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TAMCG Chapter 32: Are all villains cliches?
🕑 Added 2024-08-12 07:45:55 +0000 UTCRyuichi P.O.V
"Then see you tomorrow, I… have a lot to think about." Issei waved goodbye as he walked away.
"Yes, the same thing happens to me, I will have your training plan ready by then." I responded by waving my hand a little before closing the door to my house.
Walking through the kitchen, I poured myself a glass of water before sitting on the couch in the living room, with Touji by my side.
"What will you do now?" He asked, looking directly at me.
That was a good question, what would I do now? That sealed dragon was particularly talkative, so I took the opportunity to ask many questions, and I obtained a good amount of information about the supernatural world in general, but the most pressing thing in this situation was the feathered visitors who had killed Issei.
Based on what he told me, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with them, and there are at least 2 in Kuoh, I didn't want to be in the middle of a possible fight between devils and fallen angels, because if they killed Issei because they thought he could be dangerous, now that it was confirmed that he had a god-killing weapon and was a devil, I was sure that the first thing they would do if they found out was to try to finish what they started, either to avoid revenge in the future or simply out of hatred for the devil race, which would obviously produce a conflict with the rest of Kuoh's devils.
"I have no idea, what do you think?" I answered my brother's question with one of my own.
"Do you want to fight them?"
"Of course not, I would prefer that they just leave and avoid any problems that may happen"
"Then why don't we ignore them? They shouldn't have anything to do with us, right?"
"I don't know if that's the best, I don't want to go out to the store one of these days and see energy attacks and people with wings fly over Kuoh, if that happened a missed shot could harm you, me, or any innocent pedestrian." I said before drinking the entire contents of the glass and getting up from the couch.
"Where are you going?"
"I'll walk a little bit, I'll also buy something to eat from the convenience store, do you want anything?"
"A strawberry ice cream"
"Well, I won't be too long." I said arriving at the entrance of the apartment, I was sure that Touji wouldn't actually believe a lie as obvious as the one I told, but I was grateful to him for playing along.
"You don't think those fallen angels will hide in the abandoned church, do you?" He asked, making me stop and snort.
"That's a bit cliche, don't you think?" I responded before walking through the door and closing it behind me.
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Ryuichi P.O.V
"Hey, I know you're watching me, I have a message for whoever sent you!" I said out loud while standing on the roof of the building where my apartment was.
A few seconds passed when finally a small bat came flying until it was in front of me so that after a poof it transformed into a girl.
"I know you've been keeping an eye on me for a while, I guess Rias or Sona sent you?" I asked her.
The girl nodded a few times.
"Okay, I just want you to give Rias a message, if she sent you then I guess you can contact her, and if Sona sent you she must have a way to talk to her, right?"
Once again I received a couple of nods in response.
"Okay, I need her to know that her… friend? Buddy? Vassal? Just tell her that she should talk to Issei about what happened today, it seems important, and that I want to know what is happening with the fallen angels in Kuoh as soon as possible, and if it would be today will be better, I need to know if I should worry about my safety and that of those who surround me, that's all." I said before turning around and walking away waving a hand in goodbye.
Without stopping walking, I heard once again the sound of poof and a flapping of wings moving away.
Well, with that done, how long will it take for Rias to come back from wherever they went to train and find out that he has a dragon in her hands? One hour? Two? Depending on how she takes it she could contact me at night or maybe tomorrow, so I have enough time to try my luck.
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Ryuichi P.O.V
While walking through the streets I unpacked an ice pop, it had been 2 hours and 30 minutes since I left the apartment building, and I had walked through Kuoh without a specific direction, simply extending my ki sense to try to identify any type of supernatural energy that surpassed human energy by a considerable margin.
And so far, I had not been successful, my range was limited, just a couple of streets around, and near the limit what I could feel was a little "fuzzy", like watching an image on an old television with interference.
But if these fallen angels had a strength somewhat similar to that of demons so I would have no problem finding them the moment they entered my detection range.
