NMHA Ch 11 - A Taste of the Stars
"Beep... beep... beep..."
The first thing that Lunarunn was able to make sense of as she slowly regained awareness was the gentle pulsations of the EKG she had once again found herself attached to. That, and the gentle ticking of a clock somewhere in the room.
She tilted her head toward the pulse tracker, wincing as her mind lanced with pain from even the simple movement.
'Maybe I could take a little longer to get moving?'
Wait... how did the brunette even find herself in the hospital again? Last thing she knew she was... had... unlocked something?
No, not unlocked. It was always unlocked, wasn't it? It was... a realization.
('Will you accept now that I know, know what you are...?')
She lifted her hand up and rubbed where she'd last felt bloody tear tracks. They were clean now, but Lunarunn had already surmised she was back in a hospital. Cleaning her up was probably part and parcel of whatever treatment she'd ended up receiving.
'Ulan. You said you were a reflection, but far more than that. I don't know what caused it to finally click, but that's exactly it.'
The brunette turned to the button to call for company and tapped it, letting her arm fall limp again after going through the motions of summoning an orderly.
'That's why you emphasized how I can affect conditions of the world, if not the world itself. Because it's not that you are separated from the world. You're an integral aspect of it.'
She looked back up at the ceiling now, concealing a wince as her mind went over the revelation the Devil had experienced, careful not to move too quickly lest she aggravate whatever strain, physical or no, she'd placed on the vessel of her soul.
'Ulan... you're perception itself, aren't you? You're the very embodiment of existence and recognition, the embodiment of what is possible within this universe.'
Lunarunn felt a rumble run through her, piercing the veil of physicality to make her very soul quiver, as much an affirmation as she could receive in her current state. It probably wouldn't do to visit that conceptual spirit while the bodyjumper's physical condition was still shot to hell.
'That's why you were able to take a soul who, for all intents and purposes, should have been long since gone from this plane of existence and place it within a new world, new body.'
Despite her current circumstances, the Devil couldn't help but feel a brilliant smile creeping across her face. She knew now what kind of power she wielded.
'Isekai itself is impossible, but as a meme, an idea carried by humanity, you were able to draw on its aspects to impose its effects on the world as a whole to accept an anomalous entity.'
It was the best sort of ability that could be granted to someone like her, who believed in the sanctity of the soul over the mind over the body, the will over the world.
'So... would that mean, my own ability is only limited by what global processes I'm able to understand and manipulate, like superheating air or linking its motions to that of an ocean current?"
Ulan's blessing was true psychokinesis.
The ability to use her mind to influence the very world around her, to twist its own perceptions to cause effects in line with her intentions. Unlike more specific forms of psychokinesis, such as telekinesis or pyrokinesis, though they were powerful abilities themselves; Lunarunn could, so long as she understood the ingredients of the effect and how it operates, impose her will to create that effect.
She couldn't copy abilities like the Power of Destruction or a Sacred Gear, since those were abilities tied directly to their source, their user, but the versatility of such a power could hardly be understated.
It was a power with the cost of psychological stamina, naturally. If she pushed herself too hard it'd start causing physical damage. Like... headaches, internal bleeding, concussions, externalized bleeding via her head-based orifices, which would explain why she kept bleeding out of her eyes and why her brain felt like it had been run over by an entire oil tanker at mach three.
The brunette imagined that her power was something of an inverse of the Belial's Worthlessness. Whereas their hereditary power was to actively negate any supernatural power they could understand on a fundamental level, hers was to stimulate a natural occurrence by inserting conditions into the weave of the world from her mind.
Diehauser Belial was the Emperor of Games for a reason. It was most likely due to a savant-like analytical skill, something that would make the Worthlessness ability of the Belial family into what could effectively be called selective supernatural negation.
'Haaaah... how scary someone like him would be if he took a page out of Sairaorg's book...~'
The bodyjumper glared down at her legs, which had started subconsciously rubbing together.
She would have to ask Ajuka once she returned with Uvarys in tow.
Oh yeah, she was still miffed at him for throwing her into Catholic territory. Hm. Maybe another time then.
'...Oh shit, that's right, the Stray!'
She found herself swallowing hard, something heavy coming to rest on her throat and chest, making it difficult to draw breath for just a moment, the very feeling of that heaviness just feeling... wrong.
'Right... the... the Stray.'
Luna was about to climb out of bed, but thankfully for her head's sake the door opened at that time. Unlike what she expected though, instead of a single orderly there was an orderly and two men, one with a head wrapping and a cast while the other seemed unharmed with both wearing familiar exorcist cloaks.
"...Good to see you up and about," she croaked, realizing her throat was dry in doing so before swallowing hard and clearing it. "I guess I have you two to thank for ending up here?"
Masaomi stayed silent, allowing his superior to speak instead. "Yes. You should consider yourself lucky that I know how to keep an eye on my dear subordinate. Had I arrived later you both could have suffered far more lasting damage."
'Suffered more lasting... Yeah, Masaomi took a really bad hit, didn't he? Fuck... and that was my fault too.'
"So Masaomi's going to be okay?" the brunette asked. It was rhetorical, but the exorcist in question chose to answer regardless.
"Yeah. I'll be benched for a while, but.I should be back at it by this time next year none the worse for wear."
'Damn... Next year, huh? ...Yeah, to be fair, his dominant arm did get pretty fucked.'
A year on the bench?
'Fuck...'
