Noah's Hitman:

Chapter 5: The New Home and Family.

"We'll be going through here first." The Earl remarked, a bit of a swing to his step as he opened and walked through a door that from Hit's view, literally materialised from out of thin air. "It's better to show you the main area of the Ark before anywhere else. The more specialised rooms can wait till later."

Specialised rooms…? Was Hit's first thought, as Road pulled him through the door that the Earl had opened down the hall from the room he'd been sleeping in. The brightness of whatever place he'd just come into blinding him for a split second. He was curious as to what the Earl meant by that but had to put such a thought on hold as soon as his vision adjusted, and he could see where he'd been led into.

What met his gaze was a stark white cobble street to go along with equally as white buildings for almost as far as his eyes could see in every direction as he looked around. It was basically its own city from what he could tell, with a large tower at its centre, surrounded in a circle by over a dozen-and-a-half pillars not too much shorter than the tower itself. And if he wasn't already certain that this place was effectively its own dimension, he need only have looked south to just about see where the city ended off. The space around it, from what he could tell, looked just like a sunny sky would, only without the sun itself to do so.

Hit couldn't help the sudden wave of nostalgia that came over him as he looked around, no doubt from that memory of the Judge, as the Earl had put it. Like he was standing right where his true home was for the first time in years, and everything was how he remembered it, even if he'd never personally been here himself, and the sights themselves were all new to him.

"This is the main hub of Noah's Ark. The place where not only the Noah clan originate from, but also humanity itself." The Earl explained, catching Hit's attention immediately, with Road listening in with a smile, having heard this tale before herself. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you Hit, about the tragedy that struck the world over seven thousand years ago?"

"Are you referring to that flood I saw in my memory?" Hit asked, getting that feeling again that he'd answered correctly before the Earl even replied.

"Correct~." The Earl said jovially with a laugh. "That flood came shortly after the battle that took place between myself and that person who bared the most powerful piece of that accursed Innocence, the Heart~." Glancing back at him and Road, the glasses that covered the Earl's eyes glinted ominously yet again. "The end of that battle saw me coming out as the victor, but that guy managed to escape me even after his defeat. It also ended up causing the giant flood you saw in your memory that wiped out all of humanity, with the exception of our family, of course, who all took refuge on the Ark away from the catastrophe ensuing across the world. It's an event that we and our enemies have come to refer to as the three days of darkness~."

Three days of darkness, huh? What an apt name. Though he'd bared witness to far worse in his old universe, the absolute, unyielding carnage that had befell this universe's planet Earth all that time ago, which he'd gotten to witness first-hand in his new memory certainly lined up well with that kind of foreboding title.

Strangely though, he felt an odd compulsion to see to it that such an event came to pass again. Hit wasn't sure why exactly the new part of him felt a desire to see it occur a second time though. He was by no means an altruist, and damn sure wasn't a hero or 'good guy' as some might put it. If anything, after all the people he killed during his long tenure as a professional hitman, which probably could've spanned its own planetary-wide graveyard, he was not only numb to death, but quite apathetic to most life in general. Unless of course, as had been the case with the Tournament of Power, his existence and entire universe was on the line. Thus, seeing to an entire race's extinction almost like a god of destruction in a sense, didn't necessarily ruffle his feathers in any way. But what he did have to wonder, was what exactly would be achieved in doing so? That was the question.

He'd have to think on that later. Perhaps even ask the Earl about it, since he likely would know a lot more about it than he currently did. Especially if what he was about to ask next was confirmed true.

"So, since the rest of humanity was killed off back then, as you said, but we're all still around, I'm guessing that means the Noah family of that time must've repopulated amongst themselves?" Hit broached, yet again with that feeling that what he'd said was on the money without anyone confirming it. Though, to be fair, with what the Earl had just told him, again without a sliver of a lie, it was pretty easy to come to such a conclusion, as he couldn't really see another option, and he got that same feeling again that there wasn't one.

