Go read Take Me Back to Eden if you haven't already, Nekro's stuff doesn't make you feel angry at someone!
The two devils stared at each other. Confusion mixed with worry, and something else that Luciel believed to be pity. It made him angrier, to be honest. To show how resentful he remained from the time under Rias' rule and to be found pitiful for it hurt, although not as badly as he thought it would.
He stopped himself from activating Autosuggestion. It'd help very little, and he didn't want to keep running away from his emotions. That only made it harder and harder to deal with them naturally. No. He'd power through like he did in his previous life. As long as it didn't involve combat, Luciel had to be capable of dealing with it unaided.
"Really? No answer?"
"You change too fast." Rias stated as she returned her gaze to Luciel "I just don't understand how you've changed so much in such a short time."
"It's scary." Akeno added "We've wanted to help you since you woke up, but you get more and more strange as days pass. It's not normal."
Luciel looked away from them, feeling disappointed that they'd insist on this. Even if it made sense from their point of view. They knew him as Diodora the Accursed, were nice enough to open up to him once he returned from the meeting with the three leaders. But that was it. Their feelings reached only that far.
Ah. Of course. After what happened with Yuuto, wouldn't Rias start growing to fear how far he was willing to go for victory? He'd shown himself to be reckless, that he cared very little for others. Maybe even his choice to take Miyuzuin so quickly validated their fears.
Luciel closed his eyes. Slowly, understanding people became easier. Like he treaded a familiar path once more, unlike the one he had to cross as Diodora.
Perhaps, if he'd taken his time to center himself, he'd have been able to enjoy his full capabilities since the beginning.
Fear… What a dangerous feeling.
"...It looks like that, doesn't it?" He asked more calmly, returning his face toward the girls "Maybe I should've started from the beginning."
He turned his hand, reaching out as if to grab any of them, palm up magic erupting from it. He allowed light to gather, creating a small circle that saw three figures grow within it. Luciel minded that they were of different height, descending in order from his left to the right.
"There were once three siblings. They lived in comfort, born in a house with enough money that their needs were never at risk of not being fulfilled. The first, a boy that was born with the ability to discern good from evil. The second, a girl so people savvy that no one ever punished her for ruining people's life over and over again throughout her life. And the third, a boy who knew how to avoid total defeat no matter what." Luciel stared at the projections with some longing. No matter how featureless he made them, it still felt like he was doing something that he shouldn't. Although Rias' and Akeno's curiosity emboldened him to keep going. It'd seem that they were glad that he hadn't attacked them, at least "There was a problem, if you didn't already guessed it. Their parents were evil, rotten to the core. The virtues they taught their children made them little monsters that would eat up and use people to their benefit. Even the oldest, who came to detest the couple for their evil ways, couldn't help fall in line because deep down… Using people feels good."
Luciel waved his hand, and the three figures merged into a big one. Showcasing the form of a person lifting a sword victoriously.
"Now, for some reason, someone thought it was a good idea that the siblings were introduced to the supernatural. The first was given wings to fly, a weapon to fight, and the moral superiority to pass down punishment to anyone unlucky enough to piss him off." Luciel moved his hand again, and the figure changed into a splash of figures. All coming from a kneeling person cradling their head "The second was too good to be left alone, so they crippled her and sealed off her ability to affect the world in any meaningful way. She was left alone to rot, waiting for someone to find her. And when they did… Her abilities were not of this world, I'll tell you that much." Then, Luciel made the figure merge into a more obvious form. Some sort of light-based mask: Luciel's previous face "The third one was thrown to the wolves. He was turned into someone destined to lose, a piece of trash with no redeemable qualities. Of course, the third's ability meant that this would not be the end but… They had all been normal people before. They were not ready."
Luciel unmade the light into particles, crossing his arms and looking away as the girls' gazes changed as they looked at him better. Digesting his words.
"A boy born to win, huh…" Rias spoke with some solemnity. Almost like she was talking about herself.
"No, not born to win." Luciel made circles in the air with his left hand "Handcrafted for victory. Built from the ground up with as much dedication as a soulless person can muster. Something not meant to be originally."
