ALL NOVEL Chapter19. Panic.
Chapter 19: Panic.
"Now, what business does a couple of Devils have with me, I wonder."
I had a small moment of satisfaction upon seeing the two Devils' eyes widen.
Gathering herself first, the redhead of the duo of girls spoke, "Well, since you already know what we are, we can cut straight to the chase."
As she said this, she tucked her hands under her rather sizable chest, emphasizing it further in what I assumed to be an attempt to draw me in; too bad I wasn't interested.
"I'm Rias Gremory, heiress and future head to the Gremory house, one of the 72 Pillar Families of the Underworld. I'm also one of the two overseers of Kouh Town. You, Milo Ren, have garnered my interest greatly, and I want you to join my Peerage. You will be treated fairl-"
I saw the other girl bristle at Rias's words as she was about to cut her off, but I didn't give her the chance as I did so myself.
"I refuse. You may leave now if you have nothing else to say," I said, my tone bored, as I turned to the other girl. "What about you?"
Both girls froze at my declaration, but soon their expressions changed, the yet unnamed black-haired girl's eyes growing cold and calculating. At the same time, Rias' face started competing with her hair, on which one was redder.
I knew about the Peerages that Devils have. It was a chess-like system where a Devil would recruit other Devils as their pieces to become part of their Peerage. If the recruited candidate wasn't a Devil, they would be reincarnated as one and then be added to the Peerage.
From what I read, it was supposed to be a fair system, where everyone was treated as equals. But life was never fair, and the power disparities between the Kings and their Peerages often led to slave-like treatment; Devils were rarely known for their kind and fair nature.
"Listen here yo-" Rias started, her voice heated now, but I cut her off with a glare.
"Rias Gremory. I refuse to become a Devil, and I refuse to become someone's glorified slave. If you have nothing else to say, leave," I said, my voice cold.
Rias's face grew even redder at this as she turned around with a huff. "This is not the last you will hear from me, you jerk!" She said, stomping her feet like a child would, and left the room.
I turned my attention back to the other girl again, waiting for her to speak.
She was still silent as she seized me up, and when the silence stretched for more than ten seconds, I broke it. "I'm assuming you are the second 'overseer' of Kouh Town, and are also here to recruit me. I don't like repeating myself, but I will say it again; I refuse to become a Devil. If you have nothing else to say, you may also leave."
She stared at me intensely as I said my peice, but didn't interrupt me.
After a few seconds more of silence, which I was starting to get tired of, she finally spoke.
"I won't bore you with a long introductions then. My name is Sona Sitri, heiress to the Sitra house. And you assumed right, I'm also an overseer for Kouh Town. But I'm also the student council president of Kouh Academy, and I'm actually here on school business as well. I will be delivering to you the material for the classes you missed as well as whatever homework your class has been given. I don't tolerate students getting behind on their lessons, even if it was due to unfortunate circumstances." She said, and she almost managed to convince me that was the reason she actually came here.
I didn't refute her and nodded, as I didn't want to antagonize everyone, even if my earlier actions said otherwise.
But I really wanted to point out that her introduction was even longer than Rias'! I stayed silent, however.
Seeing my compliance she nodded as well, as she continued "Despite what you seem to think, neither me, nor Rias, would treat you as anything other than a family member should you join either of our Peerages. And know this, Milo Ren," She took a breath here, her gaze sharpening; her tone was warning and scolding as she spoke.
"The stunt you did before you went into a coma alerted every single non-human in the town to your existence. You have painted a huge mark on your back. A lot of people will want you either on their side or dead, to make sure you are not on their enemies' side. Your safety is not guaranteed should you spurn both our offers, Milo. The only reason you are still alive right now is because this entire hospital has been guarded against attacks, and your room has had extra security since the moment you were put here. I will keep the extra security placed on you for now, but remember, you are not safe out there alone." Finished with her warning, she gave me a few notebooks she had been holding and left the room.
Once alone, I sighed deeply, massaging my head as I felt a headache coming.
"What do you think, Lux?" I asked Luxara, who hadn't spoken to me since the arrival of the Devils.
"Partner, her words are to be heeded." Luxara began, her voice echoing in my head "If they were honest when they introduced themselves, both the Gremory and the Sitri Heiresses would offer you protection by simply being associated with their families. Both families have long-running reputations in the Underworld. But I agree with you. Becoming someone's servant is not the way to go."
"Then what about the danger they mentioned? What if something happened to my mother because someone was after me?" I told her my main concern. I wasn't particularly worried about myself. But if something happened to Mom because of me, I...
"Milo. Danger has always been present in the world," Luxara answered, her tone serious and reprimanding.
She then continued with a more gentle tone "But that doesn't mean you need to place yourself under someone to be safe. Those Devil houses are safe because they are strong, but what when someone stronger comes after them?"
I swallowed hard, knowing the answer without her needing to say it.
"Then what do I do? How I can make sure my mother is safe? Sona made it out to be that every Magical being in the city is out to get me," I asked, my hands sweeping through my hair, trying to relieve some of the frustration I felt. I didn't know what kind of danger I was up against. I wasn't sure If I would be able to face that Fallen Angel I saw in the park, and from what I knew, the two-winged ones were the weakest of the bunch.
"Become stronger, Milo. Stronger than everything and anything that might endanger you or your loved ones. Anything short of that is leaving your fate for others to decide" She answered simply, as if it were easy. My fists clenched, even more frustrated. With the world, for how brutal it was; with my situation, and how unfair it was; but mostly, with my own weakness to do anything about any of it.
But that didn't mean I refuted her words. No. They rang true; no one said taking your destiny into your own hands could be done in an afternoon.
I stayed silent for a while, digesting her words, before I finally replied.
