The location was a place that existed between reality and dreams, between life and death.

This place existed out of rules of the world, this was the Void Realm the graveyard of immortals.

Inside this white realm filled with runes of all eras a lone girl sat on broken wall.

She was extremely beautiful and had red hair with gold endings. This girl was the one who Miko saw in his daydream.

“Hm?”

She suddenly felt a presence and turned around. There she saw a distortion suddenly appeared in space.

A second later someone stepped out of the distortion and appeared in front of her.

When she saw who it was a look a disappointment appeared on her face.

“What the? I was wondering who it was, but it was just you, demon brat.”

She said as she turned back around.

The person, Ajax stood in place with his breathing heavy.

“Damn….just coming here took several months and all of my power and I still almost died a few times.”

He glared at the girl's back.

“I don't know how you can spend thousands of years here alone, Rias.”

The girl, Rias turned and looked at Ajax.

“I doubt you risk your life to come here just to say that.”

She showed him a slight smile.

“Did you come here to kill me?”

Ajax eyes immediately turned serious after hearing that.

“Was it you who sabotage Augustus’ plan?”

“What do you think?”

She rested her head in her palm as she asked that.

Ajax shook his head.

“I don't think it's you. If it was you would've committed suicide shortly after.”

“Oh? You know me quite well.”

She said with a dry laugh.

“Then why did you come all the way out here instead of reconnecting with your people?”

“You know why I'm here. Where's Riamante?!”

Ajax grew angry as he called the name.

“What? You think that my brother was the one who sabotage the boy?”

“Am I wrong? Riamante has always been jealous of Augustus being recognized as the Phoenix Prince instead of him an actual Phoenix prince.”

Rias sighed before responding to Ajax.

“While what you say is true, and I admit that my little brother has always stood in the boy’s way, do you think he has the skills to sabotage what we were trying to do?”

“…….”

Ajax reminded silent.

“Moreover, I am the one who gave the boy his title and made him the representative of the Phoenix race. I found him when he was just a nameless slave boy and raised him. That makes him my disciple.”

She showed a beautiful smile.

“Do you think Riamante would dare to harm my, the Queen of the phoenixes’ disciple?”

“….You got a point. Riamante was always scared shitless of you.”

Rias said nothing and laughed in response.

“But if it wasn't him, then who?”

Ajax asked.

“It's not really that hard to figure out if you think about. Who has enough power to interfere with a ceremony on that level, which even chief Gods would be reluctant to perform?”

Ajax thought about it for a while before his eyes widen in shock.

“The Supreme Being!”

“Bingo. We went against the heavens too much so this was his punishment. Or that was the answer he gave me when I asked him.”

Rias said with a frown.

“Wait, wait, wait! Didn't he isolate himself from the world?”

“He did, but I guess even he couldn't allow what the boy was trying to do.”

“Couldn't you've negotiated with him? Isn't he your father?”

“Hmph. I told you already, he's just our creator. He isn't my father.”

Rias looked obviously dissatisfied.

“….Then Augustus is dead forever?”

Ajax asked with a fearful tone.

Rias looked both confused and shocked to hear his question.

“What kind of nonsense are you sprouting? Didn't you say it yourself? If the boy had really died then why would I be alive now? I would've killed myself all those years ago rather than sat here waiting.”

Ajax’s face lit up when he heard that.

“Then tell me where he is! I know you know!”

“I refuse.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Why?!”

“Because the situation is a bit complicated. If you were to meet the current him it would cause more bad than good.”

Ajax silently stared at Rias for a while before sighing.

“Fine, I'll trust you. But you need to tell me what happened after I went into hibernation.”

“Although its a pain it would be bad for you run wild in current times.”

Rias then went on to give Ajax a brief summary of the major changes the world’s seen during his time asleep.

His response was disappointment and confusion.

“So you're telling me that weaklings have taken the place of true gods and demons to fight in this meaningless game?”

Rias nodded.

