Chapter 15:
Here be Dragon
"You do realize that she's going to die?"
I thought I had been alone, watching the moon from the backyard of my house, but it appeared I was wrong. He was there.
Turning to the archer clad in red, I found him watching me with those almost familiar grey eyes of his. Judging, assessing, for what, I did not know.
"Who is?"
"Ilya," Archer's eyes never left mine as he answered, they bore straight into mine as if searching for something, "Her body is approaching it's limit and is already beginning to break down. It wouldn't be long now before her condition becomes critical, and there is nothing that can be done to stop it. In a year, two at best, she will die."
"She won't," I replied confidently, unable to stop myself from smiling at the man. For all of his callousness, his attempt at feigned indifference, he could never hide his true nature when it matters the most. "I'll save her."
"Tch, there you go again with that Hero crap again. For a moment I thought you–" He looked away, frustration etched into his face. "In the end it's no use huh?"
"Not as a hero." Archer blinked in confusion at my interruption and turned back to me. My golden eyes met his grey ones and l refused to look away. "I'm not going to save Ilya because I'm a Hero." I smiled and thumped a fist onto my chest, "I'm going to save her because I'm her brother."
For a long time after that Archer simply stared at me. It as if he was looking at me for the first time, and didn't find what he expected. Until at last, he simply said.
"You really are different."
"Munyu~~~, Morning Shirou." A voice tiredly called out from behind me.
I glanced over my shoulder to find a groggy, bleary-eyed Ilya stumbling into the kitchen as she tried to rub the sleep out of eyes. She let out a large yawn as she walked towards the kitchen table on unsteady feet, barely reaching one of its chairs before collapsing into it. Despite having just woken up, it looked like she'd fall back to sleep any second now as she set she set her crossed arms on the wooden surface of the table and plopped her onto it.
"Good morning," I replied, barely restraining a snicker at the sight of a near comatose Ilya. Really, seeing Ilya act in such a Rin like manner never failed to amuse me. "Did you sleep well?"
"Uh huh." Came her groggy reply, her eyelids fluttering as she tried and failed to keep them open. Her snow-white hair was in a tangled mess, another clear sign she had just woken up as if the way she was sleepily rubbing her eyes were not a clue enough. Bundled in a blue long sleeved pajama dotted with snowflakes, Ilya looked even more childlike than she usually did.
Half-turning back to my cooking, I watched as Ilya try and fail to hold back another yawn. Looking at her now, even I sometimes found it hard to believe that Ilya was once a morning person. There was a time not too long ago that Ilya would practically leap out of bed, all bright eyed and bushy tailed, excited for the start of a new day. Then she became a Devil.
And Devils hated mornings.
Sunlight could not hurt us. In spite the Light element's renown for its effectiveness on Devils, natural light in itself did not harm us the way it did with Vampires. It did however trigger a deeply ingrained instinct in all Devils.
It was, at the core of it, a genetic thing. Devils were a nocturnal race after all, a species that felt right at home in the shadows and darkness. The day was the traditional time for us to sleep, the coming dawn a sign for Devils to rest, not to wander and roam as we do today. Just being bathed in sunlight seemed to exhaust any Devil. Even a good night sleep seemed to do nothing to counter the effect, our bodies intuitively knowing it was time to slumber regardless of what the mind told it.
Even I was no exception to this. It was only thanks to a lifetime of morning routine and habit that engraved self-discipline that allowed me to adjust so well, and yet it was a bit of a struggle getting up in the morning. Mornings were no longer a thing that I could look forward to with the enthusiasm I once did.
"So what's for-" Ilya had to pause as a huge yawn overcame her. "Ah~, what's for breakfast?"
"Nothing special today I'm afraid, just pancakes." I replied as I began flipping the first of the morning's batch in the pan. "We're in a hurry so I'm not going to have enough time to properly cook anything."
"Hmm? Oh, that's right. We're heading back today." With a visible force of will, Ilya raised her head of the table, though she still appeared to be having trouble keeping her eyes open. "What time are we teleporting to the Underworld?"
"We're not." Carefully sliding the pancakes onto a plate before starting another batch. "Most of my Peerage have never been to the Underworld before. Well, at least not the Devil's side. So we're going to ride the train again to have them registered."
"Hmm, OK." Ilya rubbed a fist over her eyes again in what was clearly becoming a hopeless battle to wake up. Absent-mindedly, she looked around the kitchen, probably searching something to distract her from her sleepiness.
"Shirou." She called out a few seconds later. "What's that?"
I turned to find her tiredly blinking at small bowl set on the table next to where she was sitting. "Oh, that's some Spanish almonds I brought. Asia seems to loves the stuff so I make sure to always keep some lying around the house."
"Spanish almonds huh?" Ilya drowsily replied, not sounding completely there. The way her head kept swaying as she stared at the bowl just reinforced that impression.
Then, in a movement that made it seem as if she'd topple over any second, Ilya leaned her face over the bowl, absently staring down at its contents. After a few second of blankly staring, she began speaking to the nut in Spanish. "Hola."
I watched in amusement as Ilya then proceeded to tilt her head, carefully holding her hair out of the way as she placed her ear next to the almonds, her eyes half-lidded as she listened carefully for a response. After a few seconds of waiting and hearing nothing, Ilya raised her head and shrugged, "They look like completely ordinary almonds to me Shirou."
She then proceeded to plop her head back on the table, crossing her arm beneath it and promptly went back to sleep.
Yes, it's official. Sleepy Ilya is an adorable Ilya.
Shaking my head at the sight, I turned back to my cooking. I guess it wouldn't hurt to allow Ilya to sleep just a little while longer. At least until I finished preparing breakfast. Hopefully getting some hot food in her will help snap her awake.
A loud banging coming from the front door drew my attention just as I was finishing off the latest batch of pancakes . Frowning, I glanced at the clock on the wall beside me. It was barely half past seven, so who could possibly be up this early? Shutting my eyes, I used my connection to the Evil Pieces to search for the rest of my Peerage.
Almost immediately I found Asia and Xenovia still in their perspective rooms, probably still preparing for our brief stay in the Underworld. Stretching my abilities just a bit, I could just faintly sense the presence of Ramiel and the others up in the attic. And even though he wasn't part of my Peerage I easily found Gasper from his room in the basement.
Ilya was here, and Serafall had spent the night at Sona's and planned to meet us in the Station later on, after she took care of our travel preparation. She should have left for the station already. That meant everyone was here and accounted for, so it wasn't anyone of them at the door.
I shook my head at my own stupidity when the knocking started up again, even louder this time. Instead of just standing here and wondering who it could be I should go answer the door and find out.
"I'm coming." I call out when the knocking turned into outright banging as whoever it was began hammering on the door. Setting the pan down and turning off the stove, I made my way to the front door, untying and tossing my apron on the table as I passed it by.
"I said I'm coming already." I called out again when the banging ceased to stop. Really, why do people keep insisting on banging the door when I had a perfectly nice doorbell there for them to ring?
Reaching the door I unlocked it and yanked it open. "What is- Tsubaki?" I blinked in surprises when I found Sona's Queen standing at my front door.
She looked frazzled, her usual composed and immaculately dressed self that could rival Sona was gone, no where to be seen. Hidden behind her frames, her eyes were wide with barely concealed panic and her shoulder rose and fell as she panted, slightly out of breath. Something was seriously wrong.
