[|||| =LEVEL 10= ||||]
Hogwarts felt foreboding from a distance. It stood as a massive castle on a hill, a place where I'd made a huge mistake. I didn't want to do this but I couldn't just up and leave… well I could, but I wouldn't. Ignoring my mistakes was a slippery slope. I didn't want to go down it. Running away from one problem just made me less able to solve the next one and left a regret in my wake. No, it was best to own up and apologize.
It was with this in mind that I walked into Helen's domain. She noticed me instantly, of course, and I was met with a neutral feeling. She wanted to hear what I had to say.
"I'm sorry, and I'll be telling this to Hermione and Harry later as well. I messed up and lost sight of what was important. I could have handled Harry's problems in so many better ways. It would have been as simple as asking him how I could help, but instead I tried to focus on what I thought was the problem and… well, you saw what happened. I traumatized her, Helen. It could have been worse but it should have been better. I should have been better." Helen was unresponsive for a moment. Then her soul reached out to me and seemed to hug me.
"I forgive you… they will too," she whispered to me.
"Thank you," I said gratefully. Helen opened a stairwell beside me and I was about to step down when I hesitated. "Does that lead straight to Harry? I'd rather not apologize in public. It was between Hermione and me more than any bystanders. I might publicly apologize later, though."
Helen sent an image of two lone stick figures and I nodded, feeling that Hermioone and somebody else was as good as it was going to get for me, and descended the stairs. I walked down for a few minutes and summoned a globe of light when the passage above me closed up. I finally came to a trapdoor that I knelt at and pulled open. Down below me Harry and Hermione separated their faces and looked up at me in horror and surprise.
"Um… should I come back later?" I asked awkwardly. "I'm here to apologize but… well you two seem to have a mood going."
Harry groaned and put his blushing face in his hands while Hermione wiped her lips. "Just… just get down here. Please." I dropped down from the trapdoor, closing it on my way down, and glanced back up when I hit the ground. It was under an illusion. Helen, you have so many secrets.
"So as I said, I'm here to apologize," I said while looking around. I had no idea where we were. It looked like a cabin of some sort. There was a small neat bed, which Harry and Hermione were sitting on, but around us there was a round table and chairs, a lit fireplace, and a small bookshelf. Behind the bed was a window looking out over the Hogwarts grounds. I could see the dessicated willow tree from the window, actually. I think it was the Weeping Willow? No, wait, it was Whomping Willow.
I decided not to pull a chair away from the round table since they were kind of short for me and instead stood before the two teenagers. "I messed up last… whatever day that was. Five days ago at any rate. I knew how I had pushed you away from your friends, Harry, when I let slip that you were studying nonverbal and wandless magic. I looked at that issue, never heard about a resolution, and decided to fix it myself when I saw the opportunity."
"It was, and frankly still is, my hope that getting you, Hermione, more in touch with your magic to the point that wandless magic was easily accessible would push you two back together. Friends are important, I know, and I've found that the best way to handle power driving people apart is to mend that gap a little or showing how it doesn't matter so much. So I tried to mend that power-gap, but I was shortsighted. I ignored the consequences and in doing so made a… grave error. As a mentor and decent person I failed when I forced your magic to lash out, no matter that I didn't mean what I said. I still said those things and I regret it. So I'm sorry."
Hermione and Harry were silent. They looked between each other and had a silent conversation before they looked back at me. "Thank you for showing me wandless magic. It's helped me tremendously," Hermione said kindly. I raised an eyebrow, not having expected that.
"Um, you're welcome?" I said a little awkwardly.
"It was horrible," she said plainly. "The things you said… you were horrible. But I can see your reasoning, flawed as it was. In the long run, I'll be thanking you but for now… I would prefer if we didn't…"
"I'd be more than happy to put this whole thing behind me," I agreed in relief. "Frankly, I'm considering just leaving this whole tournament thing behind. There's no consequences for me leaving. I'm not interested in the ball whatsoever and Helen's more than capable enough to stop all the bribery and foul play that happens behind the scenes. I was being moderator because I had too much free time, but at this point… well there's no reason to continue moderating because everyone's safe under her watch and you're easily one of the most powerful students in Hogwarts. On top of that, you've actually gotten in the habit of self-improvement, which will bring you far in life if you can keep it up."
"Oh good," Harry breathed.
"Hey!"
"Sorry, sorry!" he apologized quickly. "I just… I'm dating Hermione."
"When's the wedding?" I quipped. The two blushed again. "Dust you two are such virgins. Just get things over with already."
"V-no! You can't just-!" Hermione stammered.
"This is why I avoid kids!" I proclaimed. "You all just stumble around things like romance! Even my sister, when she was your age, could at least talk about sex with a straight face! Does Hogwarts not have a sex-ed class?!" Their silence was telling.
"Oh… hm, you know now that I'm not moderating the tournament-"
"I will hex you so hard."
"I'll tell Dumbledore you're Voldemort in disguise."
I laughed at the two as they threatened me at the same time and the mood lightened. I got myself under control again and looked at the two seriously again. "Alright, that was nice but we've got some serious things to talk about. You two can go back to smashing your faces together after this, but it's something you need to hear." I looked to Harry.
"You haven't gotten that little bit of Voldemort in your scar out, have you?" Harry's face darkened. "Have you even done anything about it? You know what, nevermind. Don't move." I reached out and put my middle and index finger on his scar. My aura reached out and wrapped around his. He gasped and tried to move away but I grabbed his shoulder and concentrated so I didn't accidentally awaken his aura.
I gently pierced his soul and sent out probes, looking for abnormalities. I saw a little tear in his soul where mana was leaking, but that was probably natural. What was not natural was a little blob of inky black in Harry's light green aura. I reached for it but it moved quickly away from my probes.