He bit his lower lip, suddenly not at all okay with continuing the conversation. He did all the same.
"But a normal winner all the same. Fear plagued his heart, because the world had all of a sudden become dangerous and unpredictable." Luciel still didn't look at them and his voice had become smaller "The beings that lurked in this realm dwarfed him in both age and wisdom, and he suddenly realized that he was a very, very small spec in the grand scheme of things. A modern pond fish in an ancient ocean filled with monsters."
He mustered his courage and gave them a stern look, holding his breath as he hyped himself up to go on.
"I am not who you think I am." He finished, feeling silly for being so apprehensive about this with these two when it'd been so easy with Miyuzuin, Gen, and Kuroka.
It dawned at him that he'd wanted to know, while he wished for the opposite with these two. Alas, the Demon Lord had other plans. But Luciel still mulled over how much his perception had been changed from the sole fact that his people had fewer ways of killing him than Rias calling for Sirzechs out of the blue and ending things then and there.
He'd never grown used to battle, so he feared those that could undo his life in an instant. No matter how unlikely.
Has he always been this much of a coward?
"So… You're not a devil." Rias didn't look too sure that she was saying the right thing.
"Not even a bit."
"And the accusations about the things you did…?" Akeno added, looking more or less as at a loss as Rias.
"Not me, but true." Luciel nodded "And I had to find ways to deal with that too."
"Wait, so all of your previous peerage…"
"Not mine." Luciel interrupted Rias, annoyed that she'd word it that way "But yes, all girls fooled by that guy."
"What did you do to them?" Akeno asked with horror creeping onto her face.
Luciel smiled softly.
"Some were killed by the church, some eaten by Stain." He scoffed "I should be horrified, but I think I damaged my mind the first time I tried to make a 'The Gamer's Mind' for myself, if you catch my drift."
"No, I don't." Rias recoiled, looking very much as sickened as she sounded. Then, her eyes opened wide "Does Gen know?"
"He does." Luciel nodded "But he saw me almost die by Olivia's hand, so I don't think he holds me accountable for it… He's too nice."
"You…"
"I did what I had to do." Luciel shrugged "I instinctively avoid defeat. Doesn't mean it's pretty."
Their expressions were becoming way more different in real time. Whereas Akeno's horror stopped, Rias' own had grown even more. If Luciel had to guess, the way he worded it struck a chord in Akeno's mind. After all, she hadn't chosen to follow Rias just because she wanted to. She originally did it to survive, to have a chance at life.
He remembered saying something that stuck to her before, there in the chapel while fighting Star Seeker. But couldn't quite remember what.
"So Fate Weaver was right, you are a monster." Rias spoke coldly, but Luciel didn't mind it. At least she wasn't pushing for answers anymore.
"I'm not. I just do horrible things when I get desperate." Luciel stated calmly.
Rias' aura swallowed the whole room. Almost pushing Luciel and Akeno back as she gritted her teeth and casted her Power of Destruction around her hands.
Luciel smirked a bit, finally being able to pay attention enough to see how his mind interpreted the Privilege Magic. Forgetting for a moment that this high-class devil was very much pissed off with her.
"I let you around my peerage in good faith!" Rias glared at Luciel, hair moving around as her aura pushed it upward.
Didn't she hear Luciel saying that he'd have done as Sona in their place?
"That sounds like a skill issue!" He grinned as he spoke, hitting the nail in the head.
Rias' blast could've taken a big chunk out of Luciel, to be honest. Every millimeter of Power of Destruction would take a millimeter out of Luciel's flesh. Only sacrificing power so that the Power of Destruction would 'eat away' at it could someone defend against it. It didn't behave like fire, which would be pushed away with wind, or like lasers that would have the kinetic energy behind them burn down against a shield. No, the Power of Destruction would eat away shields, barriers, defenses, armor, and even power itself as long as there was enough of it. This was the priced power of the Bael, the Great King. The absolutely most broken demonic power in existence. So absurd that the Underworld actually feared that one day it'd be paired up with the Phenex's immortality. A power that alone made Rias Gremory one of the most powerful devils of her generation.
