Winds of Change (DxD)

Avezza's Soliloquy

…

Since the beginning of my life, I had always wanted to learn and research things. It didn't matter what it was, I just had a drive within me to do so. When I offered to help our father—the God of the Bible with his new research into the 'Sacred Gears' he initially rejected me like Azazel.

I don't remember when or how, but I eventually fell. Maybe it was because I wanted to teach humans the way forward through technology, or maybe it was my own greed for wanting to research things, and in the end, I fell.

It didn't bother me too much, but Azazel invited me to an organization he made under the name of 'Grigori'. He said that it would be called the home of the fallen angels, and he would take any angels that fell with open arms. Depending on the crime they committed, some people were exiled or killed for taking advantage of that kindness.

It slowly grew in size as more angels fell after the war between the three factions, with some fallen angels birthing new hybrids due to falling in love with humans. I didn't understand that at the time, and found the notion ridiculous. However, some told me that I would understand someday when I did fall in love.

I spent my time there researching about everything. I even made trips to different parts of the human world to research those things directly. I nearly got in trouble with a few pantheons and factions, but with a bit of persuading they let me stay there under the pretext of 'research'. However, I did have someone watching me the entire time, but I didn't mind.

At some point, Azazel began his own research into Sacred Gears and wanted to try to make his own. I had similar interests to him, so when I found out about it, I decided to offer him my help and he happily accepted. So together with a few others we set out to recreate the 'Sacred Gears' that our father created.

We also got to experience many of them over time. We classified them as Common, Uncommon, Rare, and then the original 13 Longinus. Common Sacred Gears were like the [Twice Critical] or [Flame Shake], and [Sword Birth]. Some Uncommon Sacred Gears were [Night Reflection], [Dreamlike Curse], and [Trick Vanish].

The rare type of Sacred Gears were like the ones called [Forbidden Balor View], [Twilight Healing], and [Holy Resuscitation], as well as the [Four Fiends]. Most of these were unique and had only 'one' copy ever seen, with the exception of [Twilight Healing] as there were a few of them recorded throughout history.

The 13 Original Longinus were outmatched as they were quite destructive and had the potential to kill gods if the wielder became strong enough. I along with Azazel loved studying them all. It didn't matter if they were common or the rare Longinus types. Any time we convinced a human to join our side, we would study them and give them money.

Of course, humans had a limited lifespan so they would eventually die, so we would have to start from the beginning once their Sacred Gear vanished. We found out that the devils developed a reincarnation system after their civil war. However, when I asked Azazel about making our own, he was hesitant.

I was persistent in asking why, and he eventually told me that our race wasn't originally meant to exist, if he called the Balance Breakers of Sacred Gears bugs of the Sacred Gear system, then we—the Fallen Angels were also a bug, Angels were meant to stay pure in his own mind, and that if we fell we were just defective.

I didn't agree. I believed that father made us this way, so if we did fall then it was designed by him. That was the first disagreement we had about our views. He wanted the fallen angels to die out naturally over time and didn't plan on making a reincarnation system.

At the time, I was fine with it since it didn't matter much to me. However, a few raised questions about reincarnating some into fallen angels—especially the lovers of some fallen angel, yet Azazel remained stubborn and didn't falter.

This made some angry with him, some even left the organization because of it. Some chose to become rogue, while others simply cut contact and lived reclusive lives with their partners before taking their own lives after their partner passed.

I considered it idiotic since they could always just find another lover, but some called me stupid and childish for saying such a thing. They said I didn't understand and that I would when I finally found 'the one' for me.

Time passed on like this, I would disagree more and more with Azazel until we started working separately from each other. Other fallen angels started to disagree with him more, Kokabiel, Satanael, Darcel and even Acacius just to name a few. Slowly one by one they started to disappear or act on their own. Until one day…

I met him. We had no interests that aligned, but… he supported what I did. I found him an interesting human. He was called Fausto and he was from the country Italy, a country I visited to do more research on something else apart from Sacred Gears.

We had met by chance when he started talking to me out of the blue. I had no interests at the start until he spoke about something I had been working on and we spoke from there. We held no interests as he just mentioned it in passing, but said that he liked watching me talk about the things I was passionate about.

I found it strange but didn't do or say anything about it. However, I was set to stay in that country for an extended amount of time—for fallen angels we had very long lives, and he was just another small human in it… that was what he was meant to be, something insignificant.

But I eventually understood what those fallen angels meant. Over time, we spent more and more time with each other and I got very comfortable with him. Over time, I found myself telling him about the supernatural.

I thought he would reject me, but he accepted me and asked many questions about it. I even brought him to Grigori and he met many other fallen angels there, and he even learned some magic so he could defend himself if the situation came to it.

I found it strange. I spent many hours with Azazel and many male fallen angels, yet I never had these kinds of feelings toward them. Another fallen angel said that it was probably because I approached the relationships around me more in a business-like manner, and with Fausto it was more 'natural' as they called it.

I didn't fully understand at the time, but I accepted their answer.

Our love blossomed and we eventually started dating. However, some of my colleagues started saying to expect a sad ending as there was no way of extending his life. At the time I dismissed those concerns as I was in love and enjoyed my time with him.

However, as time passed, I also began to worry about his health. He slowly started to get sicker, and no matter what medical professional we referred to they couldn't figure out what he had, nor could they find a cure, so as a last resort we asked my organization for help—Grigori.

In the end, it was the same. They couldn't identify it; they couldn't cure it. So… as time went on, I kept asking Azazel to create a reincarnation system for the fallen angels. I pestered and pestered him about it. Surely he would make an exception for me, right? I helped him with his Sacred Gear research, as well as his other research!

I was certain that he would grant me at least one selfish request because we were partners! Yet, he didn't. I only saw Fausto slowly got worse and worse. In the end, I spent the last few months of his life by his side and watched his health slowly deteriorate. In the end, I couldn't save him and he passed away.

I never felt so much sorrow and anger in my life. For the next four years, I kept asking him to create one, so future fallen angels wouldn't suffer because of this. However, to Azazel at the time, even if he treasured his comrades, he never saw his human partners as anything else but as a way to pleasure himself. His words of 'love' to them were false.

Some of those women truly loved him, they held him dear, but he didn't. I slowly lost respect for that man, and I secretly started my own research into making my own reincarnation system. I got into contact with some stray devils who knew the work of the Satan Beelzebub, however, soon after I did, they were killed.

And eventually…

Azazel found my notes and research on it and confiscated it. He didn't want a reincarnation system! I didn't understand why! I asked him, but he didn't give me a reason! So, I started keeping my research and new data on everything at a different location. I slowly started doing less work for him and Grigori.

Years passed like this, and I saw him make progress in making the 'Artificial Sacred Gears'. He even started gathering Longinus wielders… Vali Lucifer the user of [Divine Dividing], Tobio Ikuse the user of [Canis Lykaon], Lavinia Reni the user of [Absolute Demise], and finally the Four Fiends. Natsume Minagawa, Shigune Nanaderu, Kouki Samejima and Koga Hyousuke.

I was eventually recruited by Azrael and Kokabiel into their own faction of the Khaos Brigade. However, they eventually died, and then I fully left the organization and now I'm in the Khaos Order, a researcher, and scientist for them.

Over the years since Fausto's death, I would visit his grave in Italy every year. He was born in Norcia Umbria and I buried him there. It's a beautiful town in that country, the only place I can truly feel at ease…

…

"You're heading there again, Avezza?" asked Satanael.

I glanced at the man and nodded. "Yes. You know I do," I replied.

"You're one hell of a woman, you know? Being this dedicated to a single man all this time, he's been dead for more than 200 years at this point you know?"

"I still love him and that won't change. No one made me feel like that and no one ever will. Fausto was different and Azazel was responsible for his death and I'll kill him for vengeance," I replied as I packed up my belongings.

"Women in love are crazy. I'll never understand the concept," he said.

"I used to think like that too, Satanael. I thought love and those kinds of feelings were stupid, idiotic even. But once you fall truly in love with someone, you'll understand… they always do…"

"Hmmmmm… well if you're the one saying so, then there has to be a small truth to it. Anyway, good luck! And if you get taken out or captured, then thanks for the research and information," he said to me.

He started to walk away after I made a small grunt at him. "Ah, by the way, Yashina is going with you, so you'll be safe. I guess we can call her 'Ice Princess 2.0', or 'Super Ice Princess' haha~!"

After Satanael said those words, he left. He has been quite crazy, so no wonder he left the organization that we were in. He even has his own team that he's… changed. I would say I felt sympathy for those kids, but I really couldn't. Especially after Fausto died, I couldn't find it in me to care much for the world, for anyone else, or for myself.

To me, as long as I get to kill Azazel, and bring his organization to the ground and everything he has built… he'll be able to experience the pain I have held on to for so long. So he can feel something he loves stripped away from him.

I moved over to a room that I had prepared a magic teleportation circle in. This would bring me to just outside Norcia Umbra. The place that I had buried Fausto was a spot that he frequently visited, and he also started bringing me there.

I chose that spot because it contains many of our memories. I hope nothing happens today to hinder this visit. It's one time of the year that I want nothing but peace.

