Fleurs du mal

We found ourselves in one of the supposedly numerous gardens of the palace. Even though I had tried to minimize any damage that could have been made by Issei, I hadn't been able to leave the castle unscathed.

The only thing left from the room that once was assigned to Issei and Asia was ashes. Apparently putting down the flames was not enough. They had brought with them heat, scalding heat that would have been mortal to Asia and the remaining servants if they weren't devils.

My brother wasn't there because he had to according to the words they apparently heard him say have to leave urgently according to one of the maids to make sure the consequences of my action would be handled.

I really needed to do something nice to him. All this time, he had been dealing with my problems.

Maybe I could offer a guitar? I knew the basics of how to make one due to the fact that I had learnt to partially play it in my childhood.

Maybe I could create an electric guitar. For the things I didn't understand, I'm sure I could find manuals somewhere or people ready to teach me how against money. In the worst case, I would straight up create one with magic.

The cool thing with devil magic was that I didn't need to know what I was doing. Sure it could help but I didn't have to. As long as I had power, there was nothing I wouldn't be able to do.

So maybe an electric guitar inscribed with runes. A guitar that could create real lightning. I had forgotten most of it but I knew there were runes representing Thor, the thunder. I'll check the library after. It would be dumb if I made the guitar explode because I wrote Erwaz instead of whatever else I should have written.

'Domination,' I mused internally in the chair-like throne I sat on with Gasper and Koneko on each of my legs was such an interesting concept.

I hadn't used it against Issei but I could feel its presence, beating into my soul like a secondary heart to a tune I couldn't understand yet.

What was domination? Some would call it the ability to subjugate others, some would define it as the exercise of power or influence over someone or something, or the state of being so controlled.

Those definitions were sorely lacking. Domination wasn't looking at the world, looking at its rules, about what shouldn't, couldn't be done and still do it shamelessly.

Domination was having a sense of self do great, so deep that everything coming against it would break.

It didn't matter that gravity should make flying impossible. You rose and didn't fall because you were stupid enough, hedonistic or egotistical enough to believe in yourself and be able to accomplish the contrary.

This was domination, this was the thing that made Ddraig a dragon worthy of being called celestial, this is the power that allowed the monster trapped in the soul of Issei to fight against to be so strong that all the different factions of the Abrahamic pantheon needed to work together to put him and Albion down.

Boost, such a simple and silly concept, such a ridiculous idea. What was boost other than an application of domination?

What was boost other than the consecration of the stolen authority of the red dragon Emperor?

This impossibility, even though it was just a sliver of it, I held it in my soul. This was just a mere ember I knew but ember could grow into a bonfire and maybe with time shine as bright and hard as a star.

I couldn't wait to see what I could do with this. Domination was nothing else more than potential.

My gaze travelled to my pawn. Each of the members of my peerage was also given opulent chairs even though less than mine. The only reason why I haven't reacted negatively to this was the fact that I knew that most of them were not used to such comfort and luxuries. It'll come with time so I swallowed my words.

Issei looked happy. Sure I could still some anxiousness in his gaze but it was different now. With Asia there at his side, who was still hugging him and hadn't stopped from doing so, his worries and fears were probably put in the back of his mind.

"I have something to announce to all of you," I spoke softly even though I knew my words reached clearly the ears of the members of my peerage.

I could feel the attention of most of them directed at me. "The underworld will officially enter today in war with heaven and its allies. It would be announced that low-class and middle-class devils would be forcefully conscripted."

Even with my words, I didn't see or feel the telltale signs of panic bloom. They knew that I wouldn't be talking so calmly if I hadn't found something close to a solution.

"I spoke with my grandfather after. We made a deal. He would make sure that something may be done."

Akeno's tea cup cracked into her grip which was a feat in itself. What we were using was specially created to be manipulated without any destruction or damage but ultimate class beings. Why did it make more hot though?

I felt Koneko stiffen and heard the rhythm of her heart changing. I crossed my gaze with hers. Words didn't need to be said.

'Are you alright?' her eyes conveyed. 'Are we alright?'

The only thing I projected back was confidence and assurance. I kissed her softly on the forehead.

The eyes of Yuto had turned cold and as sharp as razor blades They looked like the the surface of an iceberg full of anger and wrath. "Will I need to put one my blade into his heart president?"

