So, not as early as I'd hoped, but oh well. Still posted regularly. This chapter will be different, in that it's an interlude between this chapter and the next chapters. Also clears some things up for how things are gonna work in the story.
Gonna be a lot of exposition here, so be prepared for that.
Disclaimer: Godzilla and all related trademarks are owned and licensed by Toho Co., Ltd, Legendary Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Pictures. High School DxD is owned and licensed by Ichiei Ishibumi and Fujimi Shobo. I own neither series, please support official releases.
The mission was a failure.
Two dozen of their best fighters, capable of utilizing everything from Ki, magic, Chakra, different forms of spirit energy, Elemental Bending, to even fucking Stands, and some able to do that all at once. All of them went through the portal ready to fight the enemy, just as they'd always done when they'd been called by their 'owners'.
And all of it was useless against that thing.
*GAWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOO~! GAWAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH~! REAAAAGH! GRRRRR!*
He didn't know if any of the others were alive. All he knew was the nightmare was hunting him.
No, not hunting him, playing with him. It knew exactly where he was, where he was going to be, and where he was trying to get to. It would cut off his attempted escapes, snap one of its limbs or weaponized body parts into an area to corral him, strike with a blast of energy to force him back to a certain point.
It was like a small child messing with an insect they'd clipped the wings off of because it amused them. He had nowhere to go, no way to survive, and the living nightmare could easily finish him because of that. But it wanted to play with him. To this thing, he was no more than a simple little toy.
*HWEEEEEEYEEEEEEEEEEHEEEEEEEEEEEYYYEEEEEEE-BIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDI~!*
And the sounds it made. The sounds were the worst part.
He didn't care if they owned his fucking soul. Those sounds would haunt his dreams if he survived this, and those madmen who fed him to this beast were to blame. He'd curse them no matter what.
"Greater good my ass!" he wept as he hid in a piece of rubble.
*BIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDI~!*
That sound was the worst of them. The way it echoed off of everything made it impossible to tell whether the thing was getting further away or closer. Earlier, when his group had realized that they were doomed, they'd tried to get away, to hide, and every time that fucking sound echoed, they'd been fooled.
And he already knew that the nightmare was doing it on purpose. It knew what it was doing. It was gleeful at the prospect of leading them straight into its next trap. And now he might've been the only one left.
The last insect to giggle at as it played with him. Toyed with his mind as it ripped through an entire world, before simply getting bored and ending him.
"...F-Fuck that!" he growled under his breath before holding his arms out. "「ALL STAR」!"
A brilliant golden glow surrounded his body as his Stand manifested. The green and gold humanoid emerged from him with its arms crossed, brilliant eyes flashing as the two of them vibrated and shone. The world around them seemed to explode as their light became blinding.
When the light cleared, he breathed a short sigh of relief. Nothing around him was familiar. He was probably on the far side of the planet. If he could regain his bearings and activate the seal for contacting his 'owners', he'd be safe.
*REEEEEEEEEYOOOOOOOOOWEEEEEEEEEEEUUUUUUUUUUGGHHHHHHHHH!*
Except he was now on borrowed time. That roar, while far away, was still too close for comfort. That thing would either rip through the ruins of the entire planet just to get to him…or it would simply take wing and fly right to him if it wanted to end this charade.
He was already quick to find a spot where he could make the call. Coils of mystical energy spun around his hand and a flat disk of magic symbols flashed over his palm.
"Tell me somebody can pick up! Please, just pick up, damn it!" He hissed.
"We read…disturbance…failure of contact…report!" a voice said through static.
"FUCK YOUR FAILURE TO CONTACT!" the Stand-User cried out. "As far as I know, everybody is fucking dead! That thing is coming to kill me! Get me the fuck outta here! Do something, damn it!"
"Come again? Please…details…respond…less profanity-"
"FUCKING SAVE ME, DAMN IT! GET ME OUT OF HERE!"
There was a loud sound of wind booming and swooshing as something big moved nearby. The gusts became almost apocalyptic in force as they tore the very ground apart. The air above screamed as the skies echoed with thunder and bled thick rivulets of rain.
The only reason he could keep a hold on the ground was with his Stand forcibly holding him in place. Even then, it was starting to overcome his projection, to where he was nearly dragged into the sky screaming.
"Hello? Hello? We fixed the issue with the communications! Can you hear me?!"
"Please, just get me out of here!"
"You haven't completed the mission-"
"What fucking mission?! As far as I know, everybody else is fucking dead! That thing was literally toying with us!" the Stand-User cried desperately. "It's coming for me! I can hear it flapping its fucking wings! Please, just get me out of here!"
