Chapter-7
Inside Orimura Shrine
"So what do you want to check inside the shrine Orimura-san?" Rias saw Akeno ask Akane with a smile, to a stranger it would look completely genuine but Rias knew her friend well enough to know there was a tone of uneasiness there. And she sort of understood why Akeno was uneasy, she had been living on the grounds that Akane's family lived on for decades.
Akane didn't seem to register Akeno's question as she was busy looking around the interior of the shrine with a distant look in her eyes. "Stand behind me," Akane told them as she knelt before the center of the shrine, a stocky structure adorned with a heavy stone slab covered in intricate ornamentations.
Rias had seen the shrine interior a few times before and she always thought the decision of placing that rectangular slab at the center was just a design decision made by the Orimuras. As no builder, especially at the time this shrine was built, would make a floor of solid stone slabs which was who knows how thick. And place them in a way that some of the tiles were out of the building and would have been needed to cut damaging it, which would have been a near-impossible task.
The sudden appearance of a knife in Akane's hands brought Rias out of her musing as she, Akeno and Grayfia saw her deliberately cut the palm of her right hand. Soon enough little droplets of blood started falling on the carvings of the center slab. The next thing Rias saw Akane do frankly amazed her.
Knowing two chakra users in Tsubaki and Koneko ,Rias knew what hand seals were and had seen them being used from time to time. She'd even seen Tsubaki use a series of hand seals needed to perform a high level technique in quick succession. She had always wondered how fast one could do a series of hand seals.
Well, that question of hers was just answered when she saw Akane perform them in such speed her hands were just a blur of motion to her eyes. Rias was barely able to keep count yet alone recognize any individual one.
After… she didn't know… 70 hand seals? Maybe more? Akane slammed her hand on the slab with her blood on and the carvings started to glow red, as it started to slowly rise in the air revealing a set of stairs that went downwards.
Standing up ,Akane took a step down the stairs and the moment her foot touched the first step the torches on the walls ignited one by one illuminating the path downwards. "Come on, follow me," Akane said looking back at them before taking the next step.
After sharing a look with her queen, Grayfia, she followed suit.
Their slow descent underground was interrupted by a loud grinding noise from behind them, Akeno and Grayfia looked back to check what that noise was and they found out that the entrance had closed itself sealing them inside.
"Don't worry about it, the entrance can be opened from inside." Akane's voice reached them from below, the girl didn't skip a beat and continued going down, they went down after her quickly catching up.
"So… do you have to do that every time you want to enter this place," She asked Akane while pointing to her still bleeding hand.
"The drawing my blood part?" She chuckled a little before continuing "Yes every time, though we really don't come to this place often, besides, it's not that inconvenient." She finished, her left hand started to glow a dim warm green and she brought it to the palm of her right hand, the cut wound began to close itself up.
"That technique you just used, isn't that supposed to be known only by the members of the Shinra clan?" Rias remembered this particular technique well, Koneko once asked Tsubaki to teach her and was met with a quite staunch refusal on the part of Sona's queen. In fact, the lack of a proper chakra trainer has become a big problem for Koneko. No chakra user she was aware of was willing to teach Koneko anything and as wealthy and as powerful as Rias' family was ,it had no servants with chakra abilities to speak of.
"Yes, it is." Akane replied to her as she removed her hand off her other hand which was now healed.
"So care to explain how you learned the technique used by one of the Shinto Royal Clans?" Grayfia asked her.
Akane chuckled at the question, "It's a long story. Maybe I will tell you about it some other time."
"Why not now? Didn't you agree to answer all of our questions." Grayfia kept pushing for an answer.
"I told Rias that I would be happy to tell her about my bloodline and I agreed to answer your questions regarding the stray. I never said I will answer your every question." Akane replied.
"Fine, then tell me how you tracked down the stray you fought last night?" Grayfia asked Akane who gave her a curious look.
"It couldn't have been the Guides helping you. You have left the order so they have no reason to offer you their help. And without their help, it should have been impossible for you to track the stray. Yet you did and caught the stray off guard." Grayfia added.
