I don't own anything. All characters and all rights belong to Ichiei Ishibumi*
M for mature topics. No children allowed. *
The Broken Boosted Gear
By Try Another Time
Story 20: For You, My….
The place was as dark as it came. Without a light to guide you, one would easily get lost in the tunnels of this horrible place.
Our dynamic duo didn't have that problem. The Welsh Dragon and Raynare continued to walk through the tunnels filled with scraps of metal and long-forgotten items of the great war. The dragon used the flames on top of his fingers to illuminate the path while the fallen angel paid close attention to anything the alliance could use. Be it a forgotten item or plans for weapons unknown to the members of the alliance.
"Are you sure we will find something within this place?" Ddraig asked while keeping his eyes wide open and alert to traps or hiding enemies. His armor was already covering his whole body.
"Trust me; this was an old fortress under the direct control of the Norse god's allies, the dwarfs. We are likely to find some dwarven plans or even some of their forgotten inventions. That asshole leader of mine prohibited me from investigating this place back in the day. He claimed that it was too dangerous." Raynare said as she kneeled and checked some documents she found.
"So you asked me to be your accomplice then?" Issei said as he took over. "Azazel will surely have a serious discussion with me after this. I can already see his arguments about putting the safety of my allies first."
"That's why it is only us. If we came with a large group, we would likely have difficulty getting away or fighting. We work better as a duo." Raynare said as she saved the documents in her bag. Her usual maid attire got replaced by a black combat suit that most fallen angels would wear to combat. It was light in weight and attached itself to the user's skin like a second skin.
One could see the high sex appeal of the fallen beauty's body, which usually lay hidden under her long-skirted French maid suit.
"A proper maid wears a uniform that defines her status as a servant of a master. Although some servants wear attires that appeal to the hidden desires of their master, you, my student, are not that kind of servant. You're a family maid, not a sexual object. Wear it at all times unless the situation requires otherwise." Rayanare could still hear Grayfia's voice as a reminder of her training.
"You might say that, but I feel that we have a higher chance of getting into troublesome situations when it is only us two. Do you forget about the last time we went book shopping?" Ddraig asks as he takes the lead once more.
"It was a small fucking mistake. It won't happen again. I promise." Raynare says with a cheerful smile.
"Raynare, one word. Tentacles." The dragon says.
"It was just a few of them," Raynare says.
"It was at least 100,000, and the disgusting pieces of shit spilled a substance that melted our clothes. Not only that, but they also possess a scent that made me want to throw up." The dragon says as the veins in his face start to put up.
"It wasn't that bad. We went to an onsen afterward, and I apologize for it." Raynare smirks. "We had a good time, my lord."
The Welsh dragon massages the sides of his face. "Stop opening sealed books without proper security measures. We are not immortal, and I don't need any weird curses one could gain by reading those damn books. I appreciate your enthusiasm and help, but you need more self-control."
"I can try, but I won't make any promises. Knowledge is too tempting." The fallen one said with a goofy smile on her face.
"At least she fell from grace because of this and not something else." The dragon told himself before they started to move once more.
As the pair move deeper into the tunnels, the dragon keeps seeing more of Raynare's chase for knowledge. The fallen angel was very careful with each item she picked up from the ground. Her eyes carefully examined even the most minor details while she wrote notes about them. She was a researcher, a maid, and a fighter, but also someone who enjoyed learning more about anything.
"The dwarves that made these items were amazing. I always wanted to talk to them and understand their craft. Why did they use such unusual designs? What minerals work best? There's so much to learn about other inventors and creators. Don't you think the same?" The fallen angel turned to her leader. Her eyes were shining with excitement.
"She looks like a child in a toy store, but there's some cuteness to be found in her silly antics." The dragon approached her and looked closer at the item in her hands. "Dwarven blacksmiths are indeed amazing. I won't deny that. Amongst their people, some are to be praised for creations such as Mjolnir and Gungnir, but besides that, I believe that their giant golems were some of the best creations they ever made. Those were some of the most troublesome enemies I ever faced. Do you think there's a chance that we could ever find the schematics or even one of them for us to research?"
"You mean the Gogmagogs? Most of them were destroyed, and I doubt they left any intact ones for anyone to acquire. What are your plans? You want them for an army?"