Luciel kept his grin up and pointed at the blast, modifying the magic circles around him until the blast stopped in the air and oozed out the Power of Destruction as if it was vapor.
"...What."
Luciel gritted his teeth as he struggled to seize it. His Kankara Formula fed power into Rias' blast, but the properties of the Power of Destruction ate away at the modifications that Luciel imposed. If Rias had kept control over it, he'd have lost. But he knew she'd release it because he'd noticed that's how she shot her bullets during the fight against the Hero Faction. Someone like Georg knew that it'd be pointless trying to fight against something like this Privilege Magic, so they built thick layers of shields to make the blasts consume themselves without touching their targets.
But they used human magic, kept themselves to the logic of this world. Luciel hadn't reached out to grab the Kankara Formula to follow those rules.
The blast consumed itself against Luciel's power. Motionless, but destructive all the same. He'd have liked to redirect it back to Rias, but he didn't know if she could take it. Plus, making it stop had been super difficult already. Breaching into it to control it wouldn't be possible if Luciel's timing was off by even an instant, so he didn't push his luck.
"I told you I wouldn't always be below you." Luciel stated as he changed his sigils.
He motioned as if to slap Rias away, and his magic circles obeyed the order. Rias took an invisible force across her body that slammed her against the wall meters behind her.
Akeno hadn't stayed still, however.
Lightning cracked around her fingers. But by the time she attacked, Luciel had already changed the environment around him. The electricity ran toward the ground and dispersed harmlessly. Following an invisible path traced by Luciel's magic.
No matter the source, electricity is the flow of electric charge. It's not just like a magic laser of fire, it'll travel the path of least resistance no matter what. So insulating against it doesn't mean hardening defenses to take the hit, it means a change that makes it so the electricity won't even come close to touching its mark.
Akeno didn't get discouraged, though. She released her spell and surged forward into Luciel's personal space, basically vanishing in front of his eyes and reappearing, almost touching his nose with her own.
"Oh." He managed to get out before her fist smashed into his stomach.
Luciel felt something inside his body burst, and blood came out of his mouth as he suffered a similar fate to Rias. Landing a few meters away from his original position, without touching the wall.
"You're… Soft." Akeno muttered in silent panic.
His blood evaporated, and his insides stopped hurting within seconds. It startled him a bit, but then the power that he wanted to call forth made him feel calmer. Not his mental spell, but his go-to trump card since he reunited with his sister.
Vampiric trait, of course. Luciel didn't know whether to feel offended that Abby hadn't told him, or glad that his sister still looked out for him like this.
Rias created an even bigger ball of Power of Destruction, but Luciel simply swiped his hand horizontally to launch Akeno between himself and the redhead. Making Rias hesitate to throw her power as Luciel got his bearings back.
"I didn't come back whole." Luciel gasped, lifting his hand up to his head's level to check how the scale-like scars remained in spite of his ability to heal "Surviving took something from me, I became less."
Rias threw her ball of Power of Destruction, making it curve so it wouldn't touch Akeno. But Luciel had already seized the spell.
He made it less consistent, forcing it to expand as he forcefully undid its cohesion until it became a wave that washed over in all directions. Making Akeno have to pull back and attack as Luciel threw out power so the Power of Destruction wouldn't eat away at his flesh.
His Autosuggestion had kicked in, and it felt so right. Battle was easier when he could think clearly, and he needed every advantage he could get.
"C'mon, Heiress of the Gremory." Luciel grinned at the redhead, sounding sly even through his dampened emotions "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you don't share blood with Sirzechs Lucifer."
That pissed her off even more. Instantly, her blasts became more packed with demonic power. More wild, more difficult to control.
Akeno threw lightning at him as he dodged some of the balls of destruction, but it was redirected to the floor again. She ducked under her master's assault, and used her Queen speed again to fight Luciel in melee. Where he was at his weakest.
Her augmented speed found the air becoming denser, making her run slow to a crawl as even breathing became next to impossible close to Luciel.
