章 15: Imperfection is perfection
Stolen page of A Study of the Nephilim from the Library of Alexandria before its destruction
A Nephilim is a hybrid being born from the union of angels and humans. My research showed me that there was not a conclusive difference between Nephilim from pure or fallen angels except for the colours of the wings that they inherited from their parents.
Nephilim are the perfect mix of mortal and divine. Unlike demigods that are either more mortal or more divine, those beings ally the two different states of existence in their making to make something completely different, something with all the strengths of the two races at the origin of their creation without the weaknesses. Maybe it was with the contact between their races and **** that the presence chose to eradicate them.
*scene*
Strength was what changed the world. Strength was what decided what was right or wrong.
The truth is that those who would be judged and seen as The only sinners in the end would be those guilty of the sin of being weak.
Akeno Himejima knew this deep down. It was a truth that she could not completely forget even if she wanted.
She had seen how a lack of strength could change everything, how strength could give you everything.
She knew that nothing was certain, that life was a concept full of upheaval, of ups and downs, of spectacular rises and bigger falls.
She had already lost everything. She knew what it was to go from having everything to having nothing and gain back everything again.
She has just wished that the dream she had found herself living in, That the life she thought she was finally in control of, that this idea of safetyness of would have lasted longer.
A god had attacked them and Akeno was realizing with horror and fear that he hadn't come alone.
She could smell in the air blood. Her ears could hear everything laboured breath of agony the residents of Kuoh were feeling.
She could hear the sound of their heart beating, of their adrenaline rising, of the thrum of their blood in their veins.
She could feel the fear, the hopelessness that inhabited them deep in their heart. She could feel and decipher the electric connections of their brains. She knew that if she wished to, that if she allowed herself to plunge just a little bit into the darkness she had been born with, that she didn't want to acknowledge, she would be able to hear their thoughts.
She bit her tongue hard. The metallic taste of blood and the pain gave her something else on which she would be able to focus.
'You are the queen,' she reminded herself. 'Rias gave you a command, she trusted you with making sure that the others were alright and would be able to flee'.
Her king was now fighting against a god and instead of being at her side, Akeno was going away, was leaving her alone, was fleeing.
The occult club research building appeared before her. Akeno stopped before it or what remained of it.
It looked as if it had been crushed by a shredder, Iron and steel bending in a way that almost looked non-euclidean.
What had stopped her wasn't the destroyed building in itself even though she felt a pang looking at its destroyed form.
The old building had been another home for them or at least, this is how Akeno saw it. She was sure that the other members of their peerage would have said or thought the same thing.
Blood, dark blood was staining it more precisely where was the entrance. Under the corpse of the once glorious building, Akeno saw them.
She walked slowly toward them. Her worst fears were proven true. Those were dead bodies. There were three of them.
Two of them were unrecognizable. It was as if they had been butchered like animals. Akeno realized with disgust that their eyes had been destroyed almost as if they had been eaten by rodents.
The only proof that they had been persons, devils like her was the Kuoh Academy female uniform.
She turned toward the third one. The lower half of the body was under the rubble and probably crushed. She could hear a heart beating. Without thinking, she summoned A bolt of lightning that flew from her and destroyed the rubble covering her lower half.
The sight made her almost want to vomit. She was not even sure that Asia's sacred gear would have been able to do anything.
There was nothing under her stomach but disembowel guts sitting on the ground. Her flesh and muscles were gone.
It made her still alive, still fighting a greater tragedy, a greater sin. Akeno walked to the third still-living girl and kneeled at her side.
Being close to her, Akeno was able to recognize her. She hadn't known her personally but she had been one of the members of the peerage of Sona.
Her name was Reya Kusuka. The brown of her hair had been completely stained with blood taking a dark scarlet colour.
She didn't really know what to say or do. Nothing that she could do would be able to help. She didn't know how to fix this if she could fix this.
Maybe, it was better for her to leave, to go search for the other member of the Gremory peerage.
It was clear that something or someone had done this to the pieces of Sona and everything second where she wasn't with them was one where a disaster could happen.
She began to rise but was stopped by something. Something had grabbed her right hand. "Please, don't leave me here," a voice, no Reya Kusaka begged. "I don't want to die, I don't want to die."
Akeno slowly fell on her knees and grabbed the hand with all the tenderness that something like her could mutter. "I'm sorry," she told the young girl.
What else could she have done? What else could she have said? Sorry that you'll die soon? Sorry that all the dreams you thought you could one day realize were nothing but things that would never see the day?
"Why?!" the girl yelled. "Why did I do to deserve this? Why now when I thought tha-" The voice of the girl disappeared at the end.
"You didn't do anything to deserve this. It's just how this world is," Akeno told her. "Nothing you did was wrong," she spoke trying to console, give closure to the almost-dead reincarnated devil. "The world is the one that is wrong."
Slowly, like the end of a musical symphony, the heart of the girl began to slow down and her brain began to shut down.
