While waiting for the food, Rhode noticed a refreshing fragrance beside him. On the park bench, Lavinia took a seat next to him. She pulled a cup of yogurt from a plastic bag and handed it to him. She had bought quite a lot of dairy products while they were shopping; she clearly loved them.
"Which flavor do you like, Rhode? I only bought strawberry and mango."
"Either is fine."
"Then let's go with strawberry. I like that one, too." Lavinia took out the red-packaged yogurt and poked the straw through the seal. "Asia and Kuroka are still at the shop agonizing over which flavor to buy. I think if it's too hard to choose, you should just buy them all."
"True," Rhode replied.
"About last night..." After finishing half her cup, Lavinia took the initiative to start a conversation.
"Was I too rough?" Rhode recalled their time in bed. It hadn't reached "full intimacy," so surely it wasn't that? He had been mindful of her limits.
"It's not that!" Lavinia's face immediately flushed as she recalled the "Two Dragons Playing with the Pearl" scene. Even though she wasn't shy about being naked in front of Rhode, actually doing that had stirred up emotions that she was usually too dense to notice.
"It's about Vali. I think he definitely recognized me yesterday, but I don't know why he ran away so suddenly."
"I've been thinking... Vali must have a reason why he can't meet me. And he must have suffered a lot during the years he was missing. That boy has been like that since he was little—not eating proper meals and living off unhealthy food. No matter how good your constitution is, you can't keep that up forever."
Rhode then listened to Lavinia recount many stories about Vali—many anecdotes that weren't shown in the anime.
Summing it up, Rhode reached a conclusion: Vali might be a cold, "straight-edge" guy, but his heart was... wait, no, Vali was just a cool-acting guy who was soft on the inside.
"I want to meet Vali face-to-face. I want to hear his reason from his own mouth." After finishing, Lavinia stared at Rhode with sparkling eyes. "Rhode, can you help me?"
"I can, but I get the feeling you treat the White Dragon Emperor like a little brother or a son. You two feel more like a mother-son duo."
"Eh? Is that so? Maybe it does feel like that. Vali didn't have parents, so I wanted to help him however I could. I know that feeling all too well." Though Lavinia had biological parents, they had tragically died in an accident when she was young. If her master, Glenda, hadn't taken her in, her fate would have been very different.
"If I run into him again and there's a chance, I'll drag him over to talk to you." It wasn't a difficult task. Rhode remembered that Vali would appear with Azazel at the upcoming Three-Way Meeting. There would be an opportunity.
"Thank you, Rhode!" Lavinia looked incredibly happy, her smile like a blooming flower.
"Given our relationship, don't be so formal with me," Rhode shrugged.
"Mhm, you're right. Do you think we'll be family from now on?" Lavinia's eyes were full of hope. She had always craved family. After her parents died, she had found some comfort with her master, Glenda, but Augusta's words had cruelly shattered that illusion. Most witches were just people who would use any means necessary to gain power. Her master was no different.
The group stayed in the park until the afternoon. After returning home and the girls had finished washing up, Rhode received a call from Griselda. She didn't waste words and got straight to the point.
"Rhode, I've checked the time, and Xenovia and Irina should have arrived in Kuoh. If you have time, please go pick them up. I've tried calling them, but I can't get through." Griselda's tone was full of helplessness.
She expected him to agree quickly, but Rhode remained silent for a few seconds, which Griselda found strange.
"Did something happen?"
"Indeed." Griselda's heart tightened. She was closely monitoring the Kokabiel situation. The situation in Kuoh was surely tense, and she didn't know when Kokabiel would strike. To be honest, she still felt the Church's reinforcements were too few. If Gabriel hadn't forbidden it, she would have gone herself.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Kokabiel was dealt with last night. A lot of things happened, so I forgot to notify you."
After he finished that sentence, it was Griselda's turn to be silent. And she was silent for a lot longer than Rhode had been. Back in her office in Heaven, Griselda was staring blankly.
What?
The Fallen Angel cadre Kokabiel, recorded in the Bible, was killed?
Even if she faced Kokabiel, her win rate was maybe 40%. In a real fight, it might be even lower. Xenovia and Irina were among the best Holy Sword users in the Church, yet even if they teamed up, their survival rate against Kokabiel was less than 20%. Even with Rhode added to the mix, the total probability might not even reach 40%.
And yet, she'd just taken a nap, and Kokabiel was settled?
"Did the Underworld take action? Kokabiel's trail was too obvious; if we found it, they must have, too."
"No. Actually, I suspect the Underworld didn't even know until he attacked." Sirzechs might want to train his sister Rias, but he wouldn't pick an opponent so obviously out of her league. Without a powerhouse present, Rias could have been killed in an instant. Not to mention Sona was there, too. Sona's sister, Serafall, was a massive "sister-complex" sufferer; if she had known, she would have bypassed all protocols and teleported to Kuoh to end it. She might have even declared war on the Fallen Angels directly.
"Then who? No Seraph from Heaven descended... wait, don't tell me it was you?!" Griselda was flabbergasted. To be able to settle a ten-winged cadre... just how much had Rhode's strength grown?
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High School DxD : Reincarnated into the Multiverse, but it's High School DxD (200 Chapters – Ongoing)
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