Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works; all other characters and worlds belong to their respective owners. I'm just playing with them.
Betad by Priapus, Marethyu, Mike God of Lore
The Gamer's Guide to Freedom, Remastered
Chapter 16: Single Father
– Azazel –
As he read the report, he frowned deeply to himself. Vali was alive, but that was the closest thing he had to good news. Ophis'... rampage did not go unnoticed, as there was little that someone as powerful as the Infinite Dragon God could do that would not send waves throughout the magical world.
He was just glad that he'd already had people looking into Vali's frequent disappearances, because it was the only reason he had been able to reach Vali before any of their enemies did. Finding the user of the fucking True Longinus dead was one hell of an alarm, even if he'd made sure that there wasn't enough left for a Devil to bring this 'Cao Cao' back. The last thing they needed was True Longinus in… well, anyone's hands.
Even if it was in his hands, that weapon was too strong and would pour fuel onto the dimming fires of the Cold War. It just wasn't a weapon that could be trusted to be left in the hands of anyone, regardless of their reasons.
It hadn't been hard to grab some members of this so-called Hero Faction to press them for information after they'd all fled from Ophis. He knew that Great Red had moved into the Dimensional Gap, but he hadn't realised that Ophis had left because of it. That was an annoying blind spot, the idea that Ophis had been just wandering around without being noticed. It was more subtle than she usually was. Georg had proven a useful source of information once… adequately convinced. In truth, after watching Cao Cao die in the blink of an eye, Georg was eager for protection, and the Grigori could provide it, especially since he'd betrayed the Magician's Association to join up with the Hero Faction.
Still, it seemed this Khaos Brigade that was behind the would-be heroes had just lost its biggest asset. Ophis had decided that she no longer needed their aid in her quest, and cut them off. Georg mentioned the snakes that Ophis had been giving to people to empower them, and Azazel wondered if those same people were suffering as the piece of Ophis turned on them.
Shaking his head, he stroked his chin in thought. Ophis hadn't chased down the surviving members of the Hero Faction, killing Cao Cao before letting the others scatter. She'd killed Cao Cao because he was scheming against her, obviously, but the rest were just ants fleeing a dragon before it could step on them by accident. She wasn't likely to hunt any of them down after the fact, but instead to search for whatever she had detected that had caused this sudden change of heart.
Azazel was fairly certain he'd already worked out what that was. Kuro Dantalion, the boy currently causing literal waves throughout the Underworld with his dimensional magic. They'd all felt the shift as Kuro continued to create his dimensional pockets. Ophis had certainly felt it as well. So, she'd decided she'd found another way to reclaim her 'silence'?
If Kuro could make an empty dimension just for her, she'd have exactly what she wanted. Her silence was far more than just a matter of sound. Ophis was a being of pure power, and her senses were far beyond even the strongest of the magical beings. To her, the world must seem a cacophony of noise in both the audible and the magical sense. Every spell would tickle her infinite senses, every whisper disturbing her. He could only imagine what Great Red felt like to her senses after so many years of hiding in the void of the Dimensional Gap.
So, she realised she didn't need to bother fighting Great Red to get what she wanted and, as a result, abandoned her plans entirely. Cao Cao was perhaps a genuine threat to her with True Longinus, and Georg believed he had been scheming against Ophis, unaware that Ophis had known it but simply hadn't cared before, as he was still potentially useful. Ophis murdered him on her way out to stop him from becoming a disturbance down the line, plucking a thorn before it could prick her.
But what was Vali's part in this? Why was Vali working with the Khaos Brigade? Why would Ophis attack him?
Well, he knew the answer to the final question. She didn't. Vali, battle maniac that he was, had tried to fight Ophis when she seemingly went wild. Divine Dividing was in a truly horrid state, having tried to channel half of infinity through it. Even Albion was no match for Lady Ophis' full might. He doubted Ophis even lifted a finger beyond watching Vali take himself out.
His body was in an awful state, having tried to channel all that draconic power through his far-too-frail form. He was strong, but Vali had vastly underestimated the backlash of trying to take that much power into himself. It had an in-built safety feature to purge the power that the host couldn't use, but Vali had put too much faith in it when it came to Ophis. Divine Dividing just couldn't handle that level of power.
Vali was in no position to answer for himself. Some had even suggested putting him down now that his allegiance to this Khaos Brigade had been revealed. Azazel had forbidden it, of course. Vali may be an idiot, but he was Azazel's idiot son in all but blood. As such, assuming he survived this at all, it would simply be a matter of grounding and spanking the rebellious brat.