What followed was a game of cat and mouse where I tried to reach for the blob of darkness and it fled from me just as quickly. It was small enough that it could easily move without breaking his soul apart. I could not and I knew that if I broke the barrier around his soul he would need an infusion of aura as his soul adapted. Otherwise his soul would destabilize and he'd be crippled, having a weak aura that, if it ran out, would tear his soul apart due to rips from an improper activation. There had been some studies about it in Remnant. It was a medical error of the worst kind, a death sentence.
After maybe five minutes of using all my parallels to weave probes around the blob, I managed to snag it. It squirmed and wriggled but my soul was much, much, MUCH stronger than it. I absorbed it into me and drew out of Harry. I simply flexed my void affinity and the soul I had dragged out died an instant death.
"There you are. All gone," I said, satisfied.
"I feel… clean," Harry said, looking lightheaded.
"I'll let you in on a little secret. My skills, the really unique ones? It's called essomancy, magic deeply related to the soul. I study it, learn how magic functions in relation to it, and see how I can use what I learn. Every time I find something new I learn a little bit more. The problem is, essomancy is illegal in magical Britain and the US. Look it up. Everyone says it leads to horcruxes and dark wizardry. They're all wrong, of course. But I feel like you should know. Find something you're passionate about and hone it. That's how you get strong. Passion, work, and time."
"You're a… dark wizard?" Hermione asked, confused.
"People can call me whatever they want. Dark wizard, murderer, hero, archwizard, or Abyss. I'm just a wizard with a girlfriend who misses his family. People are just people. Don't depend on labels like dark. Draco, for example? He's a racist ass, but there are worse people you could be friends with. I think if you tried you could bridge your differences. I'll bet that you'll be friends when you all grow up a bit."
Harry nodded. "Was that it?"
"Not even close," I said cheerfully. "Ask Dumbledore about Tom Riddle, the Deathly Hallows, the Order of the Phoenix, and the prophecy if you haven't heard it. Tom Marvolo Riddle had seven horcruxes. The diary, Ravenclaw's diadem, Slytherin's locket, Hufflepuff's chalice, his pet snake Nagini, you, and one more I can't remember. Dumbledore knows I think. It might have been Quarrel. I can't really recall. Use basilisk venom from the chamber to destroy them. I don't know all the details, sorry. I deal in bigger fish than Voldemort."
"That's fine. You've been a tremendous help," Harry said with a smile.
"Yeah, I know. You'd still be fretting about the tournament and waving a stick around," I said shamelessly. Harry rolled his eyes and Hermione snickered, snapping her fingers softly and causing sparks to fly out. I mimicked her but with a puff of fire.
"Goodbye, Mister Granite," Harry said fondly.
"Oh, it's Abyss Mavros. Granite was just something I used in case anybody was looking for me when I first met you all. I was playing hookie for my friend, so to speak," I said with a smirk.
"Mavros? Black on black… wizards," Hermione muttered.
"Wizards are the height of ingenuity, thank you very much. That's why we have wagons and the muggles are still riding horses," I said with sarcasm. My joke caused Hermione to smile weakly. "And before I leave, how'd you two get together anyways?" Hermione blushed.
"I was the only person who could find Hermione. I hugged her and she explained what happened and she, um…" Harry's blush was telling.
"Ripped her clothes off and said 'take me now, Harry'. Got it."
"No!" Hermione protested.
"I thought you were screaming yes?" I said mischievously. The kids became tomatoes.
"Just… go." Harry groaned.
"Now that's how you make an exit! Helen, if you please." The trapdoor opened above me and I paused. "Actually, thank you Helen but I think I might hit my head up there if I jumped too high and I don't want to get up halfway and have to scurry upwards so…" I walked out the door like a normal person and smirked at the sighs behind me at my antics.
Now that was how you made an exit.
[|||| =-= ||||]
"But… I wanna ride the dragon!" I did not whine as Esdeath stood with one hand on her hips sassily.
"Dragon rides are long, windy, and uncomfortable," she said patiently.
"Dragons are the coolest kind of danger beast without question. There's not much scarier than a giant fire breathing lizard besides perhaps the person who hunts them. But on a more important note, I've never ridden a dragon before!"
"How sad," she said sarcastically, blushing a tiny bit. "Now open a portal."
"Shouldn't we land so people know we're there? Like how nobles have fancy carriages, you have a dragon?" Esdeath pouted.
"I was banned from doing that by Honest," she muttered in discontent.
"Ah, yes, but he can't stop us if we ride the dragon together!"
"…"
"You're retiring anyways," I continued to tempt her. She looked like she was an inch away from accepting. "I'll let you pet my ears," I bargained, prepared to make sacrifices in the name of dragon riding.
"Done," she said instantly.
[|||| =-= ||||]
"That was… you were right," I said sullenly. The wind really was too loud on top of the dragon. I used my storm affinity to stop it from being so loud so we could talk, but the scales were also pretty uncomfortable. Horses on their own were uncomfortable, but dragons? With the wing muscles beating under you, making your seat shift whenever you got even a little comfortable? Riding barebacked on it was idiotic if you were looking for comfort but with a saddle and a wind blocker it might be tolerable.
I gave up after five minutes of riding because of the discomfort and we landed so I could open a portal, though Esdeath reminded me that I owed her my head for scratches. Also, my hands kept rising up towards Esdeath's breasts when the dragon bumped up and down with it's wingbeats. I couldn't ride in front, after all. It was Esdeath's dragon, and not holding onto her made me feel unbalanced. Luckily she either didn't mind or understood my plight since she didn't comment on it.
The two of us rode into the inner district on a carriage Esdeath had requisitioned from a garrison we stopped by. A soldier in fancy armor sat proudly at the front, though I could tell that he was nervous with the General in the back.
"So they have to, what, make an audience? Are military matters so public?" I asked.
"The nobles like their shows and I'm the latest gossip more often than not. Normally this wouldn't be done but this campaign was cleaner than normal and rather quickly wrapped up. It's probably going to be called a great accomplishment or something. It's all show."
"Do we have to wait for them to assemble, then?"
"Sadly, yes. It will take a few hours before we publicly present in the throne room. Perhaps three. Schedules will be cleared, business will be put on hold, and an egregious amount of wine will be given out."
