Chapter 19: Fighting for the Right Darkness
If someone were to ask to a young Tobio Ikuse that he would have ended up working most of his waking hours serving to a bar after facing so many threats, the answer would have been fueled by confusion.
But now that he was one of Grigori's top fighter and led a modest-sized group of strong people, the God of Blade was more than happy to have a place to find some rest away from 'real work'. Starting as a barista had given him some new challenging time, but the hard-work paid well and he managed to find his little haven away from the constant fighting.
It was a peaceful bar, the Black Dog was meant to be used as a place to rest for him and his team, their headquarters just around the corner. The establishment was provided by Azazel, the man deciding to reward Tobio for his loyalty and good work with the Fallen Angel.
After finishing cleaning the umpteenth used glass in his hands, the young man let out a yawn, the night before having dealt with some slime infestation forming in the attic of the building. It had been a surprise, then Azazel let out that he might have forgotten to fully freed the building from the prior administration that monitored slime's growth.
It was early in the morning, and there wasn't any client at this 'unholy' hour while he finished to clean the last few bits left on the counter.
Jin was stalking around, the large shadow-like wolf stopping once or twice to sniff around the various empty tables around. The big mutt had whined more than a few times that the lack of serious brawls was leaving him even more annoyed than usual.
And Tobio couldn't fault him.
While he enjoyed being away from danger and listen to some interesting and unique stories of the recurring clients to the Black Dog, it was also true that some serious fight wouldn't have been a terrible thing for him to experience once in a while.
Then there was also the fact most of the old group from Nephilim Institute had grown distant with him, several of them either diverting their full attention to their work in their important jobs, while others had different responsibilities to deal with, responsibilities far away from Grigori.
He sighed, remembering the interesting promise Suzaku proclaimed few years ago.
The Marriage Proposal that the girl had decided to give to him had remained burned in his brain, but he had from the very beginning make sure that nothing from his attitude would move towards that direction.
It wasn't because he didn't like her romantically, nor the familial bond between them hardly mattered with his biology adapting to his Longinus and rendering their blood relation almost null.
It was all about the fact such commitment wasn't something he knew he could face at that age and with so many worries in his head.
The Institute and Grigori were still recovering, he had yet to fully grasp the final potential of Canis Lykaon and he received similar attention from other girls in his classroom.
A confusing mess that ended up persisting until graduation and his official enlisting in Grigori's ranks.
Missions had drown him away for few months, then after his promotion a small team he nicknamed 'Slash Dog' was created, then it turned in a pseudo-cadre and…
Tobio regretted how things turned up with his limited and lazy attempt to avoid that kind of attention on him, many of those that cared for him either hurt by his ignoring attitude or merely went through a path distant from his.
The bartender sighed, his mind reshuffling to happier thoughts as he tried to focus back on reality, noticing just now the glass almost slipping from his hold. It's been two years since he had last seen Sae and three since she had seen Suzaku.
For now the present will do to keep him from his regrets and-
Jin tensed up a little, his search stopping instantly as his head snapped to look at the door. Tobio's eyes frowned at the strange and sudden change of mood, trying to understand if the large wolf-dog was perceiving a threat or not, the only absolute thing being that there were few energy patterns slowly making their way towards the Black Dog bar's entrance.
Putting the glass down and freeing his hands, the young man waited, his body slowly taking in a minor guard stance as he saw unrecognizable figures slowly opening the glass door and triggering the door-bell, which announced their presence to the occupants of the building.
The two individuals entered calmly, their sight almost instantly locking onto him as his own eyes widened in shock at whom he was looking at.
Green eyes narrowed at him, an older Sae Toujou huffed at the lack of response from the Ikuse at their arrival. Her hair was combed short, and her body had developed in a slim but somewhat athletic form.
Suzaku brought a hand over her mouth as an amused giggle escaped her mouth. "Ara, Ara, It would seem like Tobio-kun is quite awed." Her voice was melodious as ever and her beauty had bloomed even more since he last saw her. Her curves were a little bigger, but still she had that hourglass figure that she rocked back during their time at the Nephilim Institute.
