"That bad?" Vali said with a raised eyebrow as he chowed down on his instant ramen, his legs propped up comfortably as he lounged in my chair.
"If I never have to meet a Satan again, I'll be happy." I said succinctly as I waited for the metal to heat back up so I could keep shaping it.
A question popped into my mind and I said, "How do you feel about Lucifer? I know you're not related, but do you follow your family's opinion that he's some pretender to your rightful throne?"
Vali's plastic fork stopped half way to his mouth. He put his ramen down - that alone showed me how serious he was, he never put ramen down - and looked me in the eye. "My father nearly killed me four times before I was even a teenager. He was jealous of my power and thought that by abusing me he could teach me a lesson for daring to have Divine Dividing. Whatever my father's opinion, expect mine to be the exact opposite."
Well I had just stepped into a minefield I had no idea was present. Awkwardly, I stared into the forge as I said, "I'm sorry. I didn't know. I won't bring it up again."
After a tense moment of silence, Vali said, "It's alright. Like you said, you didn't know. What about your parents? They couldn't have been as bad as mine." he said in what I assumed to be an effort to switch to a less volatile topic, unknowingly stumbling into his own minefield.
Chuckling to myself, I said, "That depends really. My parents only nearly killed me once, but that was only because they weren't there to try again."
Though I was still looking into the fire, I could feel Vali's eyes on me. "What happened? I mean-" he tried to retract, but I held up a hand.
"Don't worry about it. I pried into your personal stuff first." Turning around to face him, I said, "My parents abandoned me in an alley shortly after I was born. I was there for three days before someone found me and brought me to an orphanage. I stayed there for four years before they kicked me out. There were just too many mouths to feed."
Vali's eyes widened. "Four? Don't orphanages keep you until you're eighteen?"
"The ones here do, but I'm not exactly a local. The population was much more dense where I come from. It made it too expensive to keep anyone who could walk."
Vali's face transitioned through several different emotions in the span of a short few seconds. "Where did you grow up?" he asked in disbelief.
Feeling more generous than usual because he'd just shared some pretty personal stuff about his dad, I said, "A place called Ravnica. Don't bother looking for it on any map because you won't find it. Maybe I'll tell you more some other time." I pulled the metal from the fire and began hammering on it, signaling I was done talking.
Before the atmosphere had a chance to grow too awkward, a knocking sound came from the door.
"It's open!" I said in between hammer strikes.
The door opened, revealing the form of Azazel with a big box in his arms. "Hey, Xarion. I've got a… Oh, hey, Vali." the Fallen greeted as he saw the freeloader lounging in my chair.
Vali stood up and said, "Do you need anything?"
Azazel shook his head, walking to one of my work tables to put down his box. "No, nothing like that. I've just got some stuff for Xarion."
Putting the metal back in the fire to heat it back up, I walked over to Azazel. "What's in it?"
"A bunch of stuff." Azazel said as he began unpacking it. He pulled out ingots of various colors and sizes, tools that looked far more sturdy than the ones I'd been using, powdered silver, enchanted oils and more. He just kept pulling things from the box and setting them down on the table.
"Um…. what brought this on?" I said, pretty sure I knew the answer, but asking anyway.
Azazel faced me full on and said, "Xarion, thank you. Seriously. When Ajuka offered you a place in his peerage I honestly thought you'd bail. Hell, ninety percent of the Fallen under my command would have in a heartbeat. You didn't. This is just a very minor thanks for the loyalty you showed me."
Vali's eyes widened as he turned to me and said, "The Satan Beelzebub offered you a place in his peerage?"
"Uh, yeah?" I said, not sure why this was such a big deal. I'd expected Azazel to feel grateful, but not to this extent. Maybe I'd read the situation wrong when we met with the Satans.
"Xarion, you don't understand how significant that is, do you?" Azazel said, an indecipherable emotion present in his voice.
"If I've studied the Evil Piece system extensively enough, then it would mean I would become a powerful devil and have more influence in the faction than some lords have, or am I missing something here?" I'd researched the Evil Pieces fairly extensively because of how influential they were; not to mention the craftsman in me wanting to know how they were able to irrevocably change your very race on a metaphysical level.
Azazel, blinking in confusion, said, "So you do know what it means. Why aren't you even the slightest bit regretting not taking that offer?"
