Hey, readers! This story came about when I was thinking back to Rise of the Solar God, and then my thoughts traveled over to Izanami-no-Mikoto and Rizevim Lucifer, and how they've antagonized their grandchildren. And so this was born. So I hope you like it.
Reminders:
Ddraig speaking = {}
Al(Clone of Albion) speaking = (())
Death's Domain
For someone who was familiar with the manifestation of Death and its dwelling, Issei often disliked the journey of descending into the Realm of the Shinigami. It wasn't so much the presence of the lost souls that annoyed him. Nor was it the vast power and overwhelming presence of Death, as the entity had a tendency to be rather affectionate towards him.
In truth, it was the feeling of melancholy and wistfulness that rose in Issei's mind whenever he arrived to Death's quarters.
"What's troubling you, Darling? Do you dislike spending such little time with me?" A dark and seductive voice cooed.
Although he never said anything about it, or even gave his opinion verbally, Issei often contemplated on why one of the most feared beings in the Universe had taken upon a female incarnation. As such, the entity took on the form of a black haired woman with moonlight skin, and narrowed (almost squinted) black eyes. That along with her constant grin betrayed what lied beneath the visage of the absolute end. Hell, the same could be said for the 'Above' Entity, but that was another story for another time.
Even if he had become somewhat acquainted with the personification of Death, Issei still couldn't keep himself from shivering from the entity's tone. Despite this, the Solar God almost felt a bit guilty. He hadn't come to Death's Domain to spend time with the owner of the realm. Although judging by the entity's smirk, she didn't appear to be offended at all from his absence.
"S-sorry. Not today, Shinigami-san." Issei said as he put his hands in his pockets, "I just wanted your permission to talk to someone."
"Oh?" Death replied with a tilt of her head, "Would you perhaps like to speak to Riser Phenex again?"
The entity's smile turned downright sadistic as she noticed her 'Darling's' change in expression. To her, it was so amusing to see the raw guilt and melancholic look on Issei's face. But as cruel as she was, Death didn't want to see her 'Darling' in despair all the time.
Well.
Not yet at least.
"I'm not here to visit Riser today, but definitely another time." Issei said after a lengthy silence.
{Partner, you think such strange thoughts. If your intention isn't to visit Riser Phenex, then who are you here for?}
((Is it perhaps one of the Evil Dragons who were destroyed by the Trihexa?))
Issei shook his head to the Welsh Dragon and the clone of the Vanishing Dragon's replies. In truth, the person he was visiting was not a Dragon. There was no reason he had to visit this person. Absolutely no reason at all. Perhaps it was an overwhelming sense of curiosity, and yet at the same time it was unnecessary.
As Cousin Leiko always said: 'curiosity killed the cat'.
"Well, well, well! If it isn't the sun of Amaterasu! It's been a while! How ya been?!"
Issei had to stop himself from frowning in annoyance at the cheerful voice. It was said in such a lighthearted manner that he found it difficult to align the voice to its owner's appearance. He hadn't seen the person in front of him for six months.
For someone who spent that amount of time in the Realm of the Shinigami, the former leader of the Khaos Brigade seemed to look as healthy as he appeared before. His silver hair and beard was as vibrant as ever, and the devious smile he maintained when he was alive seemed to be constant. The robes that were similar to Sirzechs Lucifer's were torn but mostly intact. His bottomless and creepy aura was still powerful enough to be felt by Issei, but not enough to provoke fear. At the level Issei was at now, the man wouldn't even stand a chance against him.
{Getting a little ahead of yourself, aren't you partner?}
'I would be if it wasn't true, Ddraig. I doubt he's been training while he's been down here.'
{Touche'.}
"Oi! Don't be rude! The least you could do is talk to me. We haven't seen each other in so long, I feel like we just fell apart!"
((The level of arrogance this man exudes is astonishing!))
Issei allowed a frown to form on his face as he grew annoyed at Rizevim's blatant cheerfulness.
'This guy is too optimistic for his own good. It's a wonder how Yoru didn't lose control and turn against him.'
"It's been a while. Rizevim Lucifer." Issei greeted solemnly.
"There it is!" Rizevim cheered, his presence alerting the lost souls of the Realm of the Shinigami.
