Chapter Twelve: Unknown Enemy
Yuki POV
Only after 20 minutes did they finally stopped their bickering. There was a big hole in the living room that lead to outside, big enough that you can go through it without difficulty. The cause of it was my mother who used a 【Fireball】 towards my father, only to miss because he used 【Shadow Step】 in the nick of time. Although the 【Fireball】 missed, mother followed it with a punch towards the place where father reappeared. The punch connected, leading to the now bruised face father. He had an ugly expression while mumbling words like "If you weren't a woman" and "it was just a lucky hit..." to himself.
"What was that?" My mother said while releasing a frightening aura.
"N-n-nothing. Nothing at all! I was just thinking about how beautiful you are and how good your punch was." Father cringed after he felt that frightening aura.
He was smiling with cold sweat all over his face while he said those words of flattery without a hint of sarcasm. Combined with his swollen cheeks, it was a funny sight. His original handsome appearance like a proud Lion was nowhere to bee seen. I guess this tells you who wears the pants in this family, and it definitely isn't my father. Even I, who is always indifferent am afraid of her. Though it was the same case on Earth, where I was afraid of girls and avoid them like the plague. There was a girl that I got along with back then, but aside from her, I didn't even talk with other girls, only replying with one or two words when they talk to me. While I was wondering if the girl was doing fine on Earth, a laugh came out of Meria who had kept quiet for awhile. Not the evil kind of laugh of course.
"I'm sorry for my rude behavior, I just couldn't help myself. It's always lively here. Even though there was the earlier incident, it's like it never happened at all! The way big sister Rena argue with Sirius is very sweet and funny, it didn't even feel like you both were arguing at all, instead, it felt like you were just playing.
I would like you to tell that to the wall, which is already non-existent because of the 【Fireball】 that was thrown at it. Judging by the size of that 【Fireball】, it was likely that my mother was serious and was aiming on inflicting 3rd degree burns all over my father's body.
Anyway, Meria is an only child and her mother was always away adventuring, her father has the position of the 9th seat in the 13 Diablos, which are the most powerful within the Devils with the exception of the Devil Empress, according to what I read in the 《Library》, that is. Weirdly, all the books about the Devils Empress's was filled with things like 'she is the most beautiful in Isaiah', 'she is the cutest existence in Isaiah' and 'when you look at her, you won't be able to think of other women anymore', which is pretty creepy as the books were written by different people from various races, it was almost like they were hypnotized.
Strangely enough, I didn't find any book like this outside of the 《Library》 even though it was one of the books that have the most quantity in the 《Library》, aside from the books from Earth, of course. Back to the point, I think one of the reasons that Meria likes to come here, is because she is always alone in her house, with her mother and father always away, making her feel lonely. The maids and her mount Fifi are the only companies she has in that house.
"Haaa? Who will be sweet to this guy? Look at his swollen face! Funny is the right word for it! Hahaha." Mother laugh aloud.
"You..."
Father was almost speechless only letting a single word out, because of mother's shameless remarks. I would really like it if they stop arguing soon. If this keeps up, the discussion won't ever progress. My train of thoughts returned to the topic at hand.
3rd Person's POV
Meanwhile, outside of the Human Country Rolen. There was a different discussion happening, which involves the Blacklion household.
"I have come to report my observations, my Lord. It is as you guessed. The child's parents were the ones who eliminated the group that we sent. We didn't catch a glimpse of the boy at all!" A black hooded person reported with a servile tone.
"Hmmm. I already expected that the parents will be the only ones fighting, but I expected that we have at least one person who has seen the child's appearance before we attack. I guess it was a failure huh? Still, this won't hinder us from capturing the child. Send more men to monitor every movement of the family. Keep monitoring even the simplest of details, even the servants activities. Do not let them escape from our sight." Ordered the tall and handsome man with short blonde hair.
"This servant will do as ordered. There's also one more thing my lord. We spotted the child of 'Serene Ice Saintess' heading into the Blacklion household, just after the annihilation of the attacking group."
"Huh? Shouldn't the day she visits the household be a day after our attack? Well, it shouldn't matter. If what you say was true, then judging by the time she got there, she would be suspected as the one who planned this attack. Did you see how they reacted after she suddenly appeared?"
