Thanks to Third Fang and slashfan2018 for letting me use their stuff, I don't own dxd or any other story elements you recognize in this.
"What am I doing here?" Azazel thought to himself as he finished his tenth call in the last half an hour, only to groan as another magic circle appeared next to him.
This time it was Shemhazai, his right hand man, screaming at him through the line. Just like everyone else that had been calling him
"Not that I can blame them." He thought looking up at the sky.
A few hours ago the skies of Hellsalmes lot had looked like something that belonged in the apocalypse, then almost instantly the primordial chaos ended
Unfortunately that wasn't the end of it.
From a purely objective point of view there was nothing amiss in the city.
People of all shapes and sizes going through their lives, birds and floating rocks going through the sky, buildings were being reconstructed from the last disaster, in the background you could hear explosions from the current disaster, and throughout it all the fog that covered the city lazed around shifting colors as it had since the second collapse.
All in all it seemed an ordinary day in Hellsalmes lot.
But there was a stiffness in the air, a tingling on the back of everyone's necks. Like the city itself was daring anyone to step out of line and see what happens.
This was naturally very concerning to the global leaders whose territories were connected to the city. Which was pretty much every supernatural faction as well as the United states.
Azazel leaned onto the balcony of his expensive penthouse and looked down to the watch on his wrist.
While it didn't look like much it was a useful magic item called a Regiment Watch that had become ridiculously popular in the city in the last year.
It gave the wearer the ability to make clones of the wearer that acted autonomously. They disappeared after one hit but once they did the memories of said clone returned to the original, and the strength of clones was proportional to the amount of power put in.
"Pretty useful for a rip-off of a comic book." Azazel thought. "Not that I can complain with how much I use it."
Indeed at the moment Azazel had a dozen different copies of himself in various meetings discussing the city's condition and finding the cause.
Ironically most of the members of said meetings were using these watches or other variations of them, all of which were made by the one most likely responsible for the issue.
Azazel sighed as Shemhazai yelled in his ear asking the question everyone had been asking since this mess started.
"What happened to Aaron!?"
Azazel honestly had no idea, but as the highest ranking member of the Grigori in the city he was expected to find out. Who cares if he had his hands full trying to stop a war? Or If he was in the middle of dealing with a drug ring that had kept him for a week straight?
Azazel sighed again as his earlier question returned. "What am I still doing here?"
After the first collapse there were two general views on the newly formed Hellsalmes Lot.
The first and most common were those that saw the mysterious city as a nightmare or a ticking time bomb
The second were those who saw it as a big treasure chest filled with other worldly knowledge and mysteries.
Azazel was obviously in the later party.
It wasn't easy to move to the city even for someone of Azazel's position, or rather it was difficult because of his position.
His subordinates had fought tooth and nail to prevent him from going to the misty city, because they thought (correctly) that he would forget about his job once he started delving into the secrets of the city.
However Azazel would not be deterred!
It took copious amounts of negotiating, bribery, espionage, begging, and a few bits of blackmail material he had been sitting on for centuries, but he managed to get all his subordinates to let him move to the city.
Under the condition the he signed a soul binding contract to actually do his job while in the city.
His first year in the city was one of the best years of his life. Adventure, discovery, and all the research he could ask for. And he even did his job!
Admittedly a good portion of him "doing his job" was him hosting parties, but it was a great way to bolster relations in the city!
The second was far more hectic, but that was to be expected. It started with him finding a baby on his doorstep after all.
Not that he regretted it, if given the choice to go back he wouldn't change a thing.
No matter how difficult it was to be a decent single parent and be the head of a species at the same time.
Or how many heart attacks the girl had nearly given him.
Or the hurt he felt when she ran away from home.
But she wasn't a child anymore, she was a grown woman who didn't need him looking out for her.
"Maybe it's time to move somewhere quieter." Azazel thought.
"Finally acting your age, old man?" A voice called out from behind the fallen.
Azazel froze for a moment then slowly turned around to see Aaron sitting at the couch inside the living room of his apartment, without his glasses, with perfect posture, a smile on his face. Complete with blood red and bloodshot eyes.
"AZAZEL! Quit ignoring me dammit!" Shemhazai yelled from the magic circle next to Azazel's ear.
