Death in the Family

"Well . . . That was easy." Jun commented, stupefying everyone.

He then turned to Shigune and asked.

"Do you know where your friend, the other fiend is?"

Shigune, much like everyone that saw Jun adult form for the first time was utterly entranced, nodding absentmindedly.

"Can you tell me where?" He continued to ask

Shigune, quite embarrassed, finally shock off the trance as the conversation progressed.

She told them Koag Hyosuke was fighting in the nearby village and so they all went back to the car and got going. On the way to the village, Natsukme decided to ask a question that had been bugging her to Shigune.

"Why didn't you take Grigori's offer of assistance?"

After hesitating for a bit, Shigune revealed she and Koga had been kidnapped by an organization called the Khaos Brigade which Satanael was a part off and Koga had cut some sort of deal with the fallen angel.

After a little while they arrived at the village and, Barakiel sensed Satanael's presence.

"I'll go and deal with him. I leave things here to you Jun." Barakiel said before leaving.

"Right then! Let's move." Jun commanded and, through Shigune's directions, they found Koga surrounded by a bunch of gruesome corpse. Well, gruesome by regular person standards.

"Shigune! And with friends! The name is Koga Hyosuke." He introduced himself, noticing the similarities between his own Sacred Gear named Blitz and Jin.

"Are you one of the Four Fiends holders?" Hyosuke asked Tobio, prompting him to shake his head.

"I'm not." He responded.

They were about to continue but they suddenly found themselves surrounded by several magicians, among them, were Augusta, Lavinia's target and her disciple Walburga.

"Lavinia Reni and Ikuse Tobio! I'm genuinely happy to meet two other fellow Longinus wielders like myself." Augusta greeted, ignoring the others.

Lavinia and Tobio however, did not share her happiness and immediately got ready for a fight, so did the others surrounding Shigune to protect her as her fiend's power was to volatile to carelessly use in battle with her lack of control over it.

"I assume you want information on Glenda?" Augusta asked.

"If you win in a duel against me, I don't mind sharing." She tempted, bidding Lavinia to follow her.

Jun sneakily ordered Nox and Nyx into Lavinia's shadow and told her.

"Go Lavi-chan. I'll hold the fort here."

"Lavinia looked back at Jun and then at the others before nodding with a grateful smile on her face but then turned dead serious an followed Augusta who left after leaving some orders for the magicians and her disciple.

Walburga suddenly attacked without warning sending a fireball towards Jun who she correctly deduced to be the leader but, much to her shock, it fizzled out on contact and she wisely teleported away, escaping.

'She's smart . . .' Jun though and then, countless magic circles made by Dragon Runes and based on Numerology covered the sky and rained down death, wiping out all the magicians without fail.

"Well to bad the most important one got away but let's get to Lavinia." Jun said.

Meanwhile, the team was left wondering why did they even come while Kouga and Shigune were awed at Jun's sheer might.

The group then headed off in Lavinia's direction but a strange mist suddenly teleported them. Jun could have resisted but then ,he would be separated from the others so he chose to let himself be transported and so the group ended up at Barakiel and Satanael's position.

Before he could even say something though, Jun spoke first.

"You really want to pick this fight?" He asked.

"No I don't I'm just here to talk." Satanael responded.

"Talk? What a joke!" Barkiel furiously said.

He then proceeded to try and persuade Tobio to join him while Jun looked around bored. Satanael explained his interest for sacred gears and Tobio, while sharing this interes, said he did not approve of Satanael's methods.

Tobio then drew out his scythe.

"I want a path to a peaceful achievement of my goals:" He said with resolution.

"Despite your words, that scythe is giving of quite the ominous aura." Satanael mocked. At the same time though, he cursed himself in his mind for losing Arondight in a bet with Jun.

Just has it was about to devolve into a fight, Himejima Suzazu arrived, tipping the balance further into their favour and making Satanael even more apprehensive, which he already was due to Jun always being an unknown value.

Suddenly though, Jun got a massive headache, hearing a shrill cry the echoed in his head and falling down on one knee, shocking everyone.

He immediately stood up though and rage clouded his eyes, cold rage, not the kind to make one go mad but the kind to bring about a cold, methodical revenge.

The shrill cry . . . It was Nox's dying throes . . .Going a few moments back in time, Lavinia was facing Augusta in battle, Walburga who had escaped watched hidden at a safe distance.

Lavinia's training with Jun was paying off and Augusta was being pressed as Lavinia questioned her about Glenda as she delivered ruthless attacks.

Augusta's sacred gear was also a Longinus, one of the holy relic, the Holy Cross, Incinerate Anthem. With it, she create a giant made of purple holy flames, carrying a giant flaming crucifix as a weapon.

As it clashed with Lavinia's Absolute Demise Ice Doll, the two witches slung spells of every element at each other without rest but Lavinia was beginning to get the upper hand.

Charisma is not only charm, but the ability to lead and enhance the power of one's allies in battle, being under Jun meant Lavinia was much stronger than she would've been otherwise. That was the true reason she was overwhelming Augusta and so, the old witch was forced to resort to trickery.

She admitted defeat and began talking about Glenda, knowing the information she was about to reveal would turn the tides into her favor.

Augusta revealed that Glenda disappeared out of her own free will after finishing studying LAvinia's Absolute Demise and that that research proved invaluable to create the Utsusemi, after Glenda willingly gave it to her.

"No, no, NO! That can't be true!" Lavinia was in denial.

It was then that Augusta pulled out her trump card, a communication crystal that connected her to Glenda.

The witch refused to even acknowledge Lavinia, only complaining to Augusta not to contact her for such "insignificant matters" before cutting off the communication from her end and so, Lavinia mentally broke down.

'This is my chance to possess her!' Augusta thought but suddenly, two enormous black serpentine oriental dragons emerged from Lavinia's shadow protecting her.

It was all going according to Jun's plan, he put the Nyx and Nox in Lavinia's shadow to buy him time should it be necessary as he figured they could handle Augusta if they were both together.

Truth be told, his calculations were right, if they had not failed to account for something of critical importance. As spiritual existences with the basis of an evil dragon, they were massively weak to holy flam, and they were facing the mightiest holy flame to ever exist.

Augusta ordered her flaming Giant to attack and realizing they were weak towards the flames, the two shadows which grew rapidly in intelligence across the last two and a half months took the logical option.

Nox sacrificed itself to hold back the enemy while Nyx ran away carrying Lavinia within her.

Back to the present moment, Jun was blaming himself.

'It's my fault. I miscalculated and my Nox died . . . But you'll pay for it dearly old witch . . .' He thought to himself.

He deactivated his forceful control over his emotions and let the rage flow, Dragon Rage (A). All of his parameters except Luck and his draconic skills got a plus modifier, then Dragonic Body (B+) added a ++ modifier to his strength and endurance while upping the rank of all other draconic skills by one.

Str: EX; End: B+++; Agi: B+; Mag: EX, Lck: EX. It was truly frightening to look at as even Barakiel and Satanael shivered in fear as Jun's raw power became apparent and still rising.

He summoned his armor, not to hide his power which was one of its functions but to enhance it further. Jun's body, including his dragon wings, claws, horns and talons were covered in thick black and gold plate armor, raising his power even further.

Without another word, Jun flew in Augusta's direction, intent on collecting some painful compensation for the death of his dear familiar nay, Nox was already more than a familiar, as a noble phantasm, it was a part of Jun and the witch would pay for killing him . . .

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P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!

The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba without the extra dots of course.

You'll get to read up to FOUR week ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.

There's also my other novel Archon of DanMachi, do check it out!

I would greatly appreciate any support since this is going to be my breadwinner.