"S-Suzaku-nee and Sae-chan?" The bartender asked distractedly, causing the Head of the Himejima clan to pout.
"Tobio-kun, you know that you can call me 'Suzaku-chan', right? I am going to be your future bride after all." The light-heart correction spurned two full blushed for the other two individuals there to listen.
"B-Bride?" Tobio asked again, surprised by the goal still living after this much time of being distant from each other.
"Y-You aren't his future bride, Himejima!" The brunette replied a little angry. The soft bickering was actually one-sided between the two, Suzaku nodding quietly and waving at her while looking away with a smug smile.
"Sure, sure~." Another giggle further irked the researcher at Grigori while the young man couldn't help but smile at the nostalgic scene.
It's been a while since he has last seen this two sharing the kind of scene he was looking at. There was a time it was a sign of annoyance back at school and during his early years, but now after so much time it was just… funny.
"And don't think I've not seen your smirk here, Tobio-kun, I will take care of your after I finished with her-"
"Oh, and you will use kisses and hugs to fight the cruel smile off his face?" The teasing was light at best, but the effects were easily devastating for the easily irked Sae Toujou, the blush intensifying on her face as she returned to focus back to the Himejima.
Some time passed but soon the two were sitting by the stools near the counter.
Questions about health, family and current life situation was filtered to the three long-standing friends, but it was one question in particular that got them pause a moment to think about.
"You mean that Baraqiel didn't tell you? I would have thought the man would have spoken to you first about this little meeting after so many years to formalize it." Sae pointed out, only to be met with a long and tired sigh from Suzaku.
"I think the reason is within the words he used while calling us. Did he mention that he was bringing his two new students with him for the occasion?"
The brunette blinked. "He… did?"
"And did he also mention that one of them would need some important ritual to cleanse away a dangerous element forming within his soul?"
"He di- Wait, what?" Sae's eyes went wide, same for Tobio as the young man stopped finishing cleaning once more, this time a little panicking.
"You mean that Baraqiel is bringing someone that could potentially trash the bar and-" His panicking increased, the owner of the establishment quickly trying to put the exposed bottles and glasses out of possible harm's way, in drawers or behind shelves but-
"We are here!"
The booming voice that only a particular Fallen Angel could muster was preceded by a thunderous noise, electricity burning part of the carpet at the man's feet.
Tobio slowly turned around, a nervous smile on his face as the three former students of Nephilim Institute noticed that Baraqiel wasn't the only one there.
Shaking a little under both his arms were two masked individuals, a mask of green and one of blue.
"Next time, we pick the train." The green one stated, his tone showing some motion sickness at the sudden teleportation.
"It's not that terrible, Hekishoku-kun. Am I right, Sougyoku-kun?" The Fallen Angel asked with a hopeful tone directed at the aforementioned 'Sougyoku', the blue-masked teen.
"I saw rookies..." He paused a moment, hands pressing on his mask. "-D-Do this better than you, Baraqiel."
"Oh." The man was saddened by the lack of support. So sad that he dropped both cloaked teens at once.
Thud
Thud
"Why?" Hekishoku asked while holding his stomach, only to be totally ignored by the Fallen Angel as Baraqiel focused on his former students.
"It's good to see you three here. And I'm glad to have arrived before you could leave, Tobio-ku-"
"You aren't going to cause any destruction to the bar, sensei. I don't know what is going on, but I am not paying for any reparations." The Ikuse firmly stated, gaining a giggle from Suzaku and a sigh from Sae.
"Don't worry, brat. I just wanted to see you all while also dealing with this little inconvenience." He turned back to the now standing masked boys and nodded. "Speaking of which, I present you my current students."
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So this is the Black Dog bar? I thought this was supposed to be smaller than this size.
Getting woken up by a giddy Baraqiel early in the morning had been an atrocious experience that I will make sure that will never happen ever again. Being forced to rush through my morning cleaning and to put the Hekishoku disguise, I had just some moments to say 'Good Day' to Kunou before being whisked away with the Fallen Angel.
