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The men of the Himejima clan left the place with difficulty. They had travelled a distance of about five hundred metres when I looked at my companion.
"Kuroka, finish them off."
The order was clear and straightforward, with no room for doubt. Kuroka looked at me and nodded, realizing what I meant.
She created fifteen [Kasha] and hurled them silently at the men of the Himejima clan.
But before the [Kasha] reached the hundred-meter mark, another fifteen lightning bolts struck and destroyed them.
"Why are you doing this, Barakiel?"
He had been the one who destroyed Kuroka's [Kasha].
I still don't understand why he doesn't do anything against the Himejima clan members.
"I can't kill them, neither can you, and neither can Kuroka. None of us can massacre the members of the five great clans. We don't have the power to fight those who support them from behind."
Barakiel lets out a slight sigh.
"Who's behind them, so that someone like you won't make a move?"
"Takama-ga-hara"
So it's true.
I thought it was a joke, but it's not. The Shinto gods are behind the five great families.
"The Shinto gods do not pay much attention to the human side and have left all their work in the hands of the five great clans. At the same time, they left a sacred beast in each clan so that they could protect themselves. They will do nothing if you merely beat them as I have done before, but it will be different if I kill them. Although I am not afraid of the gods, I cannot protect my life and my wife and daughter at the same time."
Barakiel and I were silent. Shuri kept trying to calm Akeno, who was in a state of shock after what happened. Raynare and Kuroka did not speak either, it was not the best time to do so.
"Mommy, why do they want to kill me? Why can't I live?"
"Akeno..."
Hang in there, Drako. Now is not the time to make enemies with the gods. I have time, plenty of time to make them my own.
For now, I think calming Akeno is the most important thing.
I go up to her and stroke her hair.
"Drako?"
She looks up, staring into my eyes.
"Why couldn't you live? We all deserve the opportunity to live, grow and experience a future. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something, ever. If you want to live, live. If you want to die, die. Don't let anyone decide for you, Akeno. Only you can decide your own actions, and suffer the repercussions of those actions taken by you. Do you understand?"
"Hmm" Akeno nods her head.
Shuri looks at us with soft eyes. She releases Akeno and pushes her towards Barakiel.
"Honey, why don't you go inside the house with Dad?"
"What about you, Mommy?"
"I have something to talk to Drako, we'll follow you in soon."
Akeno looks at her mother and looks at me. I nod my head, and she smiles at me, after which she runs into her father's arms.
"Kuroka, Raynare, why don't you come in too?"
Barakiel seemed to know something that Shuri wanted to talk to me about. Raynare followed him without hesitation, but Kuroka seemed to doubt whether to follow him or not.
"Come on, this seems like a big deal."
After telling him that, Kuroka doesn't hesitate any more and follows Barakiel, Akeno and Raynare into the Shrine.
The only ones left on the outside are Shuri and me. She lets out a sigh as she sits on the wall of the Shrine. I followed her actions and sat next to her, barely three feet away.
The current Shuri did not look like the gentle housewife. She still had that tender look in her eyes, but she looked much more tired and sad.
"I am sorry you had to suffer that embarrassing scene, even you have suffered grievous insults. I know it's very presumptuous of me to say forget it, but I'm saying it for your sake. The gods... we can't do anything in front of the gods. I don't ask you to forgive them, because I don't forgive them, and I don't ask you to forget, because I don't either. Just... don't commit actions against the Himejima family."
I did not respond to Shuri's words. I can't promise that I won't do anything against the Himejima family.
"I won't do anything... for now."
I'm not stupid, I can't face the gods. Unlike those monks, I don't have anyone that strong behind me.
I have Tiamat, but I do not know if she would be willing to face an entire pantheon just to defend me. At the same time, I don't want to depend on her to act freely.
That's why I have to become stronger, stronger so that no one can reproach me for my actions. Strong so that situations like this don't happen again.
"That's good. This incident will be lost in your memory over time."
No.
You're wrong, Shuri.
Suou Himejima has to die.
Shuri was silent as she looked at the sky. She sighed again.
I... I don't know what to say to Shuri right now. Her family situation is complicated, and they're the kind of problems I'm not good at solving.
I have a headache just thinking about it.
In some ways, it's a relief not to have "family" in this life.
"Hey, Drako. Will you look after Akeno for me?"
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"Hey, Drako. Will you look after Akeno for me?
"Huh?"
