DXD SI : Chapter 100 : I should have remained paranoid..... (Patreon)

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

Inner Sanctum, The Garden

–Magdaran–

He was in the middle of his masochistic training because, at this point, he couldn't really deny that part about it when he felt it. A mental ping from one of the many enchanted things he had created, strewn about the Garden, with most of them not being used at all.

He loved to create overarching systems that relied on one another to create a much stronger effect than creating a dozen different, smaller objects to do a task. It was just so much more seamless to do the big thing, so most of the objects he made out of the need to have a hobby were either in storage or being used as different doodads. So, he pretty much ignored that initial ping as he was far more interested in finally overcoming the obstacle in front of him. Once he could get past the aura, he could get working on overcoming the physical damage and then, knowing Odin, he was sure that there was something else at the end of this painful journey as well.

Maybe an outright soul attack the moment he touched the weapon, whatever it was? That seemed likely. He couldn't wait to finally adapt to that as well, and he was pretty sure that once he was done with that, he would not have to worry about soul attacks for quite some time. He doubted there were many beings out there stronger than the current version of Odin. 

….Another mental ping had him pause and contemplate what he should do about it. A moment later, he decided to look into what it was. Maybe there was something malfunctioning?

His eyes widened as he saw that it was the sword he had given Vali. For obvious reasons, she wanted weapons that could counter everything and everyone under the sun. Angels, Fallen Angels, Devils, Gods, Youkai, Norse, Humans, and more. If there was a race that could be fought, she wanted some kind of weapon that would work on them.

Most of them were impossible to make, especially since he would have to work pretty hard and go around collecting valuable data to make sure his weapons worked. Sure, he had basically zero experience in creating different good quality weapons. But what he could do was make sure that whatever enchantment effect he imbued on the weapons would work flawlessly. That way, it would end up creating a good enough weapon.

Obviously, nothing on the level of what Odin had made here, but still, he had some pretty potent weapons that, in the right hands, could cause a lot of damage to even higher tier beings.

The mental ping was from one such sword that Vali had commissioned from him, for the cost of not emptying my fridges for a week. Yeah, that’s the level of shamelessness that Vali has achieved.

Reading more into the notification, he frowned and instantly took a step back, erecting a wall of his power of Destruction between him and the Soul weapon. Ignoring Aldric’s questions, he looked into the last logs he received from the sword, and the information was…troubling.

Vali had used the Light sword, or rather, the Fallen Light sword, because he did not have nearly enough data to create something that would work on both Fallen and Angels equally, so he had made something that could isolate the exact frequency that Fallen Angels used for their Light Magic and made it so that the sword could absorb that light and use it to power the enchantments.

He’d used quite the nifty trick using an absolute darkness enchantment he found in Odin’s libraries, allowing Vali to both absorb Fallen Light and maintain visibility all around, otherwise, just absorbing all light would have blinded the user, making the weapon an abject failure.

The fact that Vali had used the sword was not troubling, however. The troubling part was the feedback the sword was receiving on the level of Fallen Light being used. It was identical to what Azazel used in his attacks, serious ones at that. Nothing like the spars Azazel regularly had with Vali, which she then used to harvest data and then hand that to him so he could work on the weapons.

Azazel had clearly gone all out, or, maybe, and this was a very remote possibility, there was another Twelve-Winged Fallen Angel out there that he was not aware of? No, that was ridiculous. There were barely a handful of Archangels out there, and the news of even a single one of them Falling would make waves everywhere. Maybe it was one of the missing ones?

Whatever it was, the last log he received from the sword was about a combined attack of Senjutsu, Light Magic, and Norse enchantments finally overpowering the natural defense of both Vali’s Demonic Energy, as well as the sword’s enchantments, a tall task for even Satan Class Devils and Twelve Winged Fallen Angels. Maybe Angels would have an easier job at it because of Vali’s inherent weakness to Light that could not completely be offset by the sword’s ability, but he could say with one hundred percent confidence that if Vali was not ambushed by multiple beings of similar power levels, then she would give even the likes of Azazel a tough fight.

It would have to be either a Super Devil or an Archangel to handily defeat Vali at this point, and the fact that he was not getting a single ping from her end, even though it would barely take an instant to reply, was worrying. Far more worrying than a mere sword’s magic being overwhelmed by a combination of magic that could realistically only be in the hands of a single being.

