DXD SI : Chapter 79 : Therapist appointment & Aldric Zagan...... (Patreon)

Disclaimer - I don't own any of the characters appearing in High School DXD or the Anime or the manga whatsoever.

Therapist Floor, Oppai Club Main Branch

–Magdaran Bael–

It had been two days since he finally killed Zekram, and the entire supernatural world was waiting with bated breath to see if the killing of every single vampire of note inside Romania would finally awaken Dracula or not. Because every time Dracula was woken up, it was either because of some disaster that had befallen the vampires and, in turn, Dracula’s mere presence invited ruin to the rest of the world, no matter their strength or distance from Romania.

Such was the nature of the curse given to Dracula by the Big G, and even after so many years, people feared the curse and the cursed man waking up, rightfully so, which is why this was the first time in decades that the Vampires had been brought so low.

As the world monitored the situation in Romania closely, he, on the other hand, was….

“So, you finally killed him. How do you feel about that?” He was sleeping on the sofa in his therapist’s office, a rarity these days since he had all the visits happening in a dedicated space back in the Inner Sanctum of his Garden, something that the Good Doctor liked as well, owing to its calming properties.

As it turns out, if you just pump an absurd amount of magic into something and then use your innate magic to make sure it does not die, then the process was bound to result in something different. Oftentimes, it did not result in anything but a bigger version of the plant or tree, but many times, it resulted in fantastical things, like the supernaturally calming incense that was capable of not just helping with mental issues, but also with clearing any mental curses, mind magic, or lingering invasive magic inside the head. It was fantastic, and the Good Doctor had more than once asked him if it could be replicated or sold, but for now, he had kept it attached to the Mother Tree, so it could not be moved. 

Maybe once they needed to add yet another item to the product list, he could work on getting a version that could work without the Mother Tree constantly pumping energy into it.

As for why they were not using such a fantastical place and were instead sitting inside a generic therapist’s place? Well, according to the Good Doctor, because of the significantly emotionally charged event that just took place, it would be better to have the session in an unfamiliar setting.

Her words, not his.

As for her question about finally killing Zekram and the way it made him feel, “Yeah, I killed him, but then, I don’t know. It just didn’t feel as complete as it should have. It was easy, which was expected, but it didn’t feel worth waiting all these years.”

Doctor Gablehauser was a human who had reached the equivalent of Low Ultimate Class in power and ended up acting as a therapist for her private clients, who were varied and scattered across multiple Supernatural factions. She was also protected by multiple faction leaders and, as such, could actually do her job without being hunted down for all the juicy information inside her head. It helped that due to her power, she was also particularly long lived, allowing her to learn many different trades that would usually take a normal human decades to learn.

Well, he was sure that Odin had some sort of ironclad magic that prevented her from speaking, but even Odin was not all powerful, which is why he had created a small alliance of sorts with other factions, creating a therapist that could listen to and solve the issues of the many people inside the factions that supported her. Ofcourse, the faction leaders wouldn’t even meet her, despite the many protections in place, likely because of the potential for weakness it might create.

She once told him that Azazel quite literally ran away when she approached the man to get a one on one session booked, after having been encouraged by Penemue to do so. He didn’t know if half the things she told him were true or not, but what he did know was that she had been of tremendous help to him during all these years.

Hell, she was the reason why half the products he sold today even existed, and she got her share for that, which also made her rich beyond anything she could have accumulated on her own, but then again, she too was a powerful being who probably had enough savings to fall back on, not to mention that in their world, power was a currency and she had plenty of it.

He could feel her nodding, even though his attention was on the ceiling and the three balls of Destruction he was juggling with his hands, the movement creating a weird noise as he erased the air around the balls continuously.

“So, you feel you should have taken the step far earlier and killed him? Would that have been more satisfying?" She countered, and he hummed, the balls dissipating as he thought about the circumstances of his leaving and how he could have juggled killing Zekram and establishing himself, before replying.

“Nah. I don't think I would have done it at the time. I was far too much of a coward back then, always afraid of something. Afraid of someone snatching away my Garden. Would I have been fine with killing him? Maybe a year back? It just coincided with something else I had to do in the Underworld.”

“So, you’re saying that killing Zekram Bael fell off your immediate priorities."

He snapped his fingers, agreeing with her. “Yes! I just didn’t feel the need to bother with him, especially since I was in a place even he couldn't reach, not without burning through a lot of his power anyway.”