The day that Fausto died. I also died.

…

Third Person Point of View

…

Once Avezza was gone, Satanael made his way to a different section of the Khaos Order's base. Once there he spoke to the newly formed team he had created over the last few months. If his [Abyss Team] was his elite unit that he left Grigori with, then his newly formed team that is made up of hybrids of Divine Beasts, Cryptids, Evie technology and his new Artificial Independent Longinus.

This newly formed team he dubbed [Torment Tide] would also secretly go to Italy and assist Avezza. Yashina's clone was also aware of this, so they would 'assist' Avezza if she were in trouble. In reality, Satanael just wanted an excuse to use this new team, and then make any changes and finally add those final touches to his [Abyss Team].

Once Satanael arrived in a room that he spent a lot of time in, he looked at the new [Torment Tide], they consisted of 6 hybrids. The hybrids with humanoid forms were 3 males and 3 females. Each of them had their own Artificial Independent Longinus. The three males had a Falcon, Chicken, and Turtle. The females had a Scorpion, Zebra, and Crocodile. All of them could activate their own [True] form or Counter Balance.

The hybrid humanoids were also Low-tier God-class beings in terms of their power levels. If his experiment was successful then he would be able to apply these upgrades and make his [Abyss Team] at least rival Shiva in terms of strength. With the help of Lapis, his other fellow scientists and the Phantasma and Evie faction, his research had borne fruit.

"When will we leave, Satanael-sama?" asked one of the boys.

"In a few hours. We need to make Avezza think that you haven't left this place. While you're invisible thanks to the red vial, she knows that you're still here, so if you suddenly vanish without my 'input' then she would suspect something," replied Satanael.

Satanael's original team was sent to the Phantasma to take trials, and after they're done there, they will go to the Evie to receive further upgrades. This is their plan now; they simply wish to get stronger and stronger.

So with his [Abyss Team] in another universe, this new experimental team would do their jobs instead.

"Make sure to use every bit of your power if the Middleman shows up."

…

Lilith was aware of the things that were going to happen soon. Avezza visiting Italy, Nagendra's plan to attack the Hindu pantheon, the Connected Harmony hunting down the Sacred Beasts and killing them, the Halloween attack, the attack on Heaven to retrieve a certain item, and many others.

She wanted to leave this place before the attack on heaven occurs if possible, however, she had to do it slowly. But every time she sent one of her creatures near Aaron it would be killed instantly, so her only way of communicating with him was useless.

She was frustrated but also knew why he would react that way. It was likely to be an enemy after all. However, she would keep on trying and hoping that he would eventually at least humor why those creatures would keep appearing near his home.

Lilith couldn't tell anyone about her plans. She knew no one else in her organization shared the same thoughts as her or wished to change sides. If anyone found out, she may be killed for it as she's a weaker 'Super Devil' than the others, even weaker than the artificially created Super Devils. Weaker than her own son, though Rizevim is at least Dragon God-class now as he received help from multiple sources.

'I need to find a different way… a different way…? Ah, there's that option too…!' she thought and smiled. Lilith's next plan was to involve one of Aaron's friends. She didn't know if this would be a smart choice, but times called for different measures after all.

First, she would make her usual creatures—a bat preferably. Next, she would send it over to one of his classmates' homes. She would make them invisible and then have them appear sporadically so his friends would think they're going crazy, and she had to hope that they would inform Aaron.

It was a huge gamble, and if Aaron decided to destroy it before she had a chance to convey her message, she may suffer damage on her end because of how he attacks his enemies. However, Lilith was still going to go through it. She wanted to leave, and she didn't want to wait forever.

"Alright, let's start…"

She opened a magic circle beneath her and summoned two bat creatures and gave them orders. Those two bats then left via a magic circle and all she needed to do now was wait.

…

Jin Skyward's Soliloquy

…

A day has passed and I would be traveling to Italy today with Lavinia. I had been waiting in the entrance hallway for the past few minutes and I've also been thinking about a couple of things. I'm essentially going to her home, and I've asked Cúntóir about this too but…

It is possible to summon the souls of the same individuals but from a different universe or timeline. So my plan is to have Lavinia's parents' soul speak to her one last time. While I won't be able to resurrect them since they're from a different timeline (my own rule), at least she can get some closure on their behalf.

However, I will also discuss everything with them in advance. So hopefully they'll reconcile, and… I'll also ask for their blessings and may propose to her today too or after she speaks with her parents, whenever that may be.

Even though it was unintentionally, so I don't count it, I haven't proposed to any of the girls in front of other people. I also don't count Raynare accidentally eavesdropping on my proposal to Akeno.

After our visit to her home, we'll go to where Avezza is. According to Serafall who got even more information for me, as well as my shadows, she's already there, but also plans to stay a few days. She'll apparently clean his old abandoned home, and do a few things around the town. So we can afford to be a day late if it comes to that.

I heard some footsteps and looked up. I saw Lavinia with Suzaku, Kuroka and Akeno there. Lavinia was wearing the same dress she wore on our first date, and it was also on the same day I found out about the 'Fate One' thing.

"Ufufu, take care of Nia-san, okay~?" Akeno added a wink to that.

I walked over to them and nodded.

"Please be appropriate during your visit, Aaron," added Suzaku. "It's an important day after all."

"If given the chance, fuck her brains out, nya~" said Kuroka and got a light head chop from Suzaku. "Ow nya~"

"Suzaku, I'll obviously be, jeez," I replied. "And I will, Akeno. Kuroka… there's a time and place for everything."

I held my hand out and Lavinia took it and came to my side. "We'll try to come back as soon as possible, alright? And about what we spoke about, Suzaku…"

"I'll wait until you return home, Aaron," she said.

"Alright, take care now," I said to them as we left.

…

Italy

Pacentro, Abruzzo

…

We arrived in a small alleyway that no one would notice. I had Cúntóir help me with that since I didn't know the layout of the time too well. Google Maps could only get me so far. Once we arrived, I turned to Lavinia.

"You look beautiful by the way."

"Say that before we leave, jeez…! But… I know this alleyway. I would sometimes hide here when I played hide and seek with friends," she said with a sad smile.

Lavinia then started to pull me away and we quickly arrived at a small plaza of sorts. All around us were buildings of different sizes, but they mostly had flat roofs and were mostly painted white, orange, or some kind of brown paint.

"It hasn't changed," she muttered as she looked around excitedly. "Do you see those?" she asked as she pointed towards the 'hill' of sorts. There were many houses up there too.

"Yeah?"

"Most of the youth or younger families tend to live there and the elderly live in nearer to the town since they won't have the energy or ability to walk too long of distances, and it looks like it's still true," she said.

As if on cue, an elderly person left their home and waved to us.

"Where did you and your parents live, Nia?" I asked.

She turned to me and winked. "That's a surprise. We'll go there later, but for now… let's go explore~!" she announced and pulled me away.

It was still early in the day, so we had a lot of time, and she pulled me through the town. It was small, or medium? Either way, all the houses were basically attached to each other save for a few, and most had a lot of plants hanging from their windows which was interesting. But what surprised me was the almost non-existent litter.

Trees and a few small forests surrounded the place, along with a large hill with a bunch of houses here. There was also a single church, but it didn't feel like there was anything supernatural about it, but she said we could check it out later.

"Oh? Is that… is that little Nia?!" a man asked. He was selling some arrosticini, I think they're originally from Abruzzo?

"Mr. Dario?" Lavinia asked, sounding a bit shocked.

"The one and only!" he said as he left his spot and Lavinia ran up and hugged him.

He was an old man, around his mid-50s, he already had gray hair and wore a plain white shirt, blue polka dots shorts and sandals. He also had a towel around his neck along with a straw hat.

"It's been so long… how have you been? After your parents lost their lives, you were taken away by relatives?" he asked as they pulled away from the hug.

"Mmm. I was passed around by a few relatives before someone unofficially adopted me and I spent the rest of my time with them until I was around 15 or 16 and then they sent me to a boarding school and… I have been on my own since then," she explained to him.

Old man Dario looked quite sad and shook his head. "My wife and I promised your parents that if anything happened to them, that we would take you in. However, at the time we were not financially well off and we couldn't afford it."

"But a few years after you left, a few favorable things happened to our family and we could now afford to raise you, so we tried to find where you were and take you in, but we couldn't find you anywhere. I'm sorry, Lavinia," he said and bowed his head.

"N-no, it's fine! It's the thought that counts. Is Giorgia doing well?"

"My wife? She's still as energetic as ever! She should—"

Before Dario could finish his sentence, a woman came over and had a few plastic bags with her.

"Dario, who is tha—L-Lavinia?! Oh my god!" she shouted and rushed over to her. She put her bags down and embraced Lavinia tightly while muttering something.

The woman had short brown hair with some gray hair, blue eyes and appeared to be quite elderly. She wore a red and white sundress.

"Are you okay, sweetie?! Why are you here?! Are you moving back?! You look gorgeous by the way! I knew you'd become a beauty once you grew up! Call it a woman's intuition!" she said to her. Lavinia became a bit flustered and tried to answer all her questions, but…

Once she looked over at me the old couple also turned their attention to me.