Issei noticed that the lost souls weren't even trying to consume Rizevim's flesh, their small bodies contorting in irritation and disgust. Rizevim seemed almost ignorant of them, his gaze on Issei unflinching.
"So!" He began, "How's your life? Have you and the Dragon of Infinity finally gotten around to doing the dirty? Come on, you can tell me!"
"…" Issei only stared back at the man.
Rizevim merely smiled and put his hands up in defense.
"All right, all right, I got ya. Oh by the way, just call me Rizevim. Lucifer is my father's name. Oh hey, speaking of old times, how's my dear grandson? He's probably having a good life after taking my life!"
'He's far more cheerful than he usually is.' Issei noted.
{Perhaps his insanity has doubled ever since Albion's host dealt with him.}
"Oh, come on now!" Rizevim drawled as he laid back against the solid misty fog, "What kind of man do you take me for? I'm just a concerned grandfather that wants to know how his grandson is doing. That's all!"
'No wonder Vali hates him so much.' Issei thought with irritation showing on his face.
{What, his intent to destroy the world didn't garner enough of your hatred?}
Rizevim turned to Issei with a smirk as he looked towards the frowning Solar God.
"You know…" He began, "You still haven't answered my question. How is my grandson Vali?"
"Why are you asking?" Issei replied, "You obviously don't care about him."
"It's just a question, son of Amaterasu. But you are right, I really don't care. I'm just asking for the sake of asking. I mean I'm sure he's finally happy that he achieved one of his dreams."
'One of his dreams?'
((I'm sure you're aware of what the dream of my original's host was, Issei Hyoudou. He wants to fight strong opponents, or specifically have a battle of the ages. When he was a child, he trained himself with the intention of killing both his father and Rizevim.))
"Do you want to know something?" Rizevim said as he interrupted the clone of Albion, "If my grandson was unable to find someone strong enough for him to fight, he would gladly welcome death."
Issei couldn't stop the melancholic expression that quickly formed on his face. At this, Rizevim smirked darkly.
"What, you didn't know that? I'm surprised. Although I can't say that trait is admirable. I mean really, if you can't find anyone who's worth a challenge, you'll just accept death? Just like that? Ugh, so boring!"
"…I need to ask you something." Issei stated.
Smirking at Issei's attempt to change the subject, Rizevim settled for getting into a more comfortable position. Deep within his fractured mind, the son of the Original Lucifer had long ago gotten over his apparent death at the hands of his grandson. Whether the reason for his dissonant serenity was due to a decrease in sanity, or some other inane phenomenon, didn't matter to Rizevim. Even though he had lost, he didn't have the desire to seek revenge against anyone involved at the battle from six months ago.
He had the time of his undeath to 'live'.
"What on Earth could you possibly ask of me? My heritage? What my reason for living was? Why am I the way I am today? Why I wanted to destroy the world and everyone else? Go ahead. Ask me anything."
"Why did you lie?"
At the question Rizevim actually lost his smile and blinked. Out of all the questions he expected the son of Amaterasu to ask, he didn't anticipate anything like this. Why did he lie? Lie about what?
Curling his lips upwardly, Rizevim closed his eyes and scoffed, waving his hand in dismissal.
"Why did I lie, you ask? Well I'm afraid you're gonna have to clarify, son of Amaterasu. I don't recall ever lying to someone for a while."
"Six months ago, you planned to destroy the world by manipulating the Trihexa into battling Great Red. And you said that the way you found out about it was from a God that had nothing to do with any of the mythologies that we know. That it was a God that we didn't know about."
"Well, at least you've shown that you listen." Rizevim quipped.
"Yeah. And you've shown that you're a horrible liar." Issei quipped in return, "You didn't come up with unsealing 666 on your own."
"And how do you work that out, Issei Hyoudou?"
"Because I know who told you how to do it. Izanami-no-Mikoto."
Rizevim's face never changed; if anything, his smile remained.
"Izanami-no-Mikoto? Ha! Please! Don't make me laugh! Don't insult me! How do you know what she told you wasn't a lie?"
"Because she promised my grandfather that for every fifteen hundred residents he granted life to, she would destroy one thousand of them forever. And what better way to do that than to bring the Beast from the Apocalypse to do exactly that?"