"What happened?" I asked, cutting to the chase.
She took a deep breath, trying and not quite succeeding in regaining some compose, before answering.
"The Wielder of the Boosted Gear has been found."
My footsteps sounded unusually loud to my ears, echoing off the walls of the empty stairwell as I quickly made my way up to the third floor. Though the school holiday only officially begins tomorrow, it seemed that most of the students have decided to start their vacation a day early. It felt weird seeing the school so empty in the middle of the day, almost as if it were deserted. From what little I've seen I'd be surprised if even a fifth of the students had bothered to show up today.
Well, at least the teacher's didn't seem too worked up about it. They actually appeared more relieved than upset with the situation. I guess they were too happy with a drop in their workload to complain. After the stress of the class visits yesterday they too must be looking forward to some rest and relaxation.
Well it wasn't as if I was in any position to complain, seeing as I was planning to ditch school today as well. If I hadn't been called over I would be using the extra time to prepare for the Underworld. But looks like that plan went down the drain.
Stepping onto the third floor landing, I turned left and quickly made my way to the classroom that Tsubaki told me we were meeting up in. Why weren't we meeting up in the Student Council room or even the old school building I did not know, and didn't had the chance to ask before Tsubaki had to leave. All I knew that Sona and Gremory wanted to meet me there.
Turning the corner, I finally reached the classroom in question and didn't hesitate to open the door and walk in. Contrary to my expectations neither Gremory nor Sona were in the room.
"Ara, Emiya-san." Akeno blinked up at me in surprise over the tea cup she held to her lips. Setting the cup down, Akeno elegantly rose up from her seat behind the table to greet me. "You're here earlier than we expected. Buchou and Kaichou still haven't arrived."
"I see." I absentmindedly muttered, too busy taking in the state of the 'classroom' to give her my full attention. Or perhaps it was a meeting room now? The rows of desks and chairs that once filled the room were now gone, replaced by a long coffee table surrounded on all sides by sofas. In the front of the room where the teacher's desk should have been was an arrangement of decorative plants instead. Even the windows had curtains in place of the usual blinders. "I thought that this was supposed to be a classroom?"
"It is. The school just redecorated it for the Class Visits. The teachers needed a private setting to meet and converse with some of the more influential parents so they transformed the classroom into this." She shrugged as she made her way to a tea set setup on a nearby table. "It's only supposed to be temporary, but thanks to the upcoming holidays the school isn't in any hurry to fix it. No one will care if we decide to commandeer it for the day."
"And why are we meeting here instead of the one of the usual places?" I asked from where I was stood by the door, still taking in the room's transformation.
"It would be best if Buchou explained it herself. If you wait a moment, I'm sure she and Kaichou should be here soon." Glancing over her shoulder from where she prepared a new cup, she nodded towards the sofas. "There is no need to stand there, please sit down."
Seeing no reason not to comply, I walked up to the sofa closest to door and sat myself down. The sofa was remarkably comfortable, of the quality that you won't expect to find in a school but I could not say I was surprised. If there was anything that was certain about this academy it was that they never cut corners, and would often go the extra mile. Even the furniture Serafall set up at my house wasn't of this quality.
"Here you go." Akeno's voice drew me away from my thoughts, bring my attention to the teacup she set down on the table.
"Thank y-" I had to stop and blink in confusion when I found nothing on the table before me, my hand reaching out for a cup that wasn't there. Staring dumbly ahead for a few seconds before glancing around, I finally spotted it sitting on the table a fair distance away.
The cup was set down on the opposite end of the table, on the bottom left corner. As I was seated on the bottom right I wouldn't have been able to reach it even had I stretched as far as I could, not without standing up and walking.
Akeno continued to wear a welcoming smile as she looked down at me from where she stood right next to the cup, not lifting so much as a finger to help.
"Akeno."
"Yes Emiya-san?" Akeno answered, politely smiling as always.
Nodding down towards the teacup, "I can't reach."
"Oh, I'm sorry." A hand rose up to cover her lips as she gasped. "Here, let me get that for you."
With all of her usual grace and poise, she leaned over and pushed the cup down the table closer towards me.
One full inch closer.
After straightening up, Akeno had the audacity to smile innocently back at me, completely disregarding the deadpanned look I was giving her. When she continued to do nothing but smile, I just gave up and shook my head with a sigh.
OK, so it looked like Akeno was messing with me on purpose but why? Did I do something to piss her off recently or was this the infamous sadistic side I heard so much about finally beginning to rear it's head?
Thinking back, I tried to remember if I had done something to insult her but ended up drawing a blank. I had barely interacted with Akeno at all outside of our first meeting in the Occult Club room weeks ago. Our interactions were limited to polite nods of hello when we cross each other in the corridor but that's it.
So what could I have done to piss her off?
Ah, never mind. What did I know about how teenage girls think? I used to piss Rin off all the time and I never could figure out why most of the time. While it may not be the best approach, I'll just ignore her little gibes for the now and hope that the she'd forget the whole issue by the time I returned from the Underworld.
So with that plan in mind, it was time to get me my drink. Pushing myself up I stood and took a single step to my left towards the teacup-
-only for Akeno to take a full step away from me when I did so.
Stopping, I shot Akeno a questioning look, perplexed at her behaviour but all she did was continue smiling at me as if nothing was wrong. I watched her for a few seconds, and when it became clear that she didn't intend to say or do anything, I just ignore her and took the final step towards the teacup, stooping down to grab it-
-only for Akeno to take another step away from me.
Now I know I didn't imagine it. Something odd was going on.
"Akeno?" Ignoring the teacup for now, I rose up from my stoop and gave the girl in question my complete attention.
"Yes Emiya-san?" She sounded completely serene as she spoke, that smile of her still firmly in place.
"Is something the matter? You've been acting a little…off." I made sure to keep my eyes on her face as I spoke, carefully watching for any tells.
"Ara?" She blinked a couple of time, apparently confused, before tilting her head to one side "Whatever could you mean?"
She sounded sincere and yet, I couldn't bring myself to believe her. I couldn't quite put my finger on it but the way she held herself was a little off. It was tiny thing, something that I couldn't explain but it was there. So I decided to push her a little more.
"Really? You don't think you're acting a little bit different than usual?" I took one long stride towards her, and as expected, she retreated one step back, the distance between us not closing in the slightest. I shot her a deadpanned look, "Like avoiding getting anywhere near me?"
It seems that I may have misinterpreted the situation a bit. She didn't set the teacup so far away in an attempt to insult me, it was that she couldn't bring herself to come anywhere near me. Now all that was left was to try to figure out why.
"Avoiding you?" She gasped, politely covering her mouth with her hand, "Now why would I ever do that?"
"I don't know, you tell me." That was something I genuinely wanted to know.
"Now Emiya-san, I'm sure you're just imagining things. What possible reason would I have to avoid you?" Not missing how she never actually denied she was avoiding me.
"Is that so? Then you wouldn't mind me coming a little closer to you?"
"Not at all." I noticed how her smile began to look a little bit strained. "Go right ahead."
"OK then. Here I come." I warned before taking three full steps right towards her. And as I half expected her to, Akeno took three steps away, turning around so that she wouldn't run out of the space and bump into a wall.
"You're making it rather obvious that you're trying your best not to come near me." This time I did not stopping walking and continued to chase after her. "Will you just please tell me what's wrong? Tell me whatever it is and I promise I'll do my best to help out."
