VI.

Solitude, not Isolation

"Man is shown righteous by works, and not by faith alone."

—James 2:24

When Naoki and the others finally arrived in the DxD's base of operations, the demons he accompanied prioritized Gabriel's safety. It was a wise thing to do too, because it didn't take more than a few minutes of the Seraph to knock herself over, snoring, to the first couch she saw. Exhaustion was plastered over her face as she curled her arms. Naoki managed to cradled her up while the red-haired demon, who seemed to be their leader, helped him direct to Gabriel's room for the time being.

While he and the rest waited for the Seraph to get proper sleep, Naoki noticed their base looked too homely for anything associated with anti-demonic matters. Other than the fact there wasn't a single floating drop of concentrated magatsuchi around—explaining how weak they all felt to him—the whole place just looked a lot less, occult? For a lack of a better term. Or had his time in the Vortex world screwed his sense of interior design too?

"This place," He muttered. "It looked like a penthouse than a base, doesn't it?"

With him was Vali, a dragon; Azazel, a fallen angel; and the demons who were with Gabriel back in the church along with, presumably, other members of the DxD group that were station in this base. The one who kept close watch over him were Rias and Akeno. It seemed the two were leading the group, or at least the ones who went against him earlier. But their worry about him was not unwarranted, so it didn't bother him. But what he did notice was the strangely mortal-like appearance of the demons of this world. They could be using some disguise, Naoki remembered one of his demons who was particularly fond of using a human-like form. In the end, it wasn't his business to pry.

Other than the ones he already met, there are a lot of other presences within the other members of this DxD he noticed. They were completely varied; a lot are weak, but one in particular had a lot more pressure hidden within her than the rest. The person in question was a raven-haired girl that looked a lot younger than Naoki. This wouldn't be the first time he met a demon that had an appearance of a child who turned out to be a complete beast, so he didn't rule anything out.

But his thoughts were then halted by Rias's reply.

"This was a residence of another member of DxD, it was renovated to accommodate all of us," Rias explained, but her words were slightly terse. In fact, all of them except for Azazel were completely more tense around him than when they were in the church.

"I see," Naoki looked around, keeping his elbows leaning over the dining table. "It's…homely."

"What would you know about that?" Vali had his arms crossed the entire time. "I'd be hard pressed to imagine you lounging around in a house."

"Vali," Azazel hissed, he had been doing this every time the dragon made a side comment about Naoki.

"It has been a while," Naoki admitted. "But not in a place this big. My home was a lot smaller."

"Oh? Where do you live, Kashima-san?" Asia, their healer, asked.

"Lived…I don't think my family's there anymore," Naoki huffed out a dry laugh. He doesn't even know if his old house was exactly where he remembered it. His self in this world might have lived a very different life than he had before the conception.

"Oh, I'm sorry," The petite blonde squeaked.

"That was a lifetime ago now," Naoki just shrugged.

"But you kept contact with each other?"

"Burdening them with this monster of a son?" Naoki closed his eyes. "I wouldn't wish such a thing for my worst enemy."

"That's…!" Asia couldn't say anything.

The pregnant silence that followed was completely frigid.

After a few minutes of such an awkward atmosphere, Naoki opened his eyes to see a sad looking Asia. Naoki didn't mind the silence, but with how he left his conversation with the innocent question Asia asked didn't sit well with him. He already wasn't in any of their good graces, being rude on top of it wasn't doing him any favors. And after getting his small release with their incident in the church, his head was a lot more level headed than when he first popped into this whole mess.

He sighed, finally trying to break the ice. "What demon races are you guys?"

"Race?" The petite blonde suddenly perked up, the cloud over her head slowly disappearing as she thought more about his question.

"Yeah, races," Naoki's brow quirked. He looked over to the small silver-haired girl who was with them earlier. He failed to remember her name, but her presence was too distinct for him to forget. "I can guess she's a Nekomata, but for the rest of you I'm drawing a blank."

"You could tell?" The silver-haired Nekomata looked at him in surprise.

