Chapter 191: Fishes Outside Water

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After having just been made the secret keeper of the location of Samael's prison, Azazel took out a piece of paper and a pen from one of the pockets of his jackets and started to write on it. When he had done it, Azazel looked at Erik, who was looking at him with curiosity in his eyes.

"This Wizard spell is very interesting. To hide a secret inside the souls of a person… Very ingenious. So, you have no idea what we are protecting?"

Azazel said and asked Erik, who shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"I know what we are protecting, I just have no idea where it is, which is a disconcerting feeling to a certain point."

Erik replied while looking around the place and seeing nothing there. He had cast the Fidelius spell a lot of times during his life and, normally, he was the secret keeper or was told the secret soon after by the secret keeper. But this time, things were going to be different. It was part of the security that they had come with for the place. No one would be remembering where Samael's prison was at the end of the day. Not even the Secret Keeper. Erik then looked back at Azazel, who was looking at him with an amused look on his face.

"You sure are having fun with this, aren't you?"

Erik asked Azazel, who smirked and nodded his head.

"Yes, I am. Is not often that I can see the great Erik Ravenclaw looking so confused."

Azazel replied to Erik with a smirk still on his face.

"Yeah, yeah. Take a photo and keep it for posterity, will you? Now, are you ready to continue?"

Erik said to Azazel, playing with the Fallen Angel's amusement in the situation. He then got serious and asked if he was ready to continue with the plan.

"Sure."

Azazel replied while shrugging and started to rip the paper that he had written the location in five equal parts. With it done, he cast a simple spell to turn the pieces irreparable by any magic, and another simple cast later, Azazel had five very small pieces of rolled-up paper in his hand. Azazel then offered it to Erik, who took the five keys in one hand and floated the pieces of rolled paper to them, aligning one piece of paper to each key. A simple spell cast by Erik then saw the pieces of paper sinking inside the metal of the key like it was liquid. Seconds later, the tiny pieces of rolled-up paper had completely disappeared and were safely being kept inside the keys. Erik and Azazel examined the keys for any flaws left behind and after being satisfied by not finding any, they nodded at each other while Erik pocketed four of the five keys, already giving one to Azazel.

"Are you ready for the next part?"

Erik asked Azazel, who was eyeing the key that he had just received. The Fallen Angel looked at Erik and gave the man a sheepish smile.

"As ready as anyone can be with erasing his own memory."

Azazel said and pocketed the key. He then raised a hand near to his head and was preparing himself mentally for what was coming, but before he could start, Erik's hand grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Remember. You are not going to delete the memory. You are locking it away. There is a big difference between the two of them."

Erik said while looking seriously at Azazel.

"Right. I have to lock it away, not delete it."

Azazel replied to Erik while the man took his hand off his arm. He started to prepare the spell and a black-yellowish magic circle appeared over his hand. A half-minute later, the spell was ready and Azazel took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself. It was not that he was afraid of his own spell, after all, he had already checked it dozens of times and was sure that it was correct. The last thing that he wanted was to lock away half of his knowledge because of a mistake in the casting. No. What Azazel was feeling right now is some discomfort with the situation. The Fallen Angels looked at Erik again and received a nod of encouragement. Then, with one last deep breath, Azazel released the spell with his own head as the target and the next thing that he knew was the world turning dark around him before his consciousness was claimed.

Erik was waiting for this when he saw Azazel going out and with a quick wave of his hand, he caught the body of the unconscious Fallen Angel with his magic. Another wave had two armchairs summoned behind them and, after lowering Azazel to one of them, Erik took a seat in the other one. Five minutes later, Azazel opened his eyes and took a hand to his head.

"Wow. Did someone take note of the plaque from the bus that hit me in the head?"

Azazel said in a still grog-like voice. Erik chuckled at that and summoned two longneck bottles that floated in front of him.

"Here, drink this. It will help."

Erik said while taking one of the bottles in each hand and offering one to Azazel. The Fallen Angel opened one of his eyes and looked at what was being offered to him. Seeing what appeared to be a beer bottle, Azazel reached for it with his hand and grabbed it.

"Thanks."

Azazel murmured and took the cold bottle to his head. Not that the cold object would heal the headache, but it was certainly comforting to feel the cold touch of the glass. Closing his eyes and enjoying the feeling, Azazel heard a 'pop' sound followed by a short silence and a sigh of relief coming from Erik.

"Nothing like a cold beverage after some hard work."

Erik said with a smile and took another sip. Azazel shrugged at that and opened his bottle with a muffled 'pop' sound. His nose immediately caught the smell of the butterbeer and he shrugged it. While he was not a fan of the 'weak' beverage, he didn't have a dislike for it either. Taking a big swig from the bottle, Azazel felt the cold and fuzzy beverage going down his throat while at the same time it alleviated his headache greatly.

"So, did it work?"

Erik asked the Fallen Angel after some seconds of silence.

"If having no idea to where we are right now is any sign, then I can certainly say to you that it worked."

Azazel replied to Erik while looking around them. He knew that they were at Tartarus, but 'where', exactly, in Tartarus, he had no idea anymore.

"Good. Let's finish the beers and get out of here. Honestly speaking, this place is very bad at helping someone relax."