Azazel blinked, having almost forgotten about him.
"Um Shemhazai? I'm gonna have to call you back." He said never taking his eyes off Aaron.
"What the fuck?! No! There is no way you're getting out if this you flacc-"
"Aaron is sitting on my couch." Azazel cut him off. "And he's smiling."
"... good luck." Shemhazai said before the magic circle disappeared.
Aaron raised an eyebrow. "You know that might be the nicest thing I've heard him say to you."
"Ha! You know I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case." Azazel said.
Despite his calm demeanor Azazel was actually quite nervous. This was a very rare occurrence for the fallen.
He was a very powerful individual, capable of destroying countries single handedly If he wished. And that was before he learned presence. Now he was reasonably sure he could go toe to toe with the original Lucifer in a fight.
But his combat ability wasn't what made him dangerous. What was most frightening was his mind.
Before he fell, Azazel's job was research and development, most notably weapons.
While it wasn't publicly known the original designs for the holy swords that were the church's main weapons against the higher ranking fallen and devils were all made by him.
His fall only increased his prowess. He expanded from weapons to all forms of warfare. Strategy, territory advantages and management, psychological warfare, lies, politics, money, negotiation, seduction, communication, he mastered them all and more to satisfy his insatiable curiosity.
He might never be one of the most powerful beings in the world, but his mastery over the aforementioned made without question him one of the most dangerous.
It also was absolutely useless against the young man in front of him.
Azazel could feel Aaron's gaze pierce through him analyzing every aspect of his existence and seeing even weakness Azazel had clear as day.
Reading Zelrich called it. A fitting yet woefully insufficient term for the power. It was an absolutely unfair ability, enough so to be put as a top tier longines without question if it were a sacred gear. The ability to find any secret, any scandal, Any weakness with nothing but a glance could easily start a world ending war by accident.
And more importantly for this situation it was the worst match up for Azazel.
Typically Azazel would still win if the two fought, though that was only because Azazel would overwhelm Aaron with raw power. However there were three factors that drastically lowered Azazel's odds of surviving this situation.
The first was that from the aura Aaron was emitting he currently was around the ultimate class in terms of raw power, adding his presence and the advantages he got from being in the city Azazel would hazard a guess and say Aaron was around as strong as him at the moment, maybe stronger.
The second was that Azazel was far from his best. As previously stated Azazel had a dozen clones attending a dozen meetings at the moment. More specifically he had a dozen clones ranging from high class to ultimate class in power out at the moment. Meaning his main body only had enough power to spread out one pair of wings.
Why did he spread himself so thin you ask? Politics.
As the head of the Grigori he had certain standards to meet when on official business. Said standards included emitting a certain amount of power.
The production of the regiment watches only increased the standard. As the stronger clones, someone could afford to make the stronger that person was.
Azazel typically mitigated the risk by keeping his real body out of the field and public eye, and changing where he was staying on a daily basis.
Which was again absolutely useless when dealing with Aaron.
He could dispel the clones, the majority of their power would return to him. (Another major selling point of the watches.) But Aaron was more than fast enough to kill or cripple him in the fraction of a second it took for the power to get to him after the clones popped.
To summarize he was extremely weakened and next to an ridiculously pissed individual who had a skill set that put him at an unfair disadvantage while said individual was experiencing an ludicrous power up.
Azazel honestly couldn't think of a moment in his long life where he had been in more danger than right now.
"Really?" Aaron asked, having been reading Azazel's mind the whole time. "I'm actually impressed with myself this time."
Azazel sighed. "Care to explain what made you so pissed?" He asked knowing that putting on any kind of act at this point would only make his situation worse.
Aaron didn't answer immediately, instead he took a moment to ponder the question. His smile and body language remain perfect all the while.
"Do you know who I am Azazel? What my name is?" He asked finally.
Azazel frowned at the question. While Aaron was infamous in the city and outside it, his origins were shrouded in obscurity.
There were plenty of theories of course. Most of which were spread by Aaron himself. But no concrete evidence could be found.
But if Azazel had to guess….
"Aaron Gremory." Azazel said, hoping he was wrong.
Aaron leaned back into the couch and gave the ceiling a thoughtful look.
