16: Restless Tale
Rias quietly let go of his hand before they warped into the main room of the manor. It was nearly six at night on a Saturday and the waning light of the sun was peeking in through the few windows in the living room.
"Come. We prepared." Koneko stepped into the room ushering the two to follow her. "Asia and Akeno started cooking."
"That's great!" Ritsuka cheered slightly. He didn't raise his arms much though. Small twinges ached across his forearms though he hid that. A smile forcefully grew on his face since Rias didn't try swinging their hands together. He dodged a true hell from how sore he was feeling.
"I didn't think we would have been able to do this." Rias quietly admitted to Koneko who nodded in agreement.
"We worked together. Senpai assisted in taking out the most dangerous piece but we did what we needed to do. Must be better for later. Will not allow myself to need someone to act like a distraction." Koneko clenched her fists in a show of determination.
"That goes without saying… still we need to get ready for something more." Rias sighed as she remembered the wager she had made yesterday. She had put it out of her mind for the most part.
"What do you mean?" Koneko tilted her head, curiosity taking hold.
"Well…" Rias trailed off. She quietly explained that Riser's entire Peerage was put up as collateral. Since they lost, they would all be transferred over to Ritsuka in three days.
Koneko didn't answer at first. Her palm slammed on to her forehead before being dragged down her face. She didn't actually know how to feel about that since Rias had also explained the tactic beforehand.
"That was dangerous." Koneko simply stared letting her frustration vent out with a sigh.
"Honestly, we were taking a gamble either way. This deal was made to try and make Riser chicken out. Pride, of course, overwhelmed sensibilities." Rias smirked slightly though it disappeared when she really thought over it. "That was dangerous… wasn't it?"
"Yes… but I do know that you didn't make it lightly. Come… let's go. We made food to celebrate." Koneko answered as she stepped into the dining room with everyone sitting around the table. While they weren't gone long, Akeno and Asia had made several tempura dishes for everyone to enjoy. A better celebration would come later after they had rested.
Ritsuka didn't sleep. He remained in the dojo area preparing it. While he wasn't one to act so paranoid as he was, he was forced to act far more cautious. Far more than he had ever been since he started working in Chaldea.
Working with Medea's card, which he noted was his most used servant at this point, he crafted up several bounded fields within the room. Each glyph that was added added another layer of protection since he had told everyone what he planned to do. The reactions were… mixed to say the least. Kiba and Koneko were the ones he was most worried since they didn't really react as he expected.
Kiba merely nodded as if that was a natural choice. Perhaps he was thinking far too much about it. It was as if he was cool with it but didn't want to push for it to happen right away. Nonchalance was the best term to describe his mood.
Koneko scowled slightly but she seemed more frightened of learning more. The last few random things he had mentioned seemed to force the young lady to curl up in disbelief. At the very least she was more… introspective about it, and from what little he could tell about her, she was probably thinking about something else. Something she considered far more important.
Akeno and Asia were far more… enthusiastic. Though Akeno was infatuated with him far heavier than Asia was. It didn't mean Asia was infatuated with him either… he could tell that that wasn't the case. They were ecstatic to learn more about him.
Rias was the most calm, if only because she knew beforehand. It made the transition the easiest to handle. They spoke shortly about it and here Ritsuka found himself at.
The wards were done. The sound proofing was done. The shielding was done. At best only a true Magus could break through the barrier… or Rias' power which seemed to embody the destructive power of devils. A small roll of his eyes for thinking about the semantics and he deactivated the field until tomorrow. Honestly, his best option for telling a story was pretty obvious, she was a damn fine storyteller after all. So installing Scheherazade's card Ritsuka began thinking over how he would tell this story, after all he only needed to tell the important bits and details would merely bog down the experience.
Especially if he had to explain metaphysics about his world. That would bring everything to a grounding halt with how confusing those could be.
'Seriously, if I didn't worry about those details this would be so much easier than it appears to be.' Ritsuka groused as he manifested her large staff. It was the three book staff with the red lantern glowing a soft pale light atop it. It was heavy… but it felt right in his hand. With a small flick of his wrist a scroll appeared in his hand.
At the very least he needed to practice how this would go.
"So I've been thinking. A lot. A whole lot actually." Ritsuka stated as he finished his first plate. He had eaten a lot more than he originally thought he would… probably a side effect of using so much mana all at once. "I was wondering if you'd all like to know why I'm so ambivalent about talking about myself."