"Who's that?" Dario asked, as he looked at me up and down.

"H-he's…" Lavinia started, but I interrupted her.

I stepped forward and introduced myself. "I'm Jin Skyward, Lavinia Reni's current boyfriend. It's nice to meet you two." I put my hand out for a handshake, as Dario looked at it. A smile eventually spread across his face and he shook it. "You're selling arrosticini? I've been meaning to try them out. Can I buy some?" I asked.

"My, my, my! You already found yourself a boyfriend?! He's quite lucky to have you, I'll tell you that!" Giorgia said to Lavinia.

"Mmm. We came back here to visit my old home, and clean it up a bit, and also... visit my parents' grave," she explained.

Suddenly, Dario grabbed my shoulder and pulled me away. Once we were away from the two he asked, "What's your business here, boy? You look like a good young man, but Nia has had a tough life. We see ourselves like her parents, so…"

"She wanted to come back here for a few days, so I came with her. I plan on asking her parents for permission to marry her, and plan to propose by their graves to Lavinia," I told him.

He pulled away and looked shocked at me.

"Propose? Let me quiz you then…" he said and squinted his eyes at me.

So, I proceeded to answer all his questions in as much detail as I could. In the end, he was quite surprised to hear how much I knew about her.

He nodded his head and said, "Very well, I'll allow it. You better take care of her and not make her cry, you hear me? If you do, I'll find you and give you one hell of a beating!"

"I promise I won't," I replied. Although I felt like I lied already…

"Good, let's go back. Jin, was it? How did you meet Lavinia?" he asked as we started walking back.

"It was during a part-time job of mine. We just met by chance and the rest is history. It's like we just 'clicked' you know?"

"Hmm. My wife and I are the same. We just 'understood' each other when we met, and we've been together for a better part of 27 years," Dario explained and told me about their history together.

We eventually arrived back and we heard Giorgia asking Lavinia about marriage and she was obviously flustered about it. But—

"I want to get married to him," she said.

"My, my~ my adorable Nia is growing up! Talking about marriage and kids. I look forward to having a couple of grandchildren!" Giorgia said enthusiastically. "Ah, you're here to visit your home town, right? Nothing much has changed, but your childhood friend still lives here, Massimo. He opened up his own shop too! You should go visit. Actually…"

Giorgia looked at Dario and he nodded. "Alright, go ahead. I'll stay here and keep selling. It wouldn't be a terrible idea to take Nia over there. He always wondered what had happened to her after all."

He looked at me briefly and smirked. I feel like I know where this is going and I'm a bit irritated by it.

[A test?] asked Elsha.

{Probably?} replied Amaris.

Ddraig and Albion stayed behind today to train Haru and Yoru, so these two are taking over for the day.

"Massimo… okay, I don't mind, I'm also curious about him," she said and hugged my arm making the two of them chuckle at her.

"Ah, young love…~" said Giorgia.

…

We quickly left the area where Dario was selling at and with Giorgia guiding us we arrived at a relatively large store. It was the most modern building we have seen since we arrived here. It had a large glass window on the outside and it looked like they sold bread. The sign said 'Massimo's Bread & Butcher' which was a bit weird. He sold bread and meats? Is that even… safe?

We entered the shop and once we arrived inside—

"Welcome—hmm? Oh, Miss Giorgia, are you here for the usual?" a man asked. He had short blonde hair, green eyes and wore some kind of baker's uniform which mostly consisted of white and red colors.

"Massimo, do you recognize this young lady beside me?" she asked him.

The young man looked at Lavinia and me. Slowly, his eyes widened in shock and surprise. "L-Lavinia?" he asked, unsure.

"Yes, it's me, Massimo. How have you been?" she asked and she walked over to share a quick hug with him.

"Oh my god! I didn't think I'd ever see you again!" he said and grabbed both her hands surprising her a little bit. "It's the most convenient time now! I love you, please go out with me! No, marry me!" he shouted.

Lavinia, Giorgia and I stood there frozen.

[What the hell?!] shouted Elsha.

{We expected this, but… I didn't think it would actually happen…} muttered Amaris.

There were a few customers there too, and they were equally stunned by Massimo's sudden confession.

Lavinia smiled gently and shook her head. "I'm sorry, I'm already dating someone, and I want to get married to them someday. I can't accept or reciprocate your feelings, Massimo. But I hope you find someone else someday." She left his side and hugged my arm and happily snuggled into me.

Massimo seemed troubled but let out a defeated sigh. "Aha, I was a bit foolish to think that you wouldn't find someone while you were away. Oh well, I'll try my best to find someone else—"

"Massimo! If that's the case, go out with me!" one of the female customers said, but—

"No, me!"

"Meeee!"

More and more of the female customers started professing their love for him, making Massimo blush and look troubled.

"Well, he's quite popular, so I doubt he'll be too hung up about you, Nia," I said to her.

"Fufu, I think so too," she happily replied.

"I expected this, and I'm happy he moved on. Did you know? He spoke about you for many years, and even theorized that you would come back eventually. He said he would profess his love for you if that happened. Nonetheless, he added that he would accept any answer you give him," Giorgia explained.

"I see. But as I said, I can't reciprocate those feelings for him… but he's quite successful now, isn't he?" asked Lavinia as she looked around the shop.

"Yes. He's quite a catch if you consider our small little town. He left to go to a nice university in our country, worked for a few years, and came back to start his own bakery. It's quite popular, and he's always busy."

Giorgia and I proceeded to buy some bread from him, and also some meat too. Massimo didn't seem that bothered by me or his rejection as one of the female customers was already hugging him like her life depended on it.

After we bought our things, we left the store. This time, Giorgia wanted to take us to another place. It wasn't anything too special, but… we left the small town and headed towards the woods. We walked past a few trees and there seemed to be a small man-made dirt path. It led to…

"Ah… t-this place…! It's the playground I use to go to before my parents passed away. It's still here and looks well maintained," Lavinia said and she walked over to an old swing set.

There were various numbers of things there, a swing set, a slide, a jungle gym, and other things children could play with. And as she said, it all looked very well maintained as there were barely any rust on them. The grass and shrubbery around the playground were also well-maintained as many of them seemed recently cut.

"My husband, along with many of the elders as well as the young adults keep this place clean and maintained. They don't want this quaint sanctuary of theirs to disappear. It holds a lot of memories for them. Even the youth of today sometimes come here to talk, have fun and even play," explained Giorgia.

Lavinia walked over to a swing and sat on it. She couldn't fit on it, but she looked back at me and silently asked me to push her. I chuckled and agreed, so I walked over and gently pushed the swing for her. We stayed like this for a few minutes, silence overtaking our surroundings and Giorgia watching us from a distance.

Lavinia finally stood up and looked at me. It looked like she wanted to say something, but in the end she didn't. We walked back to Giorgia and we toured the town again.

…

"We'll go to my home now, Giorgia. We plan on cleaning it a bit, the same for my parents' grave," said Lavinia.

"Come by our home for dinner, Nia! I'm definitely telling the neighbors that you're back, so you better come!"

"Okay, oh, Jin is good at cooking, so maybe he can help~?" Lavinia asked and looked at me.

"No, no. Well, this time I'm going to be cooking, but maybe next time, okay?"

"Okay, thank you. We'll be there!"

The two shared a hug before Lavinia hugged my arm again and dragged me away. It seemed liked she was bringing us towards the large hill, but to my surprise, we took a left and went off a different path. There was no path here, but some of the grass and dirt had some old and worn-out footprints.

After around three minutes of walking, we arrived in front of a relatively large house. It looked more like a mini-mansion. Unlike the rest of the rest of the homes in the town, it had a pointed black roof, quite a few vines growing from the white walls, a few broken windows and a lot of shrubbery was overgrown everywhere. Finally—

"Were you rich or something?" I asked and pointed to a large fountain in front of the home.

"I-I don't remember… I didn't remember having that there, but the rest I still remember," she replied.

We walked forward and inspected the foundation. The water inside was green, smelled weird and there were bugs everywhere, so I quickly cleaned it up and powered it up with magic and it started to spew up clear water.

"Hyah?! J-Jeez! Don't just do that so suddenly. I nearly got my dress wet…"

"Nia, your dress can't get wet that long," I replied. However, she simply puffed her cheeks at me and gave me a 'look' and I shrugged it off.

She silently pulled me inside as I flicked my wrist and cleaned the rest of the outside, including the exterior of the house. However, we planned out on how to clean the inside, so I summoned a few shadow soldiers and android fairies to help us.

Lavinia gave them instructions on what to do, and I also covered the area around the home with a barrier and also added a spell to prevent anyone from approaching the place for a few hours. The android fairies were tasked to do the cleaning, while the shadow soldiers were tasked with bringing out the useless and worn down items and furniture.

According to Lavinia, her parents' grave was behind the home and was a minute walk towards a small cliff face. Her parents apparently loved that spot from their teens into their adult life, so they were buried there thanks to her family and also Dario and Giorgia advocating for it.

I was brought up to the second floor and to a certain room. She pushed the door open and it looked quite… girly, what a room of a young female child would own. Most of the things here lay untouched. The look on her face said it all—it was her room and she was feeling quite emotional seeing it all.

