... How did it come to this?
"Wait, you seriously don't remember me at all, Tamamocchi?! I helped hook you up with that oblivious idiot Toba for God's sake!"
"And like I keep telling you, you old coot, I don't recall ever meeting you! And I sure as hell wouldn't associate myself with such a shabby old man who ordered his subordinates to kill my hubby!"
"Like I said, it wasn't my fault..."
Haru wasn't entirely sure how exactly this happened. One moment, he was being threatened once again with death with Asia and Aika caught in the crossfire, and when the dust settled he was back in his house, serving tea to the shabby looking blonde man in the black yukata, who from what he gathered from Rias and her club's reaction was Raynare's boss. He seemed pretty laid back and was radically different from the others. He was also apparently familiar with Tamamo, given how he addressed her, though it seemed that Tamamo didn't know him in spite of his claims.
Well, then again, at least there was just talking and no spears or fireballs being thrown around this time. He liked talking. Talking was good.
The blonde man, Azazel, sighed as he palmed his temple. "You seriously don't remember me at all?" he asked. Tamamo's glare never faltered, serving as her response. "Well, that's just great... I had this awesome little joke just in mind for ya, and you completely forgot about your best bud Azazel. I'm hurt, Tamamocchi. Really!"
"Will you cease calling me that?!" Tamamo growled, narrowing her eyes. "It sends unpleasant shivers down my spine whenever you address me by that name!"
"So you'd prefer if your boyfriend over here called you that instead?"
"Of course!" Haru balked at the complete 180 the vixen displayed, tails standing up straight with an excited expression. "He can call me whatever wants! Honeybuns, kitty cat! Anything!"
Haru blushed furiously and desperately tried to avoid Azazel's eyes. Was… was he this bad at school, saying such embarrassing things when regarding girls? Was it perhaps karma?
Azazel looked incredibly amused by the whole thing. In fact, he couldn't help but chuckle while he stroked his beard. "Well, at the very least, you're doing pretty well for yourself since you came back from the Astral Plane." he said pleasantly. "Plus, if you really don't remember me, that means I can tell you all my old jokes again."
"Please don't."
"But..." Without warning, Azazel dropped his pleasant demeanor completely, his smile falling apart into a straight line. "While I did want to see if the rumors about your return were true, that wasn't why I came here. As a matter of fact, my being here is actually in regards to my subordinates, who've been causing you two some trouble as of lately."
"You mean the ones I was about to execute for harming my hubby? Under YOUR order no less?"
"Actually, and I'm being quite honest here, I never gave them an order to Kill Namikaze Haru. Simply to observe him. No more, no less." Azazel raised his hands in defense. "When I was here in Kuoh a few years ago, I happened to run into the kid and felt something a little weird about him, so I had my group running surveillance. With acceptance from Lucy's sis, of course. And speaking of my subordinates..." Azazel dug into his yukata, pulling out a single sheet of paper and sliding it onto the table towards Haru. "Here."
"Uh..." Frowning, Haru looked at the paper. It looked like some kind of document, but the language was one he had never seen before. Honestly, it looked like a bunch of scribbles. "What is this, exactly?"
"Well, I talked it over with the Owners of this territory, and we eventually came to a decision. That paper is a document which states that you have full control over what happens to the parties responsible for causing you grief. In this case, said party being Raynare, Mittelt, Kalawarner and Dohnaseek. You were the one they were targeting, so it should be you who decided what happens to them." Haru looked up, confusion written on his face. "For example, if you want to forgive them, which I highly doubt you would, you can just write on the paper and say you forgive 'em. Or if you want to humiliate 'em, give an embarrassing order and we make sure they damn well follow it to a T, no matter how cruel or embarrassing it is." A twinkle passed through his eye, and Azazel's face darkened for a moment. "You can have them killed, if you want."
The redhead choked. "What?!