Still, this Khaos Brigade was a genuine cause for alarm, given the names that Georg alone knew. Which was good, because it was information he had and could sell to the other factions to prevent things from getting too hot.
He was sure Michael and the Great Satans would be just as interested in this development as he was, after all.
Making a decision, he sent for little Raynare to be pulled out of Kuoh. Things were too unstable as it was for him to leave her there, especially after she'd stolen his Sacred Gear extractor and used it to steal Absorption Line. She was just too interesting to leave to her own devices now.
Maybe that was her goal, but she was the type to not realise that getting his attention wasn't usually a good thing. Either way, he wasn't leaving her near the Dantalion, Gremory and Sitri heirs when it was clear that she wasn't entirely acting on his orders.
With Dantalion bringing back Nyssea Gaap and the Original Phenex, things were going to get very hot very soon. People on both sides would use the return of the original devils as a call to war, and he intended to do everything he could to prevent that from happening.
He'd already wanted to meet with Dantalion due to his incredibly smooth transfer of Boosted Gear, but now he had more reasons to meet with the shit-stirring brat. Could he return lost Fallen to life as well?
He hoped so, because if the Original Devils began to return while the other factions' heavy hitters remained dead, things were going to get real bad, real quick. He'd need to talk to Serafall, and soon.
Did Kuro have any idea how much shit he was causing? He was deathly curious what the little shit was up to now as the magical world quaked from his actions.
– Kuro Dantalion –
Waking up to someone sitting on me, I stretch with a yawn. Man, I'm tired. Rias was very grateful for her wedding officially being over and frankly tried her best to suck the very soul from my body. She damn near succeeded, too.
As I said, getting Rias to bind herself to me wouldn't be hard. I'm more charming than Issei and better at fixing her issues. The only reason I didn't pop her v-card last night is that she never took her lips off my cock, and to be frank, I didn't feel a need to get her to do so. She wanted to show how grateful she was, and she's a fast learner.
Still, waking up with a sexy body pressed against me is always a good feeling. I fucking hate sleeping alone, my extremely expensive bed feels cold if I don't have a cuddle buddy. Hugging them against me, I place my hands on her ass and give it a good squeeze before I pause.
Hmm. That's an oddly flat chest. Definitely not Rias, who I can hear lightly snoring next to me. Can't be Koneko either, she doesn't smell right. Opening my eyes slowly, I sit up with a yawn as I face the girl who broke into my bedroom. Honestly, I should be more concerned but… eh.
Wake the fuck up, boy! Stop groping her before you get us both killed!
Mah, shush Ddraig. It's too early for your whining. Meeting the cold, black eyes of my new guest, I stare at her for a long moment, my senses tingling now that I'm awake enough to listen to what the Essence of the Archmage is screaming at me.
"Hi," I mumble, giving her ass one last squeeze out of instinct more than anything else. It's a very nice backside.
"You made the silence," Ophis, the Infinite Dragon God, says, her tone blunt and emotionless.
"Whut? Silence?" I grumble, shaking the sleep from my body. How did she even get in here? Well, she's Ophis.
"The empty dimension. You made a void," Ophis continues, uncaring that she's sitting on my erection as she tilts her head.
"Oh, yeah, that was me. I'm gonna fill it with land and stuff later," I explain, realising my mistake as her eyes narrow. Somehow, my plans are more offensive than the whole groping thing.
"Do not," Ophis demands.
"...but I wanna. It's my dimension, and I need the land for my new faction," I say petulantly, ignoring Ddraig's screaming. I didn't get this far by letting myself get bossed around just because they're stronger than me. Ask Serafall when she isn't busy sucking my cock.
"I require silence, you will provide," Ophis demands, arms crossed and face falling into a scowl.
"Look, you just want a void dimension, right?" I ask, getting a nod after a moment. "Well, I can do that. All I really need is magical power, and I can create another new one for you to rent."
"...rent?" Ophis asks, tilting her head.
"Well, yeah. If you're going to be living in my dimension, it's only fair that you pay rent for it. That's how property works," I point out, seeing her pause.
We're going to die because my dumbass host demanded rent from fucking Ophis! Put me back in the pervert! At least she's so flat that he wouldn't have tried to grope her or made lewd comments!
"Flat?" Ophis asks, tilting her head as Ddraig goes deathly silent.
