I expected a lot of things when my summoned angels did not return.
I expected a dangerous fight, which my Level 80 Cherubim Gatekeepers and level 90 Seraph Empyrean were being hard-pressed to handle (and isn't that a spooky thought? Those guys are my core strength in a Raid and are excellent tanks and aggro magnets in PvE areas. Even in PvP, they serve well to do damage to the enemy players from multiple directions).
I even expected to find a literal god trying to kill my summoned angels ( a thought that makes me feel extremely angry for some reason)
What I did not expect was for them to be standing in a perfect line and waiting for me at the rooftop of this building, which looked like a school near Tokyo.
Seraph Empyrean bowed to me as the Gatekeepers behind him did the same, the moment I landed after having already sated my curiosity about the strange barrier of light that surrounded this building.
Well, I say light, but it is more of a tainted sort that belongs to the Fallen Angels, so I am fairly sure who is occupying this place.
"""""""Welcome, Lord Aetherion""""""""
"Alright, you guys. Enough of that. Didn't I tell you not to do that kind of thing with me?"
Ornithael, the leader of the Cherubim Gatekeepers, smiled at those words as Empyrean, the name that I gave my Seraph Empyrean (I know, a basic name, but I can't think of a more fitting name for him. Interestingly, the Gatekeepers already had their names since they were summoned, but that is a topic of research for another time), simply refused to look me in the eye at those words.
"Forgive us for taking so long, my lord. We were just finishing up here and were about to head back to Kuoh when we sensed your arrival."
I waved my hand to dismiss Ornithael's concern.
"Doesn't matter. I was just about done doing a rather...Interesting investigation in the Underworld, so I decided to check out what you were up to. Also, Masaomi was kind of worried, so I thought, 'why not?'"
Remielion, another one of my Cherubim Gatekeepers, sighed at my words, as I stared at him with amusement.
"That child, he worries far too much. Then again, I guess it is because of his pure heart that he holds your interest till now. If only he were not involved with that evil creature...."
I shook my head at those words, knowing that he did not mean anything bad by it, even if a rather large part of me felt just as enraged and betrayed as my angels did about Cleria.
A part of me that makes me feel very uncomfortable.
Truth be told, I have been observing a lot of changes within my personality and mental state that have me worried these days.
I first observed this change when my God's Eye spell revealed that Cleria Belial is a devil. There was this unexplained rage and hatred within my heart at the mere mention of her race.
Then, that incident with the Stray Devil. That part, I admit, was not all that out of character since I might have taken that bastard's actions a little personally because of my past life. I felt my actions were further justified when I sneaked into the police records and found out the names, addresses, and every other detail about his victims, finding out that the parents of the boy and the college girl had been devastated ever since their disappearance, and the wife of the old man was nearly driven insane after her husband went missing.
It felt like someone tore my heart apart when I indirectly guided them to the graves of their kin (which I had carved with the names after finding their details from the police database) saw them break down completely. Which was weird since I was a rather apathetic man back home, even if I consider that this situation reminded me of my helplessness back home.
Anyways, aside from the stray devil incident, I also observed my unnecessary hostility towards the angels, and wierdly enough, I even started giving some cringe speeches to anyone who was willing to listen.
I mean, I know that a part of me was always very philosophical since childhood, but giving those kinds of embarrassing and lofty speeches? That is definitely not me!
And these are just the highlights of the changes that I observed. Who knows what else I am doing unconsciously that I find perfectly normal, but is in fact abnormal behaviour compared to my previous personality?
There is also how erratic, aggressive, and arrogant my general personality has become these days, which is definitely not like me.
Granted, some of these actions might just be me lashing out and anything and everything because of my fear and nervousness. Because in my world, you are not allowed to show any kind of weakness when you are in a hostile environment (which was practically everywhere on earth back then) unless you want to be swallowed whole by the society I lived in, so this aggression could be my defence mechanism compensating for my fears. But I still don't think this explains my other behaviour changes.
And it is also true that I was called arrogant and aggressive many times in my life. But it feels like all of these emotions of mine were suddenly cranked all the way up and were now acting as my dominant personality instead of the controlled and rational personality I had developed since childhood, so that I would not end up dying a dog's death in my old world.
All in all, this kind of sudden change does not make sense, and my emotions are all over the place with no way to explain their intensity.
Worse yet is that I am fairly sure this change has nothing to do with any external forces, since I have used a lot of Anti-Debuff spells ever since I've noticed these changes.
Not only that, the spooky thing is that I don't notice these changes in that moment and only come to realize it later on when I have the time to reflect on it.
Thankfully, in the past two days, I have learned to roughly anticipate this kind of sudden change within me by trying to control any and all kinds of emotions that would rise within me and counting to ten before saying anything, so that I don't say words that would make me regret it later.
Right now, I have no choice but to follow this method since I only have a few theories on what is going on, each one more terrifying and damning than anything that I have ever thought of, which I will need time to investigate.
So, with a shake of a head, I concentrated back on reality and turned away from my Angels, towards the group of humans that were hanging back at the door.
"Care to introduce them to me?"
Empyrean stepped forward and motioned towards the humans, but before he could do so, a calm voice came from behind the group.
"Allow me, oh great Angel of the Heavens."
I did not miss the way my Cherubim Gatekeepers shared worried looks, but that is something that I will look into at a later time.
Right now, I am in unknown territory, and I cannot be careless and show any kind of weakness in front of a potential enemy.
The man had black hair with blond bangs, probably dyed, and purple eyes. Wearing a nice suit, he cut a rather handsome figure.
And his twelve black wings only added to his presence.