The electricity in the floor hadn't dissipated, though. This much wasn't even close to the level and variety of Ajuka's barrages. Luciel made it gather into a point, making a loud thunderclap as it all collided against Akeno's stomach. Propelling her back as her defenses took the impact.
Rias dissipated her barrage to avoid hurting her Queen, but Luciel didn't let her check if she was alright. He took what little of her Power of Destruction he could seize, and threw it back in small bullets that she had to dodge physically.
Her expression was priceless. She'd never had the Power of Destruction thrown back at her like that, at least not her own power. Luciel didn't know how she trained with her mother and brother, but he suspected neither was willing to actually get intense with her like this.
Luciel landed on his feet after 'oozing' through the changed air and making it normal again, feeling kind of refreshed.
"Had enough?"
Rias created more Power of Destruction, now making something like a gatling gun of black energy bullets. Which immediately sent Luciel dodging out of the way.
She pressed the assault, making the Invader put up thick barriers in the way to give himself some leeway. Enough breathing room to try and catch some of them, but Rias made them so fast and so often that his Kankara Formula couldn't process the information before they were shot.
Akeno got back to her feet, breathing heavily. But not because she'd been injured. It looked to Luciel more like she'd lost some of her willingness to keep fighting, although he couldn't tell why while being pelted with bullets made out of literal annihilation energy.
No matter. Luciel created water, similar to how Sona did it. His use of it was clumsy, but he didn't need to replicate the Sitri's Privilege Magic at all. He just needed something an easily malleable form and density.
His barriers became liquid, not necessarily so thick but with more mass in them. The Power of Destruction ate away at the barrier, but Luciel simply condensed more water into the air. Slowly forcing the whole chamber to get emptied of matter as Rias didn't stop her assault.
Slowly creating a vacuum while keeping his side of the field filled with fresh air to breathe.
Rias opened her mouth to say something, and she realized that the air had become too thin to breathe properly. Her devil body kept her going, a normal human would've grown dizzy within seconds, but she had enough presence of mind to stop her assault and open her devil wings to close the distance.
Rias created a scythe of Power of Destruction. A solid construct that would've made Luciel flinch if he hadn't had his mental spell running. She sliced his barrier without difficulty, ready to cut him with the same viciousness.
She'd learned to keep her control on her demonic power to build shapes. A more effective way to deal with Luciel, but also one that let him hijack her attack even more easily.
The scythe came undone just shy of touching Luciel. Leaking Power of Destruction around him and eating away at his skin before he could pull away. It regenerated easily enough, but he didn't like stressing his Autosuggestion with pain. He worked through it with the spell, but it'd been overwhelmed before.
Well, it didn't hurt as much as being burned alive. But Luciel would rather not push his luck that much.
"You're it." Luciel touched Rias' forehead, and a thunderclap blew her away as lightning struck her face directly.
Her devil body withstood it, but the hit still had her passed out as she landed on her back a few meters away from Luciel.
Akeno surged onto his personal space again, and Luciel just barely managed to reinforce his body and put up a shield to see her try to stab him with something on her hand.
"A spear." Luciel sounded a bit surprised "A light spear."
Akeno gritted her teeth, but pulled back before Luciel could counterattack.
"You know I can do this." She sounded pained, but she'd sustained very little damage. No, she had it hard because she was doing something she didn't want to.
"I'm sorry I pushed you to do this." Luciel deactivated his Autosuggestion. Closing his eyes as adrenaline rushed to his brain unimpeded once more and made him dizzy.
"You don't make any sense." Akeno panted "You wanted to fight us but didn't want to hurt us?"
"Hurt you in particular." Luciel shook his head "Didn't I tell you? It's our secret. The blood that you don't want to face, I'll not force you to face it."
Aken still looked very lost. She turned to look at her King. But Rias hadn't moved from her spot. The raven haired beauty shook her head.
"You don't make sense." She repeated.
"Think about it this way, I'm trying to influence you." Luciel pursed his lips "Use you, if you will."
Akeno scoffed.
"Are you?"
"Eh…" He looked away "What would be the point?"
She pressed her lips together.
"Not telling me means that there is a reason."
Luciel smiled a little.
"You're smart."
