Chapter 73: Grandfat-her? I Hardly Know Her!
On the way back to Roygun's territory, I couldn't help but mull over Zekram's words.
It's obvious his prime objective was to make it clear that he wanted me and her separated from one another, but did he really have to go as far as to reveal the King Piece?
He openly admitted to me that he and his faction were using Lord Beelzebub's creations to manipulate the Top 10 spots of the Rating Game. Me, someone working directly under Serafall and Lord Lucifer.
I doubt Lord Beelzebub hasn't told them about the King Piece's existence, or the fact that more than half of the existing pieces are under Zekram's possession. However, there might be a chance they're unaware of what those pieces are being used for, and more importantly, who possesses them.
No, even if they are, what are they supposed to do about it? You can't just disqualify six top-rankers for no reason, and you can't disclose information on the King Piece either unless you want society to collapse, especially one that happens to be rather strength-obsessed.
Zekram told me on the assumption that I was rational enough to know better than to reveal it to the public, but why risk such an assumption? He's never met me before.
Honestly, part of me wants to say he planned on telling me regardless of my temperament, but that line of thinking doesn't align with everything I've been told about Zekram Bael thus far. He acts solely on the belief that his actions are solely for the Underworld's well-being.
How would telling me about the King Piece fit into that rationale? Wouldn't it be better that less people know about it?
Or was he really that desperate to plant a negative image of Roygun in my mind?
I'm not so sure I believe that either. He seemed adamant on keeping me away from Roygun regardless of my opinion. There's no real reason for him to have such a cosmetic objective in mind.
Unless this was all a test?
I remember his reaction when I didn't seem all that bothered about Roygun having the King Piece. 'Does her weakness not disgust you?' I believe his exact words were.
As I established, Zekram does not know me. He and I have never crossed paths before, so it stands to reason that this whole meeting served no other purpose than to help Zekram determine what kind of person his 'grandson' was.
But would he really go that far? Would he reveal the King Piece's existence just for that?
If so, that's awfully… worrying. It suggests I hold an immense, perhaps even excessive amount of value in Zekram's eyes. He's the last person I want trying to rope me in. Fortunately, I still have Sirzech's and Serafall's protection. They're probably the reason he hasn't done anything even more excessive.
And once I'm Vice Minister, that protection will only strengthen. Until I'm Satan-Class myself, I have to do everything in my power to keep the political backing I hold right now foolproof. But once I've reached that level? Maybe I'll take a page out of Martha's book and just do whatever the hell I want.
Save for messing with the Underworld's two resident Super Devils.
///
.
Halibel was at a loss. Mere minutes had passed since the strange, shadowy creature named 'Alvus' had appeared. Someone who had intruded on his Lady's territory on the behest of none other than Zekram Bael.
A fossil who wielded frustratingly powerful political influence that reached into every last nook and cranny of the Underworld, like a relentless swarm of rats.
Once the Shade brought up that man's name, or at least half of it, Alduin had asked Halibel for some privacy, which the wolfman reluctantly decided to grant him.
At least in the audible sense.
Though he didn't listen in on their brief conversation, he had still kept careful watch over Alduin. After all, as his Lady's trusted Knight, he had a duty to ensure the safety of her fiancé. And having the ancestral Bael's name dropped in front of him was cause for immediate concern.
Not just because of how dangerous the man was on his own, but because of his involvement in his Lady's 'secret'. The secret which he, and every other member of Roygun Belphegor's peerage were aware of.
No matter what, that secret could never reach Alduin's ears. Part of him knew it was cruel to keep it from him, but his Lady's happiness took priority over his moral compass.
Alduin made his Lady happy. Truly happy. His presence made her smile in a way Halibel had never seen in all his centuries of serving her. It filled a void that had been eating away at her heart, plaguing it with a torrent of loneliness, grief, and all sorts of hollow emotions.
If Alduin disappeared, that void would not only remerge—it'd come back with ten times the force as before. It'd introduce Roygun to the sensation of heartbreak.
Halibel didn't even want to imagine what that'd do to his Lady's sanity.
And at this moment, he had no doubt in his mind that said sanity was in jeopardy.