To my surprise, there were no dolls or toys like that there. I don't think her Sacred Gear manifested yet, so it confused me. But before she could do anything else, I put my hand out and restored and cleaned her old room up.

Old toys repaired themselves, some mold and rust started to disappear, and everything went back to its former place. Once that was done, Lavinia walked over to a small framed picture on her desk. It was a photo of her with her mother and father. It looked like they were out on a family outing.

It looked like it was before she started to see the 'dolls', aka her Sacred Gear awaken. So she had a cute little brown stuffed teddy bear with her. I walked over and hugged her from behind.

"We were out to Abruzzo, Vasto for a family outing. There was a traveling circus at the time and we went and saw it. I got that teddy bear there as a prize that my dad won at one of the fairs. I'll always remember that day," she explained. "We also took me to the local beach there and I had a lot of fun…"

"I lost that teddy bear a few years later."

She then pulled up a few things and explained their significance to me, a small box with small wooden toys, a picture book, a few other books her mother read, a diary she refused to let me see, and a few of the dresses she had as a child.

To my surprise, she started to store them in her ring.

"What are you doing?" I asked a bit confused.

She blushed and without turning to look at me said, "I-if we have a daughter she can wear some of these, right? Y-you can enchant them, right…?"

"…Yeah. I don't mind doing that, Nia," I replied.

Suddenly, I looked towards the entrance that we had come through, as did Lavinia and a few of my soldiers. Beyond the barrier, we saw three individuals—they all exuded divine energy.

"Are those…?"

"The Roman Gods," I said and stared at them. "Let's go meet them, let's leave the work for the androids and soldiers for now."

I quickly grabbed Lavinia and we teleported to the front entrance. I let the three gods through the barrier and they entered. Using [Observe] I saw that they were the Chief God Jupiter, and two goddesses, Juno and Minerva.

"Hello, Chief God Jupiter, and goddesses Juno and Minerva. How can I help you today?" I asked.

Jupiter was a tall man with golden eyes, blond hair, and a goatee. He had a wavy lock of hair that fell on his forehead. He wore an unusual set of clothes which was mostly consisted of red, white, and gold. Furthermore, he also held a staff in his left hand.

Juno, who I also saw as Jupiter's wife, had long pink hair, with flower accessories on her hair. She had blue eyes and wore a long and elegant aqua blue dress. She also carried what seemed to be a violin with her.

Minerva had long flowing blonde hair, blue eyes, and wore a very revealing outfit that was meant to be looked at as armor. She had a very large silver crown that floated around her head. She also had a large silver shoulder guard on her left shoulder with a blue feather and a long blue cape. On her hip was a sword with a golden hilt.

"I did not expect to see the Dual Dragon Emperor in our country. We were informed by the supernatural side of things, they saw you in the town earlier, so we came to confirm it for ourselves," explained Jupiter.

"I see." There have been a couple of people looking at us since we arrived, but none of them felt particularly part of the supernatural. Perhaps I was just busy keeping an eye out for Lavinia? None of my shadow soldiers reacted after all…

"May I know why you're here?" he asked and looked at me and Nia.

"This is my lover's hometown, and we decided to visit her old home and clean up her home and her parents' grave for the day. There's also…" I stopped and looked at him. We were fine since the barrier was here, so I told them about Avezza and my plans for capturing her.

"I see, one of the scientists of the Khaos Order is in our country… do you need assistance? I have been in talks with both Zeus and Altaria of Heaven about an alliance. So I do not mind giving you some assistance, Middleman."

"I appreciate it, but having too many people would draw too much attention, especially if that town she's in has a small population. So I'll have to decline for now, but I should be all set for it. I have my own subordinates at hand," I replied.

"Hmm. Very well, apologies for interrupting you two. We will head back then and I'll order my people to stay away from you two, and especially in Norcia Umbria. When we join the DxD Alliance, feel free to visit our realm, Jin Skyward," said Jupiter as he disappeared with Juno and Minerva who waved at us.

"I didn't expect to see them at all today," I said to Nia.

"Mmm, it was rather unexpected… but let's head back," she said and pulled me back.

After that small little meeting, we went back to cleaning and repairing her parents' home. We decided to leave the small graveyard of her parents for last since she wanted just us to clean it without the help of the android fairies or shadow soldiers.

…

Around two hours later, we finished all the cleaning and repairs. Her hours looked brand-new. We didn't add anything new to it, and just simply repaired it, well, maybe modernized a few sections and rooms, but overall it still remained how it used to look like.

"I brought some things with me, so I might as well cook something in advance to bring over to Dario and Giorgia's home," I replied as I pulled out some ingredients from my [Inventory].

"Mmm. I think that's fine, but keep it simple, okay?" she said and started packing a few things into her ring. "I'll go ahead of you and visit my parents' graves."

Lavinia didn't give me time to reply as she left quickly. I watched her leave through the back door and into the small forest and then she disappeared. According to her, it wasn't too far from the home, so it should be around a minute or two of walking.

Suddenly my ring glowed and out came Illuse.

"Aaron-sama, I will take over cooking. Please give me a recipe so I can make this. I believe it's better for you to be with Lavinia-sama right now," she said.

I blinked a few times, before I summoned my restaurant menu and pointed to the dish, and summoned a recipe for it. Once that was done, Illuse basically kicked me out of the home, and I ran after Lavinia.

…

I quickly arrived near a cliff's edge where Lavinia was sweeping around the path and the grave of her parents. They had simple gravestones and nothing too fancy. Even though they had such a house, I expected their gravestones to be a bit more fancy.

I started the motion to click my fingers, but Lavinia stopped me and pointed to a bucket, towel and brush. "We are not using magic here, Aaron. Please do it the normal way," she said and I complied.

I took the items and started to wash the gravestones of her parents. I got to read the names of her parents, Frediano Reni, her father and Nives Reni (Argento). After I read them, I was left a bit stunned…

'Her mother's maiden name was Argento, huh? Just like her previous Sacred Gears Balance Breaker, [Assoluto Argento Mondo], 'Snow World Believed to be Eternal'. Also…'

When I asked Cúntóir about the meaning of her parents' names I couldn't help but laugh inside. I even started thinking it was fate for Lavinia to receive the [Absolute Demise]. Frediano means 'cold' while Nives means 'snow', Lavinia… was practically born for this Sacred Gear.

"…"

"Aaron? Why are you smiling?" she asked me.

"Hmm? Oh nothing, I just remembered a joke Kuroka once told me," I said to her. I lied; I can't wait to speak to these two people soon. I want to ask them…

"Let's get this place cleaned up and meet up with those two from earlier!" I shouted and she agreed.

…

Lavinia Reni's Soliloquy

…

A few hours have passed and we had arrived at Giorgia and Dario's home. It was a little building that was attached to several in the town I was born in. Everyone in this section of the town was close, so when they saw me again they took me away from Aaron and started to celebrate and speak to me again.

Aaron was fine since Dario kept him entertained along with the other men. Even Massimo was here, but he was with a female and they held hands. I guess he just needed to let go off me, huh? Hehe.

"Nia, we heard from Giorgia that you wanted to marry that boy? Are you sure?" one of the old ladies asked me.

"Yes… um, here he actually made this earlier to add to the party," I said and brought the box of food Aaron made (with the help of Illuse-chan). "It's called Tempura, it's a Japanese dish, please try it. Aaron plans on starting his own restaurant," I explained.

They happily took the lunchbox from me and started eating it. They quickly started saying it was delicious and were quite happy with it. Even Giorgia who was a very skilled cook gave it many praises. All the commotion got the men's attention so they also ate some, and quickly praised Aaron too.

However, after that, more round of questions came my way, but—

"…Yes, I don't want to meet anyone else. He's the one for me," I said firmly to them. Nothing will change my mind… He means too much to me. I also know he felt the same way about me.

I've had a few of the girls in his harem tell me over the 100 years that they were jealous of how close we were, especially Rose. I think she was really bothered by the 'Fated Ones' concept and had been trying to get even closer to Aaron after he told us that.

"Did you hear that? Haha, it sounds like a line from a romance movie~!" one of the older women said which made me blush. But then we heard the elderly men say 'Ooooh!' quite loudly and we turned to them.

Aaron was the center of attention, and he had a confident expression on his face. I wonder what he said… but at the same time I felt a bit embarrassed. H-he didn't say anything about me, did he…?

After that, we started to speak about the events that happened in this small town while I was away. It wasn't anything big, but they were still eventful to this town, if I lived here and didn't move, if I didn't get involved with the supernatural, I wonder how my life would be like? Would I be in a relationship with Massimo? I don't know the answer to that…

But I love my life right now. Even if I had to go through many hardships.

…

A few hours later, nearing midnight, I noticed that Aaron had disappeared. All the elderly men had fallen asleep, and the same was true with some of the elderly women.

"Um…"

"Here, he left this for you," said Giorgia and handed me a small piece of paper.

It simply said 'Graveside'. I was a bit shocked, I wondered if he had missed something there, but…

"I'm sorry, Nia. I read it, and it seems like he wants to speak to your parents beforehand," she said.

