Chapter 152 - Suzaku Himejima

Drako and the others, led by Suzaku and Seiryuu, left the business district and finally arrived at an office space in a huge building that towered above the rest.

They travelled in limousines, which Suzaku had prepared in advance. As expected, the clans were not particularly poor.

The group went up to the penthouse of the building, which was the location of the meeting. Specifically, the meeting was held in a Japanese-style room.

In this Japanese-style room, Drako and the others were sitting next to Suzaku and Seiryuu. Completely uninterrupted in their posture, Suzaku sitting so meticulously made it clear that the training she received on social norms was of a high standard.

But Drako's attention was not on Suzaku at this time.

A woman in her early twenties had been waiting for the group in the room before they arrived. Drako had not even been able to feel her aura until he was a few feet away from her.

She was a tall girl, some six or seven centimetres taller than Kuroka, and had a slender, well-developed body. She has shoulder-length raven-black hair and striking silver-grey eyes. Without a doubt, she was extremely beautiful. In fact, she was so beautiful that Drako thought such beauty could only pertain to a goddess.

[Inspect Status]

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[Artemis]

Race: Divine Spirit

Status: ???

HP: ???

MP: ???

Strength: ???

Defense: ???

Magic: ???

Agility: ???

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She was really a goddess...

Drako tensed up. This was the second time he had tried to see someone's stats and all of them were blocked, the first time being Tiamat.

If she wanted to, she could kill everyone in the room easily. Drako was sure of that. Even if he used [Agni Gandiva] to his full potential, his most powerful attack, the rest would die from Drako's own attack.

Even if Agni Gandiva was an attack at the level of a nuclear bomb, he was not sure if it could kill Artemis or not.

"What a beautiful big sister, what's your name?"

Akeno spoke before Drako could say anything.

"I am Artemis, goddess of the hunt."

The goddess introduced herself calmly.

Drako already knew this because she had read his status, but he was still surprised to find one of the Olympians here. What was one of the main goddesses doing here?

Even Seiryuu was surprised. In fact, everyone showed a variety of reactions except Suzaku. It was evident that she was to blame for Artemis' presence.

"Artemis is my guest, she won't intervene in our meeting. She has... her own business to attend to with Drako."

Shit.

How had Drako attracted the attention of Artemis or Olympus?

Perhaps...

Perhaps the gods noticed the use of Phoebus Catastrophe?

But... that was a bit absurd, wasn't it? Phoebus Catastrophe was a power from a completely different universe, there should be no connection to the beings living in this world.

[All universes are connected]

Oh, I haven't heard from you in a while, [Sage].

[You didn't need my assistance. I will only speak when necessary for the host.]

I see...

While Drako had his mental dialogue with [Sage], Suzaku had already started talking.

"To begin with, there's something I need to talk about. The previous issue related to the Utsusemi Agency, everything that happened is the mistake of the five families. For involving you all in that, I wish to formally apologise."

Suzaku bowed her head, surprising everyone present. The most surprised of all was no doubt Drako.

Seiryuu, who sat behind her, also bowed his head. In some respects, however, his expression was sharp.

For someone who had attacked them before, his attitude was...

"I would never have expected anyone from the Five Clans to admit their own mistakes. Apparently, Shuri is not the only servant there who still has manners and respect for others. I suppose we can accept the apologies, for now... and we are only accepting those for the incident involving the Utsusemi Agency. Your Himejima clan... you still owe us."

Drako, as Akatsuki's leader, was in charge of talking to Suzaku. In fact, the two of them were the only ones needed in this place. It was obvious that Seiryuu was nothing more than some sort of subordinate of Suzaku.

"I understand that. I assure you that sooner or later you will have the answers you want. The problem is..."

"You can't do it while old Suou is the head of the family."

"That's right."

Suzaku nodded.

"It's okay, we can work on that later. For now... Seiryuu, let me warn you just once. Any more disrespect and I'll be shooting arrows until you can't make any more of those shields."

Drako summoned Gandiva again and created an arrow. Unlike the previous arrows, this one had Darkness and Holy attributes imbued into it.

Drako did not ignore Artemis' sudden reaction, though she quickly hid it. It seemed she had discovered something.

Suzaku says as she looks at Drako.

"Like the Grigori, our side individually pursues the rest of the Utsusemi Agency, as well as that group of wizards who are cooperating with them. We have confirmed that, while they are evading our search, there is something they are after."

"The remaining Shi Akuma, right?" Drako replies.

"Yes, we heard that two former students from Ryoukou High School had taken refuge in the mountains near a prefectural border, where the remains and the people of Oz are in the process of locating them. According to information from our spies who have been deployed at the site, it has been verified that there have already been skirmishes between them."

Hmm...

This wasn't how Drako knew.

