106)Recovery & New Faces

Rias sighed as she & her fellow King Sona sat in the lobby of Serafall Memorial Hospital, frowning as she watched the three Queens that were also Isaiah's beloveds pacing around.

“Akeno, Tsubaki, Kuroka. I know you three are anxious, but you need to sit down lest you upset the doctors trying to walk past you to work.” She spoke and smiled softly as her Queen sighed before nodding as she sat down next to her, Kuroka groaning while Tsubaki frowned at her King's concerned look before they nodded & sat down besides them.

“We know. It's just…I can't sit still knowing that his life hangs by a thread.”

“It's Isa. We both know he'll be up & fighting in just a few days. What we have to worry about, though, is his mental health.”

“You mean the possibility of trauma?” Tsubaki asked, her frown deepening as Sona nodded while speaking up.

“Yes. Isaiah was stuck with the most vile & ruthless beings currently in our world and you all saw how he looked when we rescued him. He was tortured, plain & simple. He's not going to be the same person after it.”

“We know…and we're prepared for that, right?” Kuroka said while looking at her fellow Queens, who smiled & nodded.

“Right.”

“Without a doubt.”

“Glad to hear that you're all doing much better now.” Sirzechs spoke with a smile as he walked through the sliding doors, the girls surprised to see Yeshua & Azazel trailing in after him.

“My lords! What brings you here?” Rias asked as she stood up & gave a bow, Sirzechs chuckling as he waved her for to sit down while Azazel answered with a shrug.

“Why wouldn't we visit the objective of our mission? The entire operation was to get him back, right?”

“R-Right, stupid question, but are you sure you three should be gone while the other leaders would want a meeting?”

“That's actually why we're here. They want to hold meeting, but Lord Odin & Lord Zeus only want to do it when Isaiah is capable of delivering his report on what he saw in the base. We know it's too much to ask, but unfortunately, the enemy copied his memories & skills so we need to make sure we keep the upper hand.”

“Heiress Gremory, are you he-Ah, I see you've brought Lord Lucifer along with a few of the other lords of our alliance group as well. Wonderful.” Lord Sitri spoke with a smile as he walked out from the left hallway, noting how everyone looked concerned at the blood on the front of his coat before waving their concerns away with a smile.

“Do not worry. This is the blood of one of the nurses when they tried to take Gram from Isaiah before we did surgery. Let's just say the blade does not like anyone other than Isaiah touching it.

“And what of Isaiah? Is he okay?” Akeno asked, everyone looking just as concerned & nervous before letting out relieved sighs as Lord Sitri smiled & nodded.

“It was touch & go even with the Phenex Tears, especially since it looked like he was kept near potent holy aura for the entirety of his stay, but we managed to get most of the damage away. Unfortunately…”

“Unfortunately?” Rias asked with a frown and Lord Sitri gave a sad smile & shook his head before gesturing for them to follow.

“You'll all have to see for yourself. Follow me & I'll take you to his room.”

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A sigh escaped my lips as I laid on my hospital bed, the pain from the surgery & the torturous time under Rizevim being heavily dulled by what was probably tons of morphine while Gram pulsed happily with energy as it floated besides me.

Normally, I would be too, but as half of my vision was nothing more than a black abyss filled with static & shifting air currents, I sighed once more & reached up with my right hand to feel at the eyepatch covering my missing right eye.

'A mixture of Hydra Venom, Yamata no Orochi's poison and the soul-devouring mist of Nidhoggr, huh?' I thought with a frown as I remembered the diagnosis that was given by Lord Sitri, who looked just as surprised as I did when he tried using four Phenex Tears to fix my eye only for them all to be completely nullified.

'Hah, I guess this is war. No victory is going to be achieved without a few sacrifices.'I thought with a sigh as I slowly sat up, wincing with each movement as the holy energy from Azi Dahaka's seals were still slowly being devoured by my own & Gram's demonic energy.