"Oh… so do we just… sit down and do nothing?"
"Normally yes. I tend to watch the soldiers and guardsmen spar with each other to pass the time, but thankfully there are other things we can do."
"We… oh. Portals."
"Hm. I'd like to meet your h-girlfriends."
"It's not a harem."
"Of course." The two of us were silent as the carriage wheeled down the bumpy road. I just closed my eyes and rested while Esdeath took out that journal of hers again and did something with it. I cracked an eye when the carriage lurched a little, signaling a stop, and didn't move again after a minute.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"We have to go through the line," Esdeath said unconcernedly, still doing something in the journal.
"Ugh. Can't we use the staff entrance? They just go straight through. That's how I first planned to infiltrate the palace last time."
"No. Everybody goes through this one." I sighed and we were silent for another moment.
"So what are you doing?"
"I'm… writing down thoughts." She was lying and blushing.
"Hm? What thoughts?" I decided to torment her a little before I let her go off the hook.
"Um, ah, a… a spearhead formation at the back end of the northern capital would have…" She trailed off.
"Uh-huh," I said in amusement. "So besides your thoughts, what is that you're sketching?" I pointed at the book, which had been lowered while she thought of lies. I had expected much better lies from somebody active in politics.
"Nothing!" The book flipped upwards and was pressed against her chest as her blush only grew.
"Sure." I smirked. I didn't tell her that I had seen what she was sketching, specifically me asleep, one of my ears out and the other flattened so I could rest my head against the wall. She had changed a few things, pointedly that my mouth was closed while I rested and she drew it open, and myself more relaxed as though I were actually asleep rather than just resting. At least I satisfied my curiosity about what she was working on in that journal. Who was I to judge if she liked to sketch?
I waited until we were inside and the driver stopped to open my eyes and get out, Esdeath following right after me, flipping a silver coin to the driver. "Go inform Honest's steward Candid that I'm here and to send a servant to fetch me from my room when the nobles have assembled."
"Yes, ma'am!" The driver saluted her and walked quickly away from us.
"There," Esdeath said, satisfied. "Now would you prefer to make a portal or walk to my room and spread all sorts of rumors?" I growled, which just made her chuckle, and opened a portal to her room. She stepped through first for once and I followed. Then she started stripping.
"Aaand what are you doing?" I asked.
"Changing into something more comfortable," she said, tossing her coat onto the bed and looking through her standing wardrobe for something in just her undergarments.
"Right. I'll just close my eyes again, then. For your innocence." I did so and leaned against the wall.
"I am a lady, Abyss. Not a prude."
"You know, I'm starting to wonder if prudish women are a myth. I don't seem to know any. Wait, I know Helen and Hermione. And my sister. Maybe I just don't associate with prudes often, I should say."
"Then you're a lucky man. I assume your girlfriends have no sense of modesty as well?" I heard a zipping sound.
"This morning Kuroka insisted I made breakfast naked so they could get a show. Ophis agreed. I complained, though I wasn't really mad, and they did a stripshow; for every ingredient I added they took a clothing item off. You can guess what happened next."
"I hope they're not pregnant."
"I haven't checked recently, but Kuroka's been asking for awhile and Ophis said she's interested. Oh, but as for the food thing I wasn't done cooking when they finished so they did other things."
"You do realize that to talk about your romance with your girlfriends with a woman changing shows that you have no modesty as well? And I'm done."
"I just have less than most people. I'm still respectful enough to stop myself if they get annoyed or too uncomfortable. I get that there's a time and place, though. I wouldn't talk about this in front of your boss, for example." While I talked I inspected Esdeath's clothing. She had, of all things, a dark blue leather button jacket on over a white shirt and black pants. Besides that her hair wasn't loose but had a little band around it near her head. It made it all bunch together more as it fell down her back.
"You look surprisingly… modern. Huh. I didn't realize people had jackets like that in this world."
"Few people dress this way because they aren't rich enough to, and those rich enough to are typically nobles who consider this to be for peasants pretending to be nobles, as with the leather instead of, say silk. These clothes are popular amongst merchants, however." Esdeath ran a hand over the coat fondly. I supposed she didn't get to wear the clothes often since she was always wearing her military uniform outside.
I shrugged and made a portal through void. I walked into my manor and Esdeath came right after me. "Oh? This is nice," she said in interest. I pulled out my phone, which was sadly inferior to my scroll from Remnant - if only it could pick up cell signals, and texted Kuroka.
'Esdeath and I are at home. The nobles have to assemble and get drunk before she tells everyone about how she won the north. Care to come?'
I pocketed my phone for now and cleared my throat. "Ophis?" A moment passed and I heard footsteps from downstairs. "She's downstairs," I told Esdeath.
"I can hear well too, you know? Not everyone needs an extra pair of ears," she replied. Just then the door opened and Ophis stepped out with sleepy eyes, thankfully dressed.
"Oh, you must be Esdeath. Kuroka and Abyss have talked about you." She looked Esdeath up and down. "She's as good looking as you said," she told me.
"You think I'm pretty?" Esdeath asked me happily.
"Of course you are. Very pretty, actually, and I refuse to believe that you ever thought you weren't."
"Oh my, you've caught me. So, Ophis, Abyss mentioned you were stronger than him?" I rolled my eyes. Of course that would be the first thing out of her mouth when she met Ophis.
"No," Ophis said simply.
"Yes, you are," I disagreed.
"Without you to provide void I would be miserable and everything would be loud. I am dependant on you," she pointed out.
"You can destroy countries with a swat of your hand."
"I can't make a decent dinner." Esdeath snorted and we looked to her.
"No dinner is decent after Abyss'," she explained.
"Oh. You're hooked." Ophis nodded like what she said made perfect sense.
"My cooking isn't addictive," I complained. Just then my phone buzzed and I pulled it out while the two continued talking.
'OMG! Dnt mve b thr in 2mins!'
"Kuroka should be here in a few minutes," I told the two.