"Heh! You're on the ball, Hit. That's exactly right~." The Earl somehow grinned wider with his freakishly elongated maw. "The original twelve members of the Noah clan outside of myself, are the ones who founded the second generation of humanity, and they did it all here." He said while splaying his arms out, as if to make it clear he was at least referring to the city itself in its entirety, though it was most likely the Ark as a whole. "As a result of this, all of the modern-day humans possess the genes of Noah, and each generation, these genes and the memories therein awaken within a select number of humans, turning them into one of us~."

So, our ancestors brought about humanity's second coming, but now, going off what the Noah part of me is feeling, at the very least the one associated with me wants to see to their extinction? Am I missing something here? "That'd be thirteen, correct?" Hit found himself asking, recalling his dreams and the thirteen shadowy figures that kept popping up. "I recall seeing twelve figures in my dreams following someone else, who I assume was you, as everything went down." And by 'you' he meant the original Earl, as for some reason he just got the feeling that the Earl in front of him now was different from the Earl of that time. He wasn't sure in the slightest how to explain it, but he just knew somehow.

Instead of nodding or agreeing with him however, the Earl suddenly paused. His cheery disposition disappearing in an instant, as a sudden wave of melancholy seemed to overtake him. "Well… that was the case until recently…"

"What do you mean by that?" Hit asked cautiously, taking immediate notice of the Millennium Earl's swift temperament change. Through the corner of his eye, he could also make out the suddenly strained expression on Road's face as her smile became rather forced.

"It's probably best if we don't talk about that, for now." Road remarked with a smile that was a little too forced as she quickly made to change the subject. Something Hit didn't fail to take note of. "Let's just get back to the tour, right Lord Millennium?" She asked, handing him an olive branch just like she'd done for his mother earlier, something that the Earl didn't fail to take.

"Yes… Quite right Road." He nodded back, looking at her with another grateful look before turning his gaze to him. "Sorry about that, Hit. Got lost in thought there for a minute…" With that surprisingly soft apology out of the way, the Earl turned around and started walking forward, motioning for them to continue following.

Road did so without missing a beat, pulling him along with her, but as she did, she leaned back to where her lips were near his ear, as she whispered to him. "We'll talk about that later. It's a rather complicated situation you see, and one the Earl would prefer not to think about."

Hit simply nodded his head at this, taking her at her word and filing that away for later. Though that did nothing to hide the look of confusion he gave her. He typically didn't care to pry into anyone's business, as it wasn't any of his, but at the moment, he was getting a strong feeling that whatever she was referring to, it effected the Noah clan as a whole. And not only that, but this odd feeling rising up courtesy of this new part of him gave him a sense that he subconsciously knew what she was talking about, and what gave him pause was the strong feelings of hurt, loathing and betrayal that came with it. Those sudden feelings made him more than curious to find out what was causing them.

Seeing his agreement, she gave a small smile back before turning towards the Earl as they all walked forward.

"Alright now, where was I? Oh yes~." The Earl went on, his chipper mood back in full swing. As though he hadn't been one short step away from falling into what looked like depression not even a minute ago. "In case you hadn't noticed yet, my dear child, unlike regular humans, the transformation into a Noah has given you the use of Dark Matter, our main source of power, which now pumps through your very veins themselves~."

Dark Matter huh? So that's what was coursing through him that made his body feel superior to the average human's. Well, on the upside, it did feel somewhat similar to ki. Though he could definitely feel that it was quite different in a lot of ways as well. In the future, he'd have to test that out and see what it was made of, when he got a chance. Since the Earl had said he bared the memory of the Judge, he got a strong feeling that was important to the new energy source coursing through his being. Like there were certain things he would be capable of doing that no one else could. Something to that effect anyway.

