Beta read by Shigiya
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-Kuoh Outskirts, near Himejima Shrine-
What was pain?
I used to think I understood that word, shaped by the usual combination of physical hits and the silent mental punches that came with everything I had lived through. There had been enough messed-up events and questionable people to fill an entire anthology of bad decisions, each one more than willing to act as an enthusiastic instructor. Some tried to kill me, some nearly succeeded, and some made me wish they had just finished the job. Yet none of them ended up claiming the title of the worst, though my encounter with Setanta really came close to being that.
Regardless, it was the ones who genuinely wanted to keep me alive who managed to deliver the kind of agony that dragged itself out for hours, twisting every breath I took into a reminder that they could keep this going for as long as they wanted. Nothing I said or did could compensate for the moments when my sanity slid dangerously close to the edge. Or maybe that edge had already been crossed a long time ago, and had been in constant free fall, still waiting to hit the ground, which was something even Vritra and I had reluctantly agreed on during one of our shared internal debates.
"Hah… hah… hah…"
Running.
Exercise. The natural nemesis for logical thinkers that prefer to send their troops to the fighting instead of themselves. Even without Akeno floating somewhere directly above me, ready to drop a lightning bolt whenever I slowed down, I still hated every part of it. The burning in my lungs, the stiffness in my legs, the constant reminder that I was not built for endurance. "Keep running! You are doing a good job! At this rate, we can double your weight by tomorrow!" The training-obsessed devil who had decided to remake my life in the image of a torture manual shouted cheerfully beside me. His voice carried across the field while he ran alongside me as if this were nothing more than a light morning jog. Except I was dragging two car tires behind me, and he was dragging an actual car. A full car. With doors. And seats. And probably a working radio.
"Hah.. I… hah… gah! I've re-reached my limits. Ju-Just leave me here to-to die.." The words came out strained and muffled as my legs continued their honest attempt at escape from my body.
"Nonsense! I can still see the fire within you burning for more!" he shouted, completely sincere. Fire? Maybe. More specifically, how my lungs felt like they were on fire at the moment and a fire that wanted vengeance for ever agreeing to this torture. My tiny spark of rebellion faded the moment I remembered I had willingly asked him to help me train and therefore had no right to strangle anyone but my past self for this predicament.
"Why couldn't I be the main character who becomes ten times stronger after using one technique? At least it'll make all of the cons that comes with worth it," I muttered under my breath. I thought about Issei and his Boosted Gear, silently cursing the universe for lacking such convenient shortcuts.
"You are in this situation because of those shortcuts with your gear; actually consistent strength that will never be taken away from you does not work like that."
As much as I hated to admit it, he had a point. "You know, I was expecting our sessions to be more than just running, dodging things, and lifting things. Because so far, I don't feel any difference in my touki usage." At least with Kuroka, that woman kept forcing her energy into my body, making me feel like an inflated balloon before each run, and eventually that energy fizzled away. Even if it involved the horny cat siscon smothering me in her tits, while giving a bullshit excuse that she needed to be 'as close as possible nya~'. Koneko, on the other hand, was having a true anime training arc; given the last time I saw her, she was sitting beneath a waterfall and meditating with a cute expression of concentration on her face.
From afar, it seemed like a zen-like scene. Still, the moment I tried for just a brief moment, it nearly led to the sheer weight of the water crashing onto my weak, fleshly body., How that girl could just sit there so peacefully under so much pressure, or something that even I could not imagine.
"To bring improvements, our goal is to break down your body and rebuild it from the ground up," Sairaorg answered cheerfully. "You have endurance, lots of it, and can walk away after several meetings without giving up. But this is not a competition to see who can stay conscious the longest. There needs to be a proper progression, and with Touki, that means needing to refine your basics till they are perfect."
"Well, I am rather curious about what exactly you mean by breakdown of my body. Because I sure as hell feel like I've been broken down enough since these past few days." I replied dryly while huffing. Literally hundreds of my bones had been broken and healed back up to the point that I discovered places that could hurt that I never even knew about.
