DXD SI : Chapter 107 : Painful Realisations...... (Patreon)

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

Garden

–Magdaran Bael—

It very much looked like Thor had forgotten his original reasoning for keeping him here and was not just indulging in combat, which was understandable since Thor and Vali were both seemingly cut from the same piece of clothing. And as expected, both of them were just going all out with each other.

Vali had taken the manifested Sword of Destruction he had given her, made up of the roots of the Mother Tree and enchanted by him, to the maximum possible limit and was actually using it to clash with Mjolnir of all things. It was absurd that Vali could do that, even if it was plenty evident that she was losing every single one of their encounters, being pushed back every time Thor actually managed to make a blow connect without having that poisonous Silver energy mess with his Divine Energy.

The fight really made it clear to him just how Lucifer managed to become such a big headache for most of the world, including the foreign gods and their entire pantheons, despite being somehow weaker than an actual Super Devil. That silver light seemed to act like a great equaliser, allowing Lucifer to punch wayyy above his weight. 

Even so, the difference between a newly minted Super Devil and a veteran combat god like Thor was clear, and it would have been an instant loss for Vali, even with the deterrence of the Demonic Brilliance of Evil Light, had it not been for his existence.

He still couldn't believe that he was using Lucifer’s power as if it was nothing. His bloodline itself seemed to recognise the bloodline trait that was within his hand right now, boosting his Power of Destruction to the point that he was capable of disrupting the energy shroud around Thor with a touch, allowing Vali to score a blow and make the God bleed.

He paid for every single touch, with most of his arm blown away, but as long as the Mother Tree roots held, his bones held, and the majority of his enchantments held, his arm grew back within a split second, allowing him to fall back into the fray once more. 

Slowly, over hundreds of blows, they were falling into a rhythm, and somehow, miraculously, it looked like both of them combined were holding against Thor, or atleast that’s what it looked like. A blow from Mjolnir connected with his arm, instantly pasting his flesh and muscles, shattering the bone from within and breaking apart most of the roots, making him lose contact with the empowered ball of his Power of Destruction; then a surge of energy from the Mother Tree almost made him stumble midair due to its potency, and the roots flailed about before snapping onto the broken part of his arm, establishing a connection and creating an entirely new arm within seconds.

He could only look at the arm in disbelief, as the Mother Tree–

“Duck!” He ducked on instinct, his face losing all color as Mjolnir passed over his head, and he was pretty sure it took a few of his hairs, as he instantly backpedalled, only for Thor to try and push the advantage. The sight of a seemingly bloodthirsty Thor, with blood stained clothing and a smile on his face, with Mjolnir in hand, was one of the scariest sights he had ever had the misfortune of seeing in his life.

Thankfully, Vali was still in the fight as Thor turned and used Mjolnir to break an energy slash from Vali. 

“Focus, you idiot!” Vali scolded him as she jumped Thor, and he did the same. A punch from him was warded off by Thor’s Divine Lightning, which was devoured by his power, but managed to make an explosion big enough to halt his momentum, as Thor, in the same breath, maneuvered to hit Vali’s sword with Mjolnir, creating a loud clang that deafened him.

There was only a buzz for a second before his power worked its magic and sound returned to him once more. Man, he was going to gain so many adaptations from this fight. He had no idea he could adapt to such high sounds and shockwaves.

Another weakness that would be shored up during the fight. At this point, he was feeling kinda drained; the strain of having to fight a one sided battle for days on end, and then a battle with Vali for hours on end, all without a lick of sleep or rest, all by using most of his power, was draining. There was also the mental strain of having to direct all that energy from the Mother Tree, though the strain itself had reduced significantly. It was still there, and as such, he would love for this fight to be over.

Unfortunately, neither Thor nor Vali shared his opinion, and while his rage at the whole thing had turned into more of a confusion, he still wanted to back Vali up. The link with Odin was still not up, and while he had ruled out Ragnarok or some other party sabotaging stuff since it would be pretty hard to do it if you were not named Ophis or Great Red, he still wanted to know what the fuck was up with everything. 

Ever since Odin met Ajuka, things had been very weird. It was as if everyone knew something was happening, and he was the only one who did not. It was an incredibly frustrating thing, and he couldn't help but pour all that frustration into the fight with Thor.

He knew it was impossible to make Thor speak if he did not want to, and the same could be said for Odin and Azazel as well. Even if he could overpower Azazel, especially right now, with all his rapid growth, it would be useless, as no answer would be worth torturing one of the people who managed to bring him out of his depressive funk.

He wanted to hear the truth from them, and the chances of that happening were very low, so he just threw himself back into the battle. 