"Like I've been saying, I have no idea what you're talking about. There is nothing to help with." She smiled back in a manner that would have been utterly convincing if she hadn't been walking backwards around the table at the moment as I chased after her. Really, she wasn't even trying to be subtle anymore.
Maybe it would have been better for me to simply sit down and calmly question her, or even clear some space between us and walk to opposite side of the room but I couldn't. For some reason that I could not understand, let alone explain, every time I saw her take a step back away from me I was overwhelmed by an urge to take a step forward as well, as if to chase after her.
Is this why dogs kept chasing cats and passing cars? If that was the case I completely understood why. It was as if seeing Akeno run away had triggered some kind of primordial hunting instinct, commanding me to give chase, to hunt, and before I knew it ended up chasing Akeno around and around the table in some kind of weird game to tag.
This went on for a far longer time that I cared to admit, me asking her what's wrong and she denying everything and before long we were all but yelling to one another as we circled around the room at speeds just short of human limits.
"Just tell me already!" I demanded as we spun another circle around the room.
"And I keep telling you I'm not avoiding you." Even as she yelled out at me she didn't allow herself to smiling.
"Oh as if anyone would believe-"
*Ahem*
We froze, stopping in mid-stride as if reality had hit the pause button, at the sound of someone clearing their voice in what should have been an otherwise empty room. As one, we stiffly turned our heads towards the open door where Sona stood staring at us, with Gremory peeking over her shoulder from behind. Before either one of us could get so much as a word in she raised a hand.
"I do not want to know." She sighed, raising a hand to push up her glasses but aborting the action when the large stack of files she was holding her hand wobbled as it threatened to topple over and spill to the floor. "We don't have any time to waste, so just stop whatever it is you're doing and sit down."
Sona strode into the room and dumped the stack of files onto the coffee table, before walking to the small chair set at the head of the table and sat down, forcing the matter to a close. After sharing a quick glance with Akeno, we both silently agreed to drop the matter before turning to look for seats of our own.
I ended up on my own, sitting on one side of the table, facing the door with the windows to my back. Sona had taken the seat to my left while Gremory and Akeno sat down across from me. Now that I was aware of the Akeno's need to stay away from me, it came as no surprise that she took the farthest seat possible from where I was sitting.
"So," I began, taking in the tired looks Gremory and Sona were sporting, ""what exactly are we here for? All I was told was that Boosted Gear wielder has shown up and you girls needed me before Tsubaki took off before I could get so much as a word in." Giving the room one final glance before continuing, "And why here instead of one of your club rooms?"
"We're meeting here because neither of us want any of our Peerage members getting caught up in this." Sona pulled some files out of the stack and slid one copy over to each of us, "If any part of my Peerage found out about this they may try to confront her themselves." She blinked before sighing and adjusted her frames. "Ah, never mind. I had forgotten about Saji. Let me reiterate, they will definitely try and confront her if they find out."
"And my Peerage is scared enough as it is." Gremory rubbed her temples. "I spent enough time trying to get to come Koneko down from her tree already."
My mind blanked out for a second as I tried to picture that image before failing. "…I think I'm missing something here."
"Open the file and you'll understand." Sona nodded to the folder before me.
Flipping the folder open I found myself looking at a picture of a gray-haired teen as she smiled enigmatically at the camera. She, the student profile sheet that the picture was stapled to clearly stated her gender, was wearing a male uniform and seemed to be completely comfortable dressed up at such.
So, this was the new Red Dragon Emperor. I must admit though she wasn't what I was expecting, she certainly looked the part. I've seen pictures of the White Dragon Emperor before and the resemblance between these two were uncanny. Their hair, their build, almost everything is alike. If I hadn't known for certain that Vali was a single child I would have been sure that they had to be related. But going by her name it doesn't seem to be the case-
"Wait a minute, Hyoudou Karasuba?" I looked up from the profile sheet to stare at Gremory. "She's related to Issei? One of your own Peerage members is-" glancing down at the file, "- the twin of this generation's Red Dragon Emperor and none of you realized that out until now? How did you guys miss that?"
"That's what we wanted to know as well," Gremory rubbed her face as she replied, looking more frazzled than I had ever seen her, "we didn't know she even existed until the moment she stepped onto the school grounds the other day. I didn't even know Issei had any siblings at all before that, let alone a twin."
"We've spent the entirety of last night trying to find out how both of us screwed up so badly. That's why all of us are gathered here, to share all of what we've managed to find out about this Karasuba," Sona all but hissed out the name, "and afterwards, decide how we're going to handle the matter."
There was an almost oppressive atmosphere beginning to fill the room, steadily growing as the conversation carried on, and I had no idea why. Carefully examining everyone in the room, I began to realize how truly tired they looked. Though they were trying to hide it, now that I was looking for it was painfully clear how exhausted they were, even Akeno.
No, not simply exhausted. It was more than simply that, they looked almost desperate.
"Alright, what's going on?" Cutting straight to the heart of the matter I questioned the girls, "I thought it was weird enough that I was even invited to this meeting after you tried so hard to keep me away last time."
I haven't forgotten what happened with Issei, I doubt I ever would. When she last tried to get her hands on the Boosted Gear, Gremory had out right ordered me to mind my own business, and though Sona was more subtle about it, she too tried to get me to stay away by keeping me ignorant on the manner. But now? Now they had all but given me a written invitation.
"So what changed?" I met their eyes as I question them, "What could have possibly happened that convinced you to try to get me involved instead of doing everything in your power to keep me away?"
Gremory and Sona turned to each other, sharing a quick glance, communicating to each other somehow with their eyes. A heartbeat later Gremory nodded and Sona, with a tired sigh, turned back to me and answered.
"She's like Vali."
…Oh.
Ah well, that changes things.
Vali Lucifer was a monster, pure and simple. Saying that he was a little violent was like saying Berserker was a little buff. That man was as battle hungry as they came. And for her to compare Karasuba to Vali was in no way a good thing.
I could have interpreted Sona's statement in so many ways but given the context of the conversation there was only one thing she could have meant. Karasuba was dangerous. Not only as she was, but to the Underworld as a whole if she ever becomes a Devil. A repeat of the Valantime incident was all but guaranteed if she truly was anywhere near as bloodthirsty as Vali.
No wonder they wanted my help, I'm actually surprised they were content with just me. Had I been in their place I would have been begging their siblings help by now.
As comprehension dawned on my face, Sona gave me a grim nod, "You understand the problem then."
"Are you sure?" I had to ask. Though something told me they did not make a mistake this time, they had already dropped the ball when it came to the Boosted Gear more times than I care to count, and I had to make sure that this wasn't going to end up as another wild goose chase.
"Unfortunately, there can be no doubt." Sona pushed her glasses up her nose and leaned back into her seat. "We confronted her last night and though the meeting was not what I would call eventful, it went…" Sona visibly had to fight down a shudder.
"…badly." Gremory finished for her, "We were really lucky. We walked away unharmed, with nothing more than experiencing a bit of a scare to show for it."
"If you can call feeling so terrified that even a day later, I can still hear the battered remains of what is left of my courage, whimpering in some dark corner of my soul begging for me to leave it alone, 'a bit of scare', then yes we had a bit of a scare." Sona grumbled as she reached for my abandoned tea cup, and gulped down its contents in one go.
