Chapter 23: Interlude

Beta read by n1ch, Shigiya and Solitary heart.

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-???-

I never knew that I would end up dancing with death so often, the horrible cold feeling of loneliness hit me hard. I could not remember how I had vanished from my previous reality, I may have died in an accident or even in my sleep — I would never know.

Nor did I care about it that much at this point, a bit curious but not enough that I would actively search for an answer.

This was why I wondered in what state I was currently, I didn't feel dead or alive. Just stuck in a constant state of limbo in total darkness. I lost my sense of touch, my sense of smell and I don't know even if I can see as everything was dark, I was probably blind as well for all I know.

"I**\[% prom(+#)! tra." 

I could still hear voices, all around me reverberating countless times. They were heavily distorted, like static, all just messed up jumbles of half-spoken words that I could barely understand, an amalgamation of gibberish that threatened to overwhelm me.

I wonder if I could speak? 

"Hel!_?£(" 

BZZttzz!

Shit! Did I break something by accident by talking!? 

A slight crack formed in front of me, bleeding out light in this darkness. I tried to touch it despite not knowing if I have limbs or not. The mere thought of moving my hand and grazing the light made reality around me change. Like a ripple that expanded continuously, I found myself in a new location.

'At least now I can see.' I thought to myself witnessing the breathtaking view in front of me.

I was on top of a snowy mountain, high above the clouds that blocked any sight of the ground below. The sky was clear with the Sun shining, yet I could not feel its warmth. Like an invisible glass surrounding me, I could neither feel the cold nor the heat of the elements. 

That was not what puzzled me the most. For whatever reason, everything looked small to me. This mountain that pushed beyond the clouds felt like a regular hill to me. Those dead trees in the distance looked like grass and the ground felt like loose sand despite it being nothing but boulders and rocks.

I looked down and saw my….tail?

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Oh, oooh, snake-like body, check, tentacles, check, and a golden pattern that ran along the body, check. Giant body with my entire length being around hundreds of meters, check.

I was in Vritra's body!

"ROOAAAARRRRR!" A thundering roar escaped my mouth as I couldn't control it, the heavens trembled and the clouds below parted ways just from the sheer might! A single action of it made me realize just how majestic and overpowered dragons truly are.

Vritra didn't have wings as one would expect, instead of whip-like tentacles that came from my lower snake back. They moved in unison, creating a similar downward movement like wings which caused a large wind force!

I flew in the air beyond sonic speed, like a coiling dragon. I made many maneuvers that were beyond my skills in the sky before descending downwards towards the parted clouds. I slowly began feeling the rushing wind on my skin, the downforce, the excitement all bubbling up as my vision began further aligning with Vritra's. My being could see through his eyes, feeling what he was feeling. 

The further we went down below, the redder the scene became. A once peaceful blue atmosphere soon turned hellish with the approaching ground being a battlefield covered in fire, brimstone, and a sea of corpses. A nightmarish scene straight out of the depths of hell greeted me. 

War, one side battling for life against the invader and failing to do so. These people all died in brutal ways, anger evident on their faces even after death. The most noticeable characteristics are their 6 heavily tattooed arms, all carrying different weapons.

I could feel the familiar rage of Vritra growing by the moment, every sight of a dead asura boiling it into a maddening degree. Many creatures, even lesser dragons, tried to take me down, yet none of their attacks could pierce my scales, creating sparks from the mere impact. Like a thrown spear, I crashed on the ground killing many. 

"Vritra is here!" They shouted out in fear, retreating, trying to run away to escape the wrath of a Dragon King. 

But they had already sealed their fate, "ROOAAARRR!" I let out a powerful roar followed by an expanding violet-coloured dome that encompasses the entire field.

Flames were snuffed out, all forms of magic disappeared and the once-powerful enemy troops found themselves gasping for air as they felt their mortal shell crumble apart.

Only the dragons could continue fighting. Some of them were breeds of Seshas and Naggas, capable of using deadly poison that could even kill a being like me. They proved it so as a miasma of purple smoke swirled around me. I felt my strength draining each second, my resolve waning from thoughts alien to me.