"Oh good," Esdeath said with a small smile.
"You should make a snack to welcome her."
"I should make a full course meal to repay me for everything you've eaten, lazy dragon." Ophis sniffed indignantly at me and I heard a crash from the empty room I had designated for people to teleport to.
"I'M HERE!" A familiar voice yelled. Kuroka ran down the hall and skidded to a stop at the end of the hall. I realized she smelled a little smoky and her clothes looked a little singed as well as stained with blood in a few places, though she was uninjured. She looked to us and particularly Esdeath. "Hi! I'm Kuroka!"
"Hello," Esdeath said, looking slightly uncomfortable. I was able to see the oncoming awkwardness and quickly thought of a solution.
"So why are your clothes burned?" I asked Kuroka.
"Um, I was fighting when you texted."
"You looked at a text in the middle of a fight?!"
"The guys were just a bunch of wimpy magicians! This was four fireballs that hit me and I'm totally fine!" I shook my head at her carelessness.
"Did you try getting close? Magic based enemies are usually easy to deal with in close combat," Esdeath recommended. Kuroka pouted.
"There were like two hundred of the guys! Yeah they were weak but they can fly and they just throw stuff at you! Seriously, ice, water blades, fireballs, lightning bolts, and like twenty other types of projectiles! I mean, I can fly too but I suck at it."
"Do I need to learn how to fly now too?" Esdeath wondered out loud.
"Oh definitely. Under your own power, that is," I confirmed for her. She grimaced at the idea of another goal to work towards. "So do you want to have another spar? You're in another world, after all." Her grimace shifted to an eager grin.
[|||| =-= ||||]
Ophis was half asleep on my lap but I was at attention watching Esdeath and Kuroka dash around the courtyard, mostly on the defensive. She was playing hit and run, warping space to dodge Esdeath's attacks and occasionally blinking when she had to. Once she had used a portal but I knew that she was awful at making portals on the fly. It nearly collapsed after sending an icicle back at Esdeath and didn't do anything anyways. Esdeath just caught it and threw it again.
Esdeath was on the offensive, launching icicles at high speeds and altering the battlefield, a medium sized field on the manors property, to include a slippery icy ground and a few barriers she used from time to time.
Both of them were holding back, though Esdeath much more so than Kuroka, so I kept waiting for them to start trying and stop feeling each other out. Neither of them were using that much from their bag of tricks, only using the obvious attacks. Esdeath hadn't even done her new ice-walking technique yet.
"Stop sandbagging!" I called to them. The two paused their 'battle' for a moment.
"Ah, fiiine!" Kuroka rolled her eyes. She was still for a moment and swept her hand out. Magic circles appeared around the battlefield that instantly had Esdeath jumping away from them. A thick purple fog spewed out of them and she changed her ice to a cold vapor, probably trying to dilute it.
"Poisonous?" Esdeath asked.
"Oh it would paralyse you in a few breaths," Kuroka said cheerfully. Esdeath frowned and tensed as though to rush Kuroka. Suddenly a snowstorm came from nowhere. Icy flew around the battlefield, buffeting the two, though Esdeath was obviously unaffected.
Kuroka, for once, braced to meet her and glowed with touki, though she was off balance from the snowstorm that Esdeath was quickly concentrating on her. Esdeath's rapier stabbed towards her quickly, though Kuroka was quick enough to dodge them, a purple glow over her skin. She stepped forwards to close some distance but Esdeath just stepped back and continued her strikes. Kuroka couldn't move fast enough with the icy floor anyways. Then I noticed a lot of frost on Kuroka's kimono. Oh, that was bad. I knew from experience.
Kuroka, sadly, didn't notice the frost or it's implications and continued trying to get close to Esdeath. She was leading her by the nose, slowly growing the frost on her clothes while keeping some distance. Though she didn't know it, touki kept Kuroka resistant to low and high temperatures. It was why huntresses could go into Atlas in a bikini and why she was going to have her ass handed to her.
Apparently tiring of the song and dance, or just wanting to show off, Esdeath swept her rapier diagonally and a spear of ice larger than Kuroka sprang from the ground beneath her. She bent flexibly and crouched down on the ground, instantly on guard. Esdeath hadn't done any major ice manipulation (It was called gelumancy) before, though the field being covered by ice might have been telling, the same going for the barrier.
And it was lucky that she was on her guard. Esdeath began upping the stakes, larger and more intricate formations of ice all vying to attack Kuroka. Spears to stab her, rope like vines from the ground trying to grab her feet, walls blocking her movement, and the thick snowstorm making sure she could barely see two feet in front of her. It also restricted my vision of the fight so I tapped into Esdeath's ice structures and felt through them. She probably noticed something was off but kept fighting.
Kuroka had to feel out the space around her through her space affinity, which she was poor at, and it made her clumsy and slow to dodge. She ended up with a few nasty wounds and what was probably a twisted ankle after yanking it out of an icy vine.
Esdeath finally took pity on her. The artificial snowstorm died down in an instant and the icy structures melted into the ground, leaving the field a bare sheet of ice.
"We're done," Esdeath said, looking at a tired Kuroka with some light wounds on her, though she still stood defiant. She raised her left hand and gripped it. The frost on Kuroka's robe thickened and ice spread over her skin. Kuroka tried to strip her robe but it took barely a moment for the ice to spread over her skin and thicken.
More aura/touki was used to strengthen her and break the ice, Kuroka tearing it off her in chunks, so Esdeath upped her game again and the ice covered nearly all her body, restraining her in an instant. Kuroka flexed with all her might and the thick shell of ice fractured but with Esdeath thickening it and compressing it with every moment it was a losing battle.
"Fine! I lose, nya!" Kuroka pouted in frustration, all of her lower body encased in a solid shell of ice that shining purple with the light of her aura. Only her upper torso was free.
"You're persistent, though clearly not meant for direct combat," Esdeath acknowledged. The ice around Kuroka melted off Kuroka like water, hardening as soon as it hit the ground. She stepped out and rubbed the red, irritated areas where tearing the ice off her had also stripped her hair or torn her skin.