"You know it's been so long since anyone's called me that." He pondered out loud. "It's definitely my name, but at that same time it doesn't feel right anymore."
The implications of Aaron's confirmation made Azazel's already tired mind spin for a few seconds.
"I could use a drink. Do you want a drink?" The fallen finally asked.
"Help yourself, I'm good though." Aaron said, waving towards the couch in between the two.
"Thank you." Azazel said as he walked around the couch and sat down. He then drew a magic circle and pulled out a wine bottle.
As soon as he sat down he started chugging directly from the bottle, not bothering to find a glass.
Aaron tilted his head at the sight. "Are you ok?"
Azazel snorted at the irony of the question. "I've been up all week trying to pin down whoever's making the newest drug that's been going around the city."
"Ah." Aaron nodded in understanding. "I've been trying to get them to, yesterday I had to deal with the rightfully enraged mothers of some hospitalized dragonmen kids. It took me hours just to get them to listen."
Azazel winced at the image. "I don't suppose that's what got you so upset?" He asked, hoping for an relatively easy fix to the situation.
"...no." Aaron said, still smiling that perfect yet incredibly ominous smile.
"After I…. Left home, I ended up on some mountain in Japan." Aaron said. "This was just after I had merged with the Black Beast. It was about to revive before Zel showed up and stabbed me with Dante. Or so I was told, I don't really remember that part well. What I do remember is waking up in the house of an old couple who lived on the mountain. Their grandson and his parents had come to visit when they saw me get stabbed. Then they took me in."
Azazel blinked at that last bit of information.
"Yeah that's what I thought at first." Aaron laughed, his smile becoming a bit more genuine. "I read the spot where I transformed later. It wasn't a complete transformation, but it was more than enough to make most devil's or angels run away screaming. On top of that Zelrich gave them an abridged run down of the supernatural world. So they must have known that I would bring trouble to them."
Aaron continued with a wishful look in his eyes "And even after seeing that, they still took me in. What's more they never asked anything in return for saving me. Even though they risked their happiness/contentment.'
Azazel's eyes widened, questions he had had for years were answered by how Aaron said that last word. The indescribable weight and unquenchable hunger it held, combined with his years of knowing Aaron allowed the fallen to truly understand the smiling teens actions and goals.
"Aaron…" The first of the fallen looked at the young man in front of him with a pitying expression.
"I left as soon as I recovered enough." Aaron continued making no indication that he noticed Azazel's reaction. "I met old man Nuraryon soon after, he helped me get to the Lot. Once I got there… Well you probably know what happened next. I ate some things I shouldn't have, met Ophis, made some friends, and got myself a home at Bradbury."
"After I got settled, I asked Ophis to take me to the mountain again. I hadn't planned on talking to any of them. I just wanted to make sure they were ok, and maybe look out for them in the shadows." Aaron's smile became strained as he continued. "My plans were ruined, however, when Phis said she smelled someone familier. I investigated only to find that the old couple's grandson had the Boosted Gear."
"Ooooohhhh." Azazel drew out the word as he began to understand the situation.
The Boosted Gear and Divine Divining were mid tier Longines, there was however one category in which they surpassed all the other Longines.
They were the worst ones to have.
The dragon's inside the Sacred gears not only drew all manner of supernatural danger to their hosts, but they also had a tendency to influence their hosts to become violent would be conquerors. And that's not even taking the juggernaut drive into account.
Aaron took a breath before continuing. "After I calmed down after hearing this news, I got to work seeing as many precautions as I could to ensure their safety. I set up barriers that on one could see without knowledge of mythic magic, I taught Issei how to protect himself while keeping him below the radar, I brought Ophis over a lot, and made sure she knew what to do if the family was discovered.
"I never meant to go back there too often, or get too involved with them but.. " Aaron trailed off.
"I couldn't stop myself. I love this city, it's my home. But with them I could relax, I didn't have to keep one eye open all the time, I could pretend to be normal." Aaron said, hunger radiating from his last word.
Aaron took another deep breath. "After the second collapse, and Ophis's disappearance I didn't go back there until Zechs searched the city for me."
Aaron's smile stretched painfully across his face. "Then I found out that my sister had moved into town while I was away."
Azazel felt his stomach drop as he began to suspect what had happened.
