"I'm not even surprised." Miyuzuin straightened her lips after almost visibly freaking out, reigning her emotions in as well as she could.
"WHAT?!" Genshirou slammed his hands on the counter, making Kuroka and Diodora flinch.
"Don't scream." Diodora furrowed his brows and caressed his ear.
"Uh, sorry." Genshirou looked troubled, but then his expression turned right back to utter confusion "Wait, don't mess with me!"
Diodora sighed and turned to Kuroka.
"I have a slight suspicion that you'll be able to tell."
"Not a chance, meow." Kuroka shrugged while denying with her head "Your essence is so messed up that you're closer to a possessed corpse than an actual, living being. Even if I could, that possibility was destroyed when you hit your face against Ophis' almighty wall of a chest."
"Huh? You knew?" Diodora was a bit confused, but it made sense. Neither Miyuzuin or Genshirou looked surprised by the revelation either.
Kuroka nodded.
"Care to explain? The doctors couldn't tell me much about my condition, and I didn't want to tell them that I'm hosting some of Ophis' powers and that that's why I screwed my body up so much."
"You jumped straight at a woodchipper with leather armor, is what you did." Kuroka clicked her tongue "You didn't put your hand through the wall, you put the wall through your hand and all of your body instead."
"Oh…" Diodora didn't know what else to say. He knew that's what had happened, but when Kuroka put it like that he couldn't help but draw a blank on how to proceed.
Genshirou's pained expression didn't help either.
"How did you even do that, meow? Never mind that you're apparently not the real deal, how did you channel Ophis' power like that?" Kuroka got closer to Diodora, as if being near him could help her discern his secrets.
"I don't know. I was just desperate and needed the power to fight. It just… I did the same as when I figured out how to use my demonic power: I 'pulled' and it answered."
"Wouldn't be the first time you pull a power out of your ass." Miyuzuin murmured.
"He copied your blade projection, right Yuzu-san?" Genshirou turned to Miyuzuin and got a nod in return.
"And he enhanced his strength against me." Kuroka added "Even if the Abomination did most of the heavy lifting, I could tell you do that. Even with Shalba Beelzebub."
Diodora frowned.
"I just reinforced myself like everyone else though."
Miyuzuin and Kuroka mimicked his expression.
"Devils' physical attributes grow with their demonic power." The silver haired half-devil stated.
"Senjutsu users enhance their capabilities. Devils just rely on their big beams and natural talents." Kuroka added "It's not impossible, but I don't think a lot of people do that."
Diodora blinked.
"I thought devils were all squishy and I needed extra protection…"
"Are you dense? Do you sink in water, meow?" Kuroka sounded and looked outraged.
"Does this guy look squishy to you?" Miyuzuin gave Genshirou's chest a backhand slap, making a meaty 'plap!' sound as Genshirou flinched "Do I, for that matter?"
Diodora clicked his tongue.
"Neither of you count. Nor does Kuroka, for that matter. She literally said Senjutsu does that." He tried to defend himself, but the girls weren't having any of it. Case in point, Miyuzuin actually covered her eyes in frustration.
"Je-Damn. This guy's for real."
"So it's true after all." Genshirou now looked worried sick "But if Diodora-san isn't the real Diodora-san, then…"
"Ah, I reincarnated you. You never met the real one." Diodora lifted a hand, making Genshirou stop talking "Believe me, you'd have been able to tell."
"Diodora the Traveler is reported to be a menace for Holy Maidens. Or was, I guess." Miyuzuin straightened her back, looking serious again "He liked to break women from their orders and take them into his peerage, which would force them into his care and… Well."
Diodora stretched his lips so thin that the lines on his cheeks started hurting.
"Of course you knew." He stated flatly.
"Of course I knew." Miyuzuin parroted "But I also know a lot of things. One of them is that he stopped doing that ever since the order that had Asia Argento, one of the seven Twilight Healing hosts, almost killed him in combat. Then… No more sightings, no more anything. And suddenly, you appear on the other side of the world with a shapeshifting acid monster and a plan."
She shrugged, and even though she didn't speak up for a couple of seconds no one interrupted her. She even felt the need to finish her sentence.
"Uh, well. It's weird. And not in the 'he's trying to deceive me' sense. I ran through some of the options, but haven't been able to figure out which one is true."
Diodora nodded.
"To be fair, I could've been replaced by the Khaos Brigade with an Annihilation Maker copy."
The more they talked, the more Genshirou's expression fell into something closer to terror than understanding.
"Yeah, but you'd have dissolved into a puddle of shadows… Probably." Miyuzuin touched her chin, thinking "Or, well. Not sure. It'd make sense why you know so much about the Khaos Brigade, and where Stain came from. But you could also be a clone, or a doppelganger, or just a fairy that stole Diodora Astaroth's name… In which case, I shouldn't have given you my full name."
Kuroka tilted her head.
"Well, whatever you were… You're not that now." She continued with her point, tracing lines on the back of Diodora's crystalized hands "It's not just your body, your soul is… Well, let's just pray no one removes Ophis' snake from you. It'd be nasty."
"I'm literally still on life support?" Diodora suppressed the urge to yell, keeping himself in place and only balling his fist.
"As far as I can tell, meow."
"Wait, if Diodora-san is like a ghost that possessed the original Diodora-san, then…" Genshirou shook his head, frowning while thinking "Ugh, this will get difficult."
"Benia Orcus called him Diodora the Accursed, meow." Kuroka lifted both of her hands, her index fingers touching and then separating while she spoke "If nun fetishist Diodora is the Traveler, then this guy is the Accursed, yes?"
