BXBX NOVEL Chapter 521: Interlude 37 + Looking Glass Omake Part 6
Chapter 521: Interlude 37 + Looking Glass Omake Part 6
"Thank you, Katerea." I said, taking them from her.
"Y-yes, of course, Lord Rizevim." She seemed stunned for some reason.
I merely held up a hand silently to dismiss her, quickly flipping through the papers she handed to me. Gradually, I found myself smiling and amused by what I was reading.
"You seem to be in an oddly good mood."
"Am I?" I contemplated that, glancing towards Crom Cruach in his human form. "Perhaps I am. The Trickster put on quite the show, and I am very satisfied with his performance."
"Even though he failed." The Evil Dragon questioned.
"Failure is subject to perspective, I believe." I hummed lightly. "We achieved our main goal through his efforts by accident." And I also learned some interesting things and found someone that piqued my interest.
"Oh?" The Evil God seemed to perk up."Is that why you called this meeting, Rizevim?" Angra Mainyu asked.
"One of a few reasons." I confirmed to the Evil God of Zoroastrianism. "I believe it was time to advance our plans to the next stage."
"The Dragon is right, you\'re much more talkative and expressive than normal." The Evil God pointed out as well.
Was it really noticeable?
No matter.
"And what goal did we achieve?" Chernobog tapped the table impatiently. "With the loss of Loki, our presence in the Norse Faction is all but gone. That is a substantial loss, in addition to losing the two Titans we spent a lot of effort to free from imprisonment. What could possibly make up for that kind of loss of forces?"
"Calm yourself, Chernobog. Let them speak." Hanpa, one of the last Sumerian Gods calmly interjected.
"Well, if you want to talk about losses, Hades seems to have betrayed us." Angra Mainyu added on rather flippantly.
"What?" Chernobog\'s fist hit the table. "I knew he wasn\'t fully on board, but to betray us!? He is a fool and must have a death wish!"
"Did he finally decide to leave us?" I lazily asked. "A shame, I felt like we could have squeezed some things out of him before he finally decided to step away. I suppose he was still upset about freeing the Titans from their Cage?"
"Is this a game to you?" Chernobog asked angrily.
"Yes." I managed to put forth the effort to reply.
Angra Mainyu chuckled, using his power to put up a barrier between us as the Slavic God\'s power erupted out. "Come now, friends." It was always strange to see him smile. "We all have the same goal. Evil Gods should stick together, through the power of friendship!"
"…..never say that again and I\'ll stop." Chernobog said with a look of disgust.
"Deal."
"Hmph." His power receded backwards. "I\'m tired of being yanked around. Tell me what\'s going on."
He did join much later than most of us, so he wasn\'t privy to the sordid details of our little….group. "I suppose it wouldn\'t hurt."
He has been….loyal to our joined cause.
"We\'ve been searching for the location of the Beast of the Apocalypse." Angra Mainyu stated.
It was amusing to see the Slavic God still at the mention. "Those old stories? They\'re nothing more than legends, even to us Gods." He waved his hand dismissively.
"Oh, they\'re much more than stories." The Zoroastrian God countered. "It\'s the reason that our Dear Abrahamic God is no longer around. It\'s the reason that the original Devils were even capable of dealing any significant damage to him at all. And most amusingly, it\'s the origin of Devils in the first place."
"What!?"
"Isn\'t that a surprise." Hanpa rubbed his chin.
"What proof do you have?" Chernobog demanded.
"Am I not proof enough?" I spoke up. "However, he speaks the truth. I discovered my Father\'s old notes some centuries ago where he mentions that the origins of his \'Demonic\' powers come from the combination of his Angel nature and a wisp of power from the Beast itself. They combined into what you see today."
Before either of them could speak, a Teleportation Circle lit up in the room, another familiar face joining us.
"I apologize for being late, I was held up and unable to come when I received the message to gather." Tezcatlipoca apologized, taking one of the many empty seats at the table.
"It\'s no problem." Angra Mainyu waived it off. "Would you like something to drink, some snacks?" He offered.
"I\'m alright, thank you." The Aztec God of Evil smiled and politely declined.
Just because we\'re Evil doesn\'t mean we\'re uncivilized.
"Though, it seems as I\'m not the only one running late." He looked around at the rather empty gathering.
"It is what it is." The Zoroastrian God shrugged. "It\'s already hard enough to get this many of us to gather on short notice without causing a commotion."
"An unfortunate truth." Tezcatlipoca nodded. "Especially with our identities being revealed, we have many more eyes on us now."
"Oh well, we couldn\'t hide forever." Angra Mainyu replied casually. "It doesn\'t change much. We were just filling in our friends here with our true plans."
"The Beast of the Apocalypse?"
"Correct."
"Carry on."
"Explain the Beast." Chernobog went back to tapping the table patiently, but there was a hint of hesitation in his tone.
"It should be, at a minimum, on the same level as Ophis and Great Red." Angra Mainyu. "Without plications that either of them have."
"You mean how both of them are absolute morons." Hanpa asked.
"Well, I didn\'t want to be rude." The Zoroastrian God chuckled.