"Speak to my parents…?" I repeated. I was a bit confused. I didn't understand what she meant, but she kept smirking at me, and it eventually dawned on me… and I felt my face get hotter.

"It looks like you understand what I meant, so… go," she said and lightly pushed me.

Before I noticed it, I was running back towards my home, past the front yard and fountain, towards the back gate and into the backyard of my home—past the trees and… I was left speechless.

Aaron was there, speaking to two humanoid shapes, a man, and a woman. They seemed to be having an enjoyable conversation. But the faces… those faces… they were…

"Hmm? Oh, Nia. Nice timing, I was about to text you, come here," said Aaron as he gestured for me to join them.

I walked to them and arrived in front of them. "Mom… dad…" I muttered, my emotions threatening to spill out.

[Oh, my little Nia has grown up so much!] my mother said.

[I knew you would grow up to be a beauty! You're my daughter after all!] added my father with a goofy smile.

I was happy! But really confused. I thought my parents were turned into hybrids and were part of the Khaos Order, so how are they…?

"Ah, I can understand why you're confused, but… these souls of your parents are from a different timeline or reality. They're not the ones from this universe," he explained. "I've been talking to them for a while now. I didn't think your old man and I had a few things in common."

"Different timelines, so they know…?" I asked.

[We know dear. We didn't know you had such a burden after we died… I was so angry once I found out how the others in our family basically passed you around like some kind of unwanted object,] said my dad as he looked very angry.

[I don't blame Giorgia and Dario, they didn't have the means to provide back then, but… things can't be changed. But the life you've led also got you here today, didn't it? Are you happy? That's what I want to ask,] asked my mom.

"I…"

I looked at Aaron and thought back to all the things I have been through the years. From the day my parents passed, to my situation with my relatives, to meeting Glenda, to her abandoning me, to my meeting with Team Slash/Dogs, my missions and assignments with them, and to meeting Aaron…

"I… I'm happy, even with all the painful things I've been through… I'm happy…! I think I wouldn't have met the people I've come to know if I hadn't gone through all of that. I don't think I would have met him… I… I…"

I think I was crying at this point; I didn't really know. I just felt tears streaming down my own cheeks and I desperately tried to stop them. But then two arms began to wrap themselves around me. I didn't think my parents souls could even touch me, so I cried even harder.

…

Jin Skyward's Soliloquy

…

I made her cry again, or was it really me? I wasn't sure, but… I think she's been holding it all in all this time. Finally, meeting and speaking to her parents made her break. I think it's fine.

Lavinia cried in her parents' arms for the next few minutes, until they separated and they started to speak to each other. I had already asked for their permission to marry her and they gave me their blessings, so I was fine in that regard. All I needed to do earlier was give them the relevant information, and we spoke for a bit.

Her tears quickly dried up, as she spoke happily to her parents. That's it… that smile. I noticed it back then and I quickly fell for it. No, maybe it was before—back in my previous life. Even though she had very little screen time in the main series, but the Slash/Dog prequel made me like her even more.

—The Ice Princess that was meant to be both Tobio's and Vali's. However, in this world—in this universe, she's mine. That smile was directed at me, her love was directed at me. Honestly, I feel very blessed. I even have Vali as a little brother of sorts…

Crap, I need to stop otherwise I'll get too emotional. I sighed to myself and looked back at the view from the top of the cliff. It was amazing, especially at night. I was thankful that it wasn't cloudy today since I could see the stars, but—

When I turned back Lavinia's parents and Lavinia herself looked in my direction. She was also blushing furiously as she fidgeted on the spot. I guess it's my turn then. I walked over to them and grabbed her hands once I reached her.

"We've been through a lot, Lavinia. In just a year, not including those in 'that' place… I've met a lot of people, but… let's not drag this out. I love you, please stay by my side forever. Will you marry me?" I asked.

[Didn't you have a big speech ready, boy?!] asked Frediano.

"It was too long!" I replied making both her parents laugh.

"Yes…yes…yes…!" she repeated over and over and hugged me. "I'll have as many children as you want too, Aaron!" she announced making her parents laugh even more and that also made me blush.

[We should go now. Nia, if this is the life you want, then live it to your fullest, and don't regret it, okay? Even though we're not from this reality, we're proud of you,] said Frediano.

[Your father's right. It should be a parent's job to love and support whatever their child chooses to do in life. While this wasn't something you chose of your own free will at the start, you've thrived in it and… Aaron, you better make my baby happy from now and into the future!] said Nives.

"I'll do my best, ma'am," I replied.

Both of them smiled and started to fade away.

[[We love you, Nia,]] they said in unison and then faded away.

"I love you two too…!" she said to them tearfully. She then turned to me, smiled and bumped our noses. "Forever. I'll be yours forever. Don't let me go, okay?"

"I won't. I promise," I said to her and we kissed under the moonlight of Italy.

…

Avezza's Soliloquy

…

A few more days left here; I've done most of the things I wanted. Fausto's home already belonged to a new family. It wasn't even the same home… it was destroyed and rebuilt. I wanted to lash out when it first happened, but I've long since gotten over it. This spot he cherished, it was my only solace… soon, I will end him—end Grigori.

I pulled out an item that would change me forever, it was my last salvation—if it worked, I would merge with this world, I had Lapis help me make it.

…

Jin Skyward's Soliloquy

…

It was the next day; we planned on capturing Avezza today. We spent a night in her old home and… let's just say I was rewarded a lot. We had just said goodbye to her family and friends and were about to leave for Norcia, Umbria.

"Invite us to the wedding, you hear?!" shouted Dario.

"We want to be there when you two seal the deal~!" added Giorgia.

"We will!" we both answered them and turned to a corner and teleported away

…

Norcia, Umbria

…

We had teleported to a large open area in the distance, beyond the town and into the mountainside. I could feel a large number of my shadows had surrounded the place. That's probably where Avezza was.

Last night, or should I say early in the morning, I was alerted by six individuals that had independent type Sacred Gears, according to my shadows they think they were hybrids with artificial Longinus type Sacred Gears.

So, I'm employing the help of Yanuyo, Illuse, Faythe, and Yuanteng. Lavinia and I will confront the rest and capture Avezza beforehand. My shadow soldiers were following her and she was apparently at a small grave in the mountains and we were about to go there.

"If we successfully capture her, we should be able to destroy a large part of the Khaos Order, right?" Lavinia asked.

"Yep," I replied.

Last night, she proclaimed herself to be Lavinia Reni Toole. I tried to ask her to wait until we actually got married, but she said she didn't care at this point. All she cared about was being with me. I can't stop her now…

"Alright, let's go!"

"Mmm!"

…

Third Person Point of View

…

Lavinia and Aaron were turned invisible by Aaron and they quickly met up with the shadows that were following Avezza. They were covered in thick bushes and trees. Avezza was sitting beside a grave, drinking some alcohol.

Aaron noticed that her eyes were bloodshot and that she had been crying. He began to put his hand out to begin, but stopped when he noticed a different person coming towards Avezza.

The woman was tall, beautiful, and slender with long, light blue hair and blue eyes. She wore a general's apparel with long sleeves with buttons on the upper arms, a blue scarf on her neck and high-heeled boots. She also has a tattoo on her chest, which is the emblem of her Sacred Gear.

'What the… Esdeath? No… she's… called Yashina?' Aaron thought and was surprised that this Yashina person also had a Sacred Gear called [Demon God Manifestation: Demon's Extract]. He couldn't help but think that this could be considered a [New Longinus].

Aaron signaled his shadow soldiers and Electa to be ready, and he put his hand out once more. In the next instance, Avezza fell limp, disappeared and was brought to Aaron's side. Cúntóir appeared and Aaron and his companions left their hiding spot and undid their invisibility.

'I'll leave it to you, Cúntóir!'

'Yes, leave it to me,' she replied.

"Ah, my future husband, how do you do?" said Yashina. She didn't show much concern for Avezza, and happily smiled at Aaron, confusing him.

"Aren't you worried about Avezza?" he asked.

"No. She expected this to happen, so whatever you had planned may have been already foiled, but who knows?" said Yashina. "I am Yashina. I own the Sacred Gear on par with a Longinus called [Demon God Manifestation: Demon's Extract]."

She then looked at Lavinia Reni and smirked. "Lavinia Reni, I challenge you to a duel. I may be a clone, and this replica of this Sacred Gear may not be on par with the original, but it should be enough, right? Fufu, come!"

Lavinia frowned but disappeared along with Yashina.

"The rest of you spread out! Take out anyone else that they brought! Leave the Electa to deal with those hybrids!" Aaron ordered and the shadow soldiers around him disappeared. 'I'll leave Cúntóir to do her own thing. She should have barriers set up around her, as well as have some shadow soldiers with her.'

Aaron brought out [Demon Armor: Incursio] and planned to use it. "Let's see who I'll tango with…" he muttered.

…

"Fufu, so you're the weakling I'm facing?" asked Yanuyo.

"Weakling? You're a dead man that's still walking!" replied the young man. "I'm Jesse, and I have the Artificial Independent Longinus called Chicken Raptor!" he announced and a small chicken with a head of a velociraptor appeared.

