Chapter 22-Two Paths, Two Storms
(Your POV)
After going back to the clubroom, I saw that Rias and her peerage were back into their normal clothes. As the nine of us walked over to them, I kept on getting the feeling someone was watching us, so I told everyone to wait up for me as I walked outside to check on something.
I then proceeded to walk outside and used my [Seiryu's Eyes] to locate the stalker in question. I looked at the roof, pond, gym, dojo, and even the dungeon, but I still found nothing that could be stalking us. Still, I kept on looking outside to ensure everyone's safety, but I still didn't find anything. So I sighed and was about to walk in before I heard some kind of bird land on a branch.
I looked over my shoulder to see a kind of Phoenix-looking bird perched on a nearby tree, watching me intently. I thought nothing of it and was about to open the door before I realized why Rias and I know each other in the first place, and why I hate fire so much.
So I quickly summoned [Bow of the Clever] and aimed at the bird, firing the bow shortly after and impaling the bird's chest and causing it to turn to ash. Knowing I won't be able to kill it again, I grunted and examined the ashes with [Seiryu's Eyes]. I picked up a speck of the ashes to see an orange colored magic signature on it, and it reeked of cinders and alcohol, that's when I realized this was the familiar of Riser Phenex.
I quickly dug a hole with my shoe and put half of it's ashes into the hole before covering the hole up once more. Then I grabbed the ashes and tossed half of those ashes into the wind and scattered the other half in the field. After doing that, I accepted that's all I can do right now and chose to go inside after dismissing [Bow of the Clever].
Once inside, I saw some confused and worried looks on everyone's faces. So I simply faked an innocent smile and made up something about my believing birds are drones sent by the government to watch us. Causing most of the people here to roll their eyes in annoyance, but Rias and John weren't believing me in the slightest.
I decided to talk to them about it later as I walked over to Rias' magic circle and stepped onto it, causing a bright red lightning enveloping all of us. Of course, the light blinded me for a little bit before my vision slowly returned to me to reveal that all of us were now in some kind of forest that looked to be familiar to me. Get it?
"Welcome, to the familiar forest!" A familiar looking man shouted as he walked up to us. "I'm your host Zatouji!"
(This is why Ash Ketchum doesn't age, I'm 69% sure of it)
"Hey, you look pretty FAMILIAR to me!" I finger gunned the guy, who just sweatdropped at my pun like everyone else then I heard a high-pitched battle cry. "What's that noise?"
"You mother fucker!" My mouse familiar screamed as she shot himself from the tree behind me and stabbed me in the shoulder with his tiny rapier. "How dare you dismiss me in the middle of a battle!"
"Pun Master aside, what brings you guys here today?" Zatouji asked Rias, her peerage, and the rest of mine. "Here to pick out your familiars?"
"No, we're here to marvel at the scenery." Sera sarcastically replied as I struggled to get Arthur's blade out of my shoulder while the mouse in question kept on pestering me with questions.
"Please ignore her remark." Rias sighed as she watched me argue with my familiar about how to cook a mouse. "We're here to get familiar for Issei, Asia, Sera, John, Dark, Shiyeon, Bam, Endorsi, and the three fallen angels."
"Well you all have come to the right place!" Zataouji laughed as he pulled a booklet out of his pocket and handed it to Rias. "So what do your friends have in mind? Hydra? Dragon? Eagle?"
"I want a hot girl with a huge rack." Issei blatantly admits as he raised his hand cheerfully in the air, making me and Arthur stop what we're doing and face him with annoyance.
"That's not a familiar dude..." Zatouji informed the perverted devil, causing Issei to groan in disappointment. "You know what, all of you try wandering around the forest. Let's see what destiny it provides you guys with."
After saying that, everyone who didn't have a familiar ventured deeper into the forest, leaving me with the majority of Rias' peerage and the familiar master. Thankfully, Arthur finally calmed down and I walked over to everyone with a calm smile. However, Rias was giving me an angry stare as her peerage had more worry in their eyes than anything.
Katouji seemed curious as to the sudden change of everyone's personalities, so he whistled a bit and walked over to a tree before hiding behind it. As I got closer, I noticed that Rias had her arms crossed and that her hands were fearfully grabbing her arms. That's when the realization hit me, she must've seen the familiar. After all, the clubroom has windows and it shouldn't be that surprising if she saw me kill that phoenix.