"I've had Nekomata join my party before, yeah," Naoki remembered the ones he recruited in the vortex world. She felt a lot weaker than the ones he knew, but the way they carried themselves felt the same. "You're a bit smaller than the ones that joined me though."

The silver nekomata's look of surprise grinded to a halt, a frown took over instead.

"What?" Naoki's brow rose again.

"Oh my! He just laid it all out for you, didn't he, Koneko-chan?" Another girl, one who looked like an older version of the silver-haired nekomata he was just talking to just now, popped out from the living room. She was wearing a very loose black kimono, one that earned him a vixen-like smile when she caught him observing her. "But then, there is a charm to a man who knows what he wants."

"You're also a nekomata…" Naoki observed.

"A lot bigger than my dear sister too, mind you," She added. "Kuroka Toujou, pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Kashima Naoki, the pleasure is mine."

Well, that was the first proper demonic greeting Naoki received since he popped into this world. At least, some of them still have manners. Naoki nodded at the smaller nekomata. "Sister, huh."

"What are you looking at?" The smaller nekomata glared at him.

"I think I see the resemblance," Naoki stared at her golden eyes.

"What do you mean by—"

"You are new."

A small, but firm, voice echoed throughout the dining room. The others, who were amusingly listening to Naoki and Kuroka's exchange stared at the little girl who said the words. Naoki already noticed her underlying power earlier, but never really expected her to come at him directly.

"He is Kashima-san," Rias told the girl. "He will be staying with us for the time being."

"What are you?" The girl looked like she completely ignored Rias.

"I'm like them," Naoki supplied.

"A Devil? No, too powerful…" She muttered, still ignoring them. "Abomination? Too powerful…Beast? Too powerful…Demon? Close…but too powerful…"

Naoki knew she was in a whole other league in power than the others. She was the first presence that caught his attention when he first arrived in this place. He didn't know who or what she was. But for the meantime, it looked like she wasn't hostile, nor was she as fighty as the silver-haired dragon.

"What is it, Ophis-chan?" Rias said.

Vali laughed, finally breaking his silence. "Well, it looks like another dragon finally took notice to your nature, Kashima."

"Ophis…?" Naoki parroted her name. But then he remembered one of his many idle chats with a certain talkative jade-eyed cat, that name cropped up a few times. "An Ouroboros?"

"Oh, it looks like you know about her," Azazel quirked a brow. "She is the Ouroboros Dragon, the Infinite Dragon God Ophis. It stands to reason how she could tell your power without seeing them."

Both a religious symbol and a myth pertaining a cosmic serpent that was not dissimilar to the likes of the Ananta, or the Leviathan. Naoki personally never met one. Dante said he took on an enterprise using that name. And Gouto-Douji also knew about them, though only mentioned it in passing. He didn't know much about them, then again, he's already met a slew of demons in his short time being one, what's one more to the pile?

"Right," Naoki hummed. "You guys have a pretty balanced party, huh."

Ophis then said: "God."

The others turned to the petite dragon; Naoki frowned at the word.

"You smell like that old man," She finally said with a clueless tilt of her head. "But you're not as annoying."

"What?" Surprisingly, it was Azazel who said it. "Ophis, what the hell do you mean by smell like?"

The girl looked at him and turned away just as quickly, much to the fallen angel's chagrin, leaving him with a single insult: "Annoying."

"I'm a demon, Ophis. Like them," But Kashima didn't let her words go. He was frowning the entire time. "Nothing more."

From the sidelines, the observant eyes of Rias, Akeno, Kiba, and Vali took notice to his distaste to the word. Or, more specifically, how he hated to be associated with it.

"I see, my mistake," She shook her head.

Naoki let out a breath. "Don't worry about it."

The awkwardly cold atmosphere between them was back again, no, it was a lot more oppressive this time around.

Damn it, he did it again.

