Chapter 5

  Having finished the cake. Rias sat us down in the ORC clubhouse to discuss the Fallen within Kuoh. The sunlight filtered through the tall, gothic windows, casting long shadows across the mahogany table that suddenly felt more like a war room desk than a place for tea.

  “I have spoken with Sona, and we both agreed that it would be good to go after the Fallen Angels in the abandoned church before they can flee. Kairos already mentioned it to me, and I agree; the Fallen seem to have some agenda in setting their operation in this town specifically. For this reason, we shall go there and capture them if possible.”

  Rias’s expression was uncharacteristically serious, her crimson hair reflecting the dying rays of the sun. She leaned forward, her eyes scanning each of us.

  “Sona will be contacting her sister, and her peerage will stand by as a backup in case things get out of hand."

  “For our part, I decided it will be a good opportunity to get a handle for our two new members on how we fight.”

  “What can we expect in terms of opposition?” asked Kiba, leaning forward in his seat.

  “Ufufu, I look forward to playing with the little crows.” Akeno’s voice held a predatory edge. His smile and seemingly pleasant demeanour not matching her eyes or words, in the least.

  “Aside from the Fallen, there were always exorcists moving about the church.” I explained, trying to remember exactly how many exorcists there were. It was not easy to tell, because they came and went all the time.

  Rias grimaced, her fingers drumming a slow, rhythmic beat against the table. “A stray kind, I assume. Those are always unpleasant to deal with.”

  “Stray?” Asia asked, looking a little uncomfortable.

  “Exorcism is a holy ceremony that is performed in the name of Him. But sometimes, there are exorcists who start to enjoy the act of killing devils. They are beings who have found joy in killing devils or heretics, and it serves as their purpose in life. So they get kicked out from the Church without exception. Or they get erased for being found guilty.”

  "Erased…so they get killed.” To Asia, the Church had been a place of healing; hearing about the darker side of the infallible institution she always perceived it to be must have been hard. It was sometimes hard to decide whether Asia was just a very kind person or a very na?ve one. I liked to think it was the former.

  Rias nodded her head. “But there are those who survive. What do you think happens to those exorcists? Most go to the Fallen Angels, if only to find protection in numbers if nothing else.”

  “… I see,” murmured Asia.

  Rias then turned her attention toward me, her voice shifting into the tone of a teacher. Honestly, she just needed glasses, and she would fit the part. “There is one more thing I wished to discuss with you, Kairos: your status as a pawn piece."

  “Just like in the actual chess game, pawns can change into other classes if they reach the opponent's base. They are able to promote to any other piece besides the king piece. Kairos, when you step foot in the location I acknowledge as “Enemy's base”, you are able to change into any piece besides the King.”

  I nodded at the explanation. I remembered something similar, but it was good to get a refresher course straight from the source.

  “Since it hasn’t been that long since you became a Devil, there are restrictions, so it’s probably still impossible for you to be promoted to the ultimate piece, a Queen. But you could change to other classes. If you wish strongly for promotion within your heart, then there will be a change in your ability.

  I looked around the room; all of Rias’s peerage members were here. I guess they were now my comrades regardless. I remembered some of them came with their own baggage, though I did not remember or know it all, but I knew enough. Might as well be honest with them about my own past. The one I live in this life, of course; there was never any need for anyone to actually know the other past. Let that stay buried.

  So, I took a deep breath and addressed everyone.

  “I would like to thank you all for making Asia and me feel welcome. I have not been a devil for long, but I can tell it has been a good decision.” I took a look around, looking at each of them. “For that reason, I think you deserve to know more about me and what kind of danger I may represent.”

  “You all know Kronos is my father. I would like for this to remain secret as long as possible. I know that at some point it will come out, but I would still like to ensure I get stronger before any repercussions can come up.”

  “Repercussions? But you haven’t done anything bad, Mr Kairos.” Asia, bless her heart, asked that na?ve question.

  “It is not what I have done, Asia; it is who my father is.”

  “There has never been a mortal son of Kronos, as far as I know. I could see Olympus not being happy about it.” Said Rias.

  “Precisely, I do not know how they will react, but I cannot dismiss the possibility of a hostile response to my very existence.”

  “That is not fair, Mr Kairos.”

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "No, Asia, but life rarely is. We can only do our best and soldier on.”

  “We will of course have your back if anything happens; you are now my cute servant. I cannot let anything happen to you.”

  “We got you, sempai."

  I smiled at them; honestly, this was sounding off as a happy-go-lucky anime, but it was very much real. Both their support and what I told them. I cleared my throat to hide my embarrassment. “There is one more thing; it happened when I met my father for the first and the last time.”

  …

  6 years ago

  I dreamt often, and one of the odd things was that I remembered all of my dreams. It was, after all, in dreams that I spoke with Draig the most. It was slowly starting to change; with me getting older and our connection deepening, he was able to reach out to me through my waking hours more easily, but the dreams still remained the place for our long discussions and arguments.

  This was different, because instead of the mental landscape I was used to, the one of white space and occasional fire with a big red dragon featuring prominently, this was something completely different. The ground was jagged dark rock, and the space around me was a dark mist with golden motes of energy floating around me.

  “So, you come before me at last.”

  The voice didn't come from a direction; instead, it reverberated through my very being. I turned, and there was a colossus of shadow and shifting stars, bound by chains of light that pulsed with every word he spoke. He sat upon a throne of jagged obsidian, his face obscured by a veil of falling sand.

  I tried to speak, but no words came out of my mouth.