"And as for the Ark. Despite its size, and no small shortage of rooms that we'll get to soon enough, we can get around rather quickly by using any one of the many doors littered around the place~." Twirling his pumpkin themed umbrella, the Earl pointed it towards a very specific small building no less than a block away from them. "How's about you step through that one, hmm? I assure you, they're all completely safe to walk through. Well, most of them, anyway, hehe~."

"Hehe, come on, Hit. Best not to hold the show up!" Road laughed, as she pulled him by his hand and ran towards the door the Earl had zoned in on. All the while, his brow rose up at the fact that not all of the places these doors – which were clearly some sort of spatial travel rather than a regular doorway – were safe to walk through.

He wasn't given much time to think on that little tid-bit the Earl had spoken of as though it were a humorous joke, as his now overly excited 'big sister' dragged him to the door and opened it without a second thought, bringing him through it in barely enough time for him to even blink.

What met Hit's gaze this time, however, was something quite unique indeed, but which he managed to hide his surprise this time. A mostly dark space vaguely lit up by numerous sets of platform-like staircases that weaved all about for quite the distance in just about every direction, and some oddly placed candles that floated all around. Just from one glance around as Road pulled him up the staircase they so happened to appear close to the bottom of, his eyes could make out a good dozen or so more all around him as they ascended upwards. Numerous doors littered throughout them as well that no doubt led to different locations within the Ark, something he'd certainly have to get used to navigating in the future, it seemed.

It didn't take long for the spiky haired lass to bring him up to the door at the very top of the staircase, and as soon as she did, wasted no time barrelling through it with him in tow like any kind of hyperactive schoolgirl.

"And would you just look at that view!" The bluish-purple haired girl commented happily as they both stepped through the other side.

Looking around, he noticed a long, rectangular table set up in the centre of the fairly open room they were now in, with a white table-cloth already splayed over it, but with no cutlery on top of it. Other than the table, the room didn't have anything else to it, other than numerous archways that led out to an open view of the outside, and as Road pulled him towards the closest archway on their right, he understood immediately what she meant by the view. He was now looking down over the entire city from up above in what he could instantly recognise as the tower in the centre of this place, close to its highest point. The architecture from up above especially reminding him of the few images he'd been shown in his school's history class of Greco-Roman times to a degree, at least as far as everyday homes went.

"Quite the interesting form of travel, isn't it?" The voice of the Earl piped up from behind them, causing both himself and Road to look back as the rotund, goblin-looking entity stepped through the doorway himself and gazed at them, or rather him specifically, with his ever-present grin. "Just about every door in this city connects to that pathway you just went through, which itself connects to just about every place within the Ark. This allows for you to have easy access to anywhere within, provided you can remember which place is where~" Strolling forth with a jovial stride, he stopped right next to the two of them, and took a look out over the city himself. "Don't worry about it if it's confusing at first, you'll get used to it in time~."

"Hmm…" Hit hummed lightly, his expression unchanging even as the tidal wave of nostalgia from looking out over his 'true home' swept over him. "Tell me, what did you mean before, when you said that 'most' of those doors were safe to walk through?" He couldn't help but ask, feeling his cautious nature come over him. Something that had been ingrained into him since his very first assassination contract was given to him. As someone with the profession he'd had before, it was always wise to know about the location you were going to, in case things ended up going awry in some way during the hit. Even with his time-skip ability, it was never wise to rule out the possibility of being caught unaware by something you had no knowledge of.

No matter where he was sent to, so long as his memories remained, as did his training, there was no way he was ever leaving things to chance if he could help it. His final battle against Jiren in the Tournament of Power being a prime example of that.

Hearing him loud and clear, the Earl chuckled as he placed the bud of his umbrella on the ground out in front of him in a sort of gentlemanly fashion. "To tell you the truth, some of the doors down in the city don't actually connect to any of the pathways just yet, so if you happen to step through them on accident, you'll end up plummeting into the abyss~."

