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Chapter 52: A Traitor's Gift
🕑 Added 2024-09-08 16:00:11 +0000 UTC10+ Advance Chapters: patreon.com/Accel14
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"What am I doing?" Akeno said aloud, having found herself on the doorstep of Takauji's old home in Kuoh. Only a few steps away from the doormat. "There's no point in coming here, it's just another building now."
She exhaled sharply, having not been inside his house ever since he had left for Kyoto.
"But now that I'm here, I might as well go in." She took a step forwards, shocked to feel as if something had sensed her followed by a clicking sound, presumably the door unlocking itself.
Akeno was stunned, her hand lingering on the doorknob momentarily before she stepped aside. Disappointed to find the house completely empty, but not surprised.
"As I thought, this was pointless." She sighed, observing the house as she remembered the pleasant memories she had made within its walls. "Wait a minute, what's that?" But then she noticed something, seeing a purple case with a notebook next to it left on the dining table.
Akeno approached, recognising the brand of the notebook as one of the ones Takauji commonly used when she watched over his studies.
And after some hesitation, she opened it.
"Yo, Akeno. I'm not sure whether Azazel told you to come here, or you arrived of your own volition, but I'm glad you came nonetheless."
She gasped, knowing exactly who the handwriting belonged to.
"Taka." She muttered, continuing to read what was left behind.
"Oh, and sorry about the whole betrayal thing. It was kind of set in stone when I decided to get up to some tomfoolery, some mischief, some nefarious activities if you will back at the church, or maybe not, I dunno. Point is I do feel a little bad about it."
"As if that makes it any better, asshole." Akeno clicked her tongue.
"In that case is something me and Azazel decided to develop as a present for you, it's an Artificial Sacred Gear that was created using my old sword. You don't really use weapons so I thought it was a bad idea, but he insisted so it's here if you want it."
She spared a glance to the sheathed sword, feeling a looming presence radiating off it.
"Apparently it has something like a Pseudo-Spirit of me inside of it, or a clone if you will. I don't have the faintest clue as to how he made it, so you'll have to ask him yourself if you want more details. The sword is also supposed to have a name, but I can't tell you since it's apparently meant to tell you on its own. So good luck with that if you decide to keep it."
Her eyes widened, reaching into the purple case Takauji once carried around and pulling out the sword from within, its once cracked alloy having been made better than ever. Not that it was on the same level as Sayafushi, but it was still impressive nonetheless.
"Just put some of your Mana into it, and it'll do the rest. Oh, and if you're wondering why I used an entire notebook to write this message, it's because the rest of these pages contain a whole bunch of techniques I thought would be good for you that I created with Raynare's help."
That name made her clench the book a little, scrunching up the pages ever so slightly.
"Since I don't trust Azazel to teach you Baraqiel's techniques without pissing you off, I told him to write those in here as well. He may be a genius at all things Sacred Gear related, but the guy's even less emotionally adept than I am, and that's no easy feat to achieve wouldn't you agree?"
"No kidding." She chuckled a little, feeling some of Takauji's usual attitude reach her through the book.
"Not sure what else to write in here, so I'll just leave you with a few things. First, make sure you become a High-Class Devil if you haven't done so already. I'm not supposed to tell you this, but Sirzechs is considering giving you a special promotion so you don't have to wait for the next exam. Pretty neat don't you think?"
"Seriously?" She blurted out, positively shocked.
"Secondly, I've written down an explanation, alongside a list of possible counters to the techniques I've amassed at the time of writing this on another book in my room, it should be on my desk. I suggest you take a gander if you've built up the resolve to defeat me, and share it with the rest of the gang if you want. I don't mind."
Her face contorted a little, not sure how to feel about that part.
"And lastly, regardless of what intent you manifest, I will be waiting for you at Kyoto like I said when you've made your decision. Whatever your choice ends up being, I suggest you build up as much strength as possible, and find as many reliable allies to make into your subordinates once you can. Even if I'm not the one fighting you, Raynare's strength has been skyrocketing as of late, and I might even end up having more once you face me. The only order they have is to get stronger, other than that I will enforce nothing. So you best be prepared if they decide to attack you. That's all I've got to say for now, signed, your little weirdo."
Those last few words sent a sharp pang through her heart.
"I don't understand. Why did it come to this? Why didn't you help Issei's friend? Why did you rescue that Fallen Angel? You could've just stayed with us, even if you weren't her Contracted Magician anymore you could've still been here."
She picked up the sword, staring at her stiff expression through its reflection.
"You asked us to defeat you back at the conference as well. Is that why you're doing all this? Is that your end goal? To have someone defeat you?" Her lips quivered, almost feeling some of his warmth still present within its hilt.
"I don't know how to feel about that, but what I do know is that I will reach you at the very least, and then I'll force you to answer every last one of my questions." Akeno steeled herself, allowing her Mana to pour into the blade, a faint drowsiness invading her body.
