"So, let's take it in order," I massaged my temples, "You were the ideological inspiration behind the creation of the Grail," I nodded, "The Bible gave you the basis for the artefact that allowed you to manipulate life and death, and you yourself gave it its final, convenient form.
"Exactly." Lucifer sat on the tail of a dragon, which was dejectedly looking at something on the horizon. "You know, it wasn't right for me to wait for the Father to restore the number of angels and for reinforcements to arrive during the assault on another stronghold of the demons. So I decided to hint at an artefact that would allow me to resurrect my army after the battle. A kind of necromancy, which, by the way, Father forbade and destroyed all knowledge of. Even the first demons I killed forgot about its existence. The angel leaned back against the dragon's wing and sighed deeply.
"How interesting. So only Lucifer — you — are the true owner of both the Grail and Excalibur," I said, looking at the First One's nod. "Cool. Just cool."
"That's not the word for it. And since you are me, the flag is yours. Gather all the Pokemon... I mean, the Holy Artifacts," the fallen angel smiled crookedly.
"But I can't go near the vampires on my own, I don't have any intelligence, so I'm waiting for Az to give the go-ahead. He kind of hinted that he agreed.
"Azazel," Lucifer tried out the name, "It's been a long time. Do you know why he fell?
"No," I shook my head, "Is it such an interesting story?"
"A little," his companion shrugged, "depends on who you ask. For example, I found it amusing to watch his actions, but people saw something inexplicable and beautiful, sacred and forbidden. In short, he fell in love with a woman who was pure and innocent. But after spending the night with her, when his attraction turned into love and his wings turned black, he never saw her again, for he was locked away in the fifth heaven as punishment. But one day, many years later, he met his daughter, who had been born and hidden from the world by her mother. Ha! Imagine, he personally watched her being torn apart by lustful demons, unable to save her. "A shadow fell on the face of the fallen one." Then I really felt sorry for this fool. First, his father cast him out of heaven, then the person closest to him died a terrible death before his eyes. No matter what anyone says, even demons are capable of loving their own.
We are silent, each thinking our own thoughts. Lucius thinks of his beloved and his son, I think of my family. I never thought I could become so attached to anyone, because when I was born, I wanted only one thing: knowledge and power.
"Do not spare your enemies, Vergil," the fallen one said suddenly, "Do not repeat my mistakes. For I once spared those who destroyed my family. Those who caused Lilith to disappear into the unstable portal. He clenched his fists, his face contorted into a grimace.
"How do you know? You were dead by then.
"One of the red-clad ones was well versed in the politics of hell and loved history. It was from him that Ddraig learned about the history of one of his killers' families. And now that we're all in the same boat, he decided to tell me about it. How low I have fallen, if even a dragon can read me," the angel smiled, his mood changing abruptly, to which the dragon responded with only a muffled roar.
"Make an even sadder face and whisper louder about your family," the red dragon replied listlessly, sitting and staring at the space as if it had taken all the treasures of the world from you.
The fallen one only sighed, realising that he was to blame, that the uncertainty of his family's fate weighed too heavily on him.
"All right, guys," I said, slapping my knees as I stood up, "good sparring, but I have to go." I waved to the two relaxed amoebas and woke up.
***
"Verg," Azazel contacted me in the evening, "Are you busy?"
"No," I put down the sheet with the calculations, "What's so urgent?"
"I have an answer to your question," the fallen one began, "About the Grail, I agree. My intelligence reports that the vampires have begun to rapidly get rid of their weaknesses.
"And the artefact we're interested in can easily do that," I agreed.
"Exactly, that's why we're going after it today. Right now.
"Why now?
"They're having a reception in honour of another holiday and their forefather. Vampire crap," I can just see his sour face, "There will be a lot of guards, but they're all celebrating, and we haven't dared attack vampires at a time like this for a long time. So they'll be tipsy and relaxed, and we'll be able to sneak in and take what we want.
"I'll be there soon, just let me warn my family.