Hit had to actually blink in slight dumbfoundment at the nonchalance the Earl maintained as he said that, as though having certain doorways within your own home that were essentially death traps wasn't of any real concern. He was either a fool for finding such a thing amusing rather than something to be taken care of, or an eccentric who'd allowed that to happen by design just for a laugh. Almost like a fun house where the only one who got the joke was him.

Personally, he didn't know which of those was worse…

"Are you worried about falling down one of them, Hit?" Road asked by his side rather cheekily, with about as much care over such a thing as he turned to look at her, as the Earl had. Which was to say, none at all. Instead, it almost sounded like she was trying to have a mocking joke at his expense because he was actually concerned about such a fault.

That honestly annoyed him somewhat inwardly, though he didn't let it show. Of course, he had some worry over that, because how was he supposed to know which was like that and which one wasn't? He didn't have the kind of power or abilities he used to have, which meant if he made a mistake and walked through the wrong door, as the Earl had put it, he would literally plummet into the abyss of this dimensional space. And since he didn't have any dimensional travel abilities that he was aware of after his 'transformation', or the power to break out of a dimension through sheer force, if he did fall, he'd literally be stuck down there without any chance of being able to get back up until someone came along to save his ass, provided he didn't just fade out of existence or die during that time.

Suddenly, he found his head being pulled rather forcefully sideways directly into a certain gothic-looking girl's chest as her lithe arms circled around it. His eyes flashed up to Road's face, who was only about four or so inches taller than him naturally, as she flashed him a girlish grin. "If you are, then don't be, because your new big sister Road will be here to help you out. So long as you stick by me, I'll make sure that never happens."

Hit visibly cringed once again at the overly affectionate, touchy-feely contact Road was subjecting him. Once again, this was neither something he was used to, nor did he appreciate. Even worse was that he still felt a little too weak to force himself away from her, so for now, he literally had no choice but to push through it. Such a troublesome girl…

"Heh! Well now, Road, that's very thoughtful of you to volunteer to help out our newest family member. Since there doesn't seem to be any objection from Hit over that, I'll put you in charge and gladly leave the honour of getting our brother acclimated to his new home up to you~."

Upon hearing this decision by his new family's 'patriarch', Hit could only sigh at his misfortune, while Road squealed jubilantly at the Earl 's words. "Thanks so much, Lord Millennium! You're the best!" She said joyously like a child at Christmas day that had just been given the present they'd been waiting for, as she Pulled the side of his head even deeper into her chest in an almost vice-like grip that likely would've popped a fully grown watermelon with the amount of pressure she was putting on his cranium. "You hear that Hit? Now we'll get to spend even more time together when you're not playing games with me. Isn't that great?"

Yeah… great… he could already feel the joy at such a prospect practically oozing out of him this very second…

Also, when the hell did he ever agree to play any games with her? Forget what he thought, it appeared she'd already decided they'd be playing some childish games together, and he got the feeling he wasn't really going to be able to get any word in edgewise on that.

"Anyway, lets continue on, there's still plenty of places to see~." The Earl commented candidly with a sweet-sounding tone, as he started strutting back towards the door they'd come through. Road, still giggling to herself at the prospect of being 'in charge' of her new little brother, disentangled her arms from around him and quickly grabbed his hand again before hauling him along to follow the Earl.

"Would you mind letting me go, already?" Hit finally asked of the girl as they all made it back into the dark space inside the doorway. He could certainly walk around on his own by now, and sure as hell neither needed her pulling him around like a hapless child, nor did he want it either. "I can follow just fine without your help, Road."

"Hmm? Are you sure about that, Hit?" Road asked, turning her head to look back at him with her best attempt at a cutesy, disarming smile as they continued walking, her grip on his hand only getting stronger. "Wouldn't it be better if we continued holding hands like this? I mean, isn't this one of the things siblings are supposed to do with each other when bonding together?"