"What's the matter, Princess?" I tried to give a reassuring smile to the girl, but Rias wasn't having it. "Are you sick or something?"
"He's getting impatient." Rias quietly said as her hair covered her eyes, but I could see some teardrops running down them.
"Huh?" I feigned shock and surprise at Rias' statement, trying to better calm her down. "Who on Earth could you be talking about?"
"You already know who..." Rias looked up at me with red eyes that were filled not only with grief, anger, and desperation, but her eyes were filled with fear similar to that of a child crying out to be saved.
"Mind filling me in?" Requested a familiar voice from behind me, causing me to quickly turn my head to reveal John stood leaning against a tree with some sort of beast standing at his side. "Also, I think it's about time you started filling all of us in."
(John's familiar, suits him well)
"John, my friend, what on earth could you be talking about?" I feigned innocence, not wanting to burden John with my task and my task alone. "Also, nice familiar there, what'd you name it?"
""Don't change the subject, that's the one thing I can't stand about you." John commanded as he walked up to me with his hands in his pockets, forcing my little act to let up. "You try taking everyone on yourself, never requesting the help of those around you. Plus, I can tell you've been keeping more than a few secrets from us. It's like you don't trust us!"
"John, don't worry about it." I tried ending this conversation but then John threw a punch that almost hit me, but he intentionally missed and merely brushed me aside.
"Stop playing coy!" John barked, activating his ability in the process and summoning claws that looked like his familiar's. "You don't trust anyone with anything! You always keep to yourself!"
"John, calm down." Akeno advised, not in her usual seductive voice she uses around me, but a more serious tone this time. "(Y/N)'s just keep his secrets so as to not scare you."
"Scare us?!" John shouted at the devil, annoyed with her intervention. "What could possibly be scarier than that organization that used to hunt him."
"The fact that the same organization still is hunting me down." I answered in Akeno's stead, surprising John. "I told you guys they stopped a while ago but they never did. Luckily, I managed to keep the fact I have a peerage a secret from them by making it look like you guys were just classmates I happen to be close to."
"That's the biggest amount of crap I've heard, and I've listened to Arlo give a speech." John calmed down a bit, but still kept his position.
"Tell me, ever since recruiting all of you, have I ever called you my pawn or refered to any of you as my peerage outside of the clan house?" I asked the boy, who put his hand away and thought for a moment before his eyes went wide. "Exactly, and we don't have much time left for me to keep that secret either with the way things are going. Rias is getting married off to a man named Riser Phenex, a powerful devil who's a renown jackass. My mother gave me the task of making sure the marriage doesn't happen years ago, and I thought we'd have more time, but Riser's getting impatient."
"So?" John asked, somewhat irritated again. "We can kick his ass, right?"
"It's not that simple, you see, some shinobi in both my mother and father's peerage have done some investigating." I explained with my arms crossed as I felt Rias put her head against my arm, making me wrap my arm around her. "Their results show that he has some affiliation with the same organization that tried to kill me. It's also worth noting that everyone in that organization is strong as hell and friends of theirs can also get their hands on some power boosting drug, similar to that Ember organization. In other words, Riser could end up being stronger than either Sung, Jihan, or even myself."
"So what's your solution?" John asked, crossing his arms. "When were you going to tell us?"
"I was hoping to tell you guys after graduation so we can train more, but that doesn't appear to be the case." I answered honestly, knowing John can tell whether or not I'm lying because of experience. "Plus, I'll admit it, I needed to give myself more time."
"At least you're honest." John sighs before deactivating his ability entirely. "So what are you going to do now?"
"Probably going to train your guys' asses off so hard you guys will hate me for the rest of your life." I sheepishly said as Rias started to calm down and move away from my shoulder. "That is until we kick Riser's ass, then I have no idea what we'd do."
"I just opened a can of worms now didn't I?" John snarky said with a smirk, while I just returned the joke with my own.
"Yes you did, now lie in it." I answered the boy, who just replied with a low laugh.
