"So you're saying that my son is really dead and was summoned from the grave to fight in a war of mages over a chalice that grants a single wish to the winner?" Lugh asked in an incredulous tone. "But a minor god ended up being summoned because one of the families cheated, and that minor god ended up corrupting the Grail?"
"Yes," Morrígan replied with a sigh.
"And it began to corrupt the heroes by blackmailing them with a wish that together they would have the right to receive?" Lugh said, this time his voice starting to grow irritated, before he opened a smile. "But my son was not corrupted, because he fulfilled their wish upon being summoned, which was to fight serious opponents?"
"Yes," Morrígan once again agreed.
"The so-called artifact was destroyed, and a mage returned the souls of the heroes to the grave and collected echoes of the heroes and trapped them in cards," Lugh continued, indignant but with a calm tone. "And the divinity I felt was the echo of my son being used by a boy?"
"Yes?" Morrígan once again agreed with a tired sigh.
"Damn it… this world has lost its meaning," Lugh growled, slapping his hand against his face. "So my son is really dead… I was so happy when I felt my divinity somewhere else… It felt so real that it seemed like him…"
Lugh stopped for a second. It felt too much like my son to be just an echo.
"Morrígan… I want a meeting with this boy," Lugh said with great confidence in his voice. That was not a request. It was an unavoidable order.
----+++----
"Lugh…" the voice roared as it entered the Palace of the Sun.
"Well, look who it is, my friend Dagda," Lugh declared with a laughing voice. "How has your time been as our king?"
"Irritating thanks to you," Dagda growled, appearing in front of Lugh's throne. "What were you thinking sending Morrígan to the human world, and the god-slayer on top of that?"
"Well, I have no control whatsoever over the god-slayer, she does whatever she wants, and it's not the first time Morrígan has gone to the human world after we isolated ourselves," Lugh said indifferently. "And why are you accusing me? Paranoid again, thinking I want my throne back? Come on, you're smarter than that. When I want my throne back, I'll just crush you and your faction and take it back, but honestly, being king is a pain in the ass and I don't want that anymore."
"That's exactly the problem," Dagda growled, clenching his fists. "You can reclaim the throne whenever you want and no one can stop you, and even so you leave this irritating job to me, you never made a move, and now you are making one, with Morrígan's help and with the involvement of the god-slayer… The people are in panic and need an answer."
"The answer is simple… You should not have betrayed Morrígan's trust," Lugh replied with a laugh. "Now she is not loyal to you… Simple… Being a king is boring as hell."
"I know, and you're becoming worse," Dagda replied angrily. "She wanted to revive that useless—only your so—"
Dagda could not finish his sentence because he felt the air heat up and his skin burn.
He felt death in front of him when Lugh's aura became oppressive.
"Measure your words…" Lugh warned.
"Your son… was just a demigod and crossed the final class… the class of minor gods and reached the level of the major gods," Dagda replied with a bit of fear in his voice; now he remembered he was talking to the 4th in the top 10 of the most powerful. "That left many major gods irritated. Reviving him could bring war."
"You're talking about the problem of demigods being as powerful as major gods…" Lugh said with a bored voice. "But you should remember this is not rare. The Greeks have that as a pattern; if you don't remember, most of Zeus's children have a level similar to major gods and it was never a problem. In fact, it was always good for them."
Dagda ground his teeth, annoyed by the comparison.
"The Greeks are irresponsible," he retorted. "They call chaos 'rich mythology.' The fact that they survive does not make it a good precedent."
Lugh laughed, short and dry.
"And yet, they remain standing and more powerful than ever, approaching the Indus," he tilted his head. "Curious how the world doesn't collapse just because someone surpasses the place they were supposed to occupy."
The king of the Celtic gods took a deep breath, trying to regain control.
"The difference," Dagda said, "is that Zeus's children were always tolerated. Your son was not. He did not ask for blessing, did not ask for space, did not ask for permission."
"No," Lugh agreed. "He conquered."
The word fell heavy in the hall.