"Ask Azazel. I really can't say much more on this topic at the moment." Akane replied.
"Why?" Grayfia asked though Akane did not give her a reply and just kept moving forward.
"Why can't you tell me?" Grayfia moved forward and blocked Akane's way ,"Answer me". Rias was surprised to see the ever calm and collected Grayfia acting so pushy, "well, I've never seen her work before" Rias thought to herself.
"Don't you have any other questions to ask me? Because as far as I'm concerned, I have already answered your first question." Akane responded unfazed.
"I have but none are as important as this one," Grayfia told her standing her ground.
"And why is that? Shouldn't you be able to track the Stray easily, thanks to the tracking devices you have inside those chess pieces of yours?" Akane asked her.
"I am not allowed to say much about this topic but I can say that we are having trouble tracking them using our regular method," Grayfia told Akane who just looked at her in amusement
"Why can't you tell me about it?" Akane asked in an amused tone "Answer me."
"Because this is an official Devil matter and telling you about it would be unprofessional at best and treason at worst." Grayfia started out and soon as she uttered those words, she stopped "Ohh," she said as if some realization has come to her, before she stared giving Akane a suspicious look.
"Ohh? Come on don't give me that look." Akane replied, "I'm just doing a job for him which doesn't involve Rias or Sona." She said with a shrug and moved passed her.
"I wonder what kind of job required Azazel to hire you?" Grayfia said out loud as if she wanted to get something out of Akane.
"I guess you should go ask him yourself. Though I doubt he'll answer, after all its official Fallen business." Akane replied in a mocking manner.
Rias had no idea what the two were talking about, but she picked up on the fact that Akane is apparently doing a job for Azazel. She really didn't know what to feel about that ,while there was really not that much friction between the two factions, they still kept to themselves and maintained their distance.
"Well if you can't answer any of my questions then I would go to someone who would," Grayfia said.
Akane didn't reply, just smiled as if Grayfia had said something funny.
Rias saw Grayfia raise her hand, but nothing happened, no magic seal appeared in her hand like usual, "Grayfia? What's wrong?" She asked her, confused about why Grayfia was not summoning a magic seal.
"I…." Grayfia began with her eyes closed "can't use my magic" she said opening her eyes and bringing her hands down.
"I can feel my mana inside so I know my magic is still there, I am not able to release my magic… outside, it is as if something is actively stopping it." Grayfia explained. She and Akeno both shared a look before deciding to check out themselves if what Grayfia was talking about was the truth. Rias and Akeno called their magic out but like what Grayfia was saying some force was stopping it from coming out of their bodies.
"You know anything about this?" Grayfia asked Akane with suspicion. Who was looking at them as if she was studying them.
"Well yes, sort of. This entire place is built in a way that it actively stops elements that a humanoid body can release mostly chakra, never knew it will also work with magic." Akane mused out loud.
"But that's impossible, to stop someone from using magic ,the most common method used is a binding that eats away people's mana so that they are not able to use their magic. But this is unheard of, to be able to make someone's magic useless even without them knowing about it. How does this work exactly?" Rias asked.
"I don't know." Akane replied with a shrug.
"Wait? Are you saying that because you don't wanna tell me? Or you genuinely don't know how this works?" Rias asked.
"What do you want me to say here Rias? I'm already showing you my clan's vault, that should be enough. You are not my master; I won't share my clan's secrets with you yet." Akane told her, "Now come on let's get this thing done so I can go back home and get some rest." she added.
"And what am I supposed to do here? From the looks of things, I am stuck here until you open the entrance." Grayfia asked.
"If I had known you only had one question to ask of me, I wouldn't have invited you here. Follow along, I guess. We won't be here for that long." She told her before signaling them to follow her, they could see the end of the stairs was not far.
"Is this what I think it is?" Rias asked looking at a wide library that took half of the space present on the floor, filled with nothing but scrolls. She had heard legends about places like these existing, used by the old families to keep their knowledge and secrets safe. Though the clans, as well as their members understandably, tend to deny the existence of places like this.
