Chapter 51 - Revelation

"Your daughter?"

Azazel had a daughter? Since when?

"She's not my blood daughter, she's adopted. She's a troubled child with a tragic past. I hope she doesn't cause you too much trouble. Besides, she has something in common with you."

You're not talking about Vali? But Vali is a man.

A boy/girl with a tragic past and something in common with me. Vali has a tragic past, and his Sacred Gear is a dragon, so obviously he's talking about him.

"Hey, hey! We're not in the underworld!"

Kuroka, who had already returned to her "human" form, was screaming as she looked out the window.

"No, this residence is not in the underworld. In fact, many of the fallen angels do not reside in the underworld. A very clear example is one of our leaders, Barakiel. He lives with his wife and daughter not far from this place."

Huh...

That's quite a revelation you've dropped on me.

So Shuri's still alive. I already have a new target for a couple of Fate Points.

"Where are we?" Kuroka asked.

"The place where the sun rises, Japan."

I assumed as much since you said that Barakiel and his family lived somewhere nearby here, but I understand that Kuroka didn't know where we are.

"Azazel."

I have a few things to clear up with him.

"Tell me, young dragon."

"I need a place to train."

"Some specifications? What exactly do you want to train?"

"Archery and Senjutsu."

Azazel raises his eyebrows slightly, I seem to have caught his attention.

"A dragon training archery and Senjutsu, you're an interesting guy. Well, leave your things, and I'll take you to a place where you can train.

….

We didn't have much to leave in the room, just Kuroka's clothes.

My clothes were unique. Apparently, they were made of magic threads. What these threads did was transform into a red scarf that I tied around my neck the moment I retook my dragon form.

This was very useful since I wouldn't want to be buying clothes every day.

The room we have chosen is none other than the room in front of Azazel's daughter. Actually, it was Kuroka who wanted that room.

This is what she answered when I asked her the reason for her choice.

"I have to show that so-called daughter that I have the upper hand in this race."

So cliché...

Right now we're back in the elevator. Looks like we're going somewhere different now.

Azazel is very quiet, and Kuroka is very tense. I understand since it's not every day you share an elevator with a being of Azazel's calibre.

Come to think of it, we've been doing everyday life with Tiamat, so it's not that strange. At least for us.

Azazel repeated the same process as before, and the elevator began to descend.

What was there when the door opened... was an open white space. The ceiling was high, it was long horizontally, and it was very deep. Later, the floor at the foot of Azazel opened up, and a kind of machine rose from below.

It resembled an automatic ticket machine.

Azazel spoke as he waved the card in his hand.

"This is one of the doors leading to 'Nephilim'. Watch closely. I'll go through first, you have to copy me."

As he spoke, Azazel held his card in front of the machine. A green lamp in the machine showed an arrow. Azazel passed in front of the ticket machine and disappeared while wrapped in dim light.

Azazel, who had been there until a moment ago, had completely disappeared! We immediately realized that it was a special power of the money machine...

"Hey, that's interesting."

I couldn't help but mutter.

This money machine does a job similar to teleportation circles. But, unlike a real teleportation circle, it has a predetermined destination. In this case, the target must be this 'Nephilim' that Azazel is talking about.

At least, that's what I assumed.

"Guess we just gotta go, huh."

...….

Passing the ticket machine, I was waiting to be wrapped in the light from before...

What appeared before my eyes were somewhere inside a building.

Unlike space before, what appeared to be the inside of the building had a glossy black interior design. In front of me was a long passage that led deep into the interior. As I looked to the side, there were ticket machines lined up on the left and right, and when I looked back, there was also a long corridor that extended further into the building. With a high ceiling, I could see that the interior of the building took up a huge space.

"Welcome to 'Nephilim'."

When we arrived, Azazel said these words welcoming us.

"What exactly is Nephilim, Azazel?" I asked him.

"Nephilim is a school run by us, the Fallen Angels, to train and educate our human members possessing Sacred Gear without combat experience. Each of Grigori's leaders has their own class. We used to have an elite group, but some internal problems have happened, and we don't have that group anymore."

I see. The fallen angels have smaller numbers than the other two mythological factions, and their birth rate seems to be as low as that of the devils. They can increase their numbers by tempting the angels, but even that has its limits, just like the strays of other factions.

Recruiting Sacred Gears users with no background is a good option for them. If I'm not mistaken, Raynare's goal with Issei was to see if he had a powerful Sacred Gear and determine if he could be an ally or an enemy. Too bad for Azazel that the girl had other plans, as she could have gotten a powerful ally instead of taking the devils' place.

"Azazel-sama! You called me?"

That girl! It can't be...

"Yes, Raynare. I have a new job for you."