Shrugging, I said, "I don't really feel like becoming someone else's property. Besides, I meant what I said; I'm happy here. I've got everything I need."
"Xarion, one of Beelzebub's pieces would have drastically increased your power. Why didn't you take it?" Vali said, his eyes narrowed.
Why did he seem so angry about this? It wasn't like…. Oh. "Is this about that talk I had with Albion? I can't exactly spar with you if I become a Satan's servant. I'm sure I'll figure something else out. And if you really want to fight a devil, just give it a little while. The Red Dragon Emperor should get reincarnated soon enough."
Azazel, who had been walking out of my lab, froze in place when I said those words.
Vali, for his part, went slack-jawed. Something I had never expected to see.
"Xarion?" Azazel said sweetly as he robotically turned to face me. "Did you just say that you not only know the location of the Red Dragon Emperor, one of the single most powerful Sacred Gear users in existence, but that they will soon be reincarnated into a devil?"
Looking between Azazel and Vali, I hesitantly said, "Yes?"
Azazel inhaled a very deep breath, and walked towards me. "Why didn't you say anything before now?" he asked, surprisingly without sounding accusing.
"Uh…. It didn't seem important? He hasn't managed to even materialize Boosted Gear yet and he's so weak that I could barely sense he had a Sacred Gear, let alone a longinus."
"You've met him?" Vali said in shock.
"What? No! My spirits noticed him when they followed the Sitri heiress home." After meeting with Sona, I'd done a lot of research into her and her family so I could make the most of the information the spirits tailing her sent to me. It was a complete coincidence that one of my spirits happened upon Issei Hyoudou while he was in class. I had honestly forgotten who the protagonist of this series was and would never have remembered it was him if my spirit hadn't reported something strange about the kid. Fighting for your life on Ravnica takes its toll on your mental library of crappy fiction that did not directly pertain to Ravnica itself or the other planes mentioned in the same source.
Azazel, seemingly doing everything he could to maintain his sanity, took another very deep breath. "Did you just say you have spirits spying on the Sitri heiress?"
"Yes. Why wouldn't I? And it's not just her. When she met up with the Gremory heiress I transferred some to her as well. Then I expanded that network to tail every member of their respective peerages. And once I learned about the Red Dragon Emperor, I put some on him as well."
Turning to Vali, I said, "Your fated rival is going to tip like a freaking cow. He's an unrepentant pervert whose only desire is to see a boob before he dies. He stubbed his toe a while ago and had to stay home from school because he couldn't stop crying. The guy's pathetic."
Turning back to look at Azazel, whose head was starting to tilt at a weird angle, I said, "To get back to the spirits, there's the ones I have around the city to give us an early warning in case someone tries to attack us here, the ones I have watching the other faction's spies in our ranks, the ones I always keep around myself and Vali in case one of us gets ganked, and the ones I snuck through Lucifer and Beelzebub's teleportation circles to spread into the Underworld; though its slow going.
"I could only squeeze a dozen into the circle so my manpower is limited right now. I'm having the spirits co-opt any others they find, and I've built up enough of a base to start surveying certain locations. I was originally going to put some in Beelzebub's lab and a few in Lucifer's office, but that just seemed like a terrible idea. Instead, I just sent a bunch of them to spread through the grounds of various pillar lord's estates. Getting around built-in wards and the senses of powerful beings is tricky, but when you're trained by some of the best information gatherers to ever live, which I am, you learn a trick or two." If my teachers could effectively gather intel on Rakdos without him knowing, I could manage this much.
"…..What?" I said as Azazel now had the slightest tremor running up and down his body.
The Governor of the Fallen took a third very deep breath, then continued to stare at me as if he was rebooting.
"That was a poor joke, right?" Vali said, a pleading tone in his voice. "My rival is actually a trained warrior, right?"
Cringing, I summoned up an illusion of what the Dragon Emperor in question was doing this very moment, borrowing the eyes of one of my connected spirits to accomplish the feat.
Vali, Azazel and I watched as Issei got his ass beat by a bunch of bokken-wielding, towel-clad, irate young women. He was curled up in the fetal position to weather the assault as best as he could.
Watching Vali's eyes, I was pretty sure something inside him broke. He turned away from me and fell down into my chair to brood, staring blank-faced at the far wall of my lab.