"Yes, Welcome to the Orimura Clan vault." Said Akane before looking them right in their eyes. "Consider yourself lucky, as you three might be the only outsiders who have entered this vault in its entire history."
Even Grayfia was looking around the library with interest, it's not every day you get an opportunity to enter a place such as this, "So why are you showing this to us? Clans tend to get secretive when it comes to vaults like this. Aren't you afraid we might steal some scroll or leak the location of the vault to someone else?" Grayfia asked Akane, as they were slowly following her through the library.
"Even if you now know the location of the vault you really can't do anything about it. The only way to enter and exit the vault is through the shrine and for that you will need my blood and even if you have somehow acquired my blood you will need the perform the 120 hand sign opening technique correctly to open the seal." Akane replied, "And you have seen what happens when you try to use magic." She added later.
"120?! Dear Satan, my guess was way off!" Rias thought to herself.
"But why are you showing it to us?" Grayfia asked.
"I wanted to check something out inside the vault, and this vault just happened to contain the story behind my bloodline which Rias was so eager to know about. So, I said, fuck it, lets kill two birds with one stone." She replied.
Rias, who had been busy looking around the library, asked "Can you tell me about scrolls present here, what they contain? You don't have to tell us which contains what? Just answer us in generalization." Rias worded her question in a way that Akane could reveal something without revealing everything.
"Well some of the scrolls present here are Jutsu scrolls that my family has collected, most of the scrolls present here are memoirs of each clan member dating back to the initial beginning of the War Amongst the Mythologies. That's where our clan story began." Akane tells them.
"Which side did your clan support?" Grayfia asked.
"Lady Amaterasu's of course. Now, how we came to make a deal with her or our Clan's history before the war is a bit murky. Some say we were one of the vassal clans under the jade emperor before defecting to Amaterasu's side. Other say we were barbarians who had come here from a different isle raiding and pillaging." Akane tells them.
"From the way I see it your Clan wasn't interested in that part of their history." Said Grayfia in a weirdly sympathetic tone which came from where Rias wasn't sure.
"Hmmm I guess you are correct." Akane answered absentmindedly as she was looking through a shelf of the library.
"So do the memoirs contain the happenings of the war?" Rias asked. She couldn't hide her excitement. In-depth knowledge about what happened during the war was hard to come by especially for the members of Christian Mythology as they joined the war at the very last moment. Most of them had no idea what was happening on the other fronts.
"If its politics and high profile secret war meetings is what you are looking for, I am afraid you would be disappointed." Akane told her, "Aside from a few mentions of those meetings made by the clan heads during that time, you would not find anything else. Most memoirs recount what happened in the front lines of the battles." She explained.
"Wait, your clan heads memoirs don't mention what happened in those meetings? They'd have to be a part of those meetings, right?" Rias asked, getting a nod from Akane in response, "So why did they not write about it? Was there some kind of rule forbidding them from writing about that?" she asked.
"Well at the time when the meetings were held, sure there must have been a rule placed in order to stop spies from getting their hand on our strategy. But this is a memoir we are talking about not a journal." Akane told them.
"From the way I see it, they didn't find what happened in those meetings important and must have tuned them out. And, understandably, those meetings are famous for clan politicking amongst each other. My clan never was interested in that. In our entire history, even at our worst moments, we have been straight and upfront about our issues." She explained.
"And from the looks of things, your clan paid the price for not getting involved there. As no one has ever heard about your clan, even though they helped the Shinto Gods. Your clan is not nobility like the other clans that helped." said Grayfia.
"Harsh but kind of true." Rias thought about Grayfia's comments but was surprised by a chuckle coming from Akane, "I can see how you came to that conclusion but that's not how the clans got their nobility. If your clan contributed during the war, they are viable for nobility as that was the offer Lady Amaterasu gave to the clans to join her side." Akane replied.
"So why is your clan not nobility?" Rias asked.
"Lady Amaterasu offered us something different as the offer for nobility wouldn't have interested my ancestors. She decided to offer us something different" Akane told her.