"I-I thought that-"
"I wanna go home! I wanna see my wife again! I wanna see my daughter! Please!" the man wept. "I didn't even get to say goodbye! Please, just get me out! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please-"
*BOOOOOOOMMMMMMM*
The man flew several meters away and rolled across the ground as something big impacted the ground not too far from him. When he looked up, his blood turned to ice and his skin went ghost white.
*GRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!*
Massive bat-like wings spread out well over three thousand feet, blocking out the sky, the glowing membranes stretching down from the back of the creature's three necks, all the way to the base of its twin tails. Three more pairs of auxiliary wings stretched and flicked around, all four pairs of limbs curling forward slightly before suddenly going slack. As the monstrous appendages lowered, the vicious-looking hands perched on the top limbs flicked and twitched as they met the ground, clawed fingers tapping against the earth and ripping gouges out of it.
The monster puffed its chest out, causing the rib-like armor plating across its torso to shift and flex. Brilliant golden scales flashed and brimmed with impossible amounts of furious energy as they suddenly vibrated with power. A pair of monstrous, rattling tails flicked and hissed wildly as they danced around far behind the creature. Massive clawed feet clicked and speared at the ground as they shifted in place.
Rising over twelve hundred feet above him were three long, scaly and spine-covered necks shrouded in shadow. High above, twelve pairs of glowing red orbs flashed brightly before shifting, zeroing in on his small form. Three nightmarish faces hidden in the shadows of a storm slowly approached him with viciously leering grins.
The middle head's lips curled as it sneered. The right head's lips peeled back as it snarled expectantly. The left head's tongue emerged as it eyed him curiously, a playful and wicked glint flashing in all eight of its eyes as it slowly approached him.
A burst of electricity ran across the nightmare's body before coalescing around its three necks. The three heads gave him a downright murderous smile before pulling back. Low clicks and chirps emerged from its jaws and throats as it opened its fang-filled mouths.
*BIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDI-YEEEYEH-YEH-YAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH~!*
The man's eyes screwed shut as he curled into a ball. Small, pathetic sobs passed his lips as tears fell down his face. As the sound of electricity crackled around the air above him, his hands entered one of his pockets.
The ring he'd taken off earlier, as well as the little hairpin, were quickly in his hands. He'd put them away for safe keeping, a foolish worry that he'd drop or lose them. Now he was clutching to them like a lifeline.
"It's…not…fair…" he said through wracked sobs.
*CRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAACKLE-TSEEEEEEEEEEEEER*
His entire body froze as he heard the blast spear towards him. His Stand emerged from his body for the barest of seconds in a last ditch effort to defend him. Even then, he could still feel the searing heat from the energy.
*fwooosh*
And then he felt his body shift. He was hitting hard glass and metal flooring. The rain and the surrounding wind had completely disappeared, and the dangerous heat was gone. He shivered worriedly for several moments before hesitantly opening his eyes.
A bespectacled man in an outfit like a mix between robes and a business suit stood over him. His hair was dark green and streaked with gold. His yellow eyes were looking down at the Stand-User with muted relief.
"I suppose it's good that we got you out in time," the suited man turned his head, a tired frown tugging at his lips. "All of you, in fact. Or, rather, all of you that were left…"
The Stand-User looked around in shock. It was only a few from the entire group, but it was far more than he was expecting. Some of them were puking their guts out, others were screaming, and at least one was completely silent and frozen in terror.
The man's head fell back onto the floor as he curled back into a ball. His cries were no longer silent, now horrified wails that echoed through the halls.
Back on the desolated planet, the Golden Demise cut off its Gravity Beams. The remains of the blast splashed across the ground and danced across the landscape, electricity burning and tearing through everything around it. A low, pleased hiss escaped from the monster's center head.
Until it realized that it hadn't once sensed the death and suffering of the man's soul. All the monster's eyes twitched as it leaned down to ground level. It sniffed around, the lips of its middle head curling in pure hatred.
Once again, somebody had stolen its prey. It rose to its full, nightmarish height and spread its wings.
*BIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDIBIDI-YEEEYEH-YEH-YAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH~!*
An enraged howl echoed through that section of the multiverse. All who heard it shuddered in fear. Some would feel it over the course of the next several months, as an entire universe died a nightmarish death, as every last world was eaten, piece by piece, never enough to satisfy.
The God of the Void cut its roar off with a hiss and shrugged. It wasn't bothered. One world out of infinite worlds was nothing. One tearing of reality was all it needed to find even more to conquer.
The Golden Nothing hissed gleefully as it smirked, before turning its gaze back to the dying planet it stood on. After all, it was best not to waste a good meal…
The green-haired man stalked through gilded halls with a sour look spread across his face. Beside him, his younger dark-haired employee walked with his hands clasped and hidden in his sleeves. The two of them stopped in front of a large door with a flashing red light brimming across its reliefs.