Hit couldn't help but sigh at Road's forwardness. His previous thought about her being troublesome only intensifying. "Look, I'm really not…" He had to pause as soon as he saw the expression that now adorned Road's face. Her cutesy look having morphed in an instant to an expression befitting that of a wounded puppy, with her eyes seeming to puff out and lips downturned into a sad frown. "What are you doing?"

"Are you saying you don't want to bond with me…?" As if on cue, her bottom lip started to quiver, only intensifying the wounded puppy look she was sporting. The girl all but ignoring his latest words. "That's it, isn't it…?" She said much more softly, her voice even beginning to quiver near the end.

A part of Hit on the inside felt a pang of guilt for possibly distressing his new sibling like this, but the former hitman buried such an emotion as soon as it tried to rise up. Instead, his facial expression became a deadpan that was a solid as stone, for he was no fool. He'd give her credit for the effort and putting it all on so expertly, but he was far too perceptive an individual to not notice just how played out her current mood was. "You can cut the act, Road. I'm not buying it."

"What act?" She tried to feign ignorance, keeping up her downtrodden expression, puffed eyes looking to water at the edges as though she were about to cry, as her bottom lip quivered ever more.

Hit didn't buy the blatant manipulation even for a nano-second. "Just let go of my hand, already…"

Less than a second after that had left his mouth, and it became clear to Road he wasn't budging, her battered puppy look fell even quicker than it had appeared. Replaced by a heavy, disappointed and unenthused pout from the early teen-appearing girl. "Fine…" She said, whilst removing her hand from his and allowing him to walk on his own.

Hit could hear the Earl chuckling to himself at the scene and found him gazing back at the two of them with an amused, mirthful look in his eyes.

Yep. That's definitely Toraido's reincarnation alright. The Earl thought to himself, feeling his ever-wide grin grow just a smidge more watching the boy. Of course, knowing Road, she's not going to let her new little brother off that easily, hehe! She'd get her way one way or another. The boy could deny her now, but she'd find a way to whittle him down and get him to do what she wanted sooner or later. If there was one thing he knew Road to have a knack for within the family, which he'd seen all too well in the previous generation of Noah, it was her ability to ware her fellow siblings down over time when she wanted something. And if right now she wanted to be bonding with Hit in her own way, then come heaven to earth, that is exactly what she would get, even if he didn't.

Thinking about all the hijinks Road would likely get herself up to with her younger brother in the future however, got him back to thinking about him. And as soon as he did, his mood turned sour yet again as he looked away from the two and did his best to force back the tears that threatened to spill out of his eyes then and there as the face of a certain brother of his formed in his mind. Something he had to diligently do his best to force away, as he felt the trauma of the incident that wayward brother of his had caused just over fifteen years ago, when he performed the ultimate betrayal against himself and the family, and slaughtered all but he and Road...

No… he couldn't… shouldn't allow himself to think about that traitor anymore. And yet, that was so much harder to do than it should've been. Because for all the hurt and betrayal he felt, he couldn't get rid of that longing to see him again, even in spite of that…

Shaking his head to rid himself of the melancholy before it could consume him again, as it had done for the last fifteen years or so. Today was a day of great joy, after all! He and Road finally had a member of the family return and were showing him around. Things were finally on the uptick, and could only get better from here, surely.

Then again, when it came to his new brother, there was something that… well, he wouldn't say concerned him, but more intrigued him than anything else. Every time he looked at Hit, he could easily sense the memory of the Judge, their family's second disciple with him. What befuddled him however, was that it didn't feel the same as it had for all of the other incarnations, where it was more of the human host on the inside, whereas on the inside, their inner Noah could be felt influencing them. Just looking at Hit, it honestly felt like he was looking directly at Toraido himself in full control without the middleman that was the host. Something that was downright bizarre, given he could tell even from their first interaction that despite their similar personas, that that was definitely not Toraido at all. And yet, Hit felt every bit like him, and the feeling he got around him was the exact same feeling he got whenever the inner Noah took full control and consumed their host.

