1 Chapter 1: Azazel

Chapter 1:

"___" - Speech

(___) - Thoughts

{___} - Internal Voice(s)

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—

The right man in the wrong place, can make all the difference in the world. 

—

He jolted out of his futon covered in cold sweat, bloodshot eyes, and labored breaths. He hastily unbuttoned his shirt and rummaged his hands around his abdomen. 

(There's, nothing there?)

He heaved a massive sigh of relief as he let his head lie back down on his pillow. The dream he had just experienced was like that of no other, how his mind had even come up with such absurd imagery was beyond him. 

It was still fresh in his mind, the visage of a figure wearing a trench coat and fedora staring him down from across the pavement. The cold air sent chills down his spine and erected the hairs on the back of his neck. 

And after that, all that followed was pain. The agonizing sensation of a spear-like object jamming itself deep into his intestines, the loss of strength in his body causing him to fall to his knees as his fluids dyed the street red. 

The mocking sound of the man cackling with delight as he looked on at what he had done, Jin had been nothing more than prey to him.

Even now, he could still feel some of the pain, like a phantom limb. 

(I probably overworked myself yesterday, the coach was right after all.) 

He wearily hauled himself to his feet as he walked towards the mirror to inspect himself, at first glance everything seemed just fine, but upon closer inspection, something wasn't right. 

His pupils —their original shade of maroon had been morphed into an unnatural violet hue. 

(What the fuck is this? Some sort of eye infection?) 

He pinched his cheek to check if his mind was still playing tricks on him, but nothing changed. 

(Stay calm Jin, we'll just get it checked out after school.) 

He walked over to the sink and doused his face in a splash of chilled water to calm himself, trying his best to keep his thoughts elsewhere as he calmly put on his uniform and headed towards the kitchen. 

But, the surprises weren't ready to come to a halt just yet. 

"A high schooler running a tofu shop all on his own? Now that's something you don't see every day." 

Jin froze in place, sitting nonchalantly on his dining table with a fresh cup of coffee in his hands was a middle-aged man wearing a maroon long coat. 

He appeared to be calm, as if he hadn't just broken into someone's property. 

(What should I do? Call the police?) 

The man abruptly sat up from his chair, slowly approaching Jin, causing the younger man to flinch out of sheer panic. 

"That's good, your eyes seem to have finished mutating. Which means the piece has probably finished assimilating by now." 

His words left Jin dumbfounded. A rambling lunatic had just barged into his house unwelcomed and was acting as if everything was as it should be. 

"What's with that look? Oh, have your wings not grown in yet? Here —let me give you a hand." 

The young shopkeeper was more than ready to bolt in the other direction but the crazed home intruder's speed left him aghast, all Jin had seen was a blur, and the next thing he knew a hand had clasped itself around his shoulder. 

It was like the man wasn't human. 

Flutter! 

All of a sudden, he felt a faint pulling sensation coming from his back —as if something was weighing down on him. 

"Hm, they're still a bit too gray for my liking. Oh well, I'm sure we'll be able to fix that eventually." 

He couldn't believe what he was seeing, there was no feasible way that what his eyes were showing him could be real. He had to still be dreaming —he had to.

(W-w-wings!?) 

The backside of his uniform now had two irregular tears in it, allowing for a set of large dark feathery wings to grow in from Jin's torso. 

(No no no, relax Jin this isn't real, you're about to wake up any second now!)

"I see, you don't like them either do you? Don't worry, when most Fallen Angels are born their wings also tend to lack their profound darkness. Luckily for you, I'm here to teach you everything you need to know, so you can think of me as your guiding hand." 

He chuckled lightly as he completely misinterpreted Jin's imminent state of peril, he calmly walked towards the kitchen and started to pour another cup of coffee. 

"We'll start by awakening your Sacred Gear, and after that, I'll teach you all about Holy Power. Oh, and don't worry about school, you're already on an 'indefinite leave' of sorts." 

His monologuing was drowned out by the sound of Jin's brain trying to make heads or tails of the situation, it'd be easy to write this off as a dream save for the fact that— 

One, he had supposedly just woken up from one. 

Two, despite not being a lucid dreamer he was somehow aware of the fact he was dreaming. 

And three, gut feeling.

"You're special, you know that? You're the first human I've reincarnated, but as my [Gold General] you're going to need to catch up as soon as possible, so don't expect me to go easy on you okay?" 

The man fiddled around with a Shogi piece in his hand that looked as if it were made entirely out of charcoal. 

"Here, this should get you up and ready —we've got a long day ahead of ourselves after all." 

Under his overcooked brain, all Jin could do was accept the cup of coffee and idly drink it with a blank, almost zombie-like expression on his face. 

Slowly, like a rusty cog, he creaked his neck towards the intruder and started to eye him up and down. 

He took a deep breath, though it failed to calm his nerves in the slightest. At the very least he found the strength to get a few words out. 

"Who the hell are you?" 

The one thing he could use to water down his bafflement was anger. 

Although his expression might have been enough to intimidate someone his age, it had utterly no effect on the Governor-General himself. 

