Chapter 50 "I don't know

"Is there anything special about this particular Fallen?" Clarissa said, her expression unreadable.

"As far as I can tell? No. She's probably pretty low on the totem pole in fact. I was able to take her down when we were fighting incredibly easily."

Yubelluna's eyes narrowed as she said, "Would this Fallen truly join your peerage, or merely use you to protect herself from the wrath of the Grigori and the Leviathan?"

"I don't know."

"She's alone." Valerie said so quietly I almost didn't hear her. When she saw the rest of us looking at her, her eyes fell to the floor as she shied away from us.

"Valerie, you're a member of this peerage now. I'm here because I want to hear your opinions. All your opinions." I said.

Valerie looked between Clarissa and Yubelluna, and when both of them nodded encouragingly, she said, "If…if the other Fallen Angels left her on her own, she has nowhere else to go. She's alone and doesn't know what she's going to do. That's how I was…" She trails off, obviously absorbed in her memories. "I…I trusted the wrong people to help me. I would have done anything for them after they offered to help me, but they took advantage of me and locked me in a cage." Valerie looked up to meet my eyes. "If you help her and treat her well, she'll do anything for you."

"Thank you all for your input." I said as I stood, heading back down towards the holding cells. When I arrived, Serafall was moving between different magical girl poses.

She lit up as I approached. "So what's it gonna be, Flaming Chicken-chan?"

"Can I talk to her alone for a bit?"

"Go ahead. I'll even lock the door behind you to make it extra private." she said, waggling her eyebrows.

Nodding in thanks and pointedly ignoring Serafall's innuendo, I headed into the cell, hearing steel grind against stone as Serafall locked the door behind me. The Fallen eyed me suspiciously as I entered, keeping her distance along the outskirts of the cell.

"Valerie-chan! Levi-tan's coming!" Serafall's voice called, getting further away with each syllable.

Sighing and offering my bishop a wordless 'good luck', I leaned back against the wall and slid down it until I was sitting. I looked up at the Fallen and said, "Your name is Kalawarner, right? I'm Riser."

Breathing erratically, the Fallen stepped into a fighting stance as she warily eyed me. "If you're going to kill me, just kill me, devil. Cease with these mind games!"

I began rubbing my head tiredly. "Honestly? I don't know if I'm going to kill you. Things will be a lot simpler for me if I do, but it just doesn't sit right with me."

Kalawarner grinned evilly. "What's the matter, devil? You don't have the stomach for it?"

Looking at her blankly, I said, "I cut your friend's head off. Believe me, if I wanted to kill you I'd just get it over with. Just talk to me, please?"

Her bravado evaporated, a flash of fear crossing her features before she scowled. "Fine. Talk."

"If I cut you loose, got you out of the Underworld and free from Serafall, what would you do?"

She opened her mouth to respond, closing it soon after, her eyes heavy.

"You don't have anywhere to go, do you?"

She seethed, taking a step closer to me. "And what would you know of that, devil? Are you not Riser Phenex? Born into luxury?" Her words came out in a hiss.

I couldn't help but laugh, taking her aback. "Your information's way out of date. Well, I guess not too far out of date considering you were probably getting everything fourth or fifth hand, but I'm not a Phenex anymore. Just Riser. I was banished."

She sneered, taking another step forward. "Poor, devil. No one wanted him and he was left all alone."

I smiled up at her, causing her sneer to morph into an expression of confusion. "If I'm being honest? Getting banished was probably the best thing to ever happen to me. I've been coasting my entire life. That was the kick in the ass I needed to finally start doing instead of thinking. I got dealt a shit hand, but I turned that shit into gold. What are you going to do?"

Kalawarner stepped back uncertainly. "What?"

Standing up and dusting my hands off, I turned to fully face her and said, "Your commander left you out to dry. Kokabiel used you and then threw you away. You have no past anymore. No obligations. No one in your corner. What are you going to do? Use the opportunity created by that or wallow in self-pity?"

Kalawarner's eyes widened as she said, "Are you actually trying to recruit me into your peerage? Are you that desperate?"

Chuckling, I said, "Frankly, I don't know. I thought I'd be able to figure it out by talking to you, but so far I haven't seen anything I'd want in my peerage. Just a bunch of empty threats, deflection and defeatism. My peerage isn't very large right now, but three of us were able to pull off a hostage extraction mission in the Tepes Estate. You know how? We don't complain about things that don't matter, we keep moving forward and we work together. That's really all there is to it. If you don't want to be a devil, if you don't want to be in my peerage, if you're afraid of walking a path where you don't blindly follow orders, then I'm not going to reincarnate you. Feel free to take your chances on Earth or with Serafall. Consider this your olive branch. If you want me to give you a chance, this is your chance to explain why I should. If not, tell me to screw off or just don't say anything. I'll tell Serafall to cut you loose on Earth to make your own way." I held her gaze, waiting for any form of reaction.

Want to read 20+ chapters ahead from here or just want to support take a visit on my patreon.

Link ---> patreon.com/Real28

-------------------------------------------------------------

P A T R E O N

-------------------------------------------------------------

patreon.com/Real28

-------------------------------------------------------------