New start

Julian only calmed himself several minutes later, with a more worried than ankward atmosphere lingering in the room. And with Grayfia trying to cheer him up in whatever way she could all the while.

As finally only red eyes remained from his outburst, Sirzechs too sat himself with Grayfia on the same couch as Julian. "What was that about? That it was the first time since long ago that you felt so light..."

Sirzechs paused for a moment before choosing to throw caution to the wind. "What does that mean? Is there anything we can do about it? You seem relieved so I guess that's good. Nevertheless, do you want to talk about it?"

Julian thought for a moment before shaking his head. "May..." Catching himself, he reiterated what he was gonna say. "Someday I will tell you both. But not now, it would be useless to do it at this time. When I barely... Know about you two." He wanted to say "care", his true feelings. But he guessed that not everything, even if it was what he truly felt, could be said out loud. At least not to Sirzechs and Grayfia, and not when they were trying so genuinely to become closer to him.

He was still in the process of sorting out his true feelings from the past seventeen years and from the lies he told himself.

But nonetheless, it wasn't exactly the time.

He was grateful that both devils didn't seem to get offended even though they certainly knew of the true meaning of his words.

Sirzechs, leaning back on the couch, easily said. "I understand, this sort of thing take time. Related by blood or not... It's just that now, I'm rather confused. Did you have a plan aside from getting to know your origin? It's your call after all."

Julian answered thruthfully, appreciating Sirzechs adapting to his own rather sudden frankness. As well as Grayfia mouth twitching because of it. "Well I indeed had a vague plan if I was to be related to the Baël and Gremory clan. Like getting some protection for me and my family as well as getting stronger with your help. But now that I heard more in details about devil society, would it be possible for me to get a peerage?"

Sirzechs smiled as Grayfia got back in maid mode and stayed silent. "Firstly, I want to tell you that you don't have to worry about asking about things, I'll never possibly say no to my son. No matter if you like me or not. Secondly, I don't know what suddenly came to you. But, you don't have to be so serious, not with me at least. Maybe you'll have to with my wife while she is working though, like now."

Getting a bonk on the head. Sirzechs continued unimpeded as his expression morphed to a more pondering one. "As for the peerage, it's complicated. Normally, half devils cannot use evil pieces. But, now that I have a close look at your magical signature..."

He looked rather perplexed as he gazed deeply at Julian. "To my senses, you appear as a pure blood devil, a pure blood angel, as well as something else entirely. When before getting closer, I couldn't differenciate you apart from a normal human."

"This is quite an impossible phenomenon, as you are three beings in one. Both the aura of a devil and of an angel are equal in strenght, while the unknow one is stronger. Can you show me your wings again?"

Julian had a certain idea of what he wanted to do as he did as was asked.

"If you want to have a peerage, you'll have to show that you are a high-class devil. And while I see that your demonic energy reserve is on the brink of ultimate-class. And your base body is easily stronger than one. You cannot in any way show your wings to anyone as they are right now."

He stopped and eyed both of his wings before he added. "So why don't we try a little something? I'm not Ajuka, but I'm not that bad too."

At that, Julian couldn't help but ask. "What about shapeshifting? Can't I just shapeshift my angel wing to a devil one?"

Sirzechs wanted to answer, but wisely decided to shut up when Grayfia beated him to it. "Unfortunately, our wings are in major part a magical construct. Making them unable to transform in the same way that flesh can. Even illusions aren't a viable solution as they are disturbed by and shortened considerably by the constant and intense flow of mana around them."

Julian perfectly understood the explanation as he was familiar with the majority of fictional concept about magic. And magical construct being difficult to maintain a magical effect upon was one of them.

"That's right, now why don't you try..."

Julian didn't even wait for Sirzechs to retract his wings before bringing them out again. This time actively using demonic energy to summon them.

As two devil wings shot out of his back, Sirzechs ended what he wanted to say. "Channeling demonic power while materialising them..."

