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FICTION

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Chapter 74: What's behind the Man who Cackles

Akua was quite confused about what was going on with Akeno.

The vampire had just arrived with her sister to Hoitsu's home, nodding quietly at the young human blonde that was Asia Argento, the girl alternating her work from the kitchen to the living room, and proceeding to seek out the training ground of the house.

The others were there too, even the deplorable Yujiro Hanma was giddily walking around the room and challenging people around. Nobody was in clear chance of dying with the Ogre, the man still far too weak to keep up with most of the members of the Omega Initiative, yet Baki was always lurking around to make sure his father wouldn't have caused any major issues.

Issa had refused to come by, citing the fact he had some paperwork that required his utmost attention. Papers regarding their estate and the politics of the Vampires society, things that hardly caught Akua's interest and most of the time were delegated to other people serving the Shuzen family.

Yet what had truly caught the Black Deva's attention was the mortified state she had found the Himejima girl. Akeno had accepted a lap pillow by a sheepish-looking Kuroka, her hands pressing on her face as she tried to hide the full blush displayed on her features.

Something had gotten her embarrassed, that was something the ravenette could see perfectly by herself, but the reason behind this reaction was… more difficult to grasp upon. The individual was sporting refined abs and, even though it wasn't Hoitsu, it wouldn't be wrong to deem them as if chiseled from stone itself.

Yet it was the Nekoshou's following comment at her blunt assertion of this that got some blush out of the vampire herself.

"The abs can be of both, but I reckon that the butt is Hoitsu's." The Yokai admitted shamelessly and loud enough for the strangely-dressed being to appear flustered for just a moment during his sparring.

Admittedly, the former assassin had been surprised herself when she learned about the Fusion technique, an ability capable of uniting two beings in a single one, multiplying their full powers to an astonishing degree.

Votsu, or Vox, felt weird through her Magical detection ability, her eyes widening for a whole when she felt both Hoitsu and Vali mixed as one with a major source of raw energy within them. The final result was also intriguing from the way he behaved and acted around the people.

He was very conscious of his sudden extremely high power, but he seemed to keep a curious politeness about himself. Only his interactions with Ophis, Lith, Kuroka and Kunou seemed to show a higher degree of warmth and informality, yet it was still lesser than how Hoitsu usually behaved around the four girls. His energy flux was absurdly stable, something incredibly impossible for someone with so much dense mana inside of them.

Yet Vox existed to prove this legitimate rule wrong and he seemed more than happy to let people stare at him as he took as many challengers as possible. Many asked eagerly, the Hanmas being a prime case, but it was the Red Dragon Emperor that was allowed to fight him first.

Issei had tried himself, the brunet actually bringing out some particularly interesting potential to the table as his Boost was harmonized with his high magical-spending in powerful attacks and self-improvements.

It was a decent display from the human, his flexibility with his Sacred Gear quite noteworthy in her opinion, yet she was quick to find his fighting style to be crass and insufficiently explored as he tended to repeat the same 'combos'.

A classic mistake from many early trainees as they tried to integrate some flimsy videogame move in their style. Very disappointing in a normal situation, but in this case she had to admit the presence of recurring attacks wasn't as frequent as she had initially expected.

Soon after Issei, the boy being brought to exhaustion after an intense ten minutes of fighting, it was the combined efforts of both Arthur Pendragon, Bikou and Xenovia.

While the first two had been teammates for some time, the presence of the blue-haired girl actually brought them some synergy as they coordinated precise attacks with their melee weapons.

The blond was an excellent swordsman, keeping up with precise pacing with both Caliburn and Ruler. Both Holy Swords showing quite their immense power with their quick but strong strikes, something that Vox dealt it by merely dodging through the attacks and unbalance the young man.

The tactic was mostly rendered useless when Xenovia decided to intervene and create some distractions for their common enemy. Her swings were wilder, bolder, as the Fusion was forced to give some focus onto the girl, just enough for her teammate to recover.

Bikou's golden staff was a good instrument of distancing, forcing their opponent to get pushed away if things turned far too spicy and it was proven by how he helped the former exorcist in dodging one of Vox's attacks.

"You are being rude with your sword," Arthur pointed out to the girl. "It feels like you aren't sure of what you are holding."