"….and this won\'t be like how we \'lost\' Ophis?" Chernobog asked.
"To be fair…" Angra Mainyu raised up his finger. "The Ouroboros Dragon was never technically on our side. If it found out what we were really trying to do, it would have destroyed us without a second thought."
"It does save us the trouble of having to deal with it to advance to the last stage of our plans." Tezcatlipoca agreed. "Though it is concerning how those…Youkai were able to remove it from the board as they revealed during that interesting meeting between factions."
I would bet that the target of my newfound interest had a hand in such a thing.
"I offered to go find out myself." Crom Cruach impatiently answered. "If someone or something over there is capable of defeating or \'removing\' the Dragon of Infinity, then I would want to fight it."
"Peace, my friend, you will have enough battles to satisfy you in time. Let\'s not ruin the main course for a simple hors d\'oeuvres." Angra Mainyu was surprisingly talented at managing many conflicting and aggressive personalities.
The Dragon just grunted, going back to being silent. He wasn\'t a very talkative one, but his strength was indisputable, having reached the level of the Heavenly Dragons in their prime.
"You said Loki achieved this objective despite his loss during Ragnarök?" Chernobog raised his concerns.
"The Biblical God sealed away the Beast of the Apocalypse at the cost of nearly all of his power." I began to explain. "In addition, there are 666 seals across the world, smaller in scope, but they serve to prevent the Beast from… \'reaching out\' into the world. They contain malevolence and hatred and negativity from accumulating enough to give it a foothold. Hell had one at its entrance, and Loki used Pandora\'s Box to contain everything accumulated there along with the small touch of the Beast that tried to reach out and then used it to try and corrupt the World Tree. He failed, in the end, but it was enough that it caused a stir that we were able to trace back."
"So it exists." The Slavic God breathed out. "Where is it?"
"The Ends of the World." Angra Mainyu stated. "The clever Abrahamic God sealed it at the Ends of the World, neutering it almost completely. And until now, no one knew the sacrifice he made to protect the world. Amusing, isn\'t it?"
A place that one cannot reach because it\'s at the \'end\'. What can an engine of destruction do when the \'end\' was already around it?
The location itself was a significant part of the seal as well.
"How do we release it?" Chernobog asked.
Angra Mainyu clapped his hands. "Now that\'s the question to ask, my friend! See, we\'re all on the same page here. To answer your question, well, we\'re not entirely sure! At this moment, we\'re going to focus on destroying the seals around the world. We\'ve already destroyed 89 of them so far."
"90." Tezcatlipoca corrected. "I found the one in Argentina."
"Well done."
"Thank you." He politely returned a smile.
"Still, we\'re down a substantial amount of manpower. The plan was for Loki to destroy Asgard and the Norse Gods, then we could have used the remainder of his forces for our own use." Chernobog pointed out.
"True, true." Angra Mainyu nodded. "I can\'t disagree that it puts us in an awkward spot, and Loki being gone is a big loss to us as well. Especially since he was working on that project of yours that was left over from when your subordinate was taken…" He looked at me.
"Ah yes, Euclid. It\'s a shame, he was a good underling. Fortunately, Loki completed his research before he left to begin his plans. We just need to find a worthwhile Sacred Gear and we should be able to mass produce copies of it. With some tests and experimentation of course." I replied, not caring about the value of this \'information\'.
"See, we\'re doing alright still." Angra Mainyu gestured between us. "We still have plenty of allies and friends around the world. Just because they couldn\'t make it here doesn\'t mean they\'re gone. I even managed to recently convince Eris to become one of our spies! I\'m trying to work on Ares, I think I almost got him. Like Eris, he only cares about causing War while hers is about Discord. I think he\'s just playing hard to get right now."
"Eris?" Hanpa asked. "While she\'s not the most beloved Goddesses, she\'s far from being Evil."
"Well, she\'s treating it like a game." Angra Mainyu. "I may have misled her into believing we just wanted to cause some discord around the world."
"Ah, that would do it."
"And the research into resurrecting Balor?" Crom Cruach asked.
"It\'s a work in a progress." I replied. "You\'re welcome to come and see in person." I offered as well. It was only polite considering he was the one with a former relationship with the Evil God Balor.
"I still don\'t know why you just don\'t use the Holy grail." The dragon grumbled. "It would be much simpler."
"The Young Vampire Girl is still learning to control it."
"Since when do you care about her safety?"
"A useful tool shouldn\'t be cast aside so hastily, Crom Cruach." Angra Mainyu chimed in. "The young vampire girl has a much deeper connection to that object than us, it\'s more optimal to turn her into a proper interface rather than just brute forcing it. Why, she even managed to mutate it into three separate Grails that perform the same purpose but remove many of the negative side effects! A boon we would have never discovered if we simply ripped it out of her like some primitive."
"And she\'s working with us willingly?" Chernobog asked.