"Hahaha! There's no need to worry, this is just the beginning!"
I was gonna die.
"All right, I'm joking. You have made progress, but you just don't realize it yourself. It will all become clear in our next sparring session. Let's have a ten-minute break, then we can continue where we left off," he said, tapping my back with enough force that it felt like I was about to be flung ahead.
"Make it an hour."
"Fifteen minutes." His response was immediate and smug, and I refused to let that be the final offer.
"Thirty minutes. I have no energy left. I can't teleport to the washroom, so I'll need to walk back."
"If it's for number one, then you can do it many places, and if it's number two, then just dig a hole." I nearly stumbled on the ground after hearing that part, my reaction only drawing a louder laughter from the man until he just waved his hands dismissively. "Again, just messing with you. Let's have a forty-minute break."
"You're an angel."
"Far from it, actually," he replied with a lopsided grin before continuing his run. The car scraped long grooves into the ground behind him while he moved effortlessly, as if gravity itself refused to argue with him. My legs finally gave out, and I collapsed onto the dirt with a thud that felt louder than it should have been. I stared up at the branches above me while sunlight filtered through the leaves in scattered lines, warming my face just enough to give me a tiny moment of peace. Bit by bit, my eyes drifted closed as the exhaustion I had been ignoring finally caught me, dragging me into a brief and strangely quiet rest.
"—?"
When I felt myself being lightly nudged, I opened my eyes to find a slim hand next to my face, brushing gently against my cheek. The ground that had been pressing uncomfortably against the back of my head moments before had somehow turned into something warm and cushion-soft. It took me a second to realize that I was lying on someone. But rather at some point, a certain Seraph managed to gently have my head rest on her thighs with the soft fabric doing very little to mask the warmth exuding from her body. She sat serenely above me, twelve wings spreading behind her with a soft glow that made the clearing look far more peaceful than it actually was.
"Had a nice dream?" she asked, her voice carrying that caring tone she always had. Now this was an angel… literally.
I let out a low chuckle that came out rougher than expected. "The best kind. The kind that is nothing but darkness to rest my eyes, where I barely get enough time to enjoy it before real life drags me back awake again. But… this is not so bad."
Then again, the first thing I ended up seeing was the face of an angel, so waking up was not such a terrible outcome after all. I found myself muttering that under my breath while the woman in front of me let out a soft chuckle. Truthfully, I was too drained to feel awkward about whatever was unfolding between us after that kiss. My thoughts drifted constantly, so I simply let it go and relaxed into the softest thigh pillows in existence. For many people, something like this would probably count as a holy grail moment, and I could not exactly disagree.
"Is this uncomfortable for you?" I asked after several seconds of quiet, trying not to shift too much. "I am covered in dirt, my hair is probably sweaty by now, and you are sitting on the ground. It cannot be good for your knees."
Even as I continued enjoying the moment, the woman behind me only shook her head without the slightest hesitation.
"I do not mind getting dirty," she said, and for a second I had to steady my thoughts. If I was more of a degenerate, I would've interpreted those words into something more lewd, but refused to sink that low. There was absolutely no way she intended anything other than what she meant. She was honest to a fault, and sometimes that bordered on dangerous.
"Thanks for coming to see me, but honestly, there was no need," I muttered, feeling the warmth of the situation settle over me. It had been a long few days, and comfort like this felt rare.
"I need to cheer you on!" she replied, letting out a motivated huff that contrasted with her gentle expression. Even going so far as to do a cute little huff. "You have been doing so much lately, and I feel bad staying behind without contributing…"
"I am pretty sure you have a class to teach. The students must be missing their favorite teacher."
"It is fine. I can always ask Griselda to substitute for me, and it should work out. She is a much better teacher than I am, and the students will probably learn more under her anyway. Oh! Maybe Michael can help; he used to teach us back when Father first gave us life. We were born with knowledge, but Michael was the one to guide us on how to use them and understand the world along with its rules — he would make an excellent teacher."