"And that's where your bloodline comes from?" asked Grayfia.
"Sort of, at first Lady Amaterasu's gave us divine weaponry straight out of lord Susanoo's collection that can be only used by a few family members that the weapon itself chooses." Said Akane.
"So a few sacred gears?" Asked Akeno.
"Yeah, though at that time the term Sacred Gears was not used. Remember this was before even the war started a good few years before they made their debut." Akane replied.
"Your Clan didn't accept that offer, did they?" Grayfia commented.
"Generally, they would have happily accepted that offer but the Clan head at the time recognized that there is a possibility that at a later date those weapons might skip a few generations. Plus, these weapons might also cause some infighting between the clan at a later date. So, he refused the offer." Akane told them ,"Not knowing what would appease the clan head now, as she was hoping that he would have accepted the first offer lady Amaterasu promised that she will fulfill any wish he asks form her after the war has ended." She added.
"Anything?" Rias asked in surprise.
"Well, there were some rules of course. The wish couldn't threaten the life of any gods under her rule but other than that they could have asked anything, and she would fulfill that wish." Akane replied.
"After that promise was made to, our clan happily joined the war and fought alongside the other clans, Youkai, and the Gods. Until your God and his children ended the conflict." She told them, "When the war ended and everyone who fought for Lady Amaterasu was being compensated for their efforts, we as a clan decided to take a month to heal and discuss amongst each other what wish we were going to ask for." she told them.
"So what did your clan finally decided to ask for," Grayfia asked.
"Power, and to be exact they asked the gods to give our family a fragment of their power," Akane told them.
"And they granted that wish?" Grayfia asked as she couldn't believe someone would ask for such a bold gift from the gods.
"Of course she did but there was a catch of course." Akane replied, before she quickly started making hand seals ,"Don't worry about it, lower your guard for a moment and just let me show you," she said as finished making seals, "Demonic Illusion: False surroundings technique," she said under breath.
Akane's entire body flickered out for just a moment, which made Rias rub her eyes a little and before she knew it, Rias found her outside the vault and in a courtyard. Though, when Rias looked around carefully she found out there was something wrong with her surroundings as the trees and the house before her cast no shadow even though the sun was right above her.
"Don't worry about it, you are under an illusion, Rias." She could hear Akane's voice coming from behind, when Rias turned around, she found Akeno and Grayfia standing in front of her. "This illusion is a rather low-level one as you can see. But it gets the job done." She heard Akane's voice again but she really could not find her anywhere.
"Rias, come we might wanna see this." Grayfia called her as she saw her point towards a few individuals standing still a few steps away from them, amongst them was a beautiful woman with long silky black hair dressed in a Regal looking kimono and had red… commas? floating behind her.
"Those are tomoe, not commas." Akane's voice interrupted Rias' train of thought and as soon as her voice came it was gone.
"Grayfia, who are they?" Rias asked her as she saw her looking at the people who were standing still seemingly frozen in time.
"While I don't know who the people standing there in the group are. My guess is they are Akane's ancestors." Grayfia told her.
"You are correct strongest queen." Again, Akane's voice chimed in.
"And who are the individuals standing before the group," she asked.
"The woman in the middle is Amaterasu, the man on her right dressed in a kimono is Tsukuyomi and to her left standing in full body armor is Susanoo." She replied and took a couple of steps further to get a better look at them. The moment she did that, the figures standing there started talking.
"What treachery is this Amaterasu?" Growled the Orimura clan head, "Where is the power of the Gods that you promised?" He demanded of the Goddess, who was standing before him with her brothers to answer.
"If I were you, I would lower my voice," Susanoo warned the Orimura.
"Calm down brother." Amaterasu melodic voice stopped her brother.
"Orimura Dono ,the power of Gods flows through you and your family's veins but time and effort are needed to awaken it. Even I and my siblings had to put in the effort to achieve our powers." Amaterasu replied to the clan head.
"How would we know that we had achieved that power?" The clan head asked in suspicion.
