62 Chapter 62: A talk

Beta read by n1ch, Shigiya, Solitary heart and 8kagi

.

.

.

--Saizeriya-

'These two sure do eat a lot.'

Ever since coming to this world, I noticed that my own appetite increased substantially from my past self. I wasn't devouring enough food to fill an entire warehouse in a single seating, but it sure did feel like it many times after a fight. 

This change didn't come out of nowhere though, all of this came from my increase in physical training and the huge stamina drain from using Vritra's power—my use of magic also played a huge part in my increasing diet. A single day of intense training would lead me to consume an entire extra large pizza without issue.

Nevertheless, I had to always keep an eye on my calorie intake. I didn't have the physique that Devils, Fallens and Angels possessed where they could eat a gross amount of food without exercising and not gain any weight.

Koneko being the prime example of this theory, with how much sugar she consumed in a single day. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if she ate the equivalent of a few kilograms of sugar a day and not gain a single pound.

Rias had a bad habit of sneaking to the kitchen at three in the morning and having instant ramen when she felt stressed or bored.

There were no negative consequences to any of their diets unlike normal humans.

Magic bullshit I guessed… like everything else in their lives.

But that was it, I only expected beings like them to have such a broken metabolism. Yet from the scene in front of me, I was once again proven wrong.

"Delicious! Italian cuisine is delicious!" Xenovia mumbled with her mouth full as she slurped up more spaghetti from her seventh plate.

This girl really liked pasta dishes, seeing how she also consumed a plate of lasagna and ravioli a few minutes ago.

'I better take the menu away from her before she orders again.'

"Yes, yes! This is it! This is the taste of pure bliss and the handiwork of a Michelin Star chef!!"

I doubted a place like Saizeriya could afford a large group of coveted chefs to cook food at every establishment they owned. I guess the Church had subpar food, if such simple dishes were able to get such a reaction from these two.

Irina and Xenovia continued to fill their stomachs with the food that they ordered for which I was paying for in the end. 

They ate far too much for it to be normal.

Were they really assassins sent from the Christian Church or were they just a pair of world class competitive eaters? They basically devoured their weights worth of food in a single hour, even the waitress gave them a disturbed look at there frantic eating, as if having witnessed something horrifying that toppled her understanding of the world.

I could empathize with her, as I turn away from this train wreck.

"By the way, whose child did you kidnap as a tribute for the devils?" Xenovia said, catching me by surprise. I nearly banged my head from the insane accusation or was about to slap her upside the head for such a remark.

This girl still had no tact.

"Where did you even get that idea! This is just a lost child I found a while ago and was planning to drop off at the police station to help find her parents. But I accidentally ran into two starving girls who were about to commit a crime to get some money!"

The lost girl I met today, the one I called Kuro because she refused to reveal to me her name, was sitting by my side and eating some gelato I ordered for her. I worried that she would get a sugar rush with all the sweets but the latter refused to eat anything.

When I talked to them initially, the girls didn't like my presence—especially Xenovia. I was expecting to be called a stalker and a creep by either of them but nothing came. They just stood silently and continued to give me an indecipherable gaze. 

It took me a while to figure out that they were at a loss of words. Not knowing whether to ask for help to a guy who kicked one of their ass in a fight or to just run away as far as they could.

"Not that I want to ask, but HOW did you guys manage to mess up your financial situation in less than a day without Griselda's presence?"

"It was Irina's fault!" Xenovia shouts with a mouthful of pasta and sauce smeared on her cheeks. "She went ahead and spent the funds mother Griselda left for us on a stupid fake painting of a Saint!"

Before Irina could defend herself, I interjected immediately. 

"I figured with how loudly you two were arguing in the middle of the streets, I think everyone in the block heard your screeches. What I want to know is how you allowed a single person who you should have realized is quite irresponsible with handling money to keep the funds in the first place!" 

Not that I expected Xenovia to be any different but still, the girl wouldn't have spent their money on something ridiculous! 