That was what she said, aside from the Michael part, I couldn't help but ponder about Griselda. Based on everything I had heard from Xenovia, calling Griselda strict was putting it lightly. I had met her once, even if only briefly, and she left an impression strong enough to last for weeks. She carried an air that made you straighten your spine before you even noticed her doing anything.
"Have you started seeing any kind of progression?" she asked. Her fingers continued to move through my hair, brushing away small pieces of dust and smoothing out the strands.
"If by progression you mean getting better at not dying and avoiding Sairaorg as much as possible, then yes, I have improved my stealth quite a bit. But strength and stamina-wise, nothing much has changed. I already reached my physical peak, and my touki is not going to advance by huge leaps in just a few days."
I could not deny that I had at least two of the top ten teachers when it came to touki. Kuroka carried the recognition of a master senjutsu user, specializing in both senjutsu and touki, and Sairaorg was a monster even when relying only on his own ability and demonic energy. Their talents and species played an undeniable role in the height they had reached, but I knew that those were excuses more than anything. What I truly lacked was time, and there existed no cheat or shortcut that could close that gap in such a short period.
Before I could continue sorting out those thoughts, a quiet sound slipped from my mouth. I had not realized it until it happened, but warmth spread through
"You have your own version of Twilight healing? "
"I wouldn't really call it Twilight healing since it would still need a long while to close wounds. But this rejuvenates the mind and removes any mental fatigue. I never used it much in the past, but now it's as good an opportunity as any to give it a try." Her voice carried a quiet enthusiasm that felt unusual for her, yet I had to admit it was genuinely helpful. All the dread, stress, and heavy exhaustion I had been carrying around, both mentally and physically, began to disappear. The former softened first, slowly washing out of me like warm water running through cold fingers. The longer she continued, the easier it became to breathe, until it felt almost as if I had woken up from a full night's rest rather than the scattered fragments of sleep I normally managed.
"Thanks, Gabriel."
"This is just the beginning. I brought everything necessary to make sure you feel your best. Now that we've dealt with your mental fatigue, it's time for your physical."
With a snap of her fingers, a soft thud sounded beside me. Curious, I turned and stared at an inflated plastic water bed resting neatly on a carpet that had not been there a moment ago. A box appeared near the blonde woman, and she immediately bent over it, rummaging through the contents as if none of this was even remotely strange.
"Did you actually bring a bed into the middle of a forest just to have a nap? I wouldn't mind that honestly, but this looks too… familiar." The shape and texture of it felt wrong for simple sleep. It reminded him of something far less innocent, though he kept that to himself.
"There it is!" she said brightly, pulling out an entire bottle of fragranced oil. She followed it up with several candles and a small black laced bikini that barely counted as clothing.
"Eh? Where's the rest of it? Is this really all that comes with it? Oh, wait! Found the rest!" That did not reassure me. The so-called panties she lifted were nothing more than a pair of attached strings to a triangle that was the size of a Dorito. "Um, I'm not sure how to wear these. This is actually the first time I ever wore a bra. Don't worry, I'll get the hang of it."
For some reason, the no bra part felt the most normal thing to hear in this conversation. "Despite knowing that I might regret asking this, why do you have these and why do you need them?"
"You don't know?" she asked with pure innocence.
"I'm afraid I have an idea but I'm hoping you'll prove me wrong." A bad feeling crept through him. Maybe he was overthinking. Maybe paranoia was making me see things that were not there. There was no reason someone like her would know about those sorts of things.
"Then I'll take it upon myself to teach you this marvelous ingenuity of human invention. It's called a soap… uh, Mary? No, not that, Muru… Nuru! It's a nuru Nuru massage, I heard they are very popular in Japan!"
My dear not alive God, it's exactly what I feared!
"Wait, hold on, Gabriel! I feel like you're missing the context of what it involves!" I blurted out, damned if I would just sit by and let such a blinding innocence be tainted by by Japanese degeneracy! As beautiful and attractive as she was, and as much as many people would trade their own mothers for a moment like this, having an angel do something like that felt deeply wrong, along with a guillotine ready to fall on my neck.