I felt for him. It wasn't everyday you learned that the person who was supposed to be your greatest challenge didn't even know how to throw a punch without losing their balance.
"Xarion." Azazel said, his voice sounding far more squeaky than it normally did. "How long have you been able to do this?"
"Since before you knew me." I said with a raised eyebrow. "When we met I led you to a park because that was where I was storing all of my spirits at the time; I wanted as many minions as possible to give me the best chance. Now, admittedly, against you they were pretty worthless, but it was the best plan I had."
For the fourth time, Azazel inhaled a staggering amount of air. "Xarion, do you have any idea how terrifying you just became?"
I shrugged and said, "I've always been this terrifying. I just don't use it unless I have actionable intelligence. Ninety percent of the conversations I've heard from the Gremory and Sitri heiresses were about their school and their hair. They also commiserated once about overbearing siblings, but it wasn't anything useful outside of very specific circumstances. I'm hoping that will change now that I have a window into some more sensitive areas of the Underworld."
"Kid, please." Azazel said, sounding as if he was in physical pain. "You just told me you have limited omnipresence as well as omniscience that doesn't have a range, and works across dimensions. You can see into the Underworld while still being on Earth. Do you not get how huge this is?"
"I've still got a ways to go." I said with no false modesty. "One of my teachers could pull information from an entirely separate plane."
Azazel threw his arms up in exasperation. "That's what you're doing!"
It really wasn't, but I felt that arguing with Azazel wouldn't be productive right now.
"That's it!" Vali called out in triumph as he randomly jumped to his feet.
"Care to share with the class?" I said with a raised eyebrow. Vali's transition was instant; he went from broody dragon to cheerful devil in the time it took me to snap.
Completely ignoring me, Vali walked up to Azazel and said, "I need the Sacred Gear extractor."
"Vali, focus! We need to…." Azazel trailed off, his eyes going wide as something unspoken passed between the White Dragon Emperor and the Governor of the Fallen.
"Okay, now I'm really confused. Can one of you bring me up to speed?"
Both of them ignored me, favoring sprinting from my lab in place of letting me in on their plan.
Deciding to let them just do whatever it was they were doing, I pulled my metal out of the heat and began banging on it again. I was only allowed a few minutes of blessed silence before Azazel and Vali tore back into my lab.
"Weren't you guys doing something?" I said as I put down my hammer, a half-shaped sword blade laying on my anvil.
"The Red Dragon Emperor is in Kuoh Town, right?" Azazel said, a manic look in his eyes and a strange, magical chain in his hand.
"Yes." I said hesitantly. "What's going on?"
Without saying a word, Vali stepped into the center of my lab and cast a teleportation circle below all three of us.
"Hey! Wait! I need to…" I trailed off as the interior of my lab was replaced with an empty road in the middle of a quaint town. "I left the forge on, Vali." I said with a glare. It was like leaving the stove on, only the stove was capable of reaching temperatures hot enough to melt mythological metals. So really it was nothing like leaving the stove on.
"We'll be back before it becomes a problem." Azazel said as he lazily spun the chain in his hand.
"Why are we here?" I said, irritated. I was in the middle of something and I didn't like being kidnapped midway through a crafting session.
"We're here to get you a Sacred Gear." Azazel said, walking down the street in the direction of the school. "You've got spirits watching the Red Dragon Emperor, right? Is that kid in class or at home?"
"He's at school." I said after a quick check with my spirits. "But why would that…" I trailed off as I actually started to comprehend the situation.
Vali and Azazel left my lab to get a 'Sacred Gear Extractor' and now we were in Kuoh looking for the Red Dragon Emperor.
"This is some sort of elaborate joke, right?" I said, failing to keep the sheer disbelief out of my voice.
"No." Vali said curtly as he began walking after Azazel. "We are here to ensure I receive a proper rival."
I stood frozen in the street for a few moments as I processed everything. Eventually, I was able to pull myself out of my stupor so I could run after the crazy Fallen and half-devil.
"Did you both hit your head? This is a monumentally terrible idea." I said as I caught up with them.
"How do you figure that?" Azazel said, though he didn't seem to be diverting much attention to my protest. He was deep in thought, puzzling over something he didn't share.