After that exchange, everyone came back with their familiars one by one. Seraphina was the first to show up with some sort of chronological dove that's said to be immune to time-related effects. Dark was next, followed by an imp who demands chocolate. Shortly after, Shiyeon came up to us with a fire tiger at her side. Not long after, Asia arrived with some tiny dragon following close behind, kind of reminding me like a dog and their master.
We all waited a while once more for Raynare to finally show up with her familiar, which was a cute little bat. Raynare was then followed by Kalawarner and Mittlet, who had a snake and frog familiar respectfully. We had to wait a little while more for Issei to show, who looked lost and didn't have a familiar with him.
Rias of course scolds him for not even getting an insect for a familiar, while Issei bows before his master in an apologetic manner. I understood why Rias was behaving this way, fear is a powerful motivator after all. That's when I noticed some sort of green slime falling from the sky.
I didn't think much of it before it landed on all of the girls' clothes, but then it starts destroying their clothes like acid. That's when I was thrown into panic mode and tried pulling the slime off of Sera and Shiyeon, while every other guys except for Issei got slime on their eyes for whatever reason.
"What the hell kind of bullshit is this?!" I angrily shouted, completely unaware of the rain clouds that were gathering above us. "If this slime thinks it can just pull crap like this without getting punished then I'll send it into the depth of the Mariana Trench and let the water pressure crush it!"
"Now, now, (Y/N), don't get too mad at it." Issei requested as he smiled at the slimes' ability to remove clothing, pissing me off further. "It doesn't know better!"
"Oh yeah, well maybe you'd like to have a lovely chat with it in the Mariana Trench!" I shouted, annoyed with the slime and Issei's antics, causing a lightning bolt to almost strike the boy, while I started to use a shout. "SU GRAH DUN!"
"Was That a lightning bolt?!" Sera shouted as she struggled to cover herself with her arms. "How long have you been able to do that?!"
"All members of the (Y/N) family summon storms when they're angry, it's not that surprising!" I answered as I noticed the rain clouds finally started letting down buckets of rain. "Now stop questioning my bloodline and help me get this slime off you guys!"
"Any other surprises we should be aware of?" Shiyeon calmly asked as she ripped a glob of slime off her shoulder before throwing it deeper into the forest.
"Well I have a horse who likes to drown people, a jacket that turns me into a seal if worn underwater, I can play the violin so well it lures people to their death, and my singing can cause hallucinations if I'm not careful!" I angrily informed the red head before tearing a glob of slime from Asia's back. "Also I hate trash being thrown into the ocean!"
"(Y/N), be careful removing the slime, you might get more than you beckoned for~" Akeno warned seductively as I tore a blob of slime off her leg. "Ah~ I hope you're that rough in bed~"
"Hey sister, back off." Kalawarner warned as she covered her chest with her left arm and tossed a slime with her right arm. "I'm taking (Y/N)'s first, isn't that right, sweetie~?"
"Everyone just shut the fuck up!" I demanded, accidentally causing the winds around me to get strong enough to tear the leaves off of the trees around us.
"(Y/N), you're losing your patience." Arthur pointed out as he clung onto my hood for dear life while I moved around the area, tearing off slimes as fast as I could. "Please calm down."
As I dashed around the area, I felt myself getting more and more annoyed with everyone's nonsense. Issei's pervertedness, Akeno's flirting, Kalawarner's seduction, this slime making no sense, Arthur's sword, it was all just so infuriating. That's when I realized I was leaving behind a trail of water as I ran around picking off the slime, leaving behind random splashes of water.
However, I was still pissed beyond belief. So I kept on dashing around as fast as I could, but more slime kept on showing up and my temper kept on rising. After a minute or two of this process and Issei in awe with a nosebleed, I finally lost my temper and slammed on the ground. My action seemed to have caused all of the water to rise a foot off the ground, seemingly awaiting orders from me.
"Know your place beneath my feet!" I shouted in a voice that wasn't quite my own, it was too deep and reminded me Inosuke's voice, having the same kind of angry sound to it.
