"We can't. If she brings us to the Underworld, she would have to face unnecessary consequences. While my first intention was to let her bring me there, I realised how it would place her in an unfavourable situation. Now stop wasting time and take us to the Underworld."
With a proud smile on her face, Aurelia acquiesced as a magic circle formed underneath the both of them.
"At once, Lord Dimori."
Vwong!
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|DxD|
.
The Underworld, a place so similar to Earth that were it not for the odd-looking inhabitants, no one would be able to tell the difference. With serene blue skies and vast expanses of land, it truly was a beautiful place.
Vwong!
Up in the skies, Igor and Aurelia appeared with their hands held together. With the silverette being the picturesque rendition of a noble woman, it would balance out if the blonde was a brute in comparison.
But while his training-geared appearance would make him seem so, Igor seemed to be rather calm. Even as he felt the monstrous energy signatures all around him at varying distances, his mind was currently not in the space to get excited at prospective opponents.
With his eyes having turned back to their normal colour, Igor was deep in his thoughts. Everything he heard from Shuri about Baraquiel's actions continuously played in his mind. He did not believe that Shuri would lie to him, but he just couldn't understand…couldn't comprehend how Baraquiel could abandon his only child for over two weeks.
He had fought with the man, laughed with the man, and had even been taught by the man. In this foreign world that he found himself in, Baraquiel was his first real teacher who taught him techniques that saved his life on more than one occasion.
This Baraquiel that he heard about from Shuri couldn't be the old man that he knew and fought for three days.
He just couldn-
"Lord Dimori. Are you alright?"
Aurelia couldn't help but show concern at how listless he was.
"..."
Igor's first instinct was to reply in the affirmative, but there was no use in lying. He was not alright in the slightest.
"No."
As much as the blonde loved to ignore things unrelated to fighting or training, this wasn't an issue he could simply gloss over. This was a crossroads that would heavily impact the future of this family he had come to cherish from here henceforth.
"I need your advice."
Smiling gently, the silverette replied.
"I will do my best to satisfy, Lord Dimori."
Aurelia was both older and had more insight than him into these types of factors that involved people and emotions. He could rely on her to help with this.
And to be truthful, he desperately needed the advice of someone older and more experienced.
"Is what I'm doing…right?"
It was a question that had been gnawing at him ever since he saw Shuri's panicked expression before he disappeared. Through two-tenths bullheadedness and eight-tenths rage, he forced the issue of finding Baraquiel...until now.
With Aurelia by his side, he had calmed down somewhat, calm enough to question his current actions.
"I do not bear the Himejima surname, or possess any blood relations with any of them. I do not have the benefit of having stayed within their household for a significant amount of time or anything else that would allow me to question any decisions that are made within that household. I am no different from an outsider who has involved himself in their personal conflict and is trying to pry into their private matters."
He turned to face Aurelia, the barest hint of wavering in his cerulean gaze.
"So tell me, sister. Is what I'm doing right?"
"..."
Faced with such a question, Aurelia wasn't fazed. In fact, she replied with her own question.
"Baraquiel's infidelity. How does it make you feel?"
Sighing, the blonde retracted his gaze in favour of staring at the horizon.
"In all honesty, nothing. Whether he slept with another woman or not is not of my concern."
It was a rather abnormal outlook for one in his generation, but he could care less if Baraquiel had a willing toy he was using to relieve himself on the other side of the world.
"I see. I will speak honestly, Lord Dimori."
Subtly tightening the grip she had on his hand, she continued.
"Whether what you're doing is right or not is up to interpretation. What I can tell you however, is that you need not fear involving yourself in these matters. While it is true that you do not possess the Himejima bloodline, it is also true that because of you, this family continues to exist. Were it not for your presence, Lady Shuri would remain dead and Lady Akeno may have possibly ended up being dead."
"..."
The blonde looked at her without replying, his mind seemingly processing these words. On the other hand, Aurelia continued to add her input, a somewhat proud smile forming on her face.
"And if I may add my personal input, your reaction to this news tells me that you truly care for and consider them as your family. It is only natural that you would want to truly know what happened, no?"
Faced with her smile, the clouds of unsurety in the blonde's head cleared at her words.
"I see."
Giving her a small smile of his own, he continued.
"Thank you, sister."
"Fufu~. No problem, Lord Dimori."
With his internal turmoil now sorted, he could set about finding Baraquiel. With the mishmash of powerful energy signatures here and there, he was a bit hard-pressed to find the cadre's energy signature underneath all these behemoths he could sense. But, finding a massive cluster of fallen angels wasn't hard.
Gently holding Aurelia by the shoulder, he covered her in a transparent protective layer of ki.