Aaron lowered his face into his hands before continuing. "I didn't talk to her for years. I didn't know how to. Then some random slime ball ended up making the three of us meet. And then everything was coming together so well. She agreed to lay off on recruiting him, and keep his existence away from Zechs and Serafall. We started talking again. I finally had my sister back."
Aaron took a deep breath with his face still in his hands. "And then it all came crashing down when a fallen black ops team killed Issei." He said emotion and power filling the last two words.
Aaron took another deep breath without removing his face from his hands. "I consider you a friend Azazel. You've been kind to me and mine over the years. And you taught me invaluable lessons on how to survive in this world. What's more, you're an important person to people I love. Because of these facts I'm going to ask you this one question."
Aaron looked up from his hands revealing what could only be called an insane smile on his face. "Did you know?"
Crimson eyes pierced through all lies, pitch black claws and fangs morphed and changed to suit its prey. The Scared Monster stood ready to enact its judgment.
Sweat formed on Azazel's forehead as he felt Aaron's gaze analyze every part of his mind, body and soul. In the face of this monster the leader of the fallen chose a tactic that he wasn't sure he had used since his fall.
Complete and total honesty.
"I did send a squad to Kuho." Azazel admitted. "But they were only supposed to do reconnaissance on your sister and the Sitri heiress, and Akeno. Any further action was done without my knowledge."
Aaron held his gaze for a few moments, then his presence vanished and he seemed to deflate before Azazel's eyes. His eyes returned to their usual violet color, dark rings covered his them, and as he slouched down his skin shriveled up making him seem like an old man.
"Of course you didn't, what was I thinking?" Aaron mumbled to himself
It then became blatantly obvious to Azazel that Aaron was delirious.
"I'm sorry for all of this." Aaron said.
"...Well if you're really sorry, I have some experiments I've been wanting to try." Azazel said after a few moments.
"Hell no. I'm not being your guinea pig again old man." Aaron snapped without bothering to look at the fallen.
"Stingy brat." Azazel complained while smiling at his successful ploy.
Azazel then frowned. "The squad?"
Aaron's eyes flashed red for a moment before he answered, though he didn't move. "I have them."
"I don't suppose you'd be willing to put them back?" The oldest person in the room asked.
"Now why would I do that? You said they were only there for recon. Also they murdered my friend." Aaron said as his eyes flashed red again.
"That's all they were supposed to do involving the town and its residents." Azazel raised his hands in surrender. "We decided to use the town's political protection and the talents of the leader of the squad to hide someone on the run from the church."
Aaron narrowed his eyes. "Someone?"
Azazel noded. "Asia Argento."
Aaron raised his head and gave Azazel an annoyed look. "How the fuck did that happen?"
Azazel raised an eyebrow at the rare curse from Aaron.
"I'm tired and fed up with this nonsense, now answer the damn question." Aaron said.
Azazel shrugged. "Apparently some devil tried to kidnap her, I couldn't find out who. The idiot got pretty far but he was wounded in the process. The girl then went to see what was causing the noise. She saw the devil then for reasons unknown healed him in full view of the exorcists trying to kill him."
Aaron let out a groan. Guessing what happened next.
"The devil managed to escape, afterwards the exorcists proceeded to scream bloody murder about how she healed a devil. By the time anyone with a working brain heard about it she was excommunicated and was set to be burned at a stake." Azazel continued the tale.
"And at the last moment you and yours swooped in to save her." Aaron finished for him
Azazel shrugged. "Believe it or not it wasn't for dramatic effect this time, by the time my men got there they had already lit the fires. If not for her sacred gear she'd have some serious burn scars."
Aaron let out a sigh. "Fine, they can continue their mission until it's safe for the girl. Afterwards we'll discuss their punishment."
Azazel raised his eyebrow. "You know they probably just got bad orders right? At least give me time to run a full investigation.
Arrons eyes flashed red yet again. "The leader, Raynare. She taunted him, tourchered him for her own amusement." He growled out.
Azazel's eyes narrowed. "We'll discuss their punishment after their job is done." He said with annoyance.
There were strict rules against unecessary torture on espionage and assassination missions in the fallen. If only for the sake of efficiency and professionalism.
Aaron nodded, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a topaz.
Azazel blinked. "Is that?"