Just like every time I tried to be teleported, I met the ground with my face, cue some groaning and dizziness at the brief warping around me.
I thought this was supposed to be the place, since the man had spoken only about going only there and nowhere else before. Sadly, I was proven wrong when we found ourselves staring at a surprised Vali, the boy was masked but I could see his body tensing at our sudden appearance.
"B-Baraqiel, what are you doing-"
"Change of plans, Sougyoku-kun." The man interrupted. "This way is faster."
Without any of us could protest the Fallen Angel's logic, he picked Vali and put him under his free arm, energy coating us once more as we all shifted away from that deserted street.
Recovering from what followed next, I tried to scan around the establishment, finding it interesting that we had to come here of all places.
While Slash Dog was a powerful fighter proficient with magic, I was quite sure he wasn't an expert in 'helping' with whatever situation I was dealing with. Yet, just as I finished looking around and found Baraqiel making way to show Vali and me, I had to take a large glance at the curious and voluptuous woman in one of the stools.
I could see Sae Toujou staring weary by her side and Tobio Isuke over the counter looking at us with a curious look.
But it was the intense and fixed look of Suzuku Himejima, the current head of the Himejima clan, that was scaring me in that exact moment. It was directed at me, not at us, but at me of all people present there.
'She looks familiar to the other girl, the daughter of Baraqiel.' Apophis mused in my mind and I sighed inwardly.
That is Akeno's cousin. She is the current leader of the clan and strongest holder of the Vermilion Bird.
'That is good to know… but I think it's happening again.'
You mean the- Uh-
Red eyes narrowed, her lips pressing together as she seemed to be reflecting about something about me, since her attention was fully taken by me. I felt nervous, incredibly so as she slowly got up from her seat and started to walk towards me.
Oh God, is that what you were talking about?
'Yes...'
I was trembling a little, my mind burning the more steps she took to approach me and for a moment I questioned bailing out from that situation.
Yet I stood my ground, shivering, feeling feverish but waiting for her to arrive. There was something wrong, something incredibly wrong that was tried to control my actions and I had to muster my whole being to keep the probing out from gaining an upper hand.
Finally I felt her hands carefully grazing my neck, her face staring softly at my face, a small but kind smile on her face. "Are you in pain?"
Her voice was a little relief through that terrible predicament I was dealing with and I nodded shakily. "I-It's li-like a fever."
She blinked. "I bet it's the same for both body, mind and… your core?"
I frowned behind the mask, eyes then widening when I indeed noticed that my core was burning a little with energy. My whole figure was glowing white as my whole magic was manifesting at the 'threat' I was going against.
"Worry not, Hekishoku-san. I will make sure that whatever is torturing you is dealt with as quickly as possible." The priestess stated, looking then back to the bartender. "Is there a room we could use to perform the ritual, Tobio-kun?"
The man looked confused for a moment, but then nodded at seeing the woman giving such a serious look at him. We were slowly escorted to the upper floor of the building, a large area that seemed to have been left unused for a long time now.
The room looked to be a normal European-styled bedroom with a small bed, a medium-sized wardrobe and a wood desk on the side. I couldn't resist being put on the bed, the woman asking everyone to leave us both alone as she started to treat my situation.
Considering the universe I was in and knowing how a relatives of hers would behave in this situation, I was almost ready to call an attempt to my V-card, but then again I considered that this individual in particular had more reasons to not do such things. Suzaku was more interested in Tobio, her moral compass being one of the purest compared to the entire cast of characters of the DxD series and she was extremely devoted and careful with her job as priestess of the Himejima clan.
I relaxed a little, glad that my mask was still on but kind of bummed that this was going to end up being a simple situation that would see me stuck in bed for-
"May I ask why you are staring at me so much, Hekishoku-san?" I tensed a little at being called out, a little blush adding up to the feverish one.
"J-Just t-thinking about s-someone t-that looks like y-you, Himejima-san." I admitted, causing the young woman to pause briefly as she finished setting up the objects required for the ritual.