"It is a valid punishment. They went against my orders and tried to kill you. Not only did they seek to eliminate a civilian, but they could've potentially started a war with their reckless actions." Azazel sighed, shaking his head. His otherwise lively face was replaced with the look of a tired old man. "While I wouldn't like you to kill them, the decision is up to you, kid."
Thanks. Haru thought sarcastically. Not like putting any pressure on me or anything.
Seriously, why did he have to drop this on him? Deciding their fate? True, he was angry at them, but… why did they have to push this on him? This was... He wasn't even sure what to think! What was he supposed to do? What could he do? According to Azazel, he could do anything to the Fallen now. He could humiliate them, which left a lot to the imagination, forgive them, which he was honestly tempted to do as the safer option and avoid all of this, or he could put them to the blade. The last one made his stomach churn.
His eyes lingered on the parchment of paper in front of him before he shut his eyes, pushing it back to Azazel. "C-Can I have some time to think?" he asked. "This is... This just too much right now."
"Sure thing, kid." Azazel nodded after seeing how tortured the kid was. Maybe it was not a good idea, showing this to him right now. Folding it, he slipped it back into his yukata before looking back at Tamamo. "Now then, I suppose you want some answers."
"Damn right I do." Tamamo hissed. "For starters, why was my husband targeted? According to that Gremory woman, he had no Sacred Gear. And he has no aptitude for magical abilities. There shouldn't be any reason for him to be targeted. You had best start talking, you crow, before I tear out your wings."
The Governor winced, laughing rather awkwardly. He knew from her tone that she would honestly make good on that threat, so he wisely chose to answer. "Well, technically speaking, the last one isn't true." he said, earning confused looks from the two. "Believe it or not, the kid does have magical potential. It just isn't the kind you would expect. Magical potential refers to the innate ability to conjure spells and charms and enchantments, but all of those come from their pact with the Devils. Covenants strengthen this potential, but theoretically, it is possible to increase their magical prowess by themselves, though it's been stated that the process in doing so can take decades. Perhaps even centuries."
He paused briefly, taking the moment to take a sip of the tea Haru had prepared him. Surprisingly, it wasn't that bad, though it was a little off. Still a lot better than what Shemhazai made him, that was for sure.
"You, kid? You are something else entirely."
"What does that mean?"
"Kid, you just don't seem to understand how utterly unique you really are..." Azazel shook his head. "Do you realize how many people like you come into existence in this day and age? Not even a handful. You can count people like you on a single hand." He took another drink before continuing on. "Let me put it to you this way. Making a pact with a Devil has this effect. While your magical potential increases, your life span becomes more than that of an ordinary human. It's give or take, to be honest. The Devil benefits from the years that the magician willingly forfeits, since the old coots can live for long periods of time. Those that don't and learn to harness their magical abilities naturally can live for centuries. Have you ever heard of Morgan Le Fey?"
Haru nodded. While his knowledge on history wasn't the greatest, Shidou had told him the basics about the Arthurian legend. "She was King Arthur's sister, right?"
"Yep. And since every supernatural being in religion and myth exists, so did she. That woman lived to be almost 800 years old, did you know that?" Azazel snorted. "Caused a lot of trouble, that girl. Some days, I wondered what in the hell that old pervert of a magician saw in her! Getting back on track, though..." He leveled a small stare at Haru, leaning forward. "Morgan was one of the few magicians to hone her magical prowess without relying on a contract with a Devil. And she lived for nearly 8 centuries. Do you want to know how long your life span is, kid?"
The redhead tilted his head. Azazel promptly dropped the bombshell.
"One million ."
He blinked rapidly. "... One million what?"
"Kid, you can live to be a million years old."
Haru blinked one. Twice. Thrice. "... Say what now?"
"I just said it, kid. You will live to be one million years old."
A second passed. Two, three. Then—
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH?!"
Azazel could've sworn the entire room shook from that scream alone. Kid's got some good lungs on him. "I'll get to live to be a million?! How's that even possible?!"