Akeno stayed even though she shouldn't, even though she should have left to go find other members of the Gremory peerage.
Everyone will die alone. Most would suffer alone before the uncaring and apathetic eyes of the world. She knew what it was to be on the verge of death all alone while the world went on as if her life was meaningless.
Maybe it was more for her than the girl that she had stayed with. Maybe to try to break a paradigm that mostly never was.
Maybe it was for the Akeno who had thought she would have died alone before meeting Rias Gremory on this fateful day.
She heard behind her claps. Instantaneously, she summoned from the sky a bolt of lightning that fell on the place where she had felt they were coming from.
A bolt of plasma hotter, faster than a normal lightning bolt fell on the Earth, tore through the air and scorched the air. A gigantic boom like the sound of an anvil the size of a mountain encountering the Earth followed.
She turned toward where the sound had originated from. Her lightning had left spider webs behind and sang the Earth giving it an angry red colour. Dust and ashes had exploded upward masking where the being had been.
Akeno stayed on her guard. The presence had been able to sneak behind her without knowing when even if she had been focused on Reya, which shouldn't have been possible with her senses that had been improved when she had been reincarnated.
Even then, if the being had been able to bypass them, she should still have felt him. She should have felt the energy, the movement of his synapses, of his brain sending messages to the rest of his body.
The fact that she hadn't been able to mean that the biology of the being was different from the one of an ordinary living being.
The fact that said being had chosen to clap as if they were watching a show and not a scene of tragedy clued her immediately that it could only be an enemy.
She would be surprised if the attack had done more than injure the being. There were three types of beings in the supernatural world.
The first ones were Those who knew how weak they were and chose to end all encounters in the quickest ways possible because they were aware of how easily an error from them or a bout of unluckiness could be their end. It was the case of most beings in the supernatural world.
The second type of fighters were those who were so strong that it didn't matter to them how long a fight could last. They were the ones to drag fights, to let their opponents try everything against them because, in the end, they were so powerful that nothing could end them short of something of the same dimension as them.
Those types of monsters, of fighters, were beings of the same dimension of strength, of power as the head of the strongest divine pantheons like Archangels, members of the Trimurti or even the current Satans.
The third ones were the foolish ones, who thought that they were members of the second category when they weren't. They were fools whose lives always resulted in tragedies. It was the case of mortals like Sisyphus or Tantalus
This is why she wasn't surprised when her enemy emerged from the cloud of dust and ashes looking pristine.
The being didn't walk, he glided. It was as if the Earth itself was moving following his desires and that made the red alarms in Akeno's head explode in warnings.
He was tall in an absurd way. With being taller than 8 feet tall, he towered over her like a mountain.
He had dark hair that was cropped at the side and held in a samurai Knot in the middle. Akeno had to admit that he looked so pretty that it was almost unfair.
With delicate lashes, spotless dark skin, a chiselled face straight out of a painting, golden hypnotic eyes, and features that could only be described as the perfect mix of divine and noble, the being would have been taken for a really attractive girl if it wasn't for his body.
The being had eight arms. He held in them a trident, a sword and a skull-topped club that she recognized as a Khatvānga.
He was clad in a dark grey menacing armour that was covering everything under his neck. The armour was clearly masterfully crafted. Akeno didn't really know about armours and how they were made but the way it looked both sharp and smooth like a living beast of metal made sure That even she, a profane to smithing recognized the incredible display or skill that made it.
"You did this didn't you?" she asked even if she already knew the answer.
One of the hands of the being rested on the back of his neck as if he was nervous "Why are you asking something that you already know," he answered.
Akeno took a deep breath and reached into her mind the core of her demonic energy. She ignored the begging of the sphere of light, of her authority that only asked for her to touch it, to use it.
The smell of Ozone began to appear in the air. "Were they the only ones with this uniform that you killed ?" she asked the being.
One of the hands of the monster went to rest on his chin. "Let me think" the being spoke. "The same uniform you said. Well if I'm not wrong, I killed four other girls wearing the same uniform. Right now, one of my aspects is trying to kill the others but they are like cockroaches."
"I have heard enough," she spoke. "It doesn't matter what happens or what I have to do. You won't see the sun rise again," she promised the god.
If she wanted to protect the others, she first needed to deal with him here. The fact that he had come with Kagutsuchi made clear that he was a god of Japanese origin but the armour, his skin tone and his multiple arms identified him as a deity influenced or that was originally coming from Buddhism or Hinduism.
Gods were higher existences. The thing that was taught to every devil whether they were reincarnated or not was to avoid Hindu gods or Buddhas.
Even the weakest of them was at the level of power of a high-class devil and a lot of the time, those Hindu gods could be aspects of greater gods.
After the Abrahamic pantheon, it was undoubtedly clear that the strongest pantheon coming after was the Hindu one.
Chances were against her. It was like an ant trying to fight the sun. Even at her best, she only reached the lower end of the power of a high-class devil.