"The Boosted Gear has a sentient dragon bound to it. A dragon that we'll probably royally piss off if we rip him out of his host. And your plan is to shove that pissed off dragon inside me? He'll devour me in a second."
"You do not know Ddraig, necromancer."
I was shocked to turn and see Vali's blue wings extending from his back, pulsing in time with the powerful voice emanating from Vali that was not his own.
Acting quickly before anyone saw Vali's wings, I wove an illusion around him before turning my attention to the dragon that had just spoken aloud. "This was your idea, then?" I said as the pieces started to fall together. Albion was the one who wanted me to grow stronger to challenge Vali, and Vali had been dejected before randomly leaping to his feet. Albion was likely the one to suggest this course of action to him.
"It was. And while it is amusing to know Ddraig has been trapped inside one of the most pathetic mortals on the planet, my eternal rival deserves far better. He is currently wasting away. He will accept you as his partner."
"There you have it." Azazel said as he threw a smirk over his shoulder at me. "The Vanishing Dragon has spoken. We're making you the Red Dragon Emperor."
Realizing that I wasn't going to be able to talk any of them out of this, I said, "Fine. But I get to talk to Ddraig before we do anything." I'd been able to speak to Albion by entering Vali's mind, so it stood to reason that I could contact Ddraig the same way. "We'll have a discussion, and if he decides against leaving Issei then we abort. I don't want to permanently tether myself to an eons old dragon that is nursing a grudge against me. That seems like a great way to end up dead."
"Done." Azazel said instantly. "Now let's go!" He pointed forward dramatically.
As I beheld the ridiculousness of the leader of one of the strongest factions on the planet, a thought occurred to me. "How exactly are we going to get Issei away from the school? We could wipe the human's minds, but the devils will figure it out and use this as an excuse to strike back somehow. We are here unannounced after all."
Azazel's smile was outright terrifying. "Don't worry. I have a plan."
X
Akane Mitaroshi
This job was terrible. The only reason I was still here was because it was better than being unemployed.
Opening up another folder, I couldn't help but smile. All the paperwork within was already done.
Okay, maybe this job wasn't terrible. It certainly wasn't glamorous, but with the student council shouldering the majority of my workload, it at least allowed me to focus on my daily duties.
"Excuse me, ma'am." a deep voice asked from in front of me.
Looking up from my desk, I saw two police officers. One had silver hair while the other's was black. There was a young girl with the officers. She had blonde hair and was shivering slightly. The black haired officer was hugging her shoulder in a comforting manner.
"How can I help you, officer?" I said, concerned for the girl's wellbeing.
"We were told there is an Issei Hyoudou in this school." the officer said coldly. "He is wanted for questioning regarding a sexual assault case."
My eyes widened as I looked back at the girl. She flinched under my gaze, and I felt a simmering fury worm its way into my belly.
"Just a moment please, officer." I turned around in my chair to pull up the student logs on my computer. If there was a rapist in our school, I wanted the police to lock him up and throw away the key. "Here it is." I said as I found the name in question. "He is currently in the gym. Down this hall and to the left." I looked at the young woman and said, "If there is anything you need, darling, just ask. We will do all we can to help you."
She nodded quickly, then followed the officers as they walked down the hall.
That poor, poor girl.
X
"I hate you both. No. I despise you both. No! I loathe you both. I will have vengeance for this travesty upon my dignity. It will be swift. And it will be viscous." I growled as we walked away from the woman at the front desk.
"Shh." Azazel said comfortingly as he gently patted my shoulder. "Don't worry, Yuki. We'll get the bad man who wronged you."
Seething, I ground out, "Why couldn't we have just waited for him to go home?"
"This is more fun." Vali said, a wide smile on his face.
"Exactly." Azazel said, nodding in agreement.
My teeth ground together as we walked towards the gym. Must not murder allies. Must not murder allies. Must not murder allies.
"There he is." Azazel said as we reached the gym, pointing to the teen in question.
Issei was standing in the center of the gym staring slack-jawed at a group of girls a few feet away from him.
"Yep, that's him alright." I said in deadpan. The guy was pathetic. I didn't remember much from the anime, and I was seriously beginning to wonder if I'd remembered the main character incorrectly. Maybe he was the season one big bad evil guy?
Either way, he had Boosted Gear and while I was worried about Ddraig being pissed off if we stole it, if the dragon agreed to have me as his host, I would enthusiastically accept the role.