"No, I'm interested in using them for protection. If I could place one of those alongside each family member, I would be more at ease. They could also prove helpful for protecting Grigory, Lilith, and any stronghold we have." The dragon says as he thinks of the possibilities.
"Are you worried about something happening to any of us?"
"I'm always worried, Raynare. I don't ignore the chance that things can turn dark at some point. I can't be everywhere, and even if everyone trained for years, there's always the chance they fall into a situation where their powers are insufficient. So we need to be careful and take extra precautions when necessary."
The fallen angel's face softens after hearing those words. "Even my ever-powerful Lord Welsh is afraid of something. My cute little Lord. If we are lucky and find one of them here, I'll promise to research them and find out as much as possible about them. It will take some time, but I can decipher the mysteries behind their making with enough time. I doubt that the Gogmagogs are stronger than the golems that Gabriel and the others possess, but you're right about their potential. Having them as extra security measures in Grigory and Lilith would prove helpful in the long run."
The pair thus continue to descend deeper into the tunnels with this goal in mind. As they walk deeper, the war's remnants continue to increase. Corpses plagued the tunnels, and one could tell that their last moments were filled with dread and fear. It was as if they were running away from an assailant they couldn't face.
"Raynare, who attacked this fortress? I don't remember seeing any memories about Ddraig attacking such a place." Issei said as he looked around.
"Right, I forgot to tell you. Based on the reports, it was Nezha and his group. We're not 100% sure about it, but the signs of his wheel marks around the upper levels support the reports. Although not at the level of Shiva, Susano, or even Gabriel and the others, Nezha was and still is a powerful deity. Hopefully, he stays inside his palace and doesn't come looking for trouble with the alliance." Raynare says as she touches the writing near a wall. "This writing."
"What about it?" Issei asks as he steps closer to her.
"It's some sort of message that shouldn't make sense. "Look beyond the window." There are no windows in these tunnels."
The dragon takes a look at the wall. His eyes carefully check every corner. His nose twitches as he detects a particular scent different from the rest around him. "Get away," Ddraig says as he takes over.
The fallen angel takes a few steps away, and Raynare watches as the dragon punches a hole through the wall.
"I knew it. I feel an air current." Ddraig pulls his hand back and starts punching the wall multiple times until he creates an opening for both of them.
"No powers?"
"Is better if I don't use my powers in this place. The tunnels might give in if I start blasting every wall."
"True. Thanks for being mindful of that." Raynare approaches the hole and looks in. Their passage leads directly down into the unknown. "Are we jumping in?"
"Up to you. I'm letting you choose how much danger we will face."
The fallen angel thinks about it for a few moments before she decides what to do.
"Alright. Come here." Raynare opens her arms.
"Huh?"
"The passage is not that wide. It will be much easier if you hug me while we descend."
The dragon stays silent for a few moments before he cuts the distance between them. The fallen angel quickly embraces him. The face of the Welsh dragon gets buried within her boobs.
"Comfortable?" Raynare asks.
"... Let's jump. Not another word about this." The dragon rejects any form of teasing.
Raynare smiles at the reaction of her boss before they jump down. Their bodies descend through the path at an impressive speed until they reach the lowest part of the tunnels, Raynare uses her powers to slow their descent, and as soon as they get to the floor, she releases him before they start to look around.
The room was expansive and filled with different colored crystals. Their scent was much more potent and disgusting than before. Some crystals shine as bright as the sun, while others are much darker.
"What is this place?" Ddraig says as he approaches the crystals alongside Raynare.
"A storage room? The passage we used might have been an emergency passage to the lower levels. I imagined running around the tunnels while being chased by enemy forces wasn't effective. Maybe they have these passages to get away more easily."
"The fall might have killed them."
"Dwarves are far more resilient than many races. I doubt that a fall that high was enough for any dwarf to die." Raynare grabs one of the crystals and examinates it for a few moments. "Nidavellir minerals, I know about their mines, but to this day, they have knowledge that I lack. These crystals could have been the power cells for the army of golems."
"Do you think we'll find something else past that door?" Ddraig points his finger at the door at the end of the room.
"There's only one way to know. Before that, could you collect all of this for later?"
The dragon looked around for a bit before nodding, his pocket dimension sucks everything inside in just a few milliseconds. The room lays empty and devoid of any crystals by the end.
With this taken care of, Raynare started to walk towards the door.