An awkward silence filled the room as we all stared at Sona, before Gremory turned to me, "Sona was with me in the club room when we first learnt about her. It was just after sunset and the parents had already began clearing out when Kiba burst in the room, carrying a hysterical Koneko over his shoulder.
"None of us knew what was happening then. All Kiba knew was one minute Koneko was fine, then the next she was having a nervous breakdown, and Koneko was too worked up to even speak let alone explain. It took me the better part of an hour to calm her down enough to get her talking again, and when she did all we could understand from her was that 'a human shaped dragon' had entered the school."
"It wasn't so hard to put the pieces together. The mystery of the missing Boosted Gear was still fresh in our minds so we immediately understood what a human shaped dragon meant." Sona stared down into her empty cup. "We knew we needed to find the wielder before we lost the trail again, so we rushed out to find her. Rias and me, along our Queens. Unfortunately finding her proved to be a more difficult task than of us imagined it to be."
"It was like with Issei all over again." This time it was Akeno who spoke. "The Boosted Gear is a Longinus class Sacred Gear, something like that, even when it was not actively being used should have blazed like a bonfire to our senses but there was nothing there, not even a blimp. She might as well not have even been there as far as our magical senses were concerned." She ended with a shrugged.
"With our ability to locate her no functioning, we had no way to effectively look for her. So with no other choice remaining, we had to resort to searching for her on foot, scouting the school and hoping she might still be here." Sona trailed off, still looking into her cup for something.
"And you failed to find her?" I hazard a guess when it didn't look like she would carry on.
Sona sighed and shook her head. "No, worse." She set her cup down on the table and looked at me. "We found her, or maybe it would be better to say she found us."
It stalked the halls on silent feet.
"She was roaming the corridors."
An empty smile pasted on its lips,
"Just stalking through one hallway at a time, for who knew what reason."
Narrowed eyes that looked through them as if they were not even there.
"We tried confronting her but it was as if she couldn't even see us. She just strolled past all of us as if we didn't exist, even calling out to her couldn't get her attention. So I reached out to grab her." Sona rubbed the wrist of her right hand with her left as she grimaced. "That, I admit, was a mistake."
Her dismembered right hand fell to the floor with a splat. Sona stared down at her severed hand in bafflement before comprehension began to dawn. She tumbled backwards a scream already beginning to rip its way through her as she clutched at the empty space her right hand once occupied, only for the scream to die stillborn in her throat as she felt her hand, still there and attached to her arm, whole and unharmed.
Rias, from where she stood on Sona's left, choked back a scream and clutched at her throat with both hands, surprised to find her neck whole, still binding her head to her body.
They both looked up to find a pair of grey eyes, no longer hidden behind lidded slits, staring down them with utter boredom. Its lips, no longer adorned by a smile, was set in a grim line as it peered at them over its shoulder.
The naked blade reflected the moonlight off it's edge from it was now being held in its left hand, gleaming like sliver in the darkness of corridor.
The Devils stood stock still as they felt its eyes on them, petrified in terror, no longer wanting its attention now that they have finally gotten it. Nothing moved in the hallway as the Devils felt their lives hang by a thread as the Dragon gazed down on them, the bloodlust filling the air contrasting with the disinterest its eyes.
Then it looked away, dismissing them as it continued stalking down the hall. Not sparing them another glance, having already forgotten their existence.
Sona took off her glasses to rub her face, before turning to look back at me. Though she tried to hide how shaken the event left, that she couldn't completely repress the trembling in her hand in spite of her efforts told me all I needed to know.
"It was horrifying Shirou." Sona eyes were wide as she spoke. "I was sure that I felt her rip my body to bits but she didn't do anything but look at us. Just a single passing glance and it felt as if she had already killed me. Then there was that sword. It appeared in her hand out of nowhere, it was like watching you or Kiba. One moment she was unarmed then next she was holding five feet of steel in her hand and for the life of me I have no idea how. What made it worse was that she was clearly intending on using it. I have no doubt she wouldn't have hesitated to cut us to shreds if we had so much as twitched ."
A shiver ran through the occupants of the room as everyone who was there recalled the event, their terror evident. Even Akeno shivered, though the way her face flushed red told me it was for a completely different reason. I decided to ignore the way she wouldn't stop rubbing her thighs together, something were too disturbing to think about.
In an attempt to change the atmosphere of the room, and get my mind off whatever it was Akeno was thinking, I looked at the stack of papers before me.
"What's all this supposed to be?" I asked flipping over the student profile page, finding medical records beneath it. Curious, I started flipping through the pages and found a whole assortment of different documents; birth certificate, old school grade reports, records of the Hyoudou family tree, printouts of newspaper articles among several other things.
"That is all the information I was able to gather on one Hyoudou Karasuba." Sona replied as she slipped on her glasses, "This is every piece of public information out there that there is on her, in addition to some not so public ones." At my look she elaborated. "While I rarely find the need, getting private and confidential information is not beyond my means. Though I find it rather distasteful and tend to avoid doing so whenever possible. The circumstances being what they are, I decided that this situation warranted it."
She nodded towards the files she had slid to each of us. "You can read through that later for more details, but for now I'll summarize what I was able to gather." Sona leaned back into her seat and shut her eyes before she started reciting.
"Hyoudou Karasuba, human, age 16 and current wielder of the Boosted Gear. Born to Hyoudou Ichirou and Hyoudou aiko, both ordinary humans with no notable lineage to speak of and no link to the supernatural world other than through their children. She stands at 170 cm, weights at 56 kg with grey eyes and hair. Though earlier medical records indicate that she was born with brown eyes and hair it appears that had changed sometime during her pre-teen years.
"She was born and raised here in Kuoh City until a few short months before her tenth birthday. Up to that point there was nothing particularly unusual about her. A top grade student, if one with a history of violence. Nothing severe, generally just school yards scuffles that had gotten a little out of hand but they occurred with enough frequency for the teachers to take note of it.
"She was also a kendo practitioner, a good one. She never participated in any competitions outside the city but she was a two-time winner of the city-wide twelve and under children's tournament. Many of the judges described her as a one in a decade talent, an upcoming prodigy. But other than that there was nothing that stands out about her history till just a little short of tenth birth day, when her parents abruptly withdrew her from school. They claimed that she needed more attention than a public school could afford her and would home-school her instead.
"That however was only the official reason, the truth of the matter was that Karasuba was never home-schooled, not by her parents at least. Approximately two days after withdrawing from School, Karasuba disappeared from the city. Where did she go I could not find out. There exists no records that so much as hinted as to where she had disappeared to. No flight reservations, train tickets, nothing. One day she was in the city the next she was gone. For all intents and purposes, the person known as Hyoudou Karasuba simply ceased to exist from that day.
"At least until several months later when she reappeared, only to disappear again a week later.
"This pattern would continue for the next six or so years. Karasuba would disappear from the city only to reappear again after a period of time, which would sometimes stretch several months, stay for a few days before disappearing again. There was no set pattern to her disappearance that I could determine. They occurred at seemingly random intervals and held no correlation with any holidays or seasons.
"The only constant thing about her disappearance was that she would always make sure to appear at the city in time for the mandatory annual exams held by the ministry of education. They were something that all home-schooled students needed to take. From what I was able to gleam though the ministry files, she appeared to have been ranked among the top scorers every time.