The light suddenly turned green, and the two men nodded to each other before entering.
"Ah, Mirai, Kanta! It's good to see you!"
"Kakyoin," the bespectacled man nodded curtly at the redheaded schoolboy in the room. "We're heading towards the meeting room. Kanta wanted to pick you up as we went."
"I, uh, figured we could walk and talk?" the dark-haired man said nervously.
"That's fine! Let me just get everything in order really quick. I've got a couple of documents I need to bring," Kakyoin trailed off. "I remember forgetting to bring the ones for one of the last meetings. Nobody there would let me live it down…"
"You can rest assured that we wouldn't do that," the green-haired man sighed. "So, can we get going?"
A few moments later, the three of them were walking through the corridors, the redhead with his documents in hand. Despite the schoolboy's animated speech, Mirai was curt and sullen with him, while Kanta simply kept to himself.
"It's getting out of hand," the green-haired man said darkly, interrupting the redhead.
"...You're talking about Ghidorah?" Kakyoin asked after a few moments.
"The Abomination, yes," Mirai corrected. "We sent a team of two dozen to hold it back. Only four of them survived."
"That's…worrying. But the report I read said that it was still contained within that section of the multiverse," the redhead mused. "What was it that Sensei said? So long as it's feeding on 'meaningless universes', it won't be an immediate problem? As long as we can corral it-"
"But that plan is failing! It's getting more difficult to contain it," the green-haired man growled curtly. "We're about to be in a scenario where we're running on borrowed time. And we might not have enough time to prepare ourselves."
"Yaki, please tell me you have an ace up your sleeve?" Kanta asked desperately. "You've got a bunch of guys you're presiding over, right? The ones you said you hadn't been paying attention to in a while?"
"They're not ready," Kakyoin sighed.
"But, the Saiyan-"
"He hasn't even reached Super Saiyan yet, let alone his immediate potential."
"The Stand-User? Y'know, the ninja-"
"He's still the lowest rank of Shinobi, and he's still highly untrained," the redhead chided. "Even if he can stop time, he's nowhere near powerful enough to face Ghidorah."
"The…Pokémon Trainer?" the dark-haired man asked nervously.
"The fact that you even have to ask is telling," Mirai huffed. "Even if he were to have a Legendary Pokémon, he would still be useless against the Abomination."
"Do we have any other assets? I know Kisaki has a Kryptonian waiting in the wings, right? Or maybe that one guy who's part demon like-"
"We have no assets that can be useful against the Abomination. A fresh Kryptonian would be worthless against such a creature," the green-haired man interjected, glaring at Kanta flatly. "And we're talking about a monster that can regenerate from single cells. Even a half-demon is nothing in comparison. There's nothing we can throw at that thing that could immediately bring it down."
"...You're partly incorrect," Kakyoin noted. "Aren't we heading to a meeting to speak about the very thing that could stop Ghidorah?"
Mirai breathed deeply and turned away. "Kanta? You're the one who's monitoring the boy, correct?"
The dark-haired man flinched. "He's not ready."
"And how do you know that?" the redhead asked.
"Trust me. You'll see at the meeting…"
When the three of them entered the meeting room, four other people were there.
One was a dark-haired man with an eyepatch on his right eye. He wore a long lab coat over a suit and slacks. He currently sat with his fingers steepled on the table as he watched the three men enter the room.
Sitting next to him was a tan-skinned man in a two-piece suit, with short, dark hair and equally dark eyes. He was smiling and laughing just as the three of them entered, and his smile only grew once they were standing in front of the table.
The third man was a tall, bespectacled, green-eyed man with long blonde hair shaved on one side of his head and partially covering his left eye. His two-piece suit might've looked nice a long time ago, but the sleeves were scuffed with grim and dirt, there were marks all across his pants, and the dress shirt was opened to reveal a flannel t-shirt beneath. The man evidently didn't care about his state of dress, as he was obviously inclining his head tiredly.
The last of them was a fair-skinned man with dark brown hair and a short beard. He was dressed in a vibrant silver-colored robe that was reminiscent of a suit. The man sat at the head of the table while clasping his hands together, a restrained smile tugging at his lips.
"It's good that you three have arrived," the brown-haired man nodded as the other men all stood and bowed with him. "Now then, I suppose we'll need to get to work, won't we?"
"Yes, I suppose we shall," the green-haired man rose from his bow and took a seat.
The other two with Mirai took their seats as well, mirroring the rest of the room. There was a tense silence as files were passed around, the other three men reading in curiosity.
"So, the issue is about Ghidorah, right?" the tan-skinned man huff.