Rizevim rose an eyebrow, and settled for letting out a melodramatic sigh. Picking at his ear, he looked up at the solemn Issei, before shrugging in response.
"So I lied." He replied rather nonchalantly, "I'm a Devil, Issei Hyoudou. That's what Devils do. Must I repeat what I said to you all those months ago?"
"I'd rather you didn't." Issei muttered.
"That all Devils are beings that must be evil, wicked, brutal, bad, scum, brute, and vicious. I mean, come on. I'm sure at one point that you detested the Devils for a while."
Issei kept his mouth shut at Rizevim's seemingly innocent assumption.
"Seriously, Issei Hyoudou," Rizevim continued, his tone lighthearted yet almost incredulous, "You are aware that we Devils are evil and malevolent, aren't you? Take my dear old Pa for instance."
{The Original Lucifer.}
"The one and only, Welsh Dragon. My father, the one and true Satan." Rizevim mused dreamily, "He and the other original Satans led the Devils against the Biblical God himself. Think about it, son of Amaterasu. Going against God himself? You are just asking for death at that point!"
"Didn't go so well for them, did it?" Issei replied with a scowl.
"Buuuut," Rizevim drawled again, ignoring Issei's quip, "Unfortunately, dear old daddy perished along with the rest of the Satans, and even the Biblical God. Hmm. Makes me wonder a bit."
"Wonder about what?" Issei couldn't help but ask.
"You know, what realm my father descended to when he perished." Rizevim answered, "God, that Phoenix turkey you killed, Crom Cruach, Grendel, Aži Dahāka, and myself included, ended up getting stuck here. Speaking of my old relatives, how are your folks, Issei Hyoudou?"
"I-"
"And I don't mean those disgustingly boring human parents who raised you on Earth. I mean Amaterasu and whoever the hell she got with to conceive you." Rizevim said in ill intent, prompting Issei to frown in annoyance at him.
"Oh wait," The son of the Original Lucifer started before comically hitting his forehead, "Silly me! I forgot! You don't have a father! Well, unless you count the actual Sun as your father."
"If we're going to talk about parents so much, then answer me this question," Issei stated before pointing to Rizevim, "Why did you kill your son? Wait, let me rephrase that. Why did you tell him to mistreat and abandon Vali, and then kill him?"
"Hmm?" Rizevim hummed in a questioning manner, "You're gonna ask a question like that, Issei Hyoudou? So boring. But hell, I got time to kill, so I'll tell you."
((He sure likes to talk a lot.))
"It's because he was…so damn worthless," Rizevim said with a hint of viciousness, "He was so scared of his son and viewed him as a monster. Which I thought was a good thing, since we Devils are monsters in our own right. But my son was becoming so pathetic that I 'suggested' that he bully Vali. Of course, Vali responded by running away and ended up being raised by 'Uncle Azazel'."
Finishing his explanation with a sigh, Rizevim sent his gaze towards Issei, only to find the Solar God glaring at him with an expression of intense animosity. Snorting at the sight, Rizevim placed his arms out and shrugged.
"Don't look at me like that, Issei Hyoudou. You act as though I'm the most despicable person in existence, when you and I both know that there are beings far worse than I."
"…"
"In fact, I would say I'm just the tip of the iceberg compared to Izanami-no-Mikoto. I mean come on! Melding her consciousness with that of the world we Devils, Gods, and freaking Angels live in, and using it to stalk you, speaks volumes to how twisted she really is. It's hard to tell really. Whether she loves or hates you; a debate I could go on for hours, really tells ya how crazy the bitch is. And you know the thing that really grinds my gears? I could actually admire her. She and I could've been great friends. After all, we're both grandparents. Grandparents that want to destroy our grandchildren and the world. The only difference between us is that the reason Izanami did what she did was because of petty revenge, and also because she targeted you just because of being the grandchild of Izanagi-no-Mikoto. Tch, so cliché. Revenge was never one of my best interests."
"But destroying the world was?" Issei couldn't help but let that one slip out.
"Do you know what the first sign was that revealed Izanami being a crazy bitch?" Rizevim said rather brusquely, ignoring Issei, "It turns out that during a marriage ceremony, the male is supposed to speak first, not the female. So I'm pretty sure you can guess what Izanami did."
