Chapter 69 : The horrifying news.

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The creature living inside [Crystal Weaver] is the Scottish Dragon Bheithir. Now, I know a lot about its current depiction in the fic doesn't line up with it's depiction in actual legend, for instance, Bheithir doesn't really have any connections to crystals. The justification is long, but simply put, there's a bit of alternative history going on here. Basically, Charles kills Bheithir using the spike pit like in legend, except what's not known is that Charles was a wielder of Midas' Rings, which he used to make the spikes. Bheithir's body dies, but in order to live, she merges her soul into Charles' copy of Midas' Rings in order to reconstruct herself a new body. Over millennia, that possessed copy of Midas' Rings is passed around from person to person, and accumulates power over time, as Bheithir's soul begins to grow in power, and construct a new body to house itself, hence the crystal body we see her in in the beginning of chapter one. This slow recovery of power is also what's caused the steady accumulation of power that led to the sub species being created when it reached Vin.

Alright, now onto the…

REVIEW ROUNDUP!

Sakiv Says:

"Loved the chapter probably my favorite battle so far loved Kaiser's entrance not sure if this was the intention but the rook's death at least implied to me this was a suicide attempt for the stray devils which could be the reason the humans were left alive lure exoticism's out to kill them in battle like they wanted. Loved the creative battle with the rook sadly due to the power scale of dxd it kinda feels like you won't be able to use creative environment stuff like that the higher the power level gets the flamethrower or electric trick wouldn't really affect anyone higher than a stray power wise so I'm interested in how your Gonna write Vin using his Brain in the future. I also imagine shits gonna go down when he realizes what the holy sword crystals are made of and what exactly is gonna give him the ability to wield holy swords. I'm eagerly awaiting the finale of the arc."

You are exactly right, my friend. Kaiser and Howitzer both chose to become stray because they were disgusted by the idea of having to die slowly in a domestic life where they could never see combat again. They wanted to have one final fight to the death, and go out on their own terms against the hardest opponents they could find, hence, they looked to fighting people with holy weapons.

In a similar manner to Kuroka, Kaiser and Howitzer were able to keep most of their individuality intact because they had a sole drive that was incredibly strong. It's not explicitly stated, but the reason Kaiser never speaks is because he's the one out of the two that's further along in his slow mutation into madness.

Like you said, a lot of the challenge with the increasing power-scaling of DxD is that eventually little tricks won't work anymore. Rest assured, Vin's brain is going to translate into these bigger fights more, mostly through some very clever use of his powers, and the powers of others.

Oh god, even if the modern holy sword crystals are artificial/ethically made using only gene clusters safely harvested, when Vin finds out, he is not going to be happy… Maybe I'll give that revelation a bit of a body horror twist.

I hope that you're enjoying this finale! Next part is going to be slower, and more character focused compared to this one, but I hope that you enjoy it too nonetheless. Have a great day, rock on!

The Black Kraven Says:

"Hmm, are they gonna die? Cause if that's who I think it is, none of them are even close to being able to fight off that guy (unless Vin gets his BB but even then he will lose). Or maybe I'm blowing all this up and he will just sneakily steal the Excaliburs. The only dragon I know of is Fafnir which would make a lot of sense due to him being the greedy dragon and having something called Fool's gold or fake gold. And by Charles do you mean the Knights of the Charlemagne (the successors to KotRt from Camelot). Hmm idk, but I'm henching my bets on Fafnir (though, he should be a dragon king due to him being fkin fafnir)."

Well, you got one of two guesses right.

You hit the nail on the head about a character death in this chapter, although if you've seen my Instagram account for this story, then it may have tipped you off a bit.

Your guess about Fafnir being in the Gear was a good one, and I mean a really good one. I seriously never expected that you could read into the details that much. Fafir could have been a choice at one point, but there's one problem, which is that Fafnir is already in DxD, he's the dragon that's inside Azazel's artificial Sacred Gear, the Downfall Dragon Spear.

Still, mad props to you for coming up with a great theory! I hope this chapter lived up to your expectations, and I hope you have a great day!

pairogerio512 Says:

"This story only gets better, I'm still trusting you.

I listened to the songs you told me and I really enjoyed it, although Divide my heart left me a little scared about the story...in a good way, anyway, my expectations are in the right place now, thank you."

I'm glad that you liked the songs! I love music, and love to share my music tastes with people.

Divide my Heart is the perfect song lyrics-wise for this story arc, especially how we just saw in this chapter the person who 'dies unfairly', now I wonder who's going to be 'burnt to soul by vengeance'?

I'm glad that I've been able to meet your expectations, and I hope that this chapter, and the many more to come do the same! Have a great day, and rock on!

So yeah, that's all for this chapter! If you want to get your questions, critiques, comments, anything answered by me in the next chapter, make sure to leave a review! Even if I don't get around to typing an answer to all of them, I do make sure to read each and every one, so rest assured, your reviews are seen.

Make sure to leave a follow or a favorite on this story if you liked what you read and want to be updated when new chapters come out. We're actually really close to passing some milestones there as well.

Also, follow my Instagram, which you can find by looking up dxd_alternate_official on Instagram! I'm pretty active on there, and post behind the scenes stuff related to this story, story-related memes, updates and sneak peeks about chapters, and a lot more!

Anyway, have a great day everyone! Rock on!

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May 4th 2013

One Day After Kokabiel's Attack

Vanessa was only vaguely aware that it was raining that day. The cold drops pattering against the nylon material of her black umbrella as she stood there in her Sunday best. The water made the ground a muddy mess that caked onto her only pair of nice designer heels, yet she didn't care.

She must have been shivering, the Windchill of the morning had betrayed the time of year, and opted to go from nice, refreshing breeze, to a howling gale that chilled you to the bone.

Although she never experienced it prior, Vanessa was pretty sure this was what people were referring to when they claimed to have an 'out-of-body experience'. Her hearing was muffled, her nerves didn't even register the frigid wind nipping at every bit of exposed skin on her outfit; it was truly like her body forgot how to function in that moment, as her eyesight remained glued on one point ahead of her.

Several paces ahead was a hole deep in the ground, three men with shovels waiting just off to the side, as another man in robes stood at the foot of the empty grave.

A grave that Vanessa still couldn't believe was being dug…

Finally, her gaze broke from the hole, and moved to the left, a dark oak coffin sealed to the world, adorned with beautiful orange and white flowers. To anyone else, the sight would have been pretty…

Now, Vanessa was sure she would never be able to see an orange or white flower ever again.

Why? Why did this happen?! The church promised them so much, a chance to fight the good fight against the very thing that took their parents, a chance to do good for the world, a chance to have a home, a family…

And now one of those family members, perhaps who she considered her last remaining family member, or the closest thing to one was being buried right in front of her. Lead to his death by gilded lies, and by the time they had found out, it had been too late…

It should have been me, was the first thought that went through Vanessa's brain the moment she found out the horrifying news. She had awoken in the Vatican's underground ER a few hours after it happened, and since then, she wasn't able to see what remained of Ethan.

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