But just as I had said before, until now all the energies I had felt were human, some bigger, some smaller, but all human and all within the range of power that existed between ordinary people and those who regularly trained in some sport.
'Well, there goes more than 2 hours of my day wasted, if I knew the sector of the city where these guys were I could create a route to avoid them as much as possible, I guess I'll ask Rias when she contacts me, for now, walk in places where there are a lot of people it should be-!!' My train of thought stopped, and I took the popsicle out of my mouth before slowly turning around.
I was currently in one of the many parks that were in Kuoh, this one was particularly large and now I was at the end of the northern part, but at the edge of my senses walking through the southern part, I had just felt a ki much bigger than that of an average human.
The sensation that this presence gave off was different from what the demons had, somehow it felt... like a pale light?
I really had to work on expanding my vocabulary when it came to describing the sensations my ki sense evoked for supernatural beings because the fact that it's like trying to describe something abstract didn't help in the slightest.
I didn't even want to imagine what the presence of some deity would feel like, could I even feel them?
They were like the highest ranking gods in the db-verse like Beerus and Whis? Or could I sense them like Goku could sense the presence of Dende and the Northern Kaio?
I decided to put that thought aside and followed the owner of the presence I felt from a distance that would not arouse suspicion.
For now, the important thing was to find out where the guys who could throw spears of light capable of opening a hole in a person's chest were hiding.
The minutes passed as I continued walking, I did not see what this fallen angel looked like, but I didn't need to, being a little more than a street away and with my eyes on my phone, I couldn't be discovered, although the only problem with this was that I couldn't stay like this forever.
And in the end, after a little more than 30 minutes, it finally seemed that we were close to where these guys were hiding, how did I know? Well, for the fact that when I returned I would have to tell Touji that his cliché assumption about where these fallen angels were hiding had been correct.
The only church in Kuoh, one that had been abandoned for who knows how long, as I said, this was incredibly cliché, but I wasn't going to be the one to point that fact out to the black-winged people.
Moving only close enough to feel the inside of the place I stopped almost 200 meters away, and my suspicions were confirmed, inside the place there were 3 ki signatures similar to the one I had followed, giving a total of 4 possible fallen angels if there weren't any others in town at the moment.
But it wasn't just that, in the same place and the surrounding area I felt a large number of living beings, at least 3 or 4 dozen, wandering or standing still, and all of these presences were human beings.
'They, I guess they work for the fallen angels, who did Draig say they were? Exorcists who had been exiled from the church for whatever reason?' The thought of these people working for these fallen angels bothered me a little, although I didn't know why.
My head started to hurt a little, and I felt a little dizzy, actively feeling ki for so long in such a wide radius was tedious, like reading in the dark with only a small light, anyone who did this for too long would feel eyestrain or even a slight headache.
So I turned off my ki sense and turned to leave, I already had the information I needed, so staying near the base of this particularly dangerous group wouldn't be the best of ideas.
######
Ryuichi P.O.V
"I'm home." I waved as I walked in, there was a bag in my hand, and inside were 4 popsicles, 2 strawberry flavor, and 2 blueberry flavor, that way my brother and I could eat one each today and one each tomorrow.
"Touji, I brought what you wa-." My words died when I found my brother sitting in the living room of our house accompanied by a redhead.
I felt my eyebrow twitch. "My home is not a meeting point." I said after sighing with a bit of annoyance.
"Didn't you say you wanted to talk about fallen angels? Since it seemed so urgent, I thought you would appreciate my speed of response"
"I asked for a conversation, not a visit." I responded tiredly, walking over to the empty couch and plopping down.
"First of all, hadn't you gone with your group to train outside Kuoh? How come you came back so quickly?"
"We have magic transportation circles, there is one marked in my house, so I returned after being informed"
'Ok, so they also have their own version of Hiraishin.' I thought.
"Well, then you know where-." My question was cut off when she raised her hand.