"The Abomination, Gondo-san. We should refer to it-"
"It's fucking Ghidorah, Mirai!" Gondo cried in exasperation. "I don't understand why we gave it code names or nicknames. Just say it how it is!"
"Ah, perhaps it's based on superstition? You don't think Ghidorah is going to come find us if we keep saying his name, do you?" Kakyoin joked.
"We don't even know the full breadth of that thing's capabilities," the green-haired man said icily. "For all I know, it has ways of finding this facility. Everyone is claiming I'm mad for constantly working 'round the clock to ensure we're constantly shifting around for our own safety."
At the next bout of derisive laughter, the eyepatched man let out a heated scoff. "Don't belittle Sasaki-san!" he turned to the entire room with a cold stare. "Unlike him, none of you can understand the burden of seeing into the future. Be grateful for that, and for the fact that he's weathered through that burden for all of our benefit!"
Kakyoin gave Mirai an apologetic smile while nodding. "You're right. I understand this is serious, but I…I thought we had it contained."
"We do. At least, for the most part," the silver-robed man nodded. "But our containment is failing. After everything that happened just years ago, we're getting spread thin. And this creature is starting to push at the boundaries we've locked it in."
Mirai sighed in annoyance. "It always goes back to those idiots! They practically ruined us for no other reason than 'freedom'!" the green-haired man clicked his teeth viciously. "Those fools have no idea what freedom is! They have no right to tear through the multiverse and destroy worlds by-"
"Sasaki! Now isn't the time," the silver-robed man chided.
"...Yes, of course, Akua."
"The most important thing is that we attempt to strengthen the boundaries. We've commissioned some of our assets to assist," Akua made a frown and a small noise of worry as he grabbed the various folders he'd brought with him. "For the most part, they're meant to buy time to further seal Ghidorah away. But if we could get a smoking gun, a warrior who could actually face that creature, we might get through this."
"Well, suffice to say, we don't have any," Mirai sighed. "None of our assets are strong enough to face it."
"That's…not entirely true, Sasaki. You and I both know it." The silver-robed man slid a couple of papers across the table, a serious look on his face. "These three are somewhat of 'aces in the whole' for us to bring out. Not quite a last resort, but something we'd keep close to our chest."
"...Yeah, that'll do it," Kakyoin mused as he read one of the files. "But we all know this isn't a permanent solution. If…if you can give me a couple more years, I can have Articho ready. Not just by unlocking Super-Saiyan, but his…unique evolution of it."
"That may not be feasible, Kakyoin. This creature has already figured out that we're actively trying to lock it away." The bearded man gave the redhead a dark look. "What will happen when it tires of playing games with us?"
"So…w-what is the solution, anyway?" Kanta asked nervously.
"Kanta, you should've figured it out by now. After all, you were there for the sealing," the eyepatched man said flatly.
"Woah, woah! I didn't think he'd be important! I just figured we were preventing another creature like this Ghidorah from stomping around the entire multiverse," the dark-haired man said defensively.
"And we were. But you have to have known it was more than that," Akua chuckled. "Just imagine it? Having our very own Godzilla ready for deployment? We might have an automatic win button if we can string him along enough~!"
"That's a terrible idea!" Mirai said loudly. "You realize what you're saying, correct? You want to control a version of Godzilla? Even with our technology and powers, that's suicide!"
Gondo let out a nervous chuckle. "Hey, gotta agree with the guy! I mean, trying to get Gojira to do what you want is a gamble. And if you don't do it right, you'll really piss him off," the tan-skinned man gave the rest of the table a sardonic grin. "Trust me, I've got very personal experience~! If you fuck around with the big guy, you will get burned!"
"Nevermind the fact that it was the hubris of mankind that created the very first Gojira. And such hubris ended it as well…" the eyepatched man trailed off morosely, a sad look on his face. "That is hubris I refuse to repeat, no matter what. We shouldn't even be thinking about trying to control Gojira. It'll only lead to ruin."
"Serizawa, I understand where you're coming from. But you should understand that this isn't from reckless ambition and thirst for power!" the bearded man said reassuringly. "This is to protect everything."
"Then you should know that trying to bring that creature to heel will protect nobody. You won't be saving any universe by attempting this! You'll be destroying them all!"
"W-We can't be sure of that!" Kakyoin said suddenly. "I mean…we sealed Godzilla away in a Sacred Gear, right? We have a way to keep him under control, do we?"
"Well, that honestly depends~!" the blonde man chimed in teasingly. At the curious expressions the other men made as they turned to him, the green-eyed man chuckled. "Yeah, 'Blonde Anime Skrillex' decided to chime in! I bet you were all surprised that I was even here, huh~?"
"Uh…actually, Axel, I was wondering what you were here for?" Kanta asked nervously.