"A simple transaction, my friend. The original owner of Balor\'s eye was another vampire that was her childhood friend. We agreed not to kill him when excavating old Balor\'s eye, and she agreed to cooperate." The Evil God smiled warmly. "Believe me, my fellows, I am just an anxious as you all are, I very much wish for my old Dragon to come back again, I miss that Evil Bastard. It\'ll be the perfect way to celebrate our reunion, by burning the world down."
"You mentioned that Hades betrayed us?" Hanpa raised a question that I was also a little curious about.
"Since when?" Tezcatlipoca looked surprised.
"You know how it is." Angra Mainyu let out a sigh. "He was still upset about breaking out his old man. He even attacked poor Aka Manah and ruined one of my plans going on in England."
"Is that why he isn\'t here with us?" Hanpa asked.
"Unfortunately, Hades and his pet Thanatos did a number of my dear friend and he\'s recovering at the moment."
"Why did Hades attack Aka Manah. And what was he doing to attract Hades attention?" Tezcatlipoca questioned.
"Those are certainly questions to ask. As for why, I honestly have no clue. I didn\'t run afoul Hades whatsoever. I had Aka Manah possessing the owner of a peculiar Sacred Gear that popped up, one of the Church\'s Holy Relics it seems. It was able to brainwash people to a pleasant degree and I was using her to see if I could expand and take over the world merely through a human\'s efforts. She wasn\'t particularly hard to persuade after some….motivation."
"How was this going to advance our plans?" Chernobog asked.
"Oh, it wasn\'t. It was just a game I was playing when I wasn\'t busy. I suppose she was a somewhat valuable piece herself, and I may have eventually pulled her further in. But it\'s no substantial loss all things considered."
"So it stands to reason that Hades targeted the Girl specifically, and not you." Crom Cruach mused out loud. "Interesting."
"Who knows what that guy is thinking. As long as he isn\'t targeting us specifically, I don\'t really care what he gets up to. It would take too much effort and sacrifice to bring Hades under heel, so best ignore him unless he becomes a problem." Hanpa perfectly voiced the thoughts of most of us present.
"Agreed, best to let sleeping dogs lay. Besides, we still have significant manpower all over. Our friends in the Celtic Part of the world are keeping the Tuatha De Danann busy. Indra and his are still cleaning up the mess around their own enemies acting up. We\'ve recently reached an agreement with Kun Peng and his Demons to help with the Celestial Bureaucracy. The Norse aren\'t capable of doing much for the foreseeable future. The Greeks….well, we have several people among their number that\'re able to keep them occupied, and Typhon has yet to make a move there. The Devils have our dear Rizevim over there to keep them in check." Angra Mainyu listed off several key points.
"What about the Shinto Gods…..and the Youkai." Chernoborg asked, causing the room to lose its casual overtone.
"Them." Angra Maiynu pursed his nonexistent lips. He was able to emote very well for not having many physical features. "Truthfully, we don\'t have anyone of significance over there. We originally had some small minions calling themselves the \'Cult of Tamamo-no-Mae\', but they were cleaned up fairly quickly after causing a commotion."
"Are we just going to ignore everything that\'s been happening around them?" Chernobog asked. "How many times have they interfered with our plans at this point? Even indirectly."
Angra Mainyu turned to me with a strange look on his face. "It\'s not so much the Youkai is it? A wayward Devil is the primary cause for everything if we trace things backwards."
"Ah, Ddraig\'s new host." Crom Cruach sat up straighter. "I am intrigued. Not to mention he has that Witch by his side. I was saddened when I heard of her death, I would have loved to be the one to kill her."
"I would like to know how he has so many individuals who should be dead reappearing by his side." Tezcatlipoca seemed annoyed. "It offends me, as a Death God."
"Aren\'t you helping us resurrect a bunch of dead things?" Hanpa asked.
"Yes, but I\'m giving permission. It\'s different." He causally waived off the hypocrisy. "Hmm, but Izanami is close to him, so I guess I should retract that…..for now."
"You Death Gods." Angra Mainyu rolled his eyes. "Your camaraderie is as touching as it is annoying sometimes. But it is a point worth discussing. Every major incident recently….that Devil has been involved in some way. He is the reason that Loki was removed from our table. This strike against us, intentional or not, cannot go unanswered."
"He\'s strong." Crom Cruach offered.
"It\'s undeniable at this point." Hanpa agreed. "Loki almost certainly underestimated him for being a Devil and a Mortal. No offense, Rizevim."
"It\'s fine." I casually dismissed the slight. I was in far too good a mood to care about such a petty thing right now. "I admit, he also has my attention."
"Ohoh?" Angra Maiynu chortled. "Our lazy Rizevim finally has something moving him? A fellow Devil that finally caught your eye? I\'m surprised, even those Monsters ruling over the Underworld these days don\'t even get a response from you."
"I feel like I found a kindred soul." I smiled warmly. "So many of my kin, they\'re obsessed with such….petty and stupid things. But look at him, he does whatever he wants and takes whatever he wants, like a true Devil. I can\'t help but feel a hint of pride."
"He also prevented Ragnarök, saving Asgard, and foiling our plans. I don\'t believe he lands on the same side of our fence." Hanpa pointed out.
"He\'s young still, he just needs someone to teach him properly. The most important thing is mentality, and he has the mentality of a true Devil."