Once Alduin's conversation with the Shade had concluded, he entered Roygun's study, a place that had to be careful about peeping on, thanks to the latter's presence.
Just because he was supposed to keep a watch on Alduin didn't mean he was allowed to intrude on his Lady's alone time with him.
A few minutes passed since Alduin entered her study, until, out of the blue, Halibel's acute senses were caught completely off guard. BOOM. In the blink of an eye, a quarter of the estate exploded into bits.
Endless waves chock-full of seismic force coursed through the manor's foundation, crumbling the raw materials that made up its interior and exterior into nothingness. Leaving nothing behind but shattered ruin and debris.
The damage was undoubtedly the handiwork of his Lady's Crack, the force she had used surpassed that of when she and Serafall's clash had decimated the entirety of her estate's upper layer.
This time, the damage was different. There wasn't even the slightest hint of restraint or control behind it. No, this was the product of sheer, unadulterated rage. One didn't need to be a Senjutsu practitioner to make that distinction.
The reason for her wrath quickly became apparent to the wolfman, Alduin had disappeared. Or more accurately, he had escaped.
With the combination of his Senjutsu, a Wood Clone, Partial Hypnosis, and his fiancée's turbulent emotional state. He had made his way out of the Belphegor estate without anyone noticing, Halibel included, who had been too distracted by his Lady's rampage to even attempt to track Alduin down.
Not that it would have made much of a difference, Halibel had yet to find a way to counter that infuriatingly tricky Partial Hypnosis of his.
Seriously, even if he was a Buné, wasn't it a little too early for him to possess the power of the Strongest Dragon King?
After about five minutes of firing off full-force spatial tears, his Lady regained the bare minimum of her composure, immediately rushing into her room, which happened to be one of the few rooms still standing, and locking the door behind her.
Which brought Halibel to his current situation, standing in front of his Lady's door without the faintest clue as to how to proceed.
How was he supposed to comfort her? That was meant to be Alduin's job, but he was both absent and the cause for her grief in the first place. All he could do was stand idle, listening to the faint, echoing sounds of Roygun's sobs from the other side of the door.
Contrary to his usual, laid-back self. Halibel wanted nothing more than to cave Alduin's skull in for hurting his Lady, and shoot a curse at himself for his own inadequacy. Had he been more attentive, more focused, maybe he could've prevented Alduin from getting away in the first place.
'Some Knight I am,' Halibel ground his canines together. His fist clenched to the point where his claws drew blood from his palms. Right now, everything depended on what Alduin did next, though the wolfman wasn't sure what the Buné had on his mind, he knew for a fact he'd return.
Thora was still here after all.
"I see, so Lord Zekram's name was mentioned?" She hummed, her oddly-composed gaze shifting between Roygun's door and Halibel. "Alduin must've received an invitation of some sort from him. I see no other reason as to why he'd depart in such a hurry."
"You're awfully calm." Halibel clicked his tongue. "And what makes you so sure it was an invitation?"
"Because it's inevitable," she said, maintaining an even tone. "Alduin and Lord Zekram are connected after all."
"Connected?" The wolfman's eyes narrowed with scrutiny. "Is now really the time to speak cryptically?"
"It is not my place to disclose the nature of their connection, I'm merely informing you that this exact moment was bound to happen regardless, whether it be today, tomorrow, a week, or a month from now." She exhaled. "Besides, he's quite adept when it comes to dealing with problematic adults. He can handle himself just fine, even if he's standing before a man of Lord Zekram's reputation."
"That's not the—!" Halibel quickly restrained himself, a Shinobi like him couldn't afford to slip up and spew words his Lady didn't want anyone hearing.
Of course, judging by Roygun's reaction, Thora already knew something was off. If she were solely concerned about Zekram harming Alduin in some way, wouldn't she have already rushed off to Bael City to bring him back?
Why throw a fit? It's not like there was anything physically stopping her from chasing after him. Honestly, she fully expected Roygun to do so, taking the woman's debatably unhealthy possessive nature into consideration.