Teleportation in twenty minutes and I'll be in Grigori.
"Take this," Az handed me a bracelet, "it will hide us and, when activated, create magical interference that will erase our energy traces.
"Useful thing," I said, looking at the artefact with my magical vision and memorising the spell. "Shall we go?" A nod, teleportation, and we were on the mountain near the castle.
It was a classic villainous castle, the kind where the evil of the world must surely reside. True, vampires didn't even come close to living up to that description.
Slaughtering the vampire guards patrolling the area was a piece of cake; they didn't even realise how they turned to dust. Getting into the castle was even easier, as almost all the guards were in the main hall, where the cream of the bloodsucking society had gathered. So we quietly and peacefully passed by without attracting attention and descended into the catacombs beneath the castle.
We didn't have to wander around for long, as there weren't many passages, and almost all of them were blocked with "food," so the only door that looked more or less normal, with a bunch of alarm spells, stood out quite a bit.
"Why hide it in the basement? Vampires used to be smarter," Az shook his head reproachfully, reconfiguring the spells so they couldn't react to anything.
"Here comes Valeria," I said, opening the door and seeing a beautiful (how could she not be?) blonde. "Not bad at all," I nodded importantly, at the same time as Az, who had adopted the same thoughtful pose as me.
"Very," he continued nodding like a bobblehead with the most serious expression on his face. "But they'll tear something off you for treason."
You sly feathered pest, I grimaced under the loud laughter of the dragon in my head.
"Come on, maybe from an aesthetic point of view," I crossed my arms over my chest, "but you're jumping to conclusions. You're vulgar.
"Pff, as if you'd be against spending the night with her. Just look at his face!
"You're right about that," I give in under his gaze, "But it's time to get what we came here for.
I approach the bed with the sleeping cutie, who didn't even notice our presence. I cast a sleep spell on her so she doesn't wake up at the wrong moment. A couple more rune circles to check the condition of the artefact and the girl.
"Her mind is already damaged from excessive use," I say, rubbing my chin. "If we remove the Grail, she will regain her sanity, or at least part of it. And maybe she will stop seeing the dead. Although that's unlikely.
I place a stone on her chest to remove the mechanism and take the cup that appears after a while.
"Hmm, incredible," said the fallen one next to me. "While inside her, the artefact mutated and changed. I wonder what abilities it has?" His investigative zeal was awakened.
"We'll find out now," I take the relic with both hands and pull it into my soul with effort. "Oh my," I exhaled, my eyes darkened, and my body felt as if it had been dipped in ice water.
"I felt something similar when my Father gave it to me," Lucifer's voice came from the depths of my mechanism. "But now you can say, 'I see dead people...' That is, if you don't get too carried away with using the bowl."
What a comfort. Silhouettes began to appear at the edge of my vision. Apparently, these were the ghosts. At least they weren't moaning in my ear.
"That's for now," Lucifer "supported" me, "but after the artefact tunes in to your soul and body, which are identical to mine, the most interesting part will begin. You will be able to see the Dark Lands — the world of the dead, where the souls of the deceased wander before they are reborn. It's not hell, these places are much more... unique. And if you try hard enough, you can get there, but I don't advise you to go there until you can kill at least eight-winged creatures with your spit."
"Why would I even want to go there?"
"Artifacts, souls," shrugged the fallen angel, "Father created the Dark Lands before the creation of the world itself. It is home to all his failed creations, which he created before the angels. I've seen them... believe me, I've never seen anything so f***ed up in my life, excuse my language."
"I understand, I accept, I'm not stupid, I won't go there for another hundred years, until I reach the power of Odin or Shiva." The scariest thing here was that Lyuts was telling the truth, without exaggerating in the slightest.
"Verg," Az flashed before my eyes, "are you okay? Everything all right? You passed out."
"Yes, yes," I nodded distractedly, "everything is fine, I'm getting used to the new sensations.