"You know what? Let's forget about this issue, what's done is done, so both of you can learn from this mistake and not fall for such a simple scam next time. Got it?" I said, seeing the two of them put their heads down like scolded children, but gave a nod either way.

"That wasn't our best moment." 

One of them at least.

"Didn't we basically sell our souls to the devils' side? Given how close he is to the Gremory group." Irina said, realizing that I was the one feeding them.

"No you didn't, don't think too much about this issue and just get back to your meal."

What would I even do with their souls anyway.

"Okay!" she said cheerfully before turning her attention back to the plate.

Wow, that was easy.

As we had a small moment of peace, my thoughts began to wander at the revelation Gabriel told me once again. I couldn't get that out of my mind no matter how hard it was to forget about it. To think their entire core belief and foundation was hung by a thread called God's system. Michael being the only one who did everything in his power to make sure this small fragile thread didn't snap and destroy everything his father created.

I couldn't even begin to imagine the immense amount of stress and pressure he had to go through. Gabriel was right about one thing, the one who would suffer most from the revelation of God's death to the public was none other than her brother himself. 

For if that were to happen, it would be no different than to have let his father down. 

'It is bound to happen, sooner or later, such a big secret cannot remain hidden forever. Even if they tried to cushion the impact such an earth shattering news could have on the supernatural, they will still suffer in the end.'

This really was a lose-lose scenario and the Seraphs knew it.

But that didn't mean I couldn't help out in my own way.

I wasn't contemplating on helping the Angels to keep this fake image of God's existence. It just wasn't in my nature to allow someone to live a false reality. It went against everything I stood for, and all I could do was to reduce the damage this would cause one day and hopefully keep the Angels from suffering.

Though that didn't mean I couldn't try to steer them away or 'slightly' affect their beliefs.

"Say, you obviously know a lot about my life and the Devils while none of us know anything about you two aside Irina's early childhood. Care to share a bit of history with me?"

Xenovia gave me a suspicious stare, "Why do you care about our past life, Black Dragon King? I still feel sore all over my body from our previous battle, the last thing I expected from you was such a question."

"I am human, just like you and Irina. Curiosity runs deep within our nature, you should know about it right? And also because I genuinely feel bad about how I treated both of you even if you deserved it. But you must admit that the fault lay with you taking out a Holy Sword in the middle of a room filled with Devils and pointing it at Asia. So you must understand why I… lost control of my emotions after that."

I saw the slightest trace of blush coming from her cheeks at my confession. So she was indeed embarrassed for her actions—good, so she was not a lost cause.

"And besides, even if I was an enemy, why would I ask you about your past? I do not care about the swords, your faction and I already met your guardian. So would knowing your training regiment affect my knowledge of your fighting style? Not really, it wouldn't. I'm not asking you to go into details about the matters related to the Church or their plans, merely your life and hobbies or anything interesting that you experinced. The same goes for you too, Irina, if you want to share."

They both contemplated my words before Irina commented, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to exchange some stories. I also feel like we started out on the wrong foot and want to make amends."

"I agree." Xenovia said, placing her fork on her empty plate. "But my life isn't that exciting to begin with. I doubt you'll enjoy hearing about it."

"Nonsense, no one truly lives a boring life. Even someone with severe hikikomori syndrome will have something to say."

That seemed to have been enough for her to start talking about her life.

Since her childhood, for as long as she could remember, Xenovia endeavored in her training and studies for God and her religion. Raised and trained as the wielder of Excalibur Destruction under Griselda Quarta as her sword master and legal guardian. Eventually, she became an Exorcist, an agent of the Catholic Church, and partnered with Irina Shidou. She even told me that she likes collecting swords, especially japanese swords, and sports equipment, as she likes to be active.

Irina's story sounded similar as well.