That was how it started. Rias covered herself a bit more. She had already tried getting into Ritsuka's room to… properly reward him. She instead noticed a whole lot of magic emanating from the dojo.
Curling deeper into the bed, she pondered just what they were going to learn. As she brought one of her many body pillows closer to her the conversation kept going on in her head.
"Is this more surprising than what you told me before?" Kiba brought up as he put down one of the tempura shrimps he was scarfing down.
"Oh definitely is. I've noticed that every single devil I've met always had trouble looking me in the eye. I didn't want to say anything at first but after Riser tried to set me on fire I knew I'd have to address it eventually." Ritsuka chuckled scratching his head in embarrassment.
Kiba stared at the ceiling. It was strange that he was bringing it up now. Everyone glanced at each other at that moment. There were questions, of course, but no one wanted to broach them at that time.
As far as he was concerned, Ritsuka was a friend already. He knew far more about him than he should have but his acceptance and willingness to help him made it more tolerable to accept that fact.
Bringing it up just raised several flags that this would be world shattering… although his world had already been shattered long ago. The idea that alternate realities and different timelines just set that fact as concrete that he couldn't be phased as much.
Kiba scowled at the ceiling. It was a lie and he knew it. He turned over closing his eyes… he needed to center himself once more. Foster the soul of steel that he had grown over the years since he was reincarnated.
The reminder of their similarities of being placed into systems that saw them as lab rats made him want to just say it didn't matter. Kiba couldn't do that… especially since he had made it clear that they were friends.
"So Senpai knew that we were intimidated?" Koneko put out there though she didn't sound accusatory.
"Kind of. It made the most sense after I learned about you all. So I've been wracking my head for a while actually how to address it. Especially with how fundamentally different the worlds seem to be. What's what in one world can be so radically changed in another that I'm almost unsure how to actually say what I want to say." Ritsuka droned on.
Koneko couldn't hide her curiosity. While she still remained the only sane member of the Gremory household, at least the one under Rias, she knew when something was going to change. Whether it would be life changing or not… she couldn't tell.
Senpai, as she had come to call him, had been as open as he possibly could be with all of them when a level of trust had been reached. Now though, he was putting all the cards on the table. It was as if he was panicking about something.
Koneko hugged one of her little cat plushies as she curled up to sleep. The conversation was still playing in her head.
"I doubt something this big would change anything between us though." Akeno waved off the concern though her pointed stare didn't share the same temperament as her words.
"Well… it might. That's why I'm a bit cagey about talking about it. Actually explaining it would probably take a week of lecturing just to explain all the details. Bringing up what I was forced to fight against is pretty big since the stakes were even bigger." Ritsuka mentioned though his eyes were downcast, empty of their usual luster and full of memories. Memories that clouded and bashed his psyche.
"Did you fight demons?" Akeno brought up which made everyone tense up.
"Yeah." Ritsuka simply answered.
Akeno slowly brushed her hair in front of her vanity mirror. Her eyes focused on the brush. Quietly, she tied her hair up to sleep. She had expected that answer honestly.
His eyes were far too sharp for him not to be a demon slayer of some sort. It was something she had intuited from how carefully he carried himself around them. He constantly walked on eggshells whenever he was around them, relaxing very rarely around them. Her morning meetings showed her that he was always tense and very aware of his surroundings constantly maintaining vigil no matter what.
She wasn't really that worried since she had made up her mind already. She was far too stubborn to be swayed any other way.
"Is that why you didn't want to talk about it? I mean you aren't trying to slay us." Asia pointed out trying to be the voice of reason.
"Of course not. You haven't done anything and the level I get involved is really, really high." Ritsuka mentioned though he was still rubbing the back of his head, though with how fast he did so it seemed like his frustration was mounting. "I have a way to explain tomorrow I just got to prepare it out to tell you the story."
"So we get like a bedtime story!" Asia's eyes lit up in sheer joy.
"Let's say morning or afternoon. While the whole thing would take a few days to detail, if I just make it keypoints then we would probably finish in a few hours, longer if I have to answer questions." Ritsuka let his smile drop at the mention of questions though only for a moment. "Also those explanations may not make sense considering they come from a different reality where some things are fundamentally changed in a way that might not fit what you know."
Asia let her imagination race as she thought up everything that could be different. She thought Ritsuka could have been like a super spy who went on missions through time stealing artifacts from when they were supposed to disappear. He could have also been a time cop hunting down criminals that tried to change history to suit their own needs.