“Well you have all right to call them weaklings since none of them can even put a scratch on you.”

“You gotta be kidding right? Has the world really become so weak?”

“Well, I'll admit that there are some proxies that can force you to use at least half your strength, but none who can enter a life and death battle with you.”

“What about non-proxies?”

“Well there are some people from your era hidden away that can give you a good fight but not like the boy could.”

Rias suddenly looked like she remembered something.

“Do you remember the boy’s grandson Gamiko(Nero)?”

“Little Gami? What about him?”

“He's grown into quite the little monster since you last saw him.”

“Really now?”

Ajax said as he sat on a broken wall adjacent to the one Road was sitting on.

Rias nodded.

“Even though he isn't enough to get you serious he's still quite something. It's a shame that he grew up in the wrong era. If he had been born when the war for supremacy was at its peak then its possible that he could have given you and the boy a run for your money.”

“If that's true this weak era sure wasted a great talent.”

Ajax said with a disappointed tone.

However Rias shook her head.

“That's not necessarily true. I believe that it's because he ran out of competition that's why his growth has been so slow. If he suddenly meet an enemy far out of his league wish would push him beyond his limits I'm sure he'd unlock his full potential and step on a higher stage.”

“Oh then should I pay him a visit?”

“Although I said an enemy out of his league there is a limit you know?”

The two started laughing.

“Oh.”

Ajax suddenly remembered something.

“My brother, Ishma, is he still sealed in that sword?”

“Brother?”

Rias started laughing.

“I think you mean sister.”

“What? Ishma actually chose to be a woman?”

She shook her head.

“Because her 100th birthday caught her immobilized, her gender was chosen at random.”

“Really? I didn’t expect that.”

Ajax started laughing again.

“She must be pissed.”

“Very, but surprisingly the boy knows how to keep her in check like always.”

After realizing what she just said, she hurriedly closed her mouth.

“The boy? Are you talking about Augustus?”

“……..”

Seeing her silence Ajax leaned over and spoke to her aggressively.

“Is my sister with Augustus?!”

“….I told you that it was complicated.”

“I could've taken that excuse earlier because I know that Augustus is your reason for existing, but this is my blood we're talking about here! I need to know!”

“Calm down, Demon Brat.”

Rias tried to sound as calm as possible but she was clearly being overwhelmed.

“How can I be calm?! The plan was for Augustus to gain the perfect body for domination through rebirth, and then slowly regain his previous strength and eventually surpass even that. I can tell from the way you're acting that even though everything didn't go as planned, the rebirth was successful. Augustus’ desire to conquer the world is so strong that it's embedded deep into his soul! Meaning that no matter how many times he's reborn he will feel the need to destroy the heavens and take the world!”

He suddenly grabbed Rias by her shoulders.

“This is something I didn't want Ishma apart of! That's the reason why I sealed her in the sword in the first place! To keep her safe until everything's over! If she's with Augustus then it defeats the purpose!”

*Boom!*

Ajax was suddenly hit by an invisible force and blown away.

“I said calm down. Geez.”

Rias said as she patted the dust off her shoulders.

“I told you the situation was complicated but that didn't satisfy you so let me explain a little more.”

She spoke clearly and slowly.

“First of all, yes your sister is technically with the boy but she shouldn't be in any immediate danger. In fact she's having a lot of fun.”

“Fun? With Augustus? Impossible, Ishma is too afraid of him.”

Ajax was skeptic.

“That's where it gets complicated.”

Rias suddenly looked like she was having a headache.

“You see when we did the ceremony it worked….Kinda.”

“Kinda?”

“I don't want to go in the details but in short the boy was thrown out of this world and entered the next one.”

“Seriously?”

Ajax asked in disbelief.

Rias nodded.

“His soul became damaged and he was forced into hibernation. Well, ‘Augustus’ was. In order to buy sometime to recover he spilt himself into two. The one with all of his memories and powers focused on recovering, while an empty shell took control as the main personality.”