"You Doubt me Orimura-dono? Is my word not enough?" Amaterasu asked feeling insulted.
"Your word won't grant my family and their legacy, greatness. You have not allowed us to join your Court." The Clan Head Answered.
"And for that, I have awarded your family with power that I and my brothers pose." Amaterasu replied thinking that would calm down his suspicion, yet he was still standing there looking straight into her eyes.
"Fine." the Goddess growled as a tablet appeared in her hands.
"Sister that..." Tsukuyomi said with a shocked expression.
"Our mother's Tablet. " She finished her twin brothers' sentence.
"That's the only thing we have as a remembrance of our mother Amaterasu, it contains immense knowledge which only we could decipher as her children," Susanoo asked puzzled by her sister action.
"Yes, but after their powers have awakened so could they." She answered, "Orimura- dono look into this tablet, can you see any writing?" She asked the clan head as she gave him the tablet so he could examine it.
"No." He answered after checking its every nook and cranny.
"This is one of the tablets written by our late mother Izanami that contains knowledge within it. Once you have awakened your powers you will be able to read the tablet and that will serve to tell you that you have that power awakened." Amaterasu explained before she leaves the courtyard they were standing in, leaving her brother behind.
"I suggest you lot leave and never show your faces again." Susanoo growled at them before leaving .Tsukuyomi looked at the tablet that the clan head was now holding before leaving as well.
As Tsukuyomi left ,the three of them found themselves back at the vault ,though they were now standing at a very different room. When Rias turned back she saw the library behind her "this must have been the place where she was leading us towards" Rias thought to herself as she looked around.
The room they were in at the moment, while not being that massive when compared to the library area of the floor was still big or it looked big as the room had only two tables present there. something the clan members probably used to study their scrolls.
It was the walls of this room which looked more interesting as they consisted of a tapestry. The main tapestry which was surrounded by burning candles and had the stone tablet that they saw in the illusion placed under it can be seen through the way they came. The main tapestry had three naked women sitting on three rocks discussing something amongst each other. At first glance it looked very dull as the color used was very bland. The surroundings were mostly black though there were some red, brown and yellow colors mixed in the middle where the three women were. The walls to the sides on the other side looked like they contained a family tree the details of which were very hard to see from where she was standing the room was very dimly lit. Under the family tree, she had also seen two wooden sword stands. Old and worn out the wood was stained but also smoothed out probably by generation after generation of Orimura hands polishing it with usage. As small as they were compared to everything Rias has seen in the Orimura vault it was obvious they were of great importance to the clan, probably built to when the Orimura clan received their gift from the Shinto gods.
The experience of being under an illusion was a bit disorienting for her but she recovered quickly. "So what was that? I would compare this experience to be similar to that of Memory tears." Rias asked her.
"Isn't that what familiars use to share memories?" Akane asked her.
"Yes, most familiars can't speak so they use this as a way to share information with their master. It's quite similar to what you just used right now, like with Memory tears, we entered and experienced firsthand what happened in the memory." Rias explains this to her.
"Hmm, I can see why you felt the similarities but, in all honesty, it's not a memory. Instead, it's a recollection of that event or a sort of stage play we create that has been passed down in the clan for generations." She explains.
"So this is how your family got the bloodline?" Grayfia asked, she looked at the stone tablet which, like Amaterasu ,said she wasn't able to see any writing.
Akane nodded as they saw her Onyx colored eyes morphed red and was now sporting three tomoe's, which connected by a barely noticeable circular black line, revolving around the black irises. "This is my bloodline. It's called Sharingan." She revealed the name of her bloodline.
" Copy wheel eye? Did you come up with this name?" Rias asked.
Akane chuckled as she shook her head "No, it was the tablet that showed me the name." She told them pointing towards the stone tablet in front of them.
"So you can see the writing on the tablet," Grayfia asked.
"Yes, sort of. When I first woke up, I was able to read what is written in the tablet but not all of it. But me being able to read even a single line from the tablet was enough for my gran at that time. Never knew the old coot was capable of smiling like that." She said in a way as if she was reminiscing.