The somber tone had completely gone over her head leaving her eyes twinkling in sheer euphoria. She was so curious now about the story that even as she slept she saw herself in Ritsuka's position doing those things he did right beside him.
"These demons… what did they look like?" Rias brought up.
"See that's the first thing I'm going to have to explain tomorrow. Since the demon I'm talking about is a pretty big deal." Ritsuka sighed as he played around with a few more of the tempura shrimp they had made for the evening.
Rias finally felt as sleep overcame her. Her eyes closed as her mind raced back through that conversation. He never mentioned a name. He looked down whenever mention of demons came up.
'Did he fight against the Goetia in his world?' Rias felt her eyes open. Staring up at the ceiling, she could only take that statement as the truth. It made complete sense especially with how everyone who interacted with Ritsuka felt when meeting with him.
They were intimidated and even that innocuous statement her father made started to ring back in her mind. Still, she didn't have the big picture in all this.
She knew that there were big differences between worlds already. Ritsuka had mentioned an event only known as the end of the world… though it sounded light. He never said details though she could figure out if only thirty or so people survived the end, it was probably more horrible than anything she could imagine.
She hoped it wasn't as bad as she was thinking it was. Her tossing and turning to get back to sleep didn't help matters either.
Ritsuka rubbed his eyes. It was really starting to tick him off.
"No, no, no. Look we just need to pick the small key points and not go for grand epic tales. We're saving that for if we have to tell more people and they want details." Ritsuka groaned since he was arguing with one the familiars that Scheherazade usually summoned.
The small thief pointed at the djinn then back at the large mermaid looking creature. It jumped up and down and seemed to be talking about presentation.
"No, you know why I was hesitant. You know exactly what this entails should we lose this connection. I haven't been able to connect back to Chaldea for almost three weeks, longer than any other time I've been reyshifted. I am putting my trust in telling people completely what I've done with my life because I'm running out of viable options." Ritsuka argued back though he remained eye level with the familiar rather than tower over it. He didn't want to intimidate it unreasonably so.
The thief pointed at the back of his right hand then back at the staff he was using. It jumped a few times then the djinn shook its head. It pointed at the thief then pointed at the staff.
"First off that was rude. I get that I have command spells but I don't know if they'd even regenerate after I use them. If I needed to power myself up in case something goes wrong it's there. Second, I have tried putting small messages in anything I could manifest. I put notes in Moriarty's Coffin, this staff, several other staffs, and on any weapon that everyone has. Since nothing has changed and those notes fell back on the ground after I uninstalled those cards it doesn't work. Also it's fine if he wants to voice his opinion Djinn. As long as he does so respectively I don't mind." Ritsuka sighed as he leaned against the wall. His head pounded but it wasn't from mana exhaustion. Within the card was that slight fear of death but with how fine he was with the dangerous members of Chaldea, his own courage had quashed that feeling down.
The Mermaid or Seal lady offered her hand on his shoulder. It cooed slightly which had the right effect. Ritsuka stepped back up and went back to the center of the field he had made.
"Yeah. I get it. We gotta trust in others. If nothing else we have to be more trusting now. I might be stuck here much longer than I once thought." Ritsuka patted the lady on the head as he sat down against the wall. "So… who plays what role then?"
Ritsuka had fallen asleep in the dojo. He had uninstalled Scheherazade's card before he did so just to make certain he wouldn't be influenced by anything she might have felt before she imbued it with her power. His back cracked the moment he stood up… a reminder of how he usually slept when he went on his adventure through singularities.
"I have a bed here… " Ritsuka grumbled as he forced his legs to move forward. Everything still ached. It didn't help that the only shower was upstairs and he hadn't really planned what to wear. "Should have gone upstairs to sleep… but no I didn't do that."
Ritsuka mumbled his own berations as he made his way to the bathroom. He needed to take a shower and change Mystic Codes. Probably True Ether would be his outfit of choice since a scarf would be cool. He definitely wasn't embracing his inner chuunibyou, not even possible since he technically already lived it in some cases.
He returned to the dojo and ready to go, somewhat stretched out. His morning training was a bit out of whack at this point. He wasn't going to use any cards during training. It probably wouldn't help him in any noticeable way since he would be magically enhanced and probably not using his own muscles.
He actually didn't know the inner workings of the cards aside from what he learned during his last few uses. The slight psychic impression leftover made his brain hurt slightly but it was more in the realm of mild headache than splitting migraine. The class skills were a bit harder to deal with. Oblivion Correction had been burning inside him far too much.