Jesse was a young man with black hair, indigo-colored eyes and wore some kind of black and blue skintight battle suit.

"Oh my, what a cute and strange looking thing," said Yanuyo in a mocking tone.

"Tch, we're the new generation that will lead the future! With the Khaos Order, we'll rule everything! Balance Adjust!" shouted Jesse.

The raptor chicken was covered in light and once it faded away, a large dinosaur raptor with chicken wings and some robotic parts emerged. It screeched loudly making its surroundings tremble!

However, as soon as this happened, everyone one was transported into a replica of the town of Norcia Umbria. It seemed that Aaron didn't want to cause unnecessary damage to the real world and forcefully transported everyone to this dimension.

"Counter Balance, [Hairy Raptor God]," said Jesse.

"Pfft—ahahahahah! Hairy… Raptor... God…?! Ahahaha! I'm sorry, that's the stupidest name I've heard for something!" exclaimed Yanuyo as he clutched his stomach and fell to the ground laughing.

Jesse's face turned red out of embarrassment and anger. He thought that it sounded cool, so he stuck with it. His fellow hybrids did not say anything, so he thought they were okay with it! However, doubt started to creep into his mind as he thought that they may have insulted his naming sense behind his back.

"Don't insult me!" he screamed, and the Sacred Gear flew towards him and fired metallic silver feathers at Yanuyo. Jesse also turned his arm into sharp claws that he used to attack Yanuyo.

Yanuyo grinned and blocked the attack with his arms.

"Idiot! If you do that, we'll just slice them off!" shouted Jesse as his and Sacred Gear's attack hit Yanuyo's arms.

However, to their surprise and shock, Yanuyo had blocked their attacks simultaneously. The new Yanuyo was much stronger than his previous self, as he was on par with the rest of the Electa who stood at the peak of Omniversal strength.

"Quite unfortunate for you, eh?" he said and grinned. Yanuyo pulled back his right arm and punched the Sacred Gear. Once the punch connected, he summoned bone-like claws from in between his knuckles and pierced the Sacred Gear's head!

He then followed it up by hitting Jesse with a powerful touki bullet, sending him flying and crashing into the ground quite a distance away.

"Dammit! Hey, can you move?!" Jesse got up and shouted at his Sacred Gear. However, the Sacred Gear was already struggling to get back up. He clicked his tongue and dismissed it. "Fine, I'll fight you myself, useless piece of…"

Before he could finish his sentence Yanuyo appeared in front of Jesse and he was hit on the face with his foot. Jesse felt his face cave back in of itself and he was sent away again. However, Yanuyo was relentless, as he stomped his foot on the ground and summoned several sharp bone spikes beneath Jesse who barely blocked some of the attacks with his claws and a defensive magic circle.

But he couldn't block them all as some had pierced through his defenses and punctured through his shoulder, liver and other parts of his body.

"Piece of shit…! Don't get cocky—! …Argh?!"

Jesse let out a pained cry as Yanuyo punched him so hard in his chest's vicinity that his entire body, minus his arms, head and leg were blown away. It took several seconds for Jesse's head to catch up, but he instantly died after that singular attack by Yanuyo.

"My, my, can Aaron-sama even get your memories with only a head? Fufu, we will have to find out, won't we?" he said to himself and grabbed Jesse's remaining limbs, and walked away while whistling a happy tune to himself.

…

"A maid like yourself shouldn't be fighting you know? You should be serving me~," said a young woman.

The young woman had orange pigtails and red eyes; both of her pupils were in the shape of snowflakes. She also wore the same black and blue battle suit that Jesse wore.

"Ara? And who might you be?" asked Illuse.

"Fonnyta, I'm quite powerful you know?" she said and summoned her Zebra Artificial Independent Longinus. "I'll show you~! Balance Adjust!" she shouted.

The Zebra Sacred Gear grew in size and gained an extra head and tail. Its color changed from the typical black and white, to green and purple. Its eyes were now hollow and it spewed black flames from its mouth.

"Counter Balance [Zombie Inferno Zeyraffe], pretty cool, huh?" she asked and grinned.

Illuse simply smile at the young woman in front of her. She summoned thin icicles all around them, so thin that Fonnyta didn't even notice them.

"Fonnyta-sama, please show me how cool and powerful you are," said Illuse with a smile.

"Hell yeah! Bring it!" she said and covered her body in black flames, and she also grew a horn in the middle of her forehead. "Here I go!" she shouted and charged Illuse.

Illuse easily dodged all the attacks from both Fonnyta and her Sacred Gear. Fonnyta was both a close-combat fighter and a ranged fighter, as she was both capable of using her fists covered in flames and shooting Illuse with the black flames she had.

The Sacred Gear use its flames to try to attack, it did nothing else but provide support for Fonnyta.

"You're very talented, Fonnyta-sama, but it's unfortunate that we are enemies. It has to end here," she said and bowed to her.

"Huh? The hell are you—"

As she was about to ask, multiple thin icicles pierced her all over her body, the same for her Sacred Gear. Fonnyta didn't understand what had just occurred, but when she tried to move, the thin icicles expanded—ripping her body apart and her Sacred Gear's.

"Mission complete. Ufufu, I too like being 'cool', Fonnyta-sama," said Illuse. "However, I am grateful your head stayed intact," she added and grabbed her head and walked away.

Fonnyta didn't know what hit her, as she died the next second. All she had time to think before she died was 'It's hard to breathe'.

…

"…"

Yuanteng stared at her opponent in disgust. It was a male who had fused with his Independent Longinus that was a falcon. The male's name was Iriat, and he also had the characteristics of a lion. So when combined with his Sacred Gear he had both offensive and speed increased by several folds.

Yuanteng threw multiple talismans around them but Iriat snorted at what she did. He felt superior to her. He thought that she was just a stupid, weak but sexy lady that worked for the Middleman.

"Hmm, I guess I could try doing it with a human for once. Animals tend to get boring overtime," said Iriat.

Yuanteng just looked at the young hybrid with disgust on her face. "…I will finish this quickly. I cannot stand people like you," said Yuanteng.

"That's my line!" he shouted and flew towards the woman. He changed his feathers into sharp nails and hurled them towards Yuanteng.

She calmly looked at them and one of her talismans zapped the attacks with lightning, and destroying them.

"You're open!" shouted Iriat as he thrust his sharp hands at Yuanteng. However, when his hand reached her, it simply passed through her, confusing him. He looked back and saw that the woman in front of him had turned into mist and she had appeared on top of a tree.

"Your tricks won't save you forever," he said and glared at the woman above him.

"Oh, I know," replied Yuanteng as she also thrust her hand through his shoulder. She twisted her hand as she thrust it, and completely destroyed it. She had appeared behind him, but she was also still on top of the tree.

Alerted and hurt, Iriat jumped away and looked at his badly damaged shoulder. He knew he couldn't fly anymore. He grimaced at the thought of waiting for his wound to heal. However, what confused him even more was that there were two of them. He theorized that it was a cloning spell or an illusion. However, he also felt the one behind him—she had a presence like the one on the tree.

"What's happening…?" he asked himself. He felt himself become nervous as he tried to understand the situation.

He brought out a fake Phenex Tear and healed himself with it. He grinned at Yuanteng and said, "I have so many of these, I can keep fighting you forever until I win!" he then charged back at her with even more speed, but again—she became mist and his attack passed through her.

Now there were three of them in total. With no other options left for Iriat, he continued this, until there were at least 20 Yuanteng's in total. As his stamina was slowly running out, he exited his merged form with his Sacred Gear.

"Attack her," he ordered, and the falcon Sacred Gear shot a blast of wind at one of the 'clones' which then turned into mist again and Yuanteng multiplied.

'What's happening…? I don't get it…!' thought Iriat as he grew even more frustrated… but—

"…Eh?" when he blinked, all of them were around him, and the next thing he knew, a bunch of sharp objects had pierced him all over his body. To him, he had just lost instantly and died, but—

"…W-what the hell?!" the next moment, he was fine and then there was only one Yuanteng left. "Y-you… so it was an illusion!" he said loudly, a bit of his confidence coming back to him.

Yuanteng simply pointed at him and he looked at his own body—it was still filled with holes from the attack earlier. Panic rose inside of him as confusion took over his mind.

However, from the moment they met, Iriat had already lost the fight.

"…He was correct, it was an illusion, but he doesn't know that he's trapped in his own mind, unable to escape," said Yuanteng to herself.

She sat on a nearby rock as she watched Iriat fight thin air as his body slowly lost blood. The moment they met, she had put him under a powerful illusion and unless he was as powerful as her, he couldn't break out of it. However, if he were to die in that illusion, he would die in reality too.

"It's only a matter of time before he dies. What a fool…" she muttered and summoned a book to read. The book marker she used? A picture of Aaron—the same picture that Layla used for her body pillow of Aaron.

"Fufu, Aaron-sama~"

…

"Faythe, what a lovely name. Tell me, would you leave the Middleman's side to be with me?" asked a young man.

He was the last of the 3 of the men, out of the 6, only 3 remained, one man and two females. This man's name was Votrailo, he also had a turtle Artificial Independent Longinus. However, unlike the other two, he had manners and didn't lash out quite easily.