"As I trained my bloodline further and further, more writing appeared and by the time I left Kuoh I was able to read half of the tablet," she told them. As Rias knelt down to check what the tablet was and to check if the tablet emitted any energy that could be traced. She heard Akeno ask Akane "So what other things did the tablet's writing revealed?" A good question though Rias very much doubted Akane would answer it.
"You never heard the tale of Izanami's will?" Akane asked. Rias turned around to see her looking at them strangely.
"Izanami is a very reclusive hell realm God. So information on her is pretty sparse. Aside from the tales of her "Apparent death" ,Grayfia said making air quotes, "And the later conflict with her husband in Yomi We don't know that much about her." she continued.
"Well this tale of Izanami's will be naturally connected to her apparent death." Akane replied back with the air quotes, "It is said that from the moment of his conception Kagutsuchi's heat started to kill Izanami from the inside, she knew she would not survive the childbirth which was a big problem as at that time Lady Amaterasu, Lord Tsukuyomi and Lord Susanoo were very young and had not even started training and it was her who was supposed to help them realize their potential. So in order to help her children realize their powers, she created these tablets and had her servants hide them all over the world."
"When the time came and the Gods came of age, they were supposed to embark on a journey to find one of these tablets. When Lady Amaterasu, Lord Tsukuyomi, and Lord Susanoo finally got their hands on this tablet they found out that the tablet revealed different knowledge to different individuals and the knowledge revealed only suited that individual. And that's how the Shinto gods learned about their powers." Akane finished the story.
"So this is not the only tablet that exists?" Akeno asked.
"Yes, though the number of these tablets varies from tale to tale." Akane replied.
"I guess that explains why we have never heard about this. If other Pantheons knew about this tablet they would want to get their hands on it. It's not a weapon sure but it contains the knowledge on how the Shinto Gods trained themselves and Gods tend to be very secretive about this knowledge." said Grayfia.
"Akane would you be in trouble of sharing that knowledge with us?" Rias asked with concern,
Akane laughed softly at Rias' question, "Of course not, I'm pretty sure the Shinto Gods don't even know that my clan still exists."
"Anyway, the official tour of the Orimura clan vault is now over. You can look around for a while if you want, the entrance is now open for you." Said Akane as she made a few hand seals.
"But you didn't tell us how your bloodline works?" Rias moaned, she had been dying to know more about her bloodline.
"My bloodline is very instinctual Rias. It's hard for me to tell you how it works as to me it comes as naturally as breathing." She replied, which made Rias sigh in disappointment, "Look If you really want in-depth knowledge about the ins and outs of my bloodline, you can go and ask Azazel about it. He did a very thorough study on it."
She looks towards Grayfia, "I am pretty sure Grayfia can get that info for you from Azazel when she goes to see him for the Stray situation." she said.
"Can you do that for me Grayfia?" Rias asked Grayfia who nodded in reply.
"So, would you be staying here late?" Akeno asked Akane.
"I don't know how long it will take. That's why I opened the entrance for you three to leave. As I would be just standing there like a stump until my talk with our clan's very grumpy Fairy Godmother is over." She replied.
Before Rias could ask her anything, "Not now, I will tell you about her some other time Rias." she replied to her before Rias saw her cutting her hand open once again with a knife and then placing her hand on the tapestry. The moment she did ,all the candles in the room started to flicker and Akane's eyes went white as her body posture relaxed.
Three women present there watched what happened closely, "Do you think she just got possessed or something?" Akeno asked not sure what just happened.
"I highly doubt that's the case here, Akeno. This, in my opinion, looks like an old summoning ritual to me." Grayfia replied before turning towards Rias, "Should we leave?" she asked her.
"Let's look around this room first. Don't know if we will ever get the chance to enter this vault once again." She replied before they started to look around the room. There wasn't anything interesting there aside from the tapestry on the walls of the room.
"So what do you think? Are you interested in her yet?" Rias asked Grayfia as they looked around the room.
"I can't say anything until I get the full details from Azazel." Grayfia replied.