“…..That does sound complicated.”

“There's more.”

Rias spoke with a bitter smile.

“I don't know how she did it, but Tiamat discovered our plans and search countless years to find the boy; You know, because she doesn't have a brand on the boy’s soul like I do. After she found him she waited for him to die and forcefully brought him back to this world as her proxy.”

“Tiamat, huh? You two never really got along despite Phoenixes and dragons having strong ties together.”

“Hmph! Of course I don't like her. She stole the boy away from me after I let him go tour the world for a bit. Because of her the boy refused to return to the Phoenix realm until he defeated Zeus for her. If that hadn't happened I wouldn't have needed to leave as well to assist him and join this stupid war. I mean seriously, the creator said 'decide the next Supreme Being among yourselves'. Where in that did it mean start a war and destroy the world a couple times? Stupid brats!”

“Rias, you're straying from the point.”

Ajax knew that he had to cut Rias short otherwise she wouldn't stop her rant for hours.

“Sorry…”

She coughed and composed herself.

“Don't mind. Anyway, from the direction the explanation was going I take it that Augustus’ personas are still split? If so, why didn't Tiamat fixed it and bring back the old him?”

“Who knows what that vixen is thinking?”

“Maybe she's upset that he went and died without telling her anything and wants to punish him?”

“……..”

Rias didn't tell Ajax that Augustus death came a bit earlier than expected because of various elements like his sons betrayal and the ceremony had to be done in an emergency. She also didn't tell him that Augustus wrote a letter to Tiamat informing her of his plans in case something went wrong and he was forced into a desperate situation. She also didn't tell him that because she and Tiamat parted on bad terms she never gave it to her.

‘I still can't figure out who gave her the letter….’

She thought to herself.

“Wait, shouldn't Augustus be able to repair his soul himself? I mean he should be strong enough."

Ajax asked after thinking about it for awhile.

“He should.”

“Then why didn't he?”

“Even I don't know why.”

She suddenly looked gloomy.

“I summoned him not too long ago but he completely rejected me.”

She said with a very sad tone.

Even Ajax could sense her sadness.

“….D-Does his other persona knows he's Augustus.”

Rias wiped the sad look from her face before answering.

“He does, he's just finding it hard to accept it and is in denial. He seems to be deny the boy's existence as a whole, but he's quite aware. Even if he wasn't the boy's memories and knowledge would slowly flow into him as well as his past emotions. For example his love for Tiamat has seemed to resurfaced. 

Rias paused and continued  

"Not only emotions but even the boy's powers will slowly return to him. Because of this he will never experience growth like a normal person. If he becomes any stronger it just means that he regain a little more of his past strength."

"I see..."

Said Ajax.

“And that persona is the one Ishma is with?”

Rias nodded.

“And you said that she's having fun?”

“Lots of fun.”

“Does she has friends?”

“Well, there are a lot of people who treats her like a mascot of some kind, but she has a lot of people to keep her company. She's also best friends with a regalia called Regis, but she doesn't seem to realize it yet.”

Rias mood lighten after recalling all of Ishma's experiences.

She has always pitied and cared for Ishma because of her past.

In fact she was always spoiling her unlike what she did with Augustus. Ishma was kinda like her pet after all.

“…..I see. Then leaving her be for now is alright I guess.”

Ajax said with a warm smile.

“That's great, because if you appeared in front of the boy you could cause a negative reaction in him like I did. So give him sometime until he's done with whatever he's doing.”

Ajax nodded in agreement and then smiled mischievously.

“Since I have some free time until Augustus is ready, I'll go hunt down the others and serve as their alarm clocks.”

“Do as you want. I'll wait here and wait for the boy to call me.”

Ajax nodded and a rift in space appeared behind him.

“Then until the time for the final battle.”

He suddenly disappeared in the rift and left Rias alone.

“Final Battle, huh? That might be fun.”