"I understand what you are saying, Lux, I really do. But how would I go about doing that? I'm just a normal human, but I'm up against immortal beings; Devils, Fallen Angels, Dragons, and even other humans who were probably leagues above me in every aspect. I don't even know how I even compare against beings like that."
I could clearly hear the exasperation in her answer, "You might not realize this yet, partner, but you are not normal by any definition of the word." She started.
"From what I saw of your memories, the speed at which you learned the Magics you know, or the capacity of your Magic itself, is nothing short of prodigious, and that's even before you awakened me, and your Sacred Gear. I'm assuming some part of my nature has leaked into you since your birth here, which would explain how you progressed so quickly, but that pales to what will be able to do now."
Her answer gave me pause. 'Prodigious?' I thought, trying to evaluate what I actually learned through the years.
"What do you mean by prodigious, Lux? I know you said I could be compared to a baby dragon in Magic Power, but that doesn't particularly give me a point of reference. And I somewhat doubt the mere decade I spent learning magic, no matter how overzealous I was during it, would make stand equal to immortal beings, ones who had spent centuries, if not longer, learning and growing in strength."
The dragon was silent for a moment before she spoke again, "Milo. I don't want you to take what I'm about to say as arrogance in my race but know this." She started "A dragon is an apex existence since the moment they are born."
"An infant dragon, barely a few years old, could easily wipe out a legion of Low-level Devils, dozens of Mid-level Devils, or even contend with a High-class one," Luxara said and continued.
"You, while having the capacity of one, are not a baby dragon. You are much more than that. First, baby dragons are generally stupid, and would go and try to fight anything in their path, often leading to their deaths when they face opponents stronger than them." She said, and I could almost feel her shaking her head at that.
"Second, even the ones who don't get themselves killed, aren't particularly keen on strengthing themselves other than a most natural way to them. Sitting on their asses all day and growing in strength simply by growing up. No matter what anyone else tells you, know this, 99.9% are lazy bums." She said with a hint of annoyance.
"And finally, baby dragons aren't proficient in nearly two dozen schools of Magic like you do, now do they? In fact, I doubt there are many beings out there, Dragons, humans, or anything else, that have that much grasp on so many schools of Magic. Your Magical prowess is nothing to scoff at, partner. If I were to rank you compared to Devils, you would easily beat a High-class Devil. Of course, that was before you awakened me."
"A High-class Devil, huh? What rank were those two? Did you feel out their strength?" I asked, curious. I knew High-Class Devils to be quite strong, although there were still Devils leagues above them.
"Both of the girls were High-class devils. But being Heiresses to two of the strongest houses of the Underworld, I would imagine them to be a cut above the rest. But still, I doubt either of them would be capable of taking you down easily, if at all,"
"I see. But you know, I'm still not convinced about being at the same level as them, but let's put that thought on hold." I started as a slight tone of worry entered my voice. "Mom is taking surprisingly long to come back. It's already been thirty minutes since she left. She said she was going to get me food, but I doubt she would need that much time to do so"
"It's good to be humble sometimes, Milo, as overestimating yourself can lead to brutal consequences. But it's okay when you leave the hospital, we will do... uh, a Training Montage? Am I using that term right? I have gleaned it from your previous memories. Anyway, we will do that and get to you understand your powers better, and to get a better handle on your Sacred Gear." Luxara said, her mention of 'training montages' brought a slight smile to my face.
"On the topic of your mother being late, I do agree. You have mostly recovered your powers now, and the Sacred Gear would not have let you waste away even if you were in a coma for a couple of days, so you should be still physically fit. Perhaps you can contact her using your 'phone' thingy?" Luxara suggested.
I looked around for my phone but quickly remembered I was in the shower before I was brought here. My mom hadn't left my side since we got here, so I doubted she would have had the chance, nor a reason, to bring it with her.
I decided to go and look for her myself, as the more I thought about it, the more worried I became. I winced as I started removing the many electrodes glued to my chest.
A pit started to form in my stomach the longer I took to remove them, as a gut feeling that something dire had happened to my mother overtook me. I started taking them off faster, and when I was finished with them, I started removing the IV needle. I was nearly frantic at this point and was fumbling with the device, so I yanked out roughly, leaving a trail of blood on my arm and droplets of blood sprayed on the sheets of the bed as I hurriedly got out of the bed.
Leaving the room, I quickly spotted a nurse and sped toward him.
"Hey, you! Where would someone go to get food in here?" I asked, my voice hurried. The nurse was startled, but he pointed me in the direction of the food distribution area before he started asking me to get back to my room and rest, but I was already gone by that point, speed-walking toward it.
Upon reaching there, I saw a line of fifteen people in front of a small window, but my mother wasn't among them.
I rushed to the front, ignoring the many complaints about cutting into the line as I talked to the worker handing out the food through the window.
"Did a woman with black hair and green eyes, wearing a white dress shirt and blue jeans come through here?" My voice was nearly a shout as I described my mother, as panic no doubt filled my face.
The worker reared back but quickly shook his head with a muttered "No."
'Fuckfuckfuckfuck...' My mind started to race as I hurried to the reception area I passed while coming here and received another "no" when I described my mother to the receptionist and asked her if she saw her leaving, or at all, for that matter.
Luxara was saying something, but I was too busy sprinting from room to room in the hospital, searching for her.
At one point, some guards seemed to have been alerted of me frantically going around the hospital and tried to stop me, but I rushed past them so fast that both of them were pushed to the ground.
I searched every single room and area in the hospital and even checked outside of it in the parking lot, but she was nowhere in sight.
I crumbled to my knees as strength started to drain from me.
My mother was gone.
And with this, I will be going on a small break, a week or less, where I stock up on more chapters. I might release something before the week ends if I get too impatient, but I will try to hold myself back, lol.
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