Ddraig followed closely behind; the pair opened the door and found a long hallway leading to a broken golden door filled with broken runes and writing.
"Seems that we hit the jackpot. Maybe that is likely the main lab of the whole place. Just think about what we could find in there." Raynare's eyes shine with joy.
"Keep your head out of the clouds. I doubt that will be as easy as just getting inside and grabbing whatever we want. My senses tell me something bad is waiting behind those doors." Ddraig's eyes stay focused on the door.
The door still stood after so long, but the damage it had received alerted him to the possibility of danger.
The pair slowly approached the door; each step was much more careful than the one before. It takes a few moments until they reach the golden door.
"Wait." The dragon calls out to his ally.
"What? Is there something wrong, my lord?"
"I'll go first."
"But-"
"I can take a hit. I'm immune to flames. I can surely face anything behind that door and come out on top. I'm not taking any chances with your life on the line." The dragon looks determined.
Raynare grows silent and thinks about it for a few seconds before she takes a step back. "Don't die, my lord."
"I'm not planning to; cover my back." The Welsh Dragon takes the lead and lunges forward to tackle the door.
The door gets sent off flying, and as the dragon steps into the room, his body gets engulfed by the flames of the defenses protecting this new room.
"Flames are useless." The Welsh Dragon looks around through the flames and finds several magic circles activating one after the other. "Raynare, stop! Don't come in."
The dragon shouts back to his ally to prevent her from being injured.
The fallen angel stops on her track and watches as her boss gets attacked from multiple directions with a barrage of different elemental attacks and metallic projectiles. "My lord!"
The Welsh Dragon uses powers and engulfs his body with crimson flames. A fire vortex starts to take form and protects him from the multiple attacks as the flames devour anything that gets too close.
Minutes followed in which the Welsh Dragon drew the attention of all the attacks until the defense mechanism finally stopped. The dragon kneels with a smirk.
"Lord Welsh?" Raynare calls out to him.
"I'm alright." Issei takes over. "Be careful when you come in. I don't know if there's something else awaiting to attack us."
Raynare nods before approaching the spot where her boss is still kneeling; her eyes look worried, and she even ignores the lab as she focuses on the dragon. "Are you injured? Do we need to get Asia or Valerie?"
"I'm alright. Take a look around. We have found what we were looking for." Issei says before he points up.
Raynare follows his finger and finds the three large incomplete bodies of the golems they were looking to find. The room stretched out upwards. One could see the many platforms Dwarves used to work on the golems. "Gogmagogs. Could this be their main lab?"
"Only one way to know, start looking around. I'll take a second to drink something. But, of course, blocking attacks is not an enjoyable activity. Just be careful." Issei says with a smile.
Raynare shakes her head. "Research can wait; I should take care of you first."
The fallen angel takes out some provisions from her bag and settles them in front of the dragon.
"But the research?"
Raynare approaches his face and caresses it. "My lord, I enjoy acquiring new knowledge, but I know what should come first. This knowledge is not going anywhere. Now, let's eat and check your body. Tiamat will never forgive me if something ever happens to you while I'm supposed to support you."
The Welsh Dragon stays silent for a few moments before he starts eating, and Raynare takes the chance to examine his body for any injuries that need treatment.
They had found the place, and thankfully they weren't injured, although it was a dangerous mission. A moment for eating was well-deserved.
40 minutes afterward.
With their stomachs full and their energy replenished, the duo began to explore the lab. Raynare started to carefully read every piece of paper she could find while she asked her boss to collect anything too big for her bag.
The three titanic golems were the first thing he collected. After they made sure they weren't active or possessed any self-destructive mechanism.
The golems were all in different stages of completion, from missing legs and arms to lacking most of their internal components. They were unusable, but Raynare looked confident about her chances of completing them.
"All of this is pure fucking gold. Asshole-Azazel will lose his mind when he sees all of this."
"Sure, but he will smash us into bits after he learns about this little excursion of ours."
"It was worth it. Just think about the possibilities. We can even use this knowledge against the Asgardians if their armies ever attacked us."
"True…" Issei looked around. His mind started to ponder about the war he would face in the future. "Ddraig, do you think that there's a chance in which Asgard joins us?"
"With Odin in the lead? I doubt it. He is part of the generation that betrayed the primordial gods. I doubt he will ever set his pride aside to work for the greater good. He also has a vendetta against me, adding reasons why Odin will never join our side."
