49 Chapter 49: Another redhead

Beta read by n1ch, Shigiya, Solitary heart and 8kagi

Again, short chapter, sorry y'all.

I'll try to add more it honestly couldn't write the next part without it becoming too long and thus becoming two chapters in one. And I felt the ending of this one was good enough.

Edit 1: Beta read and added a few more lines.

-(Flashback)-

"Hurgh… where… where am I?"

I woke up in a dark room with a splitting headache. Not the first time I woke up in such a state after a life and death battle, the only difference here was…

"You're back…"

A black gauntlet which I recognized as Saji's [Absorption Line] formed around my hand, the form being more complete and menacing than what I remembered. Along with having the gecko-looking head, it formed a true armoured gauntlet covering my arms and hand. The violet orb blinked slowly with a weak light.

"It has been a while, partner." His familiar voice hit my heart to the point I started crying. "How has life been treating you lately?"

He finally came back.

"This is not a dream, right?"

"It is a dream come true, technically I never left you… my soul was just too exhausted and burdened by the strain these last few years and I had to take a rather extended nap." Vritra said.

Sniff…

"Hahahaha, crying over my return after a short nap? How touching. Not every day you get a host who cared more about me rather than the powers I gave them. But seriously, stop crying, you would not like the sound of a dragon crying… We're infamously known to be ugly criers."

I couldn't stop myself from laughing. He hasn't changed a bit.

"Only you can consider a few years-long coma as a nap."

"Tell that to Niðhöggr! That irritating lizard slept for centuries while gnawing on the root of the World Tree." Of course, this was before that greedy dragon had a fight with Ddraig of all dragons and got sealed at some point after his crushing defeat against the Red Dragon Emperor.

Despite being an Evil dragon like him, Vritra absolutely hated the Abyss Rage Dragon. He was one of the few dragons who embodied the vile aspects of being considered an Evil dragon in the first place. Whereas he and Crom Cruach's main drawback was their never-ending rage, Niðhöggr revelled in his wrath and sadism—enjoying every second of it.

Always hungry as he would swallow everything in sight. He was even known to be a cannibal, eating his brothers and sisters without an ounce of regret. He hoped to never battle that guy, aside from his corrosive miasma, that guy's revival ability sounds like it would be an enormous pain to deal with as well.

"Where are we? I don't remember much." Everything was blurry, he knew he lost against Sétante and that Raynare… "Is Raynare still alive?"

"Rest assured, the Fallen is perfectly healthy… I just gave her too much." That sounded wrong, and worrying, but I was relieved by the news. "As for where we are currently, let's just say that an old witch brought us to her abode."

A certain story from my childhood resurfaced in my mind.

"Is she going to fatten us up with sweets, before throwing us in the oven?" The wall didn't look like they were made of chocolate or cookies. Mostly moss and stone.

"She is not that kind of witch."

I sighed in relief.

"Good."

Getting up from this extremely soft and comfortable bed was one of the biggest challenges I've faced in my life. If possible, I wanted to remain on the silky smooth bed sheets that warned me up in this cold and darkroom.

I started to get tired again.

"Partner, I am a dragon feared by many gods, angels, and by my own kind as well. Please do not make me mother you out of your bed."

"Come on, we haven't talked for years! Surely a few moments of peace and conversation is something that I deserve after everything I've gone through." I nearly died, twic—no, THRICE! First was Vali—though that one is highly debatable—then there was the Paris incident and now this, with the celtic juggernaut. Man, I bet the shounen protagonist's out there are jealous of my life now.

"I wouldn't mind a period of rest and relaxation as well, but unfortunately we are in the castle of Scáthach. And letting your guard down here is as erroneous as underestimating Great Red and his strange biker attitude." I widened my eyes when I recognized the name of the immortal witch, who in legends thought of mighty figures like Cu Chulainn himself!

…Also, what is this about Great Red being a biker?

"Don't tell me she brought me under her wing in order to teach me all of the cool magic spells and runes that are said to kill even the gods!?" I couldn't lie and say I wasn't excited about this possibility. True, fighting and violence wasn't something I enjoyed, but learning some cool spells and magic really kindled my inner chuunibyou, especially learning it from a famous god-slayer!

Wait!

"How long was I asleep!?" I nearly forgot about the rating game! Rias and Akeno will never forgive me for missing one of their most important moments of their lives!

"Relax, you still have plenty of days ahead of you before your mates the Rating Game. While in this dimension, time passes slower than the outside world. Even though you have been sleeping for three days, in reality barely a day went by outside… I think."

