Chapter 40: You Matter

Chapter 40:

"___" - Speech

(___) - Thoughts

(___) - Internal Voice(s)

AN: 40 chapters, wow. Just wanted to say that all the comments you guys leave have been invaluable as motivation when it comes to writing this story. For that, you have my deepest thanks.

Oh, and if you have any suggestions or things you want to say about the story so far. Leave 'em here.

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The room remained silent for the most part. A tense atmosphere descended as most held their breaths whilst awaiting the outcome of the fight against Loki. 

The only thing piercing the awkward silence was the sound of Raon snoring as Jin gently stroked his head with a warm expression on his face. 

Ever since his journey had begun, he was rarely ever given time to truly enjoy some well deserved R&R, making him appreciate moments like these all the more. 

"Looks like you two have been getting along." Azazel commented loosely, smiling as he observed the two. 

"Mm." To little surprise, Jin was simply too engrossed in the hatchling's cuteness to pay much attention to the Governor, or anyone around him for that matter. 

Since none of the powerhouses gathered at the table had much else to do as they waited for Sirzech's and Ajuka's return, Jin had inadvertently become the center of attention. 

"Any plans on explaining what's going on with that?" Azazel pointed to something that had been on both his and Oron's mind ever since Jin had returned from his ordeal with Kuroka and Bikou. 

His arm. 

"I'd like to know as well, Jin-sama." Oron followed. 

"This?" He flexed his Dragonified hand. "I just thought it best to speed things up a bit, luckily it seems I made the right call considering that I'd probably be dead if I didn't have my [Balance Breaker] already." 

Not finding his answer satisfactory, Azazel narrowed his eyes as he scrutinized his subordinate. 

"You gave your arm up." He stated plainly. 

"And?" 

"And? Don't pretend like you haven't seen what's going on with Hyoudou." 

Jin let out a sly chuckle as he brushed off the comment. 

"Unlike him, I won't have any complications." Jin started to wave his arm in front of Azazel's face. "As you can see, everything's a-ok." 

"How can you be so sure?" Oron questioned, causing Jin to roll his eyes as he breathed a faint groan. 

"Putting aside the fact that I haven't had any problems so far, I made the change when my body was already prepared to handle the level of Draconic Energy I'd receive. I don't know what circumstances led Hyoudou to his choice, but at the very least I'm able to tell it was done in a rush." 

To his surprise, neither of them seemed satisfied with his response. 

But it didn't take long for him to figure out what was going on in their minds. 

"Oh! That's what you meant by 'gave up', no no no you've got it all wrong." He shook his head as he let out an amused chortle. 

"Elaborate." Azazel ordered, uninterested in his antics. 

"This was just acceleration, not replacement." The Governor and Oron shot a confused glance towards one another as their questioning gazes landed upon Jin once more. 

"Hah, I really should have explained it better." He sighed. "With enough time, my arm would have ended up like this regardless of what I did. Ever since the Peace Conference, my Dragon has been gradually changing my body to that of well, a Dragon's. All that happened here was an acceleration of the inevitable, I'd hardly even call it a sacrifice." 

If only the two could see the look on their faces. As a matter of fact even the surrounding leader's felt a sense of astonishment as they eagerly followed the conversation. 

"Before you say anything let me finish. I don't want there to be any misunderstandings this time. Even though it's theoretically possible for people like me and Hyoudou to just outright alter their entire body's at once, doing so would've caused me to pretty much implode. Container and water, you know?" 

They both nodded as they waited for Jin to finish his explanation. 

"Instead, my Dragon continues to replace the cells in my body as I get stronger. Well, I say replace but in actuality it's more akin to fusion." 

"Fusion?" Azazel repeated. 

"Thing is, if I were a human the process would've already been completed by now. However, being a Fallen Angel has altered things. Unlike human cells, a Fallen Angel's one can not be so easily replaced thanks to the Holy Power they possess. One's a fresh canvas, whilst the other has already been drawn on." 

Jin focused as Adaloth helped him form a few particles of Holy Power infused snow on his scale-ridden hand.

"Therefore, we settled on fusion instead. Allowing me to retain both power's without needing to give a part of myself up. Naturally this means the process will take a lot longer, but the payoff will be more than worth it in the long run." 

All of the Governor's frustration had been replaced by nothing but pure intrigue, as shown on his face. 

"A fusion between a Fallen Angel and a Dragon. Just what would that create?" 

"No clue, time will tell I suppose." Jin noticed that Oron still didn't seem to fully grasp his lengthy summarization. "Put simply, when Azazel awakened me I was an incomplete hybrid, and now I'm working towards becoming a complete one." 

The dots seemed to connect a little better for Jin's assistant, but he still seemed to don a hint of concern on his face. 

"Not satisfied?" 

"It's not that, I just want to know that you aren't in any danger." 

"The danger has long passed, there's nothing for you to worry about." Oron couldn't detect a hint of falsehood in Jin's voice, allowing him to heave a deep sigh of relief. 

