Beyond Critical - Chapter 21.1 (Patreon)

Serafall Leviathan was a woman on a mission.

Wings fanning out from her back, the only female Devil king soared high above the Gremory territory.

She could have teleported to her destination easily enough, and had already sent a message ahead announcing her approaching arrival, but she liked to fly to he destinations every now and then.

The peace and quiet and the freedom that came soaring through the air, was generally a good time to think to herself and take the time to de-stress a bit.

She was a busy woman, so she had to take these chances when she could. Even if all she wanted to do right now, was crawl into her bed and sleep for the next week.

Her current destination right now, was Dragon Mountain. The territory of the Blaze Meteor Dragon and former Dragon King Tannin.

'He should be on his way right now to one of the Gremory homes in the human world.' she mused.

According to Grayfia, things had gone mostly as planned. Though, Sirzechs had apparently not thought that Riser Phenex would have been gracious enough to give Rias ten days to train and prepare in advance to face off against him in a Rating Game.

Not that she needed it, her new recruit and shiny new Rook that was on loan to Rias, would absolutely curb stomp the third son of the Phenex family.

At the very least, it would give Serafall some time to think things through though. And with how busy she was in general, ten days might be enough time to think things through, in between all the work.

She would have taken care of this straight away last night, if she hadn't had to head over to Kyoto at the behest of Yasaka because the Chinese gods were making a fuss. And then when she came back, she had to meet up with the other Satans. To both inform them of what happened while she was away, and fill them in on her newest recruit. Specifically Ajuka, because her new rook was a greedy boy and it was better to take care of his wants in return for joining her quickly. Though on the subject of her new recruit-

Kaito Evander…was odd.

Not in general as a person. Well, he was funny, bold and a bit interesting for such a young guy….but It was his aura that was really odd. Specifically, his dragon aura.

Serafall had been exposed to dragon aura before. Lots of times. She couldn't even count the amount of dragons she'd met in her lifetime, and she'd been exposed to vastly more powerful dragon aura's before meeting Kaito Evander. And none of them had been able to influence her much at all.

Yet…somehow, his had. More than any other dragon aura ever had, far more in fact. It hadn't been until she left him behind after trading him with one of Rias' rooks, that she understood just how much.

It was like a haze had clouded her thoughts, and she instinctively found herself want to give him more, want to be closer to him. She'd outright wanted to submit to him and let him fuck her cross eyed.

While she'd joked about it with Sona, she hadn't actually had plans for it.

And there was one more thing she hadn't noticed either. Not until she split from him and left.

Kaito Evander was a Toshi.

It wasn't until she was far away from him she was compos mentis enough to realise what the earring he'd been wearing in one ear was and what it signified, not even as it literally shifted colour in front of her face when she reincarnated him as her rook.

Toshi were literally the reason she was so much busier right now than normal. The Yokai who ruled over Tokyo, with their main territory being based in Kyoto were stuck in a three, if not four way stand off.

The Chinese Gods had put a plan in motion hundreds of years ago. Snatching up souls of their people that stood out or had potential and interrupting the cycle of their afterlife. Sealing them in objects called Sacred Beads and from what Serafall had gathered, put them into process akin to reincarnation, but without their soul being reborn, only parts of it, while the majority resided in the Sacred Beads.

They were akin to Sacred Gears in a way. They were connected with the part of the souls that went on to be reborn as new people, and when together, the holder of the Sacred Bead would inherit the skills, the power and even the very 'destiny' of the soul within.

The Chinese Pantheon, had wanted to make their very own army of super powered individuals that would just reincarnate even if they were killed. An army they would never need to worry about dying for good and would eventually return, possibly stronger than before because with each new reborn individual, the power and skills attained by the last would be carried on by the Sacred Beads.

Why, Serafall had no idea beyond the obvious. But, as always, things never went according to plan for the Chinese Pantheon, they were pretty consistent with their failings to be honest.

Their rivals in the Japanese Pantheon…yoinked their little system while they were busy and made sure the souls of their would be army, would be reborn in Japan.

And over the last twenty or so years, it had went into effect and currently a mass amount of the toshi were currently living within Tokyo and had formed what amounted to gangs that reflected their loyalties in their past lives.

The Chinese Pantheon were of course, outraged and demanded the return of the Toshi. The Japanese Pantheon were utterly ignoring them and dumped the problem on the Youkai faction.

And were being pressured by the Japanese Pantheon to deal with it, while the Chinese Pantheon made demands and threats. All the while the super powered individuals, every single one of them capable of using Touki, rampaged around Tokyo and caused tons of damage and stress for the Youkai faction.

