DXD - The Presence Chapter 67 65 - The Abyss Between Worlds

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[POV - Vali Lucifer] [Yuuki Residence - Mont of Awakening]

THUMP.

My heart beat once. Twice. Three tis.

And then... it stopped.

Not physically. But sothing inside — that thing that always scread "stronger, faster, more power" — simply... went silent.

WHOOOOSH...

The air around changed. No, wait. It wasn't the air. It was . My perception. Like soone had ripped off a blindfold I didn't even know I'd been wearing my entire life.

I had felt power before.

Azazel was like a mountain — imposing, solid, unreachable for the old Vali. But I could asure that mountain. Could imagine climbing it. Could trace a path, however steep it might be.

Then Ophis appeared.

And mountain beca a joke.

Ophis wasn't a mountain. She was the ocean during a cosmic storm — vast, infinite, incomprehensible. But still... it was still sothing my mind could process. Water. Force. Power on an absurd scale, but power.

But Rito...

Silence.

Yuuki Rito was the void.

Not in the sense of "weak" or "empty of power." It was literally like there was a hole in reality where he stood. Like my ability to sense power simply... shut off when I looked at him.

And now I understood why.

CRACK.

Sothing inside my soul cracked. It didn't hurt. It was like... liberation.

An ant cannot comprehend the internet. A two-dinsional being cannot interact with sothing three-dinsional. And I — Vali Lucifer, the White Dragon Emperor, obsessed with power my entire life — had just realized I'd been trying to asure infinity with a broken ruler.

— What the hell...? — I whispered, but my voice ca out distant, like it was from soone else.

HUMMMMM...

My body began to vibrate. Not physically. It was deeper. Spiritual. Like every atom of my being was being tuned to a different frequency.

And then it ca.

The first tribulation.

[1ST TRIBULATION - THE COLLAPSE OF EGO]

WHOMP.

The world disappeared.

There was no more room. No more house. No more anything.

Just .

And my mories.

— Vali — a voice echoed. My own voice. — Who are you?

Flash.

Child. Dark. Cold. Rizevim smiling that smile that made my stomach churn.

"You are my grandson. My weapon. My favorite joke."

— No — I tried to say, but I had no mouth.

Flash.

Azazel finding . Training . Telling I had potential.

"Potential for what? To be another master's dog?"

— That's not true!

Flash.

Khaos Brigade. Battles. Victories I thought mattered.

"You killed people. For fun. For boredom. Because you were bored."

— I was... I needed to...

"To what? Prove what? To whom?"

Silence.

The question echoed in the infinite void of my mind.

To whom?

To Rizevim? To prove I wasn't his joke?

To Azazel? To justify the investnt?

To myself? To forget I was just a scared child pretending to be strong?

CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.

Every answer I tried to form shattered before coming out. Because they were all lies. Justifications. Ego trying to protect itself.

— Who am I without my strength? — I asked the void.

"Nothing."

— Who am I without my achievents?

"Nobody."

— Who am I without my hatred for Rizevim?

"Empty."

And in that mont, sothing inside ... gave up.

Not on living. But on resisting.

— Okay — I whispered. — I am nothing. And... that's okay.

WHOOOOOOSH.

The void exploded into light.

[2ND TRIBULATION - THE FIRE OF KARMA]

FWOOOOSH.

Flas.

Not normal flas. Flas that burned the soul.

And in the middle of them, faces.

mbers of Khaos Brigade who died because of . Enemies I had killed "for fun." People I had hurt without thinking twice.

— Vali — Kuroka appeared, but it wasn't the Kuroka I knew. It was a broken, hurt version. — Why did you drag into this?

— I... — I tried to answer, but had no answer.

— Why? — Bikou erged, bleeding. — I trusted you.

— I didn't want to...

— Liar — Arthur said, broken sword in his hands. — You wanted power. And we were convenient.

BURN. BURN. BURN.

The flas rose, consuming everything. Consuming .

The pain was... indescribable. Every wound I had caused, I felt now. Every death, every betrayal, every mont of casual cruelty.

And there was no escape.

Only acceptance.

— Sorry — I whispered, tears streaming. — Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.

Not for surviving. But because I finally understood.

HISSSS...

The flas went out.

Not because I had "won."

But because I had accepted.

[3RD TRIBULATION - THE TEMPTATION OF ABSOLUTE POWER]

SHIMR.

A vision ford before .

. But not .

A different Vali. Stronger. Infinitely stronger.

