It was as if time had frozen.
The me that had been killed had stopped moving and the light had returned to my world. My body would not move, but I was alive in the sense that I was consciously active. I could think, I could ponder and I could wonder about what was going to happen to me now.
I was alone in the street, lying in a puddle of my own blood, and was physically dead. I couldn't feel anything, after all. I was literally staring up at the sky, not feeling anything but thinking. It was a strange, unexplainable sensation that left a feeling of dread inside the remainders of my soul.
But I was alive, was I not?
Or was this my punishment as a Fallen Angel?
Maybe this is the purgatory that people seem to be obsessed with.
But as the space in front of me twisted and warped, a portal of sorts spinning into existence as if the surrounding space did not exist, I was forced to think twice. I was forced to reconsider my current position and the state I was in.
This was because of the person that stepped out of the portal, the person that was almost an exact replica of Issei Hyoudou. I knew he was not the man I had come to know as the aura he emitted was not the one I was familiar with; instead of being complacent, relaxed and somewhat kind and carefree, this new aura was dark, heavy and filled with grief.
But the manic grin on the face of this Issei betrayed their aura. The way the corners of their lips turned up, barely revealing their teeth, the way their eyes were forced to close ever so slightly and the shallow dimples…
The Issei crouched down next to my battered body, observing every inch of it before his eyes met mine; he chuckled, running a hand down my cheek, before his face hardened in an instant. "Fallen Angel Raynare, huh? It's been a long time since I've played with one of you…"
Play? What does this guy mean by play?
I wanted to question his words, but I was unable to speak.
"So, to commemorate our beloved reunion, should I take something of yours?" The hand that had eventually cupped my face began to trace my body, running along my chest. The hand stopped short of my lower half, a finger poking at the hole in my stomach.
A wide grin appeared on this Issei's face.
"I know! I can just take your soul, can't I? I can lock it up in a jar and keep you there forever! Just like so many other Raynares!" At this point, my body would have been shaking. I would have tried to run away. But I was unable to. And because I was unable to move, this Issei shoved his hand through my body as if it didn't exist and grasped something from within me, something that brought an excruciating phantom pain to my mind as he squeezed it with an iron grip.
"This is how I do it, if I remember correctly!" And, with a sharp pull of the hand, I was gone.
I was gone in a physical sense, as in I could see nothing, hear nothing and feel nothing.
"It's been too long since I've done something like this, so there's so much fun to be had. Don't you think so too, Raynare?"
A slow, deep inhale.
A blazing inferno in the streets behind him.
As Issei stepped foot in a side street, a firetruck speeding past him with its sirens blaring, a shallow sigh escaped his lips, his newly established search for Raynare providing no promising results. Although his search was mostly unsuccessful with her presence being impossible to find, Issei was not worried about her as he thought she had escaped. Even though she had screamed a few minutes ago with any signs of her living disappearing, Issei was certain she had escaped because there was no way one of the Devil assassins would have had the opportunity to chase after her.
A second firetruck barrelled down the street as it drove towards the inferno.
While Issei acknowledged the fact that he was probably thinking illogically, he wouldn't acknowledge the piles of ashes and the charred bones he left in the street behind him. He didn't believe that it was his fault the Devils died. After all, they were the ones that had attacked him first and they were the ones that had ultimately led to Raynare's disappearance.
But a shred of doubt entered Issei's mind as he began to move again.
What if I let a Devil escape? What if there were some hiding outside the range that I'd be able to feel them? What if Raynare is…dead?
A frown formed on the young boy's face as he struggled to avoid those thoughts. Issei knew nothing good would come if he believed in them and, even though they were probably true, he refused to believe them. He'd only believe in them when he found Raynare's dead body.
However, he didn't know how he'd find her body. He couldn't sense any traces of her, he couldn't feel where she would roughly be and he couldn't physically find her. It was almost as if she had stopped existing.
"Raynare…where the hell did you go?" A thin, cool, metallic blade placed itself against Issei's neck.