"This patterned continued until last month when the enrollment papers of one Hyoudou Karasuba had been submitted to the school, which was eventually accepted. This makes her, as of yesterday, an official student in Kuoh Academy. Her placement scores were exemplary enough that she was given the option of skipping a grade, which she accepted and is now enrolled as a senior.
"And that, is all I had been able to gather." Sona allowed her eyes to drift open after finally finished. She sat up in her seat before perking up.
"Oh yes, there is one more thing I forgot to add." Sona rapped her knuckles on the file before her. "This is something rather minor, but it appears she hates skirts. Or at the very least she refuses to wear them. Though there are no official rules banning girls from wearing pants at school, it was unusually enough that some of the staff tried to raise some objections, but she was able to somehow strong-arm her way through it all and managed to get permission to wear a male uniform."
Sona paused to rub her eyes. "And that is all the information I could find out from my end. There is nothing else to find, all the potentially useful data on her simply ended after she turned ten and all but dropped off the map. Everything I was able to get my hands on is outdated and reveals nothing about her character or current combat abilities, nothing that we can use to help us." Sona turned to Gremory. "Well Rias, I hope you had better luck on your end than I did."
The red-haired heiress shook her head. "Not much better than you, I'm afraid. We couldn't find much but thankfully what little we did find was good news. It seems that for once the Hyoudou bloodline is doing us a favour."
"Hyoudou bloodline?" Sona furrowed her brows before looking down to her files and pulling out the page on the Hyoudou family tree. "I wasn't aware that such a thing existed."
"Oh but it does exist, its just not a very good one." Akeno smirked slightly in amusement as she spoke "It turns out that Issei's issue with magic was not so much a personal flaw as it was a hereditary one. After we had trouble finding our Dragon last night I realized that I had experienced the exact same thing before with Issei. The reason why we did not realize Issei was a Sacred Gear wielder when he was human was because his abysmally low supply of Mana and, by the looks of things it seems that our resident Dragon appears to share a similar problem as her younger brother. While I cannot determine the exact amount, her Mana supply is low, unnaturally so. It's so far below the human norm that I haven't seen the like of it outside of Issei."
"Then at the very least we won't have to worry about her magical abilities." Sona nodded thoughtfully. "Her sword skills will still be a problem but still, that's something I guess." She turned back to Rias. "Anything else?"
"What about her Sacred Gear," I cut in, "are you certain it's that Boosted Gear and not another Dragon based one? And if it is the Boosted Gear has she managed to awaken it yet?"
While it seemed like a forgone conclusion no one had yet seen her Sacred Gear. None of them reported seeing anything like a red gauntlet in her left hand yet so for all we know it could be something else entirely.
"There's no doubt of that," Gremory nodded decisively, "Koneko wouldn't have reacted as she did otherwise. Besides, we felt it ourselves last night when we confronted her. Whatever else we may be unsure about Karasuba there is no doubt that she's a Dragon. And Dragon based Sacred Gears are a rare breed, only a handful exist that are strong enough to release that kind of presence. As the wielders for those Sacred Gear have been found already, with the notable exception of the Boosted Gear, it is the only one it could be."
"And while we lack any solid proof, it would be better to work on the assumption that she is at the very least aware of her Sacred Gear and possibly about the supernatural world." Sona added. "It's rare for a Sacred Gear Wielder not to awaken their powers before their teenage years. Except for a small minority, most of them awaken them by their ninth birthday."
I nodded, that matches with what I knew about Sacred Gears. "Alright, so until we find something that tells us otherwise let's continue working on the assumption that she has awakened her Sacred Gears and has some knowledge about the supernatural. What else did you find about her?"
A shake of her head was all I received from Gremory. "Nothing useful. Everything else we were able to find out about her was outdated, all from the time before she was ten. Like Sona had said, it's like she literately appeared out of nowhere, we have no idea where even to start looking for information."
"What about Issei, have you tried asking him?" Pointing out the obvious solution to the problem.
Another head shake was my answer. "It's no use. Issei is almost as afraid of her as Koneko is. From what little I've been able to piece together through the stutter that he seemed to develop whenever he talks about her, it becomes rather obvious that he and his sister aren't exactly close. All he could tell us was that she was sent away some place when she was around ten, that despite being away for most of the year she gets along with their parents rather well, better than he does in fact, and that she has no real friends to speak of. The only time he could remember anyone coming to the house looking for her was when that Exorcist dropped by for a visit. You know, the twin-tailed one, Irina I think."
"She's associated with the Church?" Concern clearly written all over Sona's face.
"No nothing like that. They were just childhood friends. It appears that Karasuba was far more sociable as a child than she is now and was the leader of a gang of neighborhood kids that Irina and Issei were a part of. He said that Irina dropped by to catch up on all times and nothing else, and as far as he could tell left in a happy mood so they must have gotten along well."
"Still, just because she's not part of the Church yet doesn't mean they won't try to use Irina to recruit her." Sona voice was grim as she contemplated the idea.
"No, that's not likely to happen." Gremory quickly put her fears to rest. "We were worried about the same thing but it looks like that any chance of Karasuba joining the Church is improbable at best. She's shown no concern over religion one way or another and Issei claimed if she ever end up meeting God the first thing she'd probably do was to try and pick a fight with him."
"That's a relief. The idea of the Church getting their hands on the Boosted Gear is a terrifying one, especially with a Wielder like her. The amount of damage she could do with a Holy Sword amplified with the Boosted Gear's power is terrifying." Sona allowed her shoulders to relax just a tiny bit at the news. "Still, at the very least it means that Irina has a better idea of what kind of person this Karasuba is, not that it does us any good. It's not like we could walk up to the Church and ask her for information under normal circumstances. Any goodwill we might have gained with the Kokabiel's incident was wiped clean with the permanent destruction of three Excalibur fragments," She then turned her eyes on me, "And then there is him."
"Me?" I looked around to find everyone staring at me. Why where they staring at me like that? "What did I do?"
That must have been the wrong answer because Sona just sighed and dropped the matter. "Anyway, that option is out. So is that it? Is that all we have?"
"Yes, everything else we found out on our end you already discovered or guess. Issei understandably tries to avoid sticking his nose in his sister's business so he knows next to nothing about her, not even where she's been for the last few years." Gremory looked to the side thoughtfully, "We considering asking her parents but since she seems to like them…" She grimaced.
"We could end up provoking her if we try anything too direct like that." Sona finished up for her, nodding in agreement. She sighed in frustration and pinched the bridge of her nose, "So that it then. It's not as much as I would have liked but at least it's better than nothing." She leaned forward, elbows on knees. "And as it appears we won't be able to gather any useful information even if we had more time, we must make due with what we have. So, how are we going to get rid of this problem?"
"What do you mean get rid of? What exactly are you planning?" A sense of unease filled me, worming its way into my belly. The last time they involved me in something like this someone ended up getting killed. Surely they weren't stupid enough to try the same thing again.
"What I meant is that we need to find a way to either get the girl out of the city or to at least minimize the threat she poses to us and everyone else living here." Sona locked her violet eyes with my own. "You may not know this Shirou but there is a reason why Dragons are solitary creatures. Their violent natures make them almost impossible to live in large groups for long. They either live alone or end up killing everyone around them.