"Muh…"
She pouted for a second, cheeks puffing slightly, before she flicked his forehead with a sharp snap. Except when coming from the second strongest being in Heaven, that little snap nearly caused a concussion to a normal human.
"Ouch!"
"You're still treating me like I am a child. I know what it is. Azazel made sure to give me all the materials I needed to learn about the subject properly. "
I froze. Knowing with conviction at that moment in time that I was absolutely going to kill that man. Slowly. Painfully. Wing by wing.
"By the way, he told me to tell you that you don't need to thank him for anything. And that this oil has some special effect that… helps to excite the body or something like. That sounds helpful! Eh, why are you frowning Hachi-kun?"
Frowning? I was mostly just figuring out life and why the hell would Azazel do such a thing. "It's all right. I'm just contemplating how to kill him slowly. Sorry, Gabriel. You might lose another brother by tomorrow."
It took a moment for me to realize that perhaps my joke came out as a bit too sensitive for the woman. Yet surprisingly enough, she just chuckled. "I don't see why it's so bad. It's something intimate meant for two lovers. We already kissed, so this shouldn't be an issue. "
"You are taking a giant leap and shortcutted through several bases, including the home base. Don't believe everything Azazel tells you when it comes to relationships." The conversation I had with the Governor General came rushing back, making everything more awkward than it should have been. Who in the world exposes their sister to such content!?
"Did he say anything interesting during your conversation?" She asked, cutting into my rambling with a light smile. She held a few suspicious items in her hands, but I decided it was safer to ignore them. I took a slow breath and answered with a calm tone.
"He mentioned how he first fell. The woman he fell in love with and everything that followed. It helped clear up some confusion I had."
"Did you get your answer?"
"I want to think that I did, but the deeper I look, the more messy this entire thing becomes. It is honestly a miracle that it even works with Akeno and Rias."
I did not say it out loud, but my point was clear enough for Gabriel to understand. "Are you afraid it will not work with me, too?"
"I am afraid that you will end up disappointed. The circumstances between me and the other two are not quite the same. We have known each other for more than a decade, and we are familiar with each other's habits. The whole harem idea was originally Akeno's plan, and the rest of us went along with it because it somehow worked out in the end."
"That is wonderful. I am happy to hear that it was thanks to Akeno's help that the three of you managed so well." There was not even a hint of jealousy in her tone. As unbelievable as it sounded, she did not appear angry or sad or even annoyed. It was strange, almost surreal, how expressive she normally was, yet I could not get a read on her emotions here. "You are worried that it will not work out with me joining the harem," she said. Her confidence surprised me, but she was not wrong.
"I am grateful for everything you have done, Gabriel, truly. But I do not see things going smoothly between you and the other two. At some point, there will be jealousy, far more than anyone can reasonably deal with."
"Indeed. I think so as well." She remained on my side, which caught me off guard. "From what I understand, love does not only apply to one person alone. Akeno loves both of you. The same goes for Rias. She loves you two, and you love both of them. The three of you love each other, and that is why it worked."
"I admit it sounds ridiculous when you say it out loud, but that is how things are," I said while nodding slightly.
"I hold great admiration for the two girls. I am proud of what they managed to achieve in pursuit of what they truly love. Even if they are devils and others think they should be our natural enemies, they still chase a kind of freedom we angels may never have." She shifted from her spot and leaned toward me. Her hair brushed against my face, and one hand rested on my chest. The earlier comfort of her lap pillow faded away as she positioned herself beside me on the ground. "I do not see myself joining your harem because even though I admire them, I do not love them."
"I know which is why—"
She looked directly at me as she settled beside my shoulder, continuing without letting me finish. "—But I do see myself continuing to love you. Maybe Father would not have agreed with the way I am approaching this, but I am following what I believe to be his teachings. My love is not for them. It is for you. It is simple, pure, and, unfortunately for me, I do not think I can let go of that anytime soon. If I were ever to fail and turn into a Fallen Angel, it would not come from lust or jealousy. It would come from my own selfishness. Do you not think so?"