Just how was that exactly? He felt he knew what the answer was, no matter how improbable it should've been, and he wasn't sure how to take it if it was the case.

Best not to think about that. What matters is that one of our family is back. That's always the most important thing~.

With that thought out of the way, the Earl soldiered on in showing his new brother around. Intent to simply have a good time in the presence of the first of plenty more to eventually return to him, and he could hardly wait!

Roughly around an hour or so later…

Hit had done what he could to utterly ignore the pouty look Road had continued to give him since they'd stopped holding hands like a child that felt they'd been wronged. If she thought she could sucker him in with guilt tripping, she had another thing coming. To be fair to her though, she did look somewhat adorable with that expression on, and had he been a normal ten-year-old… well, as normal as one could given what he'd become, then he was pretty sure he would've fallen for her façade hook, line and sinker.

Oh, he didn't doubt she wanted to bond with him, or that him not wanting to hold hands with her like a baby brother being led by his older sister had made her feel some dismay. It was just the level of how personally she'd made it out that she'd taken his rejection that was beyond fake, and they both knew it. Besides, in the grand scheme of things, she still had full jurisdiction over him thanks to the Earl, so she'd still no doubt be forcing him into playing whatever games she wanted in the future, which he wasn't looking forward to at all.

Regardless, the tour itself went by fairly quick, for the most part. They had ended up in various places such as a rocky terrain with a starry sky background, to a large library, to numerous rooms that looked like they'd been ripped straight out of someone's apartment, to a living room with an unlit fireplace at the centre of the far wall and so on.

All the while, the Earl would comment animatedly about the specific uses each room saw for their family in the past, as though he were reliving a memory with each instance, like how most of the family would occasionally meet up in the living room around the lit fireplace to relax and chat about their goings on, to some of the Noahs of the past using the rocky terrain filled room as a space for training themselves for combat against their enemies, who the Earl had revealed were called exorcists. The ones baring the same weapons powered by the substance he'd seen in his dream, and that new part of him had hissed within his dreams at with all the venom it could muster. The Millennium Earl was no different, speaking of Innocence in much the same hateful manner that he inwardly felt for it, even though he had yet to actually encounter it in person.

Regardless, as fast as it seemed to go for him, it honestly could've gone by in about half the time had the Earl not started reminiscing in just about every room they visited about memories past with previous incarnations of the family. The more it went on, the more he started to sound like some sort of uncle who loved looking back on the 'good old days' with a great fondness. Hit wasn't about to really fault him for that though, as each of those stories did give him some form of an idea about what most of the rest of the family that would awaken in the future would be like. At least to a degree, anyway. All whilst not saying a word himself, as he didn't see a need to, because as numerous as the stories were, they at least didn't drag on forever.

He also found out during then that Road was the ninth disciple, representing the Dream of Noah as opposed to the Judge that he represented. Since he was referred to as the first of his generation, it wasn't hard for him to piece together that Road was a carryover in a sense from the previous Noah generation. Something that once again piqued his interest, since if she was still around from then, then what happened to the others? He'd have assumed it had something to do with the exorcists and their Innocence, but he got an immediate feeling that was far from the case. If he had to guess, it more than likely linked into what she was speaking about earlier after the Earl's momentary lapse into melancholy. Something that given the Earl's words sounded like it could've been an issue from within the family itself, which would certainly explain the befuddling emotions he'd felt on the subject.

Getting away from that for the time being, the latest room at the tail end of the tour, brought them before a massive, translucent blue egg. The massive egg was mounted on a great golden pedestal and hanging from a flower-shaped attachment on the top. The egg itself seemed to be breathing in a sense, and the former infamously known assassin could feel a pulse coming from it even from a good distance. Like some sort of heartbeat while in their presence. To add to this bemusing scene not only around the suspended egg were numerous robed, live skeletons that the Earl referred to as the 'Skulls'. Sufficed to say, Hit was briefly taken off-guard by both of these things. He recovered almost instantly though without anyone really noticing, as in comparison to what he'd seen in the wider cosmos of his previous universe, a created race of apparently magic using skeleton men wasn't all that off-putting. Nor was a huge egg that pulsed darkly with life and breathed like some sort of eldritch creature was within.

