Akeno barely had any time to process everything before the sounds of hearts being ripped out rang all around her along with the screams of several men. Yet that barely lasted a few seconds before the forest suddenly quietened down.


    Then, she heard the nickname she thought she would never hear again.


    “Little chick. I never thought we would meet like this.”


    .


    |DxD|


    .


    Igor’s right hand was covered in blood right up to his elbow. The right side of his coat (haori) was covered in patches of blood with the highest concentration being on the sleeves. As it was, the blonde was still holding a beating heart in his hand when he turned towards Akeno.


    Igor had a somewhat awkward smile on his face. He wouldn’t be surprised if she was frightened by his current bloody appearance. But he couldn’t help it. When he first arrived here, he was unable to restrain his rage and directly ripped out the hearts of each and every hunter he saw.


    It didn’t help that he was holding a heart right now. Upon noticing that, he quickly threw it away with a chuckle.


    “Hehe…I wonder what that was.”


    He was silently hoping that with her age, Akeno would have no clue what a heart was. But contrary to expectations, Akeno didn’t run away screaming.


    In fact, she ran towards him with watery eyes.


    “Big brother!”


    The little fallen didn’t care that Igor was covered in blood or had held a heart in his hand. She was just relieved to be safe.


    After all she had been through, the only thing she cared about was that she finally had a shoulder to cry on. It didn’t matter if the shoulder was stained a bit with a unique red dye.


    Pressing herself against his stomach, she let out all the sadness she felt in her heart.


    “Hik hik…b-brother…hik-”


    Akeno was silenced by the blonde scooping her up into his arms. He pressed her head into his chest, not caring at all for the sudden wetness. He held her like this in silence for a few seconds, a silent reassurance that everything was alright. Akeno had been through a lot and for a girl who had her first life-threatening experience, she was taking it relatively well, though she would still need that bit of comfort.


    Yet as much as Igor wanted to stay like this, he still had to find Shuri. He wasn’t able to sense her whereabouts due to abandoning his search and teleporting over to Akeno. Every moment he spent staying with her could lead to greater danger for Shuri.


    So, he reluctantly had to inform Akeno of his departure.


    “Little chick. I’m going to send you to a safe place now-”


    “NO! Don’t leave! PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME!”


    Akeno wasn’t having it. She wrapped her arms around his neck and tightened her legs around his stomach. With her current grip, even a full-grown man would wince at this sudden bear hug.


    But all Akeno wanted was not to be sent away. The last thing she wanted was for Igor, one of the very few people she trusted to leave her alone. She looked into his eyes, her own eyes misty.


    Her lips were trembling, the little fallen doing her best not to cry her little heart out.


    “Please…”


    Igor smiled lightly, stroking her hair in the process. He could feel her body trembling in fright. It only made him wish he hadn’t killed the hunters so quickly. The fact that the Himejima could do something like this made him swear to himself that he would repay this grievance.


    Igor would never claim to be a saint. But even he couldn’t bring himself to kill an innocent child. The flawed logic of the Himejima clan only served to further stroke his urge to pay them a visit. But right now, he had to calm the little fallen that had glued herself to him.


    So, holding Akeno tightly, he offered her reassurance.


    “Alright.”


    Akeno didn’t reply, but Igor could feel the grip around his neck lessen while her trembling started to cease. At the same time, he lightly chopped the back of her neck, knocking her unconscious.


    Feeling her body go limp against him, he smiled sadly.


    “Sorry, little chick. But I still need to go find your mother. Then we can have some roast chicken tonight.”


    Placing two fingers to his forehead, he vanished.


    Tswii!


    .


    |DxD|


    .


    Cleria was gently rubbing the back of Masaomi who was mourning the loss of his comrades. Shortly after Igor had vanished, Masaomi had come back to normal. The aura around him had ceased and his mental acuity gradually returned.  When he finally regained complete clarity, he immediately fell down on his knees and bowed his head on the ground.


    It seemed he was oblivious to Cleria’s presence since for the last minute, he kept muttering “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” repeatedly. Cleria could only silently offer her support while a bit of guilt rose within her. Although her reasons were justified, it did not change that deaths occurred in her territory. The fact that the Himejima were able to infiltrate would leave a stain on her record that had remained clean for the last several decades. It was also a complete possibility that she would be replaced by someone else after this.