"They say that the longer you use the Grail, the better you understand the concept of life, death, and souls," the fallen one scratched his chin, "But in return, you get hallucinations and a shift in perception with the possibility of losing your mind."
"Nice," I smiled crookedly, "I hope it doesn't come to that."
"What are we going to do with the girl? Without the artefact, she's just trash to them, and they'll kill her as soon as they find out it's been stolen," said the uncle with a hint of malice. "Clever bastard," I said. "Your suggestions."
"Let's take her with us for now. I'll put her on my island, which is shielded from the world, and put her into an artificial coma. Then we'll see how we can use the dampia from the Cepesh clan."Strange," Azazel smiled. It seems to me that he knows which of Gremory's entourage the girl is friends with. Does he want to use her as a gift, a gesture of goodwill? You sly fox. "Don't lose her."
***
The return home passed without incident. We activated the bracelets that distorted the magical background and teleported straight to the castle. There must have been quite a commotion. Marius, Valeria's brother and head of the clan, must be tearing his hair out right now. Of course, the main pillar of his power has been stolen, and he has no support to turn to. Now he'll be torn apart by other vampire clans.
I put the girl in a house on my island, where, after double-checking all the defences, I began to heal Cepesh's body. It was quick, thanks to the Grail, but I don't know how to heal the mind, so all I could do was wait. I had to watch over my patient and monitor the development of the disease, preventing it from turning into something more serious. It seemed that Gasper's appearance and communication had helped her. But it was still too early. After the faction meeting, I could give her to Rias as a gift. Or to Sona, depending on who would benefit more.
The house greeted me with the smell of baking and fresh coffee. My mother was teaching my sister how to cook in the kitchen, and as a result, there were several cakes on the table. When they saw me, the girls smiled and invited me to the table.
The evening was pleasant and quiet, filled with cosiness. So we moved smoothly from the kitchen to the living room, where Akeno lay down on my lap and Shuri on my shoulder. Everything would have been fine, but the ghosts began to appear not only at the periphery of my vision, but also right in front of my nose. And the insistent whispering in an unknown language, barely audible, sounded like the rustling of the wind. Now I understand Valeria and her insane state; something like this cannot leave anyone sane.
"The worst thing is when these ghosts become not just vague silhouettes, but clearly visible entities. You might see someone you know," Lucifer said, supportive as always.
"I wonder how Mikhail reacted when the Holy Relic came out from under the influence of the System?" the red one asked casually, causing the frozen fallen one to burst into hysterical laughter.
"I want to see his face when we get to the summit," Lucifer said, catching his breath. "Just imagine, it'll be even better than when I accidentally desecrated one of the relics when I was an angel. He chased me all over heaven, hoping to beat me up. To be honest, I still don't understand where he dug up that artefact whip..." The fallen angel laughed again, and the dragon joined in.
***
And back to school again. A new school year. All the same faces, except Sona had become even more serious. How can anyone wear that expression on their face? My muscles would cramp up after ten minutes.
We moved up to eleventh grade, and new kohai joined our tenth grade class. There was a white nekoma who rejected her power, a blond swordsman avenger, and that was just Rias's entourage. Sona was doing a little better; judging by the marks on some people's auras, she had already marked potential candidates, and if you looked closely, they already knew their future mistress. So someone was going to have a new addition soon.
It was also an unpleasant discovery for me that a duo of perverts had arrived here, who, walking around the courtyard, openly discussed the charms of the girls around them.
"Look at that brunette," exclaimed the bald man, "what boobs, what an ass, I'd like to warm a sausage between them..." drooled the future victim, because only I am allowed to look and talk about Akeno like that.
So, under the proud comment of the redhead, "You're thinking right, partner," and the cheerful "Pff, dragon" from Lucifer, I whispered to my sister that I was going to step aside and walked away towards the guys.
"Guys," I put on my kindest smile.
"What do you want, bisen," they spat contemptuously.
"I see you guys are connoisseurs of beauty," I played with my eyebrows, "I have a proposal for you, interested?