Ritsuka ignored it for the moment. He needed to psyche himself up. A few simple exercises would probably help loosen his body up.
Kneeling down Ritsuka started his regimented pushups while he waited to start what could possibly be the beginning of a very hard life. Sweat beaded down his brow even though he was only on his fifth push-up.
Koneko was the first awake. She had heard Senpai in the shower. He was usually the first due to waking up randomly in the morning before anyone else. She assumed it was due to his training, or if she remembered right, his narcoleptic tendencies. He was wearing another outfit she hadn't seen before with a long yellow scarf. It was kind of weird since she didn't think he would be like that.
It was hard to consider him a chuunibyou either since he did have a weird power that manifested himself. It didn't matter. He was ready for them to come down and listen at any time. Since she was the responsible one in his eyes she would assist everyone in getting up.
With catlike grace she entered Asia's room. Her serene face and slight trail of drool falling on her pillow at least showed she had slept well. With a graceful pounce Koneko jumped on the bed startling the young nun.
"Waaa!" Asia cried out as she almost fell onto the floor. By some strange twist of fate the blankets had been wrapped around her capturing her into a cocoon of sorts. Hanging a few centimeters off the ground she peered through the tiny hole that gave off light seeing her stoic friend stare at her.
"It's time." Koneko merely mentioned, a somber smile on her face. Asia couldn't tell if she was sympathizing for nearly making her fall or if she was talking about the situation that they were about to listen to.
"Already!? But it's still eight in the morning!" Asia panicked.
"It's fine. He's waiting for us to decide when. Stop panicking please." Koneko held the blankets up as Asia wriggled around in them. She still was hanging slightly above the ground. With a small grunt Asia managed to fumble out falling flat on the ground, sprawled in a very compromising position. Koneko held her tongue back. She didn't need to comment on how it would look for her to be sticking her hips in the air would signify.
"Get ready. I shall get the others." Koneko announced before leaving the room. She heard the scrambling of feet as Asia danced around her room.
Shaking her head, Koneko stepped over to Akeno's room… sniffed the air and turned away immediately. It had been a common thing these last couple of days. Today was at its strongest. Though given how Akeno acted around Ritsuka she figured she would do that given how he performed against the Phenex Peerage.
"Akeno… get ready." Koneko knocked at the door. She got a noncommittal stifled grunt in response and took that as an answer. She didn't want to go into the room.
Koneko harrumphed and trotted away towards Rias' door. A slight knock revealed a fully dressed Rias. There were slight dark circles under her eyes but it seemed to be from stress.
"Oh Koneko… morning, yes?" Rias asked seemingly completely unaware of the world around her. She had put her clothes on right at the very least though with the slight proof of her hair she was clearly not in the best case scenario.
"Coffee?" Koneko threw her lifeline, which bore fruit at least.
"Yes… that would be good. Yes." Rias slowly stepped around Koneko edging closer and closer to the stairs one step at a time. She gripped the rail tightly guiding herself downstairs.
"Looks like she's had a rough night." Kiba called out.
"Yes. Worried about the truth?" Koneko let that comment hang around for a bit. Whether she was asking him or throwing out an observation didn't matter.
"Personally, no. Doesn't matter though I can see why it would be a big deal with how the conversation went yesterday. Big things are happening and we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg." Kiba sighed as he also traveled downstairs.
Koneko pondered things for a bit before going back to get Asia. She had had enough time to get ready.
Rias stood at the door to the dojo. Everyone had taken a bit of time to prepare themselves. Rias had even used a spell to at least remove the dark circles that had appeared under her eyes. Akeno and Asia seemed the most excited though she was certain that Asia's naivety was at play for her excitement.
Akeno's reason was still elusive as ever. Rias was certain it was something to do with sadism but even she wasn't sure at the moment.
Kiba and Koneko had braced themselves, keeping their emotions in check. It was apparent that they hadn't really wanted to think too deeply upon the ramifications of Ritsuka possibly being a demon slayer of sorts.
After all they were all devils… what were they if not a form of demonic being.
When they entered… absolutely nothing had changed. Ritsuka was looking over a few pieces of paper as he sat against the far wall. He didn't even look up at any of them still seemingly lost in his thoughts. About what in particular, none of them could say.
"Mh?" Ritsuka looked up after a short amount of time, still a little dazed as he noticed the group. "Ah, it's time."
He placed the papers back in his little magical storage kit and stood up, pulling out the strange staff with the red lantern and books acting as the focusing point. It was one of the stranger staffs that any of them had seen that was certain.