"Indeed?" She asked curiously, glancing back at me. "I hope you are in good relations with her."
"K-Kind of." I sighed. "She c-can be just… annoying o-once or twice i-in a while."
Suzaku giggled. "I guess many girls that be that way, but I do feel like you are still fond of her."
"S-She means no harm, a-at least not for ill intent." I continued. "B-But yeah, she c-can be nice when s-she wants to."
"That's important, you know?" The woman added as she returned back to my side. "Sometimes those people just need some more love."
I snorted, ignoring the surprised blinking of the Himejima as I contemplated giving Akeno some extra 'love' during a normal instance. She would take it as an invite to bring me to bed and seal the deal rather than me being a helpful hand in time of needs.
"That much difficult of a person?" She sounded interested now and I nodded.
"Can b-be that, yes."
Some silence followed, the sleeve on my right arm was rolled up as Suzaku slowly started to press her index over my skin starting to softly pressure the coils stretched in the limb through the entire length of the arm.
The action served to manually force the energy to back away from there and back to my core and, completing this section, she moved on the other side of the bed, doing the same.
"I wish to tell you already that a purification contract like the one Baraqiel requested restricts me from revealing your identity and anything you wish to say about it." The priestess declared as she finished with the other limb. "I need to access to your face directly, so I can put you in a safe sleep while I work on the purification ritual."
It was an acceptable request, having read briefly about rituals of that kind before going to bed the day before. Some important rituals required the subject to be put on rest, thus allowing the exorcist to finish their duties without any issues that could be created by the subject themselves.
Thus I sighed, slowly helping the woman to remove the mask and… frowning as she wasted some time staring at it.
She blinked, a little surprise from the look of it and then I let out a fake cough. She blinked again, this time getting back to reality. "Sorry, just… not expecting someone as young as you are to be already working with Grigori."
"I-I am can be p-pretty sturdy and s-strong." I reasoned, my tone a little whiney. Then I decided to make use of that little opening offered by the ritual contract and sighed. "A-Also the girl I was t-talking about… is related to you."
The Himejima paused just a moment while placing the mask away. "You mean that you know-"
"She is the Queen of Rias Gremory's peerage." I interrupted quickly. "I know that you are seeking reconciliation with her, but I wouldn't advise trying to tackling the issue directly."
"That… that is some beautiful news." The woman admitted with a smile, eyes glowing a little happily.
"I-If you need to pass h-her a message, j-just contact Baraqiel and p-pass him what letter y-you wish to s-send her."
She nodded again, thankful but now shifting her focus back to the spell to make me go in my 'happy place.'
"B-By the way, my name is Hoitsu-" My eyelids got heavier suddenly and I let out a brief yawn. Hoitsu… Sakakibara."
Suzaku giggled. "Nice to meet you then, Hoitsu-san… and sweet dreams."
Darkness took me moments later.
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My eyes stared at the wood table with a light above flickering every once in a while.
I was sitting on some-kind of chair, that I couldn't recognize the material that it was made of. The place was damp, I could see some puddles of water in the irregular ground around me.
Looking around, I tried to understand where I was exactly and why this place felt familiar.
"2009, school trip to the local caverns near our hometown." A voice echoed in the darkness, forcing me to try and pinpoint it. "We were eleven-years old and incredibly bored by most of the things we would learn at school. The caves were an interesting place where to go after we first visited."
"Those had been abandoned for years, only I would end up visiting in the weekends to draw- but how do you know this? Who are you?" I looked even more frantically, but finally I heard something else.
Loud footsteps breaking the cacophony of silence, I saw a figure slowly making his way from the shadows and walking towards the chair opposite to mine.
The lone light started to reveal small parts of this individual, starting from the elegant shoes, then the dark-black pant and finally the black jacket that opened to a white shirt and a dark-purple tie that was perfectly made around the familiar man's neck.
My eyes widened, my face paled and the familiar stranger didn't seem fazed by my reaction as he calmly sat down and turned to stare at me with a composed look.