Yet, here she was, whimpering to herself in the confines of her room as if Alduin's meeting with Zekram was the decisive end to her relationship with him.
'She must've been hiding something from him,' Thora concluded. 'But what could be serious enough to make Alduin want to part ways with her? Or at the very least, make her think he'd do such a thing.'
Knowing Alduin better than anyone, the only thing that came to Thora's mind was the scarce possibility that Roygun had cheated on him. If that was the case, Alduin would probably be flying over here any second now in full Dragonification to snuff the Belphegor's life out himself.
However, no matter how hard Thora tried, she just couldn't imagine Roygun doing such a thing. That woman was simply far too obsessed with Alduin to have an affair.
"Lord Halibel," though her thoughts were all over the place, she kept her tone poised as ever. "It seems you have a better idea of what's responsible for your Lady's current emotional state. Would you mind clueing me in?"
Halibel's Shinobi-honed ability to mask his emotions was usually ironclad, seen through only by someone of Alduin's Senjutsu prowess or higher. But the stress Roygun's current mental state was putting on him made it exceedingly difficult for him to keep a poker face.
The wolfman breathed a deep exhale. There was no use in trying to deny it.
"Like it isn't your place to disclose your master's 'connection', it isn't my place to disclose my master's secret either."
"I see," she nodded, conveying little emotion. "Then I suppose there's nothing for either of us to do."
What happened next was for Alduin and Roygun to solve on their own, their concern as servants was warranted, but physically speaking, any involvement on their end would just be excessive meddling.
///
.
As Alduin neared his fiancée's estate, his senses were overwhelmed by the presence of dense, scattered demonic power polluting the territory's area. The signature of which undoubtedly belonged to the woman in question.
'You foolish girl,' he sighed inwardly. 'I thought you were beginning to understand me, but clearly, your impression of me couldn't be any more skewed.'
In all fairness, Alduin knew he wasn't exactly the easiest person around to understand. As if his very nature was to completely derail the expectations others had of him, sometimes in either the best or worst ways possible.
'Man, she really went on a rampage, didn't she?' He blew an impressed whistle as he looked over the estate, or at least, the third of its exterior that remained standing—barely.
The only reason the whole thing hadn't collapsed was that halfway through Roygun's tear, she focused her attention on the courtyard, the residence of vibrant cherry blossom trees Alduin had helped her nurture, and his mother had perfected simply because she found their 'lacking' care offensive.
Alduin put on a deep, disapproving frown. Unlike the manor itself, he found no amusement in the destruction of the cherry blossoms. Every plant he nurtured, whether he had done so for a few weeks or a few years, was special to him. They were like his children in a way, ones he all cared for dearly.
'I'm sorry. Maybe if I had handled the situation with more delicacy, this wouldn't have happened,' he breathed a deep exhale and continued onwards, his senses picking up on Roygun's presence inside her room.
It was time to face the music.
"Alduin!"
Or not.
The moment his feet touched the estate's wobbly floorboard, Halibel popped up right behind him, his aura radiating nothing but sheer anxiety and trepidation.
"You look tense," Alduin quipped. "And rather surprised to see me, don't tell me you thought I had left for an indefinite milk run?"
The wolfman opened his mouth, but no words came out. He wanted nothing more than to hurl an onslaught of curses at Alduin for disturbing his Lady like this, perhaps even nail him with a few curses here and there.
But more importantly, he wanted to know what Alduin planned to do now. What had Zekram told him? Was Alduin now aware of the secret his Lady wished to keep a million miles away from him?
Was he here to break up with her? Or was reconciliation still on the table?
"You can relax, Wolfie. I know what I'm doing," Alduin gave the Knight a reassuring pat on the shoulder and gripped the doorknob of Roygun's room. "Now, if you'll excuse us, Mommy and Daddy need some alone time. I'd prefer it if we didn't have anyone eavesdropping."
Alduin shut the door behind him, the sound of the latch clicking earning a twitch out of the mellow, disheveled woman sitting on the bedside. Her back was turned to him, and her eyes lingered on the closed blinds blocking her window, rendering the room darker than necessary.