Her lips quirked upward, though not too brightly because her head throbbed in pain at that moment, nor did the forming smile reach entirely upward. "Ah... thank goodness. I was really worried there, you know?"
The orderly took the opportunity to get a request of food from Luna before leaving the three supernatural-aware individuals alone in the room.
"I do remember you defending me after I went down." The young exorcist laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand. "Not much after that unfortunately, but I think I got the gist. Heh... how embarrassing, to go down in one hit."
"We were facing a High-Class Rook who was clearly a lot more intelligent than we'd been informed of," Luna cringed. "Humans... are squishy, compared to Devils. I should have taken point and let you shoot him up."
'Should have. Could have. But I still got swatted aside like a fucking gnat...'
She pointedly ignored the feeling of ugly heaviness that returned.
"Well, what's done is done. We got away in one piece, Uvarys is sealed up in some magical bonds Touji-sensei found on you, I'd say we can call this a win regardless."
"You frisked me while I was unconscious?" the brunette shifted her gaze to Touji, before a sly grin spread across her face, grasping onto the distraction with both hands. "My, how dirty of you. Should I call you the 'Teizoku Hentai' (nasty pervert) priest?"
Touji just deadpanned at Luna. "You spoke of capturing him, so clearly you had something to keep the Stray subdued on you somewhere. Do not twist Masaomi-kun's words like that."
"So you aren't denying that you felt me up?" Her grin widened briefly at that.
"Such sinful thoughts. It is little surprise you reincarnated as a Devil," the priest exhaled, shaking his head.
He fell silent, letting Luna mull over the fact that he knew she was once human while coming up with what works to speak next.
Masaomi's discreet nudge had something to do with it as well.
"...I misjudged you," Touji finally conceded, making an expression as though swallowing something bitter. It faded as he went on, though. "Masaomi-kun explained the situation after he reawakened, including your supposed visions. The timing of your slip of the tongue was terrible, but so too was my immediate reaction. All I saw at that time was a Devil implying threats to my wife and unborn child, and acted as such."
He bowed at the waist. "As Masaomi-kun's superior my actions and words were unacceptable for someone of my position, and as one who lost his temper I apologize for my rash actions."
'You still shot at me you fucker! Just because I had a slip of the tongue!"
She took a moment to swallow hard again, forcing down her anger before responding.
"Hey, considering that a sworn enemy revealed they knew about your family, I probably would have done the same." Luna's words were nonchalant, but her eyes were gentle. "...Especially considering what that child will blossom into."
"Even so, I expect better of myself." The brown-haired exorcist rose again, tilting his head at the bedridden Devil. "...Though I will admit to some curiosity at what you mean regarding my child."
"...You're an absolute twat for shooting me," some anger slipped out, forcing Luna to shove it back down with a sharp exhale, "but if it means smoothing ruffled feathers, I don't see why not."
There was a long moment as that same anger boiled over.
Said Devil's eyes drifted shut, inhaling, exhaling, then speaking again. "She bears a seed of light, even greater than her father. Raise her well and she will be a devoted and kind woman under the light of Heaven."
Touji's gaze softened at Luna's 'prediction', though it gained a certain wariness as Luna's lips quirked upward again.
"...And perhaps even be raised beyond the blades she will fight alongside."
That drew both Touji and Masaomi into identical expressions of shock.
"And you aren't concerned about... the church gaining an exorcist that may become a Saint?" the younger exorcist asked, almost hesitantly, while Touji stood stock-still.
'Brave Saint, technically, but close enough.'
"Why would I?" Her eyes opened up, glancing back at them. "I'm living proof Devils are changing, arguably for the better. It's not so hard to imagine she will find her purpose in protecting others rather than hunting down every Devil for the crime of being born enemies of Heaven. A similar purpose as you, I'd imagine."
She inclined her head briefly at Masaomi, who glanced away at that with a small, satisfied grin. "Am I that easy to read?"
"Just something I put together from our conversations that you're more in the protection business than the Devil hunting one," the brunette replied. "You... jury's still out on you, Teizoku Hentai."
"Please don't call me that."
"Then please don't shoot me again."
"I'll shoot you again if you call me that again."
"Then it sounds like we have a deal!" Luna beamed innocently at Touji, before her eyes opened and she glanced up in thought, the picture of innocence only missing the finger on her lower lip. "Oh... now that I think about it, wouldn't that mean that you've made a deal with a Devil? Isn't that, like, the height of blasphemy?"
The exorcist opened his mouth, then closed it, even as Masaomi started snickering, his eyes narrowing into a glare of realization. "You're teasing me."
"No! No, not at all." Her tone was entirely teasing now, as her face split into a smug grin. "...Well, maybe. You might deserve it."
The brunette waited a second, before finishing. "But I'm gonna go with 'no'."
Masaomi was chortling now, even as Touji just shook his head slowly and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're enjoying this far too much, Lunarunn-san."
Said devil giggled. "I'll admit to that, at least."
That he used her name with the proper suffix was not lost on a Japanophile like her.
It was a nice moment, and for a moment she was able to forget why she was in the hospital in the first place.
"Thank you, Shidou-sensei." As the two exorcists left the hospital room, having finished their purpose in going to Luna's room in the first place, the younger smiled at his superior. "I'm glad that you two were able to clear any bad blood."
"It was... surprisingly easy. It was easy to get along with her," Touji admitted, shifting in his cloak. "Lunarunn-san is a remarkably forgiving individual, and it's easy to open up to her in turn."