He blinked, his dark-brown eyes partially hidden by the light reflecting on his glasses. He looked quite regal, but also tired and annoyed by everything in general.
"I know that you have several question about my current appearance, Hoitsu Sakakibara, but sadly the time available for us is extremely limited and it's crucial for you to hear what is going on here."
I gulped nervously, there was a demanding but polite tone in his voice and I decided to see what I was talking too.
"If I have to give myself a term that perfectly describe what I truly am, then I think Your Soul's Shadow is the appropriate denomination. But if I have to be simplistic, I am your dark side."
"My… dark side?"
"Your 'truest enemy', your final opponent, your permanent rival and… the other side of the medal that is your soul." The young man explained some more. "I am what many would fight in this dire situation, being that the thing that is currently rotting away at your morality is a dark side of sort… but it isn't your original one."
"Okay, what the fuck are you talking about?" I asked from that insane explanation. "I know that you are interested in making some complex speeches, but from my understand we are in a limited window of time."
He nodded, eyes widening but a small smile finally appearing. "That is correct, I suppose I could go ahead and paint out what is the guilty part in this dreadful predicament."
A small projector turned to life as light splashed on the wall on the side, a strange figure caught in the picture. It was coated in darkness, eyes glowing a pure white as its teeth pointy and hungry.
"The Dark Side of an individual is created out of 'dark emotions' and energy unconsciously used to filter those out of their mind. Generally speaking, the energy then accumulates and grant autonomous consciousness to the accumulated emotions, creating a fragment of the soul that is meant to exist in a normal circumstance." He stopped and sighed tiredly while staring at the projected image.
"With me already existing and being already mature, the energy required to 'give me intelligence' was much less than usual, but the soul failed to recognize that a Dark Side was already present and… created a new one, a childish one, one that strives to destroy and never recognize its worth and importance within your body."
"You mean that… there are currently two Dark Sides in my soul?" What the fuck was going on here?!
"Wrong, but legitimate question." The man nodded and continued. "There can be only a Dark Side in someone's soul and the resulting threat to us is… a tad bit more complicated and BS than you might think."
"Try me." I quipped swiftly, unaware of the regret I was going to deal with after hearing the answer.
"Do you know how Dragons are formed?" He asked rhetorically, making me slouch and stare in shock at him.
… "What?"
"You have dealt with quite the stress in the last few months, your very core furnishing this new dark creature within your soul with fresh energy and, given enough time, it managed to fully create itself within your soul, ready to break free and wreck havoc left and right."
"Dragons are formed from large amounts of energy and certainly not within humans-"
"Not normal dragons, that explanation is valid only for normal ones." He replied flippantly. "There is only a single case, a theory we once heard of and we found ourselves agree to back while browsing around this fandom. It was stupid but also held some merits..."
My mind went through a rush, trying to figure out what the doppelganger was talking about, but failing to grasp anything remotely helpful for the situation.
Then my eyes widened and all color left my face as I did remember that theory I had thought about as a strong possibility.
"I bet you know now, don't you?" The young man sighed. "If the God of the Bible was revered as something infinite and unbeatable, how exactly did he get tired from 'deploying thousands of seals' upon Trihexa? Where did Trihexa came from to start with?"
… "From God." I replied blankly, a single clap of hands confirming my answer.
"Indeed! A single moment of weakness at the wake of the Great War and the Apocalypse Beast was created." The being looked happy at the reply, but sobered up quite quickly.
"Then the reason Baraqiel said that he felt a 'sliver of it', was it because-"
"He could feel something similar to Trihexa, possibly thinking of some connection between it and us but… we know that could be a long stretch even for a theory." He interrupted again, this time a grimace on his face.
"Then what is currently causing my feverish state and the sudden drain of my core is that bastard?" He nodded and I groaned. "But then a ritual wouldn't work, we need to inform Suzaku-san!"
"If we wake up, we could end up accelerating the awakening and that is… pretty bad." The young man countered calmly.
"Then what are we supposed to do?" I asked loudly, making the elegant man flinch.
"Fight it here where it is still vulnerable?" He shrugged. "I mean, we would be playing home and it would work and… that is why I brought you here."