"You realize I made the Sacred Gear we locked the big guy in, right?" the blonde chuckled.
"...Oh? Oh! Wait, that was you?!" the dark-haired man asked.
"Yes, yes it was! And I'm insulted that I didn't get the recognition I deserve for it!" Axel said hotly. "Do you even know what that Gear represents? How much work I put into it?!"
"Oh no, here he goes again…" the silver-robed man sighed.
"I essentially made an item for the Early Access Build and inserted it into the final Alpha Build. Do you have any idea how difficult it was to do that?!" the blonde threw his hands up in exasperation. "Let alone all the safeties and checks I put in. That thing is a thousand times more advanced than any of the originals that old man could've made! Let alone the manther! That idiot couldn't even-"
"Can it control Godzilla? That's the question we're asking!" the redhead interjected.
Axel suddenly let out a loud laugh before staring at Kakyoin in shock. "Oh, you're serious? Y-You actually think it's meant to control him?" the blonde let out another loud laugh at the redhead's confused look. "That isn't meant to control him! It's a cage in a soul. The cage allows the owner of said soul to utilize the power of the thing housed in the cage. But he'll only be able to use the full power of that beast if it allows him. You have a guy living in a world where that's a known thing! How can you fail that spot check?!"
"W-Well, in this specific world we're talking about, other beasts in their respective Sacred Gears-"
"Aren't fucking Godzilla. He's been in there for, what, just under two decades? Compared to the centuries that schmucks like those two dragons have experienced, that's nowhere near long enough to just come to terms with it," the blonde shrugged while tilting his head. "And again, let me remind you, they aren't being outright controlled by the Sacred Gear. They only freely give their full power to their users because they're all about their millenia-long dick measuring contest."
"So it all comes down to the boy, and how much of Gojira's power he can manifest," Serizawa mused.
"And that's if he decides to play ball. Who's to say he and the big jackass don't come to an understanding?" Gondo huffed worriedly. "And that understanding involves not dancing to the tune of anybody who tries to bring them to heel. No matter how many times we tell him to 'jump', he won't be asking 'how high?', he'll be telling us to fuck off."
"Well…unless he were, say, dying?" Akua mused.
"What? Wait, why would that be a factor?" Kanta suddenly asked nervously.
"That is a good question. We aren't planning to kill him, are we?" Mirai asked coldly.
"No, we're not going that far~! I'm simply implying that the Sacred Gear couldn't cover everything," the bearded man mused. "And that, if he wants to continue living, he'll come to us. After all, we're the only ones who could fix-"
"I'm going to give you five seconds to start talking," Kakyoin said with the most icy voice he could muster. "And depending on what you say, I'll be reporting to our higher ups. Being forthcoming will probably help a lot~!"
The silver-robed man flinched as several flashes of gold surrounded him. The stiffened tendrils that locked him in place glowed brightly. The entire time, the redhead's lavender eyes pierced into him like daggers.
"If the boy's Sacred Gear activates, it will kill him in a year," the bearded man said nervously.
"...How so?"
"Ah, w-well, I don't understand the technical details myself. Axel, however, knows what the problem is!" Akua gestured to the blonde nervously.
"Really? Gotta throw me under the bus like that? Fucking hell, boss!" Axel hissed, sighing as Kakyoin turned his gaze towards him. "Before you start, I wasn't planning on going along with his asshole plan. Thing is, I've been having trouble finding a fix for that issue."
"What issue?!" the redhead growled.
"Okay, how do I explain this? Hah! So, since he was a babe, the Sacred Gear has been secretly filtering G-Cells into the kid's body." The blonde rubbed the back of his head thoughtfully. "They're all modified by the programming of the Gear itself. It's part of its code. It'll do it even while it's inactive and the big guy himself is asleep. Kid must have about…eh, maybe one or two G-Cells each for every five-hundred billion of his normal cells."
"And why are they there?!" Mirai balked at the blonde's words. "Why would you allow highly mutagenic cells to permeate a human body?! What good can come from that?!"
"Well, for starters, once the Sacred Gear activated, it'd hit him with a lethal dose of radiation. You know, the thing that kills people?" Axel chuckled at the nervous looks the two formerly enraged men gave him. "The G-Cells will multiply within, integrate into, and mutate his body in order to efficiently guard against the initial dose, and buffer against the rest. Also, it'll clean his internals up-y'know how it is, it'll scrub any potential cancerous growths that occurred from the activation, prevent him from going sterile, keep him from accidentally killing every girl he sleeps with by irradiating them, the works."
"And that's all it'll do?" the green-haired man asked with an even voice.