There was a silence of several seconds before it was broken as Julian tried again with holy power.

*SWOOSH*

But a surprise awaited them all as two angelic wings came out, one white and the other black.

"Guess it work, eh?..." Julian carefully said as he made his wings disappear and reapear as pure white ones.

He added after some time. "But what about the other two pairs?"

"Well, you can't have everything in life. Can you?" Sirzechs said sarcastically and glared in a fake manner at Julian. Getting him another bonk on the head.

Julian began to grow really tired of all the day happenings, despite it being only a little a past midday. As such, he quickly asked about what he wanted to know and together with Sirzechs and Grayfia managed to elaborate a plan to his introduction to devil society as well as for his future peerage.

They also of course invited him to have a dinner with them, to which he had to decline as he wasn't really feeling like it for today. But nonetheless invited them back to meet his adoptive parents tomorrow.

He could see that they were reluctant to part so soon from him, but really. He just wanted to be alone for a bit.

It was with such a thought that Julian wandered across Kuoh, with no specific destination in mind.

It was only when he found himself in a familiar park that he finally snapped out of his daze decided to seat on a bench.

After looking for some time at the winds breezing through the leaves and branches of the trees in the park, he hummed and closed his eyes as he quickly skimmed through his memory of the day.

There was a sentence that kept resounding in his head since his encounter with Mikan.

"Your feelings are your own."

The fact that everyone, no matter what happen to them. Will have different reactions and feel different emotions in the same situation. Some will react more strongly to some events. Meanwhile, some will not react at all.

But does it means that either of these people feelings are more irrelevent than the other? No.

Even if someone situation was way worse than another, and this another was as sad or suffered even more than the former. Would it make the later's feelings have less... Worth? Make them have no right to feel like that?

No, it wouldn't. Not if the feelings were genuine. Hence where came that your feelings were your own, and that you shouldn't be concerned with whether you have the right to have them.

That's what Julian reasoned as he thought back on it all.

Now that he was alone, he could truly filter his true thoughts and feelings from the fabricated ones.

Firstly, he found that he was not uncarring of the people arround him, he still considered them more important than himself. Meaning above nothing.

He just didn't really love anyone. Because he simply couldn't. Not for now at least.

It was telling of how difficult it was to make him care if he didn't really did about his biological father and stepmother. Despite knowing them inherently through the work of DxD.

It didn't mean that he was devoid of compassion and kindness. If he was, Melissa and Raynare wouldn't be alive. And he wouldn't have stop himself from going in a rampage in re:zero because of a little girl.

Speaking of that, it reminded him of his first little crisis with how he treated her yesterday. It was the first time his facade showed cracks as he let out his own frustration and hate on another person. Even as he formerly thought that there was no true reasons behind his cruelty and that he was just losing his humanity. It of course wasn't true, as he just couldn't think of the truth at the time. Because unconscious mental blocks were fucked up like that.

His face couldn't help but contort a little in bitterness as he thought about his original parents.

There was not much to be said, as Mikan had already told a major part.

Only thing he kept from them was the principles and value they ingrained in him when he was a child. Because it was the only principles he had ever known.

And when he thought about it, he truly found them to be good to live by. But they were obviously not for him, not when they came contradict what he wanted to do and make him struggle internally over them.

As he put himself in a meditative position, he came to find that goals were normally enough to live by. But like Mikan said, it would be preferable if he had a personal code or set of rules to follow in the hope of becoming better each day.

It was easy choosing one, he just based it around what Mikan told him. And added some thing on his own.

It was a pretty simple one, consisting of five rules.

-If you want to do something, do it. If you don't, then don't.

-Never repress your feelings, always let them out.

-Be honest about them.

-Stop being passive.

-Indulge in your desires.

The last one was rather dangerous, but it was necessary. To make him addicted to life again. Like everyone should be.

