Hello, Vinzelles here. Welcome back to A Path To Freedom.
It's been 10 days, more or less. I came back from my little vacation yesterday evening, and only now, after 24 hours, I felt like turning on my PC. The thing is, the signal I get from my router is even more shit than usual past a certain hour of the day. Fortunately we're talking like 10 P.M., could've been a lot earlier, and by proxy a lot worse, haha.
Anyway, a few minutes ago I logged in, and I found out that my fic managed to get 10k views! That's a lot for me, considering the fact that I didn't expect this story to get many favs and follows in the first place. Then again, it's not like I have many of those right now, and I have no idea of what the ideal time/viewers "ratio" would be, haha. I mean, this has been going on since March after all.
What I wanted to say is thank you. There weren't many of you, but you put up with me until now, and it means a lot.
For this chapter we've got a bit of character progression, and the mystery of the stupidly strong Abprall will be unveiled. Don't mind the lack of a meaningful title, as I said before I'm trash at this stuff. XD
As anticipated before, after this little epilogue for Arc 2 I will upload, in a few days' time, my teaser for Arc 3 before going into hiatus. Build up hype, and review. I want to know how well, or how badly (e.e) I've handled this arc, and whether or not the teaser seems worth the wait.
I'll see you at the bottom.
Enjoy.
Arc 2 Chapter 14 - Epilogue
Abprall.
It was German for "Rebound", and was just about the strongest technique Orochi Kamakura could come up with, utilizing what he had and what he learned until that moment.
Heaven's Gate was an Abnormality that absorbed shocks and traumas of all kinds. Among the things that could be considered the cause of traumas was pain itself, of course.
Orochi Kamakura was a man capable of exploiting anything he was able to influence. From the moment he heard Ajuka Beelzebub call him a "container", he knew that whatever was inside him could be easily manipulated by changing the shape of his body. As such, by doing exactly that, he found a way to slightly mutate the Abnormality, and make it able to remember and store the sensation of "pain" in a different dimension, which was of course the void-like space behind the Gate itself. Following that, he would then inject that psychological burden into someone else's brain at will, by emanating it as an impulse and spreading it equally among multiple people like he had done during his training, or by making contact with a single person and unloading everything like he had done with Riser. He was merely giving back what he had received in all his years of abuse, while adding a little, special ingredient, straight from his memories.
Despair.
Abprall couldn't physically harm people, but it would trick a brain into thinking that the target had been hurt severely. They would feel all the pain he felt in the past, and probably pass out on the spot from the shock. It was a given, however, that such a dangerous technique would require some immediate adjustments before it could even be tested: in order to not cause permanent trauma, for example, Orochi made sure to inject his pain only in the hippocampus, the area of the brain dedicated to short-term memory.
Abprall was specifically meant to be sort of a panic button in case he was about to lose. One day after the Rating Game had been established, Anya had forced Orochi to sit down and talk about what his opponent was capable of.
Riser couldn't be harmed by normal means, and would easily regenerate all wounds thanks to the power of the Phoenix he had inherited as a Phenex Devil.
The only way to beat him was to either throw enough power at him to overcome his regeneration factor, or to induce mental trauma. Quickly realizing that the second scenario was a lot easier to create, Orochi only needed a few hours, one day later, to come up with a general idea of how to deal with Riser, and explained it to Nina before testing it during training.
Strangely enough, she was the first between her and Raynare to not express objections to his idea.
He had wondered what was up with that for the entirety of the day, back then.
In any case, in every fight where his opponent would be strong enough to hurt him, he would also be able to keep storing information on more and more kinds of pain.
Even if the Gate did its work in bolstering his pain resistance against various things, with every battle where Orochi would be hit by something new, Abprall's potential effect on an opponent could only rise.
That was Orochi Kamakura's trump card.
Abprall.
"Bruder, Bruder! You won, it was so awesome!"
"I know, Agnes, I was there, now stop squeezing me like this, or Bruder will suffocate."
Orochi was in a hospital within the Underworld. He and Riser had been carried over right after the Game, and apparently most of the injured during the battle were also recovering in the same building.
