-When You're the King of Men
"Not Moderator, Administrator…" Joshua heard Michael whisper, face almost blank if not for the slight widening of his eyes. There was some strange flavor of awe in his voice, tinged with disbelief and the smallest bit of something similar to fear. "How…?" he added then, his voice just as low, as if afraid something would happen if he spoke louder, as he turned to look at Joshua himself.
Was he looking for answers? Because Joshua had none. This was new in an entirely different way. The System had never addressed him. It provided information, and that was about it. The closest thing to an actual interaction were the Quests, and he was reluctant to count those. Beyond that, the only time it had done anything of the sort was when Ophis did… whatever it was that she had done when she gave him Touched by Infinity.
"This… what's the meaning of this, Michael?" Uriel asked, turning towards his brother at the same time as Raphael and Gabriel, the latter of which had grabbed onto Joshua's arm and was gripping it like she was afraid he might disappear. Unfortunately for them, Michael didn't seem to have any answers himself.
"... Mr. Davis," the leader of Heaven itself started and there was yet another odd tone to his words, except this time Joshua couldn't quite place what it meant. He could have sworn, however, that it was… reverence? "Do you have any idea what this… is?"
"... I don't," he answered, being completely honest and also feeling a little disturbed that the Seraph thought he might. "I've never… This is…" he tried, unsure of what he even wanted to say as he looked at the screen still floating in front of him. With a thought, like he had a lot of other screen notifications, he made the thing disappear. He almost felt like asking if they could pretend that never happened, because…
That was not how he expected his first meeting with Gabriel's brothers to go.
At all.
Alas, the System was by then determined to make it awkward and it was not done. Because just mere seconds after he dismissed the screen, another one appeared, just as golden as the last. It floated innocently there, for all of them to see once more.
[Access Granted, Administrator #2.]
That screen, mercifully, disappeared on its own. However, whatever relief Joshua might have felt was short-lived, because that one wasn't replaced by another screen, no. Instead, something much, much worse happened. Instead, there was a shine all around the five of them, like golden dust had formed a tube around them, from the ground and up, twisting like a tornado of sorts…
And then they were surrounded by a myriad of golden screens.
"Michael!" Uriel said, urgency now prevalent in his voice but his brother had no answers, nothing to reply with, looking around with wide eyes like the rest of them. Joshua, for his part, gulped and tried to focus on one of the screens, any of them. And then he moved to another, and another, and he started getting an idea of what was happening.
Although, it wasn't that hard, considering what the very first screen, the white one, that popped up had said.
"Heaven's System," he mumbled, looking around. It felt like reading magic circles, if magic circles were mixed with his magic notes and books. It was like rules and information and directives and just random messages had all been rolled into one thing. It was also like reading an advanced academic paper when all his knowledge was just highschool level. He understood the words for the most part, but the concepts? What was being said? Trying to get those left his head spinning.
"It is," Michael confirmed for his siblings, who apparently couldn't put that together for some reason. 'Michael is supposed to be the one managing the system, was that because he's the only one that can understand it, access it? The only one that can do the job?' Joshua wondered immediately, and that sounded plausible enough… "And you can read them…" the angel said, looking at him as if he were some strange unknown creature instead of… well, what he was, who he was. In a way, that kind of confirmed his suspicions, Joshua supposed.
But then what did that mean for Joshua? Why had the System given him that? Not only the ability to understand the system, that he might have accepted, even if it'd been crazy. Not even the craziest thing that could have happened, all things considered. Not when he had literally infinity coursing through his body those days.
But what was that Administrator business? That was the one question he didn't have an answer for. Joshua would really like answers to that.
"We have… much to talk about," Michael continued, looking straight at Joshua this time, whatever the surprise had done to him bleeding off and being replaced with something that was all business. That was Heaven's leader then and there, no longer Gabriel's brother and certainly not the surprised angel that had been taken aback by something unexpected.