So I sank further into the madness, I rushed forward biting one of the snake's heads off and swallowing it whole. The others seeing their failed attempt at poisoning me decided to attack me with their dragon fire.

The enemy flames just being a mild annoyance, the dragon's once friends to me and my brethren, I pulled them limb one by one with my tentacles. They deserve nothing more than a painful death like the traitorous curse that they were!

The madness inside me continued to grow, slowly chipping away at my sanity.

Mountain dragons whose size dwarfed entire cities died by the numbers, millions of celestial soldiers fell down from the sky like droplets of rain. My beam energy breath attack decimated thousands by the second, piercing through all defenses, none could stand in my way as I avenged my fallen family! I tore their flesh, flooding the battlefield in their blood, cursing the land for thousands of years in my wrath.

Until I heard the voice of my true enemy.

"An evil dragon dares to show its ugly face in the affairs of the Lord of Heaven? Impudent lizard, you shall die by my hands just like your brethren and free this world of your chaotic ways!" Said an individual at the forefront of the invading army filled with golden armored soldiers.

A tall buzz cut haired man with lavender eyes. Downing a golden Buddha armor with little to no fear present in his eyes aside from arrogance. Divine aura belonging only to a god, his power swirled around him like a raging typhoon. "Be granted mercy by the very Heavens and accept death!"

He charged at me with the millions of soldiers heading his call, following their leader to lay waste against all of their enemies. He came straight for me, his famous Vajra thunderbolt held firmly in his hand. 

Yet the mere sight of him was all it took to push me over my breaking point, losing all form of sanity as I allowed the absolute rage, the madness to take over, no longer fearing death for I had nothing left.

My vision swam in a sea of crimson fury as I met him head-on like a rabid beast until we clashed in a burst of white light!

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"-!" I woke up, back in the darkness in fright, my mind in a haze-like state.

I felt my heart pounding from what I had just witnessed. I could feel my clothes drenched in sweat, my breathing ragged and my hands shaking.

What was that!?

I dreamt about being someone else, as Vritra, the longer I was in his body the more I began seeing the dream as something I went through. 

His rage was overwhelming, but I also felt… Anguish?

Yes, unbearable anguish.

I nearly became Vritra, in both mind and body the longer I watched. Which was completely false since...I...

...am…

Bztzt!

Hiki…?

Wak?*("*

Haki….?

"Calm down, take a deep breath." I forceed myself to ignore the pain in my head, taking a few moments to just relax and allow myself a few minutes doing nothing but waiting for the pain to go away — enough for me to think without hindrance.

"Yes, it's coming back to me." Like a cooling effect on my mind, the clouds of confusion dissipated bit by bit till I could finally remember my name. "Hikigaya Hachiman… can't believe I almost forgot about that." 

*W*)/ake u*//p.*

Swisshhh

"-!?"

My surroundings changed once more, but this time no cracks formed in the middle of space but rather the darkness began bleeding away, leaving me standing in a familiar-looking place.

The surrounding walls are now decorated with a black and gold theme pattern. A single gigantic golden chandelier in the middle, being the sole source of light.

I felt the smooth feeling of the carpet beneath my feet, every step made me feel like I was walking on a bed of clouds.

There were no windows or doors. Heck, I expected a piano but saw none.

A fancy room, with two random chairs in the middle.

"I remember this place," I said to myself as I touched the edge of the seat which was made of wood. "I remember meeting someone here… many years ago."

Out of instinct, I sat down as if it was the natural thing to do as if it was about to trigger something, which proved to be the right course of action.

Just like I expected, something indeed did happen. Rather, someone or something appeared in front of me, sitting on the opposite chair.

A faceless being made out of light, transparent enough that I could see through it. Motionless, showing no signs of hostility, which I appreciated very much. His humanoid form was as bland as it came, like seeing a mannequin. But there was something unique about it, something that wasn't there before; a beating heart visible inside its chest.

