Aftermath 4/7

After being teleported, Vali was greeted by multiple figures with black wings and all of them started caring for his wounds. They then slowly and carefully transferred him to a room and started casting healing magic on him.

From the entrance of the room, Azazel came, "Still alive?"

The other Fallen Angels greeted Azazel and continue on their work and attached various medical types of equipment on Vali.

"..." Despite his injuries, Vali isn't groaning in pain. It is as if he's already used to such abuse, "...He let me live, didn't he?"

After doing everything they can, the Fallen Angels left the room to let Azazel and Vali talk in private.

Azazel grabbed a chair and sat beside Vali's bed. He took out a cigarette and lit it up. After blowing the smoke, he replied, "He did... Although even I'm not sure why he did that." Azazel recalled the scene where Vali was about to be killed. At that point, due to its suddenness, he couldn't have done anything but watch, 'That was a big mistake... I could have lost Vali just like that...'

"I could only see the last attack, but tell me, did he pity me?" Vali asked.

"Nope. Not at all. Something suddenly changed his mind. His killing intent is real."

"..." Vali stayed silent after that. A few minutes of silence, he closed his eyes to rest.

Azazel finished his cigarette and stood up to leave, 'Still got a lot of work to do... I should really think of ways I can retire.' Reaching the door, Azazel gave his adopted son a final look, 'I should meet that guy...'

Half an hour later, Vali suddenly opened his eyes and with the snap of his fingers, he sealed the room using his magic.

A few seconds later, a purple magic circle suddenly appeared not from his bed and from it, two figures emerged. The first figure is the familiar black-haired golden-eyed nekomata, Kuroka. The second one a young man with short light-colored hair. He is dressed in ancient Chinese armor that was used during the Three Kingdoms period. This man is a monkey Youkai and the descendant of the Monkey King, Sun Wukong.

The two of them approached Vali and the first one to open his mouth is the young man, "Yo, Vali. I heard that you almost died, but it seems that you're doing fine."

Vali in response only chuckled, "I found myself a strong opponent. I looking forward to our rematch in the future. Bikou, you should also train and have a match with him." Instead of being discouraged after almost being instantly killed, his motivation rose up.

"Hah... I should have known..." Kuroka heaved a large sigh.

"Kakaka! That's the Vali we knew! What else did you expect? But is he really that strong?" Bikou asked.

Vali smiled, "He is... Too strong even... I've already met a bunch of strong people but he doesn't give me a good feeling. I already asked Albion and he confirmed that he's a human."

"A human!? The one who did you in is a human!? Not some reincarnated Devil or Youkai!? Did he have a bunch of Longinus?" A barrage of questions came from Bikou. He just couldn't believe that the one who defeated the strongest person in their group is a human. Even if it's a hero of ancient times, he wouldn't be defeated to the point of almost dying.

I also asked Albion about that and he's sure that what he's using isn't a Sacred Gear, 'And that mask... Even Albion doesn't have a clue to what it is. All Albion can tell is that something like that shouldn't be existing.' Vali thought. He didn't let out these thoughts as it is too absurd. How come something that shouldn't exist suddenly just appeared out of nowhere. He doesn't understand Albion's reasoning on why he judged it like that.

Bikou, as a fellow battle maniac, grinned, "I want to meet him."

Kuroka, who's silently watching the two of them finally spoke, "You better not mess with that pervert too much."

Both of them suddenly stopped and looked towards Kuroka with widened eyes, "Why do you sound you personally knew that guy?" Bikou asked.

"Due to an unfortunate... Wait, maybe it's fortunate? I met that guy." Kuroka replied, but she too wasn't so sure how she would describe her relationship with Kisuke. Unfortunate because she met the most infuriating person and she was tied up in the most humiliating way. Remembering it again made her grit her teeth. Although, those turn of events also made her and Shirone make up. There is still an awkward atmosphere between them, but this is a lot better than in the past where she couldn't talk to her little sister that she loves so much.