"...Eh, n-not exactly. It'll also hit him with a lighter Captain America treatment. Plus bullet-resistance and super-healing," the blonde leaned back and inclined his head. "Hell, if he's dead when it activates, it'll literally just bring him back to life. He'll basically be unstoppable to normal humans. Non-humans…eh, that's mostly a toss-up."
"What?! Woah, wait! Was this intentional?!" Kanta asked.
"Hmmm…might've been?" the blonde gave the other man a sheepish grin. "I mean, I also had to shift stuff around when I was tweaking the programming system for the G-Cells. The radiation immunity, internal cleansing, and the resurrection thing were one-hundred percent intentional. Everything else might be a side-effect."
"So…why would he be dying from that?" Kakyoin asked flatly.
Axel flinched slightly while nervously clasping his hands. "Ah, well…his body might just end up burning out because of the mutation. See, he needs to keep himself upright by getting energy-and he might not have the ability to just absorb the energy on his own, so he'll need to get what his Sacred Gear is sucking in. Thing is, the guy in the Gear is also absorbing energy," the blonde shrugged while raising his hands defeatedly. "So, he'll basically be picking up Godzilla's scraps. And if he's also using that for fighting, he'll be expending that energy, basically leaving his body with no way to keep itself upright."
"You knew this was a problem?" Mirai asked with a dark voice.
"I only found out recently! And despite my misgivings, I was told not to bring it up!" Axel glared at the bearded man. "Thankfully, somebody couldn't keep their mouth shut. So I guess I don't have to worry about having a guilty conscience."
The redhead ran a hand through his hair in exasperation as he withdrew his Stand. "Akua, you always do good work, but whenever you pull shit like this, it makes it hard to have any respect for you. You realize that, right?"
"You were going to force him to depend on a cure that was likely temporary at best, was that it? Keep him coming back, dancing the way we want?" the green-haired man hissed at the bearded man. "Did you not think he'd rebel the first chance he got if that was the case? Because I could've seen that coming! Hell, a five-year-old could've seen that coming!"
"We own his fucking soul!" the silver-robed man said coldly. "We're supposed to keep it on lock and use him as an asset. If he doesn't do what we say, we have every right to force him to heel-"
"But we have ethics regarding this!" Serizawa said angrily. "We can't simply compromise those! We'd be no better than the various fools who compete with our agency!"
"We can deal with that issue later," Kanta said firmly, giving one last glare at the bearded man before turning to the blonde. "Axel? Can you fix the Sacred Gear? Make it so that he isn't on borrowed time the moment it activates?"
"Sure, I can try. I'll have to do it while he's asleep, and I can't rush it-otherwise the big guy wakes up early~!" Axel waved his hands while making 'spooky noises' before dropping his arms and tilting his head. "It won't be perfect, however. I was crunching the numbers and doing simulations already, and…the mutations for radiation immunity and the full-cleanse of his internals are the main issue. They're what's gonna seriously hit his body the hardest. Everything else just added little bits of shit on the shit pile."
"So, what's the verdict? F-For his life, that is?" the grey-robed man asked worriedly.
"If he isn't dead when the thing activates? Ten years? Five years if he is," the blonde hummed. "I'll tweak it so that he can absorb energy for himself, stuff like radio-waves and UV-rays. Hell, he'll even be able to absorb shit like Nature Energy and Prāṇa. Things should sorta even out eventually, but…his lifeforce will still take a heavy hit simply because of the mutations alone."
"I suppose that's the best we can ask for," Mirai sighed. "Perhaps we can find a solution for him. At the very least-"
"There already is!" Gondo interjected, giving the blonde an odd look. "There's a way for him to get that lifeforce back, or maybe even to simply repair it, isn't there? You're just not telling us."
The blonde took a deep, nervous breath. "He could easily replenish his lifeforce if he removes his humanity. Doesn't have to be all at once, either," Axel steepled his fingers thoughtfully. "In fact, the original design, without the fixes, could still work if he were to just start allowing bits of his body to be replaced. If he replaces the right parts, he could give himself entire centuries of continued existence."
"At the expense of trading entire portions of his human body with those belonging to…" Mirai trailed off worriedly. "Oh."
"That isn't feasible!" Akua interjected. "If he does that, how likely is it that Godzilla gains the ability to possess him? Or at the very least, influence him? If his transformation goes far enough, we'll lose complete control!"
"How arrogant can one be to think they ever had complete control? Do we want a soldier, or a dead man walking?" Serizawa asked sarcastically.
"Well, there's the other way. He'll still be able to replace his body parts, but those won't even matter," the green-haired man hummed as the rest of the table turned to him. "If fixing his lifeforce involves forgoing his humanity, there's already an option. But that involves him taking a specific offer, and leaves the question of whether we can still keep him as an asset should he do so."