Gravity existed, stars were bright, water was wet and I will put my blade in the heart of your grandfather. Yuto said it as if it was evidence, just a formality.

I had fought against my grandfather and saw the monster hiding behind the curtain. I should have baulked at the ridiculous words of Yuto, at their absurdity yet I didn't.

He had already done something nigh impossible for most devils. He healed Koneko, healed her with a sword. He fought against a god and won when he shouldn't have.

I could still feel his demonic energy. He could be said to be at best at the level of a high-class devil. It shouldn't have been enough to win against a popular and widely worshipped deity even though they were technically a minor one.

He didn't need to be strong, I realized. His sacred gear was all he needed. As long as he had enough imagination, I'm sure that there was nothing he wouldn't be able to create.

His words that would seem nonsensical at first seemed now more than just mere words. I possibly held a blade above the head of my grandfather, one that would fall only when I wished for it to do so. This was a boon I was so lucky to have. It seemed I had partially inherited Rias's luck.

"Hey! You're speaking of Rias' grandfather!" Issei shouted at Yuto.

"Issei, Yuto isn't wrong to react in such a way," I spoke softly. "We are devils Issei and my Grandfather is an Archdaemon, something worse. He's one of the direct children of the original Lucifer and Lilith. He's someone who committed so many atrocities that Hitler and Genghis Khan's combined achievements would look like those of an ant."

"An Archdaemon even at best is always malicious Issei."

He looked dumbfounded. In many regards, I realized, he still thought himself of as a human. What happened with Ddraig probably changed his mindset to be more similar to the one most supernatural beings had, but it hadn't been a complete thing.

"You're supposed to be family," he whispered. "Family doesn't hurt each other."

I saw how Akeno stopped moving just for a brief instant at his words. I felt as Koneko and Gasper both subtly flinched.

This was kinda sad when I thought about it. None of us could truly say that we came from perfect families.

Gasper and the way he was treated by his pure-blooded vampire for something he couldn't control.

Koneko who was an orphan, who had been raised by Kuroka, Kuroka who would kill their old master and flee from the underworld branded as a criminal even though she killed their old master because he wanted to experiment on them.

It disgusted me that even though Kuroka could be right, more the victim than the monster in this situation because she killed a pure-blooded devil, no justification would be able to be given.

Akeno with Baraqiel and the fact that the members of her mother's clan were the ones to kill her mother and almost succeeded in doing the same thing to her.

Asia never truly had a family. The closest thing she had to one was the church, the church that excommunicated her because of something she didn't know because she was tricked.

I was with the Archdemon grandfather who probably was putting me in one of his schemes where even if I found a way to win, I would lose or the parents who didn't care about my feelings when they decided to marry me to someone they knew I hated. The closest thing to a family member I knew I could count on and who I loved with all my heart was my brother, Sirzechs, the literal devil.

Weirdly, it was Yuto who was the more like Issei. His family, the other orphans of the Excalibur project had loved him so much that they had given their lives so that he could escape.

Issei was the only one who had the closest to what could be called a healthy relationship with his family, well this was before their death and Issei looking at the beheaded head of his mother.

We really were all screwed up, weren't we. I really needed to find a therapist or the devil equivalent of it.

"It shouldn't be like this Issei but it is how things are. Maybe in the future, things will be different but that's not the case right now," Yuto said to Issei.

"It won't be needed yet Yuto," I said to Knight putting an emphasis on the yet. He nodded and went back to lounging into his chair as if nothing had previously happened, as if he hadn't proposed to kill my grandfather for me.

"A tournament will be created, one between young Pure-blooded devils" I continued. "The three strongest, the three winners would be allowed to choose boons of their choice. The losers or those who didn't participate would also be forcefully conscripted into this war."

"The houses of the Ars Goetia won't like it," Akeno spoke.

"They won't but there is nothing they can say or do. It is the will of an Archdaemon, of a great king. Even the Satans themselves would find it hard to forbid his will."

My gaze travelled to each of them "I intend to win. I'll ask for all of you to be exempted from going to war." Now was time for the hard part "And I'll be the only one fighting," I finished.

As I had expected, denials and rejections of my decision erupted from the members of my peerage.

"NO!"

"As if I would let you!

"This is something I can't follow my king."