In response to my shout, the water and rain suddenly stopped midair, looking like they were listening to my order. In response to this, all of the water decided to go into the slimes, shocking everyone in the process. Once all of the water was inside the slimes, the water-filled slimes suddenly rose above me. Meanwhile, I stood back up and looked up while holding a hand up to the sky,
As I held my hand out, the slimes all collected themselves into a giant orb above the group. Then the slimes began to suddenly freeze over, while I still kept my stance until the slimes were all frozen into a giant ball of ice. That's when I closed my hand into a fist, causing lightning to strike down the frozen orb in the sky and small snowflakes to suddenly fall from the sky.
After the orb of ice was destroyed, it of course turned into small snowflakes that fell from the sky. That's when I realized what I just did and how badly I screwed myself over, so I quickly pulled my school uniform, old combat uniform, and my casual clothes from my [Inventory] before I started feeling my body go numb. Of course, my body going numb resulted in me landing face first into the muddy grass, leaving everyone in a state of confusion.
"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT??!!" Issei shouted, obviously confused by my little display.
"John, Dark, can you two do me a favor?" I ignored Issei's question and requested my two pawns who were here. "Give my school shirt to Rias, blazer to Akeno, haori to Koneko, jacket to Kalawarner, under shirt to Asia, the (favorite game) jacket to Sera, the (favorite band) shirt to Shiyeon, my old combat uniform to Raynare, and give Mittlet that random cape I apparently had in my inventory."
"Uh...roger that." Dark replied as he walked up to me and turned me onto my back before grabbing the clothes and handing them out to the girls.
"Thanks." I thanked the warlock as I looked up at the sky, watching as the clouds started to depart once more. "I'm gonna take a quick nap now, if that's alright."
"You didn't answer my question!" Issei shouted, while John cleared his throat, signaling for the devil to be quiet. "N-Nevermind."
"Just give us some answers later." John requested politely, to which I agreed to before feeling my vision fade to nothingness.
(Elsewhere, third person POV)
In a black castle, far into the North, were a group of people sitting around a table. Each and everyone of them seemed to be discussing something new and important to them, all of them expressing some form of excitement one way or another. All of these people were radiating an aura of power and influence, reminding everyone around them that they were superior. However, one person out of all of these people was...different.
The girl sitting at the head of the table seemed to be dressed in a pirate's hat in cloths, her iced glare simply glared at everyone in the room. Sitting at her side was a blonde girl with a ponytail, a man with white hair and strange pupils, and finishing it off with a light haired man with a weird hair style.
"I hope you understand why I've called all of you here today?" The girl asked the group of people in front of her, glare unrelenting. "About the King of Games?"
"We're all fully aware of why you called us here." The weird haired individual huffed as he crossed his arms. "So I request that you get to the point."
"I agree with Light." A masked man sitting at the table agreed with the magician, who quickly gave the man a glare. "I have better things to do, you know."
"Mak, don't complain." The girl ordered the masked individual. "After all, I am the one who saved you, am I not? So you're indebted to me."
"I never asked for you to save me, or any of us." Mak barked back, not getting much of a reaction out of the girl.
"Lady Ursula, would you like for me to kill this man?" A white haired man began to stand up, but the newly dubbed Ursula held her hand up, ordering him to stop. "You got lucky this time."
"He's still useful, Manduk." Ursula stayed, causing the man to sit back down in response. "So Hwan, would you like to report your findings?"
"Of course, Lady Ursula." The hooded figure responded by summoning a holographic image of you, Jihan, and Sung sitting in the living room as you three started discussing your class. "As you can see, The King isn't alone in the slightest. Contradicting our plans a bit."
"Do we have any intel on his peerage?" The blonde girl asked as she placed her hands on her desk. "The members, their abilities, so on?"
"Actually, it's extremely difficult to pinpoint who's in his peerage and who isn't." Hwan answered as he showed a holographic image of every person living at the clan house. "He must have planned us watching him, so he decided to hide his peerage members by blending them in with close allies and friends."
"I expect no less from my rival." Ursula chuckled as she closely examined each of the holographic pictures. "On the bright side, we can rule out most of these people right off the bat."
"How might we do that?" Gwi asked the girl while his hood covered his face. "We have no idea who most of these people are."