"It would be trivial to gain authority over him," the silver-robed man scoffed offhandedly. "After all, our claim on his soul is greater than any spoiled demon aristocrat brat!"
"...You don't sound so sure of that," Mirai noted. "In fact, your dismissiveness almost seems desperate. Are you really certain that we'll still have a way to bring to heel should he become a devil?"
"W-Well, of course we will!" the bearded man said defensively. "And even if we can't control him directly…well, he'll likely form a connection with those devils, right? We could easily use their safety to leverage-"
"I dare you to finish that," Kakyoin said coldly.
"Obviously he wasn't even thinking of actually doing it. Let me remind you that if he is influenced by the big guy, pissing him off is the last thing we want to do," the tan-skinned man chuckled darkly. "Trust me! I've got very personal experience with that~!"
"I'm simply stating the obvious! The boy will, in all likelihood, attempt to hold onto his human morals, or at least retain his connections," Akua folded his hands together with a frown. "With that knowledge, we'll have ways to at least persuade him to act in our interests. But the most ideal situation is to ensure no one else has a claim over him!"
"And your solution is to either isolate him from a potential chance to sever ties to us?" the green-haired man noted. "Or to hold hostages against him if he does?"
"But of course!"
"I…I don't like that," Kanta muttered.
"It's not about what you'd prefer, Kanta. It's about what is best for our goals," the bearded hummed.
"Yes, well, the ones who decide that are the higher ethics councils, right?" Kakyoin mused.
"And they often understand that sacrifices must be made," the silver-robed man smiled. "Perhaps they'll be unwilling to go that extra mile, but they will agree that we can't lose this opportunity. If we do our jobs right, we'll have acquired one of our strongest assets to date…"
"...Can you believe him?"
"I can," there was a small huff as the image on the crystal ball cut off. "I worked under that madman. Of course he'd be willing to pull shit like this."
The two speakers were a man and a woman, both sitting at a bar frequented by multiple pantheons and beings from within the universe they were in. Despite wearing the same dark robes, the two of them couldn't be any different.
The first speaker was the man, who was of average size and with short, dark-brown hair. A sardonic grin was tugging at his lips and threatening to split his face apart with how wide it was. Despite this, his dark eyes slowly shifted into a golden color that brimmed with malice.
Across from him was a pale woman with long black hair and brilliant red eyes. A deep frown sat on her face, and her eyes flashed with disgust as the image faded. A low hiss slowly escaped her lips as she inclined her head.
"Hey, is there a reason we showed up here?" the man asked curiously. "I mean…seems a little risky, right?"
"Risky? Yes. Funny? Certainly~!" the woman's frown slowly twisted into a wicked grin. "I mean, we're practically hiding right under their noses, right? They'll never suspect it!"
"And what about…" the brunette motioned towards the rest of the bar.
"A simple matter to hide us in a field that prevents us from being heard by anybody if we don't want to-it'll even loop some of our actions if we're sharing information. After all, our tricks are far better than anybody here could conjure up," the ravenette woman chuckled slightly while leaning forward. "At most, they'll suspect us to be their world's Fallen Angels. They have no idea what we really are."
"Eh, guess that's kinda funny? You know, I figured you'd want to check on the kid?" the man smiled gleefully. "I mean, we've been around the block, so to speak, but this is a rare opportunity! I've never seen any version of the real Godzilla."
"We're not going to see Godzilla!" the woman deadpanned.
"Oh, come on! Why not?!"
"After what they just said? There's no way they aren't keeping an eye on him," the ravenette said firmly. "Besides, we have more important things to worry about than seeing Godzilla. If you want to see one, we can go to the one with all that…that red stuff? You know, the one that's a weird, acasual thing?"
"The higher dimensional one?" the brunette offered.
"Yeah, that! You're probably surprised I'm mentioning him, huh? Even those idiots didn't realize that it's using its connection in their sealed Godzilla to observe this universe," the woman held out a small crystal and slid it across the table. "Haven't you realized it yet? This entire universe's history, specifically this Earth's history, has been altered."
The man tapped the crystal and blinked when images and text appeared in a strange sort of mystical hologram. For the next few moments, his gilded eyes scanned the information with a worried look.
"Ah? So, what, it just made Kaiju show up?" the man asked after several seconds.
"It did more than that. Aside from pulling at other universes to alter things, it used the memories of the other Godzillas to create Kaiju in this world organically. That means no transdimensional metaphysical bullshit," the ravenette sighed tiredly. "Just 'naturally grown' Kaiju created by 'natural processes'. If you can call half that shit 'natural'. It's been inserting different things across the entire timeline, seemingly for shits and giggles, not caring about any of the problems it could cause with its changes."
