Bad Essay on power scales on my profile. It was getting way too long for notes.
Fun fact, Zhongli used to use Staff of Homa in one of his events before it was changed to Vortex Vanquisher. Same with Diluc, Fav great sword and WGS.
Why did no one tell me Bosacius was the original wilder of the Calamity Quiller before Shenhe?
X
He couldn't cry.
The small part of him that was the original Issei screamed and shouted and raged. Because, for all of the short time they had known each other, Asia was one of his first few friends. Pure, naïve and all so earnest.
But Zhongli the Geo Archon was used to losing. He had had his heart torn out of his chest, squeezed and crushed and shredded time and time again. He has had companies in front of his eyes, as he looked on helpless. The phantom smell of Glaze Lilies drifted in the air, sickeningly sweet and all the more nostalgic. Friends turned traitors, both of their violation and from madness from karmic debt. The Jade Cutter had drawn rivers of blood after all, from former friends and for mercy too.
Mortal life was fast and fleeting for the Adeptus. They burned fast, but in his eyes, they burned brighter than the stars themself. A blink and the world he knew was dead. Their children ruled the world, and then their grandchildren, and so on. Yet in such a small life, they could do so much, change so much, become so much. He sometimes envied their ability to adapt so fast, change didn't come naturally to him for all that he accepted it with open arms.
Nothing lives forever, yes. Still, a forever for a mortal was much, much smaller than a forever for an Archon.
The sun rises and sets. The moon waxes and wanes. The time stops for no one, not even gods. The world had existed before Celestia and would go on long after it. He had made peace with it long ago.
Yet the pale body of Asia on the infirmary bed looked so peaceful that one could almost imagine her to be sleeping. Calm and quiet, and so cold and wrong. Not even the best healers could replace part of a soul once torn out, and they were too slow for even that. Was this his destiny, he wondered? To outlive everything and then die alone.
He let out a raspy sigh, his abused body held together by sheer willpower alone, and turned towards the other occupants of the room.
Of the devils, only Sona and Miss Gremory were present, arguing in hushed whispers, which came to a stop when they noticed his attention. They shared a look before Rias reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a luxurious red velvet pouch.
A bishop, he realised with a startle, his eyes widening both in shock and confusion. An evil piece. An offer to turn her into one of them.
"I fear it's too late." He spoke, hands crossed and eyes downcast. His throat burned more with every word he rasped out. "They tore out a piece of her soul, her Sacred Gear."
"But we can still try!" Molten gold met blue eyes, full of earnest hope and determination. "If we try, and still lose, it's all right. We did everything we could. But if we don't try? Even if there was nothing to do… I will always regret it. I don't want regrets."
He felt a familiar ache in his heart, which had nothing to do with his injuries. The realm dispatcher in his pockets had never felt so heavy.
What you lacked was not wind, but courage.
"Let's do this."
A magic circle was drawn, with blood and strange characters. Issei did his best to memorize them, ignoring his blaring headache and other assorted pains, so that he could research them later. It bared more than a passing similarity to the teleportation circle they had used earlier, the outer seals were almost the same. But the stuff in the middle, that's where the differences mostly were. That and the use of expired blood from a blood bank.
Now, just the resurrection was left.
"If she disagrees…" Issei reminded them, "she will pass peacefully. This is our contract. And in return, if she truly does not desire to be a devil, I shall own you three favours as long as they don't affect innocents."
Issei's calm- even if rough- voice did not betray the excitement his heartfelt, in attempting to defy one more heavenly principle. Yet the oaths to follow them were taken by the Geo Archon, Morax, and he was the schoolboy, Issei. He wondered, was this how Baizhu about defying the natural order of life and death? Was this how Baal felt about her precious eternity?
It is courage that has allowed you to become the first flying birds of this world.
Rias nodded, while the President took a few steps back. Issei gently placed the body in the middle of the circle and the ritual began.
"I Command Thee, Asia Argento, On My Name Rias Gremory." The chess piece floated between her two hands, like a catalyst. "Become My Servant And Once More Return Thy Soul To This Land And Become A Devil."
