DxD 0167: Complications in the Adoption
In the Gremory castle’s ballroom,
While Abaddon was busy poaching another of Vali Team’s members, the ballroom was in complete havoc.
“I object to your decision, you senile old man,” A young, handsome man with slightly narrow, sinister eyes spoke. He had three blue jewels embedded in his forehead.
“We seem to have a rare guest here today,” Azazel said with an amused look. “This should be fun.”
“I am Loki, the Norse God of Mischief,” The man spoke. “Greetings.”
“Loki-dono,” Sirzechs, as the host of the event, stepped up. “Although you are a god, you have no right to cause mischief here.”
“I do not wish to see Odin, our Allfather, mingle with lesser mythologies. It causes me great discomfort,” Loki said.
“Leave Loki,” Odin said. “If you retreat immediately, I will forgive you for this public affront.”
“Oh, shove it.” Loki snapped at Odin.
“Mind your manners, Loki-sama,” A beautiful young-seeming woman with long white hair stepped up. Wearing a formal full suit, she had an innocent look in her eyes that didn’t match her authoritative words. “You are speaking to your leader, the Allfather.”
“If he chooses to sign an alliance with other mythologies, it will hamper my purpose of bringing Ragnarök to fruition,” Loki said. “I will not allow this.”
“Different words, same purpose,” Azazel spoke up. “Just say you’ve joined the Khaos Brigade and wish to destroy the world. What’s so hard about that?”
“Joined?” Loki scoffed. “No. I am merely working with them because of our alliance and their possession of a certain character who is highly important for my purpose.”
Sirzechs couldn’t help but look to the side, looking for Abaddon who wasn’t there in the room. Unlike the others in the room, he knew that the Khaos Brigade didn’t possess the support of the Infinite Dragon God anymore. ‘I should send Grayfia to look over Abaddon and his group for some time … We cannot allow Ophis to fall into their hands. They are still acting like they have her support to attract people. Once news of her disappearance becomes common knowledge, they should lose most of their supporters. I just make sure that Ophis stays hidden from the world.’ He was making his own plans as Loki summoned Fenrir to the room.
“Come, my beloved son,” A magic circle appeared behind Loki as he summoned a huge wolf that roared, shaking the entire foundations of the room. He snapped as the wolf got into motion, directly attacking the ones closest to it, who were Gasper and Asia.
The wolf’s mere aura was enough to cripple the duo, making it impossible for either of them to make any sort of moves as it approached them. A thick bolt of lightning attacked Fenrir, not even affecting his thick hide. But it was enough to get the wolf’s attention. It turned its head and saw a woman clad in a black yukata. It roared loudly before jumping at Akeno who created multiple circles to block it, but the wolf effortlessly broke through all of them.
“She’s off-limits, dog,” A tall man appeared in Fenrir’s path, throwing a thick bolt of lightning that was mixed with white and gold at Fenrir. The wolf roared, attempting to shrug the attack off, but that was the attack of a Cadre of the Fallen Angels, leagues different from Akeno’s attack. Paralyzing it momentarily, Baraqiel attacked with another bolt of lightning, throwing the wolf at Loki’s feet. Just as it stood back up to roar at them, a green magic circle appeared under both Loki and Fenrir, startling the smug god.
“Beelzebub?!” Loki exclaimed before disappearing alongside his son.
“Are you okay, Akeno?” Baraqiel asked, turning to look at his daughter. She didn’t respond, choosing to look away with a stoic expression. The father sighed tiredly, “I thought training with me for the month would’ve mellowed her out a little …” He turned around, leaving.
…
Abaddon teleported into the emptied ballroom. After Loki’s interruption, the signing had been delayed for later, and almost everyone was already gone.
“Where the hell were you?” Rias asked as she noticed Abaddon.
“Making sure that my pet cat didn’t get stolen by some bad people,” Abaddon said. “Why do you ask?”
“What are you talking about?” Rias finally noticed that Koneko was held up in Abaddon’s arms, curled up closer to him as he held her. “What happened with Koneko?”
“Come on,” Abaddon said, noticing that Sirzechs had called him after the last of the guests were sent to their rooms. He and Rias made their way to him.
“You missed a nice show,” The Maou said.
“It’s fine. Not only did I make sure my pet cat doesn’t get kidnapped, I also decided to adopt a stray,” Abaddon’s words confused all three of the participants in the conversation. “Don’t worry about it. I heard that the duo I fought was here to escort Loki. What’s the deal with that?”
“So that’s how he got into the Underworld,” Sirzechs nodded.
“Who did you fight?” Rias couldn’t help but ask.
“Kuroka and the Monkey King.”
“Wait, stray …” Sirzechs narrowed his eyes. “Are you sheltering an SS-class-rated criminal of the underworld, Abaddon?”
“Of course not,” Abaddon said. “It’s just a random stray cat that I’ve decided to adopt. You don’t need to worry about it. In fact, you should promptly forget about this information if possible.”