"You think!?" I know this was supposed to be a touchy-feely moment between us but I really needed to be sure that I've not missed such an important event! Also they're not my mates! Akeno is my only mate, I mean my girlfriend!

"Do not blame me, I am but a trapped soul inside a Sacred Gear, there is only so much I can analyse from here! And that's a miracle by itself! Not many spirits could even see the outside world let alone analyse the complex components making up the space and time property of this particular dimension." Vritra went on a long rant, though he wasn't outright shouting I could feel the frustration behind his voice.

Finally calming down, I realised that I messed up.

"Sorry, I didn't think of your situation and lashed out…" I needed to take into consideration Vritra's position. He is basically stuck in a prison and was trying his best to analyse our surroundings. Not to mention that after saving me, again, he didn't need more bullshit thrown at him.

"Do not apologise, partner. I understand your anger but you need to keep a cool head as you used to before. Don't be irrational and never let your doubts and anger take hold of you again."

"Got it." He's right, I needed to stop thinking like another generic action anime protagonist and run headfirst into trouble and instead, sit back down and use my common sense.

"Also, you might need to move, partner. The witch is aware that you have woken up." Said Vritra rather cautiously.

"Good, I can have a conversation with her and she can return me to Kuoh. Certainly, an immortal witch who's as famous as her would let me go, right? I did save her from dealing with Sétante."

Unfortunately, the dragon didn't seem to agree with me one bit.

"I am afraid Scáthach is not that kind of person."

What?

"What do you mean?"

Crash!

Suddenly, the door to my room was broken apart by a single punch. A highly toned woman in her early thirties or late twenties, with long curly red hair and leather armour, came inside the room.

Being a celtic descent, she had the common trait of having red hair, freckles and slightly tanned skin. This woman looked like she could break me like a twig.

If the stories are true, she can definitely break me like a twig. Let me put this into perspective. If Vritra at his strongest could hold up his own and give a hard time against the strongest of gods and the strongest of ultimate level beings. Then Scàthack could repeatedly kill such monsters and even battle against multiple opponents at the same time, while not even necessarily losing!

At least that's what the books Azazel gave me claimed.

Holding a familiar red spear she gave me a savage grin that made me shiver from fright.

'Oh no…'

"You have some repairs to do, boyo!"

Even though I sensed no hostility from her, I still feared this monster.

-(End flashback)-

{Break}

-Hikigaya residence-

"So, like how I just explained, I, Rias Gremory, will be returning to this house until the foreseeable future. I'm sorry for being gone so long, I promise to make it up to you, so please, take care of me, Otou-sama, Okaa-sama"

We came back to my house, and conveniently, my parents were back home. I would say that I was surprised, but something told me that it was either Sirzechs or Azazel who was responsible for their return at this specific time.

Assholes… Why do they have to make everything difficult…

"Here is your tea."

By my side was Akeno acting all bubbly and happy, as everything was just normal. As if she didn't mind the kiss thing with Rias and all—the part where she apparently took Rias' first kiss was also spinning in my head. I was not jealous, but merely suspicious of her motives.

"Oh my, I'm glad you're back, Rias-chan! The house felt empty without our son and daughters around."

"Oi, what's with the daughters part?"

"You heard me correctly, Sweetie. My. Daughters… and they better stay that way you get it, mister." She gave me a vile menacing look that promised a month of Coffee ban if I did not agree with her demand.

"Yes."

"Oho, it seems we'll have to make another reservation at the hotel in the Maldives where we had our honeymoon. I'm sure they will enjoy it, Hahahaha!"

Stop talking dad, you're making this awkward for me!

"You should follow the advice and goals of that young lad, Issei. Being so popular with the girls is not something I experienced in my younger years… unfortunately." He said, seeming depressed at my imaginary popularity.

Wait, what!?

"When did you meet Issei?" I only remember bringing Issei to my house once when he was attacked by Raynare. He certainly didn't have the time to converse with my dad since I brought him to my room for a talk and then teleported him away.

Mom gave me the answer.

"Oh, he and another beautiful girl, the one you used to hang out with… what was her name again dear?" She asked her husband.

"I believe it was Sona Shitori."

"Yes! Such a charming young lady with a brilliant mind. She came around with the student council members the day Rias was preparing to leave for the ten days trip." Oh, but why though? Rias could have teleported or travelled by a private bus to the foot of the mountain. Why would Sona come here to pick them up?

"Your mother talked with the girl for hours and wouldn't even let poor Sona leave the house, asking when you two wi—ouch!" He wasn't prepared for his wife to twist his side.

Wait old man, what were you going to say?