"She's dead, just as you'll be."
"So you're her assassin, huh? This'll be very convenient for me, so I kindly ask for your cooperation."
"Grayfia, could you please help me get out of bed?"
"Your wish is my command, Miss Rias."
"I've told you before to not talk so formally to me. You're my sister-in-law, right?"
"Miss Rias, I am working right now. Therefore, I must treat you with the respect you deserve."
A childish pout fell onto my face as Grayfia smoothly deflected my request. Seeing the me that is unable to walk, I thought she would have at least respected this one wish I have had since I was a child but her denying me proves that she has no compassion whatsoever.
It's either that or I'm being too childish to see that Grayfia just wants to take care of me and make me feel as comfortable as possible. However, I will not embrace the full relaxation of my upper body if she does not treat me like I was her little sister.
Ah, I reminded myself of a bad thing again. I really need to stop that. Thinking about the lack of feeling in the entirety of my legs brings a bad pain to my heart so I really should stop thinking about it.
"I respect the fact that you want to do your job, Grayfia, but you could just call me 'Rias' without the 'Miss'." Grayfia sighed as she bent down to pick me up, a tired look falling onto her face for a brief moment.
"It's a part of my job." She said, the familiar, stoic expression returning with her words, "It's what maids are supposed to do." As I was lifted into the air and placed onto the wheelchair that sat beside my bed, I frowned for a brief moment as Grayfia's words did not make me happy. But, I wasn't concerned about my own happiness; I was concerned about the feelings of those around me as they seem to have been affected more than I have.
I mean, Raiser Phoenix was obliterated and I was…crippled…
Needless to say, I want to make Grayfia as happy as I can so I'll let her do her job just this once. But the next time she calls me 'Miss Rias' will be the last as I'll abuse my powers as her master to make her call me 'Rias'.
"Are you hungry, Miss Rias? Breakfast was served quite a while ago, but as you were asleep I did not bring any to you." I held a hand to my chin as I hummed in thought, contemplating on if I was actually hungry or not. Because I was unable to do exercise of any kind, I really have to watch what I eat as I don't want my figure to be affected by my gluttony.
"I'm not hungry at all. In fact, have you had breakfast, Grayfia?" The maid seemed to stare at me for a brief moment as a small smile slipped onto my face. "I know you've been by my side at all times and haven't been taking care of yourself. So, as your temporary master, I command you to eat breakfast and take care of yourself!" Grayfia seemed to be in shock as I pointed an accusatory finger at her, my small smile becoming a toothy grin faster than I thought it would.
Grayfia, recovering from her shock, quickly bowed her head and muttered a short, "As you wish, master," before she stepped behind my wheelchair. A mellow feeling rose into my chest as we entered the corridor and, as I briefly glanced at a nearby window, I saw the reflection of a small smile on Grayfia's face and the tears in her eyes.
…If my days are always like this, being a cripple for a while might be okay…
Issei crouched down next to Raynare's body and pressed the index and middle finger of his right hand against her neck, feeling no pulse and no signs of life other than the remaining warmth of her corpse. He sighed, cracking his knuckles, and stretched his arms out over her body, shaking them once and then twice to disperse any tension that may have been in them.
"Let's get to work!"
Multiple magical circles appeared above and below Raynare's body as Issei inspected the hole in her stomach, realising that that was where the assassin had stabbed her and that the hole was the ultimate cause of her death when not considering the giant pool of blood she was lying in.
"Now, I must fix the hole, restart the beating of the heart and replace the blood that was in her body."
The flesh around the hole slowly began to grow as the innards stitched themselves back together, the healing process of the body being accelerated by many times. The process still took quite a while and, as Raynare's milky skin finally protected the modesty of her insides, Issei sighed.