There was not enough power. Even knowing next to nothing about this ritual, he knew it in his heart. It was too late, Asia was too far gone for a child's power, even if they were a Devil, to bring back. He made a fist with an abused hand, and when he opened it, a different chess piece shore in his palm.
Rias almost faltered in her chant, while Sona's jaw dropped. But Issei only had attention for one thing. His body, his vessel protested. He could feel a liquid, probably blood, trickling down his chin.
A magic circle overlapped the previous one, based on rectangles and squares in place of triangles and stars. It shined duller than the farthest star and yet fiercer than the summer sun. The same colour as the rook piece in his hand. Still not enough.
…
"Boost" he forced out, dark spots dancing in his vision. Keeping his hand steady was becoming an uphill battle. Rias' eyes widened, and she continued with haste.
"Thou Shall Lead A New Life With Great Joy As My New Bishop!"
A great burst of power, shattering windows and scaring off birds. He could hear footsteps coming towards him as he dropped to the ground, the Gnosis back where it belonged. The Evil piece descended into Asia's heart and she opened up her eyes.
Tired, confused, and still almost as bright as the Jade Cutter, she woke up.
"…Issei-san."
X
Asia's reaction to being resurrected as a Devil was significantly better than expected. And her mood soared further still when he confirmed that they would remain friends.
Still, her attempts to pray to her god were hilarious, if sad. Unable to pray to the one she had looked towards for all her life, lest she is harmed by divine retribution in the form of headaches. It made him grow even more annoyed with the god who had named themself god.
In the few days they had spent apart, Asia has become friends with each of the Devils too. Greeting all of them and healing the lingering burns and other injuries. She looked relieved to still be able to help people. It was her life's dream, after all, to heal all she could.
She tried to help him too, her Sacred Gear letting her sense his pain, but she was not strong enough to undo most of the damage. Only time would fuse the cracks again.
And that bought them to the new topic on hand- him.
"I am… an Earth Dragon." He explained, now in the student council room. "The God of Contracts, Rex Lapis… Morax."
Looking at the frowns now marring the President's and Miss Gremory's faces, he signed and reached for a fraction of his divine might. He felt wounds open metaphysically, the almost noise of stone cracking ringing in his ears. Yet the pain was just a slow and dull ache which faded almost as soon as he stopped channelling his power.
The Devils around him tensed due to the power, while Asia's eyes widened. Before they could say anything, however, a single Mora was in his hand and weakly tossed at the President. She caught it and stared. she danced it in her palms for a moment, weaving between her fingers, before she turned towards her Bishop, Momo. They seemed to have a wordless conversation with expressions and hand gestures, at the end of which Momo left the room and returned a while later with a purple book; Demons and their Descendants part 4: 27th Edition.
Sona flipped through it, the only sound that of the turning pages and the incessant buzzing of the LEDs. She finally found the page she was looking for, and to the curious gazes of the Devils and Issei, she touched the coin, Mora, to the book.
Words burned into the page, images and characters penning themselves. A Sigil shore, a mixture between a Light Sigil and the Geo Sigil. And didn't that raise more questions than it answered?
X
X
Delicate hands wrapped around the hilt of the blade with an elegance that did little to betray the strength within them. The hand tightened, muscles tensed, the smell of ozone heavy in the air. Thunder boomed in the distance, and as if by its power, the Edgeless blade was drawn from the very bedrock by a figure in red and white.
Laughter filled the air, the ancient weapon glowing in delicate hands with its mighty power. The Unforged called out for its maker who once more returned to the planes of the living.
"How interesting." Said the figure, flawless fingers tracing the seals on the mighty weapon. "Oh what a story you will tell, I wonder." They continued, purple eyes shining with mischief.
X
X
And that's a wrap!
A little smaller than the last chapter, and not much done other than just raising more questions. Writing Zhongli is tricky. He is someone who is already done with his hero's journey. He has no real drives or motivations, and so to move the plot I need to make external conflicts which he can't ignore.
Like, he was ready to ignore all supernatural but then he got targeted. And then he realised that innocents were being targeted. And now he has a random insane guy with a weapon capable of killing a god with a stick to pick with him and it was not even his fault.
Like in no would Zhongli accidentally run into a random passer-by, so I needed a different way to introduce Asia. Which also traumatized her. Oops. But she is better now.