Kuoh barely felt like it was part of the wider Tokyo. The fresh evening breeze definitely made it feel like the place was one of the towns past the city proper. It was far from the half-smoggy whiff Naoki used to smell whenever he spent more than a few nights in his old apartment's rooftops with his friends. Naoki opted to sit by an arch in the DxD Headquarters' top floor balcony, his legs were swinging freely from the ledge. Everyone else was fast asleep, or so they told him. He could feel a few presences close to where he was—one right by the rooftop doorway, two looking up at him from the bottommost floor, and the last one floor below him—they were the lookout, no doubt. He didn't mind letting them keep an eye. They let him have this serene view of the city, that was enough.

After all, he was the last thing on earth who needed sleep.

Demons do sleep. It was one of their favorite pastimes, in fact. But it was never a necessity. And ever since Naoki became less than human, he never had the urge to sleep—unless it was from an enemy demon's spell, but that was a different can of worms entirely.

"For once, I've got nothing," Naoki started to mutter, then looked over his shoulder to find it empty. That earned another sigh off of him. "Absolutely nothing."

Freedom was a new experience for him.

This world might have its fair share of problems; heaven apparently was being attacked. But the demons were banding together to stop the catastrophic event, instead of circling the massacred in wait to kill the stragglers. The vortex world, in comparison, was cutthroat. But that was a lifetime behind him now; even this conflict, should he choose, would not be something he needed to take part in. He had the opportunity to do what he wanted to do before his Tokyo died, before his life ended.

Naoki deserved at least that much.

"…what was it again?"

But what that thing was, he couldn't remember.

Naoki tried recalling. "I… what did I want to do again?"

He was drawing a blank.

"You feel it too, do you not?" A firm, yet silky feminine voice whispered over him. "Your change in ambition?"

This feeling was annoyingly familiar, yet Naoki never heard this voice before. Or, at least, in this form.

"I thought you'd be done having anything to do with me?" He looked down at the streets below, then closed his eyes, waiting for a presence to show itself.

"For what, defying the Kagutsuchi as I wanted you to?" The voice felt like it was whispering right by his ear, yet it felt distant at the same time. "Making an enemy of the Will whose domain was the Cycle of Death and Rebirth, thus stepping into the path I trodden?"

"It's not the same path."

"In a way, it is," Naoki then felt two arms softly caress his back, sliding around his shoulders, into an embrace. "In the end, you chose freedom. A path that differed from my own, yet one that is against the Amala Universe and its Will. And, for any avatar of it? Anything that is not subservient to them is an enemy. I cherished your resolve, my child, even if this path you laid out is one that I had not foreseen."

"You were never this… sentimental, before," Naoki couldn't look behind, but he felt a warm breath over the horn in his nape. "It's almost…creepy."

"You wound me, my child," The whisper turned into a giggle. "The obedient little Seraph called me your mother, did she not? I am merely nurturing you, as always."

Naoki sighed. "First, you were a kid… next, you were an old man… now this? What did Gabriel name you again?"

"I used the name Louisa Ferre."

"So, those other forms then, who were they? Little Lucy and Dr. Louie Sphere?"

"Close," She smiled. "It is Louis Cyphre."

"Of course, it is…" He couldn't help huff out a shrug.

"Is it truly that drastic a change?"

"I don't even know what to think anymore," Naoki shook his head. "Do what you will."

"I shall," The feeling of being embraced left Naoki, and a full presence made itself known as he saw a very beautiful woman sit beside him. "But, can I have a moment?"

She was every bit how Gabriel described his 'mother' that she met before he popped into this new world, down to the dress she was wearing. Her blonde hair swayed against the cold evening breeze as she smiled warmly at Naoki.

"Let me say this. The way you are pondering so intently now means my chosen guide had done her duty magnificently!" She swung her feet cheerfully at the ledge.

Naoki thought about how horribly familiar this all was. His 'parent', for a lack of a better word, lecturing him about everything and nothing at the same time. All the while, the world around them felt like it was changing for the worse for everyone except the one who resented it all.

"You were thinking about your place in this world, this new cosmos," She began. "But living your old life would be akin to spit on the memory of the Naoki of this existence, would it not?"

Naoki said nothing.

"But the answer is one you know all too well."

Naoki, again, said nothing.