"Rare praise, Rizevim." Angra Maiynu hummed. "I take it you want to \'deal with him\' then? Our agreements do still hold even now, those from correlating factions get first dibs."
"Thank you, I would prefer to handle him myself." I expressed my sincerity towards the Evil God that I had come to appreciate in our working relationship.
It\'s pleasant to have such competent allies such as these. It truly makes me miss the Trickster, even if I will never forget his last show.
"What\'s your plan?" Crom Cruach asked.
"You are surprisingly interested." I raised an eyebrow.
"I could say the same thing." The Dragon snorted. "He is an anomaly. A Half-Devil wielder of the Boosted Gear, possessing Divinity, wielding Holy Power, a Magician of such caliber that he can match Gods with Magic alone. Any combination of those makes me interested. Most importantly, he is a Dragon, thus I wish to understand him."
"He\'s mine." I warned him.
The Dragon\'s aura seeped out. "What if I want him?"
I cracked my neck and let my own power come out to match his. "I wouldn\'t mind a new set of armor made from Dragon Scales."
A massive black hand smashed the table completely, leaving a rather large imprint. "FRiEnDs." A distorted voice caused us both to stop. "Let\'s not fight, okay?" Angra Mainyu\'s tone was still chipper. "Crom Cruach, you know the rules. You agreed and we all are letting you handle the Celtic Faction how you wanted."
"And I offered up Balor\'s Eye for our mutual goals despite the value it held." The Dragon retorted.
"That\'s true, that\'s true." The Zoroastrian God stroked his chin. "But it\'s still up to Rizevim. What are your plans, Rizevim?"
I sat back down in my chair despite the table being gone. "I would not be against him participating as long as we do things my way."
"See? No need for violence when we can just talk things out~"
"What did you have in mind?" The Dragon fell back into his own seat.
"I have not yet thought of a plan." I became lost, deep in thought. "I\'m still learning about him and have not decided how I want to handle it just yet."
"I have an idea that you can both be involved in. Crom Cruach, your faction had the most interacted with the Fae and you should know a method to….reach them." The Zoroastrian God had his grin threaten to split his face as it extended unnaturally wide. "The Youkai will be going to war with the Fae soon, why not…..pay the Fae a visit beforehand, extend a hand of friendship?"
@***@
Non-Canon Omake: Through the looking glass, Part 6
Well, Issei was out cold.
And weirdly, the mood improved tremendously!
I was also feeling really good about myself right about now. It\'s weird how that all suddenly happened for some inexplicable reason.
"Truthfully, I think we should just put him out of his misery." I offered.
Strangely, they were still just staring at me with mouths open. Maybe it was because I just beat up their friend?
[It might have something to do with you admitting you\'ve killed Gods.] Ddraig.
You think?
"Eeeeh!?" Several of them suddenly made a chorus of the same sounds in different pitches.
[There is a slight possibility.]
"…..what do you mean you\'ve killed Gods?" Glasses Girl pointed at me, all but demanding an answer.
"Killed, verb, past tense. To cause the Death of a –"
"I know what the word means!"
"Then why did you ask?"
She let out a low scream and threw her hands up.
"But, but that\'s impossible!" Rias squeaked out. "You\'re lying!"
"Kay."
"What?!"
"What?" I answered back.
"Why aren\'t you arguing!?"
"Why should I care if you believe me?" I shot back.
She sputtered out a nonsensical stream of sounds in an attempt to retort.
"No seriously, what the hell!" My Other self exclaimed. "How does that make sense? He\'s like….a few years older than me? I can barely cast magic yet!"
"Have you tried not sucking?"
"Yes, I have!"
Huh.
"Welp, I\'m out of ideas then."
"Fuck you!" My other self seemed to finally lose his collective shit.
"Takao, Language!" Mom grabbed him by the ear, pulling him over. "But your reaction is understandable."
"I have a question." Scáthach spoke up amidst the confusion and surprise of everyone else. "Does my student get to \'touch your boobs\' for winning then?" He looked at Rias.
"Bwah!?"
"Ew." I scowled.
"What\'s that supposed to mean?" She immediately glared at me. "What\'s eww!? You\'re screwing my mother!"
"Yeah, exactly. It\'s like buying a cheap Chinese knock-off in comparison." I explained, pointing to Venelana.
"Stop bullying your Aunt." Mom scolded. "And stop groping your Grandmother infront of everyone. Even if you both are….togther." Mom\'s lips twitched.
I may or may not have my hand on her voluptuous behind.
"I\'m over here." My Venelana raised her hand, standing a bit further away, revealing the bracelet I made for her.
Mom blinked, as did the others.
The other Venelana just smiled. "I don\'t mind."
Operation Venelana Sandwich is a go.
"Mom!" Rias whined.
"Rias, you just offered your boobs as a prize for your pawn to win." Her mom deadpanned.
"Mother, please stop intentionally teasing Rias." My Alternate father sighed. "And if you\'re going to do things like this, please don\'t do it infront of us."