However, as I finally managed to get my back against the headboard, I blinked as the door opened, watching as Lord Sitri walked in only to surprised to see me smiling & waving.

“…I thought I told you to lie down.”

“Got bored of that.” I answered with a shrug before my eyes widened as I saw a familiar & comforting face peek in from under his arm, a smile appearing on my face as Akeno rushed out from under him & enveloped me in a tight hug.

“You are never putting me through that stress again, you hear me?!” She sobbed/ whispered as she hugged me tight and despite the pain from both of us aggravating my wounds, I couldn't help myself from chuckling as I nodded & pulled her up onto the bed next to me.

“I promise, love.” I whispered before smiling as two more pair of arms appeared around me, making sure that Tsubaki & Kuroka was comfortable before I hugged them as well.

“I have to admit that we expected you to still be out like a light. It has only been a week since we rescued you.”

“Damn, that long, huh?” I asked before wincing as Gram poked my arm with its hilt, glaring at the sword while softly rubbing the sore arm.

“Right, wrong choice of words.”

“Eh, the alternative is you still being tortured or death, so a joke is needed.” Yeshua said with a nod & a smile before blinking as the girls all glared at him, Rias giggling as Sona just shook her head.

“That was a poor choice of words, brother…and that's coming from me, the guy known for poor word choices.” Azazel said with a smirk as he patted his brother's shoulder, who simply blinked before realizing what he said & giving an apologetic smile.

“I apologize for that. It came out wrong.”

“I understand what you mean, Lord Yeshua. It's quite all right.” I said before flinching slightly at his name, the other devils flinching as well as Azazel smirked and Yeshua smiled & shook his head.

“Please, like I said, Christ is quite all right.”

“Very well, Lord Christ.” I nodded before turning as Sirzechs cleared his throat.

“While I do love you catching up and we know that this is wrong to do at the time, we have some questions for you if you're willing to answer them.”

“Well, I could just go back to sleep, but I also need to keep my mind ready so fire at me.” I answered, rubbing Akeno's hand as she looked at me with a concerned look before chuckling as she rolled her eyes & nodded with a sigh.

“Fine, but just a few and then you need to rest.”

“Of course, dear.” I said, making her huff before I turned to a chuckling Sirzechs who nodded and looked at Azazel who cleared his throat.

“Firstly, did they tell you anything of where their next point of attack would be?”

“None, whatsoever. Whenever I wasn't kept sedated to make sure I didn't listen in on anything, I was placed in a bath of diluted holy water to make sure I didn't notice nothing other than pain.” I answered, not missing the girls' flinches and Lord Sitri & Sirzechs frowning at my words as Azazel nodded.

“Okay, what about names? Do you have names of who were there?”

“Rizevim Livan Lucifer, Apophis in the body of Euclid Lucifuge, Azi Dahaka in the body of Merlin who is a descendant of Merlin himself, Crom Cruach himself, Nidhoggr in the body of Siegfried who is a biological clone of Siegfried, Ladon in the body of this guy called Masaomi and Grendel in the body of a Fallen Angel with ten wings who I assumed to be Satanael. There was Yamata no Orochi also who was in the body of Creuserey Asmodeus, but he got killed by Crom Cruach for speaking out of turn.”

“…That is a lot more than we expected and it fits with the descriptions that were given to us by the other fighters. Also, Grendel was defeated & killed by Lord Zeus & Ajuka so we can scratch him off the list.” Sirzechs spoke and Azazel nodded as he drew a line on the notepad in his grasp before grinning as he nodded.

“Well, this just helps us out a lot.”

“Glad to hear it. So, are there any other questions?”

“Just one. Do you feel like you might be missing some memories? Like someone went into your head & took a few of them.” The Fallen's question confused and I blinked as my mind instantly ran through every memory that I could think of before I frowned & shook my head.

“No, everything seems to be in place.”

“Think more to the memories of your skills & such.”