"And you're our enemy." Akeno looked toward Rias again "You said you were scared, but you didn't hold back at all here. What if Sirzechs-sama hears of this?"
"I did hold back, dear." Luciel made his voice sound like he was surprised "I didn't hurt you both in any way that a good night's rest can't patch up. Harming you gets me nothing."
Akeno considered it for a moment.
"Then why fight us?"
"I was mad." Luciel confessed.
"Angry? Just for that?"
"I mean, kinda? I could tell you that I wanted to see if you guys were strong enough to help, but that'd be a lie." Luciel placed his hand on his chest, making his shoulder pop as he hadn't noticed that one of the blows that dislocated it "My pride was hurt, I got annoyed at the Demon Lords pressing me to come out clean with you. That's why I did this."
Akeno shook her head.
"I thought we were closer." She didn't sound hurt or disappointed, just… Dejected "All of us."
"We weren't." Luciel insisted "You never knew me."
"I still don't really know you. It's always 'what now?' with you, isn't it?" The raven haired beauty wanted to laugh, but the cheer bled out of her face as soon as she tried.
"Now, you guys go back to the Gremory state and prepare for whatever Sirzechs said you were attending." Luciel sighed "Train, grow stronger. Do whatever you want, honestly. I don't resent you so much that I'd want to make you miserable."
In the original timeline, Rias fell behind in power early on. When Riser appeared, she turned from the top damage dealer of the team to a damsel in distress that needed the weakest of her peerage to rescue her. It always felt strange to Luciel, her brother turned out to be the strongest being in the Underworld. And arguably most of the verse. Why was Rias so weak when she supposedly trained all the time? Was it because this world was fictional? Needs of the plot, as it were? But this was real now, and Fate Weaver had been with them for two years. The guy had kept up with Stain, and his harem apparently also fought the slime on their own.
Far from being satisfied with this, Luciel felt disappointed in this outcome.
Like, fine. He cheated to become as powerful as he did, but Rias and Akeno had two years of leeway where they supposedly trained and perfected their powers in preparation for…
Right. Nothing happened. No stolen Excaliburs, no Khaos Brigade, no Evil Dragons. Genshirou trained to one day defeat the Heavenly Dragons, and his growth had been splendid.
Did not having a goal cripple Rias' growth this much?
Luciel looked to the floor. Even if he'd absorbed so much power through All is Mine, he hadn't overwhelmed them so much that they couldn't defend themselves. The gap hadn't been that wide, in fact, they knew how to fight better than Luciel. There were two of them, they coordinated rather well, they should've won. Kankara Formula struggled against the Power of Destruction, his Ophis-like power had only managed to even the odds. They should've been able to get the upper hand.
So much for being the so-called Ruin Princess.
"Go back." Luciel sighed "I'll see what I can do to fix this place."
The whole chamber had been pelted with the Power of Destruction. Some of the magic systems had their sigils broken due to it, so they stopped working altogether. Luciel didn't know if he could repair them, as he didn't know what the unmade sigils did. But there should be a function to repair the damage, right? Ajuka didn't strike him as someone who'd let his testing grounds be destroyed without a 'sweep button' of sorts to do it again as soon as possible.
"How did you get this strong?"
Luciel closed his eyes, a little annoyed that Akeno would ignore his command.
"I can't tell you. I don't know if you'll see Fate Weaver again."
She looked surprised at the answer.
"What does he have to do with…?"
"Did you not pay attention to the story?" Luciel covered his face with his right hand "No, never mind. Maybe it's better this way. Sin Devourer."
Akeno seemed to tighten up as Luciel spoke.
"Sin Devourer, Sin Devourer." He continued.
"I am here, Nemesis." The Miracle Child appeared from behind Akeno, startling the Queen and making her throw a lightning bolt at him.
The electricity ran through his body, but he just kind of shook until it passed. Then, he patted his clothes and straightened his back.
"What did you do this time?" Sin Devourer sounded disappointed, looking around and resting his gaze on the unconscious Rias. Probably, Luciel couldn't see beneath the hood "Ah, fulfilling your role I see. I didn't expect you to actually fall in line."