"Lord Millennium." One of the Skulls greeted with a deep-sounding voice, as it and the other skeletal figures bowed respectfully. Almost numbering thirty in total. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"At ease. A new member of the family has joined myself and Road today, as you can see~." The Earl replied in his typical chipper and polite manner, motioning somewhat excitedly to him and briefly bringing the Skulls attention to Hit. "We've been showing him around his new home for the last while, and I felt it prudent to bring him here last and show him my finest work~."

"Ah, I understand." The Skull nodded understandingly. His unfilled eye-sockets zoned in on him as a weird, bony smile etched over his skeletal face. "It is good to make your acquaintance, young master. We shall leave you to it." It said with another quick bow, before the group of skeleton men dispersed.

"The Skulls are also creations of mine and a fellow member of the family, who's sadly not with us at the moment." The Earl piped up, looking down his shoulder at him. "In case you were wondering."

Hit merely nodded his head in acknowledgement. Not really having anything to say that hadn't already been said on the matter. Outside of that quick greeting, the Earl then pressed on and motioned towards the egg itself with a look of pride in his eyes.

"And this, my dear boy, is where most of the magic happens~." The Earl explained jovially with a flamboyant and rather unnecessary motion of his hands like he was getting ready to jerk the curtains on a play. Stepping out before both he and Road and giving his back to the egg behind him. "This bad boy right here is my Akuma egg. It's made entirely out of my own Dark Matter and is helped function and be protected by my own personal magic incantations. I created it many years ago to help with the production of Akuma. For you see, things used to be quite slow before I made it. And thanks to it, I'm able to create the Akuma that you've already seen a bit of yourself on mass! With it, there will never be a shortage of Akuma for me or the rest of you to command in our crusade against the exorcists and their vile Innocence~!"

So, he basically has his own ever-expanding army of demons to do his bidding, huh? And not only that, but if what happened to his mother was any clue, they were created from turning living people into them, which meant that theoretically, so long as humanity continued to grow and reproduce, the Earl could never run out of Akuma. The way in which he went about transforming them into said Akuma was something he wasn't privy to, but that honestly didn't matter, as he didn't care to know. What did was that the Earl effectively had a nigh-endless supply of these robotic-like demons to use at his leisure. The perfect, loyal army to fight on his behalf. Add in him, Road, and the soon to be resurrected family members, and he had to wonder what exactly their enemies were supposed to have that could challenge such a front.

"Do you have any questions, Hit?" The Earl asked him suddenly, bringing him out of his own thoughts and his attention directly to him. "I know all of this should be a lot to take in in a single day, but feel free to ask me anything if you need some clarification. I really don't mind~."

He had several questions, really. One of which, according to Road, shouldn't be brought up around him. That being the case, since the rest were interconnected, it was best to just get this out of the way.

"What exactly is our endgame?" Hit asked calmly and succinctly, getting straight to the point. Even without the new part of him this time, he had a feeling he knew what the answer was already, but he wanted to hear it from the Millennium Earl's mouth himself.

"Our endgame?" The Earl parroted, not showing even a hint of surprise at that being the first question he thought of. That alone told him that this was far from the first time someone reincarnated into the family had asked such a thing. "Well that's simple, really." His ever-present grin managed to broaden. "To rid the world of Innocence by destroying the heart, wherever it may be hiding, and then bring about the three days of darkness once more~."

So that is the plan… Not to say he was against doing such a thing, as he was pretty sure the body count he'd had by the end of his run as his universe's, and perhaps even multiverse's greatest assassin was just as vast as the population of this universe's planet Earth. Even still though, he'd like to know if there was a reason for it. "While I can understand wanting to rid the world of Innocence, since it appears to be our mortal enemy, for what reason do we need to end the world again? I'm afraid I'm a little confused as to why the original Noah family would've bothered to repopulate the next human race if we were just going to end up killing them off again."