Votrailo had long green hair, sharp azure-colored eyes and had a small goatee. He wore a black and blue skintight battle suit.

"Unfortunately, my body, heart and soul belong to him. I cannot," replied Faythe.

"That's unfortunate then. I will just need to break you so I can have you. He does not deserve you. Come, Kaicu, Balance Adjust!"

The regular looking turtle that appeared slowly morphed into a large turtle that was around 15 m tall, and stood on two legs. It appeared to have taken a humanoid shape and crossed its arms and looked at Faythe.

"Counter Balance, [Boxing Turtle King], as it sounds, this turtle isn't slow like its brethren. It's quite fast and skilled in hand-to-hand combat. Allow us to show you," said Votrailo as he covered his body in touki and scales.

"I am part Komodo dragon, as well as cheetah. Please indulge me, my dearest Faythe!" he shouted and both him and his Sacred Gear appeared beside Faythe.

Yet, Faythe simply smiled and winked at them—and created a large blizzard around her and the area they were in. Alerted by this, both of them jumped away, but their speed and movements were slowed down significantly.

"Did you know?" asked Faythe.

"Know what?" replied Votrailo.

"I'm a dragon, ufufu. I'm an ice dragon, to be more specific, a very powerful one at that," she said and smiled at him.

"Oh? Even better then, I can have a dragon wife, since I'm a Komodo dragon, I am not that far from your species, no?" he asked and smirked.

"Well…" Faythe put her hand towards Votrailo and slowly closed it. As she did, the young man and his Sacred Gear found it difficult to move—as her hand slowly closed, their ability to move was progressively taken away from them.

"W-what the—what is happening!?" he shouted in horror and disbelief.

"It's a terrible idea to come close to me when fighting, Votrailo-kun. Did you not notice the attack I initiated earlier?"

"W-what about it?" he asked still confused.

"I sent nano-sized snowflakes into both your bodies, and from there—they started to slowly freeze you from the inside out," she replied with a sickening smile.

The reality had sunk in and Votrailo tried to struggle, but his body did not move.

"It doesn't just freeze your bodily fluids, Votrailo-kun, it also freezes your soul, so if you somehow managed to melt them back, you still couldn't move, ufufu. Please do enjoy your sweet, slow and agonizing death," she said and smiled at him.

The young man Votrailo couldn't respond as his heart slowly froze and stopped beating. His brain also froze over, but his body did not have visible ice, but he was still frozen stiff and in a strange position.

Faythe couldn't help but laugh at the young man. "Ufufu, at least Aaron-sama can still read your memories this way, right?" she asked herself and put a hand on her cheek. "Mmm, he definitely can~!"

…

Boooooooooooooooooooom!

Two large waves of ice collided against each other. Lavinia Reni and Yashina Lidia Vitalievna glared at each other. The clash of [Tempest Extinction] and [Demon God Manifestation: Demon's Extract] was fierce as neither Sacred Gear faltered, however—

"Tch, so this replica isn't enough, huh?!" shouted Yashina as her ice attack was pushed back.

"If you want to win, please face me yourself. Otherwise, it is useless," replied Lavinia. However, she knew that even if Yashina faced her in person and not through a clone—she would win, plain and simple.

Although Lavinia was tempted to tell the woman in front of her that Aaron had changed her Sacred Gear, she refrained from doing so. She didn't want to tell the enemy this information. However, she increased her power slightly and completely overwhelmed Yashina who jumped away on time and avoided being hit.

"Even when I hold back by quite a large margin, you struggle? You called yourself [Tundra Queen], didn't you? …You can't be serious, right…?" asked Lavinia coldly to Yashina who gritted her teeth in frustration and rage.

"Do you expect Jin to love you with this much power? You would be useless to him…" she said, further angering Yashina.

Lavinia—in the short fight she was in with Yashina, understood the woman's nature quite quickly, and decided to use this tactic to win against her. A calm opponent during a battle is more challenging to defeat, whereas an enraged opponent that doesn't use their common sense and tactics—is easy to defeat.

So, Lavinia goaded Yashina on, and it worked. The woman in front of her was using more and more reckless attacks—depleting her stamina and magic power, as she also added regular ice magic using her magic circles.

Lavinia smiled on the inside. She would sometimes use this against her friends when they sparred in the [Pocket Dimension], however, once they caught on to this, they stopped entertaining her and the sparring match resumed as normal.

"Heh… you did well on trying to make me angry, Ice Princess. But it won't work, so you better sto—"

Lavinia didn't let Yashina finish her sentence as multiple ice dragons had appeared and started firing ice beams at her, forcing her to dodge the attacks. However, the attacks were quite fast, and she couldn't dodge them fully.

The ice dragons of Lavinia acted independently from her, so from the distance, Lavinia herself stood motionless as she watched her little darlings attack Yashina relentlessly. Both of them were ice users, both in Sacred Gear and they were quite skilled at ice magic using their normal magic.

Left with no choice, Yashina opened several magic circles in front of her and fired multiple fireballs towards the ice dragons. However, to her shock—the ice dragons simply opened their mouths and ate the fireballs!

"Wha—?! I-impossible! That can't—"

Yashina stopped herself, she gritted her teeth and grinned. 'No, it IS possible! If it's due to my future husband… anything is!' she thought and her clone's power increased several folds.

"If it's him…! Anything can happen! Lavinia Reni! I will steal him from you!!" announced Yashina.

Behind Yashina, however, a large figure emerged.

Crack!

"Ah… no… I see," Yashina said as she looked at her own hand. It had cracked and started to crumble away. "This body cannot handle that power, how unfortunate," she muttered to herself.

The power that Yashina threatened to use—it was beyond the power she had ever displayed before, and whatever she was about to summon, it exceeded the maximum power output of the clone, thus it started to crumble and wither away.

"…Ah… I'd love to fight you again. I know that with you and our husband, Jin, we can reach even further heights!" she said happily. "My original self is stronger than this! Be ready when you two meet again, Lavinia Reni!!"

"…Stay away from him. I know for a fact that he won't accept you. I can say that with the utmost confidence," said Lavinia as she aimed her hand at Yashina.

All the ice dragons had gathered behind her as they aimed their breath attacks at Yashina who simply smirked at all of them. Finally—she unleashed the attack onto her, obliterating everything in her path and leaving no trash of Yashina's clone behind.

…

"A scorpion and a crocodile, huh? It seems like you guys improved your Artificial Independent Sacred Gears, huh? Are they Longinus-types by the way?" asked Aaron.

"Balance Adjust!" both women shouted, and their Sacred Gears started to transform.

The small scorpion that was on one of their shoulders had transformed into a large 30-meter purple scorpion that oozed toxic poison. The crocodile had also been transformed into a creature that stood on two legs, arms crossed and had sunglasses on itself.

"Counter Balance, [Drakion]."

"Counter Balance, [Lolong]."

Aaron sighed to himself. 'That's fine, no talking then…'

He pointed his [Demon Armor: Incursio] at the two ladies in front of him. He then used his [Observe] on them and found out that the one on the left with the scorpion Sacred Gear was called Annallee, and the one on the right was called Rikilda.

Annallee was a woman in her mid-thirties. She wore a professional red business suit, had short black hair and red eyes.

Rikilda was a young girl in her late teens. She had short curly pink hair and pink eyes. She wore a black and red female school uniform that looked it belong to a foreign school.

"Incursio," Aaron muttered as a large white beast appeared behind him and then dived down onto him creating a large bright light and shockwave. Once the light and shockwave subsided, what was left was Aaron wearing his new armor.

His eyes became blood red and his pupils had become cross-slit. Above those eyes, a helmet of sorts appeared, and another pair of eyes appeared. His armor was mostly silver with red accents and behind his armor were red wings.

Both Annallee and Rikilda stepped back once they saw the armor that Aaron was wearing. However, due to their mission, they had to press forward and fight their enemy. They looked at each other before nodding at each other.

Annallee raised her hands and multiple red beams fired from all her fingertips. All of them went into the sky before abruptly turning and flying towards Aaron. The scorpion Sacred Gear also fired small needle-like spit at Aaron that contained deadly poison.

Rikilda covered her body with pink touki and then aimed her right hand at Aaron and fired spear-shaped touki bullets at him. Her Sacred Gear unleashed a barrage of its black scales at him. The closer they got to him, the larger they became.

Aaron held his hand out towards all the attacks and from the silver armor he wore, a voice called out—

[Crush!]

All the attacks that were aimed at him suddenly shattered and were destroyed. Suddenly, he pulled his right arm back and punched the air in front of him—from it, a crack formed in the air, then multiplied, and quickly it started to multiply even more until the area around them had several cracks in the air.

"W-what the hell is that?" asked Rikilda.

"Run…" muttered Annallee.

Before they could, the cracks vanished, but everything in front of them had become distorted, as if they were in a different spot. It took both of them a few seconds to realize what had happened. However, when both women looked at the 'ground', the ground that they were standing on was now floating in a different area and was upside down.

"Maybe it was a bit too much adding both [Crush Magic] from Fairy Tail and Whitebeard's [Tremor-Tremor] fruit ability to this Sacred Gear," said Aaron as he looked at the destroyed environment around him.