"Ignore the idiot, he's still traumatised from a reunion with Tiamat," I wave off, seeing the Rias-shaped mound start to move as she sits up slowly with a yawn. It's mildly amusing to see her go from tired to flirty to frozen in fear in an instant as her eyes land on Ophis. "Morning, Rias. This is Ophis. She's come to discuss renting some property from me. Sorry for waking you."
Rias lets out a squeak, covering her boobs as she sputters something out.
"Look, Ophis. I hate negotiating on an empty stomach. Can this wait until after breakfast? You're welcome to join us," I offer easily. See, the thing about frequently spending time with people like Grayfia and Serafall is that they could kill me in an instant. Sure, Ophis is stronger than them but when it comes to me? She's just another stupidly powerful woman who could sneeze on me and wipe me out.
And like the others, I have what she wants.
We're going to die. Tiamat should have rode us till we died of exhaustion, at least we'd have died happy! Now, we're just going to die in a boring way. Can't you Boost your survival instincts or common sense for once?!
Ophis blinks, head tilting again in that kinda cute way before she nods.
"...very well," Ophis agrees as she rises, and I throw my quilt off me, exposing my cock to the Infinite Dragon God.
God, I'm sorry for anything I did wrong. Please get me out of this fucking Sacred Gear. I'll repent for my crimes! Why do I only get the stupid hosts?!
"Albion was likely asking the same when his host attacked me," Ophis answers for him, Ddraig going silent again. "What is breakfast? Will it take long?"
"Nah, not long at all," I say, stretching as I get out of bed. I told Katarea that I wanted to make my own faction, and I think I just found my sponsor.
– Later –
"I would like another," Ophis says, looking down at her empty plate as I serve up another batch. I vaguely remembered Ophis having a sweet tooth in canon, and it seems it carried over here. I'm using alchemy to cheat a little as I make more pastries, all sugary and sweet from various fruits and ingredients like chocolate, caramel and whatever else I had in stock.
The dumbass lore of DxD dragons liking bananas is doing some heavy lifting, as I feed the dragon god. She didn't like the full English, but that's fine because that's more for me. You'd think a dragon would like meat, but if she is gonna leave the bacon behind, it just means I get more of it.
"Me too," Koneko adds, making me briefly wonder which of us is in charge again. The rest of the girls are keeping their distance for obvious reasons. Being close to Lady Ophis is not something many people would willingly do. Koneko instant transmissioned over here when I started making food. I'm genuinely impressed by her gluttony.
"Cat, which one is this?" Ophis asks, and Koneko is at least smart enough not to take offence to Ophis' name for her.
"Strudel," Koneko answers easily.
"I see. You are more useful than your sister, cat," Ophis praises, ignoring the way Koneko freezes in place, her eyes widening in shock. "And this one?"
"Croissant," Koneko answers, far quieter this time.
"...it is too plain. Devil, add more chocolate to it next time," Ophis demands.
"Didn't you come here to talk about the silence?" I remind her, getting a blank stare.
"You said it had to wait until after breakfast. It is still breakfast," Ophis points out. Yeah, this makes as much sense as anything else in my life.
Shut up and give the very powerful dragon god more food, boy! I don't want to die because you got lippy with her.
Waa, waa, waa! Stop crying, I know what I'm doing.
Making the next and final round of food, with a little help from magic to speed up the process, I take a seat opposite Ophis as she stares at me with those big blank eyes. Honestly, she's just proven that she really does have a… simple mind. Almost child-like despite her immense age and power.
"So, you want a new dimension just for you?" I prompt, watching her pause mid-bite.
"Yes," Ophis answers immediately, head tilting. "Great Red has stolen my home and he is too noisy. Even when he sleeps, his power saturates the Dimensional Gap and overwhelms my senses. It is… displeasing."
"I can make you a new one, but to make a true void would require more power than I currently have access to. The reason the new realm stopped its creation at this mid-point is because it is draining to construct new realms," I admit. Well, lie. It stopped because Rias distracted me with devil blowjobs.
"I see," Ophis admits, frowning.
"In addition, these realms are linked directly to my magic, and their existence is a drain on my mana. If I die, the realms die with me," I continue, only half lying this time. It's true, but only because that's how I made them. I could make a dungeon and not have it connected to me with relative ease, but why would I want to do that? They're my dungeons.
"Irritating. Devils have limited lifespans," Ophis mutters, as Koneko blinks and looks at her in confusion. When you're dealing with infinity, then I suppose even the seemingly endless lifespans of devilkind seem unacceptable.
