The sounds of the house had settled into the familiar deep-night quiet. The kids were all in bed now, and it was finally time for Kenji to continue the talk he'd been having with his wife.
He entered their room, and Anastasia sat cross-legged on the bed, her eyes sharp as he kept her gaze on him.
She didn't look as confused and overwhelmed as she had been before dinner. 'Good, that was good. '
He moved and sat down across from her, mirroring her posture. The silence was deafening. He let out a slow, heavy sigh.
"I'm not sure where to start," he began honestly, running a tired hand over his face.
"Was that magic?" she blurted out, unable to hold the question back any longer.
He couldn't help but smile faintly as he saw the faint blush on her face. It didn't matter how old someone was or how rational their life had been, the concept of magic always sparked that same initial glimmer of wonder in people, though in some it immediately set off terror. Magic was, after all, beautiful and equally dangerous. He nodded his head. "Yes," he confirmed softly. "It was."
Her eyes widened, transitioning from fear to awe. "How? I'm pretty sure when we got married, you weren't some kind of robe-wearing wizard living in a hidden tower."
That earned a small, genuine chuckle from him, momentarily breaking the tension. "No, I wasn't," he told her. "This is actually a very recent development." He then sighed as he settled his gaze, his expression turning solemn. "It started after the accident."
"The accident?" she repeated slowly, leaning forward slightly.
"Yeah, apparently, I awakened what is called a Sacred Gear because of the accident."
She tilted her head, still processing the words. "What is a Sacred Gear? It sounds like something out of a video game."
"They are powerful, divine artifacts created by the father of angels, the God of the Bible," Kenji explained, using the most common, accepted truth of the supernatural world. "They were originally meant to give humans the strength to fight and defend themselves against the other beings that exist, angels, devils, fallen, monsters. Some are simple, like merely enhancing your physical strength. Others are incredibly rare and powerful enough to kill gods."
"God is real?" she whispered, the sheer scale of the revelation silencing her for a moment. All the Sunday school lessons suddenly became more of something she really should have paid attention to.
"Yeah, he is," Kenji nodded, 'Was, he added in his mind. Carefully avoiding the topic of Big G and the result of the divine war that had resulted in His death.
'The death of the Biblical God was a closely guarded secret that was protected by the three factions. That detail was too dangerous to share with her yet.
"And you just… have one of these Sacred Gears?" she asked, her voice filled with disbelief.
"They're decided at birth," he explained. "Some people carry them their whole lives, never awakening them. Others, when pushed to the brink, say, a near-death experience, like the accident, they awaken. I was one of the unlucky few."
"So, after the accident…" she prompted, her voice barely a whisper.
"Yes," he confirmed. "I activated mine in the hospital."
Kenji hated lying to her, but the truth about the System was a secret that he would never share with people besides those he trusted, and while he did trust her like he did with those of his group, she was more accessible to people than his friends.
"What does it do? Your Sacred Gear. Is that what allowed you to summon fire? Does it allow you to control fire?" Her excitement was cute.
He chuckled, appreciative of her focus on the immediate, tangible effects. He shook his head. "No, no. The fire's just general magic I learned through training. My Sacred Gear, which I call the Archon Core, is different."
He leaned closer, lowering his voice as if sharing a profound secret only for her. "It's a State Change Sacred Gear, which means it changes the state of a user or another person/object. It allows me to sort of manipulate my growth and potential. Basically, it's an adaptive evolution tool. It allows me to temporarily amplify my body, magic, or skills, letting me maximize every moment of my training. It ensures that any investment I make in power yields exponentially faster results. It makes me highly adaptable in combat, capable of learning new skills at a terrifying rate. Ultimately, I grow quickly."
Her lips parted in awe, her strategic mind instantly grasping the incredible advantage. "That… that sounds incredible, Kenji. It's like having an internal cheat code for self-improvement, a foundation builder."
"Yeah," he admitted. "It's been a lot to take in. It requires a lot of hard work, but it ensures that the work is never wasted."
He leaned back, his expression growing serious again. "Anyways, there's more you need to know. As I have said, God is real, but so are the others, the Angels who serve Heaven, and their counterparts, the Fallen Angels…"
She shivered at the phrase, an involuntary reaction that no doubt reminded her sharply of Azazel's recent, chilling presence. Kenji's hand tightened slightly on the blanket between them, reaffirming his silent vow of retribution. He'd remove that crow's wings feather by feather.
"Then there are Devils," he continued.
"Devils?" she interrupted, trying to wrap her mind around the reality of true evil, not as a concept, but as a living race.
He nodded. "Yes. When Lucifer lost his great rebellion against Heaven, he and his followers were cast out. He was banished to the underworld, where he created his own race, the Devils, to continue his war against Heaven."