"Zel showed up and is covering for me with my brother and co." Aaron said dryly. "He said it was the best outcome we could hope for, and I agree."
"I see." Azazel said, filing the many important implications of that statement for later. "So how do you want to handle this?"
Aaron shrugged. "I'm tired, you're bad cop, I'll be scary silent cop."
Azazel noded. "Got it."
Aaron crushed the jewel in his hand, a flash of light later the four fallen who killed Issei were sprawled on the floor.
"Eh? What?" Raynare looked slowly as if she was hung over, only to freeze as she saw Azazel. "Governor General!" She shouted before bowing to her companions quickly following suit.
Azazel simply stared at them for a few moments; adding a small bit of presence to approximate the effect of his typical glare. before signing. "Do you have any idea how much you guys fucked up? He finally said.
The spies stayed quiet, too scared to speak.
"Did you hear me?" Azazel asked.
"Y-y-yes sir! I-i mean no sir! I mean." Raynare stuttered out.
"Shut up." Azazel cut her off. "Since you're obviously ignorant, allow me to enlighten you."
Azazel snapped his fingers. "Look at me when I'm talking to you."
The fallens heads shot up to meet their leaders' unimpressed glare.
"Do I need to tell you who this is?" The oldest person in the room asked, pointing his thumb at Aaron. Who was once again donning a polite smile while his eyes glared murderously at the cowering fallen. Particularly at Raynare.
They all shook their heads at the question. While the details of Aaron himself were shrouded in rumor and mystery. What everyone could agree on was his presence's image.
While all images were unique Aaron's had the so far exclusive effect of projecting his emotions and mental state onto those around him. Because of this and Aaron's frankly ridiculous accomplishments, everyone remotely connected to the "hidden" side of Hellsalmes Lot had at least heard rumors of Aaron. His affiliation was equally well known.
Azazel nodded as he saw realization dawn on the unlucky assassins.
"Not only did completely ignore protocol and try to kill a trained Longines user without proper Clarence or testing the user at all. Which by the way resulted in him getting reincarnated by the Gremory heiress. Said Longines happened to be part of a family protected by the Lively Fog."
The Lively Fog was the unofficial organization that had taken up maintaining peace in Hellsalmes Lot since the second collapse. Individual factions were still in charge of their respective territories, however the Lively Fog monitored all of said territories as well as the neutral areas and the typically forgotten corners of the city.
To say the rumors around them were varied would be an understatement. Some said they were a international union assembled by the leaders of the factions to preserve peace, some said they were a group of legendary heroes reborn through sephiroth graal, some said they were a hive mind preparing to take over the world, some said they were a group of orphans raised by Ophis to to wage war on Great Red.
However there were two things everyone could agree on. The first was that the uncrowded maou was a high ranking member. The second was that they were extremely protective of the friends and family of their members that weren't involved in the supernatural, or even those that just wanted to retire peacefully.
The second fact wasn't known through rumors, it was known because whenever someone was assigned to the misty city they were explicitly told not to attack or even interact with anyone they thought fell into the aforementioned categories.
Seeing that they got the implications, Azazel continued. "If you have any decent excuses for this mess, now is the time to bring them up."
"We didn't kn-" Kalawarner tried to speak up before a flare of presence from Azazel shut her up.
"Any decent excuses." Azazel restated coldly.
"We were following orders!" Raynare spoke up.
Azazel raised his eyebrow. "Elaborate."
"W-we, after we discovered the Sekiryutei we requested instructions on how to proceed from our handler. We were instructed to eliminate the Sekiryutei immediately." Raynare informed her leader while trying to remain professional.
Azazel seemed to consider this as if he hadn't expected it. He then gave a glance back towards Aaron.
To the weaker fallen he seemed to be asking if he bought their story. What he was really doing however was making sure Aaron knew that there was more to this than a couple of trigger happy idiots.
Aaron rolled his eyes, telling Azazel that he got the message while intentionally worrying the assassins.
Azazel aloud himself a victory smirk before turning back to his cowering subordinates with his stern expression.
"You four are lucky that you have an important job or I would leave you to my friends tender mercies." Azazel lied easily. "As it stands you have to guard and care for an important asset back in Kuoh."
