DXD SI : Epilogue 1 (Patreon)

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

Underworld

–Sairaorg Vapula–

His eyes snapped open as awareness instantly returned to him. He stepped out of the house, feeling his mother’s even breathing, and knew that she was safe, sound, and currently sleeping without any care in the world. 

Good.

Freshening up, he tiptoed out of the house, even though he knew that there were magical enchantments in place to make sure that people who were sleeping were not disturbed by outside noises, which was a special feature he had added after his mother had woken up one too many times because of his training sessions.

He knew he raised quite the ruckus whenever he went a bit too far in his training, but he couldn't help it. It had been ingrained within him from a very young age that power was everything. That power was necessary to do anything worth doing.

That if one did not have enough power, then they could be sidelined without any consequence whatsoever.

Heading to their training area, which was just a big empty area, with magical enchantments around to make sure that the shockwaves from his blow did not get out of the designated area, he began stretching and getting ready to train.

Having been born with the inability to use the signature bloodline trait of House Bael, he only had his body and his mind to rely on. So, he’d trained them as much as he could, and with the help of his Uncle, Lord Vapula, he had been able to go further than he ever thought possible.

Things had gone so well for him that, at this point, being considered a part of the younger generation, he could go toe to toe with all the Rating Game champions. The fact that he could have defeated Diehauser in that Rating Game, had he not had to take care of his incomplete peerage as well, meant that he was already in the upper echelons of power when it came to the Underworld.

Of course, the likes of Satan Lucifer and Belzebub were far out of his reach, and likely will remain so for a very long time, but Satan Leviathan and Satan Asmodeus were both within reach, and that was an astounding thing to be aware of. It told him that his efforts were not in vain, and yet, the road ahead was still vast.

Sure, he was content right now. With his mother safer than ever, and the Underworld in a position of unprecedented strength, he did not have much to worry about. If before it was an existential fight, now it was a matter of principle and ideology. Also, he would love for his mother to look at him with pride, as he became the first ever Satan who did not do so using magic.

He could tell that the day was not too far. Already, he was beyond Diehauser, with his fighting style working against the Number One Rating Games champion, but he had his sights set beyond that. He was going to become Satan, and there was no room for failure there.

It’s just that now, he had time and space to not worry about too many things, and as such, could take some things slower. He could make a full peerage; he could spend some money on himself and his mother. He could make sure that his peerage was full of people he would want to spend an extremely long time with. He could make sure that—

He paused in his preparations for training, which was adding the maximum amount of weights he could on his body without the magic malfunctioning due to how close they were to each other, as he felt someone looking at him.

Looking straight up, his eyes shrank into pinpricks as he saw who it was. His entire body tensed as he shrugged off all the weights he had put on his body and made sure that he maintained a neutral posture.

Magdaran Bael was looking at him, and even without trying to, he could feel the difference between them. Magdaran Bael felt like a bottomless hole when it came to strength. The gap between them was impossibly vast, and he had no idea if he could ever hope to close that gap.

It was the same feeling he got whenever he stood in front of Satan Lucifer after Red Sky. Before Red Sky, he could still somewhat gauge the Devil’s strength, and even though it was immense, he was not disheartened by the gap between them.

But this? This somehow felt more than that.

Magdaran Bael was his brother, and yet, he was an entirely alien entity to him. He had never interacted with Magdaran, not when he was a kid and not when he was an adult. By the time he understood what was actually happening around him, Magdaran was no longer around, and he had almost lost his mother, so he had thrown himself into the one thing he could control, and that was training until he simply couldn't, and then trained some more.

He had no time or mental space to be worrying about someone vastly stronger than himself, who was also out of the Underworld. Plus, he simply was not made aware of Magdaran and the issues surrounding his half brother at the time, due to his age and also because his uncle, Lord Vapula, wanted to keep him safe and away from problematic things that might remind him of his time back in House Bael.

He felt his entire body go on the defensive as Magdaran Bael landed in front of him, looking at him with a slight smile on his face. 

“Hello.”

“Hello. May I ask what you are doing here?”

Magdaran Bael shrugged, and he blinked as he found himself suddenly sitting in a comfortable chair, alongside Magdaran as they looked at the property surrounding his house. He had a drink in his hand, as did Magdaran.

“Nothing. I just wanted to visit you once. You do know that you are my half brother, right?”