Something was telling Joshua that he didn't mean to talk about his intentions towards Gabriel or anything like that. He didn't think he ever would, but he'd have preferred the Shovel Talk to whatever he was going to have to deal with next. The wonders of life never ceased… no matter how much he wanted them to.
"... Unfortunately… I think you're as lost as we are," the angel continued, whatever steel had been in his eyes and whatever might held his shoulders up both disappeared after a second. He still looked like a faction leader, a powerful one at that, but he also looked… tired. He reminded Joshua of what Yasaka had looked like back when she was trying to shoulder everything herself. "Maybe you can help us decipher what this means, however. Starting with working with me to make sure that nothing else… unexpected has happened, if you'd be so kind."
"... Of course," Joshua replied, because of course he did. What else could he have said to that? And maybe, just maybe, he'd get some answers while at it. "What do you need me to do?" he asked and he was a little taken aback by how relieved Michael looked.
Things were making less and less sense by the minute, and Joshua was quickly growing tired of that.
[}-o-{]
"So, everything's fine?" Joshua asked, having gotten more and more concerned with every item that Michael wanted to check with him. They went over a list of the most key features of Heaven's System – or the System of Heaven, whichever – that he could think of. At some point, Raphael had joined their efforts, pointing out stuff. He didn't need to be able to read the stuff to be able to help, apparently.
A bunch of the things he'd had to look over sounded pretty damn important. Like the ones that were in charge of the whole afterlife aspect of Heaven, and the ones that supported angels' existence. And that was just naming two sets of countless things that sounded small until one looked into things. There were a bunch of things they had to check out in regards to Heaven and the Church's use of holy energy, even the outright capability of doing so in regards to the Church.
It was when they were looking over that last one that Michael found out that Joshua had access to Light Magic the same way angels did. That had been fun, but he supposed the angels were way past the point of being surprised by something like that. Not that he blamed them. They were still dealing with the other, much more shocking and important revelations, evidently.
"I believe so," Michael said, deflating where he'd moved to sit together with everyone. Joshua had gotten the impression that it was a table for Seraph meetings. There was a big empty chair at the head of the table that remained empty, but Joshua wasn't stupid enough to ask anything in regards to that while he was conjured another chair on the opposite end of the table. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together.
"Thank you, again, for your assistance," Michael added after a moment and Joshua almost wanted to shift uncomfortably on his chair. He had gone from worried to exceedingly awkward with all that had happened. He really wasn't sure how to feel about all that was happening. He'd expected to get the Shovel Talk: Seraph Edition and instead he got… whatever the fuck was going on.
"Don't mention it," he replied, not for the first time. And he really hoped he wouldn't mention it, but he kind of expected it was inevitable. "Least I could do," he added, taking a deep breath in trying to calm his nerves. It didn't work, but he didn't know what else to do.
"You don't need to feel worried," Raphael was the one to say that. He was looking at Joshua… curiously, almost excitedly. The way Joshua looked at a particularly interesting piece of magic, wondering what it could mean and what he could learn from it. He wasn't sure how to feel about that either, admittedly. "This… This must have been a plan of some kind. Michael and I… we'll look into things by ourselves, if you don't mind."
"I don't," he replied easily and Joshua could have sworn that Raphael's smile widened… or maybe it was that it became more honest? How did angels become so scary? 'Be not afraid' his ass. "Please. I want some answers myself and… I promise I won't even try to do anything," he added, for good measure. Because they'd also found, in their efforts, that he could summon Heaven's System screens at will and that was not normal. It was apparently supposed to only be accessible in the Seventh Heaven, so that had been another fun revelation, he supposed.
Honestly, he wasn't even remotely curious about the System. He was too terrified of messing up and causing something huge and terrible to happen. No, thanks. The last thing he wanted was to accidentally make Khaos Brigade's dreams come true and let out Trihexa because he broke God's sealing without even realizing.