As they walked along, Masaomi noted that his superior was uneasy. That his posture didn't loosen up as they left the hospital meant that Touji was quite troubled.
The younger of the two frowned, deciding that the brown-haired exorcist's discomfort needed to be addressed. "...Is something wrong?"
"That charisma she has. Even with my guard up, she was able to make me lower it despite knowing full well that she's a Devil. Despite seeing that she was forcing her own emotions down to make amends."
Touji tensed up briefly, and for a moment his subordinate could see him clutching a cross to his chest before the cloak shifted to cover those hands. "And to do so in such a rapid manner, in such a way that I did so willingly, even gladly? That's dangerous. A dangerous woman indeed."
"...Is this because you're worried what she may do with that charisma as you put it? Or is it because she's a Devil?" The black-haired exorcist's frown deepened, eyes growing a little hard.
"Both. You've already been swept up by her charm, so even if her intentions were completely pure, you're compromised," Touji's return gaze to Masaomi's glare was a troubled one. "We'll be spending time rereading the scriptures once we return to the Vatican to report the success of the mission. I will not tell you what to think of Lunarunn-san, but some time to reflect on this should give us more insight on what to make of that dangerous woman should our paths cross again."
"Lunarunn never challenged my faith. She challenged me to expand my horizons and consider new possibilities, but not my faith," the black-haired exorcist defended himself, now openly glaring at Touji. "How is that being 'swept up' or 'compromised'?"
"The words of evil are insidious. All I ask is that you keep that in mind."
...That answer, borne of his experience with the Church's teachings, felt hollow to Touji, and it was clear Masaomi thought much the same, even as he silently acquiesced to his superior's request.
"Teasing aside, thanks for... you know. Not... well... not killing me or the Stray when we were both unconscious. I can imagine how it... must have been a tempting prospect."
And that genuine, gentle smile, eyes shimmering with unshed fears, those of someone recently blooded in true combat. What a dangerous Devil indeed. Even Touji would admit to being 'compromised' in a similar manner.
So why was it that Touji had the sinking feeling, that even reflection and refocusing would only bear more doubts in the idea that Luna was either a master manipulator or an exception among Devils?
A form, massive and daunting, rose above her, eyes gleaming with sadistic glee as they bore downward. An ugly grin was plastered across the face of that form.
"Devils are Devils are Devils."
Pain, pain swallowing her body, as a form loomed over the exorcist she'd brought into this - dragged to his death.
"I sold my soul years ago... so why not revel in it?"
A motion, a splat, followed by chunks of red and gray. A scream, of fear, of shock, loss, rage, and pain.
"Weak."
A headless corpse, the remains of a young man, barely out of his teens. A broken body, prone on the ground. A father, who would never see his daughter.
"Ah, how I never tire of this feeling."
A metal object, pressed up against her head. The form above her, glaring down with eyes filled with fear, hatred, and anger. The hand holding the object clenched, the finger extended slightly outward pulling in.
"I should have known better than to let you live."
And so it went on... and on... and on... until there was naught but black.
Darkness. Blissful, peaceful darkness, after that cacophony of horror.
"To change this world, you must first understand this world."
Red eyes lit up, a malice beyond reckoning, a hatred beyond reason, a maw opening wide as though to swallow her whole.
"How can you understand, if you pay only lip service to the responsibility of your actions?"
The Devil shot out of bed, panting and covered in a sheen of cold sweat, eyes dilated as they shot from side to side, attempting to make sense of the world around them as hot and wet raced down the sides of her face. Her eyes only succeeded in doing so after several seconds of panic.
Luna sighed, letting the tenseness in her body seep out of it as she lifted a hand to her face to rub it.
"Calm down, Luna... calm down. It was just a dream." After what had happened, it was even expected.
But all that horror... definitely felt real.
The brunette recognized that the mind was a funny thing though, so it probably wasn't.
...She wished she hadn't gotten a good look at the body that had gotten crushed in that dream though.
If only so that she could try to block out the thought that, in many of those brief images, one of the people killed was a woman with cowlicked brown hair.
The following day, Luna managed to get herself discharged from the library, which was all well and good since despite her lingering migraine she'd already been stuck in that room for nearly a week.
She meant to return sooner, but going into a head trauma-induced coma definitely threw a wrench into that plan.
Though if she were being honest with herself, she had to work up the motivation - 'courage', a part of her whispered mercilessly back - to actually see Uvarys again.
So, if the brunette was already way beyond the few days she'd given herself, there was at least the other remaining week of the mission.
Which was why Lunarunn found herself back in the forest, the artificial clearing that had come about as a result of her and Masaomi's fight with the Stray inhabiting these parts.
She planned on dragging him back to Ajuka regardless of what happened, but at the very least she could try talking to Uvarys again.
As she approached the catatonic Stray, arms and legs bound by seals meant to negate force exerted from the user with an equal amount of force in the opposite direction, the female Devil lifted a hand.
Resting it against the brutish Rook's forehead, she closed her eyes and concentrated.
Uvarys was comatose much like she had been. But thanks to his Rook's endurance, despite the injuries he possessed he was able to remain on the brink of death for what could probably be considered an indefinite period of time.
And needless to say, what Luna did was put him on the brink of death.
Even now, blood was slowly oozing out of the multitude of slashes her wind attacks had carved into the Stray, meaning that Uvarys was currently in a large puddle of blood, on his knees.