He looked down into the drink and accepted that there wasn’t much he could do right now, except talk carefully. Power clearly was not the solution here, so he replied, “I am aware. I have not met you before this, though.”

Magdaran waved his hand, “Eh, don’t worry about that. I was just here to tie up some loose ends before I leave.”

He felt his body tensing, his mind going to bad places, the places that he had buried with great difficulty after gaining some modicum of security in his life and for his mother.

“Don’t worry. I am not here to hurt you or Misla. In fact, I was the one who healed her. You do know that, right?”

He gave the man a look. “I had an idea, yes. There is still no concrete solution to the Sleeping Sickness in the Underworld, and from the products you made, I could guess that you were the one who woke her up and gave her a power boost.”

“Don’t mention it. Anyway, Satan Class at such a young age, huh? Impressive.”

He slowly replied, unsure as to how to take the compliment, “Thank you?”

“You deserve it. Also,” Magdaran extended a hand towards him, “Want a boost? Straight to Super Devil with a tap. No training required.”

He looked at the offered hand, and despite no evidence of magic on that singular hand, he could tell that the offer itself was genuine. From what he’d heard about Magdaran and his time as the Pharmacist, it stood to reason that Magdaran was at least capable of some power empowerment, in a permanent fashion, without any side effects. Or so, it seemed anyway.

….And yet, he looked right into Magdaran’s eyes and replied with conviction, “No, thank you. I don't want a shortcut or a handout. I will make my way there on my own.”

Magdaran retrieved his hand. “And if I tell you that is simply impossible to ever reach that level for you? No matter how hard you try?”

He smiled at Magdaran, “I won’t know unless I try, and even if you did know the future with hundred percent accuracy, I will not stop trying. What use is all that power if I don’t even know the true worth of it? Taking shortcuts will never work out for anyone.”

Magdaran looked at him for a moment more, his face blank before it broke out into a smile, ‘Hmm. You’re a good egg, Sai. Good. Also, you might just meet some people who were taking said shortcuts and are now paying the price for it. Also, here, just in case,” Magdaran tapped his finger in the air, and he felt something, though he could not tell what it was.

“This should help keep you guys safe. Anyways, don’t mind me.” 

With that, Magdaran BAel disappeared into thin air, and he blinked as he found himself standing once more, with no sign of the chairs, the drink in his hands, or Magdaran anywhere.

Slapping himself, he wondered what it all was, if not a dream. He couldn't feel anything different and yet, if he was not wrong, he had just met one of the strongest beings in the world, and that same being had done something to keep him safe.

Turning around, he ran towards the house. He had to report this to the Satans. No matter what happened, if there was even a chance of Magdaran Bael appearing in his territory, he should tell the Satans about it. After all, that man was beyond him, and was likely capable of taking on the Super Devils as well.

He wondered just how long it would take him to reach such a level?

–Aldric Zagan–

“Yes!” he screamed, as he finally had a Genus Loci of his own! Sure, it needed the help of his teacher, and it subsumed one of the most powerful metaphysical entities in the world, but finally! He had his own, and he knew his tree was better than the Mother Tree, not that it would be right to compare both of them.

His teacher would probably skin him if he said that out loud. The Mother Tree would have reached this level and more. It just never got the chance to do so. 

Taking a moment to lament the unfortunate fate that was handed to the Mother Tree, he was about to jump back into the sheer fascinating specimen that was the new Genus Loci built from the ashes of Ygdassil, only to jump in sheer terror as he found himself staring at the grinning face of his teacher.

“Aaaaa!” 

The horror was multiplied by the fact that in the past five years that he’d spent with Magdaran in that dimension, he had never seen the man grin or laugh this much. It was completely alien to him. Coupled with the realisation that his teacher had likely come to this world only to intervene on his behalf when his plan was about to be destroyed by Odin, and his stupid soul anchoring artifacts, his fear was only amplified manifold.

“So,” His teacher said, deliberately cracking his knuckles, “How did your plan go, my dear disciple? I thought that I told you never to plan something with precogs and more experienced monsters on the other side? And if you did plan for something, expect the plan to go off the rails and account for that as well?”

“Ehehe,” He laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head, as his teacher advanced, and then, he could only describe the chase as cartoony, as his teacher continued to chase him and hit him with glancing blows, despite being fully capable of warping reality around them to give him the thorough beating he probably deserved.