Gabriel stared at me once again, though this time, she was completely baffled. From the way her mouth opened and closed without a sound, it looked like she just couldn't find the proper words. To do what exactly? Dunno, probably chastise or thank me, or both.
Why? That would be because I just finished the now familiar process of strengthening somebody, and frankly, I outdid myself on this one.
With Gabriel being the product of the Heavenly System, which I now owned, I did not need to change her into a dragon to accomplish it. Speaking of the system, that thing was incredible, and possibly the greatest thing God had ever made. It gave me direct access to anything touched by divine energy, and I mean everything. Humans, angels, items, buildings. You name it, I could tamper with it and change it however I saw fit.
So yeah, I could totally see why he thought that he could try his hand at making a Dragon God.
"Excuse me, but didn't you say you'll give a little bit of power? Because if this is what you consider a little bit, your view of power is very skewed. Honestly, Takumi, this is too much, like way too much." Gabriel said exasperatedly when she finally found the words to speak.
"I mean, it's really not that much power. It should be just enough to allow you to use the system fully and without any side effects. I could make you a lot more powerful, but you would have to become a dragon, and I do not think that is something you would wish to become, right?" I asked with a small shrug.
"No. I've been an angel for my whole life, and I have no intentions of changing that. But if you don't mind me asking, how strong would that make me?" She asked, more curiously than anything else.
"If you also became a dragon? Honestly, that's hard to say. But most likely somewhere above Heavenly Dragons, but way below us, Dragon Gods. A new intermediary step would be created." I was pretty much just guessing, since without actually doing it for real, I had only vague estimations.
"Hmm… and right now? Where would you say I stand?"
"Well, as long as you stay in Heaven and are supported by the system, you could singlehandedly drive off a Heavenly Dragon. And seeing as the only one is directly under me, I'd say you have nothing to worry about on that front." I said after giving it some thought.
"Well, I'd rather not test it, thank you very much, so I'll just take your word for it." She said with a slight shudder in her voice, probably because she was there when both Ddraig and Albion stumbled into their war.
"It's not like I was going to give Mirana the go-ahead to attack Heaven, but speaking of her, I should wake her up. There is an apology the woman is owed after all." I said and walked to where I had placed her when we first came in.
After lightly touching her forehead, she began to stir slowly, the sleep I put her under was pretty deep. Then, a few moments later, her eyes shot open and started to scan their new surroundings, to almost no effect. This whole place was completely foreign to her, and even when she sat up to aid them in their endeavor, her face was still confused.
"Sup, Mirana, are you calm now?" I asked, kneeling right in front of her face, and I guess that seeing my face dispelled whatever haze her mind was under because her eyes narrowed, and she let out a huge, pained groan.
"What happened? I remember a bright light surrounding Vasco, then just flashes of purple…" She asked confusedly.
"Wow, the good old berserker's rage, huh? You just had a bit of an oopsie, but don't worry, I stopped you before you could destroy the planet." I waved off her concerns. After all, her mental state was not great, and she just saw the guy who was responsible.
"I'm sorry, what? What do you mean, destroy the planet?!"Somehow, she sat up even straighter and frantically asked. And by that I mean she yelled almost incomprehensibly.
"You saw Michael and boom, the atmosphere itself started getting erased, but as I already told you, I stopped you, so it's fine."
"But I really mean it, stop worrying about that. Here, look, this is Gabriel, and she is the new God… kinda. Why don't the two of you talk it out while I go back to Earth and quickly grab Asia? She kinda needs to know about this, you know?" I just wanted to get the hell out of here while the two talked. Mostly for privacy, but also because both of them would no doubt get emotional, and I didn't want to intrude. I had zero fear about leaving Gabriel here alone with her. She had more than enough power while in this room to subdue Mirana should the situation escalate to that level, which I doubt, since she is a lot calmer.
"G–Gabriel? Why? I thought you'd be the new God." She asked.
"I am. Think of it like this, I am the owner of Heaven, and she is the CEO… And I really want to leave right now, so I'm gonna. See ya in a few."
Then I just disappeared. Because honestly? I've had it up to here today, and I can feel the annoyance at having to do so much kicking in slowly. The worst part? I did this to myself, it's my doing.
And so, before returning to Japan, I take a few minutes in some dense Italian forest located at the foot of the Alps to try to shed the annoyance, and by that I mean I flail around and scream like an idiot. I don't want Asia to think those feelings are aimed at her.
"*whew* Man, that hit the spot. I'm gonna do nothing but relax for the next couple of days." I murmured to myself as I looked at the trees for the last time and teleported back to Asia.
They all went back to Rias' mansion after I left with Sirzechs to deal with Diodora, which to me felt like ages ago. I cannot repeat enough how much shit I did today, and all in the span of a few hours.
I ended up appearing in the living room, scaring them all in the process.
"TAKUMI?!" Asia let out a startled yelp, with Rias and her peerage following suit a second later.
"Hi, kiddos." I waved at them lightly and unceremoniously plopped down on an unoccupied couch with a groan. All of the gathered around me with expectant faces, no doubt wanting to hear about what I did.
"I'll tell you, don't worry. It's a bit of a long story, so please save your questions and don't interrupt till I'm done, kay?" I sat back up, grabbed a cup of tea from a tray on the table, and started talking. And you know how I just told them not to interrupt me, yeah? Well, they seemed to pay no mind to that because the number of questions I got was enormous, and by the time I finally got to the end, close to two hours had passed.
So now we sat there, in complete and utter silence, while they looked at me with looks I could not quite decipher, and honestly, I didn't want to. Asia was quiet too, but her expression was a mixture of sadness, relief, and awe.
"There is just one more thing for me to do. Asia, if you would grab my hand."
"I thought you were done for today, Takumi?" She asked, but nonetheless grabbed my hand tightly.
"Me? I'm done, but there is something you need to hear. An apology."
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So my coworker decided to quit while I was on vacation. Which means my work has doubled, and until they hire somebody new, it's only me who knows how to do what we did.
Chapters will be more sparse for now, and while I am going to try and write on my phone during breaks at work, I don't think I can do more than two chapters a week for the foreseeable future.
All I can promise you guys is a chapter every Sunday at the very least, and hopefully one more sometime during the week.