The Youkai were between a rock and hard place. They were 'allied' with the Japanese Pantheon, who wanted the toshi, though didn't want to put any work in to deal with them. While the Chinese wanted their super reincarnating army back, but handing them over would mean handing a literal army back over to a Pantheon that was very antagonistic on the best of days, and would 'betray' the Japanese Pantheon.

Either way, the Youkai would have a pantheon of gods pissed off at them for whatever choice they made. Which was where she, the lovely magical girl Miracle Levi-tan came in.

She'd approached the Youkai for talks of an alliance, because things were getting…testy in the background, powerful beings were shifting and moving. And that was how Serafall found herself caught up in the middle of it and took it upon herself to handle negotiations, she thought it would be simple at the time.

Oh how wrong she was.

Because things weren't just as simple as that, no siree. Apparently, the Chinese had went even beyond with their plans, or some of their planned army did at least and prior to dying in their past lives, had become dragons.

Which was apparently what gave them the idea in the first place. Each and every single freaking Toshi, had a spark inside them that would allow them to become dragons if they pursued that path.

And by Yasaka's estimates, the amount of power available to those of the Toshi who had become dragons in their past, was akin to that of High-Class dragons.

…And Dragons had their own scale measurement. A Low-Class dragon for instance, was on par with a mid-class on the usual scale, while a Mid-Class Dragon would be a match for any High-class. And a High-Class dragon? While not quite on the level of the Ultimate-Class, was approaching it.

And that was across the board of abilities. Magic power, physical strength, durability, speed and more. If she compared her precious little sister who was high class in strength, but only in regards to her magical abilities, then she would get absolutely destroyed in a fight with the average Mid-Class dragon.

There was a reason why, dragons were the apex species of the world. Not Devils, not Angels, not Youkai, and not even Gods. The apex species above all else in this world, were Dragons.

Which was why, now that she was involved, Serafall for sure wasn't going to let the Chinese Pantheon gain control over what amounted to thousands of reincarnated ancient warriors, with instinctual access to Touki and the possibility to become dragons.

And that was the thing with dragons. They grew powerful naturally, and grew even stronger still from fighting. They were a species born to battle and dominate for supremacy.

Each one that became a dragon, would inevitably at least reach the High-Class for dragons. Because for them, that was more or less a right of adulthood.

Letting the Chinese Pantheon get their hands on such an army, was a recipe for disaster.

Plus, she wasn't going to let them purely out of spite at this point. Not after one of those arrogant gods literally spit on her!

'In that regard, I suppose Kaito-kun will be a big help.' a malicious smile spread across Serafall's face at the thought.

Not long later, she soared into an area full of massive mountainous peaks and the roars of dragons began to resonate.

Dragons came into view, flying freely through the air like herself, fighting against each other in thunderous clashes that shook the air, or just just plain resting atop the mountains.

The sheer concentration of powerful magic in the air made her a little dizzy for a moment as tens of dozens, if not hundreds of powerful dragon aura's washed over her.

But unlike Kaito's, she was able to dismiss them easily enough.

After a few moments, she found her target. A massive bipedal dragon standing on the tallest peak, with scales of burnt purple and golden horns jutting from his forehead.

"Serafall-dono," Tannin inclined his massive head lightly as she landed, "Odd for you to have need of my services, it has been what, over twenty years since you came here?"

"Has it really been that long?" Serafall wondered, cocking her head to the side.

"It has." Tannin said simply, massive muscular scaled arms crossed over his chest.

"Ah, oopsies?" Serafall rubbed the back of her head with a giggle and stuck her tongue out cutely.

Tannin didn't even blink at her cute responses. He was such an overly serious dragon, he needed to lighten up a bit, "So, may I ask what brings you here Serafall-dono?" the dragon asked, "It must be important I'm sure."

"Mmm, kinda, I need your help," Serafall nodded, "I recruited a rook last night."

Tannin blinked, "A joyous occasion, it has been a very long time since you last recruited a subordinate in the legendary Behemoth," he hummed, "I assume they are a dragon of some kind if you came to me for help though, otherwise I see no point."

"Pretty much," Serafall nodded, twin tails bouncing, "He was a human kid that was born with a Twice Critical Sacred Gear and from a fault of ours, briefly died and was gone long enough before being revived to somehow get a second Twice Critical. He's not a full dragon, but he's made himself one partly from what I've seen and even has access to another item that has a spark of dragon power in it as well. He can even breathe dragon fire."

"I see, two Sacred Gears made from Ddraig's flesh," Tannin mused, "Going by what you say I assume he has turned is body partially into a dragons somehow, perhaps through his Sacred Gears? Impressive indeed though that he can already use Dragon Fire."