"And that," Lugh continued, "is the real sin, isn't it? It wasn't the power. It was the method. He proved that effort, conflict, and choice could lead someone to the same level as divine inheritance."
Dagda looked away.
"You know what that does to order."
"It asks questions," Lugh replied. "And fragile orders hate questions."
Silence stretched once more. Lugh's oppressive aura no longer burned, but it remained there, like a constant reminder.
"Even so," Dagda insisted, "he died. The problem ended there."
"That… I don't know," Lugh said to himself.
----+++----
(Partner… I feel the presence of a fallen angel), Ddraig commented as Issei walked down the street at night.
"I was worried that Dohnaseek had gone missing," the sound came from above and Issei saw a beautiful woman with blue hair flying with fallen-angel wings. "But it seems I was wrong."
"Ohhh, why do you think that? How about you come down here and we have a date?" Issei said with a provocative smile. "I don't like hitting hot women, only if they ask, of course, and in other situations."
"Sorry… I'm taken," she declared with another cruel smile and created a spear of light. "Only my husband can hit me in other situations."
"What a shame… I really wanted to taste you," Issei lamented and looked up. "There's no chance of making an exception, I'm not jealous."
Issei used that time to pull the Lancer card.
(Partner… you're trash), Ddraig said in disappointment (imagining that you'd try NTR).
—Boy… why do you have to be so perverted?— Satanta said. —Coveting another man's wife is disgusting.
—What a disappointment— Vlad commented.
"Shut up, I'm just trying to irritate her," Issei shouted in his mind. "I don't want to get hurt for nothing."
(Stop making excuses… you have vampire regeneration), Ddraig shouted, amused (you're just a pervert).
"Shut up, even with regeneration it still hurts like hell to be mutilated," Issei shouted in his mind.
"No, that's impossible, I would never betray my husband," the fallen angel declared with great pride. "He was a great man and does not deserve such a thing."
"He was, huh…" Issei understood her wording immediately and shouted, "Install Lancer!"
Gáe Bolg appeared in Issei's hand and he attacked, appearing in front of the woman.
She defended the blow, even though her spear of light broke upon touching Gáe Bolg, and she flew farther away to dodge the second strike.
(She's better than the other fallen angel), Ddraig commented, amused.
—Yeah, boy… you're going to have a slightly harder fight— said Satanta.
—I advise you to finish this quickly, use the stakes to finish her— Vlad began. —Dragging out this fight is a waste of time.
"I know," Issei declared, "but I think the two of them are still watching me, and if they see power beyond Gáe Bolg—"
—You used my stakes against Scathach… there's no point hiding— Vlad declared. —Besides, without my spear you can't use full power, just say it's the power of the vampire bloodline.
"Yes," Issei nodded and looked at the woman.
(Partner, why are you considering ending this fight quickly? She's strong and you like fighting strong opponents), Ddraig said, confused.
"She's hot… I don't like fighting hot women," Issei declared proudly.
(You are beyond saving, partner), Ddraig lamented.
And so Issei landed on the ground and the woman steadied herself in the air and created several spears of light.
But it was too late. Issei, on the ground, moved a finger and thought, "Kazikli Bey."
The air changed.
It was not a boom, nor a luminous explosion worthy of epics. It was something worse: absolute silence, heavy as a sentence.
The spears of light froze in the air for an instant—not physically, but conceptually. As if the world had forgotten what the next step should be.
—Kazikli Bey— Issei's thought echoed dryly, without bravado.
In the next instant, the ground responded.
Black stakes emerged in a perfect circle, not exploding, but growing, as if they had always been there, merely waiting for permission to exist. There was no hatred in them. No haste. Only execution.
The fallen angel's eyes widened.
"—What the hell—" the fallen angel's eyes widened in shock, beating her wings hard and trying to gain altitude.
Too late.
The stakes pierced her body and especially her wings and pinned her in the air. The cruel trick of Kazikli Bey was to declare that the target had already been impaled.