It also seemed that they were all healing quickly, and would be all discharged in the evening. Even Riser, a direct target of Abprall, was relatively fine despite the trauma.
Shortly after waking up from a nap he decided to take, the boy found himself surrounded by Anya and her group, along with Nina, Agnes, and an upset and groggy Raynare.
Needless to say, Agnes had run into the room like a bolt of lightning, and jumped violently into Orochi. She had luckily snapped him out of a dream he was having about some sort of annoying self-proclaimed goddess, who was bothering him about something he could have cared less about, so he didn't even get mad at her.
"An astounding victory, Orochi-kun. My most sincere congratulations." said Nina while trying to pry away Agnes from the boy.
Orochi was still tired, and annoyed by the dream, but managed to calm down his nerves after hearing that and answered with a sincere smile.
"Thanks, Nina-san. I did my best."
A certain someone's efforts were being ignored all of a sudden, and that someone made sure to vocalize her thoughts immediately.
"...Geez, no love for me, huh?"
"...O-Of course Raynare-san also did great-"
"Too late, don't wanna hear it. I'm taking your share of dessert tonight."
"NO, please, I bought that pudding for myself, Raynare-saaaaaaaaaaaan!"
Nina walked out with Agnes in tow, completely flustered as she chased an offended Raynare walking away. It was too late to earn forgiveness for poor Nina apparently.
Only an awkward silence remained. Anya, with a bright red face, tried to break it.
"Um, Orochi-kun, I would like to-"
"Don't." Orochi interrupted her immediately. "I simply did what I felt like doing, as usual."
A sigh.
"...I see." Anya seemed satisfied with that.
"In that case, I suppose we should also go. Come, Asia."
"B-Buchou-san?! Please don't p-pull me out, I also wanted to c-congratulate Orochi-san! Buchou-saaaaaaaaaaaaaaan?!"
"Stop whining, Asia, and leave them alone!"
The door closed, and Orochi was simply left alone with Unryuu, who had not spoken since the moment she had entered and only now was staring straight at him.
"..."
"..."
"What, you got a problem?"
"Why did you default to that?! Are you actually a delinquent?"
"Hm, good question. I've beaten up pretty much everyone but Nina, Agnes and Asia. Maybe I'm the kind of delinquent that leaves defenseless people alone? What do you think?"
"I think you're crazy. Didn't I count as defenseless when I was still human in your eyes?"
"Yeah, then I found out you were a Devil and promptly brought balance back into the world."
"WHAT KIND OF LOGIC IS THAT?!"
In an effort to not give in to the impulse of strangling her friend, Unryuu calmed down and asked shyly:
"W-What I actually wanted to ask you is... Um... A-Are we cool? Like, for real?"
'...What? Oh wait, I get it. She's still upset about that whole deal. Didn't I tell her that I wasn't angry in the first place?'
Orochi immediately disagreed with the thought he was having, realizing it was complete bullshit. He had been angry, very angry at her, but he truly had gotten over it, and told her so that very morning before school.
So he laid back down on his hospital bed, looked at the ceiling and said: "Until you manage to severely piss me off again, yes."
"A-Are you actually taking for granted that I will eventually do so?!"
"I am always prepared for the worst."
"What do you mean, "prepared", what are you gonna do to me?"
Unryuu was about to panic when Orochi started laughing heartily.
"Hahahahaha, man, I missed this. Never change, Nishijima."
"Unryuu."
"...Come again?"
He had actually heard that and understood the message; he simply asked, with that question, for the logic behind that request.
"Aren't we friends?"
"I don't know, are we, Devil-san?"
"...I would like to believe so." answered Unryuu honestly.
"Careful with that word." Orochi gave her that warning with a gentle voice. "Beliefs are merely half-assed ideas crafted only from a single person's point of view, and as such they are frail and easily subject to change. And easily exploited for that matter, in some cases. If you want a certain fact to become reality, work hard for it, until it becomes undeniable truth."
"..."
"Until that moment arrives, and hopefully past that point, I'll add one more pain in the ass to the list, and call you Unryuu."