Even with their denials, I chose to at firm on my decision "You shouldn't be fighting. I shouldn't be fighting. None of us should be fighting or worrying about war. We should have been worrying about the next school Quiz or the cute person we saw the other day. I wasn't able to make sure you were not affected by the madness coursing through this world but I'll throw myself to the mercy of heaven before I let anything wrong happen to any of you again."

"This isn't what we talked about Rias. We're supposed to be at your side. I'm supposed to be at your side."

My gaze clashed against the amethyst one of Akeno, the woman I learned to love so easily and quickly "I know Akeno but I'm a liar. I find in me the prospect of any of you being hurt worse than you being disappointed in me. Something will go wrong. I know it without a doubt. My grandfather is playing a game I don't understand but that I know would only bring out misery."

"Let me tell you a story Rias, the story of a warlord," Akeno said to me as her eyes glassed out as if she was looking at something only she could see. It was probably the case with the fact she was half fallen angel and thus able to see and understand the make-up of reality more than I currently could."

"This is the story of a hero. The hero was a fool, one who fell in love. He found terror in the possibility of anything wrong happening to his loved one so he changed. He ignored the fact that he wasn't alone, that if he had explained the problem to the one he loved, that if he had asked the help of his loved one, the evil would have been vanquished. He didn't understand this too lost in his arrogance, in his pride."

"He left his loved one searching for the power that would be enough to render null the coming threat. He searched and searched and searched until one day while resting under a tree, he met a devil. What would you give for your love? The devil asked him. Can you guess what he answered?"

"Everything," I spoke softly. This was what I would have done "He gave everything to the devil."

The other members of my peerage seemed to be engrossed in the tale. Issei looked more pale than usual, almost disgusted, almost regretful. I'm sure he could easily see himself as the hero who gave everything. He had after all almost done the same.

"Yes. His exact words were I'll become your body, mind and soul the moment I die if you give me enough strength to win, to protect the one I love. He tried to trick the devil by asking the devil to make him a god. Like this, I would be able to protect her and the devil would never have my soul the hero thought."

I could almost see images of the story as if I was in a cinema room watching a documentary or a movie "He went back to his loved one happy thinking he had found a way to defeat the evil, protect his love from the evil without risking her safety by letting her fight at his side."

"Something bad happened to her, am I wrong?" I asked her.

"The monster found her alone while he wasn't there and killed her. To add to the insult, the monster chose to desecrate her corpse. He skinned her from head to toe, dismembered her corpse and put them on pikes so that the maggots and vultures would devour her corpse. The hero was enraged. With his new strength, he fought to avenge, to do what heroes do, kill the monster. The monster was strong but the hero found himself the victor. When he struck down the monster, he realized looking at the corpse that the monster wasn't truly one. The monster looked identical to him. He was the monster. He was the one who killed the woman he saw as the one of his life. In grief, he tried to kill himself. He grabbed his sword and plunged toward his heart. His sword broke. The devil knew that the hero wanted to trick him so the devil let him think he was doing so. The hero would be condemned to wander Earth for all eternity entirely alone."

"The soul of the hero was something very valuable but the devil found more worth in the suffering he knew would be self-inflicted by the hero. The hero was strong enough to protect the one he loved but failed because, in the end, he was alone, because in the end what he saw as care, as love was only pride. He had been too prideful to see that the strong could be defeated. He had been too prideful to see being alone at the top would never be enough."

"It is not pride. The hero wanted only the best for his loved ones," I told her.

"Does it change anything? They still died. His strength didn't matter because he hadn't understood that sometimes, being alone at the top could be a failure in itself. He didn't understand that no matter how stupid one choice was, only a choice could lead to a miracle." Life came back to her eyes yet she was different, more. Her shadow seemed deeper and when she opened he mouth, it seemed as if her words were echoing "Will you be the hero, Rias Gremory?"

"No, I won't be the hero. I'll grow strong enough by myself to discard every obstacle in my path."

"So your answer is power? You think the reason why the hero failed was because he hadn't enough?"

"He had enough power Akeno. The problem was that it was a curse disguised as power. The problem was that it came from the devil. My power is mine."

"In the end, I don't care about what could happen to me. If Death came to any of us, I'd be there to fight her off. If the dream itself tries to trap you, I'll go fight him for an eternity if I must."

"That's selfish of you Rias. Why can't you see that we're there for you, with you?!" she yelled.

