The Demon Lord Is An Angel-Chapter 486: Sharing Stories
Kir was nervous.
Where his heart had been, he felt a flutter.
What should he say? Who should he talk to first? In what form should he be?
It felt ironic. Now that he’d finally gained the shapeshifting power of a cubi and beyond, being able to appear as anything made him unsure of how to best be himself for everyone.
His evolution had absorbed all bonds and Oaths; yet from outside the door, he could feel their emotions toward him. Ferro and Malzkael, who knew him more as Kiryu. Ferro’s feelings were tinged with anger; Malzkael’s with curious caution. Anko with her willful grasp of him as an ideal. Cassiel and Lapins’ distant thoughts of him as a potential threat, though Lapins believed less so. Kassin’s faded jealousy and Stella’s grateful lust. Amarena’s competitive desire. Kordia’s loyal determination. And Rain...
To Rain’s mind, Kir hadn’t changed at all from when the two boys met.
They’d been torn away, unable to see each other and how they grew into their circumstances, how forces beyond their control had shaped them. Sure, he’d seen Kir through the perceptions of Heaven. Yet through all the evil laid on him, Rainier refused the lies, knowing Kir’s truth. Loving him for it.
And then Kir knew.
He opened the door and entered.
Not as a figure of power, three and a half meters tall and strong. Not in war form or magiform or even the newest form he’d evolved into. His final form, which granted him control over how he appeared to the world.
Not with a glow in his chest from his newly formed core, nor displaying the six wings of his seraphic blood. He pushed aside the substrate of Kiryu’s memories and the little pseudo-soul that arose during his time apart from his body, as well as the nascent consciousness of the one forming inside him.
He entered as a young half-demon with angel wings. A thoughtful brood to his eyes and a hopeful smile on his lips. Meeting people he liked and wanted to know, for the first time.
As soon as he stepped into the room, a hush fell over everyone.
"Hi, everyone." Kir smiled with true nervousness. "I, ah, guess you’re wondering why I’ve gath-"
Amarena disappeared from behind the table. He tracked her with his eyes but didn’t move until she pulled him in a bear hug so intense he needed to put a little magic into keeping himself from being damaged. As he hugged her back, Kordia and Rainier slid out from behind their tables and joined the embrace, followed by Stella, Sin, and Lapins.
Tables and chairs were pushed aside as the others started to join them. Kordia and Rainier arrived first. Then Lapins, Sin, and Stella. Cassiel and Malz stood near each other, and Ferro stood almost on his own until Malz reached for his hand, drawing a curious look from Cassiel. Anko came up on Ferro’s left and wrapped two arms around his back, a hand on his shoulder and ribs.
The embrace lasted a long minute, and Kir set aside his worries to simply bask in their warmth, projecting all the love he felt into those he was closest to. When at last they were ready to part, he gave kisses each to Amarena, Kordia, Rainier, and Stella.
After inviting everyone to sit again, Kir made the area they were standing in more comfortable than his copy of the Academy cafeteria with a wave of his hand. No one seemed particularly surprised by this, except Anko, and once everyone was comfortable, Kir said, "I know everyone has had a long journey. If you’re willing to listen, I have much to tell all of you." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮
"Do we even have time for that? Malzkael asked. "People are dying out there."
Kir nodded. Focusing, he made the floor grow clear, all the way through the manifestation of his mental space.
Outside, the world was almost frozen. The slow progress of the shockwaves from the impacting pieces of Heaven crawling at less than a snail’s pace.
"I know," he said. "When this place came into being, I felt that I could... accelerate things within. Right now, I’m drawing mana from contact with the shield around Chainsfree. Once I lose contact, I won’t have that sort of power without saving up for a long, long time."
He took a breath. "For now, though, we have time. A few hours until the destruction moves another great measure." He was drawing an enormous amount of mana from the dungeon, and even then, it did not weaken the shield surrounding the city. Nor did he feel particularly full despite having certainly exceeded multiples of his former capacity.
He began his story with the truth. That he was born with knowledge from another world, and had only relatively recently discovered that he was truly of this world and not that one.
The entire time he told his story, he thought about what he would do. Knowing Rainier’s mission and sensing the importance of it to his lover, he did not wish to trivialize it or rob Rainier of the struggle against one whose whims had dictated Rainier’s exploitation by Heaven. He’d heard everyone from the moment they entered his domain, and he knew their plans. He could not be a part of them, but he could protect them and do something that needed to be done.
Once he decided this, he eased into completing his story. From there, he invited everyone to ask questions, which he did patiently before asking each to share their tales. Kordia, Lapins, and Sin did so as a group, introducing Reiko and occasionally speaking as her. Kir had noticed a sort of bond between them, one that formed a singular metaphysical nexus. His warm acceptance seemed to annoy Reiko though, since she’d expected him to be more surprised.
Anko, Malzkael, and Ferro told their tales separately, up to the point where they met. Stella politely bowed out of sharing her more salacious experience of the last few months, as did Crimson, who wished not to "make everyone envious of his decadent, worship-filled lifestyle." Cassiel and Malz joined Rain in speaking about the good times they had together, but were less unified over the times when things fell apart.
Throughout the many intertwining tales, there was little arguing and no fighting. Kir accepted all that came with their words, the good and the bad. He offered comfort where it was needed, feeling everyone’s pain with a clarity that could only be matched by the bonding he’d performed by accident, and then intentionally, before. He did not offer to restore it, figuring it could wait for later, and the same for distributing sigil core seeds.
Then at last, it was time to decide what to do.
"I know what you all have planned," Kir said. "Though it was not my intention to hear, I did, because this place is also me. I will help you in every way, because I know how much this means to you," he looked at Rain, Cassiel, and Malzkael especially. "But there is also something only I can do, that I feel I must do... and that is to save as many people as I can from the end of the world."
"How?" Rain asked.
Kir disappeared and reappeared, seated beside Rain. He placed a gentle hand on Rain’s cheek. "Swiftly," he said.
"Faster than me?" Amarena scoffed a little.
"Perhaps a little- oh!" Kir pulled Luda’s gifts from his storage, the suit and boots made for her, the one who’d gotten him with child. "These were made for you. I suspect your Leviathan form makes keeping clothes difficult."
"It is not just a form. I am Leviathan," Amarena accepted the gifts and inspected them curiously, noting how similar they were to the suits worn by Kir, Ferro, Malz, and Anko. The boots were the biggest difference, as was the lack of a sigil core interface, but with Kiryu’s memories, Kir knew he could update both later.
"While we’re handing out gifts," Cassiel said, "Rain, I... kept this for you." She reached into her storage and produced a sword Kir hadn’t seen before. The concept of lightning was woven deeply into its material. A claymore perfectly suited to Rain, who had the same concept integrated into the small but strong core that had formed within him.
"Torrent," Rain named his blade, taking it with a grateful look.
"Nothing for us?" Lapins joked, but Kir pondered the question all the same before deciding to give a sigil core seed to the three of them. He explained its function and that he suspected Reiko would enjoy working with each of theirs, since he did not know how to give her one.
Stella declined without explanation, and because of the time it would take to learn it, Rain and Cassiel decided to forego receiving one until later, though Crimson found it an "interesting bauble and acceptable tribute." Kir had a sense that the fox spirit was testing him somehow, or trying to annoy him specifically. The emotions of the spirit were less defined than those Kir felt from the constellation.
Sensing the time, there was something Kir wanted to do before giving everyone some time to rest.
"Rainier, Kordia, Amarena... would you mind if we talked alone? There are some things I want to tell you, and to ask..." Kir rested one hand above his womb, all too aware of what was at stake.