And just like that, a radiant smile appeared on the girl's face.
A few days after Orochi's discharge, he and Raynare were sitting alone under a yakiniku stand at about dinner-time. The weather was worsening lately, but Raynare had insisted to go eat in that particular day, saying that "A bit of rain doesn't bother me."
They had already received their orders when Raynare started talking quietly. The two of them were sitting in the corner of the stand so that they wouldn't be disturbed.
"Be honest with me, Kamakura. Do you remember what happened last week at home?"
"Aside from the whole "being forced into a Rating Game" thing, I have no idea what you're talking about."
"I told you to be honest. No more bullshit."
"...Fine, I lied. Yeah, I remember."
Raynare and Nina had wanted to speak to Orochi about that whole ordeal and its consequences. However Raynare had stopped the human, claiming that she thought the boy had been lying the whole time about his not remembering the outburst, and assured her that she would handle everything.
The purpose of that pseudo-date at a yakiniku stand was in fact to get Orochi to admit to what he did.
And nothing else. Nothing whatsoever.
"...How long have you been like... that?"
"Dunno. It feels like forever at times."
Rain started pouring over the stand.
"Sorry about all that, Raynare. Making you people clean up my mess is the last thing I wanted."
"I don't need apologies. I need you to keep training me."
"...Heh. Yes, ma'am."
"Why did you accept my request anyway? You could have said no. You could have disregarded me completely."
"Because I have my own request for you, Raynare. It is something that I can only ask to you; anyone else wouldn't have the guts to satisfy it."
"..."
"I need a deterrent, Raynare. Someone has to be able to stop me if I ever start rampaging. And I can't have that someone's mind plagued by hesitation."
"A-Are you saying-"
"Yes. If I lose control, if it looks like I won't be able to come back...
I want you to kill me.
Until then, I don't mind having you at my side and training you for what might come."
The atmosphere became as heavy as the rain.
"I have never, ever, trusted someone to this extent. It's really important to me. Please promise me that you'll do what you have to if it ever comes down to it."
Raynare seemed paralyzed as she thought over Orochi's request. She would cross all kinds of lines if she killed him under any circumstance. Her life would be over in an instant.
'...What am I thinking, my normal life was over the moment I started sharing a roof with this guy.'
"I promise."
END ARC 2
Welcome to the bottom.
And there we go, end of this arc.
Finally, a little bit of Raynare's role in the story is revealed. While Orochi enjoys spending time with his new family, he could have another "episode" for all he knows, SO he needs a failsafe of some sort. This, however, is the starting point. The moment where the group of people that will become Orochi's strength is born. Just like Issei has Rias and her peerage, and many more people he has met in his adventures, I pretty much want Orochi to have the same thing, or at least something similar. Of course, I have no intention of revealing my true plans until Arc 4! XD
Meanwhile, our chaotic white-haired buddy has finally made a friend! Whether Unryuu becomes part of the main group or not, I haven't decided yet. At the very least, until Arc 5, she won't be very prominent from now on. I hate the thought of having to give a character in my story the Misaka Mikoto treatment (For those who don't know, I'm talking about a certain girl in the To Aru series, who is kind of a side character in the first string of light novels, despite being actually relevant in her own right and getting her own anime spin-off as a result), but truth be told, I still have to decide Unryuu's role in the story. Good old Kazuma Kamachi (the author) made Mikoto more of a presence in the story only after observing the kind of feedback he was receiving, I hear. In a different dimension, perhaps, Mikoto would have ended up like Himegami!
...Only the people that know the story will get it, but whatever.
Finally, I've also dropped a little "teaser of the teaser" in this chapter. A self-proclaimed goddess invading our MC's dreams. Mysterious! The teaser that I intend to upload soon will allow you to briefly explore one of those dreams, and as I said before, it will introduce a few plot points for both Arc 3 and Arc 4.
This is all I've got for today. Next time, an ominous premonition.
I'll be waiting for your reviews, because I really, really need them this time.
Thank you for reading, see you soon.
Ciao!