Chapter 58

"Let's say I had a home. A burglar wished to invade this home but I placed a powerful guard in front of it. If you were that burglar, what would you do?" Damian asked his teacher, uncle, and, to some extent, father figure out of the blue.

Despite their teacher student relationship being canceled after multiple years as Damian had little left to learn nor the desire to he and Ajuka still met up fairly often. Or, as often as a Satan and the head of one of the most prominent devil nobility could anyway.

"If I were the burglar I would plan around the guard. Perhaps I would send a false alarm or sneak past if that were an option. Is there something bothering you?" Ajuka asked curiously, calmly taking a sip of the tea his nephew prepared. Its taste was just as exquisite as it once was although the hatred imbued into it was not something he personally enjoyed

"It's a small nuisance. You don't have to worry about it." Damian replied dismissively as he rose to his feet and disappeared. Shaking his head with a wry smile in response Ajuka eagerly awaited the fate brought forth by his nephew's birth.

Arriving back at the Kuoh academy Damian took a seat in the club room he controlled. Eight years ago he had cheerfully imagined the club he would create in the future and now that he had accomplished that goal he felt nothing. There was no satisfaction, nor glee, no joy. Nothing.

The Criminal Mystery Club, or the CMC as people occasionally called it, was the club he had founded. It was born from a mix of his childish dreams and his current 'occupation''. Officially, he was registered as an assistant detective at the local police station.

The club currently had three members. Himself as the President, Ordes as the Vice President, and Nero as the club mascot. Nero was actually quite a bit older than the students but as three members were required to begin a club she was forced to attend.

'Kokabiel. He hasn't made any clear actions yet but it won't be long.' Damian thought to himself blandly, his empty golden eyes staring aimlessly at the door as he tended to do. Kokabiel wasn't a threat, at least to Damian.

However, as Ajuka had said, Rias and Sona weren't safe if he decided to attack them while he was not present. The two had grown much stronger compared to the canon counterparts, their peerages as well, but Kokabiel had eons of experience.

This wasn't an anime, it was reality, experience mattered just as much as raw power in this world. While Kokabiel would most likely lose in the end, there would be losses which would be unfortunate. They were all necessary pieces on his board even if he didn't particularly enjoy that train of thought.

Regardless, Kokabiel represented a threat to Rias and Sona's peerages that could not be ignored. Yet at the same time, it was important for them to learn from the experience. Whether it be in anime or in reality, the battlefield was the best place to grow.

As long as they survived of course. There were so many moving pieces, so many things to consider, that it became difficult to pick out a clear cut path to victory. Truly, everything would be so much easier if it were a world of fantasy.

Rather than worrying about politics, peaceful relations, and potential backlash Damian could simply storm the enemy stronghold, slaughter his foes, accomplish his ultimate goal, and then call it a day.

Truthfully, Damian was often tempted to follow that line of thought. To ignore the consequences of his actions, to simply take the most direct path even if it meant the world burned. But that wasn't possible.

He was strong, one of the top three strongest in this universe in fact. But what use was that if utilizing that power merely created a mountain of corpses behind him? Utilizing power to accomplish his goals merely incited fear, and fear created conflict.

Letting out a sigh of exhaustion Damian rubbed his brow. It was in times like this that he thought of his parents, specifically his father. He had run the clan well, better than Damian could manage even after eight years. It would be wonderful if he could get advice but…

There was so much to do and he had no idea of how to do any of it. He was sly, he was strong, he was deceitful but everyone else was as well. The only way he could catch up was by doing more, accomplishing more, and building up his renown.

That's why he became the ally of the Shinto faction. That's why he became the assistant of Falbium Asmodeus. That's why he challenged the Jade Emperor. That's why he slaved away to raise the Thaumiel clan to where it was while his father was content where he was.

To prepare for a future that nobody will be aware of. To support a world that took what he loved from him. He asked himself dozens of times each day, was it worth it? And each time he convinced himself it was. But he was lying. He was always lying.

Tearing his eyes away from the door he looked at the tear in space, a world of vivid colors alone residing on the other side. From the barbaric portal stepped a small child, smaller than even Shirone, wearing extremely revealing gothic lolita fashion, her two small breasts covered by bandaids alone.

"Ophis." Damian muttered tiredly, exhaustion already seeping in at his companion. She was an odd individual in both personality and appearance. Despite her power being quite literally infinite she had no desire to use it nor the experience required to do so.

By all means, she should be ranked above Great Red whose concept of Dreams, while versatile, paled in comparison to Ophis' own but her lack of combat knowledge and experience resulted in her being placed in the same tier as him.

Compared to Damian who was halfway to the supreme realm as Ddraig called it Ophis was firmly placed at the top and yet he could still safely defeat her. Her power to infinitely increase everything and bring nothingness into reality was dangerous but it was managable.

"My mate." Ophis replied with a small nod.

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