Akua had blinked at that blunt comment, having heard of sword-wielders getting irritated by this kind of statements as it undermined their 'progress'. Yet Xenovia merely smiled and nodded.

"Durandal and I… we aren't meant to be," She admitted without hesitation, sighing as she resumed her attacks with the blond. "But I think I'm close to understand what truly it is. I want to befriend it." Her proclamation caused the Pendragon to smile.

"Truly a worthy reason to train, Sir Xenovia," The young man admired with a tiny smirk. "And I hope you reach clarity the soonest possible." He praised with some minor interest.

They both rushed to the assault once again, the Fusion blinking in surprise as something seemed to be causing him some confusion. It wasn't something from the fight, but rather something happening from… within?

There was just a brief moment and then… a blinding light erupted from him.

To the eyes of many, it would have looked as a sudden power-up. Yet Akua could feel what was going on by his magic.

It simmered to a lower level, the source splitting in two familiar ones as both Vali and Hoitsu reappeared instead of Vox.

Both young men appeared fairly winded, but far from truly be tired.

The human smiled widely and nodded at the silver-haired hybrid. "Seems like the time limit got us in a pickle," He remarked as he gestured at the approaching opponents.

The Lucifer snorted as he rushed to the offensive, eyes fixed on a partially-surprised Bikou.

"Wha-" The Monkey had little time to ask as the Balance-Breaker form of Vali pushed him away with a minor roar.

"This is for the annoyance you caused me half an hour ago, Bikou," The Host of the Vanishing Dragon stated calmly. "I think it's time to remind you who is your leader, jester."

With the two engaging in a 1v1, Hoitsu was left to deal with both Arthur and Xenovia. Instead of going with his usual fighting style which would have easily guaranteed his victory against the sword-wielding duo… he decided to do something completely unexpected.

Caliburn and Durandal were deflected away for a brief moment as a white-colored magic-saber appeared in the young man's hold. The boy was smirking as he engaged in some intensely-paced engagement of blurred strikes and guards, the trio causing sparks with the blades encountering and clashing one against the others.

Arthur was initially the one dominating with his dual-wielding, yet the lack of space he had while fighting with the fusion was enough of a concern to have him switch to only using Caliburn.

Xenovia's determination and vigor kept her from backing away from the challenge, yet the surprising capacity to keep up with the inhuman speed of both teammate and opponent was enough to have Akua to study the blue-haired girl.

She was breathing tiredly, the stress piling up on her body as the pressure wasn't decreasing at all, quite the opposite. But the girl wasn't done yet, far from it.

Roaring determinedly, the former exorcist went for another swing and-

Clink!

The light-saber went flying deflected by the correct swinging, Xenovia preparing for one last attack to achieve… victory?

Hoitsu wasn't sporting any wounds, while both Arthur and his teammate were sporting some small bruises. The strength exercised by their common enemy more than enough to leave some signs on their skin.

Yet, while a fight would generally require someone to be brought to a state of defeat, their brawl had taken a more chivalrous connotation and thus this indeed felt like the last moment of their spar.

The duo were ready to conclude this in their victory… but Hoitsu wasn't looking prepared to accept the loss. Quite the contrary.

From his hands another flash of light condensed in… something invisible.

Durandal clashed in the strange weapon and it was pushed away with ease.

Arthur rushed with both his swords out and tried to out-power with a clash the new blade, but soon even his assault was repelled by this strange instrument.

There was incredibly-dense magic hiding its true form, so it was difficult to discern even without the detection ability what kind of weapon it was.

"Interesting, isn't it?" Hoitsu commented while staring at the invisible blade. "This one is actually your final test to see how much you have grown, Xenovia." He stated while looking at the aforementioned girl.

The human looked shocked by this news and her interest over this unexpected development increased visibly from her expression directed at the unknown object.

"Sir Hoitsu, what is that?" Arthur asked politely but still surprised by the situation. "I feel it's familiar, but I can't… think of why."

The Japanese boy grinned. "That's because your bloodline is partly tied to it, Pendragon-san," Hoitsu admitted quietly. "But the connection isn't with this dimension's Pendragons, rather from a completely different universe."

There was a pause and… Xenovia voiced the confusion of everyone in a single question. "What?"