"Hmmm I'm pretty sure brother wou.." Before Rias could finish Akeno's voice interrupted them.
"Guys, I think you might wanna see this." She told them and pointed towards one of the tapestries on the walls of the room.
When they got near they found out the tapestry contained a family tree that had a picture of every member drawn on it. Though there were a few things wrong with it: first, none of the people there had surnames written and two, it wasn't a family tree as it did spread out as any normal family tree would have.
"Fuck." Rias swore under her breath when she finally found out why the branches of the family were not spreading out.
"Inbreeding." Grayfia muttered as she saw the family line go from sibling to sibling. "And from the looks of things they have been practicing it for a long time." She added as she saw the same pattern a few generations down.
"They would have stopped at some point. I mean they are still humans even if they are blessed by the gods at some point their children would have started to be born deformed." Rias said baffled by what she was seeing.
"They didn't." They heard Akeno say who was standing before the tapestry present on the other side of the room pointing towards something. When Rias went there they found Akane's lone image present after a couple who also were siblings.
"How the hell is this possible?" Rias said out loud bewildered by what she was seeing.
"How the hell is what possible dearie?" A raspy voice called them out. The three of them immediately turned around ready for a possible fight. But they found the person calling them out was none other than Akane though something was off. Her hand was still connected to the tapestry and her eyes still did not have any pupils but the whites of her eyes were looking at the directly.
"Akane?" Rias called her out.
"The Girl will be busy for a while. Didn't she tell you that?" The raspy voice came out of Akane's mouth, it was making Rias' skin crawl.
"Who are you then and what are you doing with Akane's body?" Grayfia asked. Grafiya's normal cold tone that she used when she was on duty, something Rias was accustomed to hearing, was back.
"Who am I? I have many names and identities, Dearie. But for now let's just say I am the guardian of this vault shall we. And for what I am doing with the Girl's body? Nothing harmful actually, it's pretty similar to what a puppeteer does with his puppets." She replied as Rias saw Akane's hands move the janky movements looked creepily accurate to what the voice said it was doing.
"But why are you using her body as a puppet?" Grayfia asked.
"I thought you needed some answers regarding what you saw there, and I was bored so I decided take her body for a moment and answer some of your queries." she replied as they saw Akane hand point towards the family tree.
"Now why would you tell us that? Even Akane seemed to be dodging questions regarding her family history." Grayfia asked .
"The reason she didn't tell you was because it was not important at the moment. Don't think she is ashamed of her family's practices. She understands the reasons behind them, had she a sibling she would have continued the practice." She replied.
"But why? It's a miracle that her family has continued that practice for so long without facing repercussions of Inbreeding." Rias asked. A question she hoped she would get an answer for. It would be very awkward asking Akane about it.
"Hmmm? Didn't the girl show you how their clan got the power of the gods?" She asked.
"Yeah? She told us that's where her family's bloodline comes from." Rias replied not sure where she was going.
"Family's bloodline? hehehehehehahahahahAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" She started laughing softly but it quickly turned into a deranged manic laughter.
She calmed down after a few uncomfortable minutes "Ohhh, I haven't had that good of a laugh for a while, now, I think I should reward her for this." She said to herself as wiped the tears off Akane's face before she looked at Rias, "Do you think everybody in her family had these fancy eyes?" She asked her with a wide unsettling grin.
"Hate to break it to you, dearie but she is the first one in her family to ever awaken her bloodline." she tells them.
"It took that long?" Rias asked in shock.
"We are talking about a god's power here, dearie. The human body is not made to harness that kind of power. That is why they inbreed, as not only it stopped their blood which was now carrying this power from thinning out ,but it also mutated their bodies generation by generation so their bodies were able to harness that power." She replied, "Not everybody gains power right after they are gifted with them like you devils did." She said to them with spite.
"Though, I think her joining the devils would be best for the clan's survival now. That's why I am supporting her decision of becoming a devil." She added.
"Anything else you wanted to ask? Hey Fallen, I see you want to ask me something too." She said, pointing towards Akeno.