"And now that we a young Dragon wondering about in our territory unsupervised, it's only a matter of time before she ends up destroying the city. Not if but when. And while I don't know about you I happen to like this city and I don't want to wake up one morning to find it turned into a pile of rubble just because she happens to be in a bad mood that day or because someone was stupid enough to try pissing her off."
"I agree with Sona." Gremory added. "I did a lot of research on Dragons during the time I thought Issei had the Boosted Gear, and everything that I learnt about them tells me that Sona might be understating the issue if anything. Dragons are dangerous, they're City-Killers. Even in the few instances where they don't want to hurt anyone they still end up getting people killed, their very existence makes them a magnet for trouble.
"Power attracts more power, and there is no Race more powerful than the Dragons. Supernatural beings of all kinds will flock to her, drawn in by her power. Before long Kuou will end up becoming a hotspot for supernatural disasters. It may have been different when she was younger and still maturing but now that's she's approaching her prime things are going to change. The only exception to this are Dragons who give in to other baser instincts, of the non-violent nature, such as to desire to breed or hoard treasure, and Karasuba is clearly not one of those."
Gremory looked to Sona. "Well, knowing you, you must have already thought of a plan already. Spill."
Sona steepled her hands and paused to think before speaking. "The way I see it, there are three ways we can go about handling this and none of them are a perfect solution." She looked around the room and raised one finger.
"The first is for one of us to recruit her into our Peerage," She quickly raised a second then a third finger in addition to the first after making each point. "And if that should fail our second option is to get her to work with us, even if she's not a part of our Peerage or a Devil we would still benefit from making some kind of alliance with her. And if all else fails, our third option is to persuade her to leave. While we'd have to give up on the Boosted Gear if it comes down to that, we'd at least get rid of the threat she poses to the city." Sona shrugged before adding as an afterthought. "Not to mention our lives."
"But Sona…" Gremory start only to be cut off.
"Yes, I know." Sona grimaced as she nodded to her. "When you take into consideration how she reacted to us last night, the possibility of us achieving any kind cooperative relationship with her is close to nil. I can't say for certain if we can open a line of communication without being attack but we have no choice but to try. Our only other option is to fight her head on and nothing good will come from that."
A silence settled in room when Sona finished speaking, each one of us too busy contemplating the situation to speak.
"Well, Rias." After giving enough time for us to stew in our thoughts Sona clapped her hands and spoke. "Still want the Boosted Gear in your Peerage? I'm willing to give you the first shot."
"Oh no," She shook her head violently, "my lack of Evil Pieces aside, I don't want her. There is no way I'm letting that woman into my Peerage, not with the way Issei and Koneko react to her. Poor Issei hasn't stopped shivering since he found out that his sister had enrolled into our School and Koneko, Koneko's even worse. She's completely terrified of her and I can't really blame her for it."
Gremory ran a hand through her crimson hair in a gesture of frustration. "As it is, she refuses to even stay in the same building as that woman, let alone get anywhere near her. Koneko can somehow tell whenever she's nearby. Just this morning she leapt straight out of the window the moment she sensed Karasuba setting foot on school grounds and disappeared."
"We ended up finding her hiding up a tree not too far from the club room. The poor dear was positivist petrified with fear and refused to come down." Though Akeno's tone was filled with concern to her fellow Peerage member, the smile that she was sporting told a completely different story. "Really, seeing the usually stone-face Koneko shivering and whimpering as she huddled up in that tree was such a…heartbreaking experience."
Every eye in the room turned to look at the smiling sadist with deadpanned skepticism.
"It isn't funny Akeno, Koneko was really scared. It nearly took me an hour to coax her down from that tree and you weren't helping." Gremory turned in her seat to reprimand her Queen.
Akeno calmly raised a dainty brow at her King. "I certainly was. What else would you call what I was doing?"
"How is yelling out, 'look, it's Karasuba', considered helping?" Gremory asked in exasperation.
Akeno's smile just began to take on an amused tint. "Well it got her down from there didn't it?"
Gremory leveled her best glare at her. "That's only because she fainted in terror and fell out of the tree!"
Akeno's smile just grew larger, "Yes, yes she did. That thump she made when she crashed into the ground was…awful wasn't it?"
Gremory actually growled in frustration at the sadist that as her Queen succeeded in getting her riled up, "I swear if Koneko wasn't a Rook and had gotten hurt I would have-" with an almost visible effort, Gremory forced herself to take a deep breath and calm down while simultaneously raising a hand to stop Akeno's retort. "Never mind, it's not important right now. What is important is dealing with the Dragon decide to take up residence in the middle of our territory."
Gremory turned away from her Queen and back to Sona. "As I was saying, even if I had enough Evil Pieces left, which I don't, I would not want her. She's a danger to my Peerage and, Boosted Gear or not, nothing is worth that risk. Plus as it is I don't have enough time to train a new Peerage member, I got my hands fully preparing my newest Pawn for the Youth Gathering.
"That's right, you got a new pawn last week. Seven full pieces correct? And barely in time for your first Rating Game." Sona's expression was an equal mix of incredulity and amusement. "Really Rias, your luck in stumbling over unusual Peerage members is amazing as always but even I have to admit that your last find is in a category of its own."
"Trust me, I'm learning every day how unusual my not so little pawn is." The small exasperated smile she was sporting belied her words. "But what about you then. Don't you want her?"
"No, I have no use for someone like her." Sona answer firmly. "Like you I'm uncertain if I have the required amount of Pieces necessary to resurrect her. Seven Pawns is not likely to be enough, but even were that not the case I do not want her. A Peerage member that I cannot control is less than worthless to me. And that is precisely what she is, a powerful rampaging Dragon that I have no hold over. And power without control over it will bringing me nothing but ruin in the end."
"So recruiting her is out, that leaves either driving her away or working alongside her." Gremory looked like she was being forced to swallow a lemon. "I'll be honest, neither option really appeals to me."
"Like I said before, unless you've thought of something I haven't we don't have any other choice in the matter."
I practically had to bite my tongue to stop myself from speaking. While neither of them were saying it they did have one more option. They could always ask their family for help.
The Sitri and Gremory Clans were Powerful. The sheer number of Devils that they have under their command was outrageous. No Ultimate Class Devils for sure, but they had more than enough talented individuals to help them in this situation. From expert fighters to first class negotiators, as Heirs to their respective Clans it was within their powers to summon of some of the most talented individuals in the world to help them.
All they had to do was ask their parents for help.
And that was precisely why I didn't bother to voice my opinion. These two were not stupid; if it occurred to me then they surely must have thought of it. That no one brought it up just meant that neither of them are even willing to consider it as an option.
These two were so desperate to get out of their siblings and parents shadows that they left the Underworld and tried striking off on their own in a completely different world. It was as reckless as it was stupid but they did it anyway. They had stubbornly refused all offers to help them no matter how much they needed it in their childish attempt of independence. How it managed to get to the point that their families were forced to guard them in secret I will never know but it goes to show how large a rebellious streak these two had.
And because of these children's rebellious Pride, they were more than willing to let a Longinus slip out of their Race's hands than ask their parents for help.
It was at times like these that reminded me I was dealing with teenagers. I have never been more gratefully than I was now that Rin, for all her flaws, had never been a normal teenage girl. If she acted like these two currently were, we'd both have been killed long ago.
