DSS: Sitri

DSS: Sitri

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Commissioned by Ichypa and Chaosbrain

Wordcount: 2000

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What is a hero?

That particular question has flummoxed me quite a bit. After all, I’ve had multiple answers to evaluate.

Naturally, I am biased towards my own sister’s brand of heroics. Leviathan is a well-known figure, and a role-model for all Devils, for a very good reason. She is the Super-Devil, as blasé the title might be, and she is a hero in the eyes of most of the denizens of Hell. Where she goes, the enemies of Hell are destroyed, and few can hope to face her and win. However, should anyone personally meet her, they’ll know that power comes at a cost. My sister’s social skills are barely developed to the point of being able to make small talk, and that’s only due to the efforts of her extremely talented, future Queen.

To create the hero that all of Hell looks up to, much was sacrificed by my parents. To save Hell from a calamitous civil war, they turned my older sister into a weapon. A living, breathing weapon of mass destruction, she annihilated the rebel faction, and then proceeded to serve Hell as a Satan that responded to any and all outside threats that required immediate, complete destruction. Mother and Father, naturally, languished beneath the weight of their decision for quite some time. So, not only was the cost of a hero the person that they could’ve been, but also the hearts and minds of those who created them.

From the example of my sister, one can assume that being a hero requires a deep, personal cost of select individuals for the sake of the entirety of society.

It is a sacrifice for the sake of society.

Some might even say it is selfless, though many would argue that my sister didn’t have a choice in the matter… though anyone who knows my parents would agree that they were selfless in their actions.

However, there’s another brand of heroics that I’ve now become quite familiar with.

The more selfish heroics of the Preservers.

One and all, the Preservers act to fulfill their own agendas.

Creighton seeks to ensure the world’s safety, because she’ll never be able to rest if it isn’t, and it’s questionable whether or not she’ll stop after saving one world.

Miyakuro fights for his own sake, to ensure his own happiness, and never fails to elucidate that particular fact.

Hyoudou desires to protect those he cares about, strives to push himself beyond his limits because of them, and won’t falter so long as his heart beats.

Cruz fights for his country, because it is his duty, and he cannot refuse without becoming a deserter.

Himejima seeks to firmly tie Li Song to this reality.

Quarta intends to live well.

As do both Shirone and Kuroka and Ulrich.

Argento wants to love and be loved.

Then, finally, Li Song wants to be cherished and cherish in turn.

None of them fit the conventional notion of a hero, though it would be remiss of me to state that none of them have paid for their power. Miyakuro and Li Song alone represent the very extremes of the exchange between sacrifice and power, while Santiago can be said to have sacrificed the absolute least, and he’s exchanged merely a few years of his life, whilst under the impression that he might die for his country.

Compared to the humans who sacrificed their limbs, their bodies, and their forms for power, could the Preservers be said to have sacrificed as much? Were they not talented, skilled, and gifted beyond measure, even before one takes into account the tragedies of their pasts? And, unlike most, were they not rewarded and acknowledge for their efforts, whilst so many others simply die unknown, unloved, and unremembered, despite their deeds?

I do not understand why Li Song refuses to impose a new order upon the world with the strength he has gathered.

There is nothing about the Preservers that extols the chief virtues of being heroes. One and all, we’re merely a gathering of champions, all with personal goals and aims, that have simply aligned together. Our goals are disparate, our means individual, and our alignments aggressively assorted. Why not band this group together into a more common purpose? Create a force that can safeguard against all forms of threats, besides the Chimera and more powerful beings?

It is a frustrating question, especially after I received such a direct answer from Li Song regarding the subject.

So, valuing my position in the Presevers, I sought a way to have them answered without bringing discord to a group that was admittedly doing much to lessen the threats to Earth.

…

My fiancé is a woman of elegant, slender proportions. She is not fragile, not in the least, given her grand performance in all her Rating Games with her Peerage. Statuesque, powerful, and with a mane of golden hair, she is the very embodiment of the Pillar House known as Phenex, from which the myth of the Phoenix was born. Preferring the pantsuits to dresses, she stood before me clad in red and white, with her typical scowl.

“Hah? Are you seriously asking me that question? I thought you were supposed to be smart, Soma.” I could rely on her to speak her mind without concern. We were compatible with one another, despite our tumultuous start. A childhood spent together, along with many meetings during adolescence, smoothed over many issues. Without a doubt, beyond my family, she was the individual I was closest to. Naturally, I could confide my concerns in her with absolute confidence, in both that she’ll never share my words with another, and that she’ll tell me what she believes I need to hear, without concern for my thoughts about her. “Do you really need to ask me why some goody-two-shoes like Li Song doesn’t want to conquer the world? Why someone that saved a whole country free of charge, wouldn’t try to take over a humans for their own good?”