His brows furrowed as he began sending multiple messages to Azazel, Odin, Vali, Penemue, Baraqiel, and even Thor, for the heck of it. His face grew even more stormy as he did not receive a single reply from any of them. Not even an acknowledgement of a message received, which could only mean a few things.

One, that the messaging network built and maintained by Odin was compromised, which was unlikely, given the God’s current power levels.

Secondly, everyone he was trying to contact were either incapacitated or killed. Even more unlikely. To do that, one would have to be Ophis or Great Read.

Thirdly, his messages were being ignored or being intercepted by someone. Loath as he was to admit it, this option seemed the most likely. The answer to the question of why was even more uncomfortable, as the only one who could do so, aside from reality warpers and Infinity and Great Red, was Odin.

The realisation made him feel incredibly restless and conflicted from inside. His mind warred with itself. Why would Odin do that? What incentive would he have to do that? Especially now that trade between everyone was booming, and while the episode with Asgard had upset the balance a bit, but with both Odin and Thor coming out vastly stronger meant that the supernatural world was more desperate than ever to have some connection with them.

Sure, Ragnarok was a worrying cloud over an otherwise clear blue sky, but Odin must know that he was going to help the Norse either way. They were one of the major reasons why he had managed to grow as much as he did and attained freedom. 

…..Maybe everyone really was dead?

But then, what? While that reality was somehow easier to digest than outright betrayal of such scale, was he really sure that he would survive whatever it was that did everyone else in?

Could he survive something that could kill both Thor and Odin silently, without putting the entire world into turmoil, creating the next Great War. A battle of that level would easily pull in most neighbouring Pantheons into the war, either as allies or enemies, it mattered not, a fight between them would not be silent.

Ophis was not nearly as skilled with her magic as she should be, and Great Red had no incentive to come out of the Dimensional Gap to just kill a few, in his opinion, mortals.

He shook his head, glanced at the soul weapon with wariness now, as the chances of Odin betraying him kept on going higher. Waving his hand, the enchantments in the room surged forth, powered by his Power of Destruction as he sealed the weapon back into the Wooden Box, and after thoroughly examining the exterior, he sealed it in a similar vault to the one he used to hold the most dangerous things he had in his possession.

Turning around, he called out for his student, “Aldric.”

“Y-Yes? What happened?”

The Mother Tree roots separated from his body as he healed the holes immediately, the process only looking messy, as he walked out of the lab and headed up the Inner Sanctum.

“Head to the bunker level. Do not come out without my say so, or if the resources dry up.”

Was all he said to the increasingly panicked looking Aldric before heading up to the Inner Sanctum. He ignored Aldric’s calls for a few reasons.

Chief among them was just that he was too weak. Sure, over the few weeks of intense training, including the forceful Demonic Energy reserve expansion, Aldric had taken one step into Ultimate Class, and while to the vast majority of the supernatural world, it was a commendable achievement, it was practically nothing to beings on his level.

He could kill a dozen Ultimate Class beings with a single swing of his arm if he so wished, without using an ounce of magic. The difference between their power levels is just too huge for Aldric to be of any help. The best he could probably do right now was stay here, and if and when the time came, mobilise all the resources he had inside the Inner Sanctum for a heroic last stand.

After all, if even he fell, then there wasn’t much that even Aldric could, even if he did have the full support of the Mother Tree. He supposed that it was good that Aldric had the experience of communicating seamlessly with the micro version of the Mother Tree. It would help him with interacting with the larger Mother Tree.

……He had a bad feeling about all of this. It just seemed so seamlessly orchestrated that the chances of internal sabotage only continued to increase.

Reaching the upper levels of the Inner Sanctum, he teleported to his office, only to freeze and raise his head, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks, body tense, before it all just melted away. He slumped and continued arming himself with all the weapons he had made for a day like this.

He just hadn’t expected the day that he would have to fight…him.

Covered head to toe in his creations, he turned around and teleported right outside the boundary of the wards covering the Outer Sanctum of his Garden, facing the one who could end him. After all, he was intimately aware of the strength of the being in front of him, even before it was elevated to a whole new level.

Thor.

This was going to be a tough fight.