"Oh, very well." The other Venelana rolled her eyes, but relented, and I released her bottom.
"And can we focus on the important things. Like the future version of my son strong enough to kill Gods." He stated. "That seems like something important we should figure out and plan for."
"….perhaps we should speak inside." The Maid offered.
"You\'re right." My mom sighed. "I feel like I\'m going to need to be sitting down for what comes next."
It\'s funny, they sort of forgot about Issei\'s unconscious body still in the crater in the back yard and started making their way back inside.
Seeing both Venelanas almost perfect mirrors of each other, even to what they were wearing, I was curious about something. And seeing as how the other Venelana wasn\'t against my…..advances, well.
With no one else looking, I may have used the opportunity to lift up the back of both of their dresses, both of them seemingly uncaring that I did so.
And they still matched.
Nice.
I was wrong, however, someone was still paying attention.
Scáthach seemed to mimic my mom\'s actions and grabbed my cheek with a huff and pulled me inside.
"Sit." She stated, forcing my butt into the same chair from before as she hovered next to me.
"Wilhelm, dear. What happened to you?" My mom finally asked the pertinent question.
"You\'re going to need to be more specific." I propped myself up with my elbow against the table and my head in my palm.
"I just can\'t imagine my Takao…..doing what you\'ve claimed." She smiled warmly at my alternate self and I felt a twinge of envy.
"I\'d rather know what happened here." I found myself glancing at the alternate version of my father who was just happily watching everyone without any of the tension from the time I met my own.
"What do you mean? There\'s nothing special about my life?" Other Takao looked confused.
"How did....you two end up together." I forced the words out as I addressed my mom and alternate father.
The both shared a warm look and my mom opened her mouth again. "Well….we happened to meet each other by chance a long time ago, one thing led to another, I got pregnant and Sirzechs here found out and stepped up as the dad. Along the way…well, a spark of something grew into what we have now."
"…..you\'re glossing over a lot of details there, mom."
"Wilhelm, what was your childhood like?" She questioned.
"Poor, in a literal sense not an emotional one." I said casually. "You did your best to raise me with your….job."
"…..oh, you know about that." She whispered with a strange look on her face.
"Wait, know what?" Takao looked at his mom.
"Did….you not tell him?"
Mom bit her lip and shook her head. "I didn\'t want him to think less of me."
"Mom, everyone in my life knows and I told them happily because I\'m proud of you. You did what you had to do to provide a life for me. I would never be ashamed of you, ever. You were the best mom I could ask for."
Mom looked like she was about to cry. "You\'re such a good boy."
"What!? What\'s being kept from me?" Takao raised his voice, once more showing that he really hasn\'t developed the ability to read the room just yet.
"Dear, it\'s alright. Takao is old enough not to have any misconceptions." My Alternate Father ushered her.
"It\'s hardly a big deal considering I\'m fucking their mom." I pointed out.
Rias let out a sudden groan, and the twitch of my alternate father was….satisfying.
"What am I going to do with you?" Mom shook her head in exasperation. "Your younger self is going to be corrupted by you eventually."
"You could always throw him into the deep end and just get a head start on the grandbabies. He just needs someone to…..teach him." I did glance at other Venelana.
Was I trying to set them up?
Maybe.
Half of it was just because I was enjoying their reactions.
Mom, amusingly enough, seemed to consider that for the briefest of moments.
"Miss Shimoda, don\'t listen to this….pervert. Takao does not need his head filled with only sexual thoughts. Anything he need sot be taught, I can do so myself!"
"Virginsayswhat?"
"What?" She blinked, realizing as soon as she said it and started seething.
"Do devils even have sex education?" I wondered idly.
"Of course, and it\'s much more…hands on, so to speak. Devils generally have much higher libido and such compared to humans, so we have to take that into consideration." My Venelana explained. "Though considering it\'s my son, I\'m sure that he skipped over all that because he\'s a prude."
"Mom.." My Alternate father sighed. "I\'m not a prude."
"I volunteered to teach him everything he needed to know." The Maid spoke up.
"…ayo?"
"Wait, what?" My other self looked confused.
The Maid shrugged.
"….wait, are you implying that you would –"
"No more sex talk!" Mom slapped the table, cutting Rias off, leaving Takao looking stunned under the realization of what was being implied. "Wilhelm. Childhood. Now." She somehow had another slipper in her hand, using it to threaten everyone around the table.
"...you were about to tell him what you did as a job." I pointed out under duress as she leveled her weapon at me.
"Oh right." She slumped. "Well….I didn\'t have very many prospects. Which is why I push so hard for you to do well in school. But I….was, well…."
"Mom was an escort." I just pulled the bandaid off and she went silent.
"Oh." Takao went silent. "….that\'s it?"
"Ah?" Mom made a strange noise of surprise. "You\'re….not ashamed of your mother?"
"Mom, you\'re in a three way relationship." He pointed out. "And I know for a fact that it\'s not just with Dad." He gestured to the maid who had a small smile. "Grandpa has a rotating harem. Rias was in an arranged marriage to a guy with a harem that had a his little sister. And Serafall constantly tries to get into Sona\'s skirt."
