air again. My form blurred across the air and I appeared on top of my house in no time.
'Hmm?' Something feels off.
* * *
– Ding Dong
How odd.
The doorbell rang and I waited outside. The door clicked and opened in no time; behind it stood a girl with short silver-hair, a blue hair strand hanging in her forehead, as she locked her blue eyes at me.
[Image Here]
"Ah, my lord, you're back…" said the girl who should have been a stranger to me, but I recognized her as Blue, the tiger cub. She wore a white overcoat with a black turtleneck and pants below.
She had used [Polymorph] magic to take this human form. Her greeting tone was a little weird, though…
"Is there anything wrong, Blue?"
"Um…" she rubbed the back of her head. "It's your mother. She had been trying to reach you since last night, but your phone was unreachable. She's pretty mad."
"Ah. Oh shit." I quickly walked inside. I was in the underworld, so naturally, there was no network there. I had a guess that was mad at me anyway because of how the season ended, but this made things worse.
"Um, be careful, my lord!" Blue sounded like she had seen some scary things in the house recently as she waved me off. From the aura I sensed, I didn't doubt her fear for a second.
Ruby wasn't here; my Jade Perception let me know that she was in Tsubasa's house with Asia. The tiger cubs were scattered all around the yard, none were in the house. Even Blue stepped out after warning me.
Inside the entire house, I sensed only one presence. And it was stupidly strong.
Walking around the halls, my feet came to a stop outside the living room. My eyes locked on the ethereal form that sat on the couch, near the window that was glowing too brightly for an early night.
There shouldn't have been any sun out at this moment, yet the windows were white. The entire room was lit up like that. There was a gentle fog around the place and I felt a sense of tranquility and peace wash over my body.
"....What are you doing, mom?"
"Hmm? You're here." a soft, ethereal voice spoke and a blonde head slowly turned to look at me. Dressed in the outfit of a deity, Ai Hoshino looked at me with her hair and eyes having changed to golden.
[Image Here]
The Goddess of Light, from Avatar 5, was the form she was in right now.
"In that case, [Instant Dungeon]." Her pristine finger flicked and made a 'snap!'. Ai cast a spell that washed over reality, causing a small pocket dimension to form.
It didn't take much mana to cast that since the Will of the World helped with it. Since these Instant Dungeons were created for the sole purpose of letting supernatural beings duke out their powers without causing any harm to the real world.
As expected, my dear mother had erected this dimension for the same reason.
She raised a hand toward me and chanted two more words. "[Brilliant Sunshine]."
A beam of pure, hot solar energy blasted out of her hand and at me. I was already crossing my arms in an attempt to block it, while I put out Water Bubbles shields around me. But when the attack was cast, how could I move faster than light?
The beam hit me and washed over me. My shields broke and I was sent tossing back, feeling my skin grow hot while the house around me blasted apart and melted.
"Cough—!"
When the beam ended, I stood amidst the ruined house and coughed. If not for my Iron Body, the Grandmist Body, I would have been the wood that melted.
Seriously, what is this woman doing?!
"Mom, what are you-"
"Silence, young one." Her tone and speech pattern made me realize that it wasn't just her appearance that changed. She was being influenced by the heavy mind of this Supreme Goddess of Light.
She was still Ai Hoshino, but she must be under a lot of influence from this character too. If not, even if my mother was mad at me, she wouldn't have cast a potentially murderous spell on her son.
She attacked again, this time firing small orbs of light toward me, like bullets, but I dodged them by predicting their trajectory.
This is dangerous. She's too strong, I can't beat her. She could level Japan a few times over with ease, and now she was mad at me enough to shoot killing blows at me.
Goddammit, this woman.
I needed to bring her back to her senses, I didn't want to be killed in this stupid way, nor did I want to hurt her.
And if it's a mental influence, I could fix it. At least, I could try. I immediately called forth [Heaven Icon] and this pocket world came to a halt. Even Ai paused for a brief moment to look at the Icon in the sky.
"[Mental Protection]," I commanded with a deep voice as light trembled around Ai.
But nothing changed. 'Is it not working-'
"I am touched seeing you worried, but I am in as much control as I need to be." She said while looking at me. "These sage eyes can 'see' how much you can endure; I am not shooting anything that is beyond you. Since the scolding and slaps I gave you all these years were for naught, as your thick skin didn't let you feel any of those, you at least deserve this much beating."
"...." My eyes twitched but I let the Icon vanish. "You're going too far, mom."
"Outrageous of you to say that after what you did on TV. Brat." She scowled and her figure vanished. I barely sensed her as she appeared behind me, a hand flying to the back of my hand and slapping me out of the house.
"Ow..." I rubbed the back of my head and got up. Stupid woman, I didn't want to fight back since it's her. Not that it'd make much of a difference, unless I were to…
She was walking toward me, with each away from her hip was more beautiful than the waves of the sea. Her dazzling body was lovely, but I had to focus on her next attack.