"Aren't you going to say anything to me?" Alduin tilted his head, noticing a pungent, rose-tinted scent emanating from three emptied bottles sprawled across a nightstand.
Roygun remained silent, but not reactionless. She lowered her head to face the floor, and her hands clenched the bedsheet as tightly as they could, tearing the furthermost ends of its fabric.
"So you've gone mute? How unfortunate, I guess I'll have to pick up sign language." Alduin started to approach her, walking around the bed so she couldn't keep her face hidden from him any longer.
"...Get out," Roygun's voice was worryingly hoarse, as if she had gone without water for weeks on end.
"Oh? So you can speak?" He smiled, completely ignoring her and continuing onwards. "That's relieving, I thought you were planning on handing me the silent treatment for a second there." He chuckled lightly.
"Don't make me repeat myself," her voice sounded more venomous than it did authoritative. "I don't want to look at your face right now."
"Why not? Are you that mad at me for leaving to talk to Zekram against your will?" He leaned forward, finding the way Roygun turned her head to avoid his gaze both amusing and childish. "Or is it because I now know about your King Piece?"
Like she had just been electrocuted, Roygun's body snapped stiff. The raging emotions her aura had been emanating since Alduin's departure intensified tenfold, clogging up his senses as he found himself overwhelmed by the onslaught of information they were processing.
Yet, he refused to close himself off. He happily accepted the migraine Roygun's aura caused him and took one last step forward, slowly reaching his hands out towards her face.
"If you know that… then what did you even bother coming back for?" Her voice faltered, unable to muster up to make her words any more imposing than a defeated whisper. "Just go already… I don't want to listen to you mock me… hah… if it's even the 'real' you standing in front of me."
Her words made Alduin pause, and in the midst of her wallowing, she chose to take the latter's brief silence as confirmation.
"...Seriously? You don't even have the decency to break up with me in person?" She breathed a low, emotionless chuckle.
He clicked his tongue. "Idiot."
Alduin's voice was filled with enough disapproval to make even his mother nod in admiration.
Without hesitation, he raised his hand high up into the air and slammed it down atop one of his horns as hard as he possibly could. Allowing its tip to seamlessly tear through his flesh and open up a jagged, messy cylindrical hole in his palm.
The sound it produced made Roygun's face whiten in horror. It wasn't the sound of bark being chipped off. It was the sound of flesh and bone being mutilated—her fiancé's flesh and bone.
A wine bottle's worth of blood spilled onto her bedroom carpet and polluted her room with a metallic smell. The wound showed absolutely no signs of regeneration since Alduin not only refused to mend it with his Dryadic Blessing like usual, but because he was forcibly limiting the circulation of his Ki, dampening his typical regenerative speed.
"I'm not sure where this idea of me 'breaking up' with you came from, but assuming that was my intention, I'd definitely do so in person." He sneered, offended that her train of thought had even gone there.
Finally, Roygun turned to face him, almost spraining her neck with how fast she craned her head. Her sore, reddened, tear-soaked eyes filled with anguish and guilt, as if she had been the one to stab him just now.
"It's about time you looked at me," his smile was warm as ever, and his eyes softened with both love and pity. "Don't worry, I can heal something like this no problemo."
Now that he had her attention, he was happy to let his Ki and Dryadic Blessing fix the wound right up.
"You're here…" The genuine surprise she expressed upon realizing Alduin was here made the Buné clench his teeth.
Did she really expect him to just flat-out ghost her? Did the love he had shown her have such a shallow impression on her?
Or was it the other way around? Was Roygun's current impression of herself so lacking that she believed Alduin learning about the King Piece was a valid reason for him to ditch her?
"Of course I'm here, you foolish woman." He exhaled, coiling his arms around his fiancée's neck and pulling her head under his chin. "Seriously, what's wrong with you? So what if you used it? Don't get me wrong, I'm pissed that you decided to keep this from me. But thinking I'd abandon you over it? I don't even have the words to describe how stupid you are for believing that…"
The bulk of his anger was naturally directed towards Zekram, and also Ajuka to an extent. He wasn't mad that he created the King Piece in the first place, but he highly disapproved of Ajuka's decision to let the Great King Faction just swoop in and snag them like that.