Vali stared at her for a moment until something flashed in his head, "... You're the one who asked him to spare me?"

Kuroka stared back at him and put on a serious expression, "Yes."

There was silence between the three of them. After a minute or two of silence, however, Vali smiled again, "Thank you."

Kuroka smiled back, "You're welcome~." Although Vali is a battle maniac and wouldn't hesitate to put his life on the line to get stronger, he would never blame someone who just saved his life. It's true that he enjoys the adrenaline, but Vali's motivation isn't from battling itself but from the desire to get stronger to achieve his goal... his revenge. So he couldn't die just yet.

Bikou then scratched his head, "But what should we do? Since those from the Old Devil Kings Faction already received the information about Azazel's plan, they wouldn't miss this chance to attack when the leaders of the Three Factions gathered. Are you going to postpone revealing yourself?"

"I can't postpone it. It'll be disadvantageous for us to keep hiding as they also started contacting those in different factions and already got the support of some of the Gods. We can't miss the opportunity to get Fenrir. And we won't be able to focus on looking for Gogmagog if I'm under Azazel's eyes." Vali sighed. With the help of Fallen Angel's medical facility, his life isn't in danger anymore, but it also means that he won't be able to do a full recovery before their anticipated battles.

"You don't have to worry about that. I asked that guy to send some medicine to assist in your recovery." Kuroka grinned and said.

Vali and Bikou simultaneously looked towards Kuroka in confusion, "That guy?"

Kuroka's grin grew larger, "Kisuke Urahara. The guy who almost killed you~."

"Ha...?" Vali and Bikou were dumbfounded at her words. The first one to recover is Vali and feigned a cough, "How? Why? How much does he know? And aren't you a bit too close to him if you can ask him for medicine?" Vali didn't question the authenticity of Kuroka's aforementioned medicine, but he's confused about why this Kisuke Urahara would agree. Just a while ago, they tried killing each other, though it's pretty much one-sided.

"How? I can contact him and ask for some things in exchange for some benefits. Why? I don't know really know how he thinks, but my guess is that outside of his emotional barrier, being an enemy or an ally only means how much benefit he could get. How much does he know? I told him all the current members of the Khaos Brigade. And I'm too close to him? No way! That perverted bastard only knows how to annoy and mess with people's heads! If not for Shirone, I wouldn't even want to talk to him!"

Vali somehow understands Kuroka's words and chooses not to ask anymore. This is also the first time Vali and Bikou see her became so agitated and both of them thought with honest admiration, 'This guy is amazing...'

"Ehem... So? Where is this medicine?" Vali didn't want to dig deeper so he pushed the conversation.

"Uhh... He told me that it'll be delivered once he prepared it. He'll probably send it to me through space magic so I'm just waiting f--." Kuroka is explaining when the three of them suddenly felt a tiny fluctuation in space signifying that someone wants to teleport in that spot.

"Oh. That's probably... it?" Kuroka and the two guys looked towards the spot where space is fluctuating, but instead of the medicine they are expecting, a loli in gothic outfit appeared, "O..phis?" All of them dumbfoundedly muttered.

Ignoring their reaction, Ophis went to Kuroka with her small steps and reached out for her pocket. She then pulled out a test tube with a red liquid inside it and passed it to Kuroka, "The lecherous guy with a bucket hat asked me to pass this to you."

Kuroka blankly received the test tube from Ophis. After doing what she's asked to do, she immediately went back to the Urahara Household with teleportation to receive her 'reward' for this 'quest'.

It took them a minute after Ophis left to recover and the first one to speak is Vali, "...What the hell?"

"Did he just ask the big boss of our organization to do a delivery to us?" Bikou followed up.

"... I didn't expect him to know Ophis personally... But you see what I mean? I'm right when I said that he likes to mess with people's heads..." Kuroka didn't really know how to react to what just happened, "So I'm warning you again... Messing with him isn't worth it... Being injured or wounded is the least of your worries..."

Vali and Bikou both shallowed their saliva and nodded. They now realized that there is something more terrifying than raw power.