"Hi everyone. Ready to hear a story?" Ritsuka gave everyone a strained smile, he hid it well enough but the more astute devils could tell.
"Are you okay with this?" Rias questioned taking the lead.
"Yup. I've been thinking about how to go about this and I think I've got a good idea. Just give me a minute to set up my bounding fields." Ritsuka waved off the concern once more before walking over to the edge of the room once more. "Can you all just stand over here in this area?"
"Here?" Akeno stepped forward toward the spot he had pointed at.
"Yeah that's good." Ritsuka nodded as he placed his staff on the edge of the room.
Tapping the end of the staff against the corner of the room set up several runes which lit up. A visible magical barrier appeared coating the walls of the entire room in a shield. Another sprang up afterwards, followed by three more after that. As the magic settled down Ritsuka walked over to the group.
"So… I'm gonna tell you about what I've faced. The spirit I've decided to work with was a great storyteller as well which makes this work out well. So I may get a little theatrical with my story…" Ritsuka chuckled as he pulled a scroll out of his sleeve.
'Oh, that's where it comes out of for me.' Ritsuka stared at the scroll for a bit before reminding himself that he was about to tell a story.
"So where does this begin anyways?" Rias spoke up.
"Well the story starts with a question. You feel me as a demon slayer, I suppose which is technically true, but what is a demon in my world?" Ritsuka started as he opened the scroll in his hand.
A wave of magic took over the room transitioning it to darkness. For what looked like miles, the darkness stretched on and on. A few of them gulped as Ritsuka took a spot next to all of them.
"In my world demons are far far different. Far more dangerous, and far more willing to do whatever they take to accomplish their goal." Ritsuka continued as the ground before them violently shook open.
The cracks opened wider and wider until a hole that reached nearly twenty meters had opened. The air grew stale and the scent of decay wafted through the room.
A tendril of rotted flesh covered in maggots ascended from out of the hole reaching towards the sky. Had they not been under the spell Ritsuka most likely cast to show this illusion, it would have broken the entire manor the moment that it manifested. Several more tendrils rose as well twisting along with its progenitor coalescing into a pillar.
When the tendrils connected blood seeped from the connections hardening into flesh. The larger pools transmogrified into large blood red eyes which looked down upon the group. Boredom seeped from its demeanor and each eye stared directly at them.
"This is a Demon God Pillar. They are what represent the Ars Goetia in my world. This one in particular is Halphas, the one who holds dominion over war." Ritsuka mentioned which caused a lot of swiveling heads to turn to him.
"What!?" Akeno cried out.
"Hence why I didn't want to talk about it." Ritsuka answered just as quickly.
Several more pillars joined the rank of Halphas. Each was a twisted pillar of flesh with similar looking eyes. One or two looked like they were made of metal or sand but they all shared the same blood red eyes. Nobody could say anything when they saw just how massive each one was.
"Of course the reason we came to blows is a tale on its own. It all begins with their creation in my world. Seeing as Parallel worlds exist, so do different origins for each legend." Ritsuka mentioned as the pillars disappeared into smoke. "The Ars Goetia is a magical ritual that formed into a hive mind that was created by King Solomon to act as a system for human growth through logic and are actually the entire basis for humanity to use magecraft in our world."
"Um… what?" Asia muttered out as she tried to recall everything she was taught about the life of King Solomon as he led his world through their history in the Bible.
"Are you saying that the demons in your world were created by a human that followed the will of god?" Rias brought up clearly confused as well.
"Yeah. I told you this was a very difficult topic but it wasn't going to be on morality or ethics. It was always going to fall apart because explaining the details brings up so many questions about the nature of the world that it falls apart under any semblance of questioning it. Especially so that you are technically part of the Gremory pillar which is this world exists as well and in a different form. Do you see why I didn't really want to go on about this? It's not that it would be hard to talk about… it's because it would be hard to explain easily enough." Ritsuka sighed. The tone he had built up while telling the story immediately cracked and shattered.
"So, in your world, the demons of the Goetia were just these disgusting looking pillars then?" Kiba mentioned offhandedly as one of those pillars formed again from the darkness that has enveloped them.
"Yeah. There were seventy two of them but they were all connected to a single terminal. Like I said, it was a hive mind." Ritsuka muttered.
The pillar disappeared once more and a tall bipedal figure formed in front of them. Nearly three times as tall as everyone, the group took a step back. The aura created from Ritsuka's memory was terrifying.