"Is that beneficial to me?" Luciel asked after pondering Sin Devourer's words for a moment.
"The world is naturally inclined for you to be antagonistic toward the Messiah's chosen, but whether that is good or bad depends on perspective." Sin Devourer replied "You'll find more success in such actions."
Luciel didn't buy it. Like, sure. He won handedly. But that wasn't because of some fateful encounter or whatever. He simply worked smart instead of hard… Against someone that worked hard instead of smart.
He pressed his eyes together and covered them with his hand.
"What… Are you talking about?" Akeno looked weirded out by the Miracle Child. Not by his words, but rather by his presence itself. She took a step away from him, but Sin Devourer didn't glance or react to her.
"Do not concern yourself with such things, Priestess of Thunder." The Miracle Child shook his hooded head "Just understand that because of your experiences, and the Messiah's experiences, you two are more likely to get along."
Luciel dropped his hands.
"Because I came here the way I did… I grew spiteful." He murmured.
"I was under the impression that you were already spiteful." Sin Devourer commented "You just became more so when you saw others not having to struggle as much as you did."
Luciel scoffed.
"Handcrafted to lash out sooner or later." Saying that felt bitter in his mouth "I… I think I'm going to cry."
"Should I call the Tiebreaker to come pick you up?" The Miracle Child tilted his head.
"Don't you dare. I'll wait for Kuroka and Miyuzuin to be done and…" Luciel stopped in his tracks, turning to Akeno again.
She had the face of someone who had accepted that nothing made sense and was waiting for things to go back to normal.
"What?" She focused back on him, looking rather troubled. On edge.
"I can't let you both go around telling people that I'm alive, but I also don't want to just take your memories away. It's… Well, it sounds like a good idea but…"
"Nemesis-coded. It doesn't sound so good after realizing how deep in this you are." Sin Devourer said like he was just wondering if that was the case.
"I'm not sure that makes sense even with context." The raven haired beauty said.
"I want to stop making these mistakes." Luciel frowned "The scales are always stacked against me in such an abstract way I always trip on them. If this keeps going, I'll just feel like an idiot."
Akeno blinked a couple of times.
"Why… Aren't you just nice, then?"
"I understand what you're trying to say." Luciel put a hand forward, as if to stop Akeno in spite of the fact that she didn't say anything but that question "But the world's going to end and I only have so much sanity left to deal with all of this. Do you think that dealing with this guy is so easy?"
"Hold on." Akeno closed her eyes and shook her head "What?"
"You're overloading her, Nemesis."
"Yeah." Luciel sighed "Alright, let's pack up."
"Wait! What do you mean the world is ending?!" Akeno took Luciel's arm, making him flinch as she still was stronger than him thanks to her Queen piece.
"Did you think I was just being spiteful?" Luciel pressed his lips to the side "No. It's because I'm dealing with this and I need all the able bodies available."
"Why not offer them untold power if they join you, then?" Sin Devourer interrupted.
"What do you think someone would do with borrowed power when they can't even use the one they got by themselves?" Luciel retorted "No. Rias is of no help. She lacks motivation and… Focus…"
Luciel stared at Akeno, who took a step back from him.
"Sin Devourer."
"Yes?"
"We're kidnapping Yuuto." Luciel sentenced "He can help, probably. His Balance Breaker sounded super useful."
"If you say so." Sin Devourer raised a hand "Shall I go ahead?"
"Wait!" Akeno released her wings, a devil one and a fallen angel one "Stop! You two are…!"
Luciel lifted Rias with his power, making the raven haired beauty stop speaking.
"Look, I know this looks bad. But honestly? I'm so done with all of this, it isn't even funny." Luciel spoke in a deadpan tone. Not even giving Akeno the visage of someone evil, just someone very tired "We're gonna take your Knight, and you'll tell Rias so she has a reason to exploit her potential. That scythe? That was great. But it's not enough. She won't even be able to protect herself if any of the mid-tier bad guys come knocking out of blue."
"What are you going to do with Yuuto?"
"I'll make him strong." Luciel stated "At least so he can provide weapons for everyone. It'll be good for everyone."