It's not that I don't understand what Shuri means, it's just that she's caught me by too much surprise. It was so sudden that I don't know how to react.
"I mean, if something happens to me, could you take care of Akeno?"
Shuri seems to know her situation well.
"Barakiel says he'll always protect us, but that's impossible. He's very strong, of that I have no doubt, but that's not the problem. As much as he wants to, he can't be with us 24 hours a day. I don't want him to be with us all the time either. He's already been with us for fourteen years because of the threat of Himejima Clan. I know he's happy with us, but I know he misses spending his time with his fellow Grigori. You should see the smile on his face as he talks about you..."
She knows her situation very well. Shuri knows that Barakiel can't be with them forever, and her enemies may seize the moment when Barakiel is not at home to attack them.
It is a complicated situation, but there was a simple solution.
"Why don't you move to Grigori?"
It's a simple, obvious question. Shuri and Akeno would have the protection of all Grigori, they would not have to worry about the Himejima clan or other alternate dangers. I am confident that Azazel would not remain silent if they attempted to do something against them.
Shuri looked at me and smiled. She seemed to know everything that was going on in my mind.
"We have already considered that option, and we were about to do it a few years ago. But events have occurred within Grigori that have made us rethink that option."
In other words, Grigori is not a safe place for Akeno and Shuri. That's what she's trying to tell me.
But why wouldn't Grigori be safe for them?
Once again, it seems that Shuri knows what I'm thinking.
"Traitors."
Traitors in Grigori. Even I understand how troublesome that can be.
"There must be some high command to keep Barakiel and Azazel from letting you live in fallen angel territory."
Shuri nods her head.
"Several high officials, and one especially powerful one. Satanael, one of Grigori's leaders, was the one who led this rebellion. But he is not the one we are most worried about, but the most dangerous is the group he leads. They are Nephilim's elite, Abyss Team."
Abyss Team...
The casual words that Azazel said a week before resonate in my mind again.
"We used to have an elite group, but some internal problems have happened, and we don't have that group anymore."
I should have guessed at the time, that the internal problems Azazel was talking about had to do with betrayal.
"Barakiel and Azazel have known Satanael for thousands of years, and are sure that they have left some spies behind in Grigori. That's why we, Akeno and I, are potential hostages with whom they can threaten the person with the most powerful attack in the entire organization."
Shuri closed her eyes and sighed again.
"Satanael... he has only one conflict of interest with Azazel. According to my husband, the two are very similar. They're both scientists interested in Sacred Gears, but their approach is different. Azazel still takes his role as an observer of humanity seriously, but Satanael is different. Satanael has no attachment to humanity, never had. I don't know if you've ever read the bible, but Satanael became a fallen angel by refusing to bow down to a human."
Satanael...
He comes from a different lot than Azazel and Barakiel, who came down from heaven by having sex with human women. Satanael comes from a group of angels who despise humans.
Azazel investigates the Sacred Gears created by God just out of curiosity, but Satanael investigates them with the war in mind. That's what I believe.
But if so, why has Kokabiel not betrayed Grigori? Is he one of the spies?
"There are not a few fallen angels who seek war with the other factions, but the great majority of them are loyal to Grigori and Azazel. They take their job as observers of humanity seriously, but not all of them are like that."
I see...
I suppose I should place Kokabiel in the group of fallen angels who are loyal to Grigori, but who also seek war.
In fact, I think Raynare and her buddies could get in there, too. They are loyal to Grigori, in Raynare's case, it is extreme fanaticism towards Azazel. However, they still "betrayed" by acting on their own and disobeying the orders of the high command.
"So, will you take care of Akeno for me?"
Shuri repeats the question again as she looks into my eyes.
"What about Barakiel?" I ask her.
I, knowing what will happen in the future in case Shuri dies, already know that Barakiel will literally abandon his daughter. But why doesn't Shuri trust her husband?
"I know my husband, and I know my daughter. If anything happens to me when Barakiel is not around, Akeno... she would blame it all on Barakiel, even if she knows it's not her father's fault, so she can move on. As for Barakiel, he, too, would have strong guilt and remorse for his failure to protect me, which would lead him to feel too ashamed to face a desperate Akeno because of her mother's death."
This woman...
It's kind of scary.
"What about Grigori?"
Shuri shakes her head.
"Even if Azazel was willing to let her into Grigori, Akeno would refuse. She would hate anything to do with fallen angels, even herself."
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