"Wait, what danger?" Azazel interjected. 

"Oops, probably shouldn't have let that slip." Jin cupped his palm over his mouth as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. 

"Jin, what didn't you tell me?" He repeated, his tone significantly more stern than before. 

"Uh, I mean it's not like the process of linking your body with your Dragon's is seamless. There are some risks involved." 

"Stop beating around the bush." The look on his [King's] face sent chills down Jin's spine, causing him to shudder as he tried to reassure the man. 

"Ok ok, calm down I'll explain. As you know, the most important driving force behind a Sacred Gear is one's desires. Mine is no exception to the rule." 

Azazel nodded as he motioned for him to continue. 

"During the process of linking, the most important prerequisite is that the host's and the Dragon's desires match with one another. Luckily that was the case for me and her." 

"And if they don't?" 

Jin took a deep breath, causing Azazel to fold his arms as he knew he wasn't going to like whatever he was about to hear. 

Of course, thinking one could lie to the long-lived Governor's face was wishful thinking at best. 

"If one were to attempt something so foolish despite knowing the fact, their minds would most likely than not crumble under the weight of the Dragon's. Sending the host into a crazed frenzy as they tried to destroy everything around them, until either they burn their life force away or have someone else put them down." 

With that said, some sugarcoating would have been nice.

CRUMBLE! 

Azazel's fist collided into one the surrounding pillars, his unquestionably imposing aura briefly reigning down on everyone around him as he struggled to control his temper. 

"Azazel-chan? ✫." Serafall spoke up, hoping to calm down the twelve-winged Fallen Angel. 

Thankfully, her words seemed to snap him out of his stupor as he gripped his nose bridge, struggling to contain his temper.

To no surprise, Oron's expression wasn't any less furious. 

"I'm fine." He reassured the Leviathan, obviously lying through his teeth. 

"I take it you don't approve?" Jin queried in a rhetorical manner. 

"You think?" He snapped. "What you just described was nothing less than a suicidal technique." 

"Only if they don't match." Jin tried to retort. 

"Don't play dumb, I've studied Dragons for centuries. Even I can tell that such a condition doesn't make the process foolproof." 

Statistically speaking, there was about a 1% chance that it could have ended up badly for Jin. Which wasn't that small of a number seeing as you were essentially gambling your life away. 

The [Gold General] remained silent, thinking it best to let his [King] get whatever he needed to say of his chest. 

"Do you see me as your enemy? Jin?" His eyes widened as he detected a faint sense of pain radiating from Azazel's voice. 

"Obviously not." 

It probably wasn't the right time nor place to have such a conversation, but at the moment Azazel could care less. 

"Then why treat me as such? Even if I couldn't have talked you out of it, I definitely could've done something to make the process safer. Or at least offered some sort of tangible alternative." 

Oron was quick to nod along, he too shared the same sentiment of betrayal. 

"But no, as always you insist on treating your life as a flimsy commodity. What was the term you used? 'Half-alive' I believe it was?" 

Jin wasted no time staring daggers towards Serafall, causing the latter to turn her head and whistle innocently. 

"Look at me when I'm talking to you." Azazel scolded, causing the corners of Jin's lips to dip ever so slightly. 

"Scowl all you want." He huffed. "It won't change a thing, words can't even begin to describe how disappointed I am in you." 

"Disappointed?" He repeated coldly, his aura starting to leak out as only the Exorcists behind Michael seemed to be affected. 

"Yeah, disappointed. Need me to spell it out for you?" 

"I didn't take you for a hypocrite." 

Raon opened one eye as he remained in Jin's lap, curious to see what all the commotion was about. 

"You ask me to grow strong in order to deal with the tasks you yourself assign me, but when the way I do it doesn't suit your tastes you suddenly flip? Did you not look up the meaning of fairness during all those centuries?" 

Azazel scoffed as he could hardly believe Jin's idiocy. 

"Oh believe me, if I wanted to I could just lock you up in Grigori until you were as strong as I wanted you to be whilst I let everyone else do the work." Azazel's eyes seemed to pierce right through Jin. "But that's not what you want now is it? I respect your freedom, which is why I chose not to." 

The Governor motioned that he wasn't done speaking before Jin would interject. 

"However, there is a fine line between allowing you your freedom, and negligence. Allow me to make one thing clear, you are not just a lackey, you are not just another subordinate. I don't care whether you think it's unfair or not, it's a fact." 

Azazel wasn't perfect, he knew that for a fact. Moreover, he understood how futile it was to try to attain perfection. If he had to choose between a random member of Grigori and Jin, he'd choose Jin ten times out of ten. 

No questions asked. 

"How about you just say what you want to say? Oh glorious [King]." Jin replied sarcastically. 

"Is it that hard for you to understand?" Azazel sighed, resting his palm against his forehead. 

"You matter." 

With just two words, Jin had been left utterly speechless.