"And that's just the Abrahamic side," he went on, gesturing broadly to imply the scope. "There are also the Greek gods and their Olympian pantheon, Hindu gods, Shinto gods, and the Yokai… even Hawaiian spirits and Celtic Fae. Let's just say that if a myth, a legend, or a god exists in the human collective consciousness, odds are it's real, lurking just beyond our sight."
Anastasia looked pale now.
"How do you even know all this?" she asked, her voice quiet. "You said you didn't know anything before the accident. How did you learn all this?"
He rubbed the back of his neck, pausing a little. "…Kyoto."
She blinked. "Kyoto?" she repeated slowly, the memory of their trip now coming to mind.
"Yeah," he confirmed. "There's a supernatural hub there, I frequently go to. It's an area that's maintained primarily by the Shinto and Yokai factions. It's a place where you can go to trade information, resources, and other things."
Her eyes narrowed slightly, a small flicker of hurt in her eyes that the family trip might have been a cover. "So that's why you wanted us to go there before. The family vacation was a lie."
He could hear the betrayal in her voice and immediately shook his head, hating himself for the consequence of his necessary secrecy. "Hey, it's not like that," he said quickly, taking her hands in his. "I really did want to spend time with you all. But yes, there was an urgent task I had to do, a very dangerous one, and it didn't feel safe leaving you and the kids here, completely unprotected, while I was busy. Bringing you along was the safest way I could ensure nothing happened to you while I was gone."
She studied his face for a long time, searching for deceit, the CEO looking for a hole in the story, before sighing in reluctant acceptance. "What kind of things were you dealing with? Who was targeting you?"
He hesitated, deciding honesty, partial honesty, was better than lying completely. "Some people were targeting me because of the Sacred Gear. They were criminals, powerful people who saw the scared gear as something they could exploit, and they came after me here. I needed to deal with them, and I didn't want to leave you and the kids unprotected in the fallout."
She was silent for a long while before asking quietly, the question that truly mattered, "Why didn't you tell me before, Kenji?"
Kenji sighed, the guilt heavy on his soul. "Because… our relationship wasn't in a good place then. And that's mostly my fault." He looked away, then back at her, his golden eyes filled with sincerity. "I wanted to wait until we were both emotionally ready. And honestly, I wanted to wait until I was strong enough to protect you from the things that go around. I was trying to build the armor before I showed you the war, and I'm sorry I waited this long."
Anastasia's shoulders finally relaxed. The anger had completely faded, replaced by quiet acceptance, a realization that his silence came from a place of fear and love, not malice or disrespect.
They talked for a while longer, about the supernatural world and the things he knew, the hierarchy of devils, and the strange, multi-pantheon reality, and how it affects the world when multiple pantheons exist.
Eventually, her intellectual curiosity gave way to emotional exhaustion, and the heavy conversation dissolved into smaller, sillier questions as she processed.
By the time she started asking if angels had coffee breaks and whether devils really liked using Comic Sans on their contracts, where did she even get the idea for that from, Kenji knew it was time to call it a night.
He smiled and pulled her closer, kissing her forehead. "We'll talk more later. For now, get some rest, okay?"
Meanwhile, in Kuoh Academy, Rias Gremory was in a particularly good mood, the satisfaction of a successful gamble still humming in her blood.
These past few months have been incredible. She had gained two pivotal peerage members, Issei Hyoudou, who possessed the rare and terrifying Boosted Gear and was the Red Dragon Emperor of this generation, and Asia Argento, who wielded the Twilight Healing, a rare healing type Scared Gear.
Securing these two pieces not only bolstered her peerage power but also provided her group with powerful offensive and restorative abilities that eventually helped her.
Most importantly, she had finally achieved the freedom she'd longed for, freedom from her dreaded engagement to the pompous, arrogant Riser Phenex.
Issei had been the key to her future, and now, finally, she was the primary architect of her own destiny. Her parents had told her that if she had won, they wouldn't interfere with her love life and allow her to marry the person of her choice.
Her peerage was growing stronger, things were going smoothly for her… and now she was singularly focused on getting a new member, Ayaka Takahashi.
She had called the girl and they had talked, she had explained what she was and had given her offer to the girl. She was honestly expecting her to jump at the chance to gain power.
Rias offer the girl power. The girl was promising, strong, sharp, and possessed a talent for magic.
But surprisingly, the girl had not jumped at the chance and instead said she wanted to think about it.
Really, the girl was perfect for her group, she was wild but polite, she was fun but responsible, she was kind, but god help you to get on her wrong side. Issei learnt that the hard way.
Rias smiled to herself, crimson eyes gleaming in the dim light of her office. Ayaka may say she needed time, but Rias was sure she would pick being a devil.
"Take your time, Ayaka," she whispered softly, swirling the dregs of tea in her cup.
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