I heard footsteps coming closer, and soon after, the door opened by the other person I heard. He was strong just by the aura he emitted. If I would guess, it is around the lower strength of eight winged angels.

"I-I'm here to give a report to L-Lord Kokabiel," I said with a fake stutter.

"Come in," He said with a stern voice, unlike the stuttering one I heard before when he was talking to Kokabiel.

I entered the room and instantly spotted the cube on the floor and the small dent in the wall where it hit.

I quickly made my way towards Kokabiel, who was looking at me with annoyance.

"What do you have to report, boy? Make it quick, and don't waste my time."

Wow, he is ugly. This was my first time seeing him in person, and he looked worse than the photos. Tall, pale with long black hair, narrow, blood-red eyes, and elf-like ears.

The other fallen angel was right behind me, so the moment I attacked Kokabiel, he would also attack me. I need to attack both of them at the same time.

Standing about one meter from him, I didn't waste time as I took out both my swords and activated the rune of destruction.

My blades ignited with the purple flames, and I concentrated them on the tips before sending one arc of flames at Kokabiel and the other at the random fallen angel behind me.

As expected of Kokabiel, who has fought in the war before, he reacted quickly and quickly created a sword made out of the light element and momentarily blocked the flames, giving him enough time to dodge seeing the flames eating away his weapon.

The other fallen angel, on the other hand, didn't have so much luck. He wasn't even able to react before the flames hit him with full force and disintegrated him into nothingness.

Instead of attacking Kokabiel again, I quickly flash-stepped to the cube, picked it up, and stored it in my storage rune before focusing on Kokabiel again.

"So Azazel sent someone else to pick up his missing weapon for him, and a little brat at that, huh?" Kokabiel said, and an insane smile formed on his face.

I need to send a signal to Azazel and Mom, so they know I have the cube, and they can start the attack.

Concentrating more of the purple flames on the tip of my blades, I sent an X-shaped arc at the ceiling.

The flames passed through the roof, disintegrating a big chunk of it, and continued going upwards for a while before dying out.

With that done, let's focus on the crazy elf wannabe.

I believe this is the ideal moment to test my new armor. A smirk appeared on my face as I infused the necklace with some mana.

Suddenly, the jet-black armor enveloped me, and I immediately went on the offensive while augmenting my body.

"That trick won't work twice, brat!" Kokabiel, anticipating the power of my flames, quickly adapted to them, making his light weapons more potent and able to withstand the flames of destruction for longer.

However, they were not strong enough to endure more than five hits before the flames consumed them.

Sweat started forming on my forehead, and I deactivated the rune. It would be best if I could use it more, but the destruction flames require a lot of mana, and if I constantly use them like that, I would run dry in the next few minutes.

The moment the flames died down, Kokabiel didn't hesitate to take the offensive, making me back away from him.

Unfurling his wings, he shot his feathers at me, but I was able to deflect them with my reinforced blades. As soon as the feathers touched my blades, they produced a sound like steel meeting steel.

"It seems you can't use the flames anymore. Tell me, who are you? I have never seen anyone among us who could wield such flames." He asked curiously.

I smirked and replied, "Just a ghost whom you annoyed and now wants to kill you."

He seemed more annoyed at the fact I didn't answer him properly than the fact I told him I wanted to kill him.

Kokabiel vanished and appeared next to me at a faster speed than my flash step. I barely had time to react as his light sword was heading straight for my head.

The light blade met with both my metallic wing swords, and the next moment, I was kneed in the chest and sent stumbling back a few meters.

It was painful, and I momentarily stopped breathing. There was a small dent in my armor where he kneed me, but it healed quickly.

Kokabiel didn't give me any time to catch my balance and attacked again. If not for the years of fighting, I would have lost my head at that moment.

His blade cut a few strands of my long blonde hair, but I quickly ducked and rolled away from him.

"Shit..." I mumbled softly to myself.

"Is this all you got? Without those flames, you are really pathetic," Kokabiel commented and looked bored.

I gave him a weak smirk, "Shut up, you wannabe elf." I replied, and this seemed to anger him.

