Hello, Vinzelles here. Welcome back to A Path to Freedom.
The "10 days" thing seems to be working out for the moment. Which is interesting because I didn't expect it to, considering we're talking about me, hahaha. Might be a coincidence, we'll see how this plays out.
Before we start, I want to ramble about something completely unrelated to up the word count, just because I feel like it.
I'm a fan of Devil May Cry, that series of VGs is lit. Sadly I won't be able to play DMC5 due to lack of console, but those of you who like me are fans have surely heard about the giant mess that was the release of Dante's theme for the game.
You see, after all this time, I had decided to listen to it only yesterday, and compared it to Nero's theme which I had equally null knowledge about. There were two things that I realized afterwards:
1) Holy shit, they were right. Dante was butchered, but fortunately it looks like Capcom will try to address the issue, since the song has been removed from Youtube.
2) On the contrary, Nero's theme is not only fucking amazing, but with a few edits you could slap it in front of an appropriate anime's episode and no one would bat an eyelash. Or at least that's my opinion; regardless, it's the first time that I get this feeling from a song that isn't even Japanese. It was quite the experience, I recommend checking Devil Trigger out!
End of ramble, back to fanfictions. Today we'll see the aftermath of Orochi and Kokabiel's final clash, and delve a bit into our protagonist's past.
I'll see you at the bottom.
Enjoy
Arc 3 Chapter 8 - Deity
'...Ow... What the... hell happened...'
Kamakura Orochi was currently laying on the ground.
He was in immense pain, and felt incredibly weak.
'Did I... win... I... don't remember...'
It was an odd sensation, the one he felt in that moment. He felt his body lighter, but heavier at the same time. It didn't make much sense to him.
A building was towering over his body laying on the hard ground. He could faintly hear the sounds of battle, and occasionally even Raynare's loud and distorted screams.
'...Right, she's gone out of control... They probably can't stop her on their own...'
I need to get up.
That was his thought, filled with determination.
Ready to put some effort towards the simple act of standing up, he put some strength in his right arm.
Only to find out that that limb wasn't where it was supposed to be.
'...Eh?'
He slowly turned his head left and right as he laid, perplexed at his current predicament. To his far right, he noticed something.
His amputated right arm was laying some distance away in a pool of blood.
'...Ah... right... now I remember...'
He was laying in a pool of blood himself, which most likely had come out of the stump to which his arm was previously attached.
'...I lost...'
Memories started to emerge in his mind.
He had calculated that big spear of light's power perfectly.
As he predicted, his Bergschneider was threatening to break Kokabiel's weapon. He had overpowered him, he was sure of it.
But then... That spear stopped being solid all of a sudden.
He didn't predict that change. After seeing Raynare's Fragments in action so many times during training, he had taken for granted that a spear of light, while being able to separate into multiple pieces, couldn't change its own physical state on the fly.
As Orochi was trying to break the spear, Kokabiel had somehow understood his intentions and changed the weapon's consistency. It became more malleable, enough that it slipped past his fist and into his guard, hitting the boy right below his right shoulder. And blowing off his arm, apparently.
As he looked above him, he recognized the building as the one Valper was standing over before he got killed.
Then, he suddenly heard that buzzing again.
Even in his sorry state, Orochi was only mildly annoyed at the entire situation overall, but that obnoxious noise had been bothering him since he entered that warehouse earlier, and he was fed up with it.
What was different this time though was that he could feel the source of the noise being very, very close to where he was.
Straining his remaining arm, he reached over his head. Some kind of rock was literally centimeters from him, and was making a lot of noise for some reason.
'...What kind of rock makes this noise, though?'
As he wondered what in the world was happening, he had grabbed the rock, and brought it close to his face to examine it.
The pale blue surface was currently reflecting his own bloodied face, leading him to the conclusion that it was actually a crystal of some sort.
Some white stuff was swirling within. What it was, Orochi had no idea.
And suddenly, he felt his head and chest burst in atrocious pain.
"AaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaHhHhHhHhHhHhHhHhHhHhHhHhHhHhHhHhHhHhHhHhHhHhHh! ITHURTSITHURTSITHURTSITHURTSITHURTSITHURTSITHURTSITHURTSITHURTSITHURTSITHURTSITHURTS! STOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPITSTOPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTT!"
Ignoring the fact that he was injured, he started rolling around screaming as loud as he could.
His chest was burning like the hottest of flames.
He found himself unable to form coherent thoughts.
His mind had been invaded by that accursed buzzing noise that had somehow become deafening and painful in his ears.
"SHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPP!"
As his heart screamed for mercy just as loudly as his mouth was, as his form was laying there on the ground writhing and pulsing, a tall figure was approaching him.
By that time, Orochi had already subconsciously let go of the crystal, in an attempt to ease the pain.
The figure picked it up and muttered.
"...So many souls in here. And they're all children, too. How cruel..."
That person then laid their eyes on the screaming boy.
She could tell. His soul, chaotic as it was, was resonating with the anguished and regretful voices that were trapped in that crystal. Those voices had triggered something within him, and had sent the boy's soul out of control.