    As the overseer of Kuoh, people would view her as incompetent without understanding the reasons why. She could already imagine the fuss this would cause were this incident to get out. Her mind had already went through several different outcomes, especially after Igor’s little ‘stunt’. The amount of work she would have after this would be tremendous. Unfortunately, her peerage was still in the Underworld so she was temporarily alone for damage control.


    She had left without her peerage after hearing Masaomi’s wish to see her through the flier she had given him shortly before her departure to the Underworld. It was an extra counter-measure she had set up just in case a diplomatic incident occurred and she was needed urgently.


    Looking back on it now, she severely wanted to scold Masaomi for not calling her earlier. In fact, she could already imagine that with how air-headed he was, the man had even forgotten that he had her flier.


    But, she couldn’t focus on that now. Her job right now was to provide comfort and support to Masaomi. She couldn’t truly sympathise with his loss, but she could at the very least offer her full attention. Other things like how Masaomi didn’t feel like a devil and why Hauteclere wasn’t burning his hand could be theorised later. And so the seconds stretched on as Masaomi’s mutters grew silent.


    The silence stretched on and would’ve stretched for longer were it not for Igor suddenly appearing.


    Tswii!


    ““?!””


    Both Cleria and Masaomi were surprised. The latter had immediately placed Cleria behind him with a wary expression on his face. Masaomi didn’t know Igor, but he could feel his strength. The only reason he hadn’t attacked or even showed hostility was because the blonde was carrying Akeno in his arms. That made Masaomi not regard him as an enemy…yet.


    He had just lost his best friend and his comrades less than thirty minutes ago due to his incompetence. He could not risk things and lose Cleria as well, otherwise he might really lose his mind and lose his will to live.


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    But Igor wasn’t paying attention to Masaomi. He had no knowledge nor care for what happened. He could guess what had happened, but everyone in the area besides Cleria was unrelated to him.


    So rather than show nonexistent concern, he cut to the chase.


    “Sister Cleria. Can you take care of Akeno for me?”


    Igor didn’t even wait for a response before he instantly closed the few metres between them.


    “?!”


    Cleria was startled again by his insane speed. She still hadn’t gotten used to how he could so easily evade her perception. But the moment Igor gestured for her to take Akeno, she opened her arms to scoop the little lass. Akeno was peacefully sleeping with light breaths coming out of her little mouth. Her wings had retracted and the hole in her arm had stopped bleeding.


    Igor didn’t dawdle too long either. The moment Cleria took Akeno, he had spread his senses. After his initial burst of ki, the barrier surrounding the forest as well as the town had all been destroyed by the shockwave. So it didn’t take him long to find Shuri.


    The only problem was, her lifeforce was weak.


    “Aunty!”


    Tswii!


    ““...””


    The three of them were once left alone. But while Cleria was focused on Akeno, Masaomi was still awestruck. The speed Igor had shown, while having scared him, also brought him hope.


    [He’s fast…faster than him.]


    A smile formed on Masaomi’s face, a sense of relief flooding his body.


    .


    |DxD|


    .


    Igor was silent, his fist clenched tightly in bubbling rage. Right in front of him laid Shuri who was on the verge of death. Her arms and legs were strewn about in odd directions. Her nightwear was torn and bloodied, revealing just how crushed her midsection was.


    To her side laid the corpse of Masaru. A large chunk of his neck had been bitten and it could be seen that he died from blood loss. The hulking behemoth of a man was dead, the gaping wound serving as confirmation. It was Shuri’s accomplishment that she who could barely qualify as a proper high class managed to fell a god class.


    Shuri seemed to spot Igor’s gaze and chuckled lightly.


    “Not bad for an aunty like me. Right, Dimori-kun?”


    “...”


    Igor didn’t find her joke funny. It wasn’t funny at all. She was lying here on the ground in a critical state, her lifeforce nearing its end. There was no hospital in the world that could save her, but he remembered Asia.