"Because I don't want to lose any of you!" I shouted back. "When I saw Koneko laying that day prone on the blackened ground of Kuoh, I felt as if I had died. When I saw what happened to Issei, when I realized that I could have lost all of you, everything, I wished to myself to make sure that none of those times would happen again!"

Realization seemed to bloom in her eyes "You see us as weak, all of us."

"This isn't what I meant."

"No this is what you truly meant Rias. You're scared because you feel like, think we aren't strong enough to stay at your side."

"Aken-"

"Don't lie to me Rias, don't try to lie to me now. I thought that the new strength I gained was enough to stay at your right but I was wrong. Your grandfather proved it to me."

"It is not a question of strength or weakness Akeno. I simply don't want anything wrong happening to you."

I watched her rise from her chair "You can protect us against the entire world even if you wish to do so. To do this, you would have to become God. Only God or something similar could be strong enough to ensure that the reality they wish for was."

"Then, I'll become god, for you, for all of us!"

She came closer to me. She stood over me seemingly towering like a mountain. I swore I saw a glimpse of something else, something lurking "I'll stay at your side no matter what. I realize now that I don't care if it's not what you want because you give to the ones you love what they need, not want. Have you ever thought about how this decision of yours makes us feel?

"Let's speak in the only language you seem to understand. What do you think would happen to us if anything happened to you? Sooner or later you will face something like the monster of the story, something you won't be able to adapt from, grow strong enough to win against because you chose to fight alone."

It won't happen I wanted to tell her. It already happened my mind reminded me. You already met the darkness when you didn't expect it. The only reason I was still alive was because of Olethros. I knew that if I encountered something of a similar calibre or lesser, I wouldn't be helpless as I was due to my essence but this world was one that seemed to be one of endless escalation.

My gaze travelled to each member of my peerage. They were looking at Akeno and me. They looked anxious. With my demonic eyes, I searched deeper, plunging my gaze into their souls. They weren't only anxious. They were scared, I realized with disgust.

I refused to meet the gaze of Akeno. It felt as if the sun was personally making me suffer his wrath. My embrace over Koneko and Gasper tightened more for my comfort, my sake than anything else.

I watched from the corner of my eyes Akeno kneel on one knee. "Rias," she called my name softly.

Relulunctly, I turned toward her ready to meet his case probably full of disappointment. Akeno was right. I was scared because they were not strong enough. The attack on Kuoh showed me that this wasn't a shonen.

Things could and will go badly. Nothing was promised except strength. Nothing was promised not even time.

I had gained everything by transmigrating into this world. I didn't want to lose this. Before all of those events, when I first reincarnated and thought things would have been identical to the canon I had wanted to create, transcribe into this world mangas from my previous worlds. I had wanted to live, live with everything I had to the point where I would make Dionysus seem boring. What was more cruel? Never have anything or have everything and lose it.

I finally met her gaze "I promised that I'll grow stronger," she told me.

"Me too Rias," Issei shouted.

"Same for me my king," Yuto spoke.

"I don't want the president to be hurt," Asia said softly.

"I don't want to lose you," Koneko whispered in my arms.

"Me too," Gasper said after her, engulfing himself even deeper in my embrace.

"I wish things were different," I told them. "I don't agree but you are not my slaves, you are my family."

I watched their gazes harden, focusing in a way that the gaze of people their ages shouldn't. "Prove me that you'll be strong enough and I'll let you fight me in the tournament."

"UNDERSTOOD," they all replied simultaneously.

An old poem, one that I hated but had stuck in my mind all this time invaded my mind once again

'To hear your heart speak mysteries, divine;

Since I have seen you smile, have watched you weep, Your lips pressed to my lips, your eyes on mine;

Since I have sensed above my thoughts the gleam Of a ray, a single ray, of your bright star (If sometimes veiled), and felt light, falling, stream

Like one rose petal plucked from high, afar;

I now can say to time's swift-changing hours:

'Pass, pass upon your way, for you grow old;

Flee to the dark abyss with your drear flowers, but one unmarred within my heart I hold.'

It should be impossible but I felt sleepy. I wanted to sleep. I honestly regretted having woken up this early today. Maybe if I hadn't, none of the things with my peerage or Zekram would have happened. Would have probably been woken up by Issei's rampage but still.

I felt a sight escape me. As my gaze travelled above me, it met the unreal phenomenon of a demonic energy oozing star falling toward us. Again with this bullshit. I really was beginning to seriously hate stars.