"First of all, I want to talk about Issei, he already told me everything that happened, but I want to hear your side of the story"
"My side? What is there to say? I felt something strange on his glove, so I injected my energy into it, and it transformed, that was all"
"You felt something, what do you mean by that?"
I raised my eyebrow in confusion. "I don't know what you want me to answer, I just felt it, when I had that glove in front of me it was like I was touching a box that was emitting a little heat, I didn't know what it was so I simply injected my energy hoping that it would serve as fuel for whatever was emitting that heat, is it so strange?"
"All my peerage was at the moment his Sacred Gear awakened, and no one felt anything, demons are much more sensitive than humans to most of the magical energies that exist, I'm sure you understand where my point is going"
"What? That wasn't normal that I felt something from the glove?"
"Not only that, from the beginning I wondered how your abilities work, from how you described them to me, they seem to work similarly to devil power, and differently from human magic, the only thing we need for our abilities to work is imagination while human magic works based on mathematical calculations, that's why you're so strange, are you sure you're not a half-devil or have devil ancestry?"
"Can demons enter churches, cross yourself with holy water, pray, or put on a rosary?" I asked her.
"Doing any of those things could be uncomfortable at the very least or very harmful depending on the power of the demon, but no member of the demon race would be left unscathed if he did those things"
"I did all those things together once during the funeral of one of the women who worked at the orphanage where we grew up, and I didn't feel anything, even though I was an atheist at the time"
"I see, so it's impossible, huh? At first, I thought you might have a Sacred Gear, but that doesn't seem to be the case either"
"Look, I don't completely understand how the things I do are possible, as you know, I'm too inexperienced in this whole supernatural world thing, and you are the only non-human beings I know, so if you're really looking for answers, I I am not the source you should look at"
"I guess that's true"
"More importantly, I want to know about these fallen angels that are in Kuoh"
"And what do you want to know?"
"Why are they here? You should know since you are one of the regents of this place, right?"
"I don't know, they didn't show up to Sona or me when they arrived in the city, and although we know what part of Kuoh they are in, we still don't know their exact location and-"
"They are in the abandoned church." I responded, interrupting her.
She blinked a few times looking a little confused before speaking. "And how-no, wait." This time she interrupted herself before looking as if she had noticed something. "You felt them the same way you said you felt something in Issei's glove, and that's also how you found my familiar, right?"
I nodded, at this point, trying to be ambiguous would be foolish.
"How far is your detection ability?"
But that didn't mean I was going to spread specifics about my abilities, so I clarified my position. "Enough to know when anyone is spying on me." I said, implying that I would not say more.
She didn't seem happy with my answer, opting for a staring contest that lasted about 5 seconds, but which she put aside after that. "Fine." She said before focusing on the next thing.
"Be that as it may, I will try to arrange a meeting with them as soon as possible to find out their reasons"
"That's all? Weren't they the ones who attacked someone who is now a member of your peerage?"
"I can't be aggressive with them, the angels, the devils, and the fallen have already been at war before, and when it ended the 3 sides were very damaged, so there is high tension between everyone, any form of aggression could be taken like a declaration of war, something that no one besides the crazy extremists would want, but that would end up happening so as not to show weakness to others, so I can't just attack them unless they prove to be a threat to my life or the lives of those who are part of of my peerage, Issei should not be in danger now that he is under the protection of my house"
"So what do you suggest I do? Wait for you to solve this problem?"
"In essence, yes, they have not shown themselves to be hostile towards the human population in general, Issei was a special case, and there have been no victims, so acting recklessly would not be a good idea, I do not want to be the cause of a new war, since you have told me their position I will try to get this resolved soon, that is all I can promise." She finished saying before getting up and searching for something in her pocket. "I assume you will have the training routine I requested for Issei ready tomorrow?"
"It should be ready for tomorrow, but it will only be the standard, from what I spoke with him it seems that he never put much effort into training or strengthening himself, but since he is stronger than the average human I think he should focus on strengthening his bases, at least for the moment, after all, he was a normal person until recently, right?"