Julian shrugged as he imprinted it in his mind, he had no real idea if it would really work. But it seem pretty decent in his mind. He just had to be careful to not lose himself in them and he would probably be okay.

He breathed in deeply as a he tried to use his Trinity energy to summon his wings, and failed. There was something prevanting it from working.

Not bothered, he now focused on the information he got from Grayfia and Sirzechs on how to become stronger. And he was confused why he never got the informations from the replica of DxD he had in his head.

Oh yeah, because it was never explained in details how character's grew in strength beside the explanation of what certain powers did.

In resume, what he was told was that beginning from high-class devil, or rather three pairs of wings. One had to meditate and use their wings to breath in the mana in the atmosphere actively, growing their magical reserve exponentially faster than letting them do it passively.

They also had to train their body to the limit of their current rank. Something that puzzled him as Sirzechs said that his was already above high-class rank. But it probably simply meant that he was on a rank on his own.

For normal devils, as there were the ones born as low and middle-class and those already born as high-class. The only difference was that the low and middle-class devil had to augment their power in the same old way, with doing contracts. While high-class devils had no need to do them anymore.

All in all, meditation and body strenghtening was all that was needed.

Yes, it was motherfucking cultivation. Even if Sirzechs did say that it was different for the higher tier of power. Or for other races.

Of course Julian had thought of meditation in the past, but at the time. Finding himself alone deep into his own mind was a big no go.

As he found the lungs like sensation of his reserves of holy and demonic energy and made his pair of demon and angel wing come out. He made the void in his mind and to tried to 'breath' with his magical lungs using his wings.

It was easy enough to get the hang of, as multiple processes similar to meditation was teached in his martial art classes. Even if he abstained in the past to practice them, he still perfectly remember the key points.

As he felt mana rushing into his wings and being transformed into demonics and holy energy. A part of it staying in them and the rest going into and enlarging his source of both red and gold magical energy.

It was indeed way faster than before, but Julian opened his eyes after a few minutes of it.

"Still way too slow!" He annoyingly said out loud.

The problem was that compared to a high-class devil or a six winged angels. He had only one wing to use for both sort of energy. Not six.

That was why he had tried summoning what would probably be his Nephalem wings earlier. As not only would it enable him to be able to use two wings for his meditation, but it would also make him able to directly gather Trinity energy in place of the holy and demonic one.

Bit it seemed he couldn't have it easy.

Fortunately, his mind seemed less muddled since he cast away his facade. So he quickly found a way around it.

He had done some cool tricks in his fight against Mikan, if it could be called that. And it wasn't as if he forgot.

So, immediatly trying his idea, he fell back into his meditation and began to glow in an orange light. It was something that Julian had since long ago associated as the time aspect of his magic.

He sped up the time of his entire body by 2, but had to reduce it to 1,4 as he found himself losing energy way too quickly.

The results were immediate as absorbing mana actively was exponentially faster than passively, and accelerating his own time had a multiplicative effect on the gathering speed.

But it wasn't enough yet, so he stopped boosting the time of his entire body and focused on his wings and his magical reserves. And then was he able have a boost of 3 times for the same upkeep cost. Meaning he could continue to meditate in this state for 5 minutes before he would become dry.

It was enough for him, as he stopped and stood up. He suddenly had the thought to give a visit to the local abbandoned church. It would be good for Raynare to have her former companions.

He didn't exactly know why the idea popped up, aside that it was interesting, but he didn't hesitate long to do it as he remembered his newly found code.

He began to jog as flying would attract too much attention.

Well, if going at 200 m/s could be considered jogging. Then he was.

He slowed down as 40 seconds later he arrived in sight of a dilapided church.

What was he thinking?

Julian frowned as he began to ponder.

If he was to capture other people, then he had to get a bigger place. And he would need money for that.

Totally stopping a couple hundreds meters before the building. He tapped his foot repeatedly on the ground as he saw several shady people converge toward him while some were flying. Thinking that maybe it was time to sell some of his old inventions to companies around the world.