  "Do not struggle, little mortal," the shadow rumbled. A massive, translucent hand reached out, moving with a strange, stuttering grace—like a video skipping frames. "I am Kronos. The King of Titans. The Harvest. And, through a lapse in the cosmic design that even my father, Ouranos, could not have foreseen, I am the progenitor of the blood you carry."

  Disbelief flooded my brain, and I managed to find my breath. "You're... in Tartarus … imprisoned."

  "I am Tartarus," he corrected, the chains around his form glowing white-hot. "But time is my domain, and even a cage has cracks if you wait an aeon for the metal to fatigue. I cannot leave, but I can reach out. I can pour my bitterness into a vessel. That vessel has begotten you."

  “… What do you want from me?”

  “You overestimate your importance. Your conception was not a thing I have foreseen …”

  “I am not sure I believe that. Are you not Titan of Time?”

  "The future is not a set tapestry; it moves and evolves.”

  “So I was an accident?”

  “Yes, my ability to slip the prison chains makes me no stronger than a human. Yours was a life given to you by lust, nothing more.”

  “Then why do you wish to speak with me?”

  “Listen and listen carefully, mine own progeny, for you shall not see me again. Heed this piece of wisdom; it may serve you well in the future.” He said in a rumbling voice that could be only described as two mountains grinding against each other. “Three things I have for you: two pieces of eternal wisdom and a gift.”

  “Heed me, Kairos.”

  “Time flows forward, always forward.”

  "Power is not a destination. It is the friction caused by your existence. You will be the grain of sand that jams the gears of destiny."

  Kronos reached into the void beside his throne and pulled out a sliver of absolute darkness. It didn't reflect the golden light of the dream; it seemed to swallow it.

  "A gift for the son of my exile, to cut through the threads they try to bind you with."

  With his piece said and gift delivered. The Titan leaned back into the throne, chains that bound him rattling and pulsing with power. With a flick of his wrist, my whole world turned upside down.

  I bolted upright in my bed, gasping for air. My heart was hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird, and the taste of metallic sand lingered on my tongue.

  "Just a dream," I whispered, wiping the cold sweat from my forehead. "Just a really, really vivid, god-tier hallucination."

  I AM AFRAID YOU ARE WRONG, WHELPLING; THAT WAS NO DREAM.

  …

  I KNEW SOMETHING ABOUT YOU WAS DIFFERENT, BUT I COULD NOT PUT MY CLAW ON IT ... NOW ... NOW I KNOW, SON OF THE CROOKED ONE.

  I gulped, a sinking weight descending in my stomach. I felt weight on top of me, and I looked down. Resting on my thin blanket was a weapon that shouldn't have existed. It was a dagger, roughly thirty centimetres long, forged from a dark metal that hurt to look at. The hilt was wrapped in weathered leather, and the crossguard was a simply shaped thing. Without the feeling I got from the blade, it would look like an ordinary dagger, if perhaps a little odd in this modern era.

  I reached out and gripped the hilt. The metal was unnaturally cold, yet as soon as my skin touched it, a jolt of recognition surged through me. It wasn't just a tool; it was connected to me in a way I could not describe, only that I felt it in my soul.

  HE HAS A SICK SENSE OF HUMOUR, YOUR FATHER.

  Draig’s voice echoed in my head, sounding uncharacteristically subdued.

  “What is this blade?”

  IF IT HAS A NAME, THAT I CANNOT SAY, BUT THAT BLACK METAL, THAT IS CHTHONIAN IRON, A VERY RARE AND DANGEROUS THING, ESPECIALLY IN THIS ERA.

  I sheathed the blade in a makeshift scrap of cloth, my mind racing. A Longinus in one hand, a Titan's gift in the other, and the blood of a deity that should not have spawned any offspring anymore. My life was officially getting crazier.

  Present

  “Chthonian Iron?” asked Kiba. “I cannot say I ever heard of it. What about you, president?”

  “… no, I have not.” Rias looked to her queen, who, for the first time I met her, was wearing a serious expression.

  Akeno pursed her lips slightly, seemingly in thought. After a while, she looked to me and spoke. “Could you show us Kai?”

  I nodded and brought the dagger forth. Through my Sacred Gear I was able to store a weapon inside. It was not a bag of holding or anything, as Draig liked to remind me, but with his permission, I was able to store the dagger inside, having no better place to hide it.

  “You know something?” asked Rias.

  Akeno studied the dagger in my hands, not risking touching it. Who could say what a Titan’s gift could do to someone not of his blood?

  “I cannot say I heard about a Chthonian Iron, but I have read about Stygian Iron. It is a type of metal often associated with the Greek portion of the underworld; it is said Lord Hades jealously guards the metal, and it is not often that it finds its way outside of the underworld."

  I nodded my head. “Draig called it something that does not belong to this age. At any rate, unless the situation is dire, I do not plan on using it just yet. But I thought you should know it is something I possess.”

  Rias still had her eyes glued to the dagger. “Thank you for telling us; perhaps it will be important one day.”

  We shall see. The warnings of my father still echoed in my mind. Who would try to bind me? And how will that dagger play a role in that? I tried to get that out of my mind right now. The sun was setting down, and it was time to pay the Fallen a visit.

  AN: This story is being cross posted on AO3, WebNovel, Questionable Questing and Royal Road. Updates will be regular every Saturday at minimum. It is possible I will be able to write faster, if that happens I will post the chapters sooner, but 1 chapter per week is guaranteed.

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