“Okay.” I nodded as I reached up & grasped Gram, rolling my wrist a few times and adjusting my grip constantly on the blade before frowning slightly as I stabbed the air in front of me.

“Nope, everything is okay her-Wait, you keep referring to memories. Did something happen to them?” I asked with a frown and Azazel scratched the back of his head as Yeshua sighed & nodded.

“Yes, when we were about to face off against Azi Dahaka & Crom Cruach, the dragon occupying Merlin's body…made clones of you & they used some of your attacks to block us from stopping them before they could teleport. Azi Dahaka also told us to thank you for the memories & the skills since they'll be a nice addition to his arsenal.”

“…Hah, fuck.” I grumbled, Azazel nodding in agreement before turning as Sirzechs spoke up.

“Indeed, but you must not worry about that right now. Now, you need to rest and relax for the foreseeable future until we call upon you and even then, it won't be anytime soon.”

“I understand.” I nodded and he smiled before turning to Rias.

“Make sure he doesn't go anywhere or try to sneak out.”

“Oh, I won't have to do that.” She spoke with a smile while pointing at us and Sirzechs finally noticed Kuroka lying on my legs while both Tsubaki & Akeno had an arm each trapped in their tight embrace as well as my amused smile as the three girls nodded.

“Ah…well, we have nothing to worry about again.”

“Lucky bastard.”

“Jealousy makes you nasty.” Azazel responded to my words with a simple middle finger as he walked out, Lord Sitri & Yeshua shaking their heads as they walked out while Sirzechs simply gave us a wave before following after them.

“So, what now?” I asked while looking at them, to which Rias simply snorted as the Gremory crest appeared under her & the Sitri crest under Sona.

“We'll go & tell everyone that you're okay. Ladies, remember to make sure…”

“That he does not go anywhere. You can count on us, Rias.” Kuroka spoke with a smile and the two nodded before they vanished, leaving the four of us alone in the room as I sighed & laid my head back.

“So…what do we do now?”

“Nothing. We are sleeping.” Akeno whispered as she wrapped my arm around her, Tsubaki doing the same while we just gave Kuroka deadpan stares as she spun around & laid her head on my thigh.

“What? You two both get the chest so I get the thighs. That's how the system works, doesn't it?”

“You're lucky Serafall isn't here or else-!”

“I'm taking the other thigh!” Serafall exclaimed as she burst through the door, the girls giving me stares and I gave a sheepish grin as the magical girl rushed over & lied down right next to Kuroka.

“…Yeah, that might have been my fault.”

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“Boss!” I wheezed as Issei & Saji jumped onto me with ecstatic smiles the moment we stepped out of the teleportation crests, groaning as Samson followed up & picked up all three of us in a tight hug.

“Glad to see…you guys too…but…still…injured!” I wheezed before gasping in relief as Samson quickly placed us all down with a sheepish smile, Issei & Saji having the same smile on their faces as I gulped up air while smiling at them.

“Thanks for the warm welcome, guys.”

“Hehe~ Just happy to see you, boss.” Issei said with a grin and I rolled my eyes before smiling as Valerie & Meredith pushed through to hug me.

“You two manage to hold the fort down?” I asked and Valerie simply smiled & rolled her eyes while Meredith gave a teary laugh & nodded.

“It was a struggle, but we did.”

“Good. I hope the security runes worked as they should?” I said/ asked as I looked at Valerie, smiling happily as she nodded.

“Yes, they worked fantastic. The recognition runes you suggested worked perfectly with the presence repellent runes and we have even managed to catch a few spies in our midst.”

“Nice. Very Nice. What of Kuoh Town? Any complications there?” I asked while looking at Meredith, who grinned & shook her head.

“None at all. The barrier around the town worked as intended & kept out any that does not wear the bracelet or have the Azathoth recognition crest on their wrist.”

“Well, we're going to have to make a few changes. According to Sirzechs, my memories got stolen by Azi Dahaka so he probably has the runic key as well.”

“No working, remember?” Akeno spoke up with a frown and I chuckled & shook my head.