"I use curses, nya." She raised her right hand and a little purple ball of smoke formed and shot away from her quickly, just a little faster than Esdeath's icicles. "People get sick, slowed, harmed, or just, you know, die. But mostly it's a lot of little things that weaken people. I'm quick because I'm really good at avoiding people and wearing them down. The hand-to-hand combat is a backup of mine."
"Then why didn't you use any of these curses on me?"
"Because they wouldn't have hit you. You're too fast and you make ice too quickly. My curses don't work on things like ice," she said sullenly.
"I see," Esdeath said, sounding interested. "You harry your opponents, making them easier for your allies to kill. However, when fighting alone you aren't particularly dangerous if your enemy is able to block your curses."
"My youjutsu curses are the core of my fighting! That misty one was the only gaseous curse I had. It would only have paralysed you, though, nya."
"Then you are an able fighter," Esdeath congratulated her, smiling with a hand on her shoulder. "I'd be proud to have you in my service, were you a part of my world." Kuroka looked mollified and maybe even a little proud. Esdeath was pretty inspirational when she wanted to be. It took more than strength to lead an army, after all.
"You're super strong, too!" Kuroka said, getting into the compliments. "You're super flexible with how you used your ice! How did you even see through that snowstorm?! And how can you do so much with just ice?!" Esdeath blushed in embarrassment.
"All I did was throw ice at you and cause a snowstorm," she muttered.
"You can do more?!"
"Ophis!" Esdeath called out, avoiding the question deftly. "Would you care to spar?" I snorted, barely holding in laughter since that would mess up Ophis' nap. She cracked an eye and tilted her head to look up at me.
"Clean up all the ice on the field first. No need to get up," I softly told her, my voice still amused from Esdeath's challenge. Ophis nodded sleepily and I saw the ice of the field simply start disappearing.
"What?!" Esdeath looked in bafflement as the ice disappeared. She narrowed her eyes and visibly focused but after two seconds the ice disappeared entirely. She buckled down and focused harder on the ground, her brow scrunched up from concentration.
"You're stopping the ice from forming?" I asked. Ophis' head bobbed a little. "Stop doing it all of a sudden." In an instant a huge wall of ice sprang up almost a hundred feet in the air. Kuroka and Esdeath were thrown into the air from the force of the ice and the monolith kept rising, though it petered out after a moment. I scoffed at the ice and waited a moment.
Kuroka landed on the ground gracefully, barely making a sound despite how long the fall she just had was. Esdeath made a slope of ice at the corner of the monolith that she slid down, skidding her feet on the dirt and her hair a bit of a mess from the fall.
"Now get rid of it, would you?" Ophis didn't do anything but the giant mass of ice shrunk down quickly. Esdeath and Kuroka watched as it disappeared to nothingness in a moment.
"I… point taken," Esdeath said, looking annoyed. She glared briefly at Ophis but looked away as soon as she opened her eyes a tiny bit.
"Great. So, anybody interested in some games now that we've…" I trailed off as I realized the pun I was about to make.
"Broken the ice?" Kuroka took over for me with glee.
"I was specifically trying NOT to say that," I said in exasperation.
"What sort of games do you have?" Esdeath asked, curious. I grinned, already having one in mind.
[|||| =-= ||||]
"No! Stop it!" Kuroka cried on my right past Esdeath, getting absolutely destroyed.
"These 'rifles' you have are wonderful tools of warfare. Do you have armies equipped with them? They are far more diverse and powerful than the few firearms the Empire has." Esdeath reloaded her sniper happily, hiding behind a wall, stopping me from shooting her with my own rifle.
"Oh yeah. You don't even need magic to use them. A lot of people without magic have used them for hundreds of years," I affirmed. Ophis tried to sneak up behind me and I managed a headshot. She didn't seem to care, not moving at all from my left side, where she was leaning on me. Shooters weren't really her thing.
"Do you think I might have one?"
"What, for recreation?"
"They seem fun."
"They are fun," I agreed. "I'm alright with most of them but I prefer assault rifles."
"I would like one of these snipers." Her statement was punctuated with another headshot on Kuroka, who wailed pitifully. We all ignored her.
"They're a lot more complicated than they are in the game," I warned her. I felt a deep satisfaction as I managed to kill her avatar, barely surviving a body shot.
"That's no issue. I will have quite a bit of free time after I leave the Empire." I noticed how she changed classes to try out a shotgun, probably aiming to try all the guns and determine which one she liked the most.
"Oh yeah, you're some sort of General, right?" Kuroka asked, deciding to stop being dramatic as she was repeatedly killed to feed our scores. The only real players were Esdeath and I, her being a natural and myself being far more experienced. I was barely winning for now.
"I'm in charge of the offensive armies of the Empire. I lead invasions and campaigns to conquer other nations. I control three armies and a navy. The only forces I do not control are in the command of Grand General Budo, who is tasked with the defense of the Empire's capital and the royal family, though that's just the Emperor right now," she said proudly.
"Whoah, how big is this empire, exactly?"
"I can't properly say. It takes up perhaps half of the continent of Sansus?" She sounded uncertain, though she smirked a bit as she shot Ophis with her new shotgun. It didn't kill her and Ophis shot her down, after which she quickly changed classes again.
"It's about three thousand miles across and two thousand-ish north to south, though it's shaped a bit oddly and has a colony across the sea, I've heard. It might be a bit bigger. It's super big, in any case, though it's also a bit undeveloped in places," I said, having done a little studying myself on the Empire.
"How big is that in comparison to…"
"America is two thousand five hundred miles across, roughly, maybe more like two thousand eight hundred. The empire is a bit bigger all around."
"It's a bit larger in the north now that I've taken the north," Esdeath said.
"The north was about three hundred miles by two hundred. It's an increase for sure, though not a useful one. It's all ice up there. Maybe a few trading companies will set up a whale hunting business or a fur trade will take off but not much is going to happen with the territory. It's only got one city, anyways, and not a very big one."