"Takao!" Sona lit up bright red, but I was more focused on the important bit he mentioned.
…..I\'m conflicted.
On one hand, nice, on the other…it\'s my mom.
Welp, time to shove this way down and repress it for the remainder of my life.
"Can we get back to the important part, like how he\'s only a few years older than me and he\'s already so strong." Takao seemingly wanted to quickly change the subject with Sona giving him a death glare.
"Right….well, that\'s about what my life was like until 7ish. We didn\'t have much, mom did her best to support us, but it took a toll on her. That was about when she died and from what I understand, it got back to his human identity and I was just tossed here for the next decade or so." I summarized.
"Dude…" Takao blinked. "That\'s fucked up."
I shrugged. "When did you…..this?"
"Uh…mom?" He looked at mom.
"….after Takao was born, I tried to handle things on my own, but I was struggling." She said quietly, with a clear indication of shame in her tone. "It was by chance that I ran into someone who knew your father. He…..was the one who dragged him to the place where I \'worked\' all those years ago."
"Azazel." My alternate father sighed.
"That stupid fallen angel…?" I blinked.
"You\'ve met him?" Mom tilted her head.
"Unfortunately." I pursed my lips. "Continue."
"Well, I remember him with your father from before. And considering the color of your hair, it wasn\'t hard to put together who your father was...in contrast to my….clients. I was honestly surprised at how seriously he took the fact that I said I had a child from your father…..it made sense now in hindsight."
"And I owe Azazel greatly after that." My Alternate father smiled. "I won\'t lie and say it wasn\'t rough at first. Grayfia and I were trying hard for a kid for a number of years and to learn that I accidently had one with another women…..but we worked it out."
"Fia was scary the first time we met." Mom blankly stared at the Maid.
"I apologize, and I will continue to do so." The Maid\'s expression changed. "I was upset at Sirzechs and I took it out on you."
"It\'s alright, I\'m just happy everything worked out."
"…..and how did that happen?"
The Maid looked at me then at Takao. "The first time I held him in my hands, any kind of resentment was let go."
"Things changed a lot there, I moved here and set up in the house. They visited nearly every day and we got to know each other better….and well, he can\'t have another wife or harem…but there\'s nothing against him having a mistress." Mom smiled happily towards my Alternate Father.
"Well….some did try to kick up a fuss." Alternate Venelana stated. "But Grayfia shut them up rather well."
"How\'d you do that?" Takao asked.
Grayfia flushed slightly, clearing her throat. "I am not disallowed from having a harem….."
"I didn\'t need to hear this. I regret asking." Takao\'s head hit the table.
….I\'m starting to think any family of mine, extension to my alternative or not, is going to be fucked up in one way or another regardless.
"Who cares about that, how did you get so strong!" Rias raised her voice, pointing at me.
"Training."
"I train!"
"Do you, do you really?" I looked at her.
"Explain properly." Scáthach pinked my side. "Your mother asked you to recount your early years."
"As expected of my daughter." Mom looked pleased.
"Alright, what do you want to know?" I threw my hands up.
"What happened to you that diverged so heavily." Mom asked. "I know that…we weren\'t around, but how did that turn into something else?"
"I guess it started when an exorcist stabbed me through the heart with his lightsaber."
"What?" Mom\'s expression changed drastically.
"I don\'t know, I was walking home one day and he just ambushes me and stabs me through the heart. Apparently he could tell I was a Half-Devil? I didn\'t even know myself at that point."
"How did you not know?" My other self asked.
"I was living by myself since I was a child, who the fuck was I supposed to ask or get told by?" I deadpanned.
"Sirzechs!"
"It wasn\'t me, Meiko!"
"Which exorcist!?" Mom reached over the table, grabbing me by the color. "I swear to the God they believe in, I\'m going to make him swallow his balls!"
….mom is scary.
"Some dumbass that\'s dead, I didn\'t bother to learn his name. By the time I met him again, he was an ant." I said truthfully.
Mom reluctantly let go with a growl. "Sirzechs, make sure there are no exorcist in the city."
"…..I will make some calls when we\'re done and sweep the city myself."
Mom nodded in approval.
"Then the pertinent question is, how are you alive?" Sona stated.
"I\'m too handsome to die."
"That\'s not an explanation." She scowled.
"Are you saying that I, Takao Shimoda, am not handsome?"
"That\'s not what I\'m implying at all!" She quickly defended.
"Huh, so you do think that I\'m handsome?" I shot her a smirk and she just scowled deeper.
"Student, exchange barbs later." Scáthach warned.
"Fine, fine." I huffed in annoyance. "It was the catalyst that unlocked my Magic and….other things." Honestly, I wasn\'t trying to be mysterious, I just….didn\'t know if I wanted to mention Gramps and all that.
"What….other things?" Takao asked.
"Things."
"What things!"
"I fucked our Grandmother!"
"Actually, that was much later." Venelana chimed in.
"Aaah!" My other self-blurted out a scream of embarrassment.
"You can speak the truth." Scáthach used a gentle tone to chide me. "There is no need to fear it being known."