And judging by the red aura surrounding his writhing body, Heaven's Gate wasn't doing anything about it, except trying to make the situation even worse.
She resolved to take care of it immediately.
That woman joined her hands together in prayer, holding the crystal tightly. It then started to shine a bright blue light from within her fingers. It split into countless smaller sparks, which separated from one another and scattered in the reddened sky.
But the boy was still screaming in pain. That could not stand.
"Focus, boy! FOCUS! THEY'RE GONE NOW!"
That woman's powerful voice snapped him out of his self-induced trance.
He was still in incredible pain (the woman concluded that it was because the boy's soul was still trying to stabilize itself), but had regained his bearings enough to take a look at her face.
He suddenly screamed again, but this time in unrestrained and pure anger.
"YASAKATOMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
That obnoxious goddess had appeared before him. This was his chance! If he got rid of her, the intimate threat he felt on his person for the past days would vanish!
No more bothersome dreams! No more threats to his sanity, as long as he could erase her there and then!
His murderous thoughts were taking over and he didn't even care.
But despite his best efforts, he was unable to get up. As he was moving around, he had subconsciously strained several of his muscles. His stump had even started to bleed again.
He was so close, though! This time she was here, flesh and bones!
"That's right, I'm here." answered the deity. "I've been observing you for a while, but if this is all you can do, I'm sorely disappointed." she mocked.
"D-Damn you, I swear I will have your head on a stick even if it kills me!"
Unbeknownst to the human, Yasakatome was currently trying to shift his focus away from the immense pain he was feeling by taunting him about his lack of power.
Disregarding the threat to her life, she continued.
"You cannot keep going like this. At this rate, the town will be destroyed."
As Yasakatome spoke those words calmly, she made a dismissive gesture behind her.
Orochi raised his head slightly and turned in the direction she indicated with a puzzled expression, and finally recognized something that had not caught his attention until that very moment.
A gigantic yellow magic circle, easily 50 or more meters large, was shining brightly a few meters away from him.
"You recognize the runes, I hope. With that circle, Kokabiel is trying to blow up the town." explained the goddess as she looked at the circle and its various runes. "He hid this circle behind the building and distracted you all up until now, to prevent you from realizing what the actual threat was. It seems pretty complex too, you probably can't interrupt the spell with what little you know."
She looked back at him.
"Even if you could, you cannot prevent this town's demise. Not in that sorry state of yours."
As the boy was grunting in anger and frustration, Yasakatome made her proposition once again.
"Bind your soul to mine, and I shall grant you salvation. In turn, you will have the power necessary to save your companions as well."
Orochi's body seemed to finally be stable again.
He observed her for a few seconds. While Yasakatome was glad that her proposition seemed to have been acknowledged for once, she had to concede that his silence was currently unnerving her..
He then gave his answer with a feral grin.
"I don't need you."
*SLASH!*
Suddenly the wind picked up ferociously around his body, to Yasakatome's surprise. She knew for a fact that the boy had run out of magic, and the situation itself had forced him into a corner. She was sure that he was going to accept, and yet he was still resisting her.
Then she noticed a change within his body. One that filled her with dread.
As he slowly stood up despite his injuries and pains, surrounded by strong winds all around him, she cried out loud.
"Are you out of your mind?! You just converted part of your soul into magic power! Would you go that far just to spite me?"
"WHO DO YOU THINK I AM, WOMAN? I CAN DO THIS WITHOUT YOUR HELP!"
The winds then finally calmed down. Orochi's state didn't seem any different: he was just as injured as he was before, and the only difference was that he was somehow able to move. The only thing that was out of the ordinary was the sudden presence of magic power within his body, and the fact that his skin had gone pale, probably a consequence of the lack of blood in his system.
"If I've run out of energy to move my body, I'll just use magic instead! It's that simple!"
Under his whitened skin, his veins and arteries which would normally be perceived in a really pale blue color were turning into a pale green instead.
"WHY DO YOU REFUSE TO LISTEN?"
That shout startled him. Orochi had to admit in his thoughts that hearing her shout out to him in that manner was most unexpected.
"If you go back in there, you're going to die! Your foolish pride will get you killed if the Forbidden spells don't destroy your body first!"
"..."
The boy turned around and walked over to his detached arm laying on the ground. As he picked it up, he spoke calmly.
"I'm not refusing to listen. I'm refusing to die alone. Do you think I haven't realized that I'm finished?"
"..."
"If I'm going to croak either way, I'll take down Kokabiel with me. I have everything I need in order to do so." he claimed, lifting his detached arm and throwing a glance at it. "The first step was recovering enough magic power to be able to get back in there in the first place. As for what comes next, you just stand on the sidelines and keep watching. I'll demonstrate... that even someone like you can learn a thing or two from a human like me."
Leaving behind only a trail of blood caused by the drips of red falling from his shoulder, Orochi Kamakura started casually walking back to the battlefield as if it was the most natural thing to do.
As he walked away, he spoke a few more words.