I blinked in confusion and the counterpart sighed. "Look, I know it sounds like a trap of the non-Astolfo kind, but we are stuck in a crazy new world and with very few people to rely on. I don't ask you to abandon yourself to my cooler side, but I wish that you consider the fact I don't wish to control your body, I seek to help you."
"Why would you refuse that? Why refuse the chance of be free?"
"Because I wouldn't be free? The moment someone notices that I am 'free', I would be jailed and put under test to see if you could either be brought back or if this phenomenon could be done once again with other people. That isn't freedom."
"So you wish to… ally with me?"
"To treat me as an equal would be an unfair thought." The Shadow admitted with a sigh. "I am the still minority to your absolute majority, soul-wise, and I would prefer something similar to the Ichigo-Hichigo's King-Servant kind of relationship without the angsty and the rabid undertone."
"What?" I asked in confusion, but just as the word left my mouth the entire cavern started to collapse on itself, forcing me to close my eyes in sudden fear.
It took me just an instant to notice that none of the rocks starting to fall from the room had gone down on me and that I felt several gusts of winds gracing my clothes and face as I was descending from a very high altitude above my hometown.
I saw my doppelganger free-falling at the same-speed I was, grinning while this was happening. "Pick your choice, my Liege, let me lease you my strength against-" ROAR! "-Jeez! That bastard is truly causing some issue over there."
My eyes followed the direction his finger was pointing at and widened when I saw the monstrous creature madly destroying everything on its path. Just like it was described in the Light Novel, this pseudo-Apocalyptic Beast had numerous heads and wings from several different animals in it, slashing, biting and stomping as it tried to cause the most damage possible.
An abomination even among Chimeras.
"How do we fight it then, partner?"
The Shadow's smile widened big time as he turned his head at the monster. "This is your world and it can't use any of its possible attacks other than physical. Have some fun while I support!"
What was that supposed to mean?
I shook my head as I focused on the first issue I had to deal with: I was still free-falling.
My head turned back to the young man and… my jaws dropped when I saw him pull out an umbrella and open it up, only for his fall to be literally slowed down to a slow and acceptable speed while he waved my way.
This is your world!
I hope this isn't some BS mind-scape kind of thing…
Sighing for a brief moment, I slowly adjusted myself and pushed myself forward.
The effect was instantaneous as I started to fly right in the directions I wanted. Eyes glowing in child-like wonder and mind rebooting at the insanity I just pulled, I spent some moments to contemplate this situation and… I returned to focus on the Beast.
I landed on some destroyed concrete ground, the formerly clean highway now shattered and destroyed. Eyes set on the humongous monster, I crouched a little, hands drawn to one of my side and forming a sphere as I started to chant a very familiar and more-than-needed word.
"Kaaa-
meee-
haaa-
meee-"
I could feel the blue sphere of pure destruction fully formed and I saw the creature stop to look back at me. ROAR!
It started to rush, quickly, madly and panicking as I finished my chant and unleashed unholy fury over it.
"-HA!"
A blue wave of energy was released from my palms slammed rapidly against the approaching monster, clashing against its momentum and starting to push it away from me.
I wasn't feeling any strain, but I could feel something akin to energy flooding my body as ended the first attack on the list.
A large section of its large body sported now a gaping hole caused by the Kamehameha passing through it and going beyond.
Its roars were now softer, pained and its moves looked unfocused. It was already weakened!
Just as I was about to go for my second attack, I saw a magical circle encircle the recovering beast, causing it to lash out in fear and fury away from it. Or it would have been the case if several black-colored chains didn't keep it still for a while.
That is Suzaku-san's trying to purge it. You should weaken it even more without moving it from the current position.
And that meant getting closer and deal with it personally. I groaned as I knew that now I had something to worry about in that dream-like situation.
Flying again, I rushed towards the head that were trying to break the chains away and was opposed by a lion- and a snake-like ones.
I quickly lowered myself below the reptile one and punched its chin, while kicking the feline one away and launching an explosive blast at its neck, severing the first of many heads.
