Raynare just turned to Kalawarner in absolute shock and opened her mouth, only to close it due to how speechless she was. How could they do this? How could they sell out her mother? If it wasn't for them...then...
Her mother wouldn't be face down on the floor, battered and bruised as she was.
"Raynare-sama! Please! Just for one moment...hear us out. We had a just cause to do what we did!" Kalawarner cried before bowing to the younger fallen, in hopes that Raynare would give them a chance.
The fallen woman just stared at her comrades mutely, before nodding quietly. She was felling numb and wasn't at the stage where she would feel overwhelming anger at the betrayal of trust. So until then...
Kalawarner just breathed a sigh of relief, then she straightened her back in order to explain herself.
"Raynare-sama, first you must know that we were loyal to your mother and we would never betray her so easily. We only did it because we saw no other way to make sure that she would live from repercussions of her actions when Azazel-sama inevitably found out...and to make sure that you had a future afterwards." Kalawarner began, then she raised her hand out in silence when Raynare opened her mouth. "I understand you are confused Raynare-sama so let me elaborate. Do you remember the incident at the abandoned factory a couple of days ago?"
Raynare frowned as memories of the other powerful human emerged from her memories. "Yes...but what does that have to do with this? How could Azazel-sama have known about any of this? Aren't you at fault for alerting him?" the fallen woman accused her former wards with a glare.
But Kalawarner shook her head.
"No, the explosion caused by your mother alerted him."
Raynare widened her eyes at this revelation. But how could the Governor General of the fallen angels have figured out that her mother was involved in this at all?
"You really shouldn't be surprised Raynare-sama. Vretiel-sama was a very powerful woman that was being considered a position in Grigori right? Well what happens when such a famous woman disappears for a period of time without a clue of her whereabouts? What happens when a considerable amount of fallen angels disappear without notice? Kalawarner explained quietly, ignoring how her younger friend's fists were clenching tightly.
"Well I'll tell you. The higher-ups began to place their collective ears to the ground to find them. That means following any lead that sounds even remotely of fallen angel activity in places they shouldn't be...like an incident where powerful light energy was used to destroy an abandoned human structure in devil territory." Kalawarner continued to explain somberly.
This caused Raynare's eyes to widen. Was it really like that? Was her mother accidentally laying the seeds of her own destruction? Of their own destruction?
"We quickly came to the conclusion that while the incident wouldn't be connected to Vretiel-sama immediately...it would be eventually. Even if her plan had succeeded without any problems, her next phase would involve overthrowing Grigori with your new power under her control. Even if you became several times more powerful from whatever power your mother sought, it didn't change the fact that you would need to train yourself in it's use. In short, you needed time...time that you didn't have because of Vretiel-sama's foolhardy decision." Kalawarner finished somberly, looking down at the floor in shame.
The daughter of Vretiel just stared at the floor in silence for a few seconds before speaking.
"So...you fed Azazel-sama information in the hopes that he would be more lenient in victory...is that right?" Raynare asked quietly with her fists clenched.
The worst part of all of this for the young fallen...was that she knew that Kalawarner wasn't wrong.
She knew that her mother was taking a lot of risks.
She knew that her mother was becoming more power-hungry.
She knew all of this...she was just afraid to admit it. That her actions would cause her to end up as she was now.
So she said nothing. There was nothing to say.
Naruto, who was watching everything play out, just stared at the daughter of Vretiel with sympathy. But what could he do? He couldn't save everyone...he learned that lesson, and this was one of those times where he couldn't help someone he wanted to help.
At the very least, he figured out how Azazel knew of him. No doubt that those fallen angels gave Azazel information about the powerful human and how similar their energy signals were to one another.
"Welp! This was a fun little drama! But I'm afraid that we must end it here. Now if you will all excuse me." Azazel spoke up, before walking towards the still unconscious Vretiel.
Naruto widened his eyes before getting up to sprint to the prone fallen angel in order to plead her case, even if it was slightly deserved. He still very much wanted to make sure that nothing too terrible would happen to her.
But someone beat him to it.
"Wait Azazel-sama!"
Raynare managed to get in front of the Governor General of the fallen angels and used her body to block Azazel's path to her mother.
Azazel just raised an eyebrow in amusement.
"Come now Raynare. Surely you don't really think that you can actually stop me now do you?" Azazel asked with an easy-going smile, obviously completely at ease despite the situation.
"No...I want to bargain for a lessened sentence for my mother." Raynare retorted seriously.
This raised eyebrows all across the room in surprise.
"Hooo...now what can such a young fallen angel offer me in exchange for this woman's freedom? She nearly started a war you know? That would have been capital punishment if it wasn't for the fact that your guardians have asked me to be lenient. I'm only going to erase her memories and strip her of her powers now. That's fair enough right?" the Governor General asked rhetorically.
Naruto narrowed his eyes at that, but couldn't really fault the fallen leader for his decision. He really didn't like it though.
"...My mother wanted to unlock a power deep within me, she claimed that it was a power that hasn't been seen in over a millennia. Apparently this power has been undocumented and has never been researched properly. You like interesting things right Azazel-sama? Well...if I become your student and test subject willingly...can you please lessen her punishment?" Raynare asked seriously, before bowing her head towards the fallen leader.
Everyone's eyes widened at the young fallen's words.
Even Azazel widened his eyes at that. But then he placed his chin on the palm of his hand in contemplation. Her proposal actually did sound pretty attractive, as delusional as Vretiel had become over the years...he knew that she wasn't stupid. She must have based her ambitions on something concrete. While he had no idea if what Raynare had was truly powerful or not...there were still a lot of unknown things to discover in this world.
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