"That means that Asgard might have to fall, and that would also mean that his allies will fall alongside him."
"Maybe. Although I'm confident about what Odin will do if we ever offered him an alliance, I don't know what his children and the other gods will do. Thor, Baldur, Tyr, Freyja, and even the dwarves, I don't know what they will ever do. The actions of one member do not always represent the whole group."
"Right." Issei's eyes turn to Raynare, and to his surprise, he also finds her eyes focus on him. "Yes?"
"Thank you."
"Why?"
"For trusting me and coming here with me."
"We're allies, is the least I can do."
Raynare shakes her head. "You didn't need to do this. You didn't need to do many of the things you do for me. You treat me with respect and as an equal. Even with all the circumstances behind our meeting, you have not treated me disrespectfully or shown any signs of a grudge against me. I appreciate your actions, my lord. I hope that we continue to work together for a long time."
She bows her head.
The dragon's face softens at her words. "The…. feeling is mutual, Raynare."
The dragon does the same.
They acknowledge each other as equals. The Welsh Dragon was the dragon that had killed many of her allies during the previous war. Raynare was involved indirectly in the death of his parents.
Yet with all that, they still had created a deeper connection with each other.
"I will do my best for you, my lord," Raynare told herself.
"I will continue to fight any enemies that come our way for your sake, my friend." The Welsh Dragon told himself as he stretched out his hand to her.
Raynare smiled as she reached out to him to shake it. They were allies, and that wasn't going to change anytime soon.
Many hours afterward.
The search continued for the duo after that room, but after so long, the pair decided to set up camp for the night.
Within another one of the many rooms they had explored that day, Raynare and the Welsh Dragon set up a small base for themselves.
The small fireplace illuminated the room, and the dragon was unexpectedly the first one that had felt asleep. Then, as the dragon rested next to her with his eyes closed, Raynare continued to write down her thoughts in a small diary.
"October 25, Year 201x.
My little excursion with Lord Welsh has been a success. I had doubts about him joining me when I first asked him. I expected that the stupid idiot (Azazel) had told him never to allow me to do anything like this, yet it hadn't been like that. The Welsh Dragon has been supportive and a pretty amicable boss. I have no problems when it comes to him. His expectations have been nothing beyond my comfort zone. To this day, I wonder if this enjoyable working partnership will continue for a long time or end the day his vengeance concludes. He doesn't talk about it that much, either. It is a theme that we don't speak about unless another brings it up. Even when we're alone, he never brings it up or asks questions about what I know.
Maybe his priorities lie somewhere else.
As his maid, I have seen him take care of his "family" before his own needs in many cases. Be it getting identities for the kids in the Chaos residence and sending them to school or taking care of the needs of the others. He keeps moving for the sake of others while ignoring his desires on many occasions. I wonder if he'll appreciate a birthday party or even a Christmas gift.
I might have to talk to Tiamat about it."
Raynare stops writing and turns to him. Her eyes admired his calm, sleeping face.
Her hand reaches out and touches his head.
"So soft and yet so warm. You're a fantastic boss, my lord. I just hope that you can be happy. You deserved it."
She closes the distance. Her lips slowly approach his face before she places a small kiss on his cheek. "Sleep well, my lord."
She puts her diary away and settles down next to him after ensuring that the runes around the camp are alright.
Her arms embraced the dragon, and the fallen angel went to sleep in a matter of minutes.
*Hikari no Rasenritsu by Kuikui*
As the fallen angel went to sleep, the dragon slowly opened his eyes. His face turned around and met the sleeping face of the Raynare.
He was surprised by the boldness of her embrace, yet he didn't find it distasteful. He welcomed the contact and slowly but surely embraced her back. His tail coiled itself around her legs, and his wings moved to cover both.
Shortly after, he went back to sleep—Lord and servant, allies, friends, and maybe something more later down the line. Only time will tell how far these two will go.
*Notes of the author: We're done with Raynare's side story. That leaves us with two more side stories, and then we're back to the main plot. Those that were asking for more gods; we got another possible ally or enemy. We'll see later on. We also have Gogmagogs so expect to see more of the giant golems of the war. Anyways, the next story is a bit of a long one, so it might take more than one week. I'll see you at another date.*