Yet again, the Earl didn't seem perturbed in the least by his question, or confusion at the original Noahs actions. He simply nodded his head in understanding, like that of a well-mannered gentlemen. "A perfectly reasonable thing to ask, Hit. I can see why that might have caused some confusion for you~."

"It was done to be by Lord Millennium's side." Road cut in, stepping out before them both as his gaze flew to her. Her face no longer pouting like a spoiled child that felt they'd been wronged. Instead, she sported a remarkably tender, familial smile as she outstretched her arms and hugged the Earl's massive belly from the side. Something that he didn't seem to mind, if the way he looked down at her fondly was any indication. "The original Noahs didn't want to leave him on his own to fight against the Innocence. So, they brought about the second generation of humanity, all so they could continue to come back again and again to fight by his side. As they say, a true family never leaves each other behind. Isn't that right, Lord Millennium?"

"Hehe!" The Earl laughed heartily, swinging one arm around for a one-armed hug. The one with the hand holding his umbrella. "I couldn't have said it better myself, Road~."

They brought back humanity from extinction… just so they could continue to fight by his side through reincarnation and ensure the destruction of Innocence…? Hit thought to himself, feeling genuinely stunned for a bit at the sheer level of loyalty it took to go that far just to help someone you cared about. It was rare that something managed to baffle him like this. And this was the family he was now apart of in this reality? Talk about a complicated affair…

"Hit, my dear child, come here~!" The Earl called to him, outstretching his other free arm towards him. Giving him a look akin to that of a doting uncle.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Hit saw the offer for a hug amongst the three of them. Regardless of current revelations, or the fact that they were 'family' now, just the thought alone of that made him cringe. Being the loner he'd been for many centuries before this life, after all, he didn't jell well with stuff like that. "Yeah… I think I'll pass…" Hit declined in an almost deadpan fashion, taking a step back as he made to turn around. The former legendary hitman wanting absolutely nothing to do with some silly group hug.

"Aww… don't be like that~!" Reaching out before he could get too far away, the Earl somehow managed to grab on to his shoulder and pull him in in the blink of an eye. Mushing the side of Hit's boyish face into his cartoonishly rotund belly as his other arm quickly circled around him. Hit could feel his non-smothered eye twitching in agitation, as the Millennium Earl hugged him close enough to bring him and Road mere inches apart from one another. A joyful giggle erupting out of the petite, spiky-haired girl as she wasted little time stretching the arm that circled over the Earl's front around him as well. An act that only made him even more uncomfortable, as yet again, he'd never been one for such affectionate contact. Though even if the Earl and Road could tell this wasn't his thing, neither seemed to care. "Haha! There we go! A lovely little hug between family, isn't that right, you two~?"

"Nngh…" An annoyed grumble was all that came out of Hit, whilst Road nodded her head happily in agreement.

"Good, good. The tour's over now, so how about the three of us all go for a lovely dinner to commemorate Hit's awakening~?"

"You know I'm up for it!" Was Road's reply, as her gaze fluttered over to him then. "And then, once that's done, me and Hit can play together! Oh man, with all the games I have for us to play, it's going to be so much fun!"

As she and the Earl shared another laugh at that, Hit couldn't help the feeling of resignation that struck him then.

For better or worse, this was his life now.

At the very least though… he could certainly tell he wasn't going to be bored with these two in his life anytime soon…

AND CUT!

Well, that's the end of that one! Certainly took longer than I expected it to, but I think it came out well enough.

Hope you all enjoyed it, even if it was exposition heavy. It won't be updated again until around December time, but I'm looking to have several chapter releases during that month, so definitely look out for those.

Anyways, again, hope you all got some enjoyment out of this, and I'll see you all on the next one!