Three years prior at age 14, she was granted the ability to wield Holy Swords via the breakthrough done with the Holy Sword Project and was given Excalibur Mimic, thus following in her fathers footsteps—who also happened to be a renowned exorcist. Soon after, she eventually partnered with Xenovia and learned swordsmanship under Griselda's tutelage.

"We lived together, studied together and went to different missions all across the world together. You could call us sisters and best friends, as if it weren't for Xenovia being there, I would have died long ago!"

Her partner shared the same sentiment.

"Likewise."

"Heh, you two are indeed pretty close." I commented. "It's quite rare to find genuine friends like you two in this profession."

"Amen."

"Amen! It's all thanks to God's guidance and wisdom that we ended up together. I always pray to him for having united us so earlier on." Irina started praying out of nowhere, but I didn't bother to stop her since the others weren't here. "Agimus tibi gratias, omnipotens Deus, pro universis beneficiis tuis, qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum."

From just this quick interaction, it became pretty clear to me that it was Irina who held a stronger… passionate belief in their religion. Xenovia felt more like she was used to believing in their faith while growing up, she was not chasing after it like Irina.

It was kind of hard to explain it into words.

"I'm curious, what are your views on Devils, Fallens and basically every other Pantheon?" I asked.

"Pagans."

"Pagans!"

Should have expected such an answer.

"Right, my fault for wording it wrong." I rubbed my eyes, trying to find a better way to explain it. "I mean, what is your opinion on… basically all of us as people in general? Take Asia, Rias, Akeno, Kiba and Koneko for example, how would you describe your feelings towards them?"

Xenovia was the first one to answer.

"They are traitorous fools who've squandered our father's love and light. Always trying to undermine humans, trying to use them for their own gains. The best way I could describe them is heretics."

I didn't talk back, nor did I try to interject, wanting to hear their opinions and turned to listen to Irina.

"Well… I just think they are all misguided lambs who've strayed away from Father's light. Tempted by the Devils promises, they now see us as enemies despite us being the good guys! This is why I was given Excalibur Mimic, to smite the evil of this world and bring forth God's divine judgment. This will allow people to once again walk in the proper path in life."

Yup, she really was into it.

"Do you consider Valper, who used to be a member of the Church when he was the head of the project which killed many innocent children for the knowledge to create artificial users like, as a good man?" 

I needed to show them that not everything was as black and white, there was no good side and bad side. Everyone had their fair share of bad eggs and 'good guys'. 

"No! That man was a false Christian and brought nothing but harm to us!" Irina shouted loudly, seemingly angered over hearing Valsper's name.

"Yet you are using his findings to wield a Holy Sword." I countered, rendering her speechless momentarily at this fact.

"Before any of you start going on a rant, I'm not saying that it's entirely your faction's fault that this incident occurred. For this… tragedy to have happened, someone from the higher-up would have needed to give the greenlight and funding for such a project to take place in the first place. So we can't only blame Valper alone for whatever happened in the past—there were many other people from the Church who had a guilty hand in Valper's experiment that would have made your God appalled."

"B-But, this allowed many to use our Holy Swords, God's weapons, to smite down evil!" she cracked a bit there, trying but failing to find a reason for the atrocity.

"So I guess to accomplish your goals, you find it acceptable to walk over the corpses of young children and drown yourself in a sea worth of innocent blood in the name of God?"

Surprisingly, during our entire talk, Xenovia stayed quiet.

"N-No… th-thats… I I… he wouldn't." 

She struggled to find a comeback. 

"You see, no matter what answer you'll end up giving me, it doesn't change the fact that your faction committed many atrocities across the ages to accomplish their goals, the Crusades being a prime example. You can not in complete confidence call yourself the 'good guys' with all of this, that's just a lie." 

I added more examples, the Sigurd Institution being another one of them. Where they created artificial clones of a past hero, basically creating a perfect child soldier from birth, bred for the sole reason for war.

With each of my words, Irina looked increasingly shamefaced and refused to look me in the eyes when I finished.