"I don't see how this is an issue?" the brunette leaned back at the woman's flat look. "B-Big monster? What's wrong with big monsters?"
"It's not an issue for us, at least not specifically. But if more show up, and the source is discovered, there will be eyes on this world." The ravenette clicked her teeth in annoyance. "And who knows what they'll plan to do when they discover it? They'll basically assume they've gotten free weapons-how many more Kaiju will be jammed into those things?"
"You're blowing it out of proportion~! They could barely seal away Godzilla, from what I heard at least. The resources they spent on that nearly broke their bank." The man waved his hands around dismissively. "Not that it really matters, seeing as they're their own bank. Like you said, we've got more important things to worry about. You find out anything about the Catalyst Core?"
"It's still missing," the woman sighed.
"Oh. That's…motherfucker!" the brunette huffed. "We need to find that core, damn it! Our super mysterious plan won't come to fruition otherwise!"
"Do you really need to call it a 'super mysterious plan'?"
"Shush! You know why we really need it anyway," the man sighed while inclining his head. "The last time we made that thing go off without it, shit went crazy. I'm still surprised that it did all that."
"Yeah, well, it could've been worse. At least those weird slug aliens only have to worry about dinosaurs instead of something worse." The ravenette clicked her teeth. "I don't think the issue with the Infinite Corridor is entirely related, though. That's been going on since just around the time we lost the Core, so there's that."
"So, do you have any leads?" the brunette asked.
"...One. When we raided them last time, that asshole Jakob hid it in one random soul that was still being processed for reincarnation. Apparently they'd gotten a world that they don't reincarnate their 'assets' into." The woman steepled her fingers with a deep frown. "Thing is, that doesn't quite narrow it down as much as I'd like. I'm trying to meet with one of our contacts to get more information."
"And what will you do if you find the location?"
The ravenette's look turned vicious. "Tell me, what do you think I'll do?"
The man smirked back. "Well, let's hope it doesn't take too long, then…" he trailed off as his grin twisted into a small frown. "What about Ghidorah? Do we have a plan for that?"
"Let me worry about it. The rest of us are already monitoring the situation," the woman tilted her head with a nervous look. "Might seem like those idiots are containing it, but I can tell they're scrambling to put a lid on it. Doesn't seem like it's gonna last."
"Hm? Well, that just leaves more time for us to get our work done," the brunette tilted his head curiously. "Heh…I wonder just what they think they'll accomplish here?"
So, did you really think that the reincarnation agency was just reincarnating people out of the goodness of their hearts?
Pfft, nah! They all slaves~!
And yes, that is Ghidorah. He's got the same type of origin as the version of Godzilla trapped in Isashi. But, y'know, he's a thousand times worse. Godzilla would've just dicked around and destroyed a bunch of civilizations before settling on a wild, backwater planet. Ghidorah though? He's eating everything.
I mean, what do you expect? It's Ghidorah, he does that shit. And unlike most other versions, this one is the only one running the show-no mind control, no alien masters, just one 381m+ tall space nightmare causing suffering for his own amusement. You better believe that this version of the DxD world ain't quite ready for him.
Speaking of which, you also get to see how G-Ultima is screwing around with this world's history. If you're reading between the lines, you might get it, but eventually I'll just plain spell it out in the next interlude (that'll be longer than this one, certainly). But it'll make things interesting, at the very least.
Now then, onto the reviews.
Zet4: So to answer your questions about devils, the reason why low-class devils can rise through the ranks of devil society, at least in-universe, is by competing in rating games and winning, while making a good show out of it (they're basically like sports matches, only instead of Football everybody is beating the shit out of eachother). They are in fact allowed to join in rating games, it's simply that Rias and Sona were too young-they were 17-18 and the rest of their peerage was in the same or a lower age group, so they couldn't be allowed. That said, I will make the assumption that, should there be more war/wars, then low-class devils that make a name for themselves in that situation would probably rise through the ranks, same as any other soldier. For your questions about Diodora and Asia...I've really got no idea how he pulled it off, it wasn't even explained in the story I think. I'm definitely gonna fanon the shit out of that, since it's one of those things that isn't explained and happens offscreen. See the next interlude chapter for that. The next time Isashi uses his actual style will be in a couple of chapters...hopefully.
Riverflow2020: Yeah, I was excited to read it, but I certainly should've tempered my expectations. Not my cup of tea, but it was at least readable. I can't really say more, glass houses and whatnot :P.
For anybody whose interested, you can check out my P a treon. Unfortunately, FF. Net doesn't do the links well, so you'll have to close the spaces below/rewrite it slightly on your browser.
P a treon. com(slash) Locksoli
As always, please leave any thoughts, questions, and constructive criticism in your reviews. And thank you for reading.