"Showtime, Yuki." Azazel said cheekily.
Sighing, I got back into character.
Jesus this act felt sleazy. Huh. I hadn't used that name in a while.
"Issei Hyoudou!" Azazel called into the gym, his humor from only a moment ago replaced with what sounded like barely restrained rage. He was a good actor. "We need you to come with us. Right now."
All eyes in the gym turned to us, and I began trembling slightly. Had I mentioned I hated this entire situation? Playing a rape victim seemed like it was in extrordinarily poor taste, but it was the only way we'd be able to disappear Issei and his family without the devils getting suspicious.
If a human with a Sacred Gear were to just disappear the devils would investigate, so, ironically, we had to make a lot of noise and make sure everyone knew the kid was disappearing in order to remain under the radar. Azazel made a few calls on the walk over and had set up new housing for Issei's housing and a 'transfer' for Issei himself. By the time the devils realized their Sacred Gear holder had been arrested, he would have already been moved to a city beyond their territory and influence.
It really was a work of machiavellian genius on Azazel's part, but there was still the fact that I was the one playing the victim because I was the only illusionist. I was also altering Vali and Azazel's faces so the cameras wouldn't have evidence of the Grigori in this building, but I wouldn't have been able to create a convincing enough full body illusion on one of them, so I was the only choice to play the large-breasted woman.
Had I mentioned I hated this, yet? Because I did. I wouldn't be surprised if it was legally considered torture for Azazel to put me through this. It definitely fell under the bubble of 'cruel and unusual'.
As the denizens of the gym put two and two together, they all turned to glare hatefully at Issei, some even stepping away from him. All except for two.
A boy with black hair and glasses and another with a buzz cut turned to Issei and shot him a thumbs up. "Great score, Issei!" they said in unison.
And like that, I was no longer hating this plan, or at all conflicted about the prospect of killing this kid. I recognized those two from my spirit's surveillance. They hung out with Issei a lot and talked about how boobs were great, but apparently I was lacking information because they were congratulating their friend for potentially raping someone.
Let's wrap this up and take the fucking Gear already. I said in Azazel's head.
Giving me a short nod, he and Vali grabbed Issei by either arm and dragged him out of the school.
People gathered in the hall to watch Issei be dragged out of the building. He was too shocked to do anything other than be led away.
I noticed a few devils among the crowd who took off running, likely to retrieve their kings, but they wouldn't be fast enough to wipe the minds of the supposed normal police who were arresting Issei.
As we all got into the cop car Azazel had procured, Issei locked in the back, a panicked young devil with long red hair ran out of the building trying to reach us.
"Floor it. Now." I said, and Azazel did just that.
"Alright, Xarion, you wanted to talk first, so do it while we're driving." Azazel said over his shoulder to me.
"I didn't do anything! I swear! I've never even met-"
"Shut up." I cut Issei off as I delved into his mind, my illusion dropping as I did.
His eyes widened but he quickly went limp. He didn't have the power or the will to resist a mental probe, leaving me free to do whatever I wanted in his head.
Appearing in his mindscape, I fashioned a large steel cage and easily threw Issei's consciousness into it. He wouldn't be able to speak, hear, or even see the upcoming conversation.
"Ddraig?" I said into the vast black nothing before me. "I've come to bargain."
"Have you, now?" a staggering presence said from behind me.
Steeling myself, I turned around and found myself face-to-face with a colossal red dragon. He was larger than mountains and stronger than a hurricane. And he was staring down at me in irritation.
"You have invaded the mind of my host. I should devour you, little human. But since you have gone to the trouble to meet me, I will indulge you. What do you want?"
"To be your new partner." I said, cutting to the chase. "Issei is weak, unmotivated and lacks any potential whatsoever. I would be a far better partner for you, so I've come to see if you would be interested in making the switch."
The dragon snorted at me and said, "Sacred Gears cannot be removed, ignorant welp. And even if they could, why would I exchange my rightful host for you?"
"As I said, I've come to bargain, so here is my proposition; so long as you swear on your title as the Red Dragon Emperor to not cause me any harm, I will allow you complete and unrestricted access to my mind. Once you have seen everything, there will be two possible avenues forward for us.