The rage from earlier had morphed into confusion, that had morphed into frustration, and once more into rage.

Halfway through, after a dozen exchanges with Thor’s incredibly potent Divine Energy enchantment, his power fizzled out, as it looked like Thor was not busy just taking blows from both of them. He was also learning and doing something, and had strengthened that concept to the point that Vali’s power ran out, leaving him with his bog standard Power of Destruction, and suddenly, he felt the difference between just his power and his power empowered by Vali.

Could Lucifer also do this? Empower Devils around him to the point that their original powers felt like cheap knock offs?

That moment of introspection cost him as Thor backhanded him, and he felt his entire vision go dark, his neck twisting to the side, and his spinal structure cracking in multiple places. The indescribable pain was followed by a massive impact to his back, as he most likely crashed into the ground. After that, his senses began going numb, which told him that this was quite serious. 

Damn. Thor really did not pull his punches here. Even during their spars, Thor really pushed his regeneration to the limit, but never in such a way. He almost always injured him just to the last point, from which he could heal himself and then be in a reasonably fight worthy condition.

This was not that.

This was just straight up attempted murder, and he had to remind himself that to Thor, this was an actual battle, just a step below a fight to the death, and not taking it seriously was kind of a crime in the Norse Pantheon.

He felt a dull warmth bloom in his chest, right where his heart was supposed to be, and his eyes widened as he felt the Mother Tree roots stretching all around his body, not just his bones. It was as if he had a Mini Tree living inside his body, and the roots touched his heart before his vision was restored and then went white, his back arching, as an indescribable sensation coursed through him. 

He came back to life after he felt a familiar energy coursing through his body once more, a gasp escaping his lips as his vision cleared to show Vali looking down at him with concern. He used his hand to weakly push Vali’s silver, glowing hand away, instinctively using his Power of Destruction to insulate his hand from her energy, as he realised what had happened.

Sitting upright on the ground, he looked at Vali with a blank, far off look, making her flinch, confirming his suspicions. With a heavy heart, he turned around, and just as he expected…

The Mother Tree was gone.

Not gone as in its energy reserve was exhausted trying to support him and, as such, had fallen into a deep coma to regenerate the reserves, or damaged to the point that it was just a small sapling instead of the massive tree it once was.

No, the Mother Tree was gone. As in its entire existence was gone. His neck stretched towards his back, and yup, there they were. Two huge circles, glowing green, as the Mother Tree had been assimilated into his body, the roots refining themselves over and over again, as the Mother Tree helped him in any way it could in his fight against Thor.

“You didn’t stop this,” He said as a statement to Vali. “Why?”

Vali was silent for a moment more before replying, “The process was far too gone to be stopped. You would have–”

“Get out.” 

Vali flinched once more at his listless voice as he stood up, his entire body brimming with so much energy that he knew right then and there that he was a Super Devil now. And yet, he hadn’t crossed that crucial threshold he thought was necessary to become one. 

He hadn't become the personification of the Power of Destruction like Sirzechs. He hadn’t become the personification of the Kankara Formula, like Ajuka. 

Somehow, the Mother Tree had fused with him and helped him become a Super Devil, albeit without using some kind of concept to become really strong.

He was like Rizevim, a Devil who became a Super Devil using external means. Rizevim became one because of his bloodline and the circumstances of his birth. After all, he was the sole biological progeny of Lucifer and Lilith. That warranted for something, and that something was a Super Devil.

He was a peak Satan Class Devil before all of this, and had a Mother Tree capable of exerting strength on par with, or even greater than him, and he had, in all his infinite wisdom, decided to have the Mother Tree fuse with him in increasingly greater amounts, just so he could overcome the obstacle ahead of him, which just so happened to be a God who was in the upper half of the Top Ten Strongest list.

It was all so….stupid.

And yet, he knew that it wasn’t random. He knew that it was preplanned or foreseen in some manner. He knew that he had witnessed a meeting between two people whom he had known to be precogs and beings in general who loved to play with people around them, as if they were chess pieces on a board.

He had thought that he was better than that. That he would not be so easily manipulated into doing something he never would have done otherwise. That he was different. That he knew better.

Pathetic.

“Magdaran, listen to me. The process, once started, cannot be reversed. Whatever it was that you were doing, I could tell that it could only go one way. You could have at best delayed it somewhat, but even then, that would have been risky as–”

“GET. OUT.”

He waved his hand, creating a shroud of his power over his Garden, isolating himself from the outside world, and standing in front of his bedroom building, looking at the hole in the ground, as the entire garden was now a couple of inches sunk into the ground, and the roots of the Mother Tree that pervaded every single bit of the Garden were nowhere to be found.

A/N - Sigh.