"And why are you telling us all of this, Hikigaya Hachiman?" Xenovia said with a sneer, but I could see that even she was waverying from my words. "Are you claiming to be the 'good one' in all of this? The same for the Devils and everyone you've allied yourself with?"

.

.

.

"No, we are all just as bad—including me." 

My memory went back to the crying couple, weeping over the death of a boy they raised as a son for years and to suddenly have him be ripped away from them by a guy who didn't even have the courage to face them. Then went further back to the memorial stone in Paris. The hundreads of names that were etched on it and the thousands that were forgotten.

No… I was far from a good person. 

Xenovia didn't expect such an answer from me.

"What, did you expect me to glorify the Devils or Fallens being the good guys? Don't make me laugh. Each of these sides have had similar experiments done over the centuries and committed their fair share of atrocities for their own goals. We don't even need to go that far with the existence of Stray Devils roaming around the world being an indication of how flawed the current system is in the Devil faction. And Kokabiel wanted to create a war between the factions with his actions being another example of an imperfect system."

Now it was Irina's turn to look at me angrily.

"Then why are you insulting our factio—" 

I cut her off.

"I'm trying to show both of you that no side, just like the rest of the world, is black and white. You are not following God's teachings, you are just following the orders of people who claim to be his followers, people who have hidden agendas that go against the Biblical God's teaching. The same people that was behind every horrifying event in the past that used the name of the Church to justify themselves."

They recoiled slightly at my heated answer. Already wary of my angered state.

"Don't you see just how fucking contradicting your actions are? The first day you came by and asked Asia to basically kill herself in the name of God! You see an entire faction composed of different individuals as nothing but evil pagans. After everything you've learned from his teachings, everything that Mother Griselda thought to both of you, do you honestly think that your loving God would have accepted such an outcome? He wouldn't! Even a blind person could see how convoluted all of this is. What happen to love thy neighbor?! To turn the other cheek!? To offer forgiveness to those that need it!? You all are so quick to condemn them when many of you are just as guilty!"

Thank God I added a silencing rune around us, or else the already weird looks we were getting would have worsened and someone would have called the cops or the local mental asylum after hearing everything I was saying.

"Do you know who I consider a true Christian? Asia Argento! She would never hurt an individual based on their affiliation. The girl doesn't need the existence of the Church and these Holy Swords to carry out God's will for she follows the core belief your faction has been based upon since the beginning. The power to forgive, understand and accept anyone who needs it."

"B-But she healed a Devil!" Shouted Irina, finally frustrated at my accusation and disparaging words.

"Do you honestly see a young girl with a pure soul like Asia killing someone when they are injured and asking for help? Does the need to help people go against the teaching of God? Kindness and Charity, those are the virtues that she showcased out there and those who you serve saw it as a crack in the system they've put in place to preserve their authority—so they ended up throwing her out. And don't you dare tell me that this was God's will all along, cause the Holy Sword project sure wasn't. Mother Griselda came to meet Asia for a reason and she deemed both of you as untrustworthy enough to know the true nature behind it for a reason."

That seemed to have caused them a bigger blow than I expected. Both girls flinched at my last comment.

Damn, I think I went too far and killed their appetite.

I sighed, this needed to be said, for their sake if nothing else.

"Look, you both are being misguided by a bunch of people that just want to control you and make you their attack dogs. But that doesn't mean the road you've walked on until now is wrong. Tell me, what's more important to you; God's teachings or the orders coming from the upper echelon?"

"... The almighty Father's teachings are our core values."

"Then that's all that should really matter to you two. Follow your heart, be true to yourself and don't restrain yourself by other people. Despite everything that happened so far, I can see that you're both good people at heart. You're nothing like Freed and the other zealots I've met in the past. Mistakes happen, it's up to you whether you want to correct it or stay the way you are. Because in the end, people don't practice Kindness and Charity just to look good in the eyes of God, they just do it because they want to and that's who they truly are. They don't need an almighty figure's existence to prove it." 