No, thank you. Michael and co. could continue to deal with all that.
"If I can help with anything, don't hesitate to call, alright?" he added, straightening a bit when all angels looked at him a little more intently. His partner, at least, didn't fill him with dread while doing so, thankfully. Gabriel hadn't said much through the entire ordeal, while Raphael pointed out things, Michael guided him through things and Uriel voiced concerns. He hadn't failed to notice that she remained by his side all throughout everything though, and he appreciated it. "We didn't mention that, but… you said something about the screen reading Administrator instead of Moderator?"
"... Observant, but we expected that," Michael said, a wry smile on his face. "Moderator is my designation. Administrator… was our father," he added and Joshua felt like he should have developed a spell to turn back time already, if only to be able to take back questions that he didn't want the answers to, like at that moment. Surely he could make something like that with infinite magic- "And yes, I do believe there's a difference in what I can do and what you can do. You might be able to help us with some things, indeed. That's in the future, however, and only as a maybe. As it is, I appreciate the offer, but we'll have to discuss this before trying to do anything."
"Of course," he replied with a nod that he hoped didn't look as stiff as it felt.
"Joshua," Gabriel said, her voice all but cutting through all his thoughts. "It's fine," she added, reaching with her hand towards him and he hesitated for only a moment before taking it in his. "Nobody could have seen that coming and we'll figure out what this all means," she told him, like she'd read all his worries and decided to throw them out the window. In fairness, she probably had. She was scary and perceptive like that. "I have to say though, this isn't how I expected introducing you to my brothers to go." He appreciated the fact that she was trying to bring some levity to the situation, he really, really did. It didn't work, but still. It was the thought that counted.
"Somehow, better and worse than them pointing light spears at me, wouldn't you say?" he asked hesitantly with a nervous smile tugging at his lips.
"There's still time," Uriel commented, even though he looked like he was still somewhere between concerned and angry. As the guy in charge of Heaven's defense, Joshua didn't really blame him. He probably was like a walking nightmare for the guy, more than he'd already been before the days' findings.
"You said you wouldn't threaten him," Gabriel replied, narrowing her eyes at her brother and Joshua would almost have dared to think she was pouting, but there was no way. All of a sudden though, it was Uriel's turn to be the nervous one, looking like he wasn't sure where to hide, or like he knew there was nowhere to do that.
There was no denying it wasn't the worst way to meet his partner's family.
It certainly wasn't the best though, however, that was true too.
Considering his life, Joshua supposed he'd take it.
[}-o-{]
"Only you, Joshua," Serafall said wryly, shaking her head and looking at him as if what'd happened was somehow his fault. The worst part was that he didn't even know how to respond to that. Denying it didn't feel right, but agreeing seemed even more wrong. "We can't leave you alone for five minutes, can we?"
"Gabriel was there!" he argued immediately.
"And I'm sure she tried her best," Yasaka joined in and Joshua sent her a betrayed expression. "Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. A shame, truly."
"I'm sorry," the aforementioned angel replied, seemingly having no trouble following along and throwing him under the bus. So much for angels being nice. All he knew about Heaven was a lie. DxD Heaven and angels were all evil. No wonder the heroes and protagonists were devils.
He should have known better, truly.
"It's fine. We'll just have to make him pay you for the troubles," Serafall said and… never mind. Both angels and devils were evil. The DxD world was doomed and there was no salvation. Thus, Joshua contemplated just making some kind of dimension hopping magic and taking his daughters to a safer, kinder world. Surely that was the only way to find peace.
"All of you… are horrible, mean and heartless," he replied flatly.
"You were going to say that we suck, weren't you?" Serafall asked and he grimaced at the same time that Yasaka giggled and Gabriel pursed her lips. He wasn't sure what the angel was trying to hold back, but he hoped it was a smile or a laugh and not a pout or a glare.
"I'm never walking into that one again," he answered dryly and the devil just grinned at him, knowing that she'd won already. "Can we get back on topic?"