Let him see me as weak; I only need one good hit, and this will be over. I told myself

I continued dodging and reflecting on his attack, slowly learning his fighting style so it became easier for me to predict his attacks—incredible swordsmanship, coupled with him throwing his feathers at me here and there.

"Argg..." I gritted my teeth as, due to a slight mishap, his blade managed to go through my armor and wound me.

Even if the armor was helping me a lot, it wouldn't protect me from everything.

As the armor started healing, I could feel the warm blood seeping down my body. It wasn't a life-threatening wound, but still, I was bleeding quite a lot.

But still, I couldn't help the small battle-hungry grin forming on my face. It has been quite some time since I last faced such a strong opponent.

I was surprised that even after everything was happening up here, no one had entered. This could mean two things. The first is that they somehow can't sense the battle going on or that my signal worked and they are currently being taken care of.

Either way, that's good for me because if more people joined, I wouldn't even have the slightest chance of winning.

That was when I thought of a stupid and dangerous plan. If it didn't work, there would be a high chance of me dying.

I stopped reinforcing my armor and began to give him fake openings, making it seem like I was getting tired. As a result, my armor took a lot of damage and stopped healing as quickly as before.

This would let me save more mana and, if it worked, a good strike.

It didn't take him long to notice the change, and he wasted no time in attacking me.

His light blade came at me at full speed from my side. I quickly reinforced the part of my armor that would be hit. The moment the blade made contact with my armor, it sent out sparks.

I grabbed his blade with my clawed armored hand to stop him momentarily. I knew it wouldn't be long before he could release his sword and create a new one. However, I used this time to send a reinforced punch straight to his face.

I could hear his nose crack and see a few teeth falling out. I grinned as I saw him release his blade and jump back with a hand over his face and his eyes staring at me with anger.

I didn't have enough time to enjoy seeing his anger as I used the time to flash step behind him and ignite my swords with the purple flames of destruction once again before slashing at his back.

Kokabiel, at that moment, didn't have the time to react quickly enough before the ignited blades slashed through his five pairs of wings and left nothing behind.

I tried to go for another attack to end this fight, but I didn't have enough time.

"YOU LOWLY SON OF A BITCH!!!" Kokabiel roared and spun around before punching me in the chest with all his strength.

I just managed to reinforce my armor when, suddenly, I was launched across the room and smashed through the wall. I landed in a large area that was previously full of fallen angels and created a deep crater on impact.

I coughed out blood, and my whole body was in pain.

"Elijah!" I heard my mothers scream somewhere close to me before I felt someone carefully picking me up.

I took a moment before I noticed that every single fallen angel that used to be here was gone except for a small group of passed-out fallen angels that Azazel had just teleported away to somewhere.

It also felt like there was something wrong with my sensing ability down here. It was like they were still here.

Oh, I see. It must be Azazel's doing.

"I set up an Anti-Teleportation barrier around this place so I can control who leaves or doesn't. So where's Kokabiel?" Uncle Azazel asked as Mom started using her Holy Water to heal me.

"Up there," I said weakly, pointing at the room above us, and it was at that moment he decided to show himself.

Kokabiel's eyes were bloodshot, and his face was twisted into a mad expression. But it looked quite funny seeing it with the broken nose and a few of his teeth missing.

The biggest reason I attacked him from behind was to get rid of his wings, which he could use to attack or to fly away.

Azazel gave a low whistle, seeing Kokabiel's current appearance. "You certainly did a good job giving him a makeover, kid. Now, leave the rest to the grown-ups." He said.

"N-No, let me finish this," I said and tried to stand on my own, but instantly, massive pain shot through my body, and I coughed out more blood, and I fell backward just to be caught by my mother again, "Ughh..."

"No, you will rest now while we take care of him. You did enough. Now rest." My mother said in a tone saying that it was an order.

I knew I couldn't defeat him, especially after my attack only took out his wings, and he left me in this state. Despite the healing my mother had done, I was still in a bad state.

I couldn't even move, but I wanted to finish what I started, "Just heal me a bit more, and I will be able to finish it..." I said.

"Stop acting like a kid. It's a miracle you're even conscious and can stand up for a moment with all your injuries." My mother replied in a serious tone.

I wanted to chuckle at how true her statement was. I was acting like a kid right now instead of my mental age. Maybe all this time has affected me more than I initially realized.