"This was Goetia. This was the focal point of the others to live off of and had its own personality as well." Ritsuka pointed out.
The flesh was hardened into golden and white plates with a large pink eye embedded on its chest. While there were markings on its torso, everyone's gaze trailed up to the featureless face and branched out horns that were ablaze. The figure felt oppressive when the devils faced it, to a point no one could look long upon the beast.
"It's monstrous…" Koneko commented.
"Yeah. And the plan it came up with would be seen as such." Ritsuka took a deep breath before he continued. "Due to being created by Solomon, it shared with him a gift that he had thanks to the wisdom bestowed upon him by God."
"I remember reading about that before. It was said Solomon could see the future, couldn't he?" Asia brought up.
"Correct. Solomon possessed a form of Clairvoyance. He could see the future. Unfortunately, the Goetia could also see the future which means they saw all the horror that humanity was capable of." Ritsuka motioned the staff and in a quick flash they could see what he meant.
Violence. In that small flash they could see the suffering of hundreds. Blood splattered across the floors as the twisted smiles of the shadows around enjoying the chaos and bloodshed. It vanished just as quickly leaving the group shuddering.
"As it looked on it only felt disgust for his maker. The one who would not do anything to change them. And after Solomon passed it decided to do something." Ritsuka continued. He winced as he saw the form of Solomon lying on the ground.
There were a few gasps as they saw the body on the ground. Slowly it stood back up, writhing unnaturally. It stood up in the body that was Solomon and with a flash of magic seventy two more shadows appeared.
"With a spell beyond what normal Magus could cast, it enacted a geis upon seventy two different mage families with a single universal goal. Survive and Propagate." Ritsuka mentioned as the seventy two figures were each branded with a different mark.
"Wait… that's the Gremory crest!" Rias pointed at one body in particular. "What did it plan out that needed something like this!?"
"Each of these families would forcefully survive until they were needed. A ritual that was more than three thousand years in the making. As these families reached the perfect point it would begin the plan." Ritsuka gritted his teeth as he waved the staff once more.
The entire room within the bounding field was covered in junk and flames. The cursed blaze baked the very land beneath their feet and everyone needed to cover their face from the sheer destruction around them.
Flames licked across the scattered junk that survived. There were no people, no buildings and scorched blackened earth around them. Scars danced across the landscape and in the sky was a large ring of light constantly circling clockwise.
"With that plan in motion Goetia began the ritual. It was known as the Incineration of Humanity. Burning away every single human throughout history it would gather the energy to burrow a hole into the planet which would cause a chain reaction. That reaction would allow Goetia to return before the Genesis of Mankind and lead it on the path it decided for us. A world where there would be no aging, no suffering, and no death." Ritsuka muttered as the scenery changed away from the hellscape that they had been standing in.
Before them was a large broken temple in the midst of a starry void. The same pillars were coiled all around keeping the landmasses together with connecting bridges made of the same pillars. Seven other pillars stood at focal points of the terrain looming as the sight of battle caught everyone's attention.
Figures grand and small all seemed to be charging against the pillars fighting them off, even killing them only for the pillar to rise once more.
"We stood up against the end of the world. All of us fought for the right of humanity to live as we were. Each being that was summoned stood against an apocalypse that would end it all." Ritsuka claimed as the scene shifted.
While several of the figures were in shadow, they still showed a proud visage before them all. Entire legions of soldiers, attack sphinxes, robots, warriors, kings, all could be seen working against each pillar.
"You were a part of this?" Koneko asked.
"Yeah. I basically lead each of these people against this beast. As I told Rias, I was more of a commander. I've only recently been able to fight back at this level and that took more than five years of training. Even so I'm still nowhere near as capable as everyone else I lead." Ritsuka muttered, his gaze cast downwards. "Anyways, while everyone dealt with the control towers, I had to face the main terminal. And yes I'm referring to it as so because that is technically what they are in the context of this situation."
Road lowered her hand since her question was answered. She had more but the scenery was changing once more. A few seconds brought them to the central island where that… thing stood. She scowled at it… feeling as though bile was working it's way up her throat.
"Ritsuka… why did it do this?" Rias spoke up, catching his attention before he could continue.
"That's a long answer but to put it simply, it did all this out of love for humanity." Ritsuka answered which just confused everyone even more.
"Love!? How the hell does this count as love!" Kiba shouted before catching himself. He hadn't heard something so weird since his time as a child.