She screamed in pain, in shock, and Issei snapped his fingers and the stakes vanished. Her body fell at Issei's feet.
The fallen angel's body hit the asphalt with a dry, heavy thud—too heavy for something that was still breathing.
The wings, now useless, retracted by reflex. The light around her flickered irregularly, like a lamp about to burn out. Issei looked down at her, serious for the first time that night.
"Relax," he said, putting away Gáe Bolg. "If I wanted to kill you, you wouldn't be complaining. You'd be… quiet."
She tried to move. Her body responded with delay.
"You…" she forced her voice, mixing hatred and disbelief. "Kill me already, you damned sadist."
(Is that a compliment?) Ddraig commented, clearly satisfied.
—Technically— Vlad corrected —it was.
"Shut up," Issei muttered, still looking at the angel.
He crouched in front of her, keeping a safe distance.
"What's your objective?" he said calmly. "You didn't come to kill me. If you wanted that, you would've attacked from far away, in an open area, with backup. This was reconnaissance."
"You know… I wanted to find out about Dohnaseek's disappearance," she commented with difficulty speaking, "but I saw you alive…"
"And decided to attack me," Issei replied, clicking his tongue. "Fine, let's treat your injury before you die."
"You're going to save me? Are you an idiot?" the angel asked incredulously, her breathing weak.
(For him that's a compliment), Ddraig and all the heroes inside Issei spoke at the same time.
"Shut up," Issei growled in his mind. "What did I do to deserve this?"
"Yes, I am. You didn't try to kill me, so it's fair that I don't kill you," Issei declared.
"No, let me die," the angel declared in a weak voice. "I'll be able to see my husband and my son."
That was when Issei loosened his grip and looked at her with pity.
"I understand… What was he like?" Issei asked.
The angel smiled with such a sweet, loving smile that Issei had never seen in his life.
"He was a wonderful man. He was the reason I fell. He was a human, but the best among humans," she said, her voice fading more and more. "But the war began, and a group of angels and humans attacked when they discovered there was a fallen angel in the village."
Her voice faltered, not only from pain, but from the weight of the memory.
"They said I was a plague…" she continued, her eyes losing focus on the present. "That the village needed to be purified. Humans with torches. Angels with swords that shone like false justice—and to make it worse, I was on a mission."
Issei remained silent. For the first time, there was no ready joke. No provocation.
"He tried to negotiate," she smiled faintly, almost laughing at her past naïveté. "A blacksmith. No magic. No blessing. Just courage. He said I wasn't a monster… that I was his wife."
The light around her body trembled.
"They pierced him first," she whispered. "In front of our son. And then it was my son, and I wasn't there to protect them."
Tears fell from her eyes, and hatred was still present.
(Issei…), Ddraig spoke softly. No irony. No provocation.
"I lost everything that day," the fallen angel continued. "Heaven. Earth. Family. So I swore revenge and made it my purpose to kill and destroy all angels and humans. Because of that… I killed many innocents."
"I understand," Issei sighed and pointed the spear at her. "Even if I save you, you'll look for another way to die… So rest in peace… Do you have any last words?"
"The nun, please save her. And Mittelt and Raynare—my daughters. They are still children, a bit older than you, they are being manipulated," the angel said with her voice fading more and more. "They are half-human who were not given the chance to be born with a Sacred Gear to be allowed to have human rights by Heaven or the Church, and walking with me and Dohnaseek made them cruel."
"And…?" Issei asked.
"Please don't kill them. It's not their fault for being rejected. They are just following orders to be respected within the Grigori, the only place where they are accepted," the angel said with her last strength as the pain increased.
"I understand. I'll think about your case," Issei said in a calm, sad tone. "What is your name?"
"Kalawarner," the angel said.
"It was good to have met you and heard your story," Issei said, raised the spear, and delivered the final blow to Kalawarner's heart.
"Thank you… I can finally see my son and my husband," she cried with happiness.
"What a shitty feeling," Issei said with disgust.
(I know, partner, I know), everyone nodded along with Issei's words. It really was a horrible feeling.