"Sorry... you're right," I replied weakly. The goal of this whole thing wasn't to kill Kokabiel but to retrieve the cube, which had been in my storage rune even before the fight really started.

With that said, I calmed down my body while transforming my armor back to its pendant form and slowly falling asleep, knowing they could handle the rest.

---

Slowly opening my eyes, I was grateful I couldn't feel any pain as if the fight hadn't happened.

Sitting up, I noticed that I was covered with bandages from the neck down. I guess the injuries were worse than I thought.

I quickly ensured my blades were with me and the cube was safely stored in my storage rune.

"Good..." I said with a relieved sigh, feeling the cube still in it.

Looking around, I saw I was in my own room or the room of the me of this world. During the whole Kokabiel ordeal, I may have forgotten the reason I needed the cube.

I wasn't in my world. The people in this world, despite being the same people, they aren't the same.

They are different.

I'm dead.

My mother is a fallen.

Multiple people I know don't know me here, like Arthur, LeFay, Kuroka, and Vali.

Letting out another sigh, I took out the cube from my storage rune and looked at it.

It didn't have even a single scratch on it despite being thrown at the wall by Kokabiel.

"How can I activate you?" I asked in a low voice, my eyes not leaving the cube in my hand.

I looked at it as if waiting for the cube to answer me, but no answer came from it.

Sighing for the third time since waking up, I stood up and walked toward the door.

After opening the door and walking towards the living room, I heard two voices talking about something. It didn't take long for me to recognize who it was and what they were talking about.

It was my mother and Uncle Azazel; they were talking about Kokabiel and what to do next with him. From what I overheard my mother say, he is currently locked up somewhere.

"So I guess everything went according to plan?" I asked, making my presence known.

Instantly, my mother rushed to me, "El, you shouldn't be walking yet!"

"Come on, Gabriel... You healed him and, just to be sure, used Phoenix Tears. The kid will be alright."

"How long was I out?" I asked, hoping it wasn't for long.

"Just a couple of hours. We expected you to be out for at least a whole day." Azazel replied.

That's good. I'm just hoping that the time between me and this world is the same.

"So, do you know how to get me back home?" I asked, throwing him the cube.

He easily caught it and replied, "Yes, but there is one small problem..."

I raised my eyebrow slightly, "Small problem?" I asked, not liking the tone he said it with.

Azazel sighed while running his hand through his hair, "There is a way to force the cube to activate, but it requires a lot of energy, and I can't be certain it would take you back home or to a completely different world. Seeing as one alternative timeline exists, it proves that countless different timelines and even completely different worlds also exist."

"..." I frowned hearing that but stayed silent.

Great... Even if we activate the cube, I could just land in a different timeline or even another world.

Seeing my expression, Azazel tried to cheer me up, "Don't worry so much about it. Your energy should make the cube lock into your timeline. Or at least I hope so," He said while muttering the last part, but I still heard it.

I sighed and hoped his theory was right, "That leaves the energy problem. How much energy are we talking about?" I asked.

"Well... We would need the combined energy of all of the three faction leaders; it should be enough." He said, and I could already hear a but coming, "But gathering everyone together won't be easy," He said, giving my mother a side glance.

"I don't regret what I did that time," My mother said simply.

Now, I was interested in what she did, but I decided not to ask. I haven't met all of the leaders of the three factions, but I have met the strongest of each one, so the fact that all of them are needed for this to work is unbelievable.

Wait!

Could that possibly work?

I remembered what happened just before my fight against Kokabiel. The person I met there, what she gave me, and what she said to me.

Bringing the bottle with the snake inside out of my storage rune, I showed it to Azazel, "Would this work as a replacement?" I asked

At first, Azazel looked at it, not knowing what it was, but then his eyes widened so much they could have fallen out. On the other hand, my mother didn't seem to recognize what the thing in my hand was.

"W-Were did you get that from!?" He asked in shock.

I looked at him with a flat look, "Where do you think? Of course, Ophis gave it to me..." I replied, and his mouth was wide open when I heard a gasp from my mother.

Seriously, where else could I have gotten it from? Santa?