"And the first lesson will be about how I can withstand the weight of those spells. Don't underestimate me."
His muscles were screaming for mercy, but he had ignored those calls and was nonchalantly going to challenge a Cadre for the second time, in a state where he was even weaker than before, unhesitantly leaving a shocked goddess behind.
"Do you know what those are, boy?"
That detestable woman, Annabelle Goenitz, was currently resting on a bed. She had showed him a spell he didn't recognize, a really strong one at that, and the backlash had forced her on that bed. It would have taken whole weeks for her to recover (not that Orochi minded), but even in that state she was perfectly capable of giving him orders.
In the boy's hand was a stack of papers, with several depictions of peculiar magic circles surrounded by notes of various sizes left by that woman. She was referring to those papers and their contents as she spoke.
"No, ma'am." answered Orochi somberly. "I've only taken a look, and... these circles seem incredibly dangerous at first glance. So many of these spells require an enormous amount of magic power... Frankly speaking, even you don't have such a vast magic core. Even if you did, the basic requirements are also just as insane."
"Your analysis is correct." said the woman."Those are spells that a normal magician cannot perform. No human being in this world is able to convert that much magic power."
"...Why did you go this far to show me one of those spells? I can't reproduce even the simpler ones."
"Don't remind me, stupid brat."
The bitterness and hatred in her voice was particularly evident in that last sentence.
"On paper," she continued, "you should have been able to perform them. Your grandfather's ability would have allowed you to ease your way into them, and you would have eventually become someone that can cast them with no repercussions at all. Your body composition would also be of aid in order to "not die" when you cast them. At least that last part did come into fruition, if only partially."
"..."
Most likely, she was referring to the fact that he had not died from the abuse yet, due to that "ability" that her mother would often mention. Not that he understood it in any way...
"That, boy, is a summary of my research on "spells a human can't perform". You are incapable of following through with what I had initially planned but you're still useful."
She lifted a finger weakly and pointed at the boy.
"While I recover, I want you to read the content of those papers word by word, and memorize all the circles within. Once you're done, you will come see me here and you will burn those papers in my presence."
"...Yes, ma'am. But what about the contents of your actual research, since this is just a "summary"? Are you going to burn those yourself?"
Normally, one would think that in such a cruel family Orochi would be unable to even ask questions like that without being beaten. However, he was cut some slack when it came to the amount of knowledge he had about magic. In only 2 years (in other words, since he was 4 years old), he had learned many things from his mother about magic, and could hold a conversation about advanced magic theories with no problem, which had even earned him the grudging respect of the White Serpent fanatics.
Of course, the problem with that was that... it wasn't enough for her. At some point, Orochi had even stopped calling her "Mother", probably because he had decided he didn't want to get attached to such a person in any way, and had started calling her "Ma'am", like soldiers would whenever they addressed a female superior.
Annabelle didn't care either way, so she had let that one go.
"I have yet to decide." she answered. "As you probably are imagining, this is an emergency procedure. I've given the same exact orders to your father, even though he is no magician. I want to be certain that those spells aren't lost to the river of time. You and him are physically incapable of forgetting events, which allows me to use you two as failsafes."
"Are we in danger, ma'am?"
"...Not for the time being. But if the wrong people approach us, we might be. I might even be forced to rely on those people's power one day, although I would prefer not to, and I don't want them to have leverage over me and the White Serpent if that happens. My research needs to stay in safe hands, and not even you can fail to do something this simple. Go, and read away."
"Understood."
The 6-years old young boy made to exit the room. As he left his mother behind, he barely managed to hear a whisper coming from the woman, who was most likely talking to herself.
"Why couldn't you become a Magic God, stupid brat..."
Welcome to the bottom.
So a bunch of stuff happens here. First of all, I saw no reason to remove or change things about the Excalibur Project's existence because even in normal DxD it wasn't exactly tied tightly to Kiba. What I mean by this is, he was a failure just like his companions as far as that "light compatibility" was concerned, so removing the character doesn't make much of a difference in this case.
After that, I thought about Orochi's current state, and decided that an amputated arm wasn't enough. So I kept the "light crystal" idea and did a little something with it just for fun. I'm such a sadist! XD
Yasakatome appears to bail Orochi out, since he would have damn near killed himself eventually, had he not received any help. Of course, by this point our "hero" is already unable to think straight and his mind and body have been messed with by the crystal. Right now, only the thirst for revenge occupies his mind, so despite his conditions he still refuses to bond with Yasakatome, and gives her the ultimate "fuck you" by discarding part of his soul to obtain magic power, as if to say "no deal, you can't have it". He does this because he's convinced that he still has a way to win. What will it be, I wonder?
Finally, I introduce the concepts of Forbidden spells and Magic God during a flashback. Magic Gods will be significant eventually; it's still too early to explain these concepts properly, but I'll get there before the end of the month, don't worry. Also Annabelle is an asshole, but you probably have already reached that conclusion.
That's all for today. Next time, the tables turn.
Thank you for reading, see you soon.
Ciao!