"Nyaa, so it's super big and rich?"
"Oh, not in the slightest." Esdeath laughed lightly.
"It's a huge dystopia. The only reason it's so big is because Esdeath loves to fight and the Prime Minister keeps pointing her at everything. If it wasn't for her the Empire would probably be in a horrible recession and might have fallen to rebellion already."
"The rebellions happen every year or two," Esdeath commented.
"Oh… that sounds kinda awful, then." Kuroka seemed disappointed.
"It's absolutely awful," I agreed. "Unless you love fighting like Esdeath or you're deeply seated in power like the Prime Minister and his nobility. There's actually a large scale rebellion gearing up in the west under the backing of a coalition of western states who've banded together under fear of Esdeath and the Empire's armies. The country's about five minutes away from civil war and my money's on the rebels unless Esdeath really goes all out."
"Aw, thank you," the devil herself said sweetly. This was punctuated by her killing Kuroka again and a sigh of surrender from her. She had accepted her fate as last on the leaderboards.
"So it's a horrible oppressive Empire that would topple without Esdeath serving the Empire because…" Kuroka looked quizzically at Esdeath.
"I enjoy fighting. The Empire provides conflict for me to enjoy and lets me do as I please with the backing of its armies so long as I hand conquered territories and the spoils of war to it," she explained.
"You serve them because you just like to fight?!"
"Yes," she confirmed. Kuroka considered this for a moment.
"Battle junkies," she muttered. I was thankful that she hadn't asked about the civilians trying to rebel that Esdeath had killed to feed her bloodlust, her hobby of torturing others, or the atrocities the nobles committed every day, though a few of them had been busted by the authorities somehow despite their obvious corruption. Esdeath's doing, I was sure. Night Raid just killed the corrupt.
Then again, Kuroka had been born into a society where people with interesting powers were actively enslaved under the evil piece system, though not everybody used the system that way, like the Gremory family or the Sitris. But for every good devil in the underworld with a peerage there were three that enjoyed the benefits of their peerage being subservient to them. Despite being a kind person she was no innocent little snowflake, not since childhood and certainly not now, where she was a wanted terrorist.
"Gotcha!" I smirked and Esdeath growled as I got her one last time just before the match ended. The score read forty three kills for me and thirty nine for her. Then there was Ophis with eleven kills and Kuroka with four.
"Can we play a different game?" Kuroka asked as she looked at her score in disappointment.
"Just one more round? I'd like to try out these LMG's. They seem interesting," Esdeath asked. Kuroka looked at me but I didn't say anything, looking down at Ophis and giving her pets, to her obvious happiness. She looked between Esdeath and the screen a few times.
"Okay," she muttered in agreement. "But let's change the map first."
[|||| =-= ||||]
"Here." I handed a small slip of paper to the fat man in the chair. He sported a long grey beard, sharp dark yellow eyes, and a grey coat with some fur around the neck. I noted that there was a little sauce from some sort of food in it.
"Why thank you!" he said with a genial grin, not questioning what the slip of paper was. He took a quick bite of some sort of grilled meat from a plate beside him. "You're the young man that Esdeath has taken under her wing, yes?"
"I'm more of a friend of hers. I'm apparently quite interesting to her." I didn't want to mention that I was as powerful as her, even when I was only using my space magic in the teigu-verse for actual combat. I had let some little things like the ice cones slip since they were just little bits of usefulness.
"Ohoho! Well be careful, young man, she might just eat you right up!" He took a large bite from his grilled meat for emphasis with one hand and opened the letter with the other. I turned to leave when he spoke again.
"Oh my, this is interesting!" he said, sounding fascinating. "Do stay a moment, youngster. I believe we have something to talk about." His eyes looked into mine searchingly, the grin of his still in place. I looked to the door and considered just leaving but regretfully decided against it. I'd play along for now.
"I was under the assumption that I was just delivering the letter," I said. I had actually been given it by Esdeath and asked to give it to Honest, the Prime Minister. She was still at my manor with my girlfriends chatting.
"Mmm, yes, but it is the contents of this letter that make me quite interested in you!" I wondered what in the world Esdeath had said about me. I thought the letter was a quick note that she was ready for the assembly or something, maybe that I would be accompanying her.
"She says that you are nearly as strong as she is!" I cursed her.
"I've done well when we've sparred. I'm a creative person, you see, and my teigu offers quite a bit of flexibility."
"I see, I see!" The man nodded. "And yet you, a mere wandering magician-" Alarm bells went off in my head. "-can contend with our very own Esdeath!" The man scoffed. "Magic, truly. Such a complex thing but if there is one thing everybody knows it's that human magicians are far, far weaker than the danger beasts of the world. They… twiddle their fingers and a little spark comes out." He wiggled his fat fingers and laughed as though he had made a great joke. I didn't laugh.
"Ah, but you? You bend space itself! Naturally! And of course you create portals and teleport according to some soldiers I know." Informants, he meant. Of course he was keeping an eye on me, that didn't surprise me at all.
"But if Esdeath says that you are, as you say, a great magician like those that made the teigu so long ago I'll believe her. She had never led the Empire astray before, after all!" The fat man leaned back in his chair, which marvelously didn't break or strain under his weight, and his smile turned a little toothy.
"So I'd like to offer you a small token of respect, young man! I declare you a citizen of the Empire!" I held myself back from rolling my eyes. "I've already had the papers gone through, of course, no need to worry about it, since any friend of Esdeath is a friend of mine! So, young man, if you have any issues simply come to me and I'll be happy to help! It's not just anybody who gains the attention of a beautiful woman such as Esdeath!" He winked at me with a toothy grin and I felt very uncomfortable. Was he implying that Esdeath and I would marry or something? Ah, whatever. I just wanted away from this asshole.
"I'll be sure to remember that," I said meaninglessly, noting to never ask the man for help.