The Doctor nodded at that, which he could see because he was facing her right now, still lying on the couch, though. “And even then, you were confident of dealing with him all by yourself.”

He nodded slowly at that. “Yes. At this point, even if he had scrounged up whatever forces he could to rally against me, I would have won. But he went ahead and just made things much easier for me. I still didn't understand why he staged everything in Romania.”

“And that bothers you. You think it was a ploy?”

He waved her off at that insinuation. “Nah. I had Odin check everything. Zekram Bael is dead. He was a bit gone in the head due to some soul damage, but I am sure I killed the right guy.”

“...And the vampires?” She asked him unprompted. He gave her a look at that before replying.

“What about them? Sure, it was tragic that they were roped into a ritual where they were used as batteries, but there was no way I could have dispelled the ritual without killing them anyway, and since it was going to take time, I just hastened the process.”

She nodded before he felt the pulse of magic that indicated that she had just written something down in her notes. In the earlier days, that would have put him into overthinking mode, but these days, he just looked at her to tell her that he could feel it before summing the juggling balls once more.

There was silence in the room after that, as he settled into his jogging and she did not speak, likely waiting for him to speak, but the only reason he was here and not back in his Inner Sanctum was because Odin made him come here, and since it was only out of concern, he obliged. It was not like anyone could make him do anything these days. Even when faced with Thor, he could hold on for a moment, more than enough time to escape from a rampaging God of Thunder.

The trick was to use his power against him, but hopefully, that future would never come to pass, and he would not have to find out just how precise Thor’s control was over his element, which was inherently chaotic.

He was shaken out of his thoughts by the bell ringing, signalling the end of their time. He got up from the couch, waving goodbye to the Good Doctor before teleporting out of the therapist’s office, which was also located in one of the lower levels of the Oppai Club’s Main Branch. He went back to the upper floor to check if Mia was here, but not finding her, he went back to the Inner Sanctum.

After all, he had a far more interesting person to finally get out of the prison he had put him in.

___xx__

He teleported to the lower levels of the Lab, a place that was completely isolated from the rest of the Inner Sanctum and primed to blow to high hell if anything tried to breach the barrier, and stood in front of a door.

Remembering the indignity of what happened the last time he was here and faced this particular individual, he was glad that he had no audience before he mentally switched off the Power of Destruction barrier around the entire room and stepped through.

Almost immediately, he noted the Zagan who was sitting on the floor, looking gaunt, as if his entire life had been sucked out of him, with piles of dead matter all around him. The man didn’t even react when he stepped through the room and placed his hand on his head, pushing some of his power through, ignoring the resistance that the Zagan’s power tried to put up.

It was laughably easy to overcome a full power High Class Devil these days. What was a totally exhausted one?

His power surged through the man’s power, but instead of destroying the man from the inside out, he used it to heal him and even shared a small portion of his Demonic Energy to make sure the man did not die from suddenly getting too much energy. He had seen it happen before, although on other species, since Devil physique was innately designed to handle and channel energy, and it was not pretty.

The man’s eyes had opened up, and he was trying to thrash around, recognising the situation he was in, but the operative word here was tying, as the Zagan couldn't move an inch under his power. It was only a few seconds, but the man acted as if he was being tortured.

He stepped back and watched as the man jumped up with all his might, hitting the ceiling before falling back down, a bump forming over his head, but healing soon after as the remnants of his power healed everything.

“What the fuck?!”

“Learned your lesson?” he said in a mild tone, knowing full well that almost dying must have straightened the man right out.

The man glared at him hatefully, but that was drowned out by fear. “Y-Yes. I will comply. What do you want me to do?”

He rolled his eyes at that before turning around. “Follow me.”

The man acted as if he was going to be forced into bonded slavery, churning out mindless beasts to fight in the war. 

….Come to think of it, it was not an unreasonable theory, as the man must not have believed him when he told the Zagan that he had been asleep for four hundred years. At that point in time, the Sleeping Sickness might not even have been that famous. It was not particularly well known even now.

Huh. Maybe he went a little overboard?

…..Then again, remembering the actions of the Zagan the last time he extended a helping hand, what little guilt he had evaporated into thin air.

“Oh,” he paused, turning around to watch the man, who continued to eye him with fear, “What’s your name anyway? The records were not clear about it.”

“Aldric. Aldric Zagan. I am the Lord of House Zagan. What’s left of it anyway.”

The man muttered to himself towards the end. He did not tell the man the fate of his House. He would learn of it soon enough anyway.