Luna was pretty sure that if she had received injuries to that degree, she'd be dead.
'Dead... crushed. Destroyed. No longer living. Just like last time.'
Her teeth grit.
The very thought of touching the Stray that would have killed them had she not found her second wind nearly caused her to flinch back, but with the feeling of bile rising in the back of her throat Lunarunn kept her hand on the Rook's head.
She gasped and staggered back as a hot poker tore through her brain, leaving her nearly passing out, but the pulse of simulated demonic power that she'd injected directly into Uvarys's mind was enough to shock him out of the state that he'd fallen into.
"What...?" Eyes flicking around, they came to rest on the Devil before him. They were back to the way they were before Luna had set him off. Beady, with a cultivated malevolence, but intelligent all the same. "...You. Why am I not dead?"
"Ergh, fuck that hurt... I said it before, didn't I?" The brunette took a seat after staggering back several steps, partly out of mental duress and partly out of something cold gripping her chest as those eyes honed in on her, rubbing her temples with two fingers on each side. "Killing you wasn't why I came here."
"It was for the exorcists. It is their duty to kill Devils, after all."
"I think I had a breakthrough with the senior one. He must have spared you because of my own mission to drag you back to the Underworld. I'm kind of surprised myself; the last we spoke to each other before finding you he shot me in the face and I blew up his car. Hahaha... hah." Luna winced at just how fake that laugh sounded. "Guess that must be the 'turning the other cheek' thing Christians often talk about, huh?"
"Get to the point, woman. Why am I still here, and not being transported back to the Underworld this very moment to meet the sentence of the Leraje family?"
It seemed that Luna's attempt at merriment fell flat, so her expression grew serious - albeit still somewhat shaky - as she stared down the Stray. "Because one, the Leraje pillar is extinct, and two, I was assigned the capture order by Ajuka Beelzebub himself."
That got a motion of surprise, and then sadistic delight radiating from the Stray momentarily.
"Extinct? Good riddance. As for the other... so instead of being killed outright, I become a test subject of the very bastard who created that damnable Evil Piece system?" The Rook's expression darkened. "I'd much rather prefer it if you simply pierced my skull with those winds of yours."
"Even if what he's trying to do is refine the Evil Piece system so that it's more just toward the subordinate pieces, and more fair, so that a situation like what caused you to snap doesn't happen again?"
"And what is 'fair' exactly?!" Uvarys hissed, almost lunging forth but finding those binds holding him captive impossible to break. "Is it fair that just because I grew to love my King that I became a slave to her whims? Is it fair that because I had the audacity to try and approach a high-ranked Devil, I lost everything I held dear?!"
"No, it's not." Her blunt admission stopped the Stray short, blinking down at her slowly while the brunette continued. "And I'm sure that even many Devils nowadays would agree with me. What the Leraje King did to you was terrible, and even though it does not excuse your actions, it does explain why you became the serial killer you are now."
Uvarys snarled, leaning forward as best as he could. Despite her best attempts not to, the motion did cause her to take a step back, and it took everything she had to maintain eye contact. "Easy for you to say. You have it all: looks, a desirable power, connections, influence, and a uniqueness to your very presence that almost compels attention. How could you ever understand what I went through, someone with none of those, as a result of Beelzebub's damnable project?"
"...I can't," Lunarunn admitted freely, cutting the Stray off before he could start talking again. "Especially if you don't share with me the hell you went through."
He stared at her, face scrunched up, as though the offer was an alien concept.
She bowed her head, closing her eyes and lifting a hand to her collarbone. "I refuse to pry any further. I will, however, offer my ear if you decide to speak of your time as a servant of Leraje. Maybe then, I might come to understand. Misery loves company, right? It's easier to bear when there is someone else to do so with."
The woods fell silent, as Luna let her thoughts wander, not moving from her position while the Stray Rook mulled over her words.
Hopefully now, now he would hear her out. To accept the offer she put forth, and maybe even try and turn someone as blackened as him to a brighter path.
"Devils are Devils are Devils."
'...God... fucking damn it...'
While the response was something that Lunarunn expected, it still wasn't the answer she had hoped to hear. She exhaled softly, rising to her feet. "Well. Can't say I didn't try, at least. If that's your choice, then I'll respect it."
She tried, at least.
So why did she still feel so off?
Luna got a grunt as acknowledgement, even as she channeled her power to open a portal, grimacing as the action of doing such a spell was to the detriment of her head.
After returning to the Underworld and getting ahold of the authorities to help deliver Uvarys into a cell set up by Ajuka for Lunarunn's arrival, the brunette found herself in the lobby of the Beezebub Research Foundation main headquarters. She figured that getting in to see the Maou would be easy enough.
Then again, Ajuka had always come to her, rather than the other way around, so it was with a growing irritation that Luna found herself being blocked from meeting face-to-face by the receptionist.
"I'm sorry, miss. Lord Beelzebub is an incredibly busy man. If everyone who wanted to see him were to be let in, then he would get nothing done!" The receptionist, a pretty black-haired woman, smiled contritely. How much of that was simply protocol, experience, or some other reason aside from actual regret, Lunarunn didn't know. Nor did she need to.
'Are you fucking serious? After everything I went through I can't even let that broccoli-haired bastard know I got the damn Stray he offloaded onto me?'
She glanced away, rubbing the back of her head to look at one of the nearby sculptures tastefully placed among well-tended greenery to help stave of the growing sense of frustration she felt mounting.