I know that everything I said sounded like I wanted both of them to become aware that the need to act kind towards others did not stem from being in a certain faction. I wanted them to cling to God's teaching rather than his imaginary existence that watched constantly, something which the Church created in order to control their subordinates. 

After a few seconds, Xenovia did something unexpected.

She handed me a piece of bread.

"Uh, what's this for?" I wasn't hungry enough to eat a piece of plain sugar bread.

"It's a symbol of sorts." she said, "And an apology."

Oh, I guess she wasn't as unreasonable as I expected her to be.

Still...

"I'm still not forgiving you for what you said to Asia." I said sternly, not wanting to let matter go. "Despite everything that I've just said, I don't follow God's teachings and thus, cannot forgive you so easily."

Xenovia did not seem surprise by my statement.

"I know," she said. "Not that I want your forgiveness in ther first place, I do see the errors in my ways and will strive to fix them as soon as possible."

Just where was this reasonable and easy to talk version of Xenovia during the meeting with Rias? They looked like two different person entirely... Was it because of her being near devils that she became so irrational? I didn't care, it didn't change that whatever she did and said were something I could never allow to pass.

"When I first came to Kuoh, I expected to meet vile pagans who wanted nothing more than to sully Father's name. I expected to find a witch who allegedly allied with the Devils to gather the Excalibur shards and use it against us. Yet… I can admit that I've made multiple mistakes as well." she continued to speak, bringing up the points where she admitted her wrongdoing.

"I agree with Xenovia-chan! You don't look like a bad person and actually acknowledge the Lord's words, which I find quite surprising."

"Well duh, it's not like I hate your God, I just don't agree with how your system works. I was too angry in our past interaction, so it may have seemed like I was hating on your faction as a whole."

It was kinda hard to hate Gabriel, she was just too pure… and I didn't really have a real reason to hate her. Taking Asia to Heaven was more of a blessing to the girl than anything, though it didn't mean that I liked it.

Everything was up to the nun to decide for now.

No matter the path she chose, I would support her regardless.

"You are quite the speaker… no wonder he's so interested in you." the little girl spoke, having finished her food. 

I jumped in my seat when I remembered that she was sitting with us the entire time and listened to our entire conversation!

'Then again, who would believe her? She's just a young girl. People will think that she has active imagniation. What do you think, Vritra.' I asked the dragon, waiting to get another great wisdom from him.

'...'

Yet he didn't answer.

'Vritra?'

Was there something wrong?

Ring!

The door to the restaurant rang, I checked to see who it was and was surprised to find Kiba and a few other people.

"Kiba?" I called out to him, wondering what he was doing here with Issei and the others. 

{Break}

Xenovia drank a cup of water and took a deep breath. 

I did the same after feeling the awkward atmosphere. Especially the glares I was getting from everyone aside Kiba. Did I do something wrong?

"So, why did you come to us?" Xenovia said, glaring at the devil group. 

Blunt and straight to the point. I was starting to get an idea of her personality. 

"You two came to this country to retrieve the Excaliburs, right?" Kiba spoke first, returning the glare at the two Exorcists. "I'm sure you're aware of the recent killings done across Kuoh of the many different Strays. We do not know who's behind it yet, it could be someone associated with Kokabiel or just a wandering rogue Exorcist in possession of a holy sword."

To my side, Koneko was acting weird, she kept looking at the little girl with slight suspension. The latter returned the stare and both seemed to be locked in a stare off.

"I want to help you." Kiba admitted.

Both of the Exorcist looked surprised at what he just said, looking at each other in contemplation.

"I ask you this is due the dangerous nature of holy energy to us Devil, even in numbers we are at a major disadvantage. And since you're here as well, Hachiman-kun, I want to ask you the same favor as well." 

So he was still holding a grudge against the Holy Swords, at least he wasn't trying to do it alone this time.

"For revenge?" I asked, but it sounded more like a statement.

