"It's gone..." he muttered, scanning the data again and again.
"What's gone, Azazel?"
He looked up at us, his face a mask of shock. "Nidhogg's miasma. The poison that was eating her body... it's completely vanished."
The room went silent. We were all stunned. The miasma was just... gone?
"Was it the reincarnation?" Riesha asked tentatively.
"No," Azazel shook his head. "Reincarnating as a Devil doesn't just delete poison from your system. It raises your resistance, sure, maybe enough for natural healing to kick in over time. But Nidhogg's miasma is high-level stuff. It's not quite Yamata-no-Orochi's venom, but it's close. It shouldn't just... evaporate. What the hell happened here?"
He went back to checking her pulse and recalibrating the monitors, muttering to himself. Rias and Sona looked just as stumped.
The only one who didn't look confused was Ignis. She gave me a cheerful little peace sign and a wink.
The rainbow particles, I realized. That "heat" I'd felt—it hadn't just reincarnated her. It had purified her.
"Master..." Diarmuid's voice was raspy.
"Yeah? What is it?" Miwa asked.
"I'm... hungry. I want fried chicken."
The sheer normalcy of the request broke the tension. Everyone let out a breath they'd been holding. Some laughed, some just sighed in relief. That was Diarmuid, alright.
She was still pale—she'd lost a lot of blood, after all—but the agony was gone from her eyes. She looked comfortable.
Miwa wiped her eyes and nodded vigorously. "Yeah! I'll make you a mountain of it! The best fried chicken you've ever had, I promise!"
Looks like we're having karaage for the foreseeable future. Well, she needs her strength back. I'll let her eat it until she's sick of it... though, knowing her, that day might never come.
I stepped up to the bedside. "Diarmuid... you probably already realized, but while you were out, I..."
I started to explain the reincarnation, but she shook her head slowly.
"Why are you worried? I was saved, wasn't I? I wanted to live. And you all fought to make it happen. It was a strange feeling... in that darkness, a warmth—a very deep, kind heat—wrapped around me. It pulled me back."
The heat... So she had felt it, too.
She tried to push herself up into a sitting position. Miwa immediately moved to support her. "Don't push yourself! You were really badly hurt!"
"Thank you. But there is something I must say."
Diarmuid looked around the room, meeting everyone's eyes one by one. Finally, she looked at me.
"Thank you."
My heart did a weird little flip. Dammit... that's cheating!
Coming from her, in that tone...
Diarmuid tilted her head slightly. "Are you crying?"
"You're damn right I am!" I barked, rubbing my eyes. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?! God, I've become such a softie!"
"You're still a brat, Issei," Maurice chuckled from the corner, but I didn't care. The tears wouldn't stop.
I wasn't the only one. Rias and the others were all misty-eyed. The gap between her usual cold self and this sincere gratitude... it was a total tear-jerker.
"Oh, stop it! You're crying too much! Sniff." Alice gave me a light chop on the head, though she was sobbing harder than I was.
"You're literally bawling, Alice!"
"Shut up!"
I wiped my nose, trying to pull myself together. Diarmuid spoke up again. "The piece you used... it was a 'Knight,' wasn't it? So I am now your Knight."
"Yeah. I mean, once Miwa gets promoted and gets her own pieces, I'm gonna trade you over. You want to be Miwa's servant, right?"
Diarmuid nodded. She really did adore Miwa like a sister.
Miwa threw her arms around Diarmuid. "I'm gonna work so hard! I'll get promoted as fast as I can and make you my servant for real!"
"I look forward to it. Until then... I shall lend my strength to the Red Dragon Emperor as his Knight."
"Glad to have you," I said, reaching out to pat her head.
Diarmuid went quiet then, appearing lost in thought. She looked at Miwa, then at me, then back at Miwa. Finally, she spoke.
"I... I think of Master as my older sister."
"Mhm! And I think of you as my little sister, Diar-san! Actually, you can just call me 'Big Sister' if you want. Like how I call Issei 'Big Brother'."
Diarmuid's face turned a brilliant shade of crimson. She was actually blushing. For a girl who used to live in a cardboard box, she was surprisingly pure-hearted. I still didn't quite get where her "shame" threshold was.
"Big... Big Sis..." she whispered.
That was it.
"DIAR-SAAAAAAAN!" Miwa wailed, hugging her with a waterfall of tears. She was so moved it was almost scary. She looked exactly like I did when I got emotional.
Is it contagious?! Did I pass my 'Sister-Complex' onto my own sister?!
While I was reeling from that realization, Diarmuid turned her gaze to me.
"So... if I am Master's sister... that means... I am the Red Dragon Emperor's... little sister?"
"Eh?"
Time stopped.
I mean, logically... yeah. If she's Miwa's sister, she's my sister. But... wait. This girl? This blunt, scary girl is my sister?
I mean, it wasn't that long ago she was pointing a spear at my throat. (To be fair, I did walk in on her in the bathroom, but still!)
My brain was red-lining, trying to process this new reality. Diarmuid's face was still bright red as she looked at me and stammered:
"B-Big... B-Big... Big Brother..."
"DIAR-CHAAAAAAAN!"
I lost it. I wailed at the top of my lungs and dove in to hug Diarmuid—no, to hug Diar-chan.
The Peerage of the Red Dragon Emperor
King: Issei Hyoudou
Queen: Alice Auderya
Bishop: Miwa Hyoudou (Mutation Piece)
Bishop: Ravel Phenex
Rook: Maurice Noah (2 Pieces)
Knight: Diarmuid
Pawn: Riesha Cleas (6 Pieces)
Pawn: Nina Auderya
Pawn: Valkyria Gnome
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