    With sparks of hope lighting up in his eyes, Igor knelt down to Shuri with a smile as bright as the sun.


    “Aunty! There’s a way to save you. I have a little sister who has the Twilight Healing. If I can bring her here-”


    “Dimori-kun.”


    “-(then) she can definitely heal you, aunty! I’ll go get her right now-”


    “Dimori-kun.”


    “Huh?”


    Igor looked at Shuri with a worried, yet impatient gaze. Time was ticking and the blonde didn’t want to delay things any longer. The sooner he brought Asia, the sooner she could heal Shuri. The option of teleporting Shuri to Asia was out of question. For Igor to teleport with someone, it involved him channeling a bit of his ki into and around them so that they would be able to teleport with him. And that was where the problem lied.


    The last thing Igor ever wanted to do was compromise Shuri’s condition even further by channeling his ki into her. It was a risk he wasn’t willing to take, especially when it was unnecessary. All it would take is a second or two and he would be back with Asia. But just because he would be quick didn’t mean he wanted to delay things.


    So he looked at Shuri with a questioning gaze, almost silently begging her to say her words so that he could go.


    Yet contrary to his expectations, Shuri asked a question that threw Igor completely out of the loop.


    “How is Akeno?”


    “???”


    Igor’s face scrunched up in confusion.


    “Aunty. This isn’t the time for this. You’ll see Akeno yourself when you’re all nice and patched up.”


    But Shuri relented..


    “Dimori-kun. How is Akeno?”


    This time, a bit of anger and irritation displayed on Igor’s face.


    “Aunty! This isn’t the time! Just wait for me to come back, alright? Sia can definitely save you.”


    In response to Igor’s words, Shuri shook her head with a sad smile.


    “It’s too late, Dimori-kun. Not even a phoenix tear managed to save me-”


    “BULLSHIT-”


    He saw it. Right in her hand was an empty vial. It was an empty vial, but it shattered every single hope Igor had.


    “W-w-what?”


    It was terribly unfortunate. Too much time had passed since Shuri had killed Masaru. In turn, she suffered several broken bones, including her ribs. Those very ribs were caved in and had dug into several of her organs. As it stood, her organs were failing one after the other and internal bleeding had caused massive complications to her body. The fact that she was still alive was a miracle in of itself, yet that wouldn’t be true for long. Shuri knew this and was well aware that she was far beyond saving.


    When she killed Masaru, her wounds were beyond repair. She couldn’t risk letting go of the man’s neck to quickly gulp down a phoenix tear. And when Masaru finally died, her condition was far beyond saving.


    So in her last moments, she repeated her earlier question.


    “Dimori-kun. How is my daughter?”


    Her voice was weak, a consequence of using up too much of her strength to talk. Her lifeforce was like a candle in the wind, something that could be easily snuffed out.


    As for Igor, he was still silent. In truth, he had felt that Shuri’s situation was terrible yet he clung onto the hope of bringing Asia. But when Shuri even brought up the failure of the phoenix tears, his hope was replaced by grief, his smile replaced by tears.


    Igor looked at Shuri through gradually misting eyes, the reality of the situation burying itself in his heart.


    “She’s alright, aunty. I left her with Sister Cleria.”


    “Oh…that’s goo-”


    “But she still needs you, Aunty!”


    Igor pleaded desperately. He couldn’t bring himself to accept such a situation. He had trained for years and possessed immense strength. It did not make sense to him that despite being this powerful, some low-grade clan from Kyoto was able to (mentally) harm him like this.


    So he looked deep into Shuri’s eyes, the clear unwillingness to accept the truth in his eyes.


    “You can’t leave yet, aunty. You can’t! You just can’t!!!”


    “...”


    Igor’s words caused tears to start forming in Shuri’s eyes. She tried her best to pass on with a smile, yet Igor’s words shattered her facade like a sledgehammer to glass.


    Her body began trembling, the fear she buried deep within resurfacing.


    “I’m…afraid.”


    She was afraid of no longer being able to see her precious people. She was afraid of what would happen after this. She was afraid of the unknown that faced her. She was afraid of dying. All these uncertainties that she had ignored manifested themselves in that moment.