Then again, letting a Longinus slip out of Devil's control might not necessary be a bad thing. Keeping something as powerful as the Boosted Gear outside of the Three Factions dispute might be good for everyone involved. The peace between the three is only tentatively holding on as it is. If a war should ever breakout, adding another Longinus to the mix, one with a battle thirsty Wielder at that, may just escalate the violence even further.
The last time Devil's had gotten their hands on one of the Heavenly Dragons, Valantime happened. An entire city wiped off the map over the course of a single day. Gremory was right when she called Dragons City-killers.
As it stands, it was looking increasingly unlikely that Karasuba will ever join the Fallen or Church Faction. With Vali firmly in their side, the Fallen's would not risk recruiting Karasuba. There was no way that either Albion or Ddraig would stand fighting side-by-side without killing each other and everyone standing between them. Having both Heavenly Dragons on their side may just end up destroying them, and as obsessive Azazel was over Sacred Gears even he isn't stupid enough to risk that. And if Issei's words were anything to go by, the possibility of Karasuba becoming a nun was nonexistent.
So I held my tongue.
There was no clear solution for this problem. No easy right or wrong. As it stands I had too little information to even decide whether the Devils recruiting Karasuba would be a good thing or not. Even simply approaching her carried its own risk. So I'll stand back for now, at least until I get a better picture of the situation, and just watch over these two to make sure no one gets killed.
Really, I'm just glad they decided to include me instead of continuing to try and deal with this on their own like they tried last night. And I'm not about to say anything that would make them want to exclude me. Who knows how much trouble they can get in to if I wasn't looking?
"The problem with the plan is getting her to talk to us. If we can't even do that much than nothing else we do will matter. But as it stand she would most likely attack us just for trying. We have to find a way to make her willing…want to…speak with…us-" Sona's voice trailed off as she caught sight of something over my shoulder. Her eyes went wide with disbelief before all emotions on her face disappeared as Sona donned her stoic mask again.
"Shirou." Her now cold eyes were locked onto mine. "By any chance, have you been talking with Karasuba?"
"…No?" I was so caught off balance that my reply came off sounding more like a question than a proper response. Clearing my throat I tried again. "I mean no. As far as I can recall I have never even seen her before in my life. Why?"
"Are you certain?" Her eyes never leaving mine for an instant. I was starting to get a little worried. Sona hasn't treated me like this since the first day I enrolled here.
"Yes, I'm sure." I frowned at her. "Why?"
Sona's eyes keep boring into mine, looking for something though I had no idea what. Before I knew it though, she relented, breaking off eye contact and releasing a small sigh before pointed over my shoulder at something behind me.
Confused by her actions, I turned to look around-
"WHAT THE HELL!"
I leapt from my seat and almost tripped over the coffee table in haste to get away. Without command my hands dropped to my side, open and ready to grab onto Kanshou and Bakuya, and it was only the knowledge that I wasn't in any immediate danger that stopped me from projecting them.
"That's why." I could barely hear Sona over the pounding of my heart. I didn't look at her, couldn't, not daring take my eyes off the source of my surprise.
Because there, staring straight at me, was the grinning face of Karasuba.
She was standing in the empty classroom opposite this one, peering through its window and across the courtyard to look at me. She was smiling pleasantly, her eyes narrowed into amused slits. When she noticed me looking back she raised a hand and waved, her smile widening just a nudge, enough to show a hint of teeth.
Despite her pleasant demeanor I have never felt more terrified in my life. Not since the first I locked eyes on Berserker did I ever feel anything remotely like this.
For all of the laid back manners she held herself and her easygoing smile, there was a something about the way she watched me that made my hackle rise. There was a hunger there, barely concealed behind her smile, that reminded me so much of a starving animal. The way she ignored everyone in the room to watch, her eyes never leaving my form even for an instant, tracking my every movement, just reinforced the idea and told me that whatever interest she had in me it wasn't benign.
I almost jumped out of my skin when a hand clasped on my shoulder. "Well, it looks like we found the solution to our problem." Sona declared. "Shirou, since it looks like you're having better luck than we did getting Karasuba's attention, we'll leave establishing a line of communication between us up to you."
"Wait-What! Are you insane?" I wanted to gawk at her but I didn't dare take my eyes of Karasuba. "What part of this looks like it's going well? I think she might even be stalking me!"
Another hand clasped into my other shoulder. "Now now, don't be so modest Shirou." Gremory seamlessly jumped to Sona's aid. "Look, she clearly likes you." She pointed at the abomination that was grinning madly at me. From the edge of my eye I could see how her smile faltered as she looked upon Karasuba before steeling herself and carrying on. "Who knows, you may end up being friends."
She then turned to look at Sona. "So we agree to leave Karasuba to Shirou for now?"
What! No, I don't want to-
"Agreed." Sona, you traitor!
"Well, now that's settled. I've got some other work to deal with" Sona, along with Gremory, released their hold on me and turned to leave. A happily smiling Akeno trailing after them. "I need to prepare my Peerage for the trip to the Underworld and I'm already late enough as it is. If I hurry I might squeeze in enough time to catch up on some lost sleep."
I heard the door open up behind me as all three girls began exiting the room.
"Wait, Sona." I began backing away to join them at the door, not to wanting to risk my back to her. Karasuba didn't react to my departure, she just kept tracking me with her eyes as she continued to smile in amusement. "I didn't agree to anything yet. And I'm leaving for the Underworld too; I'm not even going to be here to handle her."
Sona didn't even bother turning around. "Shirou, Rias and I have already tried talking to her and you know how that turned out so now it's your turn to give it a shot. Besides, weren't you sent here to protect us? I'm sure my sister would be rather peeved at you if didn't help us out when we needed you. "
Oh, so now you want help! What happened to that damn independent streak of yours when I need it?
"As for the Underworld," Sona's footsteps halted before she got too far, "Well I supposed that can't be helped. You'll have to postpone meeting with her until we get back. She's been living here on and off for the past sixteen years. Waiting a few more days shouldn't make too much of a difference."
By this point I had somehow managed to reach the door without tripping over anything, and already had one foot out the door before I stopped, an idea occurring to me. It was a stupid one, but given the circumstances it might be my best bet into getting an insight into her personality. Reluctantly, I focused my attention back on Karasuba.
She hasn't moved a single step the entire time. Still standing calmly next to the window and smiling pleasantly at me, and other than how the edge of eyes crinkled in amusement by my actions, she might as well have been a statue for all she moved.
Taking a deep breath, I tossed away whatever hesitation I had remaining, along with any sanity, and gazed into her soul-
"ALBIIIIOOOOOOOONNNNNNNN!"
I have stood before Demons who ruled the very depths of Hell, Heroes from ages long gone and Angles who walked in Heaven's hall, yet they all paled before the might of its roar alone.
It held so much hatred, power the like I've never even seen of before. Even slamming my hands over my ears could not block it out. It rattled my very bones and strained my eardrums till they threaten to burst. The sheer sound of it made me incapable of thought. It forced its way into my head and filled my mind with its presence, pushing out every thought I had so that nothing remained but it.
When I finally came to, I found myself kneeling on the ground with my hands clasped tightly over my ears, panting as if I had just ran a marathon. I didn't know how long had I been there or how much time had passed since the roaring ended, but when I finally found enough courage to risk removing my hands from my ears all I could hear was the unceasing rattling of chains. And when I looked up, what greeted my eyes was-
-crimson red.