He sighed. "This blade is labeled a Divine Phantasm, a unique title bestowed for the immense role it had behind its creation," The young man explained calmly. "Born by the powers of multiple Gods, this blade was the only mean to counter an attack beyond Earth itself."

"Aliens?" Issei commented by the stands. "Senpai, are you sure that you didn't get tricked by-"

"This is the real deal, Ise." He stated back with a frown, causing the brunet to go quiet. "And yes, it was an alien that could have easily destroyed the entire planet… if not for this particular sword."

A sword? Akua blinked as she tried to see through the mist created by the magic and… she could see some lines forming that kind of blade. It looked elegant, it looked powerful.

"It's better known by another title," Hoitsu continued, his smile widening. "The Sword of Promised Victory."

Arthur's eyes widened and… he looked perplexed. "If I understand what you are talking about, this isn't… the one that is-"

"No," The brunet answered quickly and without hesitation. "Differently from this dimension's sword, this one is way more complicated and… somewhat more of a meritocratic blade rather than a dynastic one."

The Pendragon nodded slowly and Hoitsu gestured Xenovia to approach.

The girl was still tense, her guard still up but indeed complied with the request and she stood in front of the young man.

"Do you remember how I told you that there was a reason behind the social lesson?" He said with a cautious tone. "Do you think you can tell me which one it is?"

The question came out quite suddenly and, truth be told, Akua was mostly unaware of what he was referring to. She knew that the blue-haired human had been assigned to improve her capacity to speak with people and… be a normal human.

Quite understandable as the vampire knew very well of the strict life some exorcists were put even at an early age.

Xenovia blinked surprised, feeling a little floored by the unexpected query, yet she didn't back away from the request and searched down deep herself. The last few weeks had been… amazing.

She would have given a lesser adjective, yet the girl never felt this much important to someone that wasn't part of the church. Friends, trustworthy people and Gasper. It was surprising to say but… why it felt like she couldn't ever part away with them.

So essential to her, like water and air. So precious like the purest gold and diamond.

Her smile was a confident one.

"Back some time before coming to Japan, my life has been devoted to the Greater Good, the duty of the Lord that He had imposed to me to respect and go through with rightful mind and soul," The girl said determinedly. "There was something… empty about it. I still love the Lord and I pray for him even though He is no longer alive. The love He can bestow can appear weak because given to His children without favoritism."

She sighed heavily and continued. "But I think that… humans can be selfish for love," Her tone started quiet, her smile fading a little. "We need love, we want love and we can't let go of it. When we hold it, we can't just give it up without a fight."

Xenovia grinned happily and nodded. "Yes, I want to fight for the love I gained and for those that are truly worth fighting for." She declared unabashed and Hoitsu nodded back at her.

"And how far would you go for it," He said with a little sad tone. "Would you turn in a selfish woman for her selflessness?"

There was a pause, some hesitation now playing in the girl's feature as she thought about it and… Hoitsu went to put his free hand on the top of her head. Xenovia blinked in surprise but she stopped by his kind smile.

"You are a good person, Xenovia," He said with a content tone. "You are growing to be someone that I will be baffled to stare at, someone that will make the world a better place than now."

Then his smile dropped once again, an uneasy one appearing on its stead. "Yet this isn't a gift."

She blinked in surprise at the correction, but she kept quiet.

"This is a responsibility above and beyond Gods. This is a duty that you will have for humanity as a whole rather than a faction to another. You will represent the weak and the frail, you will represent the needy and the truest."

The girl's hand was now on the pommel atop the hilt, eyes widening at being handed the sword itself.

Yet Hoitsu wasn't done yet.

Another light happened, this time from his chest as a well-decorated scabbard appeared on his hold. Xenovia prepared to get the sheath too but… the young man hesitated.

"Once you pick this up, once you take in Avalon, you will stop to be a human being," He stated solemnly, causing many to look shocked at the statement. "You will ascend to something akin to an Angel, but you will not act upon a deity. You will act upon truth and justice."

The following pause was even longer than the previous one, for good reasons too. Abandoning mortality wasn't an easy decision and the responsibility forwarded with the change could easily turn to be in a punishment rather than an honor to be proud to wear.

Yet the girl didn't seem to show too much doubt about her decision and she nodded.