"Nothing's truly outside the realm of possibility when magic is involved, kid."
Haru's mind was racing. A million. He could live to be a million? That... That was... Crap, he couldn't even think straight. His legs were trembling, quickly losing strength. Thankfully, he was right next to a chair so he was able to collapse on that instead of the floor.
Tamamo herself seemed surprised and even went slack jawed. "... I must admit. I don't think I know of anyone with such an impressive lifespan, sans perhaps the famed Witch of the Shadow Lands."
"You mean Scathach, yeah?" Azazel snickered. "Man, you really must have enjoyed your vacation up in the Astral Plane! She died years ago."
"What?! How is that possible?!"
"I don't know the details, but rumor has it she had a run in with some group called the Hero Faction. I don't know much about them, other than that they're made up entirely of humans who wield Sacred Gears."
Tamamo blinked rapidly, trying to wrap her mind around this. Though she and Scathach were not of the same era, she knew quite a bit about the woman. She was powerful. One might say she had even shattered the boundaries of humans and transcended. Of course, it was not something she was happy about. Her skills and prowess had reached to the point where the World could no longer recognize her as human. For all intents and purposes, Scathach was not human to the eyes of the World, and therefore, could not die like a human. From what little she could recall from her bits of memory with Chaldea from her "Lancer," "Berserker" and "Assassin" selves, the only reason she was able to fight alongside them was because of the circumstances.
The fact that she was dead in this world was… it sent her reeling.
This is certainly not the world I recognize... she thought, pursing her lips. At first, I thought it was but one of the many worlds connected to the Moon Cell, or perhaps just another variant of human history, but… this is too great to ignore.
The inconsistencies were just too numerous. What type of world did she set foot in when she answered her Master's call?
Azazel finished the rest of his tea, gulping it down with gusto. "Not bad at all." he remarked with a grin as he set the cup down, proceeding to stand up. "Well, I should be going. When you decide what you wanna do with my troublesome subordinates, give me a call, yeah? I'll be hanging around here a bit more. Oh, and if I were you, I'd be careful of anyone who looks like a priest."
"H-Huh?" Haru snapped out of his shaken stupor, shaking his head. "Why?"
"Around the time they went wrong, they took to hiring Stray Exorcists. Basically people excommunicated from the church for one reason or another. Though they aren't under contract anymore, I'd still be careful."
"Uh, okay...? T-Thanks for the warning, I guess."
"Actually, before I go..." Azazel took a glance at Tamamo, making her raise an eyebrow, before he turned back to Haru and developed quite a familiar grin. The same sort of grin that Haru usually sported in his most perverse moments. "I gotta ask. What's it like, being with one of the sexiest women in the whole damn world?"
"It's… well, its… its..." He couldn't quite explain it. Even now, he still couldn't believe it all.
Before he could try and form an answer, Tamamo growled. Not hissed or scowled. Growled. "I do not appreciate your comments, crow." she said, bearing her fangs before him. Already the air fluctuated between being frigid and insufferable. "Unless you leave, you will find yourself suffering the same punishment as that Raynare whore." At the mentioned of Yuuma's true name, Haru went rigid, unable to think as to what Tamamo had done. She hadn't told him, but from the sound of it, she was still alive. Honestly, he wasn't sure he even wanted to know what Tamamo did to her. "Now leave."
"... Good god, Tamamocchi, you seriously need to fuck the kid already."
Without waiting for a response, Azazel vanished via a glowing magic circle. Now that the target of her ire was gone, Tamamo let out a huff of frustration. As if he didn't need to tell her. But every time she tried, he fainted via bloody nose.
… Okay, well, that may or may not have been her fault, really. She let her "Lancer" self take the reins those times and might have given him an overdose of sexiness. So strange, though. Especially given how erotic most of his porn magazines and eroge games seem to be. Now that she thought about it, if getting that reaction was from just her being Tamamo, what would his reaction be to cosplaying?
She would have to find out.