“The manhunt for Kuroka is still ongoing, Abaddon. It’s not safe to shelter her.”
“Who do you think I am? Some two-bit good guy who is going to fight off the devils that get sent after her? I’ll get the manhunt itself called off. If the Naberius clan doesn’t back off, they’ll have hell to pay.”
“You’re speaking like you are going to get someone else to call the manhunt off,” Sirzechs narrowed his eyes. “You’re going to come to me to get it done, aren’t you?”
“That helps very much, yes,” Abaddon nodded shamelessly. “You can get the manhunt called off. Tell them that Kuroka is now my new rook. And if they decide not to back off, I’m happy to have a rating game with someone of their choice. I’m going to make sure they regret it.”
“How do you even know that it’s the Nebarious clan that has it out for Kuroka?” Sirzechs asked. “It’s not public news.”
“I just asked some of my contacts about her. My fight was over long ago. I came after so long because I was pulling some strings to get information about Kuroka’s exact situation.“
“Abaddon …” Rias pulled his sleeve, making him turn to look at her. “I’m not sure if Koneko will be all right with this. She doesn’t just hate her older sister, but she’s scared of her as well. Koneko has a mental block that makes her completely freeze when it comes to her elder sister.”
“She’ll be fine,” Abaddon shifted his arms a little to keep Koneko stable. “You should’ve seen Kuroka’s face when Koneko ripped her a new one. She literally poured all her frustrations out on her. It was a fun scene, really.”
“All the more reason for Kuroka to stay away from Koneko,” Rias said seriously. “Turning her into your Rook doesn’t seem like the best idea.”
“Rias,” Abaddon looked into his redhead cousin’s eyes. “They aren’t mortal enemies. They’re sisters. Despite their differences, they both care about each other. Plus, I have something very special that Kuroka would be almost perfect for. Making her a member of my peerage will be very beneficial.”
[Abaddon no!] Sirzechs almost screamed telepathically. [You cannot be thinking of extracting Annihilation Maker from Leonardo and giving it to Kuroka. If nothing else, Michael will start another war against the Devils.]
[Let him. The weak-ass angels have nothing on us. I can take Michael.]
[This fucker … That’s not how it works, Abaddon. The Angels have connections with many mythologies. They’ve never been focused on strength, even when the old guy was alive. They have enough connections to call down a legion of gods from multiple pantheons to even out the odds. I will not accept another war.]
[Fine, fine … I won’t give Annihilation Maker to Kuroka without Michael’s explicit permission, okay?]
Sirzechs was tempted to blast his cousin away into the Bael territory.
…
In Abaddon’s house, in one of the many empty bedrooms on the second floor.
A yellow teleportation light flashed and Kuroka, still clad in her revealing yukata and yellow sash, appeared. She curiously looked around, the bell on her choker chiming lightly with each movement of her head. “It doesn’t look like a prison cell. If anything, this place looks downright comfortable. I could just live here for days on end.” The room had everything she thought she would ever need: a TV, a mini-fridge, a comfortable-looking couch, and a second door that presumably led to the bathroom. “The bed looks comfortable as well …”
She walked toward the bed and got rid of her footwear before jumping on it. The bell on her choker started constantly chiming before slowing down as Kuroka splayed herself on the bed. “I can feel a different frequency from this bell. He can probably track my location and even my movements with it …” She spoke to herself, hooking her finger through the material. As she pulled, it stretched for a while before completely hardening, making it impossible for it to be stretched further. She used some of her strength, but it was useless. “I shouldn’t try to break it …”
She got up off the bed and walked to the door, wanting to explore the house that she’d been sent to. “This is the bathroom …” She quickly closed the door, not very interested in bathing in general. Her Senjutsu kept her body perfectly clean at all times, making bathing an unnecessary activity for her.
“Nyaa~” She meowed involuntarily while going through the other door. She started exploring the second floor of the house, quickly realizing that it was all bedrooms. “Just how many bedrooms does one man need, Nyaa~?” She then jumped down from the second floor to the first, not wanting to use the stairs.
“It’s a nice place, really …” She looked around before her eyes focused on a single room. Her extremely high senses had detected another presence in the house. “Is that who I think it is?”
Kuroka walked to the room and was about to open the door, but a sense of danger assaulted her senses, making her yank her hand back from the handle.
‘W-what is going on?’ She said, feeling a sense of threat from within the room. “I should just ignore it and bring my stuff here before Bikou finds Vali … It is going to be much more troublesome to leave then. But I’m curious, Nyaa~” She stomped her foot before knocking on the door. “Anybody in there?”
Soon, the handle to the door turned and Kuroka indeed saw a familiar face. “Ophis …” She said.
“Cat? Why are you here?” Ophis asked. Kuroka suddenly understood the meaning of Abaddon’s cryptic words that he’d whispered in her ear just before teleporting her here.