"You lie to yourself; you lie of not remembering—do not mistake me, child, I pity you for this," She looked at him, Naoki saw her mismatched eyes gleaming. "But this too is another illusion."

"What'd you have me do, then?"

"To continue the path you have already taken," She wiped a tear. "It is a lonely path, that much I know…"

"—but only if you felt like you're doing it alone." Naoki finished firmly.

"Then…?"

"They are not here," Naoki huffed a dry chuckle. "But every loyal step they made in the vortex world? I remember every single one. It'd be an insult to them if I stopped now, because I know they're doing what they could wherever they are now. I don't need to have a goal to keep walking."

"Is this a rejection I am hearing?"

"A resolution." He said firmly.

"Pity, us walking hand-in-hand was what I had hoped you would agree to," The blonde lady smiled thinly at Naoki. "That young summoner and his feline ancestor, or was it that halfling mercenary? Which one of them influenced you so much?"

"None of them," Naoki answered, but then smiled. "Or all of them at once, I can't really tell."

"Cryptic, but candid," She laughed. "But I suppose there is only one whose opinion matters to you the most."

"You think so?"

"I know so! It leaves a sting in me how close you two are," Naoki's parent let out a frustrated breath and, if he didn't know any better, he would have thought it was a sigh of jealousy. "In any event, whichever decisions you make in this world, always remember…"

Louisa Ferre stepped down from the ledge and walked on thin air, as if she was on the ground. Her feet pattered at the night air as she leaned close, holding Naoki by his cheeks. Her knowing smile never left her face.

"The path of freedom is not a path of compassion; it is a road one breath away from chaos. This cosmos, these new realms made under your Will? It is a reflection of the madness of your old world, despite however you want it to be more than what it is."

She continued as she flipped Naoki's bangs away from his forehead.

"Should you wish, you can refuse to abandon this. But never bear love for them."

Naoki didn't say anything; he couldn't say anything.

"This is what it means to walk in the Path of Wills, of those whose presences alone begets universes."

"What do you mean by that?" Naoki quickly asked; out of all the cryptic things his parent had said thus far, this was one that caught his attention most.

"Your greatest enemy, the one who desperately craves for the same power? It will come eventually." Louisa ignored his questions, but showed in her eyes how she enjoyed planting these seeds into his head. No matter the form, and no matter the method, this was always how she did things. "In the great Expanse of the Amala, there had been a shift. And it had been exiled by that cosmos, cast away from the Great Will. If it sees the deeds you have done? It will lay its unclean hands in this cosmos, as well."

And, as always, every single information she had given would only make sense until it was too late! Naoki hated how cryptically annoying everything was for him, and it seemed this time would not be an exception. "Will I actually figure it out this time before everything eventually screws up?"

"It is up to you," Louisa then tilted her head to the view behind him. "And her."

Naoki turned to see Gabriel, awake, standing behind him with her hands clasped together, as if in prayer. But her face was looking at him, then at Louisa.

"Again, little angel Gabriel, I must leave my child under your care," The blonde lady finally said before disappearing.

Naoki couldn't feel her presence anymore neither. But now, he had a different problem to face this time. Those presences that were following him, one was Gabriel's. And if she was as perceptive as he expected a Seraph to be, she would have been smart enough to actually gather information.

"How long have you been there?"

"Since you talked about Kagu-tsuchi…"

"Since the beginning then," Naoki huffed out a dry laugh.

"I know the story of the Hi-no-Kagutsuchi," Gabriel took a step and sat at the same spot Louisa sat earlier. "The god fire whose birth led to the death of his mother, Izanami. He was killed by…"

"A sword named Ame-no-Ohabari." Naoki finished for her.

"Yes," She smiled. "You know of it?"

"I know someone who's friend sacrificed herself to summon that demon, that blade."

"She sacrificed herself—!?"

"It was a desperate time, or so he told me," Naoki recalled a half-drunk Jōhei share the story back in the vortex world. When he saw how upset the Seraph looked at the story, he added: "He was not the sort of guy that would let someone off themselves for his sake."