All those questions arose in my mind, but the issue is that Li Song is no fool. If he were deluded, idiotic, and stupid, I’d have never posited the question. However, he is not. He is a genius, one that learns at a rapid pace, and is unparalleled in strategy. Brilliant, much like a star, he uplifts those in his presence to great heights, while rising himself. So, why can he not take the mantle to rule over humanity? He loves humanity, he’ll protect it for as long as he lives, and humanity’s growth will stabilize the relations between the three Factions. Heaven, Hell, and the Fallen cannot fight each other with such ferocity, when a fourth will take any of them on with no hesitation at their moment of weakness. Diplomacy, not just the acknowledgement of one another and armistices during a time of crisis, can arise with Li Song at the helm of humanity.

He could bring peace to the world, if he decided to do so, and everyone would be better for it.

My fiancé’s answer to my statement was to strike my on the head with her fist.

“I don’t know whether you’re being serious, or trying to make me jealous. Either way, you’re being an idiot, Soma.” Bluntly, without hesitation, she berated me. Moving so that her arm was over my shoulder, as we sat together in our private booth, she sighed and shook her head. I paid her all the attention I could manage, while resisting the urge to rub away the soreness of her attack. “Just because someone can rule, doesn’t mean they should. I thought you’d know this, especially since you’re Leviathan’s brother.” The comparison was lost to me, and I admitted it. I didn’t see how my sister and Li Song were similar. “Really? Aren’t you being like your parents right now, thinking that it’s better for you to sacrifice one guy for the sake of everyone else?”

A part of me refused to acknowledge those words, so I knew that I had to explore them with my utmost ability.

What were Li Song’s current goals? The goals I deemed self-oriented, childlike, and detrimental to the whole of Reality? He wanted to restore his tribe, to have a family, and love whilst being loved. An admirable, romantic goal for any other aspirant, yet I deemed him excessively arrogant and selfish for pursuing such a humble end. And, what had I wanted for him to do instead? To abandon his happiness, to prioritize others above himself, and selflessly rule over humanity as a benevolent tyrant, consequently also leaving behind the only family that he’s ever known by becoming a god amongst gods to mankind, in order to establish peace.

I would’ve consigned Li Song to be akin to my sister, despite how I abhorred her circumstances so completely and utterly.

I took my drink and downed it the moment I finished my analysis.

It seemed that I’d been quite hypocritical.

I would like to say that I managed to drown my sudden sorrows in a manly manner, but I was unused to alcohol.

“Bwahahaah! Nice! Nice! You get an A for effort, Soma!”  Rise laughed uproariously, nearly sending me tumbling into our shared table by patting my back. It took longer to recover from her affection than the alcohol. “Look at ya! A few weeks a bunch of awesome people, and you’re already trying to be cool for me! I appreciate it. No girl wants a spineless guy as their fiancé, after all!”

Recovering from my bout of sudden whiplash, I took a moment to simply breathe. It was foolish to attempt to get drunk and forget about problems, no matter how much Rise advocated it before and after she was inebriated herself. While I was sure that my sudden downing of my drink would have adverse effects on me in a speedy manner, given how I was slighter and shorter than my counterpart, I still had time to further ponder my mistake, and resolve to make sure it didn’t happen again. While I didn’t think that my actions warranted an apology, I inquired Rise if I should apologize anyway, since my social skills were obviously compromised in regards to Li Song.

“Bah, if he’s such a great guy, he’s probably forgotten about it already. I bet if you just do your job the best you possibly could, the two of you’ll have no problems!” Rise’s arm brings me closer against her, and her boisterous voice echoes in my ears. Her breath is slightly tinged with the scent of alcohol, but there’s only the faintest flush upon her sharp nose to denote her slight inebriation. However, the leering nature of grin tells me all I need to know. Our privacy and heart-to-heart was swiftly coming to an end. “Work hard, so that you can play hard. Preferably all night with me and my peerage!”

At that declaration, I knew that my request for privacy could no longer be respected, and the curtain into our private booth opened to admit Rise’s peerage.

“Yubelluna, get over here! Pour me a drink! Mihae, I want Soma plastered! Isabela! Xuelan! Put those legs work! Twins, show everyone a good time!” A deluge of women filled the private booth. Smiles, bodies, and various forms blurred through my vision, before there was nowhere I could look without catching a glimpse of skin. Not even the table was free of flesh, as both sets of twins and Rise’s Rooks clambered onto the center, as poles descended from the rooftop of the booth. It didn’t take long for the lights, music, and alcohol to begin flowing as freely as the bodies in the room. “Gahahah! Let’s show Soma a good time, everyone! Our personal Preserver is here to unwind and be relieved, and I say we make sure that he’s perfectly, properly unwound and relaxed by morning!”

Fourteen various voices, in various states and actions, gave affirmations.

I knew without a doubt that the night ahead would be tiring and exhausting, perhaps more so than my actual work with the Preservers.

While I can understand that I’m in the wrong in regards to forcing another to be someone who they do not wish to be, I’ll never understand Li Song and Issei Hyoudou’s obsessive fascination with having multiple wives.