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Her surroundings changed, she was no longer in the Ashikaga house.
She stood on what looked to be floating clouds, though they were dark in color, heavy rain pouring down on her with no end in sight, despite her being on the other side of the clouds. The sky around her being just as gloomy, with no civilization regardless of what direction she looked in.
"So you've come." A voice reached out to her, belonging to a man standing on the hilt of a sword plunged into the clouds, somehow balancing himself perfectly on only one foot.
The figure seemed to be about her age, with brown scholarly hair and rectangle glasses. Wearing the Kuoh Academy boy's uniform.
"How disappointing. The fact that I've assumed this appearance means you are still not ready to face reality, how disappointing indeed." His expression was displeased, his eyes seeming to scorn her as he continued to stare her down.
"Taka? Is that really you?" She couldn't help but ask.
"Wrong. I am not Ashikaga Takauji. You read the note didn't you? I am just a clone. Or more accurately, I am an imitation of the creature known as Ashikaga Takauji created by Azazel to serve you."
She wasn't sure how to intercept his words, his tone of voice, his appearance, his demeanor, everything about it screamed Ashikaga Takauji. But it claimed not to be him.
"My name is ______."
All she heard was a static.
He sighed, shaking his head with an aggrieved expression.
"As I thought, you cannot hear my name can you?" The look on her face answered that for him. "Then answer me Akeno Himejima, why did you pick up the sword? To fight what? To protect what? To cut what? To attain what power?" He bombarded her with questions. "Did you pick it up just because of the person who gifted it to you? If that's the case then I'd rather you throw me in the trash, I will not serve such a deluded master."
"Then help me understand," she mustered up the courage to say. "If I do not know what you are, or why I chose you, then teach me."
"You have already been taught, you've only forgotten." He looked up. "Do you see how much it rains here? This rain is your despair given form, this rain is the grieving of your heart. Even these clouds, you've done nothing but fill them with darkness. You've already ruined a world that should be brimming with hope. Remember Akeno Himejima, remember what Ashikaga Takauji told you."
Then it hit her.
"You mustn't allow your heart to despair, if you do that then everything and everyone around you that you treasure, will despair as well. Instead, you should wrap your heart in hope, hope like you've never felt before."
"How am I supposed to feel hope? My hope isn't with me now."
"You're an idiot if that's what those words have taught you," he said plainly. "He wasn't trying to tell you that your hope lied in another, not Rias Gremory, nor Ashikaga Takauji. Only you can give yourself true hope, take his advice. Forge your own path, make your own choices, create your own will."
She clenched her teeth.
"How can you expect me to do that? I've done nothing but live for another my whole life, am I just supposed to cast all that aside for my own selfishness?"
"That is exactly what you should do." She flinched. "Selfishness does not determine whether one is good or evil, you could selfishly desire to be a hero amongst heroes, or selfishly desire to be a villain amongst villains. The core emotion will not change. Tell me Akeno Himejima, who are you?"
"I am Rias Gremory's–"
"Wrong."
"I am Baraqiel's–"
"Wrong!"
"I am a half–"
"WRONG!" He roared, causing her to bite down on her lip. "All those answers don't have a shred of truth to them, they're all just descriptions or titles. They are not Akeno Himejima. Allow me to ask you one more time, who are you?"
She thought hard. Feeling the Takauji lookalike's eyes piercing through her skull.
"I don't know. I don't know who I am."
He smiled.
"Finally, some honesty." He heaved a sigh of relief. "That is correct, at the moment you do not know who you are, therefore you cannot possibly figure out who I am."
"Then what do I do? How do I figure out who I am?" She pleaded with him.
"Like I said, you must start by forging a path of your own making rather than that of another's. An answer given to you by someone else is no real answer at all, remember that." His expression had become significantly more gentle, reminding her of a certain someone.
She knew what she had to do. She couldn't continue on following the whims of everyone around her, regardless of what her opinions of them were. She needed to start living for herself.
She was so much more than just a servant, her potential ranged way beyond that.
"You can do it, Akeno Himejima. If there's anyone who can surpass the monster I was born from, it is you. Believe in yourself for once, you will become someone great. Trust me."
Akeno smiled, feeling the honesty radiating off the person in front of her.
"Thank you."
He chuckled.
"You don't even know who you're thanking yet, figure that out first before saying that." She disappeared from the world, off to truly begin her own adventure.
The spirit looked upwards again, his face dropping into a frown soon after her departure.
"Is this what you want? Do you really wish for someone to cure the loneliness of your blade that badly?" The spirit still remembered, though it had not been born back then, it still remembered all the time it had spent with its original owner. All the emotion that had flowed into its alloy. "She will reach you eventually, but when that time comes, I hope you both are still alive afterwards. I do not wish for her despair to continue."
