Visions of the Past

Rias's Room (Rias P.O.V)

After finishing her calls, Rias decided it would be a good idea to use her prophetic powers to scout out anything relevant to the revival of Medusa and felling of Kaguya Otsutsuki. Deciding to start with the visions of Medusa, Rias sat down in a meditative position and closed her eyes.

Within moments, visions began to run through her mind.

[A large body of water could be seen from overhead surrounded largely by land. Zooming in, she starts approaching a point where the body of water seems to be mixing with a smaller source. At that point, a dimensional shift occurs and the vision shows what appeared to be a sub-dimension.]

The vision shifts.

[A ziggurat stands proud in a corner of the sub-dimension surrounded by a sea of water.]

The vision shifts.

[A well-decorated stone well sits at the heart of the larger structure. This well has an opening that seems to continuously feed water into a larger surrounding pool. On the outermost edges of the pool, water can be seen feeding into it from the outside.]

She marvels at the structure as one last phrase comes to mind as the vision ends; 'through the mixing of two waters, life is born'.

'So, what can I infer from the information presented? That was a ziggurat, which were classic temples for the Mesopotamians. That would narrow down the places around the world this place would be. That gulf seemed to contain a sub-dimension likely used to house a god. Considering, the final phrase transmitted to me, it matches Tiamat's myth. I had always thought it was false though. I mean, she's still alive. Would that Ziggurat be her home before her 'Felling' at the hands of Marduk? Maybe. If I to guess, that pool would be beneficial for reviving Medusa into a stable and powerful state. Ingvild and Valerie would probably learn something from the experience as well, especially since those waters represent the principles of life Tiamat used to embody. It's settled then. That adventure is happening first. Then, I'll gather the others and we'll set off to deal with Kaguya.' She thought to herself. After organizing all the information in her mind, she realized that Medusa's revival was turning into some kind of mini adventure.

Having finished considering the information from the first vision, Rias sat down and prepared for the next. Closing her eyes, visions began flashing in her mind.

[In a setting that she was informed was the ancient past, ten white demons stormed into Takamagahara in a full-on assault. After five days of continuous fighting, two managed to escape. One man and one woman. From their strange eyes and the context of the vision, they were clearly Otsutsuki. In the male's hand was a seed along with a brown sack containing unknown objects.]

The vision shifts forward a few years.

[The two Otsutsuki stood alone at the site of a massacre that befell their clan. It was clear who wiped out their people from the black flames littering the complex. The Shinto pantheon had gotten their revenge.

"So, we're the last ones" the male said to the woman with a burning anger clear on his face. "They dare kill our people!?" His eyes narrowed viciously. "Someday, they will pay. I will spare nothing to wipe that pantheon off the face of the map!" the woman shook her head and embraced him.

"Yes, but that is not entirely correct." She said while her hand tenderly rubbed his back.

"What do you mean, you know of survivors!?" he almost wanted to let go with how excited he was. He was pretty confident that the Shinto planned this to perfection. The only reason they were alive was likely due to Tsukuyomi's vindictive side wanting them to suffer the agony of their clan's massacre, a similar situation the Shinto experienced after their raid.

Suddenly, he felt pain in his back, then in his chest. Looking down, he saw a long bone jutting out of his chest. Then before he could react, he felt a hand cover his mouth with a small item entering it from a feminine palm.

'The seed!'

"No, there are no more survivors aside from the two of us and after today, I will be the last one. With the seed and the two sacred gears, I will create a nursery where I can grow an army capable of truly turning the Shinto into dust. You will be food that allows the divine tree to grow. Fear not, Once I've taken revenge, I will set to work creating new pure bloods for our clan." She said dispassionately as she watched his body spasm in agony, the seed crushing any resistance he may have attempted.

Shaking with fear, pain, humiliation, and rage, the man did his best to speak the biggest question on his mind. "Kaguya! Why!? Since when did you plan on betraying me!?" he roared as his vision continued to darken.