Scales the size of trees filled my vision, shifting and slithering smoothly together like water over the surface of a river. My body broke out into a sweat just by standing near the scales; the sheer heat that radiated from it was overwhelming, caressing my face as if it was a physical thing. It was like standing before an open flame, one the size of a forest fire. It encompassed everything I could see, towering over me like a cliff and as wide as a mountain range.
Then the mountain moved.
A serpentine head reared up from the mass of scales, snarling hatefully up at the empty skies. It blocked half the skyline with its mass as it stared upwards with blood-red eyes, its slit-like pupils filled with an ancient malice and unending rage. Ivory fangs, larger than I was tall and as sharp as any of my blades, were exposed to the open air as it snarled up in open hatred at the sky.
Like ant on an elephant's back, that is what I felt like when I stood before the Dragon.
Then, as if to take a bite from the very sky itself, the head shot up wards, jaws wide open, only to jerk to a stop, pulled up short as the chains that bounded it had reached the end of its length. The Dragon snarled in frustration, tongues of flames flickering from its lips as it turned to look down at its entrapped body.
They were colossal, as ancient and mighty as the Dragon that it bound. Like a serpent coiling around its prey, the chains wound around the Dragon, ensnarling and binding it. It wrapped around every limp, trapping its wings to its side, shackling the child of the sky to the ground.
It was rage and unending hatred. Power in a scale that I have never seen before, never even contemplated could exist. Not Kokabiel, not even Sirzechs could compare to this. Like a bonfire before a Sun, the difference was so far that they could not be measure or compared to one another, this being made a mockery of everything I had once considered powerful.
Yet for all of its power it was trapped.
In this prison of nothing but chains the Dragon was made helpless.
A growl rumbled from its lips, shaking the earth beneath my feet, before the Dragon snorted in annoyance, twin puffs of smoke erupting from its snout. It looked away from the chains and back up to the sky, eyes narrowed hatefully at something I could not see. Then the Dragon opened its jaws.
A howl filled my ears as the Dragon's chest expanded, widening it's already colossal size, the air drawn into its gaping mouth, past it's ivory fangs and down its throat into its body. I stared at the Dragon in confusion before I realized what it was doing and quickly slammed my hands over my ears.
But I didn't need to.
"Oh cut that out you old geezer." The Dragon whipped its head to the side, glaring at the source of its interruption. "Your last roar almost busted up my eardrums so keep it down, I'm watching something here."
"Hatchling!" The Dragon snarled, "Mind your tongue and do not forget your place. Or have you forgotten who I am?"
The Dragon rose to its feet, and it was like watching the earth trying to reach out and grab the sky. It strained against the chains and pushed it to the limits of its length before it reared its head back and announced.
"I am the Ddraig, The Heavenly Dragon that stole the principles of Domination from God. I laugh at infinity and-."
"Yeah, yeah, like I never heard that before." She rubbed a pinkie in her ear. Karasuba had her back facing the Dragon, and consequently me, not even bothering to turn and look. "Really, can't you think of something else to talk about old timer? It's always the same thing with you. Whenever you're not bragging about how mighty and great you are, you start raving about Albion instead. Has all the time you spent rotting here made you go senile or something?"
"You Dare! Hatchling!" It reared back before bring its entire bulk crashing back down, sending tremors racing through the ground. It charged at Karasuba, who was still calmly looking away, only to be stop short of reaching her, held back by the chains. Even then it didn't stop pushing, straining against the chains as it's jaws snapped at her back, just inches short of reaching her. Finally it began to calm down, and simply resorted to glaring at her uncaring back with eyes filled with twisted malice and more than a little madness. Finally it snorted, smoke puffing from its nostrils, "Where you not my instrument Hatchling you would have paid dearly for that."
"But no matter," It craned its head back and loomed over her, its reptilian mouth forming into a wicked grin. "For my vengeance I will bear much, even that insolent tongue of yours. For you will be the instrument of my revenge, an extension of my will. You are my weapon, one that will rain death and destruction upon my enemies. My Enemy. Albion will fall before you, this I command! When the time dawns you will strike Albion down, rip him to shreds along with his pathetic Wielder and all that stand by him-
"Yeah, yeah." Karasuba spared a bored glance at the Dragon "Can't you talk about anything else old timer? For years It's always Albion this or Albion that with you-" Karasuba's eyes widened in shock as she caught sight of me.
Ddraig noticed her reaction and followed her sight, and when he discovered his reaction was less than pleasant.
"What is this? Abomination!" Maddened eyes turned to me, widening before they narrowed as it bared it's fang at me in a snarl. "You dare trespass in my domain Abomination! Uninvited you appear, sneaking like a thief in the night and you think to do so unopposed. Unpunished? Arrogance!"
The last words were roared out with such force that the shock wave made the air as solid as stone when it slammed into me with all the force of a speeding train, lifting me clear off my feet and-
-And my eyes snapped into focus again as I found myself back where I had started at, in the classroom turned meeting room.
Karasuba was staring at me with eyes filled with pure shock and disbelief, her composer lost, before her head snapped towards her left arm where a red gauntlet appeared, the green jewel embedded in it flashing in a raged frenzy.
When she turned back to look at me, she had dropped her mask of civility. All pretense of humanity gone as her lips split into a bloodthirsty grin and her widened eyes stared at me in hunger and madness.
I leapt clear out of the room, heeding my instincts as they screamed at me as one to get away, slamming the door behind me as I hurried down the corridor and away from my possible stalker.
You know what? Maybe Sona had the right idea all along. Dealing with Karasuba can wait until I get back from the Underworld. Yes that sound like a wonderful idea. After all.
What's the worst that could happen?
*Chapter End*
Author's Notes:
After so long I finally got to release a chapter. The last couple of months was hectic I tell you and I'm glad I was able to squeeze in the time to get this out.
And let me answer this as I'm sure some of you will ask about it, Yes this is the start of the Rating Game/ Youth Gathering arc. Yes it's going to be an action packed arc, filled with everything from fights that are curb-stomps to multi-chapter epic battles (which I hope I can do justice). And yes, everyone's favorite fried turkey will be showing up. And finally, yes Rias got a new Pawn, and it's a Canon character that everyone reading should know pretty well. Can you figure out who?
Now, this chapter and the next will be more of a set up stage. I need to prepare things before I can truly get the story rolling but when it does expect an action packed arc filled with twists and turns.
We had out first real glimps at Karasuba. There is a puzzle in her history, something that will give you an insight to her personality, one that I hope some of you can piece together as the story progress. There is far more going on beneath the surface with her, and that's all I'll say for now.
And that's it for this chapter.
Hope you enjoyed it and please tell me what you think.
Note: a quick clarification, Karasuba is not as strong as Shirou, nowhere near, and everyone in the room knows that (one of the reason why Sona sent Shirou on his own is because she knew that he was in no danger). She, boosted gear or not, is still human with all the limitation that comes with it while Shirou is a Devil. That along with all the NP he had plus anti-dragon swords would all but guarantee him victory. But just because someone isn't stronger than you doesn't mean that they can't creep the crap out of you out.
Sona's fear of Karasuba has little to do with her power and more about her behavior. To her, meeting Karasuba was almost like standing before a rabid dog.
There is also that matter that Shirou isn't a reliable protagonist, what he thinks aren't fact but his interpretation of reality. What he see and what is actually going on are different.