For the perks of being an unknown, not being able to get an audience with the shakers of the Underworld was certainly not one of them.
Hell, she'd had to show the peacekeepers her Stray Hunter credentials to get them to take Uvarys away to the designated cell. Even then there was more than a small amount of suspicion.
Assholes. Part of her knew they were just doing their job, but Lunarunn still wanted to lash out at them for not just dealing with that brute and calling it a day.
The bodyjumper's gaze returned to the receptionist as she returned to the present. "Then, would it be more possible to have a message delivered to him? Nothing big or bad, or anything like that. I just need him to get a quick note."
The receptionist thought it over for a moment, before nodding once and pulling out a small pad of paper. "While it is against procedure to allow gifts or messages from outside without security's approval, I can make a sticky note to deliver to Lord Beelzebub, if that would work for you."
"Yes! Absolutely." The brunette nodded back rapidly, a beam on her face. "Thank you! All I need him to know is this: 'Lunarunn Bael's mission is complete'."
"Mission?" Luna got an odd look from the receptionist as the other woman looked up from the sticky note she was quickly jotting Luna's message into. "You mean to say you were doing a job for him?"
'Is she doubting me?'
She tilted her head either way, then shrugged. "Ah, yeah, you could say that. If you could just drop that note off, then I can be on my way without a worry."
"...Just this note?" The receptionist asked, inciting a lifted brow from the burnette as she lifted up the small piece of paper.
"Yeah?"
"With specifically this message?"
"Yeeeeeah?" Luna's brow quirked further upward in visible confusion.
"Really?"
The brunette's brow furrowed now, that confusion rapidly shifting to irritation. "Yes, really. Why do you keep asking like there's supposed to be more?"
"With all due respect miss, you seem rather young to be doing missions for someone like Lord Beelzebub."
'I fucking knew it!'
"Youth doesn't mean ineptitude, you know." The bodyjumper had to hold herself back from snapping, even if her eyes sharpened at the insinuation. Then, she blinked, something coming to mind. "...Wait. Are you suggesting I might be a fangirl?"
Now it was the black-haired Devil's turn to have a lifted brow. "You mean to say you're not?"
'...Really? Fucking... really?'
Luna couldn't help it, she started laughing. She laughed, perhaps a bit loudly, but it was just so ridiculous, considering everything she'd went through in the past week.
After a few seconds, she finally managed to calm it down to a snickering.
"Hell no! I'd be caught dead before I end up fawning over someone in such an embarrassing manner! Come on, give a girl a little credit."
"My apologies then, ma'am." The receptionist breathed out a sigh of relief, even switching terms to call the brunette as that relief won out over that faint sense of irritation at just how much Luna had laughed at the thought of being a fangirl. "You have no idea how many people come through here hoping to deliver fan mail or gifts to Lord Beelzebub. Even if he is distanced from the public eye he is still quite popular."
"Yeah, I suppose I can see that. The slicked-back hair look does work for him. As does his proximity to the Strongest Devil. To say nothing of his own power." She lifted a hand to her chin, glancing up, before shrugging. "But seriously, all I need is that note in your hand sent to him. Nothing more, nothing less."
"I can certainly do that. Was there anything else?"
'Finally. Fucking finally. That took way too long for a fucking message.'
"Nope. Thanks again, and have a good rest of your day!"
With that, the brunette turned and walked off, satisfied with the outcome.
Ah, diplomacy, how she enjoyed it when it went well. Yet even so...
...It was on her way back to her parents' estate, aboard the train, that Luna realized she could have used Ajuka's nondisclosure seal to prove her connection to him.
She waved off a Devil who walked over to ask her what was wrong, after she put her head in her hands and started groaning.
Why hadn't she thought of that earlier?
'...A question I could ask about back then, too.'
Later on that ride, though, she found herself wandering in her thoughts, staring out the window.
'It's been years since I got here, and it still looks incredible as ever.' Lunarunn watched as an apple orchard flew by.
'Yet, despite my best efforts I'm still not where I need to be.'
She was still a Middle-Class Devil, after all. Still not able to get a hold of the Evil Pieces she would need in order to make her mark on the world around her.
The brunette knew that she had been making strides, but was she doing so fast enough...?
There was still so much to do, and the clock was ticking.
Yeah, the clock was ticking.
'Tick. Tick. Tick. When will I see the progress I need to? I nearly got myself and someone else killed by a no-name brute for fuck's sake!'
Why was it she was still thinking about the Stray that nearly took her and Masaomi's lives?
She wasn't sure what happened next. One moment, she was dealing with those concerning thoughts, and the next she'd bolted out of her seat, eyes wide and arm reared back as though to summon a wind orb in the direction of a banging sound. Yet, there wasn't anyone there. No, that was the door connecting to the train car behind, had it gotten caught on something? A briefcase maybe?
'You're still on edge because of Uvarys. Just calm down, Luna.'
The brunette turned back to her seat, ignoring the glances of those who'd noted her rapid movements and tried making herself comfortable again to ease her adrenaline-infused heart.
But, then she'd noticed that there was some resistance in shifting her legs around.
She looked down, and saw her hands grasping onto her jeans, knuckles white against fair skin. Was that because of the noise?
Luna shook her head and pulled her hands from her pants. She and he were fine. They would be fine, it was all fine.
That mission was supposed to be a stepping stone to her ascension to the main stage. Right?
So it didn't make sense. Why was it that thinking back set her nerves on edge? Not the kind from fighting either.