"I see…I hope your friend finds peace knowing someone loved him so much they laid their life for him," Gabriel closed her eyes and took a breath. "I remember my father fusing the Ame-no-Ohabari with another weapon to make a longinus."

"Longinus?"

"Yes, tools that were strong enough to kill gods."

"I wish I had one of those when I went against the Kagutsuchi," Naoki laughed.

"There it is again."

"There is what again?"

"How you speak of certain events," Gabriel narrowed her eyes as she hugged her leg. "We just spoke of the myth of how the god died, yet you speak of a completely different experience—"

"The Kagutsuchi I know…" There was a potent venom in Naoki's lips as he said the name. "That bastard was no god."

"What was it then?"

Naoki paused, dazed at the crossroads of his own head. He wasn't particularly keen on hiding this fact from anyone—unless it became a concern for the life of the Kashima Naoki who was born from this world.

"What do you know about the Kagutsuchi?" He asked instead. "Aside from what we spoke of just now."

"Not much, only that the fire god's corpse birthed many gods: Take-Mikazuchi and Futsunushi, among many others."

"The Kagutsuchi that I know and hate," Naoki paused, took a breath, and huffed. "It was a light, a parasite that took over a dead world."

He heard Gabriel mutter. "An entire cosmos? Why?"

"To make a new one," Naoki grabbed the ledge, but then let it go when he felt the edges crack after he gripped it too hard. He sighed. "When corpse of a universe compressed into a small condensed energy, it is left to dry. Who knows what conditions it needed to morph into a new world, but with the help of this light, this parasite? It could take in all of the energy of this dead world and reshape it into however it pleases."

"That's…blasphemous!"

"It gets worse. What's left from that universe, everything else is fed into that parasite. The world morphs around this parasite, and it shapes everything to its whim."

"How…do you know all this?"

"My world…I saw it die. It became a flipped parody of a planet's surface where everything is facing this glowing thing."

"Like a Dyson sphere?"

"A what?"

"No, it's nothing."

"Right…the ones who survived, and the new residents of this mockery of a planet called it the Vortex World."

"I see…" Naoki heard Gabriel say, he could feel her gaze drilling his way. "And this vortex world…was this the place where you were from?"

Naoki blinked.

"Louisa and I saw you fall from the sky," Gabriel looked up at the cloudless heavens. "It wasn't unlike how I fell from the heavenly realms."

"That explains the hole when I woke up," Naoki looked down. "And, yeah, you could say I was born from the Vortex World."

"Then you are no mere devil, are you? At least, not one like the members of DxD?"

"Before the vortex world, I lived in a city horrifyingly similar to this one," Naoki gave her a smile, a tired one. "When Tokyo died, I was given life."

"You were a nobody before, then?" A different voice spoke from behind Naoki.

The boy and the Seraph turned to see the Vanishing Dragon leaning against the wall, arms crossed, with a contemplative expression over him as he looked at Naoki.

"I was," There was pride—or was it longing?—in Naoki's voice as he answered. "Is it a problem for you?"

"No," Vali answered. "Never."

Naoki didn't know what he meant by that, but here was a twitch in the young man's finger as he looked at him. "You didn't come up here to know where I'm from, did you?"

"What gave it away?"

"Nothing," Naoki huffed out a sigh. "You just remind me of someone."

"Oh?"

"He'd always have that small twitch in his hands too whenever he felt like he wanted to fight someone," Naoki explained. "Someone he knew who could keep up."

"I know you're powerful, but I want to know how well I could deal with the you that wasn't a bloodthirsty psycho."

"I'll take that as a compliment?"

"Take it however you want." He shrugged. "How about it? Want to spar?"

Naoki saw Vali's eyes; it was a very familiar gaze of a boy who wanted to prove something to himself. He knew that feeling all too well.

"Sure."

Note: Lots of exposition here for anyone who hadn't tried deep diving into MegaTen lore, these sorts of scenes will hopefully help flesh it out. Careful though, the characters here are completely biased in telling stories (Demi-Fiend included).

There's also a small reference of a MegaTen manga I doubt many people have read, a cookie to the ones who know what I was talking about.