According to Azazel, the rest of the Shi Akuma had already been captured before even Tobio awakened his Sacred Gear. How was it that they were fighting the Wizards of Oz and the Utsusemi Agency?

"Contact with those spies ceased a few days ago. Most likely..."

Suzaku, her eyes serious, looked at Drako.

"I have heard that within Grigori, there was an evil force. A group of people in possession of rare and ferocious Sacred Gears... Those who fell into the abyss: Nephilim Abyss."

For those who just joined the team, Tobio and the rest, this information was disconcerting. They were unaware of the existence of this group.

"Drako, did you know about this?" Natsume asked.

"That's right. When Satanael betrayed Grigori, he brought with him this group of... people. The vast majority of them are people with dangerous skills and unstable minds, so they are dangerous. They were under surveillance by Grigori, but..."

Drako didn't have to finish the sentence. Everyone, more or less, knew what had happened.

"I've heard that the elimination of Sacred Gear holders without the ability to control their power was normal for the Grigori. Why didn't they do the same this time? We could have been spared all this trouble..."

"People change. Even the most ancient beings can change over time." Drako responded.

Even for the fallen angels, who had been living for an unimaginable time, no, precisely because they had been living from eternity, it seemed that each of the leaders had embraced their own motives. Therefore, even a traitor came into existence in that organisation.

"That's a pretty convenient statement." Seiryuu put on a cynical smile.

"Seiryuu."

Suzaku issued a reprimand before Drako killed the boy.

"Good, good."

Seiryuu shrugged. He did not seem particularly afraid of Drako. As the next head of the family, he should have his own aces up his sleeve, his trump cards.

Returning to the topic of conversation, Suzaku continued.

"As for those contacted by the remains of the Agency and the wizards, they are a boy and a girl who possess the remaining Shi Akuma, Tāotiè and Húndún. I imagine you also know the people involved."

In response to Suzaku's statement, Drako...

"Shigune Nanadaru and Koga Hyousuke, correct?"

Those two were the remaining Shi Akuma. Drako had already been informed of all this by Azazel. The only information relevant to Drako was where they were, nothing else.

"Koga, huh. That's certainly going to be problematic."

The one who says after he exhaled like he was sighing was Kouki.

Drako did not know either of these two, but it seemed they were quite famous in school. He had seen their images, and he had to say that while Koga was a normal guy, Shigune was a total beauty. She was more cute than beautiful, but she was still a beauty.

"Koga-kun... because he had brains despite being a delinquent, he was popular with the girls."

So he was similar to Kouki in that respect. Maybe that's why the delinquent in the group found him troublesome.

Well, the Koga boy had two choices. Either join Akatsuki or become exp for Drako.

"Well, I'd like to take this moment to convey my true intentions to arrange all this (apart from seeing Akeno once more)."

Suzaku switched to the main theme as if she were flipping a switch.

After a heartbeat, she said the following.

"Why don't we form a temporary united front?"

Tobio and the others were surprised by this sudden proposal. Still, Drako, Valina and Lavinia did not give any particular reaction.

Suzaku continued.

"We will present our best efforts, the objective being to capture the remains of the Agency. At present, concerning the Shi Akuma and the Wizards of Oz who participated with them, if they become hostile to us, we will take the position of dealing with them."

"In other words, as far as the Shi Akuma are concerned, you're leaving them in our care?" Drako asked.

When Suzaku nodded, Drako began to hesitate.

The offer was tempting... but also suspicious. Drako did not believe that the Five Clans would agree to work alongside Akatsuki, as they seemed to be a subsidiary of Grigori at the moment.

And what is worse. If the Five Clans get involved, Drako will get less experience.

"I refuse."

Drako didn't hesitate. He needed strength, and for that, he had to kill.

A sad glow passed through Suzaku's eyes. She seemed excited about this alliance, but the direct rejection of Drako had been a small blow to her.

"Are you certain of this? A small alliance at this time can serve as a bridge to greater change."

Drako frowned. What Suzaku said was true. If they really wanted to change the inner workings of the five major Clans, this might be a good first step.

Drako looked at Seiryuu, who gave him a cynical smile. Ignoring his asshole face, the boy was the next chief of one of the clans. If he was here... that meant he was in favour of the reform Suzaku wanted to achieve.

"Well, I'm willing to form a small alliance. But, you have to leave most of it to us. You'll take care of not letting anyone escape from the place."

Suzaku thought for a moment and finally nodded.

"Very good. To start with, we need information about Nephilim Abyss, as there is a possibility that our group will meet them. In return, we will give you all the information we have regarding this case."

"Hmm... regarding Nephilim Abyss, we'll deliver everything you need without any problems."

Before Drako's words, Suzaku let out a sigh of relief.

"It's a great comfort to me that the negotiations went well, Drako."