I instinctively touched my own, feeling its presence I felt assured but I wondered why it felt different. The beats were stronger and slower than what I remembered. 

I knew who this was...

"Bob?"

Like a lightbulb lighting up in my head, a slew of memories flashed before my eyes. I winced in pain for a second before composing myself again.

I was back here...after so many years.

"Just who are you really?" Unlike back then, this time I was vastly more knowledgeable about the supernatural world. I studied every powerful being from all the factions, even those who were considered to be just myths.

I can't trace him… her… it to any of those.

With Bob's arrival another change occurred in the room, hundreds of floating motes of violet light came into existence. Each looked like snakes with spearlike heads. They all gravitate around me like a group of lost children who found their parents. They all looked the same, like duplicates of each other acting the same way. I couldn't even recognize the original one.

I had an idea of what these were.

"Tell me...do you still have that sketchbook?"

{Break}

-Underworld-

"In accordance with the laws set by the Camilla and Tepes faction, Cedric Berthelot and his house members are all deemed as traitors to their species, their actions judged to be heinous enough for public execution by the ancestral guillotine. As for another matter, both the major vampire forces of Romania and France have agreed to gather their own resources for the reconstruction of the destroyed part of Paris." Grayfia read out the report she got recently to her king. 

It did shock her that the vampires were so unhesitant to kill off such a powerful member of their race. Cedric Berthelot was a powerful being ranked to be on par against Satan-class devils, yet it did not explain his exploits of battling against two of the fallen governors. According to Azazel, the man had been empowered by an unknown power source in the form of a snake. Strong enough to injure them both at their strongest.

She reached out for another report much to the dread of her husband. "The fallen force shall be compensated by the house of Vladi for the damage they received. Azazel and Baraquiel are both reported to suffer from light injuries and are expected to take back their post in a few days." 

Sirzechs sighed from hearing the report. This incident was a major hit to the supernatural world, as an entire area of the map of Paris had vanished killing hundreds of thousands of human residents.

The damage control was a nightmare, with the Vampires, Fallens, and Devils running around hiding away any traces the humans could find about their world.

The vampires had guaranteed that they would be done with repairs in a few weeks but that was too long in Sirzechs opinion. He and Serafall, the Maou responsible for foreign relations, sent hundreds of their best forces to assist with construction, reducing the time to only days.

"We also found an underground lab belonging to the Naberius family, through some digging we found traces of human and sacred gear experiments done to children. Including daily reports addressed to… the old devil faction." Her tone turned sour from the mere mention of it. He could understand her anger, after all, he had dealt with them during the Great War as well.

An investigation was launched against the house long before the incident. Sirzechs never liked them to begin with but their contribution to the devil world allowed several houses to back them up for him to make any real progress in removing them.

But now he had the perfect excuse, being potentially allied with their enemy was one of the biggest offenses in the Underworld. The Nebiros could find themselves stripped of their land and their wealth seized. Rias has specifically asked him to launch another investigation on the case of Kuroka. 

Apparently, Hachiman had requested it.

"What of Hachiman-kun?" The one responsible for this headache and gift of sorts. At least they now caught some of the hidden spies in their ranks. Vampires in general were an isolated species, so having any kind of affairs with them was hard enough for someone like Serafall.

He had previously planned to visit him and was about to do so hours before this mess went down. 

Talk about bad timing.

"Well...he is alive." She said curtly with an uncertain tone to her voice. He didn't like that one bit, Rias liked this boy too much for something unfortunate to befall him. "According to Rias-sama, Baraquiel was the one who brought him back. As expected this did not go well with her Queen, but the boy was conscious for long enough to dissuade the situation."

Oh, it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. "Then what is wrong with him?"

"You might want to read this part yourself, it was given to me by Azazel and he called it a miracle that he had never seen before," Grayfia said, handing over a letter to Sirzechs. A red sealed envelope with the sigil of the Grigori stamped on it. 

Opening the envelope and reading its contents, Sirzechs couldn't hide his surprised expression.

"This is indeed unexpected."

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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 3 other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post monthly commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.