A laugh escaped the god. It was the sound of two mountains crushing against each other, of nature slaughtering and destroying reminding everyone that it was the apex predator "Kill me?" he spoke. "Maybe I should bring you with me when we have finished here after having cut all your members. I'm sure that you'll be the best court fool that anyone could ask for."
The god was right that Akeno was a fool. She had been a fool to believe that the perfect life that she had with her parents was real.
She had been a fool to think that her dad would come and save her, that he had meant everything he had said to her.
She had been a fool to not use the power that she inherited, that she hated against Riser. Because of her foolishness, she had almost lost the woman she loved.
She had been a fool to think that she could not have a chance to be happy, that the love that she felt could not be reciprocated.
Akeno for once in her life held hope for her future, in herself. This was why this time, it didn't matter how much she hated it, how it made her want to tear and rip apart with her bare hands her own veins.
She grasped softly the spark that she had abandoned, that she had stopped since her youth to bourgeon.
'Please,' she prayed. 'Give me the strength that I won't lose again my family,' and with those thoughts, she plunged into it letting it consume her, change her. She allowed herself to remember what he had said to her.
"You, Akeno are a Nephilim," her father told her.
"I don't want to be one. I want to be an angel just like you Daddy," she said to him.
"Being a Nephilim doesn't make you different or lesser from me my sweet Bariqa," her father had told her.
"It makes you better than everything I could ever be," he spoke.
"What if I'm not better than you? How could I be better than you when you're you Dad?" she asked him.
The watcher rose from his seating position. Space distorted and was torn before him leaving a gap in the continuum. He presented his right hand to her and without thinking, she took it.
They walked through the portal and on the other side, Akeno's eyes were met with the cosmos in its infiltered form.
The stars, were singing, saying words that Akeno could almost understand. Planetary bodies weaved and moved around them like a painting that had taken life.
She looked at them and saw threads, golden threads that were connecting everything. The world was alive only because all of his components were a part of it. Even her father relied on multiple threads, no chains that were bending his hands, surrounding his neck and entering through his back where she knew his wings were.
It was a complex machinery, so intricate yet so beautiful. "You see it, don't you? All of it," her father told her.
"Yes, I do," she answered softly. She turned her gaze toward herself and found herself devoid of threads.
"The threads, they are not on me," she told her father.
"This, Bariqa is the reason why you are already better than me, why you would never disappoint me."
His amethyst eyes which she had inherited turned toward her. "You were born free from his plans, free from his book. Everything that you do, your future is only yours to decide. This is why you are already better than me. Even if that wasn't the case, it would not change anything about what I feel toward you. You are the greatest thing that I have ever done," he told her.
She hugged his side falling into him, into the shield she knew would always be there for her against the world. "I love you, dad."
She found herself at the level of his chest in his arms "I love you, Baraqi," he told her. "This light in you, you have to promise me to nurture it. As long as this light inside of you is never extinguished, I know that there is nothing that you would not be able to do".
From her back, they erupted triumphantly darker and deeper than vanta black, darker than the darkness of the void, five pairs of them.
Strength, one that she had thought she would never feel again surged through her. Grace ran through her and began to improve and change everything inside her body.
She could feel the world around her, how much it now was. Before, it was as if she had been restricted into, living through rules that she could not breach but now, she could see everything.
She could see the rules of the cosmos that were etched on reality, she could understand them in such a way that mortals would have become mad. She knew that she could if she wished to change, modify them.
She could feel the sky over her as if the blue infinity was a part of her body. She could feel the thrum of the cosmos and its inner workings.
Her feet had left the ground, no it would be more accurate to say that the world bent so that the ground would not touch her.
She felt like an addict spiralling back harder than ever after stopping for a decade to consume their addiction.
She still hated her father, the watcher Baraqiel and what her existence represented but she would be lying if she said that she didn't feel euphoric and happy.
With this power, she would be able to stay on the side of Rias. She had crossed the gap that had formed between them.
She had without thinking closed her eyes to bask in the sensations that she was now feeling. They felt useless. Even with them closed, Akeno could still see better than she ever did.
She still opened them up and fixated her gaze on one of the gods that attacked Kuoh. After all, it was rude to not look at the person you would kill.
"Yes, I'm a fool," she heard herself say. Her voice was different. It resonated, it had weight as if her words were more commands than anything else to reality.
Her gaze lost herself in the god dissecting him, analyzing him, rending him everything that made him bare before her eyes.
She knew his story, his losses, his victories, his fears, his hopes. "You are the greater fool here Daikokuten, just a scared child trying to act as if they were not still scared but don't worry."
She felt a smile split her face. "I am the eternity that you always were scared of, the beyond that you would never reach. Allow me to thank you," and with her words, the world bent.
クリエイターの想い 
allen1996
allen1996 I'm not satisfied with this chapter but it is what it is. I already rewrote it three times. Hope you all like it. I chose to give Akeno another name. Baraqi after her father which meant bright. Names are not just words. They matter.
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