"This huge scar is no good…" Issei pulled his arm back, narrowing his eyes as he did so and quickly lowered his arm with another sigh. "If I don't pump some blood to the brain, she may suffer from brain damage so that takes priority…"
The magical circles that floated above and below Raynare disappeared in an instant as Issei knelt in the puddle of blood that had formed around her body. With one arm down by his side, the other tracing the area of flesh where the internal carotid arteries should be, Issei questioned if what he was about to do was the right thing to do.
Raynare was clinically dead and, although Issei had the power to bring her back to life without any lasting effects, Raynare's body had wounds that wouldn't be repaired by the developing medical science of the human world.
Issei quietly berated himself for suddenly thinking about the morality of his actions.
He was omnipotent. He had the power to do anything and everything. He possessed the body of an ordinary Issei and willingly changed the future. Yet he quietly lived day to day with Raynare by his side and…
"I'm such a fool…"
Why would he think about the morality of reviving the dead when he had already murdered countless amounts of people, changed the future and basically erased the existence of another Issei?
"…for thinking about such things."
His index finger pierced the internal carotid arteries, a thin stream of blood similar to Raynare's pouring out of his finger tip as he heavily sighed.
"What is happening to me? Ever since I entered the body of this Issei, I…" Issei sighed as the presence of ten Devils appeared in the surroundings. An eleventh one, a much stronger presence, appeared behind Issei and did not move for several moments.
"Please continue your monologue, Issei Hyoudou."
"I never thought I'd see you here of all places, Sirzechs."
"Well, you forced my hand when you killed most of my subordinates and set the neighbourhood on fire in the territory that I'm governing for a while."
"Does that mean you've come to evict me from my home?"
"No. I've come to capture and execute you."
"Can't you see I'm busy?"
"Resurrecting people that should be dead is not something you should do. What kind of morals do you have?"
"Does it look like I ever had any kind of morality in the first place? Besides, you're the one that sent an assassin to kill her."
"Touché."
"So, are you going to leave now?"
"You're in no position to ask me to leave, Hyoudou."
"Really?" Issei glanced at Sirzechs as blood began to spill out of Raynare's neck at a rapid rate.
"You're vulnerable. You're occupied with another task. I know that that Fallen Angel will die if you stop what you're doing."
"Ah, if only you weren't right." Sirzechs rose an eyebrow as Issei sighed for the umpteenth time that day.
"Are you admitting defeat?"
"Just because you're right, it doesn't mean you're correct."
"Are you trying to confuse me now?"
"Nope. I'm telling the truth."
"How is any of that truthful?"
"Because I don't have to go with you if I don't want to. As you have seen, my power far exceeds that of you and your forces so if I wanted to, I could kill you and the ten Devils you brought with you. However, as I'm sick and tired of being hunted down, I thought I'd get this over with."
"So you're going to come with me?" Issei pulled his hand out of Raynare's neck and watched as the skin around her neck rapidly healed, leaving no scars and no blemishes.
"Yes, but on one condition." A grin spread across Issei's face as he basked in the perfection of his healing.
"What may that be?"
"I get a fair trial."
"A fair trial…? You mean, with lawyers and judges in a courtroom?"
"Yes. But I want to be my own lawyer. And I want Raynare to be with me at all times as I don't trust you to keep her alive."
"Isn't that three conditions…?"
"Hmm? I don't know what you're talking about, you silly Devil! As far as I know, I never specified the exact details of that one condition."
Issei's shit-eating grin made Sirzechs want to punch the human's face in but, as Sirzechs knew he was in no position to deny Issei his requests with the human taking advantage of that fact, all he could do was tremble and shake on the inside while holding a faltering smile on the outside.
Sirzechs was truly pitiful in Issei's eyes.
Tada! I released a chapter! But it took me five weeks…I think… Oh well. Let bygones be bygones, yeah? To be honest, I had a bit of writer's block and overcame it by doing nothing for three weeks. The other two I was on a school break, so…it's justified?
Deteriorating quality (in my opinion)? I've never heard of that fantasy!
Thank you for reading World's End! If you leave lots of reviews, I'm sure I'll update faster (or not).