Akeno who has been observing from the sideline this whole time, visibly flinched "How did you know?" she asked silently.
"Ohh I didn't. But the girl knew about you. Apparently, she and your father were close hehehehe."
She replied to her with a cackle. Her tone, as well as her body language, showed that she knows about something which she is finding absolutely hilarious.
"But that was not the question you wanted to ask me, was it? So ask it and don't waste my time."
Akeno looked as if she wanted to know more but decided that she would ask Akane later. But for now, pointed towards the tapestry.
"What material are these tapestries made out of? I can feel a bit of magic coming from them." She asked.
"Ohhh the tapestry, it's made of hair, and to be more exact it's made of the hair of Orimura clan members over the years. It's sort of a tradition that pretty much every member partakes once in their lifetime and that hair is then added here in the tapestry, which updates the family tree on its own. The magic you are feeling is blood magic that is used in making these tapestries."
She replied to Akeno's question, who was still looking at the family tree with suspicion as if something was not right.
"Anything else?" She asked them.
"Yeah, when would Akane be done here?" Rias asked her.
"That dearie would take some time. She did tell you that. Now it's time for you three to leave." she said to them before she raised her hand towards them and with a wave.
The three of them felt as they could not move a muscle and some powerful force has picked the three of them up and chucked them towards the entrance of them.
It happened so fast that Grayfia did not even have time to react and had to watch herself being thrown helplessly. The force eventually kicked them out of the shrine where they evenly fell on the ground.
"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?" Rias exclaimed, finally being able to move as well as speak, "It felt like I was a toy being thrown into the air by a kid..." she added.
"Something strong and something dangerous. Whoever it was the guardian of the vault or their clan fairy godmother. She was strong and could have killed us very easily if she had wanted to." Grayfia said, as she got up from the ground and dusts off her clothes. Rias noticed that Akeno still hadn't gotten off the ground.
"Hey Akeno, is everything all right? Are you hurt or something?" Rias asked her with a concerned look.
"Hmm… Oh yeah, I am fine just thinking about what that Guardian said." Akeno replied.
"Ohh! About Akane and your father being close?" Rias asked her though she saw a scowl appear on Akeno's face as soon as she mentions her father.
"No! Not that... It's the tapestries, something that she said did not make sense to me." Akeno replied.
"Ohh! You noticed as well. Huh..." Grayfia replied as she gave her an approving look.
"What are you two talking about?" Rias asked confused at what were the two of them talking about.
"Something that the guardian said did not make sense. She said that the tapestries are made by the hair of the Orimura clan member. But if that was the case there shouldn't have been any color other than black present in the tapestry." Grayfia explained.
"Orimura's inbreed which meant the red, the brown and the blond hair should not be present there but they were." Akeno added.
Rias thinks about what the two of them just said, it sort of made sense, why it didn't make sense to them? "So, do you think she was lying?" Rias asked.
"I don't think she lied to us. It just feels like she left a few things out purposefully." Grayfia replied.
"Either way I want you two to be careful around her. It would be foolish to blindly trust her at the moment, so keep your eyes on her." she tells them before she calls out her magic seal.
"Finally." she said to herself as she saw it appear.
"If I get the information about the Akane's Bloodline off Azazel I would be sure to send it to you Rias." and with that, she left.
"You wanna stay here for the night? A good night's sleep might help you process what you saw tonight." Akeno offered Rias.
"Yeah, sure." She replied, accepting Akeno's offer and they started walking towards Akeno's home.
-x-
Author note:- Well how did you like this lore heavy chapter folks? Tell me in the reviews as I would love to hear your feedback.
Anyways here are my responses to the last chapter reviews
Iceborn Fenrir - Thanks for the chapters/updates. I'm really interested to see where this goes as well with Akane potentially joining Grayfia's peerage as well as the shenanigans that may happen
My response- Stay tuned. She would be joined Grayfia peerage by the end of the fourth arc in my story.
Sakaewmatsui - please make akane x grayfia as the main pair
My response- hehehehhehehehehe
Beta Reader : Echoes19