"I accept the burden," Xenovia promised. "For the sake of those I care for, for the sake of the people that needs help."

Hoitsu sighed and smiled. "Good."

The scabbard was pressed on her chest and soon it entered in her magical core. Her eyes widened as her entire system was broadened, expanded and rendered stronger, more efficient to manage.

It was a painless process, yet the invasive tones of the process did certainly leave some uneasy expression on the blue-haired girl's face.

She blinked as she took a proper hold of the sword and… it disappeared much to everyone's surprise. "So that's what it's name." The girl mused with a surprised expression before turning once more to Hoitsu. "Then that means that, the reason why Durandal worked partly is-"

"Because it wasn't the complete set," He finished for her with a nod. "Congratulations, Xenovia."

Lilith was perplexed by the scene she was currently looking at.

Lying on a pool of his own blood, Rizevim managed to let out a broken cackle from his bloodied grinning face. The cause of this attack being the enraged redhead standing atop of him, ready to deliver another punch on the downed silver-haired man.

Sapphire looked quite angry, possibly the angriest the mother had ever seen her daughter turn out to be. There was so much hate, so much of her raw energy mustered for the sake of maiming her brother, the oldest of Lucifer's children looking far too elated by the prospect of being hurt this much. To this degree.

There had been brawls between the two in the past, but there had been always either Wilbert or Lucifer himself to step up to rein the situation down. It was an unpleasant recurring event that would leave the two tired and moody for several days.

Yet this time the usual mediators weren't there to make sure that things reached… this level of violence. With Rizevim being the verbal abuser and Sapphire getting enraged at the crass words leaving his mouth.

It wasn't something new how it started, but it was incredibly painful to see how it had degenerated to this gruesome situation.

"Enough." The woman ordered with a cold tone at the berserk Sapphire. Her own magic flared and soon the pressure in the room increased even more than before.

The young woman tensed and stopped mid-action, her eyes shooting up to give a wide-eyed stare at her mother. "M-Mom-"

"Sapphire, you are going too far," The widow of Lucifer said sternly, eyes narrowed at her child. "Let him go."

Rizevim chuckled at that, but he didn't deign to grace them with some wrongly-timed response to the situation. A minor win.

"He said that Azrael got Raphaeline- but that isn't possible! She is in Heaven and-" The younger redhead froze as her mother's stare softened in a sad one.

"No." She shook her head. "It can't be true. Mom, tell me that Michael-"

It was always the cruel duty of a parent, the one of having to tell the worst of truths to their own children. To reveal the harshness of the world and the deplorable state of things.

Even after so many centuries spent trying to get the ropes of the job, having reached a comfortable mastery over the subject was hardly putting her in a good situation for what she had to say to her hopeful daughter.

"When Azrael escaped Heaven, he broke into the special containment chambers with the Proto-Angels." The older woman admitted with a sigh. "Only one survived the destruction happening in that room and she was spotted aiding him during the fight for the conquest of the Takamagahara."

"S-She has to have been hypnotized-"

Rizevim wheezed in amusement, blood trailing even now from his lips.

"You are kidding, sis?" He asked with a simple sigh. "And I thought that dad had been fairly clear in saying that angels can't be mind-controlled. It's like the number one rule of the Great War-"

"Quiet, you insufferable ba-"

"Enough, Sapphire," Lilith butted in with a sigh. "He is baiting you… and he is correct, Raphaeline still has Angelic blood in her veins, she can't be controlled by Magic if not by Michael himself-"

"But she could have been manipulated." The bleeding man interrupted giddily. "Think of it, sis. Azrael wasn't certainly well-known for his traitorous ways, only as an outcast."

Sapphire bore her glare onto the smiling silver-haired shitlord and… sighed at the lack of any faux tones in his body. "You think-"

"No, sister," He shook his head quickly. "I don't think, I know. There is a difference and that is that I know how dad is going to fail his attempt."

…

"What?" Lilith asked in minor surprise, lifting a little her son from the ground.

"Dad might have appeared flawless in his long life, but he did have his moments of doubt," Rizevim explained with a sigh. "He could have been a big bad deity-level jerk, but he knew that his ways could have been wrong all along. That he could have messed up."

He huffed. "That is why he would always set up some emergency systems to stop himself from doing some shit of the world-end kind."