"Good! Good! I'm glad we have an understanding! I must say, I'm eager to see how you adapt to life in the Empire! You have my best wishes, young man, and good luck!" Honest gestured to the door. I turned and walked away. Even while I felt like I had stepped on a turd I had to admit that the man was a great politician. He seemed completely genuine the whole time. If I hadn't known that he was a greasy, greedy scumbag before now I might have thought he was actually being truthful or maybe even generous with me.
As it was he probably intended to feel out my personality and offer me whatever I wanted so he gained another warrior like Esdeath. He would probably set me up with her too. The happier Esdeath was, after all, the more committed she was to the Empire. Unfortunately, I was just a better option for her than the Empire and probably her only real friend. He didn't stand a chance.
As soon as the door shut to Honest's office I blinked to Esdeath's room even though it was close by. I looked through her closet and immediately saw four of her military uniforms hung up neatly. I took one from the closet and took the void back to DxD.
"-ife!" Kuroka's voice finished.
"What?" I asked, handing Esdeath her uniform.
"Nothing!" she said with faux-innocence.
"We were talking about some arrangements for when my business is finished in the Empire," Esdeath explained, taking her uniform and looking it over.
"Oh. Well alright then," I said, sitting back down on the couch. Ophis stood up and I sat in her place. She sat down on my lap immediately after.
"I'm going to go get changed," Esdeath said. She stood up and paused. "Where is the changing room?"
"Use one of the guest rooms upstairs of the bathroom down here," Kuroka suggested. Esdeath nodded and walked to the stairs. Kuroka waited a moment before turning to me.
"You should date her," she said immediately. I sighed.
"Was that what you were talking about earlier?" It explained why Honest had taken the time to talk to me. It was a delaying tactic from Esdeath, the clever girl.
"Yup! And she's actually pretty cool with the whole harem thing!"
"Polyamor-"
"Sure, sure, I know that you respect all of us," she dismissed. "You can call it a harem, you know?" I looked at her stubbornly.
"Fine." She rolled her eyes, apparently thinking I was being silly. "So we were talking some stuff through, figured out where she would fit in our whole relationship, and about kids!"
"Kids? Are they all you think about?" Kuroka rubbed her stomach and shrugged.
"Well I'm probably pregnant already. You haven't used that life magic thing, right?" I shook my head. She had told me quite thoroughly, with a few threats involved, what she would do if I kept using life magic to render myself sterile. I shook my head and she nodded in satisfaction.
"Well yeah she's okay with kids, though she wants to wait a while and kill bunches of stuff before she does get pregnant. I don't get it but she's a battle junkie. I guess you can't fight when you're pregnant and she kinda needs to cool down a bit before she has any kids. She's not really great mother material. I'd bet that she's great aunt material, though! And she'll be prepared for kids when she's older by being close to our kids!" I would admit that she had a point but I was also relieved that Esdeath didn't want kids for now. There were miracles in the world after all.
"So long story short you think I should date her."
"Yeah! I mean, I'd prefer that you waited until she finished all her stuff in the Empire but if you kiss and snuggle and stuff before then that's fine with me."
"Save our first time until she wraps up her world and is ready to move on, got it. That should be good motivation to knock down Night Raid." I would have felt bad dating and sleeping with Esdeath in one world and dating Ophis and Kuroka in the other. That would have felt too close to cheating for my liking. It would also give me some time to properly date a girl before we did anything sexual. I had a terrible track record when it came to proper romantic progression.
"Hey…" Kuroka seemed almost nervous for some reason. "Esdeath… she's pretty messed up. I've killed people but I didn't enjoy it. But she… she likes torturing people and killing. Are… she seems like a nice person now but are you…" I nodded.
"She's fucked up," I put it bluntly. "Strength and combat is everything to her. But she isn't evil. I think that people just never told her that torture or murder isn't okay. It's not an innate evil. It's cultivated. With time I'm hoping that I can break her of her worse habits like recreational torture, but some things, like her respect for strength, I don't think will ever leave her. Maybe that's not such a bad thing, though. It's a part of who she is." Kuroka looked relieved and nodded with me.
"I'll try to do the same," she said. "And I hope you're right."
It was then that I heard a door open and footsteps come back down the stairs. "I'll work on it and keep you updated on how things are going," I told Kuroka. She nodded as Esdeath walked back in, her full military uniform back on.
"Whoah… is that the standard uniform?" Kuroka asked, looking at Esdeath's breasts peeking out of her uniform. "And is that a miniskirt? Why does a military uniform have a miniskirt?"
"They didn't have on in my size, and I couldn't properly kick in the tough pants that the military usually uses. I requested a skirt and Honest himself approved that I could use one. I can kick properly without those pants."
"Huh. Okay… but what about your, uh…" Kuroka's eyes went up to her breasts. Esdeath glared at her.
"You have no right to talk." I glanced at Kuroka's chest in her very, VERY tight kimono, which purposefully did the bare minimum to protect her modesty. She blushed and looked away.
"So you're ready to go?" I changed the subject. Esdeath nodded and walked to me as I made a portal crossing dimensions. "I'll see you two soon," I told my girlfriends.
"Bye!"
"Come back soon."
I waved a little and closed the portal when Esdeath stepped through to her room. "So do you think they're ready?" I asked. She looked at a wall and I saw a clock on it above a small bookshelf between two windows.
"It's roughly time. We may be slightly early. Best to wait until a servant comes," she said. She walked to her bed and sat down, making some of the sheets bounce, and tossed her old casual clothes onto the pillows. "So what did you and your girlfriends talk about while I was changing?"
"They filled me in a little as to your plans to date me," I said dryly, causing her to blush and look away. "I didn't know you were that interested. I could tell, of course, but seriously dating me despite my attachments? I'm not sure what it is you're thinking."
"You're strong, kind but not to a fault, more empathetic than you think, and willing to work with my habits of torture and bloodlust. I know that many good men would be unwilling to be with me because of my habits. Not many good men torture and murder, after all. I would never consider a romantic relationship with my soldiers who rape after the battle is done, for example, despite the hypocrisy of it. I consider myself lucky to have met you. I'm willing to share so long as your others aren't jealous harpies." A sly smile crossed her face. "I believe we worked out just where we stand with each other. It was easier than you seem to think."