    She turned her head slightly to look at Igor right in the eyes.


    “I don’t want…to die.”


    She spoke with such heartbreak that Igor felt his own tears stain his cheeks. He grabbed Shuri’s face, clear desperation in his eyes.


    “You won’t die, Aunty. You won’t. You hear me? You won’t!”


    Shuri smiled weakly. She was aware of her situation. Even now, she could feel her lifeforce gradually thin out.


    And so did Igor, yet the blonde refused to accept this.


    “Stay with me, Aunty! Stay with me! PLEASE!!!”


    Shuri could do nothing in front of the blonde’s pleas. Even now, her vision was getting blurrier by the second. She knew she could do nothing. It saddened her that she would never live to see her daughter graduate from high school, go to university, or get married.


    It saddened her that even in her final moments, she couldn’t see her beloved husband whom she loved with her entire being. She didn’t blame him. She knew that if he was aware of what was happening, he would be the first person to rush back here. Yet, she truly did wish that when she died, it would be when her hair had greyed.


    Her tears poured out, her body’s last will to respond to its owner’s emotions.


    “Hug me…Igor.”


    Igor could feel it. Her lifeforce had thinned considerably and could vanish within the next few seconds. It hurt him. It hurt him so deep inside that he couldn’t do anything.


    So he hugged her. He laid his head on her chest, his arm gently grasping her sides. He could feel her heart beating slower by the second, her breaths slowing. His tears spilled onto her chest, his heart aching every time her heartbeat slowed. He could do nothing to stop the inevitable. It was happening right before his very eyes. He was witnessing the person he had slowly come to love and cherish as a mother pass on.


    Since he couldn’t stop it, he could at the very least say what he had always wished to say.


    “I love you, aunty. When I was alone in this world, you and the old man took me in, gave me food, and showed me care. You showed me what it was like to have a family again…and a mother.”


    “...”


    Shuri couldn’t reply. Her smile was so joyous that tears came out of her eyes. It was a warm smile, one that elicited a smile from the blonde too.


    Shuri gazed warmly at Igor, her gaze full of motherly love.


    “Thank…you…son.”


    Silence…


    That tiny trace of lifeforce that she had vanished like a candle in a wind. Her head tilted limply to the side, her eyes closed with a smile. She passed away peacefully with a loved one by her side. Her silent complaints and grievances had vanished with just Igor’s presence. In that very moment, there was nothing more that Shuri could’ve ever asked for.


    But Igor couldn’t accept it.


    “Aunty…”


    Couldn’t believe it.


    “AUNTY!!!!”


    Tears of grief and anguish spilled like a torrent, the pain in his heart multiplying tenfold. He shook Shuri’s corpse like a madman, hoping to hear even a yelp of pain from her. Yet Shuri remained still, that very same motherly smile remaining on her face. It was like the final nail in the coffin that drove the reality into Igor’s head, that Shuri was dead.


    Igor gripped his head in panic, his eyes wide open as he truly processed everything.


    “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”


    The overwhelming grief threatened to crush him. His wails of anguish were muted by the forest, almost as if it wanted to give him his privacy to grieve. And grieve he did. Knelt next to Shuri’s body, Igor wept continuously. His tears came out like waves that refused to stop. The minutes passed by as Igor grieved next to Shuri, his hands desperately gripping the fabric of her clothing like an anchor.


    His wails were replaced by sobs and his sobs by silent tears. This was reality and acceptance. Shuri had died and he couldn’t stop it. He was silently blaming himself for his weakness, his error of getting sidetracked.


    But worst of all, he blamed the clan responsible for all of this.


    *Tremble* *Tremble* *Tremble* *Tremble* *Tremble*


    The ground began to shake as the blonde stood, a heavy pressure descending upon the entirety of Japan. His power was skyrocketing, yet no aura was emanating from him. His head was lowered, his fists clenched tightly yet no sound coming from his mouth.


    Igor looked at Shuri’s corpse for a good ten seconds before he finally…lost it.


    “HIIIMEEEJIIIMAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!”


    .


    AN


    .


    If you’re interested in reading ahead, here’s the link:  <u>[email protected]/HolyGambler</u></a>


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