142 [142] And What Will You Do With Kokabiel?
Chapter 142: And What Will You Do With Kokabiel?
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I don't like Dragons.
I can tolerate serpentine ones, more so if they're blonde and green-scaled, thanks to my old friend from my 6th life, but that tolerance doesn't extend to lizards.
Fucking lizards.
The hate was especially emphasized right now as the Tiger Icon hovered in the sky.
"Get out of my way," I commanded, my patience wearing thin as I looked at the fool standing before Azazel. "I am not going to repeat myself."
"How arrogant for a human." Vali Lucifer appeared to be outdated, or perhaps just too arrogant to admit my status as a Demi-God. His smugness was unwarranted given the circumstances, it was a clear sign of ignorance, or perhaps he just felt that much superior to me being the descendant of the Original Lucifer.
The Armor of the White Dragon Emperor, the Divine Dividing, seems to have chosen a stupid little bastard as its host whose arrogance was as vast as his power.
I propelled myself forward, the air beneath my feet serving as a springboard, launching a punch with the intent to shatter his armor along with his arrogance. Vali, with a nonchalance that bordered on insult, merely raised an arm to block. He was not taking this as seriously as he rightfully should against an opponent who defeated Thor last night.
I suppose he's just that confident in his ability, the Divide Dividing.
Poor fool.
With a swift change in strategy, I redirected my assault downward, as if pulling into invisible strings from above.
"[White Tiger," I spelled an attack long unused. "Meteorite Shower]!"
The command unleashed a celestial barrage, meteorites of white flames bloomed into the sky and rained downward like the fall of a white sun. Where my punch didn't meet Vali's face, my Flaming White Meteorites did. They slammed into his armor, causing loud trumps to reverberate through the air.
The White Flames share attributes of cold and void; although most 'void' powers had a pitch-black tint to them, pure white worked the same.
I liked preserving my power when there was more than one enemy, but in Vali's case, I had to let loose a little. His ability was no joke, even for me.
Divine Dividing was an unbeatable power because it had no match in hacks besides the Boosted Gear. After all, Vali could divide the power of any attack, any person, and have it for himself. So I didn't didn't judge him for being confident in that ability.
However, how could one divide emptiness?
How do you halve the void? How do you reduce the strength of an attack that exists in a state of cold, unfathomable emptiness?
"Aggh!" Vali let out a groan, as the large balls of fire slammed into him with weight that emptiness shouldn't have. Vali's brilliant and imposing armor was not prepared for the odd nature of my attack. They slammed him into the ground.
The white flames were formed around hyper miniature black holes, that's where the weight came from. The impact of each meteorite was amplified by the presence of micro black holes. One by one, they struck, burying him under their weight, each of the impacts was a harbinger of destruction that resonated through the battlefield. The ground beneath him cratered, and his armor cracked under the relentless assault.
As the dust settled and the flaming meteorite shower faded, the aftermath was clear. Vali struggled beneath the weight of my attack, his armor compromised, revealing the toll taken on his physical form. Despite his resilience, the strain was evident, with dozens of cracks in the armor of the White Dragon Emperor.
That wouldn't be enough to defeat him, I had to step in myself to take his last breath, otherwise, he'd be back in a couple of minutes. However, that was fine with me.
I could care less about that groaning idiot at this moment and had someone more important to redirect my rage to. I turned to Azazel, who had analyzed my technique against Vali with keen eyes and still had his hands in the air.
Azazel stood with a deceptive calmness and appeared slightly impressed yet unfazed by the display of power. In the distance, I noticed the gazes of the Satans observing this scene, waiting for my next actions. They didn't bother hiding their surprise at me dealing with the Diving Dragon with such ease.
Azazel, for his part, maintained his composure, but the subtle shift in his stance spoke volumes. He hadn't minded receiving a punch from me, but he'd rather not take an actually lethal blow and die.
I had to be careful. He was not a weak opponent, if he and Vali teamed up against me then I'd not have an easy time. So his desire to remain a pacifist till the last second showed that he truly didn't want to pick a fight with me, and while I approved of that, he was a fool none the same.
"It was Kokabiel, a powerful fallen angel of his own right. He was a subordinate of mine until recently, but he has betrayed my organization, Grigori." He said just when I curled my punch toward his face. "I already captured him and chained him up. If you cooperate, I'll immediately hand him over to you."
I stopped at that, my fist and an inch from his face.
"We don't have to be enemies, young man. We don't hold any personal grudge, I'm sure?" he asked, and that's where he was wrong. I did actually have a personal grudge against the Fallen Angels, even if that in particular was totally Kokabiel's fault.
When I was about to enlighten him of that fact with an uppercut on his jaw, a gentle hand rested on my shoulder. Serafall teleported by my side in a swirl of water. "If he's telling the truth, it's better not to waste your breath beating him up, Aqua. It's a request, you can deny it if you want, but this will help us devils to score a deal with him if you let him be. We'll owe you one."