A sudden rush of attacks between wings and heads started to keep me busy and attentive, the difficulty rising the more of those joined in for the macabre dance.
Sever this, explode that, punch those. The combination wasn't something accomplished in the same order, but the results were nothing to scoff at.
After several minutes of intense focus, I noticed a detail I had ignored for a while. The more heads and wings I cut, the more of those would appear to replace them and… if there were several animals mixed with it, it wasn't excluded that a Hydra's ability to regenerate was there too to cause problems.
Thus I stopped attacking, my attention shifting back to a possible weak-point I could exploit as the chain was starting to crack under the pressure and the seal was far from completed.
I dodged several biting attempts while in this search and then I found something interesting. Deep in that mess of necks, I could see something trying to pass unnoticed but still stealing some glances my general direction.
Approaching closer, my eyes widened in surprise as a lick of fire tried to consume me before I could get a proper look at this strange spot, forcing me to dodge around and… see a monstrous one-eyed dragon-head still glaring my way.
Was… Was that the main head?
A furious roar, the very one that had echoed until now left the open maws of the beastly face, forcing me to bring my arms up to resist the powerful gust of fire following it.
A bubble-like barrier formed around me, diverting the flames away until those ended completely.
"My turn, ugly fuck!" I brought my hands up and slowly created the very technique that should have featured in a very good movie.
"Big Bang-!"
Warm energy started to accumulate in a large orb of cerulean light, going beyond the time the normal Kamehameha had needed to form and several heads and wings rushed my way to stop me from completing the attack.
But sadly for the abomination… it was too late.
"KAMEHAMEHA!"
The world around me exploded and I was suddenly slammed away from the beast's body, yanked away in the air as several heads slammed on the ground while the seal glowed brightly and engulfed the whole monster before it could regenerate from that powerful blow.
I landed several meters away, staring at the light purging the beast and erasing it in white mist.
"That was some good work, King." I blinked and turned around at the approaching doppelganger, a small odd smile on his face. "Yet I would have preferred that you 'restrained' yourself rather than go nuclear on that fiend."
… "What?"
"Who do you think is going to fix this stuff now?" He spread his arms to gesticulate the city around us or… the quarter that managed to survive the devastating attacks I had unleashed upon the monster.
"I'm… sorry?"
The man snorted and merely facepalmed. "Just… next time we get invaded by some apocalyptic leech of the headache kind, I would prefer just 'a little bit' of restraint from you, King."
"If you want, I can help-"
"It's not needed." He sighed and smiled once more. "No need to spoil the victory here and deny you the chance to get back to the real world to not cast some suspicion and… have fun."
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I found myself brought back in the soft mattress that I had left from in the real world, eyes blinking a little to adjust to the light of the room and… I saw Suzaku looking a little drained. Breathing a little erratic and posture a little bent as some sweat had formed in her forehead.
Red eyes looked at me and I smiled at her nod. "T-The ritual is done and… this ended up being more difficult than I thought it should have been. How are you feeling?"
"A little sore but… I feel better."
'You seem radiant. Are you sure everything's alright?'
I'm feeling great!
He is just giddy because he blasted the issue that was causing the sudden fevers.
'That is good to kno- Who are you!?'
You mean me? Well… there is a lot of explain and I'm technically fixing the chaos left behind by the battle but I assure you Hoitsu will tell you everything.
It's kind of weird but… We have a new voice here.
'What?!'
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AN
6k of pure chapter. I told you the short one was a prelude to a massive one.
Also some brief explanation: I have planned some better reasoning about why MC's Dark Side is this 'nicer' compared to many others and it will be given… in two chapters from now.
Next chapter will conclude the visit at the Black Dog bar and I'm considering putting a real fight there, but I'm still considering.
Lastly, the day after tomorrow I will upload an Omake. I thought that I would have been able to upload yesterday, but I got busy bc of RL stuff and couldn't do much about it.
Future milestone 1: 626 Followers and Favorites.
Future milestone 2: 696 Followers and Favorites.