"This much should suffice,"
To my surprise, she said this was enough. Indeed, my mother couldn't beat me for too long-
"It's interrogation time. [Light Bind]."
Shackles of light formed around my body and tied it tightly, my arms against my chest. I tried to move, but it was hard even to budge.
'...This little girl.' I shot her a glare. She has no idea how lucky she is that she is my mother. Otherwise, I'd have gotten back at her tenfold for this. I don't like being tied.
Ai reached out a hand and held my chin. I looked up at her while she frowned down at me.
"Mama, let me go." I tried to attack her weak spot by calling her cutely, but she just frowned deeper.
"Quit acting, brat. I need to educate you since it seems I failed to suppress that side of your blood." She said and flicked my forehead, it stung.
"What?"
"Your father's blood." She growled. "He's a disgusting philanderer who sees women as merely toys to play with. I prayed for years so that you wouldn't turn out like that, but… I suppose blood is hard to go against. I don't blame you, Aqua. I blame myself for not being able to educate that out of you. At least, until now."
"...."
I felt my gaze turn cold at this. I hated being tied up, but I hated being compared to someone's ex more. It angered me more when that someone was my mother, and that ex was my disgusting father.
'Stupid mortals.'
Did this little girl really just claim that I inherited my personal charisma and habits from her ex? From another man?
"Aqua, you-"
"I am not my father, Mother." My voice boomed like an echo as I called forth the [Crown Icon], but this time, it wasn't the Emperor that responded.
This Venerable Ego was extremely irked by the fact that this woman dared compare me to a lesser man.
A red, black crown formed in the sky as my blonde hair turned black and grew in length. My blue eyes went red and my lips curled up in an odd smile.
The shackles of light eroded around me when it came in contact with my red aura. I stood up and Ai blinked, raising her hand to cast another spell—but I moved faster.
While she was extremely strong, she had a massive weakness. Her powers came from her clothes.
These clothes weren't an illusion, though. These fabrics held the same durability and defense that they did within the movie's plot, but in that movie, the Goddess' clothes weren't exactly invincible, it could be damaged.
So I held the helm of her skirt, and with a touch, red energy spread as it eroded. The black-red energy swept out of my touch and consumed the cloth, turning it into ash, as her hair and eyes regained color instantly.
"What just-"
Her hands covered her chest instinctively before she spoke, and I interrupted her by lifting up her chin.
"What a terrible, terrible mother you are." I was grinning down at her while her eyes trembled. I didn't mean it, but my Icon brought the worst out of me. "Assuming your son is just as bad as your ex simply because he is popular with women? How do you know for sure that he is playing with those girls' hearts? Did you not see that it was them who chose to be with him?"
I found myself crackling like a psychotic clown. "What a sight. Maybe next time don't compare your son who always treated you like a queen, the best he could, with the man who tried to kill you. With a man who didn't bother to take care of you or your kids, and the one time you reached out to him for this, he dragged you to death's door. Did you forget that it was your son who saved you back then? You worthless, worthless little girl. Just wha-"
The color of the Crown Icon divided. The right half of the dark crown turned to gold, as did the right side of my body. My hair remained black, but my eyes were golden. My right hand moved to strike me in the face before I could degrade her any further.
– Boom!
I was sent flying due to the force while steep laughter came out of the left side of my mouth, though my right side was serious. Laid on the floor, my eyes looked into a piece of broken mirror nearby, each looking at the other.
The Mankind's Emperor and the Venerable One stared at one another.
It must be an odd sight from an outsider's perspective.
I tightened my willpower to withdraw the Icon, feeling pain down to my soul. My hair and eyes returned to normal and I pushed myself up, almost stumbling.
I took steps back from Ai and looked away from her naked form. Even as I did that, my hands moved into thin air to pull out a white blanket to help her cover herself.
"Sorry, I-" I said as I gave it to her. "That power affects me badly, don't mind what I just said… I didn't mean it."
Ai took the blanket while she stared down at the ground. I rubbed the back of my head and looked away, unable to think of something to revert the hit she must have under.
"Is that… why you said you don't think I am a good mother?" She suddenly asked, bringing up the question from a month ago when she asked if she was a good mother and I said no. "That part of you that just came out… he just seemed to have a more truthful and direct opinion. Is that really how you think of me?"
The pocket dimension collapsed gently and we were back inside the house. The light that was lighting up the room earlier was gone, and Ai looked like a small, hurt puppy in the darkness. She failed to even meet my gaze, fearful of what she'd see in my eyes.
'Uh oh,' I've made a little blunder.
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Author Note: Easily maintained Top 12 last week, so how about Top 10 this time? Goal is, if we are Top 10 by the end of the next 24h, I'll post another chapter right away, making it a 4-chapter-week just like last one.
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