Chapter 14: Confrontation Conclusion

Beta read by Shigiya

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-Kuoh Central Park-

This pain was making me want to vomit.

This situation couldn't be worse, now both Akeno and Rias had to deal with this lunatic. And I couldn't participate since I was completely spent and on the verge of blacking out.

'Vritra how did the limb sacrificing process go?'

Just before Akeno attacked, I was in the middle of it. I wanted to know if it happened or not.

'The process was interrupted before it could reach its critical phase, making it fail. You'll feel some slight pain and burn these next couple of days but that's all. You can count yourself lucky that your mates came to your rescue.'

I didn't bother correcting his last statement about the girls.

As I was being carried in the air, I felt Rias' grip tighten around me, pressing my head further into her breast.

'She's shaking.'

On the outside, she put on a brave front of a fearless king accompanying her queen. But I could tell the girl was a nervous wreck inside.

It shouldn't have been a surprise; she and Akeno have came to face the legendary White Dragon Emperor, someone who even gods stayed clear from, according to Vritra.

I held her hand to calm her down, "Hey it's gonna be alright, he's not here to kill us. I think."

Yep, I was good at comforting people, no doubt.

But at least my small talk did help Rias gather her bearings.

"Whoever you are, know that you have just trespassed into the Gremory and Sitri co-owned territory without permission and have taken hostile actions against one of our own." said Rias with a formal tone but her intentions were clear.

'Do you realise how big you've fucked up?' That was the basic gist of it.

"Reveal which faction you come from and why you've decided to attack him for no reason!"

Ah, she was resorting to hiding her fear behind anger.

Akeno created more lightning around her, "...or else."

Vali for his part remained silent and kept observing us from his position.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Gremory heiress and current Lucifer's sister, Rias Gremory. To say that I did not expect to see you here would be an understatement." he said, mockingly.

"But to be perfectly clear, this does not concern you. This boy has some business with us and I was tasked to bring him in."

"He has everything to do with us! We are allies and you will not take him away from me unless you want to declare war on the Gremory house!" Rias shouted in anger.

That did not seem to deter Vali in the slightest.

"And what is stopping me to take him away from you by force?" His wings began to slowly glow brighter as if he's preparing for his next attack.

This time it was Akeno who replied, "Then we will make you disappear."

Her magical aura began to grow astonishingly denser. Her previous white and gold lightning began to turn into a darker shade of gold emitting a stronger holy feeling.

Though for me this feeling was comfortable the same could not be said for Rias as she unconsciously put a wider distance between us and Akeno.

I did wonder as a Devil how Akeno could still wield her fallen powers. Devils were notoriously weak to holy light.

What was more interesting were Akeno's wings.

She flew here with her devil wings on full display but as she kept drawing more of her fallen heritage, they began showing.

With a flapping sound, one of her wings changed appearance and turned into a black-feathered angel wing. This time surrounded completely by pure, golden [Holy Lightning].

This scene really made me realise how far behind I was.

'Partner, as impressive as your mate's power may seem to you, I can tell you for certain even if she was a hundred times stronger she still wouldn't be a match again the White Dragon Emperor.' Vritra warned, making me gasp in disbelief.

This was still not enough?

Just how broken are the Dragon Emperors? How can anyone defeat these overpowered monsters?

'Oi, do not forget that you are in possession of the gear that had previously defeated not just Albion's but Ddraig's host as well. If you have time to grow shocked at such a simple display of power, then train!' Vritra yelled at me.

But he was right, I could barely defeat a high levelled low-class stray while having a freaking Dragon King sacred gear!

Something was obviously wrong with it and I turned a blind eye to it for years putting all my focus on magic.

Now, this gross oversight came back to bite me in the ass and nearly killed me... again. 'Hey, Vritra after this shit is done, we are going have a very long training session. As much as I don't like it, we need a training montage!'

The dragon happily agreed with me though he was a bit confused with the last part.

Vali did not acknowledge Akeno's threat or her [Holy Lightning] instead he turned his head at me and said, "Is this the current Black Dragon King? Someone who hides behind two girls, like a coward? I expected more from you."

Dude, if you hadn't noticed, I was not in a condition to fight! Half of my ribs were broken and I most likely suffered from both stamina and magical energy depletion.