Seeing their current state, I sighed and asked, "So, can this be used as a replacement or not?"

This brought Uncle Azazel out of it, and he quickly recomposed himself with a fake cough, "Ummm, yes, yes, it should work."

---

After showing Azazel the snake Ophis gave me, we teleported back to the lab, where we were figuring out how to use the snake to activate the cube.

"You are pretty good at this. Did the me of your world teach you?" Azazel asked while we were waiting for the computer to finish running its scans on the bottle with the snake.

"Umm... Yeah, but he started just recently. I wanted to learn how to make my armor," I replied.

"I saw it for a moment as you crashed down. If you made it by yourself after only starting recently, then I can't imagine what you would be making after getting more experience." He said, and just as he finished, a beep came from the computer, signaling it was done.

I looked at the screen for a while before looking back at Azazel, "So just dropping the snake on the cube and letting it absorb the power will work."

"Yeah, and looking at the energy levels of this thing, the cube should have enough power to a single jump..." He said, and I took out the wooden cork of the bottle before tilting it down and letting the snake fall down on the cube.

The snake slithered around on top of the cube before diving head-first into it. It gave off a purplish glow before returning to normal.

Now push some of your energy into it, and let's hope it will activate and take you home." Azazel said.

I nodded and stopped before touching it when I remembered what had happened and turned around to look at my mother, "I guess this is a goodbye..." I said, feeling awkward, "Even though I'm not really your son, thanks for everything you have done for me these past few days."

She embraced me into a tight hug, and I could hear her crying, "No matter who you are, even from a different timeline, you will always be my son," She said and released the hug.

I looked at her face. She had a few tears streaming down from her eyes and a smile. I also felt something around my shoulders.

"It's a gift from me," She said, wiping her tears, "It should go well with the armor you used. It is also enchanted to clean, adjust its size, and repair itself."

I tilted my head to see what it was. A white hood, and it also had white fur around the hood.

"Thank you, Mom..." I said softly, looking at her while smiling at her, trying not to cry myself.

"Let's not drag this out any longer. Knowing myself, I'm worried sick with how long you've been gone." She said before giving me another hug, "Now, knowing me in the past, I wouldn't say something like this to you, then I'm going to... Don't concern yourself about your mental age. If you love someone, then go for her or them... I also want at least six grandchildren. I think blonde hair and purple eyes or black hair and golden eyes would look cute on them." She said.

My face flushed red while my mind showed me images of two kids running around and playing. One of them was a girl who looked exactly like Akeno but had blonde hair and purple eyes, while the other one was a boy with black hair and golden eyes.

"M-Mom!"

"Fufufu," She chuckled, seeing my expression before ruffling my hair, "Now off you go."

"Tsk..." I clicked my tongue and remembered part of what she said, 'If you love someone, then go for her or them... I also want at least six grandchildren.' I don't know how to feel hearing my mother telling me to get a harem and get at least six kids.

My expression turned neutral after a while, and with a sigh, I turned to look at the cube again.

"Well, I guess this is farewell... Oh, and Azazel, if you try anything with my mother, I will come back to kill you myself." I said.

Azazel nervously waved his hands, "Ah, you don't have to worry about that... She already threatened me a few times." He said, glancing at my mother, who was just smiling with an innocent smile before he shuttered and looked back at me.

Well, I don't think I should waste more time and return.

I grabbed the cube, but this time, it didn't shock me, and I could feel the energy swirling inside it.

I decided to give myself a quick countdown before activating it.

3...

2...

1...

I pushed some mana into the cube, and my vision was surrounded by purple lightning.

I didn't pass out this time and could feel the cube teleporting me. It felt quite similar to when I used Flash Step and was teleported at the same time, but somehow different.

I felt a feeling of falling as the purple lightning around me started dying down. The next thing I knew, my head had hit the cold, hard floor of Azazel's laboratory.

In the corner of my mind, I saw the panicked expression Uncle Azazel had the moment I was transported to the other timeline.

It was like everything that just happened was part of my imagination and happened in less than a second.

I would think so if not for the disappearing energy from the snake in the cube.

---

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading this chapter.

If you enjoy this story, remember to vote and leave a review if you haven't.

PREV INDEX Next