"I don't plan to die, of course, but we don't always get what we want," I admit with a shrug. "But thankfully, we can both get what we want this time."
As I speak, she tilts her head in curiosity, waiting for me to continue.
"I want your permission to study your magic with my… unique abilities and to incorporate it into myself," I request, seeing her stare at me for a long moment. With Essence of the Archmage, I can learn to duplicate anything with enough time and effort. I don't want to try studying her only to have her and her insane magical senses detect my magic tickling her and take offence, but she wants the void, and I want her power.
"Ok," Ophis agrees simply, staring unblinkingly into my soul. Focusing for a moment, her magic rises, and her aura becomes… oppressive, even by my standards, before she expels it and a thick black, snake-like tendril flops onto the table, glowing with purple energy. "Here. Snake."
"Much appreciated, Lady Ophis," I say, slowly lifting it as I feel the ungodly amount of energy inside it. Obviously, I have no intention to consume this like the idiots in canon, but with Essence of the Archmage, I can study the immense power she's put within it and-
The snake interrupts my musings as it lunges toward me, forcing its way into my mouth as my eyes widen in shock. For all my plans, there's really nothing I can do to stop it from slithering down my throat as I let out a scream, my eyes glowing as the magic inside the snake rushes through my veins. My t-shirt does nothing to hide the way my veins glow with black and purple energy, my senses screaming, and my mana soaring, before I collapse onto the ground with a heavy pant.
"...do you have enough power to make me a new home now, or do you want another?" Ophis asks, still not blinking as she snacks on a muffin.
"That- that should be sufficient, Lady Ophis," I admit, struggling to rise as Koneko helps me up with a concerned look in her eyes. I close my eyes for a moment, my senses spreading throughout my pocket dimension, the very ground shaking with each breath as the land around my estate rapidly expands.
Focusing again, I shift my attention to the unfinished realm that I planned to use before, and get to work as I strip it of… well, everything. Filling an entire dimension with nothing sounds weird, but nothing is what she wants, and nothing is what she'll get.
Oh, thank whichever god of luck blessed your stupid ass. We can get out of this without dying as long as you don't do anything stupid.
"Your realm is ready, Lady Ophis. Now, we just have to discuss your rent," I continue. Hey, I never said the power was the payment! As Ddraig screams, I watch Ophis blink innocently at me.
"I do not have underworld currency, but I can acquire it," Ophis offers, and I am briefly curious to see how she'd manage to get her hands on money, but I shake my head. As funny as it would be to see Ophis shaking people down for rent money, I like Serafall too much to unleash that on the Underworld.
"Due to the very long-lasting nature of this trade, I believe it would be better to come to a more tangible agreement. Besides, nobody has ever had to put a literal price tag on a pocket dimension before," I explain, seeing some recognition behind those big blank eyes. "As such, I'd like to offer a one-time payment in exchange for me maintaining your dimension for the rest of my life. It would interrupt your silence to have to frequently leave to pay rent, after all."
"I see," Ophis says.
"As such, I'd like to impregnate you as the payment," I request, watching her tilt her head in confusion again. "Our child will eventually take over the maintenance of the dimension, either naturally or in the eventuality of my death."
We're all going to fucking die. The entire Underworld is going to be destroyed because my host decided to try to impregnate Ophis.
"I see," Ophis repeats, ignoring Ddraig' cursing me in many languages.
As she goes to speak, I feel someone trying to teleport into my manor and permit it as Serafall appears with a pale face, going to speak before she goes silent at the sight of Ophis.
"Very well, you may impregnate me," Ophis agrees, rising to her feet. "But I wish to see my dimension first. You will adjust it as I require."
"...whut?" Serafall sputters.
"Heya, Sera. Guess you heard the news? Don't worry, we're just finishing up negotiations here," I say easily, giving her a wave.
I told Katarea I was going to breed my own faction, didn't I? As if I'd miss a chance to get a baby with quite possibly the strongest woman in existence. A half-infinite dragon god baby is the ultimate deterrence to ensure that people fuck off and don't interrupt my easy life.
"Kuro, a word please?" Serafall requests, her tone incredibly polite.
"Wait your turn. Dantalion, show me my silence," Ophis says, being one of the few beings in existence than can tell a Satan to fuck off and wait their turn.
"R-right!" Serafall says, giggling awkwardly with an incredibly pale face as I offer Ophis my hand. She looks at it for a moment before she takes it, and I teleport us both away.