That wasn't the 'bang' of a tree trunk, no that was...
("How do you know that?!")
"Tch." She rubbed her face, the side that took the grazing shot, and glared at the ceiling. It wasn't like her to linger like this, so why was she still so jumpy?
No matter. What's done was done. She was sure that her nerves would settle.
'...Right?'
That wasn't to say Luna's day was completely absent of demon lords. She found her homecoming interrupted by a certain magical girl, after all.
Her parents not being home to greet her made her wonder what was up. Thelastia was normally in house, so not even seeing Luna's biological mother made her brow quirk up.
A part of her didn't sit right at the absence, but Luna focused on the matter at hand, the welcome wagon she did end up getting.
Especially since said welcome wagon included the most... frustrating of the Maou to deal with.
"Ah, hiiii Luna-tan! Levi-tan's been waiting for you!" Serafall Leviathan chirped out in greeting, with a short hop and an arm stretched upward in greeting. "Welcome back!"
...She glanced away with a flush as the short hop did wonderful things to the demon lord's chest. Frustrating in more ways than one, Luna had to correct herself. The brunette may have been enjoying the fruit of Devilkind that was the female form these past years, her own specifically, but damn if there wasn't something enticing about the shapeliness of others belonging to the fairer sex.
"Yeah, thanks," the brunette winced briefly at her own half-hearted greeting, noting the glint in the shorter woman's eye before hurriedly looking back at her and bowing politely. "My apologies Levi-tan, I have only recently awoken from a coma, so I am still feeling fatigued."
...Part of her wondered if that was just a conditioned response, or if Serafall's PR training was sticking. Part of her also wondered if there really was a difference between the two; for someone as bubbly as the magical girl cosplayer, she certainly demanded competence from her pupils, and elicited it much the same. Didn't make her any less of a harsh taskmaster though.
The glint disappeared, replaced once more by the cheery bubbliness that was the Leviathan Maou in her general state of being. "It sounds like the mission Ajuka sent you on was a super hard one! Who'd you end up going after?"
So Ajuka didn't fill her in there?
"Ah... Uvarys, the... Leraje heir-killer."
'That probably explains it well enough, right?'
"Ohhhhhhhhhh, the big mook with an even bigger brain in that head of his?" She puffed her cheeks out and pouted. "He's been a huge meanie for a long time. Especially the way the guy kept dealing with the Devils sent after him!"
Luna did note that he had a rather decent track record of being able to handle Devils he faced, but...
"Wait, you mean entire Peerages?" At Serafall's nod, Lunarunn paled, breaking into a cold sweat as her pupils dilated.
'Peerages?'
"W-what?" the brunette stammered. "Why didn't Ajuka tell me he was putting me up against a Peerage-killer? What was he even thinking?! Why did Ajuka send just me to deal with him!?"
"I dunno. Maybe he figured you could handle it?" The pigtailed Devil tilted her head from side to side, pursing her lips and holding a finger to it. "I mean, you look pretty okay for bringing in a known Peerage-killer, so Ajuka wasn't wrong there."
She beamed again and did another bounce with an arm stuck up. "So good job~! I knew my Luna-tan was gonna be a toughie! How'd you do it?"
'I took out a Peerage-killer? ...Right, Sirzechs did say I could... handle myself well in the high-class bracket.'
Yet, Luna still felt more a lingering sense of alarm. 'But... but even so...!'
"It... it wasn't alone," the brunette's cheeks turned red again at Serafall's praise, her words defusing Lunarunn's growing distress toward her contractor, at least momentarily. "I did end up enlisting some help in doing so. Not sure I would have even been able to find him if I hadn't, actually."
Right. If Masaomi hadn't been there, would she have been able to even locate Uvarys? Or, rather, would the Stray have gotten the drop on her if she'd gone looking on her own?
He'd been quiet in getting close to her and Masaomi.
Too quiet.
How could a single Rook handle entire Peerages? Not just once, but on multiple occasions?
Something about that didn't seem right. No, something was definitely not right about that. But what was it, was it just because he was that good at ambushes...?
'Why me?'
"Really? You brought in other Devils to help?" The Maou Shoujo blinked at her pupil. "I thought you wanted to do things without doing it the Underworld way?"
Luna breathed in and closed her eyes, focusing on the matter at hand rather than be swept along by the force of personality that was Serafall Leviathan or by her own shaky thoughts. "I never said I teamed up with Devils."
"Oh?" Serafall blinked again, then realized what Luna was getting at. "Ohhhhhhhhhh! So you managed to convince some Exorcists to aid you?"
The brunette's eyes half-reopened, and she replied with a dull tone. "One of them, at least. The other shot me in the face."
Her teeth grit afterward, at the way she'd reacted to getting shot, and the way that Serafall's comment brought back unpleasant thoughts. Her lips started twitching, as though trying to rise upward.
The holy element was anathema to Devils, herself included, but even then she could have acted. She even did, she blew up their car. So why did she freeze up?
A pause as the pigtailed woman peered at her face, noting that her cheek had a gash in it, one that might align with a bullet graze, but even that was well into the process of healing.
"...Could have fooled me." Serafall's own expression had firmed, becoming a serious one. "Let's sit down. Sirzechs asked for me to stop by and speak with you on what's happened this past week. First order of business being, it looks like your big introduction's been set up."