"Being under his master's shadow has stunted his growth." Sin Devourer placed a hand in front of his hood, as if to touch his face, and shook his head "Such is the downside to the Evil Piece system. The reincarnated get an initial power boost, but they are at the mercy of their leader's shortsightedness."
"That's also a skill issue." Luciel wanted to chuckle.
"Perhaps that's why the Sakura-Babel grew like they did." Sin Devourer added "They were not constricted by you, and so they grew up in the way they could."
Luciel gave the Miracle Child a look.
"The what?"
"Sakura-Babel. It is the name of your team." Sin Devourer stated as if it was obvious "I took the liberty of thinking of a fitting name. I believe it is important to let everyone know."
"Why?"
"It's the way this world works." Sin Devourer shrugged "Seven Wings, Crossroad Hounds, Hero Faction… Everyone that belongs to something gets a cool name."
"Sakura-Babel Team, then?" Luciel pushed his eyebrows together.
"A mixture of different beings from all around the world, yet most are japanese." Sin Devourer explained.
"I… Okay, I see it." Luciel nodded "It's better than the last time you did it."
"I… I'm still here." Akeno interrupted them.
"My apologies." Sin Devourer turned to her "Shall we kidnap you too?"
"Why?" Luciel asked.
"I believe she's feeling left out." The Miracle Child replied "Plus, it fits with your goal: Losing both her Knight and her Queen is bound to stir something within Rias Gremory's mind."
Luciel pressed his lips together.
"Know what? Your choice. I'm apparently still trapped inside this world's loop."
"Very well." Sin Devourer reached out, offering Akeno his hand "Shall we get going?"
"Where to?" Akeno didn't step away this time. She had probably grown way too confused to resist.
"To the Grigori." Sin Devourer's words made her flinch "The Tiebreaker might find you interesting, and we might be able to do something I've wondered about for some time."
Luciel didn't get it.
"She's a half fallen angel." Sin Devourer answered the unspoken question "Can the Tiebreaker take out the 'fallen' part of her being?"
That made Luciel open his eyes widely.
"You want to make artificial Miracle Children." He said breathlessly.
"The more people capable of miracles, the better." The hooded half-angel nodded "Don't you agree?"
The question wasn't for him, it had been for Akeno.
Normally, she'd grow stronger after accepting her fallen angel side. But, if they got rid of it… Did she really have to do it? She'd deal with her family affairs at her own pace, but since they really couldn't sit around and play house and become friends with everyone…
"What about Rias?" She ended up asking.
"She'll be safe." Sin Devourer replied "And in times like these, that's really all we can ask for."
Especially since her death would probably send Sirzechs into a rampage…
Akeno turned to Luciel.
"I want to understand." She stated in the end.
"You'll regret it." He assured her.
Her usual teasing smile came back almost instantly.
"I don't think so. I just want to see for myself whether what I saw in you years ago was fake or not… By myself." She put a finger on her lips, although the motion ended up odd. Fake.
"Right."
"You're not fun." Akeno pouted.
"And you're bad at this." Luciel replied.
"Fine. You want the truth?" The girl approached him again, closing the gap so much that Luciel felt how small he actually was again "All this chit-chat reminded me of something: You might've been gone, but Yuni and Gen remained. Kuroka too, but she was only really with Koneko-chan."
She pulled back, and her smile looked more genuine now.
"And you know what? I trust them. Gen's too pure to follow a black-hearted monster, and Yuni-san is… Well, she's like me. She'd lash out at anyone that would harm someone unfortunate." Akeno stated plainly.
If she knew how similar they actually were…
"Oh, you called her 'Miyuzuin', right? Gen calls her Yuzu-san, so I guess her name's actually Miyuzuin?" Akeno tilted her head "That sounds like a devil name."
Luciel cringed.
"Get her out of here."
Akeno's smile turned smug.
"You're too much of a mess to be our enemy, Lu-ci-el~." Akeno looked away "But don't worry: I can fix you."
Luciel shook his head.
"No hit? Maybe I'm losing my edge." Akeno spoke with fake disappointment.
"Kuroka beat you to it."