– Serafall Leviathan –
Did someone spike her coffee this morning or did Ophis just say that Kuro could breed her? I mean the little bastard was great at talking his way into powerful women's underwear but surely there had to limit!
"Koneko, what the hell did I miss?" Serafall demanded, seeing Koneko pause and consider her answer.
"Kuro's an idiot," Koneko explained, before pausing again. "A smart idiot."
"Little more details, please," Serafall sighed.
"Kuro asked to study her power, so she shoved a purple snake down his throat and made him glow. Then he asked to breed her for rent," Koneko replied, looking a little lost herself.
Okay, but how the hell did that work-
A flash of light made her go silent, ready to see Ophis and Kuro again. Damn it all, she hoped Kuro knew what he was doing because-
As Kuro held the hand of the blank eyed girl beside him, Serafall stared in disbelief. That… wasn't Ophis. She had the power of the Infinite Dragon God, no doubt, but that was not the Ophis that had just left with him.
"Sorry about that, Sera. Anyway, I'd like you to meet Lilith, my daughter," Kuro said with a proud grin.
"Papa, who is that, and why is she dressed like that?" Lilith (oh god, why would he call her that) asked.
"That's Serafall, sweetie. She's going to be your stepmom when I marry her," Kuro explained. "So be nice, even if you're stronger than her, okay?"
"Okay," Lilith answered after a moment, staring at Serafall with an unblinking stare.
"And she dresses like that because she's weird," Kuro added with a smug grin. "And really into magical girls."
"Weird," Lilith agreed. "What's a magical girl?"
"Sera, why don't you take this one. I have some shit I need to do, so you can babysit," Kuro said, gently pushing Lilith to head over to her. Lilith shuffled over, staring up at Serafall with those blank eyes, her head tilting.
"What's a magical girl?" Lilith asked, as Serafall cursed Kuro (who was already leaving, just giving her a thumbs up and mouthing that he'd talk to her soon).
"...you've come to the right girl. Tell me, have you ever heard of Sailor Moon?" Serafall asked, deciding that there was really only one option here. Play along until she could get her hands on Kuro and wring the answers out of him.
"I was born today," Lilith pointed out, despite looking around ten.
"That is a very good point. Come on, I'll teach you all about magical girls," Serafall promised, squashing the part of her mind that was currently screaming.
– Kuro Dantalion –
Admit it, you're just pouting because you didn't get to physically breed her. I'm in your head, boy! You can't hide your sulking from me!
Can the peanut gallery please shut the fuck up? I'm kinda in the middle of something here.
Waa, waa, waa.
Oi, that's only funny when I do it. You're the little bitch dragon who kept crying about the end of the world when Ophis is perfectly reasonable if you understand what she wants and how to deal with her.
Ophis cried when she got to the void. It was actually kinda creepy because her expression didn't actually change, but the tears were a-rolling. Then, she stabbed me to get some of my blood, absorbed it and popped out a child before kicking us both out.
Admittedly, yes, I did kinda want the bragging rights of having banged the Infinite Dragon God, but I suppose this works just as well. Lilith is essentially our child, possessing my genes mixed with Ophis' divine draconic power. I should have expected a God to reproduce weirdly, just look at half the Greek legends.
Man, I can't believe that after all my fuckboy antics, I'm the one who ends up a single father instead of making single mothers. Truly, my lifestyle has caught up to me. Thank fuck Lilith did the Athena thing and sprang out fully formed, more or less. She's naive and childish, but so is Ophis. I'm not entirely sure if she's a daughter or a weird pseudo-clone with a bit of me mixed in.
For the record, dragons don't reproduce like that. Tiamat is probably sitting on some eggs in her cave. Ophis is just fucking weird.
Well, she's infinite. As far as I can tell, with Essence of the Archmage, she literally just took a bunch of her power and pulled it out of her. I'll be honest, didn't know she could do that.
It's this, or we have to deal with a pregnant, hormonal Ophis. Your master plan is gonna seem not so smart in seven months when all the mothers are bloated and angry.
Yeah, yeah. Like you're one to talk. Don't think I'm dealing with Tiamat if she gets emotional, your ass is coming right back out of that Sacred Gear.
His response is in Welsh and almost certainly a slur, making me laugh as I focus on what I'm doing. See, I have a plan.
Ha!
Shut it.