"I figured that much, at least. Though I'm surprised he sent you rather than coming over himself, or even just having Grayfia drop off a note." She was glad for the change of topic, at least. As the two made their way down the hallways, Luna noted that the Maou hadn't replied to her. Finally, the brunette spoke again. "...It's gonna be a doozy, isn't it?"
Serafall giggled at that briefly, before nodding. "Mhm. Funny way of putting it, but you're not wrong, Luna-tan. Sirzechs decided to put together a gala to celebrate two heirs being born at once, and you're invited."
Considering who it was that put it together... "It's a bigwig gathering, isn't it?"
"Yep!"
'Is this some sort of joke?'
Luna grit her teeth behind a grimace and pinched the bridge of her nose, eyes squeezing shut briefly. She was more hoping to get her reveal in a more casual setting, so being thrown straight into the lion's den was far from ideal. To say nothing of having already done so as far as Stray hunting for Ajuka went.
She certainly hadn't come out of it unscathed like Daniel had in the Bible passage.
"Fucking... damn it, and here I was thinking I'd be able to catch my breath." The brunette huffed. "When does it start?"
"Oh, about two hours ago."
"Huh. That's not too ba- wait, what!?"
It was only when Serafall started giggling profusely that Lunarunn realized she'd just been played, stomping her foot on the ground, crying out in frustration. "Oh, come on! I've been out for a week, Serafall! Cut me some slack here!"
That may have come out a bit harsher than she'd intended.
The Maou wiped a tear from her eye. "I know, I know, it was just too good to pass up! It actually starts in just under a week. Don't worry, Luna-tan, Sirzechs wouldn't start the party without making sure you were able to actually be there."
'Two weeks... he must have planned this with Ajuka, huh? Did they... really expect that much of me, or was it...?'
"What if I took the entire time allotted for my hunting claim to expire, and then was too injured by the end of it to participate, though?" Luna said.
It could have happened. If she'd gotten hit any harder, or if Uvarys had been able to sneak up and get a cheap shot in with those damnable swings of his...
Especially considering he was enough to put down the average Peerage?
"But you weren't!" Serafall replied cheerily.
'That isn't the point though!'
"But I could have been."
'The point is..'.
"But you weren't!"
'I could have...'
"But there was the chance!"
'And it nearly did!'
Several seconds of silence followed, the Maou choosing to let Luna's last proclamation hang in the air for several seconds before replying.
"But there was the chance you ended up dying against Uvarys, too." Serafall's cheery tone dropped again, looking back at Luna with a surprising amount of solemnity in her expression, a direct contrast to her previously cheery comments. "That's just the nature of battle, Lunarunn. Even someone like Sirzechs or Ajuka could be killed in a fight by someone far weaker than them, to say nothing about someone below them such as you or I. Nobody is invincible."
'It nearly did happen.'
"I know that, Serafall."
"Do you?"
That off feeling had been welling up in the brunette. She wasn't a fucking child, why was she questioning her on this? "Of course I do!"
"Do you?" the twin-tailed Maou repeated.
This time, the irritation burst out, the ugly feeling that had been sitting in her chest since the ambush finally finding a full outlet.
"Of course I fucking know that Serafall!" Lunarunn snapped. "Stop patronizing me already like I've got shit-for-brains and get to the goddamned point, you bitch!"
It was then that she realized who exactly she shouted at. Not in the vicinity of, like she had with Grayfia after learning Sirzechs had blocked her from entering the Rating Game Tournament, as simply venting her frustrations.
No, she'd not only shouted at, but sworn profusely toward, one of the most influential and powerful people in the Underworld. Someone who could wipe a small country off the face of the earth with only a small modicum of effort.
Lunarunn's eyes widened, and she started shaking, realizing that if Serafall took offense, Luna had less than a snowball's chance in hell of getting even a foot away from the Leviathan Satan before being completely destroyed.
Destroyed.
Broken.
Ki-
'Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck fuckfuckfuck-'
Serafall stopped, then turned, stepping up in front of the bodyjumper to place two hands on her shoulders.
The brunette froze, the gentle touch causing her to completely lock up, tension more than she could move in.
This was it.
This was the end, wasn't it?
But what Luna found was, instead of censure from a being so far above her, an expression of understanding as a finger lifted her panicked features to meet Serafall's.
"...Then say it directly to me, Luna-tan," The pigtailed woman's voice was soft, and as much as Luna felt the need to she couldn't look away. "Nobody is invincible. Not you, not me, not the exorcists you drew into a Devil conflict. Nobody."
The brunette blinked, and she opened her mouth to do just that.
Serafall's mood whiplashes were something that frustrated Luna to no end. With the way her emotions could go any which way at a moment's notice, it made it difficult to understand how to deal with the usually-bubbly Maou. Even now, she half-expected to be punished somehow, and if Serafall's personal sin was Ira...
No. No, no, no. She couldn't refuse, not when she was in such a helpless state.
But, nothing came out. Her throat had sealed itself shut.
The Leviathan made a point, like she always did.
And the way she said it...
Even now, the brunette couldn't stop the image of Masaomi's arm giving way to Uvarys's makeshift weapon and snapping open in a spray of red from blurring through her mind, the same way he blurred into a tree and slammed hard enough into it to crush the bark. His scream of pain echoed in her ears.
A scream as the result of a situation that she had caused. Pain of a good person, a pain she was in part responsible for.
Nobody was invincible.
Lunarunn's knuckles turned white again, and distantly she could feel her nails biting into the palms of her hands.