"Yes, even having a Sacred Gear as special as the one he has, he must cultivate his strength carefully, anyway, I will talk to Issei today so he will come tomorrow to pick up his training plan and ask any questions he could have, after that, I will leave him with the others and take care of the matter of the fallen angels together with Sona, this is your payment." She said handing me an envelope.
I took it and opened it to see that it was a transfer slip made to the account I used indicating that she had deposited 1 and a half million yen.
"This is more than we agreed upon." I said a little surprised.
"Take it as a thank you, discovering that a member of my peerage has something like the Boosted Gear is an incredibly important thing." She said turning around and walking out, though not before waving goodbye to Touji, who had heard the entire conversation.
My brother responded in the same way, and while she was putting on her shoes I couldn't help but ask. "Is it really that important? I spoke to Draig, and although he seemed to have a pretty useful ability it didn't seem like something very impressive"
Was it a bit hypocritical to underestimate a skill like that? Yes, as a DB fan and as a Kaio-ken wielder, I knew well the importance of power multipliers, but from what I had heard, unless Issei gained a fairly large power without using his glove, it wouldn't be very effective, since this Boosted Gear seemed to be widely known to the supernatural world, anyone who wanted to take him down would aim to kill during the first few seconds to avoid the multiplier every 10 seconds, so if he wanted to survive he would have to be strong enough in his "base" state.
"Underestimating something as one of the most powerful sacred Gears that exist is a mistake that no one who knows about the supernatural world would make, after all, it is one of the few with the potential to kill a God." She said turning to look at me with a somewhat proud expression. "Anyway, Issei is my precious vassal with or without Boosted Gear, but with that power in his hand, things will be easier for him if he puts in a little effort, I can't pamper him too much"
"If you say so." I answered, and before she left my house, I called her again.
"Hey." She turned around and caught the popsicle I threw at her. "Take it as my way of saying you're welcome"
She blinked, looking between me and the popsicle a few times before letting out a short laugh. "Strawberry has always been my favorite flavor"
I rolled my eyes. "Of course you would follow your color pattern." I said before she left, closing the door behind her.
"That popsicle was mine." Touji complained next to me.
"Take it as a punishment, you should have called me as soon as she came in"
"That's an excuse, plus she seems nice"
"You haven't interacted with her for more than a couple of hours total, how can you think that?"
"She seems like someone simple, besides, you don't think she's bad either, right?" He asked, and I didn't answer.
"Boo, my brother is a tsundere." He finished saying before taking the bag from my hand and running.
I simply gave a resigned sigh while shaking my head a couple of times before turning around and calmly following the gremlin that I had for a brother.
X-X-X-X-X
Well, a bit of a quiet chapter, and I have a couple of bad news, and no, I'm not abandoning the story.
What happened is that on Saturday there was a problem at the place where I live, there was a small fire, nothing too serious, luckily my brother was present and managed to put out the fire relatively quickly with a fire extinguisher, the problem is that the fire started in the office of the department, and my computer was one of the things that couldn't be saved from the fire.
It's annoying, mainly because I had a lot of drafts and ideas for future chapters there, but I can't do anything, luckily my brother's family lives on the floor above me, and until I get a new computer, he allowed me to use his.
Of course, I won't be able to spend hours sitting down and writing like I did with mine, but I can use it to publish the chapters, read them, correct some mistakes, and do other personal activities.
What does this mean for this story? Well, I'm going to slow down the publication speed a bit, it's been 3 months, and I'm almost 30 chapters in and close to 100k words.
From now on I will publish one chapter a week (on Mondays), and I think this is for the best, because this way, I will have time to rewrite or rethink some things that will happen in this story and avoid creative burnout (plus now I will have to write on my phone and I honestly hate doing that).
I hope this gives me time to get back on track and return to my previous posting schedule.