Seeing the confusion on his subordinates' faces, Azazel sighed. "The nun. Asia Argento. Her sacred gear would be an extraordinary asset to us. So you are going to go back to Kuho, you will look after the girl, you will not have any contact with the devils, and you will treat the nun like royalty. Am I understood?"
The assassins shakily nodded their heads in understanding.
"Now that that's settled…" Aaron drawed.
He snapped his fingers and the fallen disappeared.
Azazel blinked at where his subordinates had been. Then turned to Aaron. "Since when can you teleport people to the other side of the planet without preparation?"
Aaron shrugged. "I've set up so many anchors around Kuoh that it's easier to list the parts of the city that I can't teleport to."
"And you didn't have eyes on them when they entered the city?" The only remaining fallen in the room asked.
Aaron's eyes flashed red again. "The fruit the leader ate is annoying. It can slip past me if I'm not paying attention."
Azazel blinked in surprise at that statement. "Oh really? I didn't realize it was that potent."
"Bulshit. She's the one who helped with that mess with Corozon isn't she?"
Azazel laughed unashamedly. "I was wondering when you'd piece that together. She's been pretty useful. Though that's obviously been giving her too much wiggle room."
Aaron snorted in agreement. "... how did you know Issei was reincarnated?"
"Because you're sane enough to talk to and not going on a blind rampage." The fallen bluntly replied.
Aaron flinched, unable to deny that statement. He didn't even want to think about what he would have done if Issei had actually died. He was actually surprised he had been able to keep it together as well as he did.
"Well except for that initial outburst." He thought to himself before his mind ground to a halt.
"Fuck!" Aaron yelled as he sat up straight and grabbed his head in both hands.
"Oh for the love of, What's wrong now?" Azazel asked with annoyance.
"I flared my presence at full blast inside a populated city while I was at Ultimate class power! I probably knocked out everyone in the city!" Aaron panicked. "Not even considering drivers and heavy equipment operators, there's still the People who were on stairs, working with flammable equipment, swimming, and the ones who are sensitive to emotional projecti- KONEKO! HUUAAGHRK!"
Before Aaron could continue listing the number of fatalities his actions would cause, his rampaging emotions caused his body to destabilize. Resulting in him throwing up blood onto Azazel's very expensive carpet.
"Fuck!" Azazel yelled as he immediately grabbed the Still vomiting Aaron, and then ran towards his balcony.
As he jumped off the balcony he dismissed a good number of his clones, enough to spread out four pairs of wings from his back as he rushed Arron to a hospital.
Wild animals and monsters that smelled Aaron's blood swarmed Azazel thinking they would be an easy snack.
They were wrong.
But Azazel noticed something as he slashed and blasted his way through the sky while trying not to draw too much attention to himself and get Aaron to a hospital in time.
That slight discomfort that had everyone on edge had vanished. As If the world had let out a nervous breath it had been holding.
And so life went on, explosions rang through the background, monsters swarmed through the skies, schemers and sociopaths plotted in the city below, Aaron was rushed to an ER, and throughout it all the colorful mist danced to an unheard tune.
Just another day in Hellsalmes Lot.
"Fuck it! I'm moving! Let someone else deal with this mad house for a few years!" Azazel yelled.
"Hakkhaha, old. huagh man. Hak hahaha." Aaron wheezed out in a daze between coughing up more blood.
"Shut up you!" Azazel snapped.
Author note.
I'm alive!
Sorry this chapter took so long, it gets kinda hard to proofread something after you read it a couple times.
On a related note I'm still looking for a beta reader so PM me if you're interested.
So this chapter was basically exposition on how dangerous and influential Aaron is and some changes in the world from the baseline and some hints for later.
But remember Aaron isn't typically strong enough to take on Maou class beings on his own, even if he's in Hellsalmes Lot, in terms of combat power at least.
As for what his connection to the city is… you'll find out eventually.
I will however confirm that devil fruits and other power giving items and techniques were brought to the city after first. The most notable for the story were the aforementioned devil fruits and presence. Because of these factors several notable characters both native and from the Lot will be stronger or have different abilities than they were in their original worlds. Raynare is an example of this.
Ok I'm done with my ranting about my work.
Thanks again to Third Fang and slashfan2018 for letting me borrow their ideas for this story and good night.