It took me great effort to stay awake right now than to have any fleeting thoughts of fighting you!

"Yes I am, call me anything you want but I rather like living and not dying, you albino emo twat!" My insults repertoire expanded these last few years.

I also was starting to become a bit delirious with the blood loss and light-headedness, the earlier adrenaline rush finally wearing off.

Rias giggled at my retort, easing her up a bit.

Both parties continued their staredown, the tension rising. Akeno was starting to sweat a bit from using her peak state for so long but she held strong.

Sighing, Vali dropped his hostile aura and dispersed his armour leaving behind his ever majestic looking wings.

"I may look forward to interesting fights but I'm not blind to my current situation."

He descended to the ground and put his hands in the air showing off that he no longer was willing to fight.

"I will leave, for now, I already got to meet Vritra's host. Though you may be weak now, in time you'll grow stronger.

"And until then don't become someone else's stepping stone, cause I'll crush both you and red." He declared and leisurely walked away showing off his back, unafraid that we would attack him.

I thanked the stars and my luck for this fight to not have escalated beyond the point of no return.

Besides me, no one was hurt or gravely wounded which was a huge plus in my book. After all, we did face a being on par with the strongest gods in this world.

This world is dangerous, just from a casual walk I cross paths with a continental destroying douchebag.

What was next?

Meeting the underworld's bootleg sailor moon rip off while going for a coffee break?

Or meeting Lucifer while going to the toilet?

Who knows at this point.

Rias and Akeno did not lose sight of Vali until he left the park. He could very well turn back around and snatch me away by surprise, while I could do nothing but stay motionless.

He got far away enough for Rias and Akeno to relax. Until they both swarmed me checking every bit and corner for any hidden injuries.

Rias also quickly sent her familiar to pass on a message to someone.

Meanwhile, I could no longer hold on and just let myself be taken away by exhaustion.

"Hachiman-kun, don't worry we'll take care of you!" Akeno said while hugging both me and Rias behind me, squashing my head between two suffocating valleys.

'That's what I'm afraid of.'

{Break}

-Underworld, Lilith Capital, Maou's castle.-

A bat-like familiar flew at high speed in the clear blue sky.

The Underworld was roughly the same size as the Human world, but with a much larger landmass, as there were no oceans just lakes. The sky was originally purple during both the day and night, but the current Four Great Satans adjusted the flow of time to match it in the human world for the sake of the reincarnated Devils. They reproduced an artificial moon using Demonic Powers and made the night's darkness the same as the human world.

As the bat familiar approached the main Maou's castle, no guard bothered to stop it as they recognised the sigil worn by the bat.

Gremory

It reached the inner sanctum and flew into the largest room.

The place was the definition of opulence and wealth. The walls were made of the purest marble with repeating wave-like patterns showing their reflective surface. All four corners of the walls were decorated with designs made from gold and other precious gems.

On the ceiling was the biggest chandelier one could imagine, it was as large as a room made from pure gold.

The pieces of furniture resembled the Victorian era style and looked expensive as hell.

The familiar flew towards the middle where a large office table that could easily fit a dozen people and was made from Rosewood.

It landed on the palm of a beautiful young woman appearing to be in her early twenties with back-length silver hair that features a long braid on each side with small blue bows at the ends, while the rest is let down which ends in twin braids and red eyes. Her large breasts were so big that they rivalled if not surpassed Rias.

One of the most noticeable features about her was the maid outfit she was wearing.

Another person in the room soon reacted to its arrival.

"Oh, is that a message from my cute imouto? Finally! I thought she forgot about her caring big brother." said the man seated near the office table.

He was a handsome man who looked to be also in his early 20's. Having shoulder-length crimson red hair and blue-green eyes inherited from his father, similar to Rias. In fact, he was like the male version of the redhead.

This was none other than Sirzechs Lucifer, Rias' older brother and the strongest devil.

Grayfia sighed at her husband's antics, despite what one might think of a Maou and the strongest man in the underworld, Sirzechs behaviour shattered every notion of it.

He was laid-back, prefered to skip his duties when she wasn't looking and just goof around all day.

She already felt a headache incoming.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch! You will rip my ears out, Fia-chan~!" Sirzechs squirmed and thrashed around like a child when she twisted his ears.