I have a plan, because right now all this power that Ophis just forced down my throat is just sitting inside me, roiling and waiting to be used. It's… unpleasant, to be honest, because it's clearly not my magic. It's hers, and Archmage means I have a very good sense of all types of magic. It's freaky to feel someone else's magic inside of me.
My realm shakes again as I expand it even further, spreading it out with endless wastelands for now. I'll modify the terrain later, but right now I just need space for the new ocean. I've essentially made an island and with Dungeon Master, I'm making a massive ocean on all sides. It's not really the main focus of this, just something I need for the next step.
See, I know what I want to use Ophis' power for. I'm not just going to leave all this foreign magic fucking around in my system, but if I use Essence of the Archmage, I should be able to convert it into more tangible devil magic.
In truth, I don't trust any of my spells right now with a bit of Ophis polluting my system. The snake she stuffed in me was definitely overcharged, and as I close my eyes and kneel, I focus on absorbing the power from it and slowly converting it into my own power, integrating it into my system properly.
As I work, the process gets increasingly smooth, and I even take a risk and boost the process to rapidly speed it up, her power becoming my power until-
[Leviathan Lineage]
As a member of the Leviathan family, you possess the ability to use the Leviathan family magic to control the seas, to summon and control immense amounts of water or to transform into a gigantic serpent-like sea dragon. You also possess multiple wings, which mark you as above the lesser devils, and an immense amount of innate demonic power.
For all my boasting and the influence that comes from being Lord Leviathan, I've never felt like I truly deserved the title. Now, don't get me wrong, I will happily claim things I don't deserve with a beaming smile on my face, but there's a tiny part of me that was bitter every time I heard the name when I couldn't use the Leviathan family magic.
Reaching out, I smile as the oceans on all sides respond to my demands, the tide obeying my whims. With a thought, the entire ocean becomes a raging storm of tidal waves and whirlpools, before I smile and it calms in an instant before it can damage anything important.
Opening my eyes, I let go of my control of the seas and flex as my twelve wings burst from my back. I'd say I was adequately paid for my services.
If they hadn't tried to fight Ophis, I'd say to go and find Albion's host so we can beat their asses. You're an idiot, but at least, just maybe, you might be onto something.
Grinning, I head back inside to find the others. Admittedly, ditching Lilith on Serafall immediately was pretty mean, but I kinda hated the feeling of Ophis' magic inside my gut. Eh, it wasn't that long; how much trouble could it have caused?
Besides, I have the power of my ancestor now. I can handle any issues that come up.
"Papa was gone too long! Meanie!" Lilith says grumpily as I enter, making me blink as I look at her… gothic magical girl outfit. Wait, how long was I converting that mana for.
Eh, like a day or two. Why?
"Wait, Lilith don't-" Serafall and Nyssea both shout, eyes widening as Lilith poses.
"In the name of the moon, I'll punish you, Papa!" Lilith continues, holding her hands above her head as a ball of purple energy forms, crackling menacingly.
Ah. Hmm. Maybe leaving the extremely impressionable child in Serafall's hands wasn't the best idea?
— Bonus Scene — Diodora Astaroth
In truth, things had not quite gone his way of late. Asia being picked up by some bottom-feeder Fallen was an inconvenience, but not something that would have proven a real issue given his… allies and the gift Lady Ophis had given him, right?
Well, then Raynare had gone and taken Absorption Line, and suddenly Azazel cared to pay attention to her, which led to more scrutiny on Asia, as she joined Raynare's side, the naive fool. Again, annoying but not a real problem. Raynare remained trash, after all. It should have been easy to get Asia away from them, especially as Azazel was clearly distracted.
But between Raynare having a Sacred Gear and Freed having an Excalibur Fragment, he had to admit he was hesitant to go in by himself. He still had to act under the radar, after all, and causing a fight in Kuoh risked the attention of the Great Satans.
So, if he was going to get his newest toy, he wanted to make sure he'd have every advantage. The snake Ophis gave them came with immense power, after all. Enough to crush them and be gone with his prize before anyone could arrive to identify him.
As such, his question was this.
Why was the snake currently ripping him apart from the inside as he screamed and clutched his stomach, writhing on the floor as Ophis' power decided it was leaving him in the most expedient way possible, by tearing its way out of him.
With a scream, he felt his heart burst as the power left him and the snake slithered through thin air, his dying mind barely able to identify that it had slipped out of this dimension entirely as he puked blood all over his floor, gasping through mouthfuls of blood.
Twilight Healing would have been really useful as he died painfully, alone.