I looked at her, and then back at Azazel. In the corner of my eyes, I also caught the sight of Sirzechs Lucifer and Grayfia on the ground, helping an injured Vali to stand up. Even though he hated to receive help from the current Satan Lucifer, his armor was too damaged to reemerge, his legs were weak, so he had to accept the hand.
'Hmm… do I take it a little slow?' I wondered. I wasn't exactly trying to throw the entire world into a supernatural war right now.
I ignored the hateful glare Vali shot toward me and rather lowered my fist to better look at Azazel. I knew what a scheming bastard he was, there's no way he didn't know about Kokabiel's alliance with the Norse, but there was no need to kill him over it. I already got a punch in, too.
I should be satisfied with this much and get Kokabiel from him. Yes.
"After this," my curled fist flew to his face once again and sent him flying into the buildings. His six wings crashed into the skyscrapers, leaving them in dust, as I let out a satisfied huff.
"How aggressive," Serafall said, shaking her head.
"Really?" I ran a hand through my sweaty hair, allowing myself to calm down with a huff. "I have a feeling you'll love that later."
I replied instinctively while staring at Azazel getting up in the distance.
Serafall laughed.
* * *
"I'll let you handle it, my patience might run out if I were to sit at the same table as him and watch him ramble on about. Just receive Kokabiel from him for me, I'll be waiting outside." That was what I told Serafall half an hour earlier.
The two Satans were granted a meeting space with Azazel and Vali inside the Occult Research Club's clubroom, while I waited outside the door with the girls. Most of Rias and Sona's peerage members were sent away to attend classes, so other than me only the two girls and their Queens waited.
I had my arms crossed and stood while leaning against the wall, my ears picking into the conversation going inside the room. Well, they tried to. Grayfia must have erected a barrier of silence, I could barely hear anything from here.
The four girls beside me stood in silence too, sometimes talking among themselves. Rias tried to approach me a few times, but seeing my visage she stepped back. Did I look scary right now? I guess I've been in a state of beastly rage recently, and it made sense for many reasons.
Besides the obvious fact that I was mad at the Norse and the Fallens, my chosen Icon for my Sage ascension was the Tiger Icon. Sage Icons mattered a lot, it affected the user in ways both physical and mental.
For example, this little girl whom I knew in my 9th life, going by the name Sage of the Silver Heart, had the [Heart Icon] which numbed her emotions and granted her a cold personality unlike what she was before Sage.
I already had personality disorders acting up now and then, so that side effect should have been harsher for me. That's one of the reasons why I didn't choose the Crown Icon, which is a fuckfest of mess.
With the Tiger Icon, any personality changer shouldn't be permanent. After all, besides the instinctual rage of a tiger, it's an easy personality not much different than my current self. I just need to stabilize the ascension throughout my body.
"...Excuse me if I'm stepping my borders but," suddenly, one of the girls spoke. I'd have expected Rias, but it was her Queen, Akeno. What did she want? "I noticed in the last meeting too that you were pissed at the Fallen Angels… Do you have a bad history with them?"
What's she doing? Did it bother her since she's half a Fallen Angel? Or did she want to hate them along with me, since I recall she didn't like Fallen Angels herself?
"Not directly, but kind of. An exorcist, he was human but worked under a few fallen angels, who in turn worked under the same Kokabiel, who attacked my house a couple of months ago. My mother almost died in that incident, so I'm a little salty." I looked into her purple eyes and said.
Akeno Himejima appeared kind of meek today, that didn't suit her. What's going on? In the anime, she was quite the flirty girl, and she still is in this world, but we never had a fling yet. I guess our first impression wasn't very nice and I didn't try to fix that later either.
"What're you going to do with Kokabiel?" After a bit of silence, she asked. I looked away from her eyes and looked outside the window, at the clear blue sky. "Torture. I'll not give him an easy death."
In the end, I'll perform a ritual on him and burn him for Soulfire. That's the most use he'll ever have for me, becoming Soulfire for me to burn.
"…Will you let me watch if I ask?"
I turned my head at her while at the same time Rias, Sona, and Tsunaki snapped their heads at her with wide eyes. I looked at her silently, observing her calm expression.
[Image Here]
"A-akeno?! What are you asking?!" Rias sounded stunned at her Queen's words. It's funny seeing a devil getting so worked up at the mention of voyeuristic torture.
Sona and Tsubaki exchanged glances and decided not to meddle in this conversation.
I let out a throaty laugh at that. She's so cute for saying that. "Sure," I agreed while laughing, "I'll leave you a call when I do it. It won't be today or anytime soon, I want him to enjoy isolation first."
"Aqua?! Why are you amusing her?!" my red devil princess demanded, and I raised an eyebrow in response.
"You wouldn't let your Queen indulge in her little dark desires? It's not even that bad, Rias, let her be." I negotiated with her and she failed to come up with words.
Silence fell in the area, and we shared no other talks. There was an imminent shift in the mood, with Akeno failing to hold back an excited smile, while the other three girls wore slightly disapproving frowns.
I found all of this all too amusing to care.
We waited in silence until the room's door finally opened, and Grayfia gestured us in.
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Author Note: 😔 Half an hour late, I didn't notice the time
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