"What is there to talk about?" Yasaka asked with a raised eyebrow and he turned to look at her incredulously. "As I hear it, you two handled that as well as could be expected. From now, it's a matter best left to you and Heaven. Outsiders shouldn't intervene with such things. As it is, we barely interfere with each other's factions unless it's to cooperate. Doing that too much is bound to cause issues, after all," she pointed out and he hated that she was making sense.
He needed help dealing with that bullshit after all. He really did.
"I just… feel like I'm in way over my head here," he replied, deflating a little where he sat. "I don't know what to do, what I'm doing. Why…?" There were a lot of things that he wanted to ask why about, but his mind failed to settle on one. Instead, he trailed off, his eyes moving down towards the cup of tea he'd almost left forgotten on the table.
"It'll be fine, Joshua," Gabriel said and he relaxed the smallest bit. She was the one best equipped to reassure him, given the circumstances. "I know you won't do anything with the power that you've been given, not unless we ask you to. I believe that's part of the reason why you have that at all. My brothers will have their reservations, especially Uriel, but they'll realize it's fine once they get to know you."
"... I hope you're right." Because if the angels thought they were subtle by getting Gabriel to stick to him, then they were very wrong. He didn't point it out though, when his partner told him that she'd be going home with him and that she wanted to spend more time with him.
Somehow though, Gabriel smiled wider than usual at that moment.
"Well, if they don't, all the better," she added and he blinked at her, uncomprehending. "That just means I'll have to stay by your side, to make sure you don't abuse your newly found power," she said and she almost managed to sound serious about that. The smile was kind of ruining it though, admittedly.
"Lucky bitch," Serafall grumbled. "What kind of bullshit excuse is that?"
"Serafall-"
"She's gonna use that to steal our time, Yasaka!" the devil interrupted and the youkai paused what she'd started saying in order to consider her words. After a moment, she turned to narrow her eyes at a still smiling Gabriel. Joshua, for his part, pondered the merits of just making a run for it. Sounded like a smart strategic choice, quite honestly.
"Dad!" a voice called out, saving him from having to make a decision at that very moment. Instead, he turned to see Kunou entering the room. "I was telling Koneko and Ravel about the flight game and we wondered if you could set it up in a room for us to play?!" his daughter asked enthusiastically and he stared at her for a long moment.
That sounded like the kind of normal that hadn't felt possible a moment before.
"What about Morag?" he asked, with a raised eyebrow when he saw a pouting woman-spider peeking over the corner of the door.
"She'll cheat with her webs though!" Kunou whined immediately. "She said it!"
"Didn't say it wasn't allowed," his familiar pointed out immediately. Sensing an argument though, Joshua decided to interrupt.
"Then you can all "cheat", can't you? Ravel can use her Phenex bloodline, Koneko and you can use senjutsu, maybe youjutsu… Actually, does Koneko know youjutsu? We could get her to learn," he suggested, growing distracted towards the end. His words seemed to pacify his first – though not oldest, which was still funny – daughter as she started considering possibilities. "Come on, let's set that up while you all discuss things."
And if that offered him a chance to "run away", Joshua wasn't going to complain nor point it out.
The giggles behind him as he left the room said plenty though.
[}-o-{]
Joshua had a feeling that his partners were trying really hard to make light of the situation, especially Gabriel. Because surely he wasn't the only one that was a little – a lot, in all honesty – freaked out about… everything. Every time he thought he was getting used to bullshit, life decided that was a great time to throw another curveball at him.
He was growing tired of that, he really was.
How had he gone from just another dude down the street to… whatever the fuck he was supposed to be? Sometimes, he didn't know if he was human anymore, despite what the system said. Sometimes, he didn't feel human anymore and that… that was scary and concerning and… sad, all at the same time. Joshua didn't know how to feel about any of that.