— Look at — he said, smiling. — I defeated Issei. Surpassed Great Red. Beca the Supre Dragon God.

I could feel it. That power was real. Possible. Achievable.

Everything I'd always wanted.

— You can have this — the vision continued. — You just need to accept. Just need to choose power over... whatever you're trying to reach now.

My hand extended. Trembling.

So close...

But then... I stopped.

— Why? — I asked. — Why do I want this?

— Because you're Vali Lucifer! — the vision shouted. — The White Dragon Emperor! You were born for this!

— No — I shook my head slowly. — I believed I was born for this. But... I don't want it anymore.

— LIAR!

— It's not a lie — I whispered. — I release you.

CRACK.

The vision shattered like glass.

And sothing inside ... died.

My desire for absolute power.

Finally.

Dead.

[4TH, 5TH, 6TH TRIBULATIONS - THE VOID, THE THOUSAND SELVES, THE JUDGNT OF DRAGONS]

They ca in sequence, one after another, without rcy.

WHOOOOSH.

The infinite void where I remained alone for... days? Years? Eternities? Ti lost aning.

CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.

A thousand versions of myself, each arguing their path was better. Until I realized: all were . All were valid. All were... nothing.

ROOOOOAR!

Dragons. All of them. Albion manifesting in complete form for the first ti, not just as a voice in my head.

— You used my power to feed your ego — he said, voice like thunder. — Why should I let you go beyond?

— Because... — I searched for the right words — because now I understand. I don't want to use your power. I want to be worthy of it.

Great Red appeared, imnse, incomprehensible.

— Do you comprehend the Dream?

— No — I admitted honestly. — But I want to learn.

Ophis floated before , empty eyes but sohow... kind.

— Do you comprehend Infinity?

— I cannot comprehend — I replied. — I can only accept.

HUMMMMM...

All the dragons glowed.

And then... vanished.

But not before Albion whispered:

— Go. You no longer belong to . And I no longer limit you.

[7TH, 8TH, 9TH TRIBULATIONS - THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD, DEATH, THE REFLECTION OF THE PRESENCE]

CRASH.

The weight of all the world's suffering fell upon .

Every pain. Every fear. Every loneliness.

And I cried.

For the first ti since childhood, I truly cried.

THUMP... THUMP... ...

My heart stopped.

For real.

Clinical death. Real.

I saw my body from outside. Saw my friends crying. Kuroka. Bikou. Arthur. Le Fay.

And I chose to return.

Not out of fear.

But out of love.

WHOOOOOOOOOM.

And then, the final tribulation.

Absolute silence.

And then... a presence.

Not hostile. Not gentle.

Just... being.

As if the universe was asking: "Why you?"

I didn't answer with words.

I just... was.

And the universe recognized:

"You are no longer separate from ."

[AWAKENING]

GASP!

My eyes opened.

FWOOOOOOSH!

Power exploded from . Not violent. But absolute.

Diabolos Dragon Lucifer.

But not just that.

HUMMMMM...

Senjutsu flowing naturally. Ki moving like breathing. Sacred Gear responding without resistance.

I had... transcended.

And then I realized.

WHOMP.

I was no longer in the living room.

I was in... sowhere else. An empty space. White. Infinite.

And there, sitting casually in a chair that shouldn't exist, was him.

Yuuki Rito.

Watching .

Like I was an exotic animal at the zoo.

And maybe I was.

— Interesting — he said, voice calm. — You jumped from Maou-Class straight to Super Devil in... what, half an hour?

I tried to answer, but my throat was dry.

Because even now, even after everything I'd been through, even with all this new power flowing through ...

WHOOOOSH...

I could still feel it.

The abyss between us.

Imasurable.

Incomprehensible.

Infinite.

I had climbed mountains. Had crossed oceans. Had transcended mortal limitations.

And he was still so far beyond it was like comparing a candle to the sun.

— You... — I managed to whisper — you really are...

— God? — he completed, smiling sowhat awkwardly. — Yeah. Kind of. But you can call Rito. "God" is too formal.

THUMP.

My heart — newly reborn — beat hard.

Because in that mont, looking at the Creator of everything sitting casually in an imaginary chair, I finally understood.

Enlightennt wasn't the end of the journey.

It was just the beginning.

And the path ahead...

Was infinite.

(A/N: Do you guys want to make Vali Lucifer beco an angel again? Like… a human turning into a sage after going through tribulations, and then a demon reaching the sage mode becos an angel. Sothing like that?)