"Don't go ignoring your work for a simple message. What must I do for you to act in a way befitting your station?" she asked exasperated.

"Hehehe, you know very well what to do Fia-chan~," He said perversely.

Wrong answer.

Sirzechs, leader of the underworld, screamed in pain as his wife twisted his ears further.

"Let's just see what Rias-sama has to say, okay?"

He nodded and returned to his seat.

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"This is quite worrisome," Grayfia commented as they finished hearing the message, "For the White Dragon Emperor to appear in Kuoh, and to nearly battle against Rias-sama over Hikigaya-sama."

"Indeed," Sirzechs replied, his previous childlike attitude was long gone, replaced with a neutral voice that radiated power.

An image fit for a Maou.

The man narrowed his brows a bit, thinking of something.

Hikigaya Hachiman was someone he had long known about. His Ria-tan wouldn't stop talking about him whenever she came back to the Gremory Castle.

It hurt his heart to see his sister be swooned by this stranger, but he came to accept these changes as a natural thing for a young maiden.

If it helped his sister to keep her mind of Riser and the engagement then he was all for it.

He never met the boy, his sister strictly forbidding him to ever interact with Hachiman-kun. He figured out that she wanted to make him join her peerage with her own effort.

He respected that. Nearly all her current members joined her peerage due to him discreetly manipulating events in the background.

When he found out that the boy possessed one of Vritra's sacred gears, his interest grew and he began to wonder if he really needed to intervene to help Rias on the issue with Riser now that she had Hikigaya-kun as a friend.

But now his gift invited trouble, and this trouble was someone he never wanted Rias or her peerage to ever face.

The Dragon Emperors were known for the tragedy they brought upon their surroundings and for one to be from an unknown faction and a possible enemy was a no go for him.

'If he were in my sister's peerage then I would have gladly welcomed him.' Thought Sirzechs.

But he was a possible enemy instead.

He had heard the Grigori had some dragon gear users but he couldn't be certain. Azazel collected many sacred gears and people born with them, to perform his research.

It wouldn't be so far stretched to say that the Vanishing Dragon's host worked for them.

But then again, Azazel was a peaceful leader who preferred to talk first and avoid any conflicts.

'But I can't say the same with Kokabiel.'

"Tell me, Fia-chan, what do you say we pay a little visit to the human world and see how Rias is doing?" He asked his queen and wife.

It was time to finally meet this Hikigaya Hachiman, he wanted to see first-hand the kind of person his sister fell for.

{Break}

Elsewhere, Vali who returned to his apartment made a phone call.

"I found the one who got the Vritra piece." He replied as soon as the person on the other side picked up.

"Who is it?" Asked Azazel curiously.

"A student named Hikigaya Hachiman. Albion could sense Vritra's aura quite strongly. Him and his host have bonded well, an untrained fighter with some good instincts." Though weak, landing two punches on his face was still a noteworthy feat.

And yeah, he did not fall for the Totsuka fake name.

"I see, that's quite an interesting piece of new- wait. What do you mean by an untrained fighter?"

"..."

"Vali…" Sighed Azazel, he should have expected this from him. "I told you to just find him not make him our enemy!" It was rare for him to get angry but with Vali, this was a common occurrence.

"I tested him and would have brought him if it weren't for the Gremory heiress and her Queen, Barachiel's daughter."

That last piece of news made Azazel grow silent.

"Don't worry, I'm not stupid enough to harm her in any way.

She's strong, even used her father's lightning on me, kinda stung not gonna lie." He assure Azazel, he knew well enough that this was a delicate topic between both Azazel and Barachiel.

"Thank god for that." Replied Azazel for the other side, "I'll have to talk about this with Barachiel. You need to come back, your stay over there was a mistake on my part and I rather prefer that you don't cause any for more trouble and a possible war with the devils."

With that said the leader of the Grigori hung up his phone first.

Barachiel had previously spoken to him about the youngster, but following the fire, he never mentioned anything about his family or anyone for that matter.

He felt guilty enough calling him over that day, his action nearly killing his closest brother's family.

"Why can't things be easy to deal with for once?" he said while sighing at the end.

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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 3 other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post monthly commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.