"You mean some measures to stop himself in case he went mad?" Lilith found herself genuinely interested in her child's knowledge.

A journal had been mentioned, something that the woman had known only the existence of and had never been able to find after her husband's passing. It had been an infuriating thought back then as she felt that some secret to truly defeat the paperwork was hidden in there and…

That moron of her lover had just decided to let her lovely and gorgeous wife to suffer through paper and ink.

What a shameful thought!

"He was mad," Rizevim pointed out with a sure tone. "We both were. That is why we both countered each other so well."

The man blinked, his smile fading a little because of the following words. "There was never a problem that could be solved without Lucifer," He pointed out. "Every mistake, any issue, it was all solved when Lucifer was there. If he wasn't around? People would end up either suffering or surviving more."

"What about Wilbert-"

"He had the journal, my dear sister," Rizevim interjected without hesitation, his tone turning. "He knew what was going on. He knew of the resets and about the fate that the universe was going to suffer without someone truly intervening."

This… this couldn't be the truth. Wilbert had always been a sweetheart and, while he did chase his father's polite manners and impeccable reputation, he wouldn't have never tried to go that far the secret plot developed by her husband.

And yet, why would her eldest son lie about it? He could have easily and blatantly said that he had murdered him for the sake of murdering but…

He went for that reasoning and… it was hurting her.

"Wilbert was the one to give you the journal-"

"Only after he went through some grieving and guilt-tripping," Rizevim snorted tiredly. "He would have taken these secret to his grave and beyond, just for the sake of getting praised by daddy dearest."

"You are lying!" Sapphire screamed at the recovering Super-Devil. "Wilbert would have never followed through with this-"

"And yet he did," Her brother said so decisively. "He had the journal for about 127594 of the unfolding timelines and he didn't do nothing… other than now."

There was silence, Lilith needed the quiet to think about this very possibility. Her sweet boy, a puppet to her husband's whims? Why didn't it sound wrong now that she connected the various times Lucifer would have Wilbert around for some secret projects they were developing?

And why her son would deny such thing after his father had been killed?

So much doubt and hesitation, yet Rizevim looked the calmest of the three.

"By the way, mom," The aforementioned devil mused out-loud. "When you kill me, can you please keep Euclid around?"

The woman tensed up at the seemingly harmless request… pointing out how she had been indeed planning to kill her son. Was it also reported in the journal?

"He is a good pe-minion," The man continued, ignoring the tense looks from his mother and the confused ones from his siter. "He might be a whiner because of his deep 'love' for her Maid-sister, so please mind his fetishes and kinks, but he is a clean chap. A smart one too."

"Rizevim-"

"Don't say anything, mom." The man butted in quickly. "I know that it would be the right thing to do and… why not?" He asked quirkily. "I mean, I can go and find where pops is hiding and haunt the fuck out of him. I would be a spookier bastard than Seannaners is in Hidden."

...What?

He cackled again. "Ah! The fun fellow, if only he could post some more, I need the material from his Hidden videos."

In that very moment, Lilith realized that the serious topic had indeed fallen to something more confusing, lighter and terribly difficult to grasp.

She sighed and proceeded to help the chatty man back to the couch, ready to administer some medicines without anesthesia. Some pain would surely fix him back up and…

Yet her mind couldn't stop but think that maybe, just maybe, there was something that had pushed her husband to abide to this horrible plan of his.

AN

Xenovia-Artoria is here, Rizevim has plans and yes, I did publish a new story about RWBY. This one is actually yanking the gloomy plot away and putting on a comedy… about a MC and a clingy and unlucky kitten (no, it ain't a pairing).

And that's it. I'm sleepyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy~

Omake's tomorrow.

Future milestone 1: 1000 Followers and Favorite.

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REVIEW Q&A!

Reishin Amara: I don't think Sairaorg would be compatible with Sirzechs 'cause of the Power of Destruction. I think his body has a deficiency that deprived him of the chance of using it and… the resulting fusion, if possible, would kill both in the final result. Still, a good idea.

Victorsan12345: She did realize~
The fusion isn't going to be a constant, but rather a last ditch effort because of the hefty requirements. And yes, Cao Cao's death is going to be quite 'sad'.