"From the beginning. After our raid on the Shinto, how do you think they found this place. A few well-placed clues went a long way. Now, I've gone from the bottom of the clan, to its princess. Once I've achieved our revenge, I'll become its queen." As she said this, her face didn't change. It was truly a wonder whether she believed her own words or not. Her expressions certainly gave no indication.

Before the man could say something else, his body started drying up at an extreme rate and a few seconds later, a glowing seed was all that was left.

"Don't worry. The others will join you as well. Their bodies may have passed, but their souls have not; their corpses will still serve as nutrients." She said emotionlessly as she proceed to do the same with the other corpses in the area. More food for the seed couldn't hurt.]

The vision shifts forward another hour.

[The emotionless woman walks up to two crystals situated around a complex arrangement of multiple spell circles. An odd-looking clay figurine lay at the center with their clan's divine eye implanted into it. The eye was purple with four concentric circles spanning out from a black pupil. The divine eye was the sacred eye of their progenitor. It had been what kept them safe from Satan class threats. It was a powerful eye that was used by the head of the clan in every generation. Recently, the clan had a grand idea; the one that lead to their current situation. What if they could evolve their eye to a new level? What Kaguya was about to do was the result of their efforts.

Stepping up to the figurine, she touched the seed to its eye and watched as it was absorbed into it. Within moments, the eye became red with nine tomoe, three on each of the first three concentric rings. With that, the figurine transformed into the same seed that it had absorbed.

Kaguya then placed her hands on the spell below and watched as the two crystals shattered. Spatial energy came off in waves as the two crystals merged into the seed. With that final act, a black sphere grew from the seed and encompassed everything within the old Otsutsuki settlement. Once complete, the ball hovered there remaining stationary indefinitely.] In her mind, a prophetic phrase appeared. Sudo-world creation.

The vision shifts forward a vast length of time to an event that transpired about a month ago.

[Five men drop from the sky, shoving black metal rods into a shaggy long white-haired man's back. Four of them had orange hair, while the fifth was bald; all of them had copies of the purple divine eyes. The men proceed to look at their victim for a moment before walking away, fully believing the man dead. Moments later, the white haired man musters enough strength to write a coded message on an old-looking frog's back before it disappeared. An instant later, his position was hit by a missile launched by the bald headed one.]

The vision fades to black.

"Wow. That was one of the clearest visions I've ever had. It's never been that clear before. I wonder what's different about this situation?" She contemplated out loud "Well, Hanabi should be glad that there still appears to be humans left alive. Maybe she'll even know the parties involved in this situation. It'll help us contextualize the situation we're going into at the very least." She considered. Then, her mind went back to the Otsutsuki history she witnessed.

'That'll be important. It may be a good idea to pay a visit to the Shinto faction before our trip as well. They may have insight into the Otsutsuki and why they attacked their faction in the first place. It must be relevant if that attack showed up in this series of visions.

My initial theory is that the clan felt the need to evolve their divine eye and the Shinto had something that would help. I'll need to speak to them to learn the specifics though. On the other hand, if I get them involved, they may want compensation in some way from the remnant clan member when we kill her, likely this divine eye. We'll basically be admitting some form of awareness of the member's location and affiliation to them. They'll probably feel entitled to the eye after the attack committed on their home and it'll be hard to plead ignorance at that point. I really don't want to give that up though. I'd rather the eye be conveniently integrated when we tell them what happened. It'll be too late to give anything back then.

I may just take the risk of going in blind on that front and try to hone my vision in on that event on a later date. Alright, time to call Hanabi in. I'll brief everyone else on the visions after Kuroka and Akeno become pillars. It'll save time on the explanations. Hanabi needs to hear it now though. It wouldn't do to have her angry at me for withholding this kind of intel. Especially since she may know the man who died.' Rias finished thinking to herself.

It was times like this where her inherent greedy nature reared its ugly head. Rather than make sure everything ended up in the right place, she'd rather secure whatever this divine eye was for her pillars. By the time the Shinto find out, the eye will no longer exist and the only way they'd get something from it would be from her corpse.