Sure, they might've used some kind of nonsensical 'safekeeping' pretense to back their acquisition, but even Zekram himself admitted there was nothing he could do if Ajuka truly wanted to keep the pieces.
So what if Ajuka wasn't willing to defend them physically? The man himself acknowledged that the pieces were problematic, that was reason enough for the Old Devils not to get their hands on them.
Even if they tried to counter by saying Ajuka shouldn't possess them either, he should've just destroyed them all. The Satan had already deemed the King Piece a 'failed creation' after all. What point was there in keeping the pieces?
"I don't understand…" Though confused, Roygun leaned into her fiancé's touch. Her hands gently crept up his back, resonating with his warmth, confirming that he really was here, in front of her. "H-How… how are you alright with this? How are you not… disgusted by me?"
Each word came out trembling, Alduin's words and actions contradicted absolutely everything she expected to happen.
"I'll answer your question with a question." Softly, he ran his digits through her disheveled locks. "Why don't you think I'd be alright with it? Why do you think I'd be disgusted by you using the piece? I'm a Buné, we are quite literally, the last people in the Underworld to have a purist mentality when it comes to strength."
Eating a chess piece? Drinking a dragon's blood? It was all the same to him. Acquisition of an external source to boost one's strength. The only difference was how well one could assimilate and utilize said acquired power.
"Why…?" Her nails raked through the fabric of his kimono. "He must've told you… the reason I consumed the piece was that I couldn't achieve even the lowest rank of Satan-Class on my own… I'm a dullard. I wanted to compete on the grand stage even though I wasn't worthy of it… so I cheated. That's all I am Alduin… a cheat."
"Again, so what?" He chuckled. "You had a wish, so you did what you needed to in order to bring it to fruition. From what I understand, Rating Games aren't just a test of a King's individual might, are they? You need to recruit and raise a powerful peerage, you need a strategic mind capable of organizing them efficiently, and most importantly, you have to build up the trust between you and them."
The concept sounded a bit romanticized, but a strong bond really did affect how a peerage fought for their King. Alduin had witnessed it first-hand, and he'd be a fool not to recognize the fierce loyalty Halibel felt towards his master.
"I stole a position… a position I don't deserve. A position that could've gone to someone who could hold it through their own merits alone…"
Alduin let out a soft, resigned sigh.
"Yes, it is indeed unfair to other participants that you hold a King Piece, and they do not. I won't argue with you there." His verdant, limpid eyes shone with clarity. "However, I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I care about them either, because I don't."
Roygun's leaky face shifted upwards, staring at him in bewilderment.
"What? I don't know what kind of person you think I am, but I'm not some scion of justice. Right or wrong, fair or unfair. I'm too selfish to pay such concepts any mind." Alduin grinned, sensing that now was a prime opportunity to clear up whatever misconceptions his fiancée had about his beliefs.
He was the man who had covered up his mother's threat on his student's life to protect the former. He knew the latter was in the wrong. He knew he had promised Sirzechs that he'd put his sister's safety above all.
Yet, he still turned his back on a promise. Quite possibly the single most important promise Sirzechs could have someone make.
He was the man who, at this very moment, was collaborating with Azazel behind Serafall's back. He had lied to her about doing so, even though he knew how much distress the Governor's lack of oversight placed on her. Hell, in a week's time he'd go out to help the man hunt down his runaway Cadre.
And for better or worse, he didn't regret his actions—not anymore. With the help of his dragon, he had begun to accept his nature for what it was.
He was his mother's son. When he cared about something, or in his case, someone, he'd disregard everything and everyone else to safeguard them.
He demonstrated selective apathy when it suited him, though not as extreme as his mother's, it was there nonetheless.
"You consumed the King Piece. Big whoop. Didn't you spend centuries attempting to break past Ultimate-Class before you did so? This was your last resort, wasn't it?" He raised his brow, his comforting grip on her remaining firm. "There's no malice behind your lust for power, you simply wanted to fulfill your dream of competing at the top, and now you're there."