"You are at the peak," a voice said and it was so unexpected and he was so unused to it that it took him a moment to realize that it had come from the Charm, from the Egyptians. "You are exceptional, comparable to the divine, like us. Yet you remain a part of the mortal world, human, if barely. You're a Pharaoh, Joshua Davis, as simple as that." He didn't know who that was. He didn't remember if he'd ever talked to an Egyptian deity beyond that one encounter with Nephthys. It was that rare to exchange actual words instead of vague thoughts and feelings.
Yet, despite that, he had a feeling that he knew. He might not remember their voices, if he knew them, but he did know their presences. They were always with him, to the point that it was normal for him to feel them there, watching, supporting, reacting. He had grown to know them without words, had grown to understand them even, occasionally.
"Horus."
"From one king to another, Davis, trust yourself. Being aware of your own failings is important, but so is confidence. For if you falter, what is to befall those that lean on you, those that rely on you to support them," the deity continued, and Joshua was even more taken aback that he remained. Maybe his turmoil had warranted a more direct intervention, or maybe the god had woken up chatty that day. Truth was, Joshua had half expected him to disappear after a few words, yet… "You are the pillar that holds your people, Davis. Act like it."
"I don't know if I'm strong enough enough for that," he commented, running a hand through his hair and looking to the side, where he could see his partners were talking amongst themselves. It was a poorly disguised effort to give him some space, but he appreciated it all the same.
"Nobody has said you have to do it alone," a different voice, a woman's voice, kinder and warmer, whispered. "Few things can, or even should, be held by a singular pillar, Joshua. Find yourself pillars worth trusting, the same way that your people trust you. A shared burden becomes much more manageable, wouldn't you say?" she asked him and he found himself smiling, a little more relaxed.
"You guys should speak up more often," he said, but that time he got no words. Instead, he got a feeling of satisfaction and pride from both deities, together with a few others. Some of them were less pleased with him, but those were a minority, thankfully. "Thank you, Isis, Horus. I needed that, I think."
It was easy to take the Egyptians for granted, with how hands off they were, but they had helped him plenty. All the way back when Shed first found him, scared and weak and almost useless. All the way up to that point, they'd been there. He knew he was doing a job for them, however indirectly, but it never quite felt like enough. Surely slapping a "Pharaoh" label on himself and letting that be it wasn't enough, right?
There had to be something he could do for them.
"Find yourself pillars worth trusting, the same way that your people trust you." Isis had said that, and yes, she'd meant it in regards to trusting his partners and maybe even Heaven's judgement on him. Trusting them to help him deal with this new, overwhelming situation. However, that was great advice that could be applied to a lot more than just that.
And Joshua was getting good ideas on what he could use that advice for.
Ideas that'd help the Egyptians and let him repay some of his debt.
He felt them curiously peek into his mind, trying to find what he was thinking about. He didn't let them see that though. He decided it'd be a surprise unless they decided to actually ask. A little teasing, as it were, which turned out to be fairly funny since some of them were outright pouting. Yet they refused to speak.
He'd been picked up by a weird pantheon, but they weren't so bad, he decided.
[} Chapter End {]
Hey guys! How's it going?
Well well well… I hate having to explore new stuff, and I also hate having to deal with important stuff. It always leaves me nervous, because I know my writing style can be… underwhelming. And normally that's fine, I feel, since I don't write very epic stories for the most part. However, every so often there's a chapter like this, where I'm left feeling like I haven't done justice to what's happening.
Maybe that's a subconscious factor on why the stretches of slice-of-life drag on sometimes, me putting off stuff like this for fear of ruining it. Granted, it's not the whole reason, but… Food for thought, you know?
Either way, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and that my fears are unfounded.
As always, if you can't wait until next week for the next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Patreon (linked below).
Random Question: Are you religious? I would never call myself that, personally. However, I also wouldn't really call myself an atheist. It's more that I don't really care, if that makes sense. Wonder if there's a word for that.