"Well here's the long part. In my world there are certain beings that could be considered a threat to humanity because they care too much about humanity. Think how all humans carry with them the seven deadly sins… only this is a different system that only mirrors that slightly." Ritsuka started, stopped, and then pondered how to go about explaining it. "These concepts when taken to their utmost limit can become dangerous because of how they are acted on. So Goetia felt sorry for mankind because of their short lifespan and constant cruelty to one another, its pity becoming condescending because it couldn't understand the value of a human life. For that it became one of the seven calamities that could bring about the end of humanity. It became Beast I, the beast of Pity. In this case, the pity one feels for another but due to their own superiority and not out of sympathy."
"That seems complicated…" Rias muttered as so much information was thrown at them.
"Okay, the point is that in my world demons enacted a plan to use three thousand years worth of energy from human souls to go back in time over forty six billion years in order to remake the planet as one where no one can die of old age, a race of immortal beings that would supposedly be more reasonable and logical than the humans living in this day and age." Ritsuka laid out the bare bones… though he felt a little cheated that the visuals didn't really get the meaning across. Perhaps the djinn was right about less being more.
"And it did this because it hated seeing people die unjustly?" Akeno questioned as she seemed to get what its reason was.
"Yeah. It was condescending with its compassion which meant it pitied humans because they didn't understand how glorious being alive forever was. Thanks to those I summoned to Chaldea, we managed to restore the timeline of my world back to as close to normal as possible. We still lost about a year and a half due to its actions." Ritsuka continued keeping his gaze on everyone.
There was a lightness on his chest he was glad to finally feel once more. While he had been lucky to be within Chaldea where everyone, at least on the surface, was someone he could talk to about his concerns and worries. When the Mage's Association had confronted them after the Salem Singularity, he had come to a crushing realization he had ignored to that moment.
No one would ever care what he did because he wasn't a mage of noble descent. He couldn't tell normal people either. It wasn't to brag… it was more his own nerves trying to connect with people, to empathize with them. But due to the whole reason of there being a moonlit world, he would never be able to use those experiences to connect with others.
"There were extenuating circumstances but I did have to fight it with my own two fists and a shield." Ritsuka finished off. "Of course it wouldn't be that easy. Life is never that easy, am I right?"
"You got that right…" A chorus of mutterings from everyone else in the room chimed out. Everybody noticed leaving a few chuckles to dance around.
The demon coalesced back into the body of Solomon, who at the time had turned partially to ash. It got up allowing the ten rings he had to circle around him. With desperation only seen from a dying man it jumped to another point in the illusion that had been weaved into the story. Even with a foot in the grave, it continued on. It fought to the bitter end.
"And that is the tale I have shown to you." Ritsuka finished as the illusion faded away.
"Wait!? Isn't there more?" Asia yelled out feeling very invested in the tale that was told.
"Well, yeah. It's just not that important right now. If it needs to come up I'll tell you more… provided everyone is still fine with me." Ritsuka mumbled the last part hiding it under his breath.
Koneko did catch upon it but kept silent on the matter. She peered a bit sadly at Ritsuka. The confidence he usually allowed himself was gone. His arms clenched to his side and the staff leaned protectively against his shoulder. He had tried making himself as tiny as possible.
"No wonder your eyes seemed so scary." Rias answered as she grabbed Ritsuka's cheeks forcing eye contact with him. "My father said something that matched exactly what you just told us. But you're not looking at us like we're enemies."
"Why would I? You're all pretty nice if somewhat eccentric. It's comforting to have that in my life." Ritsuka responded almost immediately. He didn't need to really think about how he felt about everyone here. He had told them the truth about his life which made it pretty obvious that he liked all of them.
"And that's why I'm going to tell you that it doesn't matter what you've done. It doesn't matter in the here and now because we're all friends here. You gave us the chance to forge our own future path away from that jackass." Rias chuckled as she pulled away.
Strangely, she no longer felt fear whenever she looked into Ritsuka's eyes. Now that she knew the truth… it felt easier to confront it. It didn't mean that his gaze didn't still weigh down on her soul but it no longer felt like it could kill with a mere glance.
"Seriously, I don't know why you were so worried. Ritsuka-kun should have more faith in his Onee-san." Akeno giggled beneath her hand though didn't allow it to become an ojou laugh. She didn't even seem phased by the tale.
"We're friends already. Why would this change anything?" Kiba called out still in his prim and proper stance.
