32. Letter of the Past

[A/N: Aight! with this one... 7 chaps done! Now I am going back to 3 chaps a week schedule. After all, I need to focus on my other 2 fics as well.

Discord Link: https://discord.gg/GwFen4t]

_____________________________________________________

[Shisui's Room]

Clara and Eneely moved onto the next rounds with ease as their opponents were quite disappointing. Eneely finished her match in less than three minutes which was the lowest time taken by any of us devils. 

While Clara finished the match with the help of illusions and agility based techniques. 

I finally figured out her bloodline ability… which is [Presence Erasure.] An ability that hides her presence from every one, no matter how strong the opponent is… Broken ability if you ask me.

Since an uneven number of participants were there for this round, Esmeralda Bael got a free pass onto the next round as there was no challenger for her.

Zephyrdor and Diodora's match ended with Zephyrdor beating Diodora to a pulp and winning the round with ease. 

The current match is Rias Gremory against Seekvaira Agares, and this is a match that I am interested in. 

"Destruction against Time. Let's see which one prevails." I looked at the large projection screen.

["Rias Gremory and Seekvaira Agares please enter the arena."]

"Both of them have almost equal reserves and none of their bloodline ability has any clear advantage either. So it all comes down to the way they use their powers."

"So, none of them have any clear advantage over each other?" I asked.

"Probably Seekvaira has a slight edge because she is older but then again, Rias is Sirzechs's sister. He must have taught her some moves." 

I felt myself agreeing to him. Neither of them has a clear cut advantage against each other so it all comes down to wits.

["Are both participants ready?"] The announcer asked and both Rias and Seekvaira nodded.

["Begin!"]

Rias without wasting a single second creates an orb of demonic power, which I believe is the power of destruction and throws it towards Seekvaira. The heiress of Agares dodges the attack swiftly before enhancing her legs and rushing towards Rias.

"They are quite good." He said, sipping the cup of tea.

"They are… but their movements are kind of stiff. And Rias's accuracy is pretty bad." I said sighing at the display of their abilities. "Rias's attack was pretty weak as well."

"You think the power of destruction… is weak?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course not. I am just saying that the way she uses it is quite poor. Now, I don't know much about the "Power of Destruction" but what I know about is that… it can destroy anything... almost anything."

He nodded. "That is mostly it. Similar to the Belial who can nullify 'almost' anything, the Bael can destroy 'almost' anything. But you are right, her abilities are still lacking."

"Tell me something, Shisui." I looked towards him. "Was it necessary to scare the Sitri heiress to that extent?" 

"Yes." I look directly into his eyes. "It was necessary. It's time the underworld knows that the Seere pillar is not weak like they believed."  I took a sip from the cup. "And you will help me with reestablishing my pillar, Lord… Zekram."

Zekram sighed. He knew Shisui had been planning to increase his pillar rank somehow. "You do know that to increase the rank of your pillar, you have to do something massive."

"I know. And this tournament is the first step, the foothold for climbing the mountain." 

"I see." He smiled. "Mind if I ask you a question?"

"Sure. I don't see a problem with that." I said.

"What do you think of the Bael Heiress?"  He asked looking towards the screen. 

"Esmeralda Bael?" I asked and he nodded. "I think she is strong. But by how much, I don't know as I haven't seen her fight. And if you mean as a person, I haven't had any interaction with her. So I cannot comment on that." 

"I see." He said before both of us stopped talking and focused on the battle.

But after a while, he stood up. "I should get going. I am a member of the committee after all. So, I have to be there before this match ends."

That's true. As a member of the committee, he needs to be there.

He walked towards the door. "But before I go… take this."

He handed me a letter and it looked old… 'Ancient' to be precise. 

"Read it and when you come to a decision, inform me." He said before walking out of the room.

"This is quite an old letter?" I inspected it but decided to save it for later.

.

.

.

"Young master?" 

"Ah, Layla. Come in." I said as my most precious and only maid knocked on the door.

The bubbly blonde maid of mine looked worried.

"A-Are you alright, Shisui?" I did take a hit from the serpent, so her worry is justifiable. 

"I am. You don't have to worry about me, Layla. As I promised earlier, I will win this tournament." I gave her a wink.

Why did I wink? I don't know.

"I know… but I am still worried about you." She furrowed her eyebrows. "You are extremely reckless. The moment that serpent hit you, I felt my heart stop beating." 

Now now… she… is making me feel guilty…

"I… am sorry." I said, bowing my head.

She didn't reply and when I looked up, I saw her shaking her head.

"You are my master, you should not be bowing your head to me." She showed her angelic smile. "But can you promise me one thing?" 

She rarely asks for anything. And whenever she does, I always fulfill them.

"You know that you just have to ask." I smiled at her. *Sigh* I don't want to make her worry about me… But I can't help it either. My future plans are even more dangerous. So, life-threatening situations are bound to occur.

"Promise me that you won't put yourself in danger." I flinched and she noticed. "At least, promise me that you won't get hurt in this competition." She frowned.

If she were to ask this from any other participant they would reject it immediately. There is no way they could promise something like that… but I can.

"I promise. I won't take even a 'single' hit in this entire tournament." I said with certainty.

This made a massive smile to bloom on her face. "Thank you." 

I nodded before looking at the screen.

["That was an impressive display of time magic by Seekvaira Agares! With this She moves onto the next round!"]

Aw… I missed the match. 

I can always watch the replay but that's not fun. *Sigh* I will go through the highlights later.

.

.

.

.

.

"Layla." She looked at me. "Thank you for being with our family when everyone left our side."

She had been loyal to our family even when everyone else moved away from us.

But when I said that… she flinched and looked sad.

"No… Shisui. It was your family who saved me and stood by my side." This made me raise an eyebrow.

"What… do you mean?" I asked. In all honesty, I knew nothing about her past.

She didn't answer but instead closed her eyes. "Do you mind listening to my story?" She said with a pained smile, which… made my eyes widen.

______________________________________________________

[A/N: Next Chapter would be Layla's backstory. I will post it the day after tomorrow.]