Dxd: Master Of Shadows - Volume 2 Chapter 13 13
“Okay!”
I looked at the things in front of me, neatly arranged, no imperfections, useful and uh… some sticks.
“Double checking time!”
I looked at the makeshift bag that a kind kangaroo-lion and sheep-lion sacrificed for.
“Bag check!”
On the right were some spare cloths, towels actually, that should be useful for the south seas.
“Water wipers check!”
On the left was a collection of sticks, thick and thin, small and big, some shaped to be a sword, but the most eye catching stick was the one with a specifically designed tip.
“Sticks for combat and fire starter stick check!”
I scanned the few amount of items one last time, and then placed them all into the bag. The bag was orange, because kangaroo-lions were orangey looking things, the sheep-lion was used for the somehow useful strap and for the thread stuff, a spider-lion kindly donated them, a lot, cool dude actually. Ignoring my beyond sarcastic thoughts, I walked out of my cottage and made sure to close the door tight, don’t want any squiggling shit to slee-
“MY PILLOW!”
I went back in and took my pillow, to the bag he went and then did the same things again, this time I’m sure I missed nothing. After a few minutes of running, I finally reached a gate, just like the ones in the east forest. ‘Love~ Welcome to the south den of seas Love~’, this sign made me want not go in, but alas! I must venture towards this and somehow find more clues about Tigress.
I stepped in, you see, my expectations were something about big bodies of water and some island, you too right?
I quickly went out of the gate and inhaled and exhaled a bit before gaining back my sanity.
“WHAT IN THE ACTUAL POSEIDON WAS THAT PLACE?!”
I went back in and just for the comical gags and yes, my expectations were a little too underestimating. The sheer amount of fishes swimming and trying to fly, while the boundary was technically invisible can make you think that Poseidon just decided to put all his water into this place for no reason at all. IT WAS THAT BIG. As, I was momentarily distracted by my exaggerated thoughts, I found all the fishes, mind you that they were all pass 5 meters, staring at me.
“Hah! What’s this? You in for a fight?”
I activated [EX Mana Burst], the smile on my face was because of pure joy in finding out how strong this beasts were, well, contrary to my now destroyed pride in expectations, they all just did the fish equivalent of shrugging and went on with their lives.
“Huh?”
“Oh, you must be the one that’s taking the trials of the throne of lions?”
A clown fish, probably, I don’t even care, it has a lion’s head so fish-lion. Don’t expect me to differentiate the normal looking fishes. Talked to me in a very, unexpected manner, they looked and sounded so civil, I’m starting to think maybe this place was the wrong den.
“Don’t worry laddie, most fishes in here are not the fightin’ bunch, so we normally just swim in peace while the trial taker fights the more aggressive fightin’ bunch. You’ll find them a little bit to– over there, just straight up west of where we are”
I had my mouth open, and awkwardly nodded, my face was slowly shifting into the face of utter confusion and politely said thank you, tried to anyway.
“T-than-ks you?”
“You’re welcome laddie, now then, ladies and gents, stop staring at our future owner and keep swimming on to yonder land”
And then they swam, swam back down to yonder land indeed. Me? I’m still trying to process myself having a conversation with a old sounding polite fish with a bit of an accent, don’t ask me why, you would be too if you encountered a talking fish.
After standing in there for a few minutes and shaking my head with a 1 or 2 blinks, I continued walking to the east, it doesn’t matter if the fish-lion was tricking me, I’d beat them all regardless. Or, so I thought until I realized something important.
“How exactly am I going to the east?”
The little island I was in was only about 10 meters square or circle wide. In other words, it was tiny. Cool, I actually need a boat, yep.
“How do you expect me to find a boat!? Holy crap, dad are you actually a walking idiot?!”
From the deep subconscious pits of my mind, a certain voice came, it was a laughing voice and it most probably belonged to my dad, himself.
‘Swim it boy!’
“Hell naw!”
Meh, I still swam all the way to the first island I found in the east.
________________________________________________________________________________________
*Meeting of the 4 Beast Kingdoms, 3 because the Lionheart doesn’t actually participate*
“Pendragon! Are you sure about this?”
A man, with a bird looking helmet said while making sure to be noisy as possible by slamming on the table, the other knights had their hands on thee hilt of their swords.
“Yes, I am quite sure of this Griphonmight. This is our only chance to take down that heinous kingdom of thieving ass-f.u.c.kery!”
“Foolish actions of a bunch of kids getting angry at another kingdom for stealing their motif”
A man with pope like robes retorted sarcastically while sipping, holy water, probably.
The blonde man looked at the pope-like man and snorted. He called over a few guard and whispered something before the knights went away in a hurry.
“Say what you will Zerkraken, it is our chance to keep have the power to beat the northern invaders along with a thorn in the name of our 4 kingdoms”
“How exactly is a man devoted to our God a thorn?”