Her mind flashed back further, to the expression of fear-induced rage on Masaomi's face after turning his gun on her. If she'd been just a moment slower after the exorcist pulled the trigger...
Right... not even her. Not invincible. Even the main character of a game isn't assured victory, and she'd always had the impression she was different than everyone else. Above. Not in a way to make her look down on them, but that things would always turn out right for her.
She'd fallen into a coma from getting beaten into the ground by Uvarys and overusing her abilities to stop him from murdering both her and Masaomi, after all.
Just like he did the other Devils. Other Peerages.
But, that wasn't even assured.
She could have failed.
She could have fallen into a coma and not woken up. Or she could have simply died from burning herself out.
Just like the others.
Just like the rest.
Her eyes widened again, though this time it wasn't immediately followed by shaking.
She was different though.
She was from another world, she had a contact with a being powerful enough to manipulate souls, a very facet of reality itself.
But was she different? Was she, really?
What if her second wind hadn't been enough?
What if Touji hadn't been there to get them to the hospital?
What if Touji had to step in and gotten killed too?
Nobody was invincible, Serafall said.
She closed her mouth, and opened it again. This time, she was able to get something out, even if her throat felt tight.
"Y-yeah. I know that." The bottom of her eyes were getting blurry, body heavy and cold. "I-I know that. I know that!"
"I know you do, Luna." That damnable Devil looked sounded so sympathetic too. Like she'd been in her shoes. "But... there's a difference between knowing it, and coming to terms with it."
...But the Maou had been in Luna's shoes, hadn't she?
Luna lived through a violent mission.
Serafall had lived through two apocalyptic wars.
Right. She had. She had and Luna had just a taste of that same kind of violence. Even in her new body, she was... at the end of the day, still completely and utterly mortal.
Able to die.
Why hadn't she realized that when dealing with Touji, much less Uvarys?
She did everything right too in trying to talk the exorcist down, but it still went so wrong.
She knew plans went awry in the face of the enemy, but she froze up when the Stray derailed the script anyway.
There was always the chance it could have gone wrong.
So why had she been under the impression that she'd worm her way out of it just like the times she'd been at risk before?
The world she lived in now was one that only existed in light novels in the world she lived in before. But... that didn't make it any less real, did it? Any less random, beyond the path of canon?
Even if Luna was favored by a conceptual being, that didn't mean she was any less mortal than before.
Still mortal.
Still went into a coma.
Still... died?
Yeah. She still died. Or, could still die, rather.
Even her dreams agreed on that bit.
It was about time she realized it while awake too.
"...Ah..."
When did her cheeks start feeling hot and wet?
When did those arms on her shoulders wrap around her and pull her into a soft bosom?
A cold part of the brunette's mind was wondering how she found herself in the warm embrace of a demon lord, but the rest was busy coping with the reality she'd come to realize.
She'd almost died.
It hadn't really sunk in before, not even with the truck that sent her into Luna's body to begin with. All those times staring into the face of death happened so fast that the prospect of being severed from the mortal coil never even occurred to her.
But now? Now Luna could register and realize what had happened.
Even soldiers struggled with the concept.
Luna was no soldier.
She'd almost died, and it was crashing home.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh..." A hoarse whine started growing in her throat, intensifying with each moment that passed.
"It's alright, Luna-tan. You're safe now. You'll be alright. Just let it all out, okay?"
Maybe that was why Sirzechs asked Serafall to be here for her now that it was all hitting her.
Or... maybe it wasn't just Sirzechs. Maybe Ajuka had something to do with it too.
But those thoughts would come later.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
A shuddering, keening cry filled the halls, one girl losing the ability to stand as her mind shut down with the outpouring of tears, while the other guided them both down to their knees, keeping their embrace warm and tight.
A/N:
Started off strong, but then I hit a wall. And by that I mean school came at me with a knife again and the time I had to write afterward my muse was not cooperating so I ended up playing Rivals instead. Also, I felt the need to rewrite part of a section. It's better for it, but the chapter came out later than I would have liked.
The end is kind of angsty, yeah, but after getting into a flow for it, it makes sense to me. Luna never really did come to terms with the fact that she'd met death, did she? I know I'd probably do the same, if I'd brushed so close with death, and break down. This is sort of supposed to be the realization point for Luna that, even if she is special in that she's got fancy psychic powers, she's still just as fallible as anyone else in the story and that as far as Uvarys goes, she got lucky.
Is it believable? Did I draw it out for too long? Was there some way for me to go about this better? Anything else you want to make me aware of regarding the story? Let me know in the reviews.
Anyway, about the schedule...
Unfortunately, school being unfriendly seems like it's going to be the norm for this semester. I'll do my best to get chapters out, but I'd much rather prefer to have a few good ones than a lot of mediocre ones, y'know?
Should be way more available around May though, so if my schedule's kind of spotty until then it should clear up at that point. I have plans for this story, and I'll be damned if I leave NMHA to rot. In any case, I think moving the weekly update to Friday would be a little better for me.
Tempura Wizard out.
EDIT - After receiving a review on the impact of the last scene (or the relative lack thereof) and the missing foreshadowing, I went and added more in. If you know, you know, if you don't, then hopefully you get a better impression than the reviewer who pointed out a flaw in the chapter. And to that reviewer, if they read this again, I certainly hope that it's better now!
EDIT #2 - Made some more adjustments to the chapter. Ideally, it'll be even better this time around.