“I'm not going to. Val & Meri are skilled so I know they'll do a fantastic job, right ladies?”

“That's correct. Do not worry, Akeno. We would have stopped him if he tried helping regardless if he wants to or not.”

“See, now that's just mean.” I said with a frown, to which Valerie simply smirked as the others laughed while I looked around before blinking as I noticed one missing.

“Wait, where's Bardou? I didn't leave him in Kyoto, right?” I asked with a panicked look before narrowing my gaze as they all glanced at each other with smirks.

“Well, about that…”

“Right here, Master.” Bardy's voice came from the front entrance and I turned around only to surprised by three things that I noticed as soon as he stepped out.

The first was the fact that he was in his bipedal lycan form, his signature flame wisps wrapped around his neck like scarf while his nails were slightly duller than usual.

The second was the gold & black kimono he was wearing on his body, the black & red haori around his shoulders looking pretty good with his build as a snarling red fox with nine tails could be seen on the front of his kimono with its tails wrapping around the top.

The third thing, however, was the sight of a smiling Yasaka linking her arms with his arm & resting her head on his shoulder while he carried a smiling Kunou in his free arm.

“Hello, Isaiah! Lovely to see you again!” Kunou greeted with a happy smile and I could only give a slow wave back as my brain rebooted.

“…You lucky bastard!”

“That's what we said!”

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“Damned peasant-blood bastards!” Rizevim roared as he threw a boulder deep into the sky, Crom Cruach looking just as disgruntled as he leaned against a tree while the other Evil Dragons decided to simply stay silent.

“We had them! We had them and then…that bastard Loki betrayed us! Not just that, but our own leader decided to be a little bitch and turn her back on us! 'You betrayed the organization' my fucking ass! They should just admit they're too scared to fight Great Red & be done with it!” The devil growled as his silver demonic energy tore at the ground before he spun around as Apophis cleared his throat.

“What?!”

“We still have the memories of Isaiah Azathoth.”

“Argh, what do they even matter? Even if we have them, that idiot there decided to tell them about it and now, they've probably already changed every password & runic key that he knew about.” Rizevim said while nodding to Azi Dahaka, who frowned as Nidhoggr smirked & Ladon sighed.

“At least we have his memories of his training so we know the skills of those that trained with him as well as what weapons they may have hidden.” Ladon spoke up and Rizevim gritted his teeth as he stomped at the ground.

“You idiots don't understand! It's not about his goddamned memories or what skills he knows! We were going to infiltrate Kuoh Town using his memories because the town has Valerie Tepes & Valerie Tepes has the Longinus Sephiroth Graal. Not just the Longinus, but a Subspecies of it that's far more powerful than its original form. We wouldn't even have needed his memories if we had taken her from a young age like I suggested, but no~ You dimwits wanted to fight with power instead of skill and now the entirety of the world is against us.”

“Rizevim, I know you are frustrated, but watch how you speak to us.” Crom spoke up with a frown, which the other dragons mirrored as the devil spun around & glared at them.

“Or what, you fucking lizards?” He growled and the dragons all sneered as Ladon frowned.

'He's lost his mind.'

“Now, now, Rize. There's no need to get yourself killed.” An elegant voice spoke from the shadows and everyone instantly went on guard as they turned to where the voice came from.

Rizevim frowned as he glared into the darkness before his eyes widened as a smirking figure walked out, his shock disappearing & being replaced by ecstasy as he grinned & raised an eyebrow.

“I did not think you would still be alive, you little shit.”

“Oh, please. My death was greatly exaggerated. Now, what's this I hear about you fighting against the world?”

A/N: And a new player enters the board!!

Honestly, I did not think the story would be going on for this long nor have I figured out the next arc, but now I do.

Who that figure is…we'll have to wait & see.

Also, Bardou got himself a girlfriend and you'll have to wait for next week to find out just how he did it.

As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one…

Ba-bye~!!