"Mmm, he's pretty strong, he actually landed a hit on me before I reincarnated him and made him even stronger," Serafall beamed proudly up at the massive purple dragon, "But it's not just that, he can use Dragon Aura as well, which is why I'm here."

"Hoh? Dragon Aura? Impressive indeed," Tannin nodded, "Many dragons across the world have been former humans at a time, but the ones who could use Dragon Aura without years of training to get accustomed to it can be counted on both hands with fingers to spare."

"Yeah…that's kind of the thing," Serafall frowned, "His dragon aura, it's weird. Not just him using it to strengthen himself, but the passive aura that leaks from his body itself. It was enough to effect me without me even realising it. I outright submitted to him without even meaning to and basically invited him to bed me."

Tannin frowned, "That…" he trailed off, looking for words to say in return and failing for a few moments, "That should not be possible. While it's true that our aura as dragons can passively effect others if we do not reign it in, triggering the instincts of fight or flight in opponents and even including lust in potential mates, it is not so potent an ability that it would effect one such as you. A dragon aura such as that? Would have to be thousands of times more potent than my own. I do not think even Great Red's dragon aura could induce such a thing in one as powerful as you, at the very least, it was not enough for me to turn tail and flee when I tried to confront the Dragon of Dreams in my youth."

That was right, he had said he'd confronted Great Red in his youth had he not? Serafall wondered just how mighty the strongest of all beings in existence truly was.

The most she had to go on, was that Tannin himself who could give her a run for her money, was considered naught but a fly by Great Red. It would be super cool to fight such a being.

Too bad she could never do such a thing without the possibility of pissing him off and having Great Red come nuke the devils as a whole out of existence.

Such a disappointment that she could never get to fight like that.

Still, if Tannin thought that even Great Red's own dragon aura couldn't effect her like Kaito's had, then what could it-

"The only one who I could think of doing such a thing before, is Ddraig," Tannin continued, looking off to side and staring at something far away, "It has been a long, long time since I saw Ddraig in person, but his own dragon aura was odd."

Ddraig huh? Ddraig who's body was made into the Twice Critical series of Sacred Gears? That couldn't be a coincidence could it?

"Odd how?" Serafall asked.

"Its potency like this new rook of yours, was far beyond the norm," Tannin revealed, "I remember once clashing my aura with his own, yet even when he was limiting himself and barely trying, my own was crushed beneath his. His Dragon Aura was heavy and domineering and ruthlessly crushed anything that opposed it. The only other that could face off against Ddraig in a clash of aura's was Albion."

"Is it possible Kaito has inherited Ddraig's aura as a dragon through the Twice Critical?" Serafall wondered aloud.

"No." Tannin denied flatly.

"No?" Serafall cocked her head to the side, "That was a quick answer."

"A dragons aura is unique to them, it's not something that can be inherited, not even Ddraigs hosts over the years have inherited his aura, neither have Albions or even the likes of Vritras, I've met quite a few over the years," Tannin replied, "Perhaps like Ddraig this rook of yours, simply naturally has such a potent dragon aura and the reason he gained a second Twice Critical when he could have gained any other one, was simply a measure in their compatibility."

"Could be, I'm not exactly the authority here," Serafall shrugged, "Honestly it doesn't really matter how he has it, just that he does. I wanted to ask you if there was anything that I could do about it?"

"It's simply a matter of him learning to reign it in," Tannin replied, "Going by your words, he's rather new to it, so it could take some time for him to learn how to do so."

"…Which means I'll have to deal with it constantly." Serafall bit her lip. That, could be a problem. If it was like that constantly, she couldn't exactly bring him along on anything official and would to keep him out of the spotlight. She couldn't have herself shaking her ass at his beck and call in public. Even if he didn't take her up on it, it would be a real damage to her image. And not even just her….

Like, if she brought him along to talks with other pantheons, he would be a walking talking diplomatic incident. What if he ended up with well regarded virgin goddesses like Hestia or Artemis wanting him to jump them, or even leaders of the likes of Yasaka herself.

If the leader of the Yokai faction ended up mentally coerced into some teenagers bed, the outcry from their faction would be massive.

Which was a real problem considering Kaito was a toshi and would be perfect for bringing them to heel. Letting one of their own deal with them, washed any sins from any outside parties hands.

"Well, it is not all bad," Tannin mused, "Being exposed to it often enough should allow you to build a resistance of some form to it."

Well, that would be decent she supposed. But it still wouldn't be helpful for taking him along with her. She'd rather just have it concentrated on her than anyone else, that way she could still make use of him.

She'd have to go see him soon and ask him to try his best to reign in his aura.