“He’s thieving bastard! I finally know the truth of his kingdom! He built it from the pillars of lies!”
“Unless you have proof, we will only treat you like a fool in a wise man’s clothes”
The blonde man smirked, he crossed him arms and and closed his eyes as if waiting for something. When the sound of the doors opening came, he started laughing.
“Here is the proof! Show yourself Guider!”
“Ara~ King Arthur seems a little too confident of me, gyao~”
A familiar, tight lion costumed, blonde, red eyed, busty, being came to the room, h.i.p.s swaying with full vigor.
“This is my proof! The previous queen of the original Lionheart!”
“Why bring a p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.e to the meeting?”
The pope-like man panfaced, with a monotone voice, also, I think Arthur got burnt right there and he earned the glare of Guider or Tigress if you didn’t know and figure out yet.
“Calling me a p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.e? Do you have a death wish Zerkraken? Do yo-”
“Wear something less skimpy if you want to be threatening, waste of time. The Zerkraken is out of this pointless meeting”
The pope-like madlad, did a final sip at his holy water before standing up and walked towards the exit, however…
“I ask of you to wait, I’m sorry for my previous rude behavior, but being called something like that all of the sudden can get people angry”
The pope-like dude, looked back and snorted, he didn’t bother stopping and only added his final savage burn.
“People who aren’t actually courtesans don’t”
…
Silence.
Pure silence as the door opened and closed, the foot steps and the sound of gritted teeth lasted for a minute before Griphonmight broke the ice cold silence.
“U-uh…may I know the truth~?”
He was staring at her b.o.o.b.s. Truth indeed, ehehe.
“There’s no point to this anymore, we wanted to convince him but alas, a blinded fool that can only follow a blindly doe-”
“At least I don’t suck d.i.c.ks with vision!”
A shout that was muffled by many floors came from below, this was the last string in her patience before Tigress jumped out of the window and shifted to her true form.
“YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G POPE! SHOW ME HOW C.O.C.KY YOU CAN BE NOW!”
She expected the pope to cower inside the building but, as always, contrary to everyone’s expectation the pope went out of the window and landed on the ground, he faced the super big Lion with a smirk.
“I bet a giant could make do with you”
Tigress did the first move and shot out a fast paw strike to the pope, the sheer size of the paw was too wide to even dodge, for anyone normal actually.
“Big doesn’t mean strong, barbaric animal”
He slightly tapped a feet before disappearing, he appeared on top of the paw with no visible damage. He then slowly manifested white wings from his back and flew up with it, this was none other than- you guessed it.
“As much as I hate using this, I’ll show you why big doesn’t mean power!”
A deep voice came from his wings, the pope-like dude grabbed onto the paw and the word ‘divide’ repeated for a few times, the size of Tigress could be seen decreasing with the n.a.k.e.d eye. Tigress, panicked and quickly went away from the pope-like dude before charging back at super sonic speed, this time her fangs were going to do job.
“Don’t expect me to be slow! I’ll tear off your small tiny flesh!”
“I’ll tear off your pathetic excuse of a face”
As they both charged at each other, the speed of the pope-like dude was increasingly faster, his wings glowed even more than before and when they finally came at close range, the decreased size of Tigress became even smaller after the wing said ‘Half Dimension’, this made her easier to grab and be handled like a toy plushie by the sudden strength of the pope-like dude. He threw her back to the ground and the whole place shook, he flew towards her and grabbed her fur on the head.
“Divide!”
10 seconds passed, Tigress couldn’t move and she felt even more weaker.
“Divide!”
At his point she was now only 15 meters large, the pope-like dude smirked and started kicking her while she was down. The beating continued until a sword wave came from the entrance of the castle, the pope-like dude only looked at it and placed him palm out.
“Reflect!”
Just as the beam was about to hit, a barrier like thing absorbed it and shot it back to the all familiar blonde man standing near the entrance, he only blocked casually with his sword and the beam disappeared.
“Zerkraken White, why are you attacking a guest of mine?”
White, the pope-like dude pulled down his hood and it revealed his completely normal looking brown hair and western features, he had blue eyes and a cleft if that helps.
“What do you mean? She clearly attacked me first?”
“I saw everything and as the King of Griphonmight, I agree with Arthur Pendragon!”
From Arthur’s side, a bird helmet gigantic muscly dude came and laid an arm on his shoulder.
“What are you doing? Are you both acting against the church? Against our God?”
“What we are doing is protecting our guest from a mindless king! AHAHAHA!”
White stared at the Tigress below him who was smirking, if you could call it that and then to the 2 other kings who had a slightly maniacal grin. He shook his head and started laughing, he clamped his arms together and started praying.
“Oh? Pretending to still be loyal to your God? He knows how violent you can get, Zerkraken! And because of that we are taking necessary actions, right? Amades Griphonmight?”
“Indeed, how could he just act no innocent and devoted, he is clearly seen being so violent towards a guest!”