I honestly did not know what to say, so I let my attention drift toward her wings. One of the feathers slipped free and drifted down until it landed against my chest. I lifted it with a slow motion, twirling it between my fingers while watching the faint, almost ethereal glow shimmer along its edge. After a moment, I murmured, "I do like how they currently look."
"I do too," she answered before lowering her face. Her hands rose with a gentle certainty as she cupped my cheeks, and our lips met. The first contact was nothing more than a chaste kiss, the kind where neither person rushes anything. We simply rested in each other's presence. Her scent, her warmth, her softness, all of it settled over me in a way I probably appreciated more than I wanted to admit. Maybe it was the exhaustion from training, or maybe I was just searching for an excuse for why it hit so hard. Either way, it felt like a once-in-a-lifetime moment.
"Hehehe," she giggled in a goofy tone once our lips parted. Then she let her head rest on my neck, rubbing her face against me with unfiltered affection while her breasts rubbed against my chest. "That felt better than last time. So this is what people mean when they say that showing love with someone you care about feels amazing."
The more she talked, the harder it became to suppress the urge to chuckle. She was not wrong, and in a way, I agreed with her far more than expected. "Now I want to stay like this forever." Her twelve wings stretched outward in a slow, sweeping motion. They began to fold around me until I felt the ground drift away. Before I realized it, they formed something like a cocoon, closing off the outside world and leaving the two of us alone inside.
"Father always warned us to never become slaves to our own desires, but now I finally understand how tempting the other side can be. Do you think so as well?" She asked, those things robes, practically making me feel every curve, every single part of her front body.
So with some difficulty, I managed to whisper, "We are not doing anything sinful. This is as innocent as it can be. Your method is on the edge, I will admit, but still nothing extreme."
"Does this mean that you will accept me?"
"I have a feeling that even if I said no, it would not stop you."
"Yes," she replied cheerfully. "Because I know it would be a lie. You should not lie, Hachiman. That is a bad habit."
"I know. And it also would not stop you from continuing with whatever this is."
"Not even Michael will be able to stop me. I can tell that he, just like you, is worrying for some silly reason that I will fall. But I know deep in my heart that what I am doing is not a sin and is what Father would have wanted." What he would have wanted, huh, I wasn't sure about that… letting your daughter date a guy who already had two girlfriends was a guaranteed several shotguns to the face for any other person. But then again, I knew nothing of the late God and trusted Gabriel's judgment on his character.
"I am still confused as to why it is me," I said. It felt like the second or third time I had asked. I did not remember phrasing it exactly like that before, but I was certain I had asked something similar.
"Because you are you, and I like you. You are a very kind man who cares about others more than you let on."
"That is debatable, but I'm too tired prove that statement wrong."
A soft rustle followed, the unmistakable sound of shifting clothes. My eyes twitched a bit as I glanced down at her. "Are you still trying to wear that thing?" I asked when I noticed her holding the tiny white g-string and matching bra. Even if she managed to put it on, it would not hide much of anything.
"I rarely get gifts from Azazel, so I do not want to waste them."
"You can ignore it. I will handle it. But before anything goes further, I should talk things out with Akeno first."
"Sure. I do not mind. She can even join us if you are okay with more such moments. My wings are pretty big. Oh! I can do this with you if we lived together; in fact, that is a good idea! I will also be able to protect you!"
I laughed awkwardly and forced a small smile, fully aware of the kind of trouble the raven-haired girl could cause for the people around her. There was a reason why I called her a succubus at times. Especially someone as incredibly naive as the one wrapped around me now.
But then again, I started to wonder what if the opposite happened and Gabriel started to influence Akeno?
That would be a miracle.
"Um… can you open your wings now?" I asked, realizing that I could not leave, and her arms were still holding onto me.
"Mmmm, ten more minutes, I want to take a nap."