Miyuzuin nodded.
"I don't like that label." Genshirou kept frowning.
"Our cute idiot Curseling." Miyuzuin murmured.
Diodora didn't hate it that much, coming from her mouth.
"Is that Warhammer?"
"Shut up and explain." Miyuzuin quickly looked away "Ugh, now this makes it more awkward that you use my full name…"
"I don't feel like going back to calling you 'Yuni', though."
"It makes it so much more awkward that I started calling you Lord too…"
"Yuzu, concentrate." Kuroka glared at the silver haired girl.
"Sorry, I've just… Seen a lot of stuff." Miyuzuin shrugged "It's hard to be surprised after literal years of thwarting the Khaos Brigade's weird experiments."
"So you're not a high-class devil?" Genshirou asked, getting back to the point.
"I don't think I count now, even if I was the original." Diodora replied "I've lost my title and right to inherit, so…"
"But you could've inherited." Genshirou insisted.
"Yes. As far as I can tell, this body used to belong to… Well, to Diodora the Traveler." Diodora… ****** replied, flexing his fingers while doing so "I suppose these markings are proof that it now belongs to me, but it's true that I shouldn't be here talking to you guys."
"So… Should I keep calling you Diodora-san?" Genshirou looked a bit less worried now.
"Oh, yeah. Do you have your own name, meow?" Kuroka turned to him.
Now that made Diodora uncomfortable.
"I… Don't." He closed his eyes and opened his mouth "******."
"How the hell did you make that sound?" Miyuzuin made a pained expression, like she had wanted to cover her ears but the sound ceased too soon.
"Ugh…" Kuroka's ears folded while she shook her head.
"You can't pronounce it? What the hell?" Genshirou pushed his finger against his ear repeatedly, like he was trying to get water out of it.
"I've thought about it, but since I had no one to compare notes to… Well, I haven't figured out how to bypass this… Censorship." Diodora didn't want to outright say he was from another world, so keeping it simple helped him take this weight off his chest.
He didn't want to tell Genshirou or Kuroka that they were part of a fictional world, after all. And that one had quite a few pages in the green site and the other was little more than the butt end of jokes and fandom hatred.
No. They were his Kuroka and his Genshirou. A whole world of difference from those that he saw behind the screen. No matter what anyone said, these two were no closer to those from the original timeline than Diodora was to the original heir of Astaroth.
"So dumb…" Miyuzuin shook her head "Let's play a game. A, B, C, D…"
Diodora blinked, taking a moment to understand what she was doing.
"Stop."
"L. A, B, C, D…"
"Stop."
"U. A, B…"
"Stop."
"C."
"Stop."
"I."
"Stop."
"U."
"Stop."
"S."
"Stop."
"B."
"Stop."
"R."
"Stop."
"A."
"Stop."
"D."
"Stop."
"L."
"Stop."
"E."
"Stop."
"Y."
Miyuzuin blinked, Diodora did too. A big silence stretched between them, where everyone tried to digest and figure out how to proceed.
The Invader… The Invader felt warm on the inside.
"Yes, that's me." He nodded.
These three had stayed by his side, fighting a secret war against forces beyond their comprehension. They had had faith in him, and had asked nothing but his help in getting closer to their aligned goals. Perhaps staying together because Genshirou had gained the girls' trust via his undying positivity. But every single one of them had chosen to stay, and to listen to what he had to say.
They were his, and Diodora was theirs. Not like Rias' peerage was hers, but more like chess pieces belong to one team or another. They had found their place amidst each other's company, and now demanded that Diodora took his place for things to work better.
What else could he give, as proof of trust, than his real identity? He had chosen Genshirou for his loyalty, after all. And the girls seemed to get it, in a way.
Miyuzuin nodded.
"I see. Hello, Lucius." Miyuzuin reached out, taking his hand in hers. A small smile on her lips "I'm glad you could make it."
"Yes, I…" Diodora sighed "Please take care of me. The devil world is hella scary."
"It is, meow." Kuroka nodded sagely "So, mister not-Diodora… What now?"
Diodora the Accursed smirked, confidence filling his empty chest.
"Now, we eat. And prepare for what the Khaos Brigade has been hiding from us." He motioned to his hand and Miyuzuin's with his head, inviting the others to place theirs in turn "I can't do this alone, so please lend me your strength."
"Of course, huh…" Genshirou stopped for a moment, but quickly placed his hand and top of Miyuzuin's "Of course, Lucius–san! Diodora-san! This will be hard, but I'll do my best. You're not alone."
Kuroka scoffed, but placed her hand on top of Genshirou's too.
"For Shirone, meow." She rolled her eyes.
"For what could've been." Miyuzuin lamented.
"For… For those we cherish." Genshirou frowned.
Diodora the Accursed blinked. His father would've scoffed at this childish display.
It made him want to participate even more.
"For what was denied to us." He lifted his hand, and everyone else awkwardly followed. It was rough, embarrassing, but necessary. Childishness mixed up with seriousness, and seriousness giving shape to childishness. A symbiotic relationship that anyone that grew up right understood… Yet none of them had had that blessing. They had to start somewhere "For you, for me. For the whole world."
For this unfair world that had forced Diodora to the dirt, for everything that Fate Weaver had been gifted but none in this table could even grasp. For this world that would soon belong to Diodora the Accursed. Every piece of it, all of it.
He smirked, and he had to stop himself from being too pleased about how his rag-tag bunch of misfits had gone through too much to find him strange.
His sister would've loved it here.
All of it. All is mine.