He then looked behind him and the area was unaffected, thankfully. "At least I controlled it enough, hopefully when I give this to someone else they can control it too, otherwise… I'll need to keep it myself for the time being," he mumbled to himself.

The large land that was forcefully pushed up into the air had started to fall back to the ground. The two women and their Sacred Gear had managed to avoid being hurt and landed on the ground, albeit a bit shaken up by the attack.

Once they did, Aaron rushed towards them and punched the Sacred Gear called [Lolong]. He applied some [Crush magic] to his attack shattering the Sacred Gear into pieces. Rikilda was angry and shocked when she saw that.

Without thinking about her next move, and relying on her emotions, she covered her left hand with touki and delivered a punch towards Aaron! Aaron used his other free hand and punched and collided with her fist. However, this time he applied some of the powers of [Tremor-Tremor] fruit into it and with delicacy—

Aaron aimed to make vibrations and shockwaves inside of Rikilda's body, and once their fists collided, it quickly travelled up her arm and cracks started to form all the way to her right shoulder and it shattered!

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" she screamed in pain. However, Aaron didn't let it end there. He grabbed her head and quickly read her memories. Nothing too noteworthy apart from that it was Satanael who created them, and that they were called [Torment Tide] and were hybrids that owned Artificial Independent Longinus.

Once he got his information from her. He used the last ability he had bestowed on this Sacred Gear, [Blood Manipulation], and so Aaron instantly sucked out the blood from her entire body through his hand. He threw the now dead body to the side and started walking towards Annallee who looked terrified.

"Go! Kill him!" ordered Annallee as crimson bat-like wings emerged from her back and she flew up in the air. She raised both her hands into the air and gathered large amounts of a red aura that gradually became larger.

Aaron smirked and thought it looked like a red-colored [Spirit Bomb]. The scorpion Sacred Gear tried to attack him with its stinger, once it missed once, it tried again, but this time it grew two extra pairs of tails and attacked with all three of its stingers, and also spat the poisonous needs at Aaron.

Aaron simply dodged them and destroyed them using [Crush].

"…Alright, I had my fun," he said and flicked his wrist destroying the large attack that Annallee had created, and just like Rikilda, he appeared in front of her and grabbed her head. Read through her memories and removed the blood from her body.

He hadn't found anything useful, because she had the exact information that Rikilda had. Aaron stopped and examined the dimension he was in and concluded that there was no one left but Avezza, and it appeared that she had woken up.

…

Jin Skyward's Soliloquy

…

[Meet up where Cúntóir and Avezza are,] I ordered and I teleported to the spot where those two were at.

Once I got there, Cúntóir stood there waiting patiently as Avezza's body lay there.

"How did it go?" I asked.

"Smoothly, there were no problems and Avezza should be born anew," replied Cúntóir.

As she finished saying that, her eyes fluttered open and she stared at the sky. She then looked at Cúntóir and then at me. She then sat up and looked around her.

Avezza was a tall woman who wore a tight wine-red business suit, black and white leggings and wine-red heels. She had pale skin, red eyes, and purple hair.

"Jin… where am I? What happened?" she asked me sounding confused and tired.

Time to lie then.

"You were finished with your mission of infiltrating the Khaos Order, I made your memories return. How are you feeling?" I asked her.

She put a hand on her head and seemingly 'remembered' everything. She nodded her head and sighed. "It was one hell of a time while I was in there. So many messed up things were done, and I had to go along with all of it. It makes me sick remembering it all," she explained.

Just then the rest of the Electa and Nia appeared with… some of them carrying heads, and others' bodies. I quickly read their memories, but they were the same as Rikilda and Annallee, so I destroyed their bodies and souls. I did the same thing with Rikilda and Annallee earlier.

"Well, you can explain everything you experienced in detail once we get back to Grigori, but for now rest up," I said and she agreed. I destroyed the dimension we were in and we were back in the real world.

"Why are we here? Where is this place even?" she asked.

Whatever memories she had of her past were forgotten, I glanced at the grave that she had been sitting beside, the gravestone named Fausto. The man she was previously in love with and stayed loyal to the very end. A part of me feels guilty, but…

"Oh I don't know. Before you regained your memories you came here on a mission or something," I replied, lying to her. "Anyway, let's go back to Grigori and you can tell us there."

The Electa went back into my ring, Cúntóir also came back into my soul. I tapped Avezza on the shoulder and transported her to Grigori. The ones left were me and Nia. I took one last look at the gravestone, and put a strong illusion around it.

"Fausto, I never knew you but rest in peace."

…

Underworld

Grigori

…

"Yo, Azazel," I said and put my hand up to him. I had teleported all three of us to his office and he looked at me and the woman beside me, confused.

"Jin? Wh—"

Before he asked, I tapped my head and sent him the relevant information about her. He looked shocked and uneasy.

"Hello Azazel, it's been a while. I take it you're well?" she asked with a smile.

"…Y-yeah, it's been a while, Avezza. H-how was your time in the Khaos Order? Wait, no… let me call the rest of the cadre, executives and higher-ups," he said and pulled me out of the room followed by Lavinia behind us. "Stay there, I'll go get them with Jin and Lavinia!"

Avezza agreed, though she looked confused. She decided to sit on a chair as she waited.

"…You seriously did that, huh? She doesn't even look like the old Avezza. What the hell do we tell the rest of them?" he asked.

"I'll explain. You just say that you agreed to this. I'll take the blame if I have to," I told him.

He took a few seconds to answer but, in the end, he agreed. He contacted everyone relevant and informed them to meet in his office.

"Oh, Azazel, by the way, we're engaged now," Nia said happily.

He looked at us and sighed and gave us a weary smile. "Congratulations, Lavinia. I better get invited to the wedding then," he said and returned to talking to the magic circle.

After around a minute a lot of fallen angels showed up. Including Penemue, Baraqiel, Tobio, Sae, Team Slash/Dog, Shemhazai, Armaros, Sahariel, Tamiel, Raynare, Kalawarna and many others.

All of us wouldn't fit in the room, so I expanded it and added a few chairs and stools, and when they saw Avezza they became confused. I temporarily put her to sleep and Azazel explained who it was and what I had done. Safe to say many were shocked.

Once the explanation was done, I woke Avezza up.

"Mmm… d-did I fall asleep?" she asked a bit confused and embarrassed.

"Yeah. It seems you were still tired. Anyway, we're all here now, so you can explain at your own pace," I told her.

She looked around at her former colleagues and nodded.

"So…"

…

Around two hours later we left the office of Azazel. Most of them had angry or bitter faces, and many were concerned.

Sae left early along with Tobio as she couldn't take hearing all the inhumane things being done to certain people for the sake of experimentation and research. I said I would send Tobio a recording later so he could listen to the rest.

However, we learned very valuable things, firstly a few more operations they had planned. Nagendra's plan to attack the Hindu pantheon, the Connected Harmony hunting down the Sacred Beasts and killing them, the Halloween attack, the attack on Heaven to retrieve a certain item, and many others.

Avezza said she didn't know all of them since she mostly was doing her own research. However, she provided us with some insight into the members of the Seekers of Truth and some members of the newly resurrected Wizards of Oz.

Of course, the information we heard about the Wizards of Oz made many of Team Slash/Dog uneasy and angry, especially about them targeting their family members. Anyway, the members of the Seekers of Truth are:

…

Leader – Promestein

Second-in-Command – Oz

Nagendra

Glenda

Augusta

Mard Geer

Kyôka

Leviathan (Original)

Kecate Tepes

Nyx

Yashina

Chernobog

…

Those were the 'leaders' of the Seekers of Truth. I wasn't expecting Chernobog to be part of it but, hey what can you do? I was also surprised that she wasn't part of the leadership, but she said that she was just a member. She also told us their overall goal—to take control of Azathoth, kill me, Ignia, Lapis, Ghidorah and the Death King, Desghidorah to create an item to control Azathoth and take over the multiverse.

And she told us why Lapis was missing—to find Ghidorah and merge with him. She also told us a bit about the Evie faction and Phantasma. However, I already knew these because Ayelet and Yanuyo shared them with me.

"I won't let them touch my parents!" Kanami exclaimed furiously.

"Sis, calm down, and don't punch things…" scolded Natsume.

Shigune also looked uneasy, but I patted her on the head reassuringly and said, "I won't let anything happen to any of your parents. I've already sent shadows to them a few weeks back, but I can increase the amount since they plan on attacking on Halloween."

"It's also a good thing, I'm going to the Hindu pantheon soon, maybe in a few days. I intended to visit in around two weeks, but who knows when Nagendra plans on attacking that place… I can take him down and get some valuable info out of him too. At least we have a vague idea of certain missions they plan on doing," I said and pulled Shigune towards me, confusing her.

"Hindu gods, huh? Anyone wanna go there with me?" I asked Team Slash/Dog.

"Me—"

Smack!

"No, you will not," said Kalawarna as she smacked Kouki who looked at her with a frown.

"Well, you don't need to answer now. I'll ask everyone again tonight," I told them. "Anyway, I'll go home with Nia. I'll see you guys tonight."

We said our goodbyes and left.

…