"My apologies my Lord. We planned to follow her to see what was going to happen, but before we got close we felt a strong aura probe us. It wasn't the aura of Sirius or Rena Blacklion. The possibility that the person found us was high, so I ordered my group to scatter and retreat before we were captured. Most of us had gotten away, there were 3 people that are still missing. We suspect them to have been captured. Although they had gotten captured, I've activated the curse magic that was Inflicted upon them that will make them explode, so they won't reveal any information."
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"Hmm. A person with a strong aura, and it's not the 'Grim Reaper' or the 'Rage Flame Queen'? Could the Blacklion Family have another strong expert hidden in the shadows? The informant didn't mention anything about another expert, could it be that he doesn't know either? Looks like we need to postpone our attack before we get more information about this mysterious expert. You may go now, and tell Lorelei to come here."
"Yes my Lord." The hooded person said and bowed.
After the hooded person left, the blonde haired man stood up from his seat and looked out of the window, he was staring at the direction where the Blacklion house was supposed to be. His gaze was resolute but it also had a hint of sorrow. If there was another person here, especially a girl, the person would be stunned at this scene that looks like a work of art. Especially with the person's wings that looks like an angel's wings.
Yuki POV
"Alright, since the conversation is going nowhere. Meria and I will be the only ones talking, mother and father will just listen. If there are any objections, speak now." I proclaimed while looking at the people present.
Father looked like he wants to protest, only to shut his mouth tight because of mother's hostile gaze. Looks like the discussion will finally restart. As I was having such thoughts, I looked directly into Meria's eyes to ask her a question, but for some reason, she suddenly broke eye contact by looking down at the floor. Is my gaze really that bad? It was the same case on Earth, most people always look away when I make eye contact with them for some time. I cleared away such unnecessary thoughts and asked my first question to Meria.
"Is your full name Meria Devil. And are you the daughter of Eunice and Devon Devil?" I inquired.
"Yes, I am Meria Devil, daughter to Eunice and Devon Devil. From the 13th household of the Devil family." She answered even though she was confused as to why I asked such a question.
"Your ability is called 【Precognition】, and this ability allows you to foresee future events, am I correct to assume so?"
"Yes, what you said is correct. Although I don't have any control on what I will foresee and how long the vision lasts, it only has one condition, and that is that the event should more or less involve myself and anyone I am close to. Also, I can only foresee one future event, I cannot foresee any future events if a previous event that I foresaw still haven't occurred." Meria answered.
Hou, isn't this ability pretty useless? At least, it isn't on par with the abilities that I have. There are too many restrictions on the ability, especially on the limitation on the usage of the ability. If my guess is right, there should be another problem with this ability.
"You said that you foresaw that there will be an attack mounted on our family. Why didn't you warn us of the exact date? Does your ability not know what the exact time the event will occur at? But if that were the case, you shouldn't have known that the attack is going to happen today and you would've not come here a day before your original day of visit."
"Yes it is as you say, my ability 【Precognition】 is a bit vague and it does not include the date the event will occur. It is why I couldn't warn you the exact day of the attack. The reason that I knew that today was the day the event will occur is because my ability... foresaw another event while the event is occurring." Meria answered but she was hesitant on the last sentence.
She said that sentence with a grave tone in her voice and her eyes were a bit moist. I have a bad feeling about this. And it looks like I'm not the only one, as my father also has a serious expression on his face. Mother also noticed, she wanted to rush over to the side of Meria to comfort her, but refrained from doing so, as she knew it was not the right time.
"...May I ask what happened in the event that you foresaw?" I inquired, even though I have a bad feeling about the things that she will say next.
"...On my vision, this house was on fire, destruction prevalent in the surrounding areas, there were a lot of corpses on the blood filled snow... and..." She answered, staring at the floor all the while. I can also hear a barely audible sobbing coming from her.
I closely knitted my brows while looking at her. By the tone of her voice when she was answering, there were no fluctuations from the start till now. She answered all my questions truthfully.
"And? What else happened in your vision Meria?" Mother asked anxiously because she saw that I wasn't planning on inquiring further from her.
"... Both of you... Big sister Rena and Sirius... Were killed..."
End of chapter twelve
Author Note: Just giving a shot for a cliffhanger. I'm not really good at it, though. Probably because I hate cliffhangers. Anyway, if there's something confusing you, feel free to comment, I'll try to answer them with the least amount of information, to avoid spoilers. Thanks for reading~