"Yes. Senpai is a fool, it seems. He should know better." Koneko huffed slightly. She got the closest to look up at Ritsuka.
"Koneko is a good judge of character. She probably knows best." Kiba chuckled as Koneko
directed an annoyed glance at her fellow knight. She didn't do anything hostile but huff in place.
"Ritsuka saved me from being used by a monster. He is my hero after all." Asia answered to Ritsuka's embarrassment.
"Your genuine kindness is startling." Ritsuka rubbed his eyes hiding the small blush that had appeared. It was far too embarrassing to him to be called someone's hero.
"Maybe I was worried for nothing…" Ritsuka smirked as he released the bounding field and uninstalled the card allowing the place to return back to normal. The runes that had been placed fizzled away and everyone came together to chat about things that had happened.
"So this is what you wanted to show me?" A man stated as he looked at the video that had been uploaded to DevilTube.
A mage riding a wraith while brutally smacking that Riser brat against every tree they passed. He was certain that there were bits of brain being exposed but the fool healed too fast to be sure. Certainly more his style than anything else.
"And what of it?" The man scoffed at what he saw. It wasn't anything special to be certain of.
"That was pure human." The woman stated with an annoyed smirk dancing across her lips. She hated everything about the current devil leadership, including their decision to allow this farce to happen.
"Are you certain?" He turned to his compatriot only to scowl at her nod. "Those filthy half breeds. Does their pride even exist?"
The sheer disgust dripping from his mouth put a smile on his ally's face. She cared not one whit about them either but for the moment there were no openings. It didn't help that their other two members were busy. Rizevim had gone silent almost three weeks ago leaving everyone in the dark and he had been busy procuring more supplies for their team from the other dragon.
"It's an unimportant issue. Let them think they're progressive by allowing a human to participate. They mean nothing in the long run." The man stated clearly disinterested in continuing the conversation.
"As you wish… but it would be a good idea to at least take some time to look at the fodder. You know, the ones who'll be the most fun to break." The woman cruelly laughed as she walked away. He really wished she would keep her shortsightedness in check. They needed to get ready for their plan.
"Oh my, nya? This is interesting." The young woman looked at the screen. "Shirone…"
She could see her… fighting off another devil. And doing so with style. It was still too weak though. Then there was that weirdo mage fighting for them. That wasn't right at all. He had too much yang energy in him and then he didn't. She could see him doing something weird.
"He looks strong, I guess." She pursed her lips on thought. He was only a human and controlling a wraith required an insane amount of magic to do so.
'Should I show this to Vali… that battle maniac might be interested.' She bounces between each option. She didn't really want to since then Vali would just get all obsessed about another strong person. He was already using that group to get what he wanted. Though no one had seen that guy for a while.
In fact a lot of the old crowd were slowly dying off. There had been several missing bodies within the past couple of days. She was certain something had changed entirely in the underworld and her Senjutsu was telling her to hide.
"I won't yet. Later. Otherwise he'll do something stupid. Well… stupider, nya." She muttered as she saved the video elsewhere and blocked that particular link on DevilTube.
Diodora smashed yet another table. He had taken himself back to Shinjuku and the club he had hid in. Ruval still hadn't followed through on his word meaning he was probably going to be a fool and send the human… or he was just too weak to handle him. He liked the second idea better.
"Tch… That bitch didn't even provide even the slightest relief." Diodora parsed as he looked over at one of the other tables.
The woman had been horribly scarred during his fun and whatever remained of her bottom half had been torn off laying on the floor covered in blood and other fluids. He had standards though, she had been alive before the tearing.
"She had her uses but she wasn't what I wanted. Needs to be more innocent looking, pure in fact." Diodora mumbled to himself.
The blonde wig that had been on the woman was caked in blood already, meaning he would have to get another one. Though he had no inclination of doing so. It wasn't what he wanted. He knew what he needed and there was only one obstacle between him and satisfaction.
It was barely done. It looked horrible but the suit was done. It was useless to him but…
"Flauros. Come here."
"Yes my King." Flauros appeared before Goetia.
"Information. Do not fail me this time. Your previous blunder was noted and next time I shall not be lenient with you."
"I understand my King. I will leave no stone unturned. Should I merely use my form?" Flauros mentioned.
With a wave of his hand Flauros took that as acceptance. Shifting his body around, Flauros took the form of a tall man wearing a green suit with matching green hat. While they still didn't know which devils were gone, it wouldn't be hard to blend in well enough.
"As what once was, Lev Lainur Flauros at your service, my King."