From behind Suzaku, Seiryuu said quietly, "However, I opposed this."

Oh, so he seemed willing to reform the clans, but not to cooperate with Akatsuki or Grigori. Well, in political terms, you could say Suzaku was a progressive liberal while Seiryuu was a conservative liberal.

"What do you think of this?" Drako asked.

As a team leader, it would be ugly not to ask the rest of your teammates. Even though the decision was Drako's later, it was okay to make them feel like they mattered.

Natsume was the first to give her opinion.

"I... I think it's okay. Honestly, there's a lot of things I'd like to say to those guys. However, our goal is to rescue all of our classmates, so I think we have to prioritise that."

Kouki snorted, then said as he looked up at Seiryuu.

"Although I would like to give that smug guy over there a good whack... Well, if we have settled down on this united front, I will accept it. Anyway, nothing would come of me throwing a tantrum over him. In any case, if someone attacks us, it would be nice if he just knocked them down."

That... really suited his thinking.

Valina didn't express anything very different.

"It's like Samejima Kouki said. Whoever it is, if they oppose us, it's okay to beat them. It's really quite simple."

Lavinia put her trust in Drako's judgment and the others by saying, "I'll leave it up to you to decide."

Tobio and Sae exchanged a look, and both nodded.

Everyone agreed, which made it easier for Drako. Now, all that remained was to know the location of the remaining Shi Akuma.

"Well, everyone agrees. Suzaku, could you give us the location information now? We want to act as quickly as possible."

Suzaku nodded with a smile and withdrew a notebook from her jacket pocket.

"This is the location where the presence of the remaining Shi Akuma was confirmed... their coordinates. I agree with you, it would be best to leave immediately. Either because they escape or because they are captured, the more time passes, the more likely they are to get out of there. We're planning on going there before the end of the day."

Seiryuu followed Suzaku's words with a touch of cynicism.

"Well, we can protect them if we get there in time. But... I hope you won't hate us if we're not on time."

This kid's personality... it was a little twisted. However, it was obvious that he had immense power in his body.

"Lavinia Reni-san."

Suzaku called Lavinia.

"Yes."

"Augusta of the Purple Flame... you're familiar with that name, right?"

When that name came out of Suzaku's mouth, the atmosphere in the room dropped by several degrees. Without a doubt, this was the aura Lavinia was emitting.

"Yes. She's one of the wizards I'm chasing. She is the Wicked Witch of the East Augusta."

(AN: WWE Augusta xD)

She had spoken more calmly about Augusta when she was with Drako, perhaps because this attachment to him had given her confidence. But it was clear that the mere mention of the witch was enough to disturb Lavinia's emotions.

Suzaku continued.

"As far as Oz is concerned, I just remembered that I had been informed that you are the disciple of Glenda, who was the Wizard of the South. The West comes here too. Although both East and West are problematic, I wonder, could the North come too?"

"Perhaps, although I think they haven't left their country yet."

"Well, then, the position of the King of the Emerald City of Oz concerning the current situation is...?"

Lavinia lowered her eyes in response to Suzaku's question.

"...I don't know. I have received absolutely nothing about the situation over there."

In response to Lavinia, whose voice sounded forced, Suzaku responded: "Thank you. That's enough."

Lifting her index finger, Suzaku gave Drako a piece of advice.

"Just a tip for Akatsuki. You should not associate too closely with the Grigori. Even at best, they are objects of observation. You are, of course, because of the powers you have gained. However, I have heard that the Vatican has ordered the murder of everyone connected with the Grigori in this country. "If you come across an exorcist who is enthusiastic about his work...

"In that case, I'll just have to hunt them down."

Drako cut off Suzaku. He understood that she was giving them some good faith advice, but it was not her place to mess with whoever Akatsuki related to.

If the exorcists were truly trying to attack them, Drako only had to kill them and take the experience.

Suzaku was surprised by Drako's response, but she only smiled.

"I am sure that is the case. I don't think a few exorcists can really handle you. But, just as I warn you of exorcists, I warn you of the current heads of the Five Clans. I think you know first-hand how they think."

Suzaku stroked Akeno's head. If all the chiefs thought like Suou, then they were going to get in the way of Drako and company sooner or later.

"Are you finished talking?"

The celestial voice of Artemis interrupted the conversation between Drako and Suzaku.

"Yes," Suzaku said as she stood up.

She approached Drako and took his hand.

"Thank you for trusting me. Let's talk openly when things calm down, we'll have a proper banquet so we can thank you properly."

"Of course, I'm sure you won't let me down."

Suzaku nodded as she smiled and left the room, followed by Seiryuu.

Drako gestured to her group, directing them to leave. They all did not hesitate for a second and left the room, leaving the dragon and the goddess alone.