"Who am I? That's not a very nice way to greet your savior, but I suppose introductions are in order. I am Azazel, from this day onwards I am your [King]." 

He inched even closer as he came to eye-level with Jin, replacing his former "playful" demeanor with a far more somber one. 

"Knowing you humans, chances are you've deluded yourself into believing yesterday was nothing more than a nightmare. I'll do you a favor by ripping off the bandage now and telling you that it wasn't. You died, plain and simple."

The normal reaction would be immediate denial, but something about Azazel's aura prohibited Jin's mind from doing so. 

"Your life as a human is over and you will never get it back. You work for me now, and though I'm aware of how malignant I must sound to you right now, there's no reason for the nature of our relationship to replicate that going forward." 

He gently touched the feathers of Jin's wings as if to reinforce the idea of dehumanization, whilst Jin could do nothing but look on with —conflict. 

"I know who you are, Jin Iwata. No parents, no relatives —at least none worth a damn. All you have is this sad excuse for a shop to keep you company, the world must seem awfully bleak to you no?" 

As much as Jin wanted to refute, he simply didn't have the words to do so.

His emotions of anger, confinement, and denial seethed with brilliant intensity. He wanted nothing more than to slug the man in the face right now, but his mind warned him that doing so wouldn't end well for him. 

Which meant words were the only viable choice he had in his arsenal to express his discontent. 

(Dream or not, I despise this man.)

"Is that how you think this works? You did a little bit of research and suddenly you've been enlightened as to how the world looks from my eyes?" 

At last, he had started to show proper signs of retaliation, just as the man wanted. 

"It's funny you say that. Despite how much I've seemed to provoke you, yet not once in that sentence did you deny my claims. I might be grasping at straws here, but wouldn't it be safe to assume I'm right?" 

He smirked as Jin struggled to formulate a rebuttal. 

"Oh, I think I get it now. Maybe, you would have preferred if I'd have let you die? Then you could go and see Mommy and Daddy right?" 

(I've had enough of this.)

That was the last straw. 

As Jin's emotions burst, a chrome-colored gauntlet manifested itself on his right hand as it charged with a blinding radiance. 

Azazel couldn't contain his smirk as Jin's body was enveloped by a silver aura, his strength increased twofold as his muscle memory had him plant his left foot forward and aimed his fist toward the provoker. 

Against the wishes of his better judgment, he listened to his heart as his right hand short-forth and struck Azazel straight in the liver, just as his coach had taught him. 

"So you've got some training under your belt already. Not bad, not bad at all." 

But he was unphased. What was supposed to be the single strongest punch Jin had ever delivered hardly even caused the man to flinch. 

Jin stepped backwards in disbelief, he was confident that blow should've robbed the man of all the air in his lungs, but there he stood —chuckling with a completely unbothered expression on his face. 

(The hell? It felt like I was trying to punch through titanium!) 

Words didn't work, and now action had proved just as ineffective. 

The only response he could conjure was to retreat, to sprint as if his life depended on it, and call for help. 

Which he was just moments away from doing if what Azazel did next hadn't caught him off-guard. 

He was —bowing. Like a salaryman being scolded by his boss, it had just taken the level of absurdity in the room to new heights. 

"For starters, I owe you an immense apology. I'm well aware of how cruel everything I said was, and I hope you understand that I didn't mean a word of it. Would you allow me a chance to explain?" 

There was no sarcasm, animus, or scrutiny in his voice. This was a genuine apology, which made it all the more perplexing. 

(I just punched him, and he's the one apologizing?) 

If it weren't for the fact that he had indeed barged into his residence Jin would've more likely than not felt a tinge of guilt. 

"Seriously, who the hell are you?" 

Azazel had warranted so much of his attention that Jin had all but forgotten that he, a human, somehow had wings sprouting from his back. 

The man in question raised his head and politely pulled out another chair beside him as he gestured for Jin to take a seat. His facial features portrayed lament as he patiently awaited Jin's response, in truth, every word he said brought him great disgust. 

But his obsession with [Sacred Gears] had gotten the better of him, thus any animosity Jin felt towards him was completely and utterly justified in his eyes. 

Sigh 

Jin groaned as he reluctantly sat down next to the man who had caused his head to spin, it seemed like if he wanted answers he had no other choice but to listen. 

"Once again, I apologize for everything I said, but it was necessary to cause that thing on your arm to surrender its dormant state. That's something we call a Sacred Gear, they're quite special." 

"Sa-kur-ed, huh?" 

(The more I talk to this guy, the more I lose my grip on reality.) 

"In simpler terms, they're tools that grant humans with special abilities. Just now you felt your body get stronger right? That was by virtue of your Sacred Gear. You're quite fortunate to have been blessed with one." 

Jin turned to the gauntlet strapped to his hand, upon closer inspection it almost looked as if it were some sort of reptilian layer of scales. 

(So that's it? I'm just supposed to accept all of this is real? Impossible, nothing is adding up.) 

"More importantly, you should still remember what happened last night." 

(He couldn't be referring to—)

"That's right, like I said it wasn't a dream. You were killed, and for that, I owe you a second apology." 

(What?) 