"It's not every day you get to meet someone like her, she was so formal and polite that it was adorable~ I never knew that my lazy son had such pretty friends. Other than these two of course, fufufufu~"

Ouch mom…

"Can we get back on topic?" I said, getting tired of this conversation and not wanting to think about what kind of questions my mother asked Sona. It's been so long since I've been in my room. I really wanted to be reunited with my personal space and my secret stash of SUPER Coffee and read my light novels.

"Oh right, while your mother was talking with Sona, I decided to socialise with the boys. And oh boy were they funny! That young boy just went on a long monologue about the beauty of breasts and his dream of becoming a Harem King. Hahahaha, it honestly made me want to become one as well!"

Great job Issei, you turned my dad into a pervert… I'm not letting that boy go with a slap on the wrist.

"Hachi-kun, can you help me bring the rest of my luggage to our room, please?" Rias said while pointing at a mountain of cardboard boxes near the living room.

What luggage? She already kept an entire closet filled with clothes inside HER room! I was feeling suspicious about this and went to check them out.

"H-Hey! Don't open those boxes!"

Not giving her any attention I immediately ripped open one of them.

"Noooooo! Be careful, that's the limited edition box!" As expected, there were no clothes inside—but instead anime figurines and other Japanese-themed trinkets!

"Heh, I should have known." I nearly forgot that this girl was both a huge weeb and otaku, since she decided to permanently live here then no wonder she brought her entire collection with her. "Still… just why do you have so many boxes!?" More than twenty boxes were taking up an enormous amount of space in our living room, there was no way she would be able to arrange everything inside her own room.

"You think this is a lot?" Akeno commented as she picked up a box of a Nami figurine from One Piece—and much to the horror of her king—opened the box to get a better look at the piece. "She has a separate mansion-sized unit in the Underworld filled with the entire collection of anime figurines, posters, collectibles, and even some ancient artefacts like samurai armors from the Edo period."

"..."

I always thought I knew Rias down to a T, but it seems that I underestimated the extent of Japan's culture obsession.

'At least now I know where most of her pocket money is spent.' Just imagining the price made me turn green from nausea and envy. These collectibles and figurines in general weren't cheap but having an entire mansion-sized warehouse full of them? Yeah, she could easily build a couple of Kuoh Academies with that money and still have some left to enjoy the rest of her life in luxury… probably.

I wasn't doing the maths and was just speculating at this point.

Bottom line, her famliy was stupidly filthy rich.

"H-Hachi-kun!" Rias called out to me, obviously trying to change my attention from her obsession. "I want to take a bath after fighting against Riser… Why don't we take one together?"

Cough

Spit got stuck inside my throat and I nearly choked from her words! Don't say things like that out loud, idiot! Especially when my parents are near with Akeno hearing us!

"You truly are my son! We won't disturb you any longer, so… go get them, tiger! Remember to use protection!" My dad said leaving the room with mom and not forgetting to flash me a sly grin with a thumbs up.

Shut your mouth, you crazy old man!

It's not like that!

I'm an innocent and pure boy who doesn't go around doing such things with just any woman ! And I already have a girlfriend! Now I'll need to calm Akeno—

"—Ara Ara~ I want to join as well!" The horny Fallen decided to push me deeper into the hole. "I won't let you leave me out of this~"

"No fair! Let me have this one, Akeno! I just battled against Riser and won! I deserve this." Rias said, hugging my arm tightly. My eyes twitched as I felt her breast press onto me.

I nearly had a seizure when I felt another pair of soft breasts, bigger than even Rias, push onto my other arm.

"Well, Hachi-kun is my boyfriend. And I feel like I have the right to be present as well." Akeno rebuked.

I could feel the sparks coming off of Rias' eyes, though Akeno didn't seem to mind it. In fact, she just found the whole thing funny and I could see that she was moments away from bursting out laughing.

Yeah, I'm not having this.

"I'm leaving."

I forcefully separated myself from these two horny demons and made my way outside.

""Hachi-kun?"" My actions surprised the girls but I didn't care. There was no way I was dealing with their antics so late at night. I just came back from being chased around by a psycho witch, nearly got burned by Riser, and had to deal with meeting the Devil nobles.

"I don't have the time to deal with both of you today, I'm off to Saizeriya to get some good cheap food and drink a carton of Coffee cans until I pass out." Without further delay, I tracked the teleportation marker I installed a while back and started teleporting away in a violet-colored magic circle.

""Hachi-kun!?""

Maybe Kiba wouldn't mind joining me?

I should call him.

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The next 5 chapters of Snafu and Fate are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter.

Chapter is a bit short but the next two will be much longer.

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