"...fine"
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(Several hours later)
The walk back to the Shinto shrine was a short one. Ever since I started training here, Akeno kept visiting me every day along with the others, bringing lunch and whatever else I needed. At this point, I had honestly lost count of how many times I had climbed these steps, most of them involving rushed sprints rather than calm walks.
"Akeno, you there?" I called out as I stepped inside. I could sense several presences gathered deeper within the room. I followed it toward the main area before sliding the door open with a slow pull, revealing Akeno waiting inside.
"Oh my, it has been a while, hasn't it, Hachi-kun?"
"Ah," This was not Akeno; that realization immediately struck me upon paying closer attention to the woman and spotting the small differences between them. "Shuri?" I whispered with surprise as I was not prepared to meet her today. "What are you doing here?" I asked with genuine curiosity, both happy and confused to see her again.
"Oh, nothing dear, I just missed being around the shrine, so I just decided to visit the place and see how it is holding up." She said while approaching me, and before I knew it, she wrapped me in a hug. "And I had to make sure my future son-in-law was doing well."
"I'm doing okay." It was a bit awkward returning the gesture, for even though it had been quite a while since I had that particular dream involving both Venelana, Grayfia, and Shuri… I honestly felt quite ashamed facing them at times, for the memories would resurface. Dreams were supposed to be done and gone, something you could barely remember after waking up, yet for some reason, it was still as vivid since then, and making me wonder if I have mommy issues or just my hormones react to a bunch of class S MILFs that have entered my life.
"I have some matters to discuss with you, but that will wait. Akeno is waiting for you." She said before, immediately walking away and waving me goodbye. I returned the gesture, at least glad to see that today was not as miserable as I feared. The woman looked healthier, happier, and that was all that mattered.
Without wasting more time, I walked into the living room.
"Rias?" I was not surprised to see her. She had stopped by several times during the past few days to check on me, though each visit never lasted more than a couple of minutes before she slipped back into whatever business demanded her attention in town. Even so, her timing today felt oddly convenient. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, it is good that you are here. We were just talking about you." Akeno approached in her priestess outfit, her steps quiet in that familiar, practiced way of hers. Before I could properly register her expression, her arms slid around me, and her body leaned close enough that I could hear her take in the scent near my neck. "Gabriel came to pay a visit."
She managed to deduce that with the smell alone?
"Yup."
"Was it about the kiss?"
I didn't say anything. My reaction must have been obvious because Akeno let out a soft laugh before lowering her voice so only I could hear her. "She visited us yesterday, and told us everything. I already had my suspicions, but I did not expect her to be so direct about it. I imagine that is why you came to talk about this, is it not?"
My silence served as the clearest answer she needed, along with the extended silence. "You really can be quite predictable at times."
"I prefer to call that good communication between us. It is not something I can solve without talking to you and Rias. You both know that."
"I think you may be overthinking it much more than you need to." Akeno squeezed my arm gently. Her chest pressed against my shoulder, warm and distracting in a way she knew exactly how to use. "As long as you do not stop loving me, then I do not mind. Even if Gabriel says she has no intention of joining the harem, which is a shame, she still wants to be with you. I'm just surprised that she hasn't fallen."
Azazel's words drifted back to me, followed by Gabriel's own explanation. There was no reason for her to fall as long as her feelings were genuine and pure. She had made that clear to everyone involved without hiding anything. Acting not out of lustful desire or impulse but out of honest care. A Seraph choosing something so grounded and simple felt almost surreal. "Just what did you even do to make a Seraph act like that?"
Hearing her question, I just shook my head. "Trust me, I have no idea. I'm still trying to figure out why you and Rias pick me of all people."
"I feel like you already know but don't want to admit it. Your usual habit of overthinking things is stopping you from accepting the simple truth."
Looking at it that way, I supposed she was right. I had spent too much time making a mountain out of a mole hill. Some dramatic turning point. A single scene that would fit neatly into a sequence of choices like some game that wanted me to clear a route. The more I considered it, the more ridiculous I felt. Life did not work through neatly labeled events that decided whether someone cared about you or not — at least in most scenarios. If their feelings could be reduced to one convenient turning point, they would have been shallow at best. It had been a slow build made of countless small things I never bothered to acknowledge properly.