Seeing how the man was not even hiding his full power, I chose to let go of my own deception and released all of my wings and halo.
Given the way his eyes widened at my actions, I am guessing he did not expect me to have the same 'level' of power that he holds. (a misunderstanding since we are only similar in raw power, with me having the upper hand. But in terms of versatility, I am very much confident that I can take him on and overwhelm him without any trouble since the people of this world don't seem all that interested in diversifying their arsenal in favor of enhancing their raw power.)
'....There it is again. That bling arrogance. One of these days, this kind of arrogance will definitely bring me harm.'
'Calm down, count to ten, then speak.'
The fallen angel just stood there, as if waiting for me to address him. So I did exactly that after counting to ten to stop any impulsive words from spilling forth.
"Greetings. I am Aetherion. Given your wings and appearance, I assume you are Azazel?"
The way his eyes widened and the way he gave looks to the Gatekeepers did not escape my eyes, nor did I miss how my Gatekeepers were avoiding his gaze.
'Ok. Something is very fishy here. I'll have to have a private discussion with my subordinates very soon.'
There was also a strange feeling of betrayal and anger that I was feeling within me whenever I looked at Azazel (presumably), which felt similar to how I felt whenever I faced Michael and Gabriel.
Thankfully, this time, I was prepared for this abnormality.
Once again, I counted to ten and forcefully suppressed this emotional surge and kept staring at Azazel, waiting for a response from him.
Finally, the Fallen Angel leader caught my hint and took a small bow in greeting.
"Indeed. I am Azazel. The leader of Grigori. Before anything else, let me introduce the children who belong to my organization."
I remained silent as he motioned towards the girl with brown hair and eyes, and had some kind of a bird resting on her shoulder.
The bird was giving me the same feeling as that girl from the church whose barrier was created by her Sacred Gear, so I guess the bird she has is also a Sacred Gear?
"That is Minagawa Natsume. She wields the Sacred Gear Qiongqi. One of the Four Evils of Chinese Myths and said to be capable of fighting the Divine Beasts of the Five Principle Clans of Japan, who in turn can be said to be Ultimate-class beings."
The girl bowed and greeted with a false confidence that I could see through rather easily, and saw the underlying nervousness in her gaze.
Through my Karmic Sight, I saw a faint white light surrounding her. Not as bright as Masaomi or Vasco Strada, but enough to show that she is a good girl.
"N-Nice to meet you."
I simply nodded as Azazel moved on to the next girl with brown hair and green eyes, who was slightly hiding behind the boy beside her.
"This is Toujou Sae. She does not have any kind of sacred gear, but I think she has good potential."
The girl just nodded timidly in greeting, opting to stay behind the boy who was staring at me with caution. Her Karmic Value seems to be the regular grey. The most common type, which meant that she has not done anything truly saintly, nor has she sinned in any way. A perfectly normal human.
Moving on to another boy, aside from the boy shielding the Toujou girl, Azazel introduced the delinquent-looking boy.
"This is Kouki Samejima. He wields the Sacred Gear Taowu. Another one of the Four Evils."
" Yo."
I could practically feel Empyrean and the Gatekeepers bristle at the casual way the boy greeted me, but I let it slide since I felt a bit amused by his act because I could tell that he was not a true delinquent. Especially with the faint white light of Karma around him.
Azazel then moved on to the only one of the group who was not a teenager.
The young woman, who was probably not older than 21 or 22, with long blond hair and sapphire blue eyes, gave me a bow with a smile. Her karmic value was also rather normal, so she did not catch much of my attention.
"This is Lavinia Reni. An accomplished witch with the Longinus-Class Sacred Gear, Absolute Demise."
'A Longinus? How interesting!'
"Greeting, Aetherion-Sama."
Once again, I nodded at the girl's greeting as he moved to the boy that he had skipped over previously.
With black hair and grey eyes that stared at me cautiously, he looked like a typical teenage boy, except that I could see some signs of trauma, and his Karmic value was a pure white, and a bit stronger than the other boy.
"This is Tobio Ikuse. He is the wielder of the Longinus-Class Sacred Gear, Canis Lykaon."
I caught the grin on Azazel's face as he spoke, but did not say anything as he finally motioned to the last one in the group. The kid was probably only 10 to 12 years old and had quite an arrogant look on his face. What really stood out, however, was the faint and diluted Demonic Energy i could feel from him. Coupled with his silver hair and light blue eyes, which are not the typical asian features, my guess is that he is a half-breed of some sort.
"And finally, this is Vali. He wields the Longinus-Class Sacred Gear, Divine Dividing. One of the two heavenly dragons."
'Ah, I see what you are doing."
I just stayed silent as Azazel smirked.
This guy was trying to show off and probably intimidate me by showing that he had three Longinus-Class sacred gears under his control.
But I am not one to be so easily intimidated.
For a split second, I had the urge to reveal my full power by donning my Divine-Class armor and equipping my World Item. But rationality won over my impulsiveness as I stopped myself from doing something like that.
My items and weapons are my trump cards that I should not reveal so easily.
I turned away from the group of humans, much to Azazel's disappointment, and turned to Empyrean.
"Were you and the Gatekeepers investigating these children over here?"
"No, my lord. We were investigating-"
"Perhaps, I should be the one to explain?"
Ok. Either Azazel has a death wish, or he is trying to push my subordinate's buttons. Because I can easily tell that the angel in question is now fuming at having his words interrupted like that.
With a gesture, I motioned Azazel to go ahead as we followed him.
Let's see what kind of interesting event my angels got into while I was busy having an identity crisis over in the Underworld.
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Author Notes: Read 5 chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/Ruijard1