Erik said and took another swig of his bottle. Azazel, in a sign of agreement, raised his bottle to Erik while giving one nod with his head and then took a swig from his bottle. The duo stood there, in the middle of Tartarus, drinking a cold beer while talking about mundane things like it was an everyday happening. Soon after they had finished their bottle, the duo stood up and, after Erik released the magic holding the armchair and vanished the two empty bottles, they went back to Kuoh through the use of magic.

The next day saw Odin, Michael, Sirzechs Lucifer, Azazel, and Erik Ravenclaw having a quick meeting to discuss Samael. Erik explained what had happened the day before and delivered one key to each of the three leaders together with a copy of the magical recording done inside the prison. To everyone that had ever said that Michael was a wussy, they had never seen him angry. The Great Seraph was livid that someone had been trying to mess with Samael and Erik was almost sure that he had seen the Angel's golden hair dark in its tone for a second. After taking a deep breath to center himself, Michael thanked Erik and Azazel for telling him about it and for taking precautions against it.

After a lengthy explanation of all the security that had been put around the prison, Erik followed by showing them how to 'blood' their keys by 'blooding' his own. The leaders, with Azazel, included, followed Erik's example by 'blooding' their keys, and immediately they felt their link with it, understanding exactly how this blood lock worked with their keys.

"So, we could assume that this Hero faction was going to target Dragons if their meddling with Samael is any sign of it?"

Odin commented with a glass of firewhiskey in his hand. Since the meeting was not an 'official' one, they saw no need to stick to the tea. Erik had offered a good range of different beverages to the leaders after their business had been finished. Odin had opted for the strongest of them all as he was used to drinking strong beverages.

"At least that is how it looks like."

Azazel replies after sipping from his glass of firewhiskey too.

"But which Dragon they are aiming at?"

Sirzechs Lucifer asks while eyes the bottle in his hand. He, differently from Odin and Azazel, had chosen something more brand to drink and was enjoying the flavor of the butterbeer. He would have to talk with Grayfia later to arrange a small stock of it for the fridge of his office.

"It could be any of them, really. Be it a draconic Sacred Gear user or one of the Dragon Kings, any of them would have been affected by Samael. Just a drop of his venom could be considered lethal to most Dragons. I think that even the two great ones would have been affected by it a little."

Michael commented and took a sip from the tea that Erik had prepared for him. He could very much have taken another beverage to drink but decided not to risk it since alcohol could lower the inhibitions of any person and he had already gotten a little angry earlier when hearing about Samael. Thus, the tea. With a bit of Eden's honey, of course.

"Are you talking about Great Red and Ophis?"

Odin asked Michael, who nodded his head positively.

"I don't know what effect it would have on them, but something would be bound to happen. At least that was what Father told me long ago."

Michael replied to Odin. God had told him that because of Samael's transformation due to his anger and rage, his venom had taken on very strong anti-dragon properties. Something that has only increased after him having killed and devoured a lot of Dragons. It was at that point that Michael noticed the small girl that had appeared by Erik's side. She had long black hair, had a strange accessory over her ears, and was wearing a frilly black dress. The little girl was looking at Erik in a demanding way as if she was waiting for something from him.

"Erik… ?"

Michael said while eyeing the little girl. The other leaders, who were occupied by their beverages and/or mousing over their thoughts, looked in the man's direction and saw the little girl too.

"O-O-Ophis!"

Odin muttered while gripping his glass of firewhiskey a little more firm. That name called for the attention of the other three leaders whose eyes bulged at that in shock. The only thing that was going through their heads at the moment was 'What is the Dragon God of Infinity doing here?'. Erik nonchalantly looked to the side and smiled at Ophis.

"Hey, Ophis. Why are you here?"

Erik asked Ophis, who onlish blinked at him before replying.

"You said my name, so I came."

Ophis said to Erik.

"Ahh… Sorry for that. We were talking about Samael and how his venom could possibly affect Great Red and you. It was not my intention to call for you. Sorry for that."

Erik said to Ophis, explaining that he didn't have the intention of calling it here.

"En."

Ophis said while nodding its head in understanding, but still eyeing Erik.

"Since you are here, do you want something to eat?"

Erik asked Ophis, already understanding the probably true reason behind its appearance.

"En."

Ophis said again while nodding its head positively.

"Here. Go nuts."

Erik said and snapped his fingers.

*snap*

At the snapping sound, a big plate full of baked snacks appeared at the center of the lower center table, together with an armchair of the right size for Ophis. The Dragon God of infinity in the body of a little girl's head quickly snapped and eyed the plate of baked goodies with a small smile appearing on its face. Ophis went to the table, took the big plate in her hands, and pulled it to the front of the new conjured armchair. Sitting comfortably on it, it eyed the big plate and, with a quick move of its little hands, started to devour one of the 'offerings'. Erik looked at the scene with a smile on his face. During the various years after the first time that he helped Ophis, it continued to come to his home to enjoy his snacks. Ophis' favorite time to appear was at the afternoon tea time, where it would usually share snacks with the family in peace. Erik's kids had grown in the presence of Ophis and they loved their little big sister that would usually play with them too. But Erik's smile quickly changed to a smirk and he took a digital magical camera, an upgraded version of the normal magical camera, from his internal pocket and quickly took a panoramic magical photo with it.

*Click*

After taking the panoramic photo, Erik started to admire his 'treasure' on the small screen that the digital magical camera offered for preview purposes. On it, an image of Azazel, Michael, Odin, and Sirzechs Lucifer gaping their mouths like fishes outside water was being shown.

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