"I know the story, Rizevim." Issei said quietly.
"Oh you do?" The devil replied lightly, "Well good, now I don't have to explain the story to you."
"Do you really believe that Grandma Izanami is worse than you are?"
At that question, Rizevim raised a curious eyebrow.
"Grandma? Is that what you see her as, son of Amaterasu? You do realize that your mother is only Izanagi's child? That aside, you call the force that has been stalking you ever since you were an infant, Grandma?!"
"…" Issei frowned deeply in response, before uttering clearly, "It wasn't her fault."
Rizevim rolled his eyes at Issei's choice of words.
"All right, whatever." He waved his hand to the side, "In response to your question, not only do I believe that she is far worse than even I, but I know it. I mean if I wanted revenge; which again, is a concept I don't care for, but if I did, I wouldn't stalk my grandson for a long number of years. I would just obliterate him on the spot."
Issei suppressed his disgust at the casual tone Rizevim was using. If Rizevim was this bad, Issei couldn't help but imagine how the Original Lucifer might have been.
"But Izanami? No, all she wanted was to get revenge on her cruel, cruel husband for trapping her into Yomi for all eternity." Rizevim said in mock-sadness before sighing, "Her mind went off the rails when she moved her attention to you, a person who wasn't even born during the early Shinto times. Ugh, what a sob story!"
"I just can't fathom why you think you're any better than Izanami." Issei said.
"Well, that's the thing, boy!" Rizevim replied in excitement, his tone becoming lively, "I already told you! I'm a Devil! I'm not saying that I have a better morale than her! Hell, I'm not even saying that I'm any better than her! I'm just saying that she's crazy!"
{The irony you are spouting is astonishing!}
"Ha! Fine, don't believe me! In the end, your opinion doesn't matter to me."
The Solar God was starting to get a headache just from standing in front of Rizevim. In the back of his mind he wondered why the Shinigami hadn't destroyed him completely, just as she had done to Susanoo-no-Mikoto.
"Do you have any more questions for me, Issei Hyoudou?" Rizevim asked casually, "If you do, feel free. It's not like I have anything else to d-."
"Rizevim." Issei began, the act of cutting Rizevim off causing the Devil to look at him with wide eyes, "The moment Vali killed you. How did it feel?"
"…" Rizevim didn't respond, his eyes still wide.
"Did you feel his hatred? His pain? His anger? It hurt, right?"
"…"
As he watched Rizevim stare at him, Issei sighed and turned around. The mist flowing in front of him separated, revealing the figure of Death herself. Turning his head around to look at Rizevim, Issei sent him a glower.
"You're lucky that Vali doesn't know how to get into this domain."
Removing the look of shock from his face, Rizevim tried to form his crazy yet laid-back smile again.
"Heh heh, and why is that?"
"Because I know he'll try to kill you again…and again, and again." Issei stated ominously, prompting Rizevim to roll his eyes.
"Such terror." He drawled, "If that's the case, then why don't you kill me now, Issei Hyoudou? You could spare Vali the trouble."
"Because we have no business with each other." Issei began.
Rizevim raised an eyebrow in response, letting Issei continue.
"Meaning that you're not worth killing, at least in my eyes. It's not worth my time or effort"
"Guh?! Why you little-!" Rizevim started as his temper rose.
"And if anyone deserves to bring you hell, to bring you to the brink of chronic agony...it's Vali. And I refuse to take that away from him" Issei finished his sentence before walking away, leaving behind a simmering Rizevim.
As the grandfather of Vali continued to stare moodily at the retreating figure of the Solar God, he suppressed a annoyed growl and sat in silence.
Upon closing his eyes, he ignored the dark chuckle that emitted from Death itself, the action bringing even a malevolent bastard such as him, genuine chills.
Hey again guys. Sorry I've been away for a while. For those who are wondering, Chapter 50 of Rise of the Solar God is coming out soon, I promise you. I'm hoping that I get some free time for the next couple of weeks, so that should hopefully help.
Please leave a review if you could, and give your thoughts about the story.
You readers have a good day,
With humble regards-
WarriorMan199456