Kiba smiled.

"I can't hide anything from you… yes, it is." he said without hesitation. "But I realize the danger of my actions, I don't want to cause anyone any worry by going out alone to face these people. My hate for these swords can't die out, no matter how much peace I find in my life, it'll remain in the corner of my mind like a growing cancer fueling my rage until I finally destroy them."

So he was going to do it no matter what, huh…

"Rias doesn't know about your plan." I stated, knowing the girl enough to know that she would never allow such a thing in the first place.

"You know I can't do that, Buchou loves us too much and she's been too busy lately to get involved."

He expected me to believe such a thing?

"That's a pathetic excuse." 

"I know… I'm prepared to go through any punishment she may have reserved for me." 

Rias, for all of her faults, was as strict as Sona when it came to the safety of her peerage members. Like a mother bear who would go against anyone who dared to hurt her precious servants. But she could also punish her own friends if it meant keeping them away from a life threatening danger.

"We accept your request." Xenovia said, breaking our conversation.

"What?" 

She couldn't have just accepted like that.

"To be honest, we would have accepted for the Devils to destroy a single sword as long as no one were to discover who got their hands on it. As long as it doesn't end up in the possession of the likes of Kokabiel, I'm more than happy to give them to the Gremory to destroy them instead. Though if you are incapable of doing it, then we'll be taking them back to the Church."

"Oh…" 

Xenovia seemed to find my expression funny, and could see the smallest of smirks appear on her face.

And here I thought this girl didn't have a sense of humor. 

"Your previous speech did reach my heart, but you forgot to take into account that we also have our own personal goals in mind here. It's not like we are robots who are performing each mission's requirements to the letter. After all, Mother Griselda did teach us to take some liberties when we found it to be necessary to finish the mission."

Irina meanwhile looked surprised by Xenovia's words. I suppose that this was a rare moment for the blue-haired girl.

"Wait, we never agreed to this… not that I'm against it but are you sure you want to do this? We might find another sword which is not one of the Excaliburs."

She had a good point, Kiba was talking about the killings happening all around the town as an excuse to go after a potential user of Excalibur. But it wasn't a guarantee that he would find what he searched for, and end up with a regular rogue Exorcist wielding another sort of holy energy weapon.

"Irina. To tell you the truth, it would really be tough to retrieve the three Excaliburs and to battle Kokabiel with only the two of us. Even if Mother Griselda were to be here, she wouldn't assist us as she mentioned before that this was a test. And with Kokabiel's involvement, do you honestly think that we'll encounter something else other than an Excalibur in the city?"

"I know that. But…!"

"The minimum objectives we have to achieve are destroying the three Excaliburs or taking them back. If our Excaliburs are going to be stolen as well then we should break them before it happens. Even if we use the last resort, there's only a 30 percent chance that we will succeed in our mission and return home safely."

I would say that chances were lower than that. Considering they were dealing with a Cadre, probably a 2 percent was the optimal estimation if I was being generiouse.

"Even so, we thought that the success rate was high enough to come to this country prepared to put our life on the line." She gave me a side glance. "And I also have a selfish desire to help out these Devils and Dragons. I feel like God would smite me for saying such a thing… but I guess if it helps humanity to avoid another danger, then I'm happy to make this sacrifice."

Irina nodded before getting an idea and pointing a finger at me. "Oh, I have a better idea! Hachiman-kun, give us an order to help you out!" 

"Heh?"

"Come on, just do it!"

Sheesh, this girl sure was fussy when she wanted something.

"Al-Alright? Ummm, I order you both to help us find… the one killing the Strays in Kuoh?" 

"As you wish Black Dragon King!" 

Where did she get that recorder from? That body hugging suit doesn't look like it has any pockets. 

"There, we both have accepted the Black Dragon King's demand to help out Kuoh in the search for the rogue Exorcist. We did not accept anything from the Devils and have repeatedly requested them to stay away from our affairs, if they chose to ignore it then we will deal with this matter in our own way."