"That doesn't make it acceptable…" She sniffled, unwilling to let go of her self-loathing.
"No?" He reeled back and locked eyes with her. "Then I guess you'll have to break up with me."
"H-Huh…?!"
"I can't imagine how hard you worked before deciding to fall back on the King Piece, yet you still consider your use of it sinful." His tone was eerily even. "Objectively speaking, I've done much worse, my love. At the ripe age of eighteen, I've already betrayed both Lord Lucifer and Lady Leviathan, despite all they've done to support me thus far."
Her mouth dropped agape. She wanted to assume he was making a joke in poor taste, but his tone and demeanor suggested the complete opposite.
"Y-You're lying… you may have done something… but you're definitely exag—"
"Exaggerating?" He scoffed. "Nope, what I did went directly against the one promise he wanted me to uphold. An unquestionable act of betrayal. Although you might be right about the thing with Lady Leviathan. I think the intent behind my actions makes it less bad? Granted, if it were ever to get out, I'd immediately be branded a traitor of our race. Heh."
"I… I don't understand," her breath quivered with shock and awe. "...What are you trying to achieve by telling me this? Are you trying to make my sins seem trivial in comparison to yours?"
"No, I'm trying to rid you of the dumb notion that I have any interest in leaving you whatsoever because of a mere chess piece. That said, I can't really say I'm a big fan of you degrading yourself like this either."
Roygun could do all the mental gymnastics she liked to convince herself that she was somehow lesser, that Alduin's lack of scorn was just a figment of her wishful imagination. He'd happily scold her back to reality, however many times she needed him to.
"I… don't know what to say…" She buried her head further. Not one word out of Alduin's mouth had aligned with her expectations, leaving her at a complete loss.
"Then don't say anything, just listen. If you're going to judge yourself this harshly, then you'll have to do the same for me. These 'standards' of yours on what makes someone worthy or unworthy aren't really standards if you don't apply them universally, now are they?"
A heavy sigh escaped Alduin's lips.
"I, for one, definitely won't judge you for using the King Piece. However, I still think it's for the best that you give it up." Before Roygun could question his contradiction, he continued. "It's not because I disapprove, it's because that piece gives Zekram leverage over you."
"When I talked with him earlier, he made it pretty damn clear to me he doesn't approve of us being together." His tone brimmed with spite. "As long as you and he are in 'cahoots', throwing out Lord Lucifer or Lady Leviathan's name as a barrier won't be of much use, because Zekram will be able to maneuver around it thanks to the direct connection he has to you."
She shook her head. "Alduin… I don't even know if the piece can be removed…"
"I imagine Lord Beelzebub can probably do it," he grinned. "As it so happens, your fiancé happens to be quite well connected with the Four Great Satans. If I appeal to Lord Lucifer, it should be possible to secure an audience with him."
"...And if it still can't be done?"
Alduin's face hardened, his eyes morphing in a way Roygun was probably better off not seeing.
"Then I'll find another method to shut Zekram out," he said with frigid, steadfast determination. "But that's a bridge we can cross when we get to it, until then, it'll be a lot more reliable to rely on the Satans for help."
He hadn't said it yet, but Alduin's plan didn't involve just removing Roygun's King Piece.
He planned on eliminating the other five King Pieces active in the Top 10 as well, not because he believed it was fair, but because he believed Zekram deserved to lose his 'money-printing machine', as he so aptly worded it.
Who did he think he was? Talking his fiancée down like that right in front of his face? He could excuse his mother because, well, she was his mother, but him? A man with whom he didn't share so much as an iota of blood?
He owed him nothing. His 'vision' for who Alduin was supposed to be was of no relevance. His 'duty' as the safekeeper of the Underworld's noble bloodlines was of no relevance. His 'belief' of who Alduin did and didn't deserve was of no relevance.
Zekram Bael was of no relevance to Alduin.
Clearly, the fossil didn't understand that basic concept, so it was Alduin's duty to see to it that he did.
///
If you want to support my work and get access to early chapters, go check me out on P@treon/Accel14!
There's also a discord if you want to communicate with me there or get updated on public chapter releases! (wNzT9AEsaz)