I looked at her suspiciously. "Where you stand with each other, hm?" She nodded.
"I'm to be the pubic wife. I'll accompany you on your adventures more often than not and I'll handle other people with you. Kuroka is, as she said it, 'the energetic one'. A role I think she'll fit easily, though she'll be managing children and her house quite a bit. She's surprisingly simple and is happy to just be with you, though I hope she doesn't become soft from inaction. Ophis is similar, though she made it clear that if we infringed on her time without good reason there would be consequences."
"That sounds…" I trailed off. Too good to be true? Unrealistic? Well it was happening, wasn't it? Besides, it sounded like Kuroka was getting exactly what she wanted, a husband she loved, some other women to play with, and a bunch of kids, not to mention that harems were par for the course for DxD. Ophis' time with me hadn't changed and Esdeath got me to bring her around to fight others and get stronger. She might also see it as natural for me to have multiple lovers due to my strength. Everyone got just what they wanted with little to no need for sacrifices on their part for me.
"Actually, that's surprisingly sensible. I can see how that will work."
"Surprisingly?" she asked dangerously.
"I don't consider polygamy to be a very stable or healthy romantic lifestyle. To see it working so well is strange for me. We didn't have harems at all where I was born." Esdeath shrugged.
"You just need the right people and the right talents," she said. At that time, just the right time, really, a small knock on the door had me walking to it. I opened it and a refined man looked briefly surprised before looking past me to Esdeath and back to me.
"Lady Esdeath is requested for her audience with the Emperor," he said. I nodded.
"Tell whoever sent you that we'll be present in a moment." He bowed and walked off so I closed the door. "Should I get into a uniform?"
"Don't bother. Your cloak and combat wear is formal enough," Esdeath said uncaringly. She walked past me out of the room and I walked with her. We didn't talk and eventually came to a large fancy door manned by two attendants on either side of it.
"Normally the three beasts would be behind me as support but we teleported and they did not. You will do. Walk slightly behind me and to the right. Do you have any problems with kneeling?"
"I don't mind. Just don't expect me to actually serve the Empire honestly," I replied. She nodded and turned to the door, looking at the attendants tellingly. They glanced to each other and turned, pushing open the doors in sync. When the doors were open Esdeath walked forwards down a red carpet, myself following her.
"Now entering General Esdeath, General of the imperial armies," announced the servant on the right door. Some faint whispers stopped.
The throne room was smaller than I'd have expected. It was a slightly narrow room leading to a small throne where a child in green finery no more than twelve years old sat wearing a somewhat silly hat. Above us at our sides, elevated by short walls, were richly dressed nobles muttering amongst themselves.
Esdeath and I approached the throne in a few seconds of silence and kneeled down. Esdeath's head was bowed to the young Emperor, her hat on her chest, while mine was just below hers at the base of the throne, where I could see everything in my peripheral vision.
"General Esdeath! Welcome back from the icy north. We've heard tales of your conquest already," the Emperor said with a smile. "For your success in dealing with the northern tribes we have arranged a reward of ten thousand gold coins."
"I'm grateful, your highness. I'll send it to the soldiers still fighting to protect our land. They will be pleased." Honest, who stood at the Emperor's left side, seemed amused at this for some reason. "Now that I've returned to the capital from the northlands your majesty can once again rest at ease. I shall be terminating Night Raid next."
"Quite an ambitious undertaking," the Emperor approved. "We would like to compensate you for such an achievement with more than just money. Is there something else you prefer?" I could, just barely, see Esdeath's mouth smile just a little bit. It was the smile of a plan going exactly as expected.
"Actually, there is, if I could choose anything," she said, raising her head to the throne. I heard mutters from the nobles to my sides but they were ignored.
"Of course! Go on," the Emperor encouraged.
"I'd like to retire," she said. The throne room fell into utter silence as everyone looked at Esdeath. The Emperor and Honest stared at her genuinely open-mouthed for a moment, probably wondering if Esdeath, who literally lives for war and combat, just asked to retire.
"I-I beg your pardon, but retire? That is rather sudden,"tThe Emperor said, seemingly off guard. He glanced at Honest several times hopefully, who looked back at him wide-eyed, seemingly not knowing what to do. The nobles began actually talking, filling the throne room with background noise.
"I have found that there is more to my life than simple combat. Though I love my armies deeply, I trust General Budo to protect the Empire I have worked hard for," she said. I had to hold in my laughter. Live for more than combat? She was lying through her teeth!"
"I… yes, that is… true. There are many in the Empire who find comfort in… non-martial pursuits," the Emperor looked again to Honest, his gaze pleading. Honest looked between Esdeath and the Emperor and the nobles in the stands. You could see his teeth gritting as he nodded, looking like his heart was being ripped out. "Yes, that… can be accomplished," the Emperor smiled, seemingly more at ease with an order from Honest. "However, you say that you desire to finish Night Raid first?"
"Yes," Esdeath confirmed. "I would like to finish my obligations before I truly leave. I would not leave the Empire without a final gift, thus why my goal is so ambitious." The Emperor nodded.
"If I may," Honest cut in. "Would your retirement have anything to do with your newest companion?" Esdeath nodded.
"May I introduce Abyss Mavros, traveller, a fighter on par with myself and… my lover." Honest's eyes widened and he looked at me with a mixture of pity and anger.
"Ah… my congratulations, then," he said, sounding torn between his emotions, though he showed a toothy grin to me.
"Thank you, Prime Minister," she said pleasantly. "My time serving under your command has been a pleasure and I have learned much. Yet it's time I moved on to… other things."
"I understand," he said, glaring at me. I looked up just a little bit and met his gaze with neutrality, already knowing that we were not going to get along. I had taken the lady holding the Empire up, after all.
----------------------------------------------------------
If you like it please drop some POWER STONES