"Let's go, sister."
Grigori wasn't too far from where he was. Only a few hundred kilometres at best. He wouldn't need the Instant Transmission for a distance that short. Without any flare or effects, the two siblings vanished like the wind.
Su!
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|DxD|
.
In Grigori, Azazel was in his office working on the documents that required his personal attention. These were documents that even Shemhazai refused to work on despite him giving him the privilege to do so.
Having left Baraquiel by the lake, Azazel was in a relative rush to finish these documents so that he could take his brother to unwind with some good alcohol. No women, of course. He had a feeling his brother wouldn't like that, nor would Cleria now that he thought about it.
No matter. It wasn't a big loss by any stretch.
Kring! Kring!
And as sheer coincidence would have it, the naughty minx decided to call. Picking up the phone, a smile blossomed on his face.
"Miss me already?"
Leaning back on his chair, Azazel was about to kick up his legs on the table when Cleria's slightly panicked voice had him sitting ramrod straight.
"Azazel-kun. Dimori-san is coming to Grigori."
"..."
There was a lot to unbox here. There were some details that he wanted to know, a few how's and why's, but now was not the time.
"Do you have more information?"
"Yes. They should be coming from the Nekomata Village."
"Alright. Don't come here and absolutely make sure Shuri doesn't worry. I will contact you when all of this is over."
Placing the telephone down, Azazel knew there was a lot of work to do. But for now, he had to inform Baraquiel and Shemhazai. He could only hope that things progressed peacefully.
.
|DxD|
.
As the blonde blitzed through the skies of the Underworld, his eyes did not fail to take glimpses of the landscape. But they were not focused on the beautiful scenery. Rather his mind was hellbent on replaying the precious memories he had with the Akeno, Shuri, and Baraquiel.
From their first meeting where he got his rear end handed to him finally leaving for his training in the Himalayas, the memories would not stop. Those simple times that were rather short were also the most important to him.
Those times that he looked upon fondly, times that he wished he would continue to experience were now close to impossible.
'Aunty. If you were to be given some time to recover, maybe a few years, do you see yourself possibly getting back together with the old man.'
'...'
Her silence back then still lingered in his mind. But it was also that silence that shattered his hopes, and sired his rage-
[Calm down, Igor. Calm down…]
Yet try as he might, a part of him seethed at the amount of pain Baraquiel caused. As a man, he had failed far too many times.
[Calm down.]
He failed when the Himejima attacked.
[Calm down.]
He ran when his family was in shambles.
[Calm…down.]
He abandoned his family and only God knows when he would've come back…if he would've.
[Calm…down!]
He failed so much that his own wife lost her trust in him.
"Damnit!"
Su!
Stopping mid-flight, the blonde stood with clenched fists, a red mist of aura oozing from him. His anger was on the verge of spiralling out of control, his power quietly increasing due to the emotional turmoil he was going through.
When he thought of how the same Shuri that used to look at her husband like he was the world lower her head like she did, the animosity he tried to suppress threatened to lash out.
[Damnit, Baraquiel!]
He couldn't even begin to decipher just how much it would take to make a woman like Shuri give up on her own husband. He couldn't imagine himself disappearing on little Akeno who so affectionately called him "brother", regardless of any circumstances.
No matter how he tried to look at it, he couldn't figure out Baraquiel's thought process. He couldn't understand just why, Why, WHY he abandoned his own family, his own flesh and blood.
But it no longer mattered. He could sense three energy signatures approaching. He was familiar with two of them while one was completely foreign.
They were approaching very quickly too and it didn't take long before they arrived.
Su! Su! Su!
.
.
.
Silence…
Shemhazai, Azazel, and-
"Baraquiel."
su su su su su su Su Su Su Su Su Su Su Su Su Su
Like a trigger word, his power gradually began to increase as it manifested itself in a shroud of red. Locking eyes with Baraquiel, anyone else may as well not have existed at that moment. Slowly, various images overlapped with the form of the cadre in front of him.
The image of Akeno crying in his arms, his ignorant self thinking she was happy for his return. The slightly haggard appearance of Shuri, a sight his ignorant self overlooked instead of addressing. All of that…was caused by this very man in front of him.
Su Su Su Su Su Su Su Su SU SU SU SU SU SU
"Ba-ra-QUIEL!"
GRUUUUUU!
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AN
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Things are taking an interesting turn. I'm already surprised Igor managed to hold himself for this long. I figured he'd teleport into Grigori and beat the old cadre into the ground. Either way, with the blonde continuing to radiate power like this, I don't think he'll be able to hide his existence anyhow. Not like he was trying to in the first place.
If you're interested in reading ahead, you can find more chapters on my patreon under the same username.