"The first is you accept me as your new partner, and we push forward together, growing as strong as we possibly can. The second is that I kill Issei. I will not force you to be bound to me, that would not benefit either of us, but there are things in my mind that could destroy me if they got out. I would have to kill Issei so he could not spread them. By the time you joined with another host, I would likely be dead, the host would be stronger than Issei, and the current White Dragon Emperor would still live as he is a half-devil and is not as susceptible to age as I am. What say you, Red Dragon Emperor?"
I'd thought over this in excruciating detail as Azazel set everything up, and, as much as I could figure in the few hours I had to prepare, this really was the best way to go about this. If Ddraig was bound to me, he'd have free reign of my mind anyway, so it was better to have him know everything upfront so he didn't feel betrayed and try to sabotage me later. At the same time, I couldn't let anyone know about my previous life or about Ravnica and what lay beyond it. Killing Issei was the only way to ensure it wouldn't be a problem until long after my bones had turned to dust.
I wasn't sure exactly how long it took for the Boosted Gear to find a new host, but I was willing to bet it was at least a hundred years, and given that the forms of immortality I'd found in this world were unappealing to me for various reasons - the devils due to the slavery aspect, vampirism due to the sun, the fae due to a more strict slavery aspect, etc. - one-hundred years was enough for Ddraig's knowledge to no longer be my problem.
The great dragon stared down at me with an expression I guessed to be curiosity. "You truly have a way to transfer the Boosted Gear to yourself, don't you, human?"
Nodding, I said, "Yes. Azazel created a way to extract Sacred Gears. We can remove it from Issei and transfer it to me."
Ddraig began to growl at the mention of Azazel's name. "You work for the crows."
Quickly, I shook my head. "No. I work for myself. I'm cooperating with Azazel for the moment to take advantage of his resources, but I plan to leave as soon as I complete a project I'm working on." Ever since I was reminded of my relationship with Azazel, I'd been making plans to bail. Unfortunately, I had no hopes of finishing what was shaping up to be a master-crafted, one of a kind sword without my lab in Azazel's base.
Once the sword was finally finished, I was gone. My illusions would be able to hide me while I found somewhere new to operate, and the ghosts I had watching Azazel would let me know if he was getting too close to figuring anything out. I hadn't told him the extent of my spy network, only enough for him to see me as that much greater of an asset.
"You play a dangerous game, human. Both by attempting to outmaneuver Azazel and by speaking directly with myself. Is it arrogance that guides your actions?"
"Give me your word not to harm me and see for yourself." I said, waiting in a tense silence for him to make his decision.
With what sounded like a chuckle, Ddraig said, "If nothing else, human, I admire your guile. Not just anyone would be able to summon me for a conversation. I, Ddraig, Red Dragon of Domination, swear on my name not to harm you while I view the secrets hidden within your mind. However, this oath holds no sway over me once I have left your mind." the dragon said in warning.
"Nor should it." I said. "Let us begin."
Then, doing something I had not done in years, I dropped every single ward I constantly surrounded myself with and, fighting instincts urging me to do the contrary, allowed, and even helped, the immense presence of Ddraig's mind to flow into my own without resistance.
X
Azazel
Looking at the backseat in the rearview mirror, I saw both Xarion and Issei slumped like sacks of potatoes in their respective seats.
"How do you think it's going?" Vali asked, actually sounding worried.
Raising an eyebrow, I looked at him and said, "Are you worried about your friend? That's so cute, Vali. My little boy's all grown up and making friends!"
Vali, not appreciating my jab, glared at me and said, "He is making first contact with the Red Dragon of Domination. Take this seriously, Azazel."
Dropping the humorous act, I fixed Vali with a serious look. "I am, Vali. But there isn't anything you or I can do for him now. Neither of us are capable of mental magic. Hell, Xarion is the only person I've ever met to be able to pull off what he does. He probably has some latent, undiscovered bloodline. The point is; it's all up to him now. And if I know anything about the kid, it's that he's-" I was cut off by a blood-curdling scream from the backseat.
Both Vali and my attention snapped to Xarion. His muscles were tensing and relaxing erratically, causing him to thrash around in his seat. His head rolled back and an agonized scream roared past his lips.
"Xarion!" Vali screamed, reaching backwards to try and help him.
All I could do was stare as Xarion seized.
Come on, kid. Stay with me. I really like you, so don't you dare die.