She ended the recording and smiled proudly.

"That… was kind of smart." Saji said. 

"You're so smart, Iri-chan!" Issei was clapping at her quick thinking, making the twin-tail Exorcist blush.

"Thank you, Ise-kun! I accept your compliment even if you're a Devil." Irina looked really happy to receive praise from her childhood friend.

The boy laughed awkwardly, but stopped when he realized something.

"Hey, wait a minute, why didn't you ask me instead? I'm the Red Dragon Emperor, so shouldn't I be kinda more important to the Church than him? No offense!" 

"None taken," it was a valid point as well. Even in the Dragon Kings, Vritra was ranked the lowest.

"Well, don't take this the wrong way, but the higher ups will believe our word if the Black Dragon King was involved rather than you. With how infamous he is across the world currently and his strong presence in the supernatural world. You're still new to our world with nothing noteworthy…"

Also a good point.

"Fair enough." Issei said, still sounding like he was unhappy with the response.

Don't worry Mr. Main Protagonist, your time would come soon.  

Xenovia added her own part as well.

"Even though meeting the Black Dragon King and the Red Dragon Emperor at the same time is most likely a sign from God, I would still go for Hikigaya Hachiman due to the many incidents he's been part of as well as having more experience in dealing with these situations. The Paris one being the most prominent and well known of. True, you can become as strong as a Maou with your ability to double your power, but you still have yet to show anything close to that and if we fought right now as far as we know. Irina and I could defeat you individually. I'm certain you'll reach such a power level sooner or later, but for now, you're still weak."

"You don't have to be so blunt about it." Issei said, feeling like his pride was shattered at Xenovia's words, even if he knew that she was right.

'Oi, Vritra, any thoughts on this?'

'...'

'Vritra?'

"Oh, so you're back!" A voice called out to us, I turned to see a waitress who was looking intently at the little girl besides me, who was still in a staring contest with Koneko. "I see that you've found your family!" 

"Do you know her?" I asked.

"I do. The poor little girl came here a few days ago all alone wearing scandalous clothes!" She gave a seething glare. "I can't believe you would allow your sister to wear such obsecene clothing. Black tapes to cover her nipples!? I should call the police on you mister! Good thing I gave her my jacket before she left." The waitress started scolding me like I was the one at fault.

"Tapes?" I whipped my head towards Kuro and carefully observed the girl's gothic lolita outfit and the actual tapes covering her nipples!?

"T-The hell! I-I didn't do it!" 

'I am innocent! Blame her parents!!'

"Humph, like I would believe that. And you even left her all alone in the streets while she was searching for this Vritra anime thing."

"—!" 

Everyone at the table stilled, our eyes widening in shock at her words.

Momo was the first one to react, she quickly cast a spell on the waitress and hypnotized her to forget this interaction. 

As for the other customers she trie—

"Everyone is gone!" Kiba noted, bringing out his sword, looking tense at the situation.

A bounded field?

'—ner!'

"Vritra!"

'Ge—ay –om —her!' 

Absorption Line forcefully appeared on my hand and I heard his voice clearly. 

"That's Ophis!"

Before I could say anything, I felt the girl who was apparently the Dragon God of infinity touch my hand, and felt goosebumps all across my body.

I was panicking.

"She is approaching, we need a quieter place." 

A strong force beyond anything I had felt in my life pull inside a dark void. 

Rumble!

The last thing I saw was golden lightning descending from the skies above upon a figure with blonde hair. Wielding a rapier shrouded in holy energy, battling against a girl in a Miko outfit.

My heart sank.

"Aken—woosh!" I shouted out, but couldn't do so for long as I was already pulled away.

"Hachiman!"

"Hikigaya!"

"Senpai!"

They all called out to me, but it was too late as I was forcefully teleported away from the place

-----------------------

The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 2 Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword having 3 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 and Snafu.