Once again he dipped his head, further puzzling Jin's already delicate grasp on what was real and what wasn't. 

"You see, that man is a Fallen Angel like myself. Or should I say, I've been keeping tabs on a lot of people here in Kuoh. As a result, I wasn't quick enough to arrive once I came to the realization that you were in mortal danger —and for that, I once more offer you my deepest apologies." 

Jin blinked in rapid succession to convey his disbelief as he gripped his temple out of stress. 

"Hold on, let's just assume for a minute everything you're telling me is true. If I truly did die, how am I standing here right before you?" 

Azazel's lips curled towards his cheek as he pulled out the blackened Shogi piece. 

"This is something I've been working on for a while called a [Corrupted Unit]. They allow me to reincarnate others into Fallen Angels like myself and grant them different 'specialties', I guess you could call them depending on which piece I use." 

"Yeah, you're going to need to dumb that down for me." 

"Think of it like this, you were a human —and you were killed. But then I used this and brought you back. Simple enough?" 

(In retrospect I wish it were, but I'm only digesting about 10% of what this man is saying, and even that is a bit of a stretch.) 

"Jin, have you ever played Shogi before?" 

"I have." 

"Great, that makes things slightly easier to explain. Just like in the game, I am the [King] piece, the center if you will. And you are the [Gold General], sort of like my right hand." 

(The Gold General? In Shogi I believe it can move in almost every direction, but in a much more limited manner than its chess counterpart. Hold on a minute, isn't he calling me a subordinate? Is that what this is?) 

"Looks like you're beginning to catch on, good. My goal is to train you, to help guide your strengths and bring them to their absolute peak. However, to do that I'm going to need at least some of your trust. Can you give me that?" 

(I'd like nothing better than to curl into a ball and pretend none of this is real, but unlike his words, I have no way to deny what my eyes are showing me.) 

His wings performed a slight flutter as he fell into a deep state of contemplation. 

"Why?" 

"Hm?" 

"Why me? You said you're keeping tabs on multiple people, so why choose me?" 

(Not just that, but he called me his "right hand", that's an awfully important position to give to a washed-up Tofu shopkeeper. Is he still hiding something from me?) 

"There's quite a few reasons, guilt, interest, perhaps even boredom. But it was primarily because of instinct, just to be clear I knew you had a Sacred Gear in you beforehand. Moreover, there's a certain air around you that I find to be rather promising." 

(My gut's telling me he isn't lying, but that makes it all the more strange. Instinct? He revived me from beyond the grave for something as elementary as that?)

"And that was enough for you?" 

"I evaluated my choices. Don't get me wrong there are plenty of others who had much more potential in them than you. However, I wasn't confident in their ability to withstand the responsibility of working for me directly." 

"But you're convinced I can?" 

"Hey, you're upholding a shop all on your lonesome and your beard hasn't even fully grown in yet. That's got to count for something right?" 

(Oi, you have stubble as well so what's with the judging?) 

"Alright, here's another question. You said you wanted to train me, what for?" 

"This world is dangerous, yesterday should have proved that to you. You'll need power if you want to survive it, and even more so if you're going to be my right hand from now on." 

(I'd argue that if it wasn't already obvious the time for choosing had already passed, but he does have a point.) 

As Jin's composure gradually returned to him, although only slightly —he had started to connect the dots. 

"And what of the man who killed me? Surely there was some motive behind it?" 

"Indeed, like me, he was aware of the fact that you had a Sacred Gear within you. I'm willing to bet he didn't want a threat lingering around him so he killed you as a way to 'nip the problem in the bud' if you will." 

Jin clenched his fist as his expression tightened, out of all the ways one could die —he couldn't help but feel as if that was one of the most pathetic.

"Don't worry, he's dead now —I made sure of it." 

(That's a relief.) 

"You said he was one of your kind, surely killing one of your own wasn't as easy as you're making it sound?" 

"Haha, you're pretty sharp. I'll admit that it wasn't exactly savory, but he's the one who went against his leader's wishes. So if anything he brought it upon himself."

"Leader, huh? Sounds like you're some kind of big shot." 

"Well, I am on the top of the food chain when it comes to my species. However I'm not that passionate about the role as some people think, I mainly humor it out of necessity." 

(Hoh? Looks like I'll be working for someone pretty important. I suppose that's a boon if nothing else.) 

"If that's the case, I find it even harder to believe you'd choose someone like me as your right hand. But I've denied it enough, I guess all that's left for me to do is go with the flow right?" 

"That's a good attitude, so I'll ask you once again Jin. Will you cooperate with me?" 

Silence followed. Jin looked down at his reflection in the mug and paid close attention to the two feathery wings now perched on his back.

(Fallen Angels, Sak-ur, or whatever he called it, and Shogi pieces able to snatch people from the clutches of death itself. I don't get any of it, however one thing has been made clear to me. In truth, I don't have a choice, the damage has already been done.) 

"Alright, I'll work with you —Azazel." 

The Governor smiled as he rose his cup as if he were making a toast. 

"Splendid, are you prepared to receive your first assignment?"

"Nope, but I'll do it anyway."