"….what\'s she talking about Wilhelm?" Mom looked at me.
I took a deep breath and just relented. "Right, I\'m a reincarnation."
"You\'re a spirit inheritor?" My Alternate father\'s eyes widened.
"….something like that."
"A what?" Takao looked at him.
The others, Rias and Sona, and Akeno who was silently at her side were just as confused as he was it seems.
"A spirit Inheritor is…..they inherit the spirits of famous individuals from the past. You can think of them as reincarnations that retain something from their previous lives. Usually, it\'s their talents, sometimes it\'s a bit of their memories." Alternate Father explained.
"Does…that mean I\'m a Spirit Inheritor too?" Takao asked.
"Maybe, maybe not" I answered truthfully.
"That\'s not fair, I want it too!" Takao pouted. "Who then? You got the powers and stuff from some person in the past?"
"You wouldn\'t know him."
"I\'m very adept in mythological history." Sona pushed up her glasses.
"No seriously, you wouldn\'t know him."
"My student has crossed over from a parallel world, and he brought us over before your eyes. Consider this for a moment." Scáthach added on my behalf.
"…..he\'s not from our world?" Mom asked.
I just nodded. "Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, the Old man of the Jewels, the Kaleidoscope."
I impatiently tapped the table. "I remembered a lot of things at that point, including how to utilize the Magic to travel to other worlds. So the first thing I did was start the calculations needs to leave."
"….your first thought after everything was to leave." Mom repeated. "My poor boy, you had a hard life."
"It wasn\'t all bad, mom." I smiled at her. "I have a nice big family now. And besides, I was given a parting gift when I left."
"A parting gift?" My other self looked at me. "What did you get?"
"Well, it wasn\'t a tangible gift. But it was a memory I\'ll cherish. You see, this glasses wearing girl from the school I went to, she had this goal to use Japanese Schooling to further torture the residents of Hell. She attempted to interfere and what-not at the time of my departure, so I threw a magical bomb at her right before I left." I smiled nostalgically.
"….your threw a bomb at me." Sona stated blankly. "You threw a bomb at me!?"
"I never said it was you."
"You threw a bomb at me!"
"Wilhelm—"
"To be fair, she did try to mess with my head." I pointed out.
Mom then went silent and seemed conflicted.
"Anyways, that\'s how I accidently ended up in Skyrim."
"….what do you mean \'accidently?" Rias asked.
"I may or may not have taken into consideration an aspect of the world I was unfamiliar with which may or may not have been the equivalent of smacking into a tree while driving at 80 miles an hours." I coughed into my fist.
"….smooth." Takao deadpanned.
"Grandmother." I pointed out again.
"Stop bringing that up!"
"Stop being a disappointment!"
"Wilhelm, Takao, stop arguing with yourself." Mom interjected. "And what\'s Skyrim?"
"It\'s a provenance in a world called Nirn. Very cold, a lot like the Norse culture. It\'s where I met my first friend and my first love."
"Aww, my baby boy\'s first love!" Mom cooed, despite the weirdness of the picture I was painting. "Who did my little boy fall in love with first?"
"….her name is Meridia."
Scatach and Venelana looked like they were going to laugh at any second.
"That\'s a beautiful name! What\'s she like, what does she do? Is she human?"
"um….not human."
"….what aren\'t you telling me?" Mom\'s eyes narrowed.
I cleared my throat. "She\'s…a Goddess."
"Like….a Goddess? Or are you being perverted again."
"The former."
"….Oh." My seemed speechless at that. She then looked at Venelana for assistance.
"He\'s telling the truth." My Venelana answered. "And Meridia is nice, I\'ve met her plenty of times."
"You...you\'re in a relationship with a Goddess?" My other self asked. "How."
"Well, it helps to be Charming." I listed off.
"So luck?" Sona hazarded a guess.
"Please, you wouldn\'t know charming if it slapped you in the face with a magical bomb." I rolled my eyes.
"I\'ve had plenty of suitors!"
"You had arranged marriages." I pointed out. "That I\'m fairly sure no one fought very hard to protect."
"T-that\'s not true! Any potential match had to beat me in chess, and I won every game!" She defended quickly.
"Right, won every game." I said dryly. "How….convenient."
"What\'s that supposed to mean!" She stood up squawking.
"All I\'m saying is, that if someone didn\'t want to go through with the arranged marriage, well, chess isn\'t a very hard game."
Sona was about to retort, her mouth open, but it seemed like she just realized something and her eyes widened, no words coming out.
"Wilhelm stop bullying your other self\'s girlfriend." Mom chided me for the umpteenth time. "And continue where you left off."
"….we just met and hit it off." I quickly explained.
"Student." Scáthach had a very malicious grin on her face. "Speak the truth."
"Oh? Something embarrassing about my son?" My alternate father smiled, chuckling a little.
Strangely, I didn\'t hate the tone he referred to me….but it just made me annoyed in other aspects.
Mom had a mom look too as her smile widened. "Wilhelm~ Tell your mother what happened~"
"Nothing happened."
"Something happened." My other self stated.