"Well you don't but I do." Ursula said as she removed the images of JNPR members, Nami, Blake, Weiss, Rias, Rias' peerage, Tohka, Cecilia, Houki, Yoshino, and the three fallen angels. "With the way our peerage works, he would have had to come into contact with the individuals prior to going to that school of his. Since he only went to America, South Korea, and Japan before enrolling to that school, we can filter out everyone who didn't live in one of those prior to the school year. Another thing worth noting is that Tohka and Yoshino were formerly spirits, and given their unpredictable nature, we can rule them out too. Plus, the fallen angels should be dead, since we know the King killed them, so just remove them.
"As for the dumbass with grape hair, we can rule him out because the King isn't stupid enough to put someone like that into his peerage." A large man with a beard pointed out as he removed Mineta's image. "Say, why don't we have any more intel on the guy's peerage?"
"A boy with black hair found the talisman I placed and another boy with white hair removed it." Hwan responded, making the blonde girl flinch. "Rachel, is there something you'd like to say?"
"The boy with white hair is Khun." Rachel points to the picture of the boy in question, catching Ursula's attention in the process. "The gator is Rak, the bitch is Endorsi, and the last one is Bam."
"Since we're introducing our rivals, I might as well point out mine." Manduk began as he pointed at Mori, Dawei, Mira, Seungchul, Sujin, and Ilpyo. "Those six people have been a thorn in my side in the past."
"The red headed bastard, the hungry swordswoman, and my brother are also in there, so it's reasonable to guess they're a part of his peerage as well." Light pointed out, while a woman with blue hair kept on staring at the list.
"They also fit the description of what we're looking for." A woman with blue hair pointed out before looking at images of Jihan and Sung. "That Sung fellow, I've heard terrifying things about him."
"Mari's right, we should keep an eye on both him and Jihan." Ursula confirmed before writing down all the possible pieces. "As for everyone who remains; there is Ruby, Yang, John, Sera, Joe, Blyke, Isen, Arlo, Remi, Elaine, Ichigo, Orihime, Rukia, Sado, and Uryu. Hyeol, you're a General, what do you think?"
"I think the only useful ones out of that bunch are Ruby, Yang, John, Sera, Joe, and Ichigo." The bearded man named Yeol answered as he examined each of their images differently. "In all seriousness, it would be best to label them as possible members."
"In any case, it would be wise to wait until the King's fight with Riser before making any actual plans." Ursula admits with a sigh before gaining a determined look in her eye. "Rachel, get more of that magic enhancement drug from EMBER and give it to Riser. He's worse than a pawn, he's a weak pawn."
"Understood." Rachel nods in understanding to her leader's orders, knowing that disobeying her would be a bad idea. "Any further ideas?"
"Hwan should still keep looking into what exactly the King is." Ursula ordered the monk, who didn't give a reaction. "In the meantime, we should focus on bolstering our forces a bit more, instead of relying on NOX, FUG, or Giga."
After she said that, every person in the room got up to leave the room, except for Ursula, who looked at an image of you in her hand. The image displayed both you and her as children walking down a path, but the path diverged into two paths. On the path that lied on your side, it showed you fighting off a series of opponent's, one after another. The first opponent was a phoenix, next was a gangster, followed by a sniper with a clock, and the cycle went on until it met the other path at the end.
On the other path was Ursula's journey, one filled with combat as well in the same way you were fighting yours. However, Ursula was fighting a man with purple thorny vines coming from his arms, next was a muscular blonde man who stood tall compared to Ursula, then was a smaller blonde boy with a sword, and so on. The cycle met up until the path met your path.
When the two paths finally met, they showed both you and Ursula clashing swords with one another as the waves and clouds above the two of you went rapid. In the background was an army backing both of you, with your army having less people but was filled with colorful individuals. Meanwhile, Ursula had a massive army of demons, angels, and humans at her side, but none of whom had any sort of redeeming feature.
"The King of Games, (Y/N) (L/N)." Ursula grinned wildly as she said this. "Our paths have just begun, so let's try to see them through the end. For our grandparents' sake."
(A/N: Hello! Before you ask, yes, this was a villain reveal and I hope you enjoyed the concept of this original villain and a bit of insight to (Y/N)'s background. Also, all of those things the MC said were all 100% based off of myth. Well that's all I can say without spoiling anything, later!
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen247.Pro