"But I am curious about how she plans on sleep with you without falling. Imagine if she is secretly the kinkiest out of us three, I heard plenty of times how it's the purest ones tend to be the most… creative~! Fufufufufu~."
I swallowed the lump in my throat when my treacherous brain actually tried to picture what she said and remembering the bikini that Gabriel had brought! "Do you even hear what you are saying?" My voice came out flat, and Akeno only smiled as if she had been waiting for that reaction.
"She is a beautiful woman. You cannot blame me for being curious. A small part of me wants to corrupt her in my own way."
"You are trouble," I said while patting her head. She leaned into it without hesitation.
"And you love me for it. But let us set aside the image of you sleeping with Gabriel for now. Something tells me you will be dealing with another situation soon enough. Rias has something important to share."
"So you two finally acknowledge my existence." The redhead sat on the table nearby, legs crossed, arms folded, expression tightened into a perfect picture of jealousy and annoyance she tried and failed to hide for being ignored. Her posture alone revealed more than her tone ever could. I almost let out an amused grin because of how strangely adorable she looked.
"Sorry. We got caught up in the moment."
"I know. And I was this close to doing something about it."
"So, what's up?" I asked. The moment the words left my mouth, the redhead snapped her fingers. A magic circle shimmered on the table, and a small stack of items materialized with a faint crackle. The sight made me blink twice.
"Spell books?" I muttered after picking up the closest one. The cover felt familiar in a way that made something old and dusty in my memory shift. I flipped through the first few pages, recognizing the structure of the texts and the faint echo of nights I had once spent drowning in similar books. "Hold on, these are…"
"They are custom-made," Rias said, confirming what I had already guessed from the first few lines. The writing felt directed at me, almost tailored to how I processed spells. "I asked my brother for a favor, and we reached Mephisto. He has a lot of connections to major magic circles and is a powerful magic user himself. Given you helped him before, he agreed to help and created these to make it easier for you to learn new spells and refine the ones you already know. Adding that everything in here should be something you can perform if you push yourself."
She wasn't wrong. Most of the spells were variations of ones I already understood. Some only required minor adjustments. Others were entirely new but built on foundations I recognized. A few even looked designed to work alongside my Sacred Gear, almost like hints in the margins from someone who had already predicted my habits before I acted on them.
"I also helped out," Akeno added, sounding a little too proud for someone pretending to be humble. "There are several spells derived from my own lightning, but without the holy attribute. You will need help learning those, so for a while I will be your teacher again." Her tone carried a suspicious amount of enthusiasm, and I could practically see the gleam in her eyes. Whatever ideas she had brewing were clearly something she had been waiting to unleash.
I felt my danger sense setting off alarms.
"You're just waiting for an excuse to electrocute me and enjoy it, aren't you?"
"That is only a small part of it, which is why I am so excited."
She did not even bother to hide her sadism.
Great. Just… great. And this is the woman I fell love with.
Dear not alive God, don't let me end up like Baraquiel.
"Actually, there is something else you should know," Rias said. A brief hesitation flickered across her expression. "It concerns Diodora."
"Oh?" I hadn't expected his name. Even when Ajuka said he would look into the matter, I never assumed he would take any drastic action. It was like expecting Sirzechs to punish his sister. Family ties in the underworld were not exactly flexible. But the way Rias looked made me curious enough to listen.
"An investigation was led, and we discovered that several members of Diodora's peerage were actually former nuns who had been excommunicated. Some are even believed to have been kidnapped and assumed dead for years. Turns out… we now know what actually happened since the patterns felt suspiciously familiar to Asia's."
If my disdain and dislike of that guy previously were not already big enough, somehow now it just continued to grow. "What?"
She nodded slowly. A somber look weighed on her features. "That is only the beginning. Many of them cannot be said to be in a sound state. Their minds have been broken to the point they behave like puppets following every one of his orders, even if it means dying. It is disgusting." Her tone rose with clear anger, and her hands tightened into fists. Someone like her, a Gremory, who cared for her peerage as if they were family, would never accept something so twisted.