"Something happened." My Venelana confirmed.
"If you don\'t speak, student, I will happily inform them in your stead." Scáthach poked me.
She was getting an inordinate amount of joy at seeing my like this.
You know, it\'s easy to be shameless when I wasn\'t infront of my mom!
"I cleared a temple of hers from undead…." I grumbled.
"Like zombies?" Takao\'s eyes widened. "That\'s cool."
"Pretty much." I shrugged. "She\'s a Goddess of Life and hates undead, so she was….pleased with my efforts at killing them and the accompanying Necromancer. She offered me a reward…." I covered my face.
"….Wilhelm, is this going where I think it\'s going?" Mom asked, while everyone else seemed to lean in, anticipating what I was going to say.
….. "Kunou, I choose you." I quickly opened a portal and snatched her from whatever it is she was doing and held her up infront of the table. "Kunou, meet your Grandma, Mom, meet your Granddaughter."
There was a moment of silence as both Kunou took a second to realize what was going on, as did Mom before Mom literally jumped across the table, scooping up Kunou into her arms.
"Granddaughter!!!!" She screamed, hugging the little floof tightly.
Scáthach gave me a look, but I was far too proud of myself to bother with it.
"Daddy!?" Kunou called out in confusion.
"That\'s my mom, don\'t think too hard about it."
"Grandma?"
"Granddaughter!"
"Grandma!?"
"Granddaughter!!!!" Mom squealed. "So adorable, so fluffy!!"
"Dear…I think you\'re suffocating the poor girl." My Alternate Father tried to calm her down.
Mom reluctantly released Kunou from her grasp, letting the little fox stand up by herself. Kunou, under the stares and what-not moved back to my side. "Sorry for the suddenness my l ittle fox, but this is my mom, she really wanted to meet you. It\'s alright, she knows everything."
Kunou took it in stride and smile happily. "Hi Grandma!"
"Kya~" My mom looked like she was going to fall over. "Too cute."
"She is…the daughter of the Youkai leader." Rias asked hesitantly.
"My Momma is the leader of the Youkai." Kunou puffed up. "Daddy who….is that…" She pointed at Takao.
"That is my younger self, dear." I smiled, explain to her.
"But….why is he so weak? And small…." Kunou asked in confusion.
If words could kill, my other self would be dead now. I felt like I could see the arrows piercing his heart as Kunou said that without any malice.
"…I\'m not weak." My other self pouted.
"Kunou could beat you…." I probably shouldn\'t have said that, but I did anyways.
I think I broke his pride completely.
"Anyways, that\'s my younger self and you met your Grandma, and you should more or less know everyone else except for the girl with the glasses, that my younger self\'s girlfriend." I did very quick introductions.
"She\'s not as pretty as my other Aunties." Kunou scrunched her nose.
And just like Takao, Sona looked like she took a critical hit on the emotional spectrum.
…..I love you so much, my little fox.
Kunou didn\'t bother with that, but looked at my mom. "Grandma!" She ran over to my mom, with arms open.
"Granddaughter"! Mom quickly took her into another big hug, likewise not seemingly carrying about the emotional damage those two sustained.
Kunou was quick to accept the new familial affection, she was more or less used to it at this point with all her \'aunties\'. Honestly, Kunou just wants a big family to dote on her, so she probably didn\'t care.
Kunou was happily sitting in Mom\'s lap as Mom rubbed her head with quite a bit of enthusiasm.
"Well played, Student." Scáthach noted.
"Thank you." I accepted her praise.
"Daddy, what\'re you doing here?" Kunou asked. "Is Grandma coming home with us?"
"Uh…Grandma needs to stay here, sweetie." I felt a twinge of pain in my heart even saying that.
"But you can come visit whenever you want!" Mom quickly interjected. "My beautiful Granddaughter and my baby boy are always welcome." Mom reassured the little fox.
And I felt something in my heart again at that, that feeling of just pure acceptance that a mom gave.
I missed her so much.
"So you\'re my daughter then?" My Alternate father asked, a warm smile on his face.
"No!" Kunou shook her head. "You\'re mean, I don\'t like you."
He seemingly didn\'t know how to respond to that as he just stood there expressionless.
[Wow, she is ruthless.] Ddraig noted.
That\'s my daughter.
Was this the pride of a parent?
"We were talking about how your Daddy met Meridia." Mom was running a hand through Kunou\'s long hair.
"Oh! Aunty Meridia!" Kunou\'s eyes sparkled. "I know this story, Momma told me. Daddy met her after beating some bad guys and he fell in love at first sight! He told Aunty Meridia to be his woman!" Kunou happily revealed.
Everyone turned and looked at me, understand the context with Kunou\'s help.
And I buried my head in my hands, the unfamiliar sensation of embarrassment revealing itself.
[Ruthless.]
Thank you, Ddraig.
...maybe bringing Kunou wasn\'t the best idea.
"Momma told me how he met all my aunties! Artoria, Izzy, Scáthach, Salem –"
Oh sweet merciful Christ.
Did….she know about Salem too!?
…..was I right, was this my own personal hell?
@***@
a/n
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