"Go ahead," the bespectacled one hesitated.
"You guys like to peep, don't you?" I whispered conspiratorially, and they nodded shamelessly. "Well, I can show you a place with the best view."
"Why are you telling us this?" the bald man squinted.
"You see, I have the same interests as you, so I thought I'd find some kindred spirits," I said, looking away slightly.
"Oh! Okay then," they say, so simple. Or maybe their hormones have straightened out the last of their brain cells.
"Follow me," I motioned them with my hand to the farthest corner of the academy, where no one could hear us, and under the gaze of the demons, who would surely decide to follow us.
Why am I doing this here and now, and not in a more secluded place? Since the commotion and the beginning of the canon will soon begin, I decided to show off my powers a little, but within the limits of human capabilities. So that they get used to the fact that I can do something and aren't too surprised by my supernatural origins. Yes, it sounds crazy, because I'm just bored and decided to entertain myself.
As soon as we turned the corner, I felt a dozen surveillance spells activate. Apparently, all the demons decided to see what was going on. Well, it's time to show my sadistic side."There," I pointed to the wall where the real hole leading to the girls' changing room was, so I wasn't lying. "The most sacred place for any sexually mature guy who loves girls in sports tops and shorts.
They immediately rush to check where the hole leads, and I take advantage of the fact that they have their backs to me, quickly close the distance and hit the bald guy on the knee, causing him to fall to the ground and scream, clenching his teeth. I twist the nerd's arm and pull it away from his partner.
"What are you doing? Are you crazy, attacking people?" the bald one yelled.
"Oh no, my dear friends," I say in a honeyed voice, smiling as menacingly as I can, "you're not people," I twist the guy's arm even harder, causing him to scream and whine louder, "you're perverts. Everything would have been fine if you had behaved normally and not shown your habits in public. But that's not the point. The main thing is that you looked at my dear sister. I don't like that. Very much.
A well-aimed blow to the nerd's temple with a tiny amount of magic, which is impossible to notice in the local background of demonic energy, erases their memory of who inflicted the injury but leaves memories of the reasons for the beating. The guy fell like a sack, but unfortunately, I didn't let go of his arm, so it dislocated under his own weight with an unpleasant sound.
The bald man, seeing all this, tried to crawl away, but the pain in his leg was still strong enough that his attempt was unsuccessful. I approached him and punched him in the ribs, finishing with a blow to the temple. A couple more kicks to the most painful parts of each of them, and I return with a satisfied look on my face to my sister, who is waiting for me with the most innocent smile, takes me by the hand and goes into the school.
I looked back to see the faces of Rias and Sona. Oh yes, it was worth it. Rias, who had been discussed at length and raped with their eyes in various positions, was satisfied, like a cat. Sona, although she put on an angry face, her emotions were similar to those of her friend, because the demoness herself had been called a flat-chested woman.
Ah, I broke a few bones, and it's easier to breathe now. The demons will take care of the cripples (which is what they'll become if they don't understand my "hint"). It's not for nothing that they've been grooming me for so long; they surely don't want to lose a "potential candidate for their entourage," even if he has low potential in magic.
"So you don't like it when someone looks at your beloved sister?" Akeno asked with a gleam in her eyes as soon as we reached the right floor.
"Yes," I nodded, "she's mine, I won't give her up, and I certainly won't allow anyone to discuss her openly." I looked around and, seeing no one within sight, kissed the girl.
"Mmm," she moaned as I squeezed her thigh lightly and sent a small stimulating shock through it. "Maybe we should skip school today?"
"As much as I'd like to agree with you, we can't skip class yet." I pull away from my sister, only to notice the curious white top of a loli's head, who is watching us with red cheeks.
You'd never feel that, senjutsu is a cool thing, maybe I'll learn it sometime in my spare time? In five years or so.
My sister and I headed back to class, and as we passed Koneko, I heard a very funny description of my sister and me as a couple.
"Perverts," I think, or did I hear a hint of envy?
***
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