White finished praying and he kicked Tigress away from the 2, it might’ve been a bad move but God will guide him if he ever fails. Or Michael would, really.
“I swear that, Lake himself is always guided by our Lord. To be so lucky as to skip this meeting and be safe from your slanderous grumblings, on the other hand, me who so amazingly fell for your heinous tricks, stuck in between a battle of 3 on 1”
He started laughing loudly and he removed his robes completely, revealing a buff body that didn’t suit a pope.
“Let me at least show you power granted to me by my God!”
“Vanishin Dragon Balance Breaker!”
An armor started materializing around him before it showed a white armor with draconic motifs, he opened and closed his hands to get a feel of the power coursing through him before he charged with no pre-talks to the 2 other kings.
“Tell me you bunch of corrupted kings! What is your end plan to all this?!”
Arthur blocked the oncoming attack with an ornate sword, the sword was none other than Excalibur at it’s complete and finest version. A holy aura seeped out of it before turning into a jet like stream of power and Arthur himself was surrounded by a golden jet-like aura before countering with a diagonal downward slash, White dodged it by flying back quickly but much to his surprise, a wound found itself on his armor.
“Hmph, you think just because you have a sacred gear you are equal to me? The King of Knights?”
“Your mana burst really is a pain in the ass”
White recovered quickly and retreated a few meters away. This time, Amades did the attack, a gigantic earth hand came from the ground and tried to grab White by the legs, the sudden distraction was enough for Arthur to send a sword wave and charge along with the wave, from the back, Tigress barely recovered and also attacked.
“This is bullshit!”
White can’t do anything, he couldn’t touch anyone nor can he launch any attack properly, he was left with using ‘that’ mode but he wouldn’t allow himself to be insane and blasphemously commit sins, thus, he accepted it. He accepted his dying faith with one last smart quip.
“Takes 3 to take down a normal human believer, how much would you need to defeat a demigod believer?”
“A kingdom and 3 people who knows his weakness”
Before white could reply, a claws went through from his back and Excalibur cut his head, swift, decisive along with the spray of blood was the sign that he was dead. Tigress slowly returned to her original size before shifting back to her busty ara ara size and walked towards the 2 kings.
“So, are you both willing to listen now?”
“Indeed, your plan was magnificent. He bit the bait he himself laid, is this similar to how you are going to get rid of Lake?”
Tigress smiled and patted the head of Arthur, she walked away without answering until she was a few meters away from the two.
“We will get them from 4 sides, the inside, the 2 kingdoms, and from the invaders, or should I say…Queen Lily and her ever growing army of men, be patient Arthur, we will give you your share after we succeed, you only wanted the Throne of Lion did you not?”
“Yes! With that, our heirs can get stronger without any risk!”
“Yes, no risks…indeed”
She started laughing loudly, her mind went to another place, or more like she became a little air-headed while walking causing her to trip, at nothing. She quickly looked back and narrowed her eyes at the 2 men who were now whistling while looking at different directions.
“You saw nothing!”
________________________________________________________________________________________
*Lily Empire, Castle Lily*
A peach haired little girl was dancing and spinning in front of a certain man sitting in a throne, compared to how others should act before their king, they instead bowed to the little girl who was probably at the age of 6, she was smiling and her smile was bright and cute. Ignoring the few spots of red below her, she kept dancing like a ballerina until she stopped suddenly and took a look at the throne, she made a cute thinking pose before raising her index finger up into the air.
“Ne~ How about we throw dad to the dogs!~”
She looked back at the men who were bowing at her patiently and they all started moving towards the man in the throne. The man in the throne was already dead, he had a knife to his throat and a trail of tiny little steps leading to the little girl who was previously dancing.
“From now on! I’m the Queen! Right?!”
She smiled and jumped lightly, she remembered the one most important advice of her mom to her.
“Hey! Where can I find the strongest man in this world?”
She asked a nearby knight who quietly stared at her before speaking.
“There is a lot of strong men in this world, my Queen”
“Hmm…Mom said I should marry strong men…! Ah! I know, I’ll just marry all the strong men I want!”
Her smile was full of joy and innocence, surface level anyway. Deep inside those scarlet eyes were the flaring soul of a demon, a demon who hides in human skin, figuratively.
“Let’s go! I heard my dad say something about the south being full of strong men! I want to look there!~”
She started skipping and the others could only follow silently, were they doing this wholeheartedly? Yes, this is none other than the greatest gift of the universe towards Lily, the ability to gather everyone around her, men especially, like a swarm of bees towards their queen. A mixture of having [EX Charisma], [EX Alluring Nightingale], [EX Affection of the Goddess] and the special scent the heirs of Lily releases. [Flower Lull]. All these combined with the brains surpassing even scholars created the demon known as Melody Lily, the youngest Queen of Lily Empire and a self-proclaimed wife of all strong men. Of course those are all for the future, she’s still starting out by this time.