"I hope your brother is not planning to be lenient," I said. I expected reassurance, maybe even determination. Instead, I saw nerves return to her eyes, and Akeno's expression shifted as well. Whatever they were about to say, it wasn't good. "Don't tell me nothing happened and he was forgiven."
"No," she said immediately. "I would never allow that. Even Sona would not accept such an outcome and would have asked Serafall to help out."
"Then what is the issue? Has he been apprehended or not?"
She exhaled, met my eyes, and whispered, "His whereabouts are unknown."
A moment of silence passed between us, and I looked at the redhead in disbelief. "You can't be serious."
Looking away in embarrassment, she continued. "Yesterday, a group was sent to apprehend him as ordered by both Sirzechs and even Ajuka. But according to the reports, the moment this operation began, the other one escaped through a dark portal of some sort, using some members of his peerage to distract those who were after him."
The moment she mentioned a dark portal, the image of a certain dragon god surfaced in my mind, and my fist tightened. Were they once again trying to use her for their own benefit? She was the only person I knew who could create something like that, having used it once to shove me away and pull me out of Rizevim's reach. Unfortunately, the bad news was piling up instead of settling.
"And we are not sure how, but it appears that the news of your inability to use your Sacred Gear has already spread in the Underworld, and it is very likely that he knows about this and will try to come after you."
"Great. Of course he does." It took me a few seconds to catch on. "Wait, is that the reason why Gabriel kept insisting on staying by my side and even living in my house?"
Rias nodded while her expression shifted into a pout. "Most likely. Though I feel it's unnecessary. We are perfectly capable of protecting you until you regain full control of your gear."
There it was, the jealousy I expected from her. Normally, I would have felt some amusement, but I had no room for that. My eyes narrowed as I tried to piece together everything I knew about that boy. Even if our encounter had been brief, and even though I never got the chance to face him during the Rating Game the way he probably wanted, I liked to think I had gained a decent grasp of his personality.
The more I considered it, the less it made sense that he would come after me. I had not done anything severe to him that would merit that level of personal hatred, aside from revealing his true allegiance to Sirzechs and Ajuka. And the boy was not stupid enough to attack someone surrounded by people who can nuke him with a single spell.
As I sorted through my current situation, I felt something faint stir within me, like a muffled voice echoing through a long corridor. It sounded as if someone was trying to reach out, but the sound broke apart before any clear words formed.
"Vitra? Are you trying to say something?"
It was frustrating that we could not communicate properly unless I pulled myself deep into my consciousness, where only impressions and intentions could be shared. For him to reach out so suddenly meant that something was either urgent or something had caught his attention that I had not noticed yet.
"Do you think he will come after me?"
A weak rumble answered, the sensation similar to a dragon shaking its head. It felt like a clear denial.
"I am the target that makes the most sense. Who else would he go after but the person who kind of ruined his life and now forced him into hiding?"
Several more echoes followed. "Are you saying that I'm not the only one he may be going after?"
This time, the response felt firmer, two sharp echoes falling into place like a clear confirmation.
I let the idea sink in. The thought stretched slowly across my mind until it snapped into clarity, widening my eyes.
"Hey, Rias… where is Asia?"
As if the universe itself was playing a joke on me, my phone rang with the name of the color being the person I started to worry about. Wasting no time, I answered it by hearing the former blonde nun's voice on the other side, sounding like she was out of breath and clearly rattled. "H-Hachi—uh, s-somethint h-happene—"
Immediately, I got up from the ground, feeling that my worst fears had indeed come true. "Did something happen? Is someone after you? Tell me where you are! I'll teleport there as fast as I c—"
"It's Raynare!" The girl on the other side shouted, cutting me off. "S-She protected me and n-now… sh-she pushed me away f-from something… n-now she's gone!"
What?
Raynare?
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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, and my other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters, Steel Eyed Faker soon to be 3 chapters, Hound having 3 and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.