Chapter 3
Alexander lay on his back in his private yard at the back of the resort and casually watched magic circles forming, changing, reforming, mutating, and color changing as he went through spell after spell with the casual ease of someone a thousand years more experienced than himself.
He'd found human magic could be broken down into three phases. Phase one was using mystical symbols and formulae to calculate and then create spell circles in a manner similar to using a mathematical recursion to create a fractal pattern.
Phase two was memorizing that spell circle to the smallest detail, then conjuring it into the real world using a small amount of magical energy. That's what caused spell circles to appear and what let people conjure the circle without actually casting the spell, or waiting to cast it. Until phase three, it was essentially just a holographic image that took a minuscule amount of magical power to create.
That was what he was playing with at the moment. He was thinking of things he would want a spell to do, such as summoning his drink from two feet away, then calculating the spell circle in his head instantly, and finally using his magical power to conjure up the circle. His spell circles continued to change as he thought of different stupid things he could do with magic. There was literally nothing he couldn't create a spell circle for in moments.
The problem he ran into was phase three of spell casting, the actual casting of a spell. The amount of magical power needed to cast a spell was proportional to the effect of the spell on reality. Granted, it took relatively little magical power to get a decent effect.
He summoned a massive, angry black circle filled with jagged lines. The spell circle was a formula for a magical nuke capable of leveling all of Japan and causing worldwide fallout from all the dust and debris that would be launched into the air. It was a literal Armageddon spell that would push the world into a nuclear winter.
He didn't even have one percent of one percent of the magical power necessary to cast the spell. Less, even.
He'd found some tricks to get even more power out of spells than someone of his limited means should be capable of. Mostly by using nature to his advantage. For example, a spell to create positive and negative charges that generate natural lightning costs significantly less magical power than a spell that fires lightning directly. Real-world physics takes up a major part of the load, meaning his magical power doesn't have to handle it. Similarly, it's easier to control existing fire than to conjure and then control it.
He'd figured out other little tips and tricks like that, and it had only been two days. Frankly, he felt bad for what he was about to do to Sona.
He stopped summoning circles when Lucy stepped into view and looked down at him, “Having fun?”
He smirked and conjured a small white magic circle that flashed with light and vanished when he powered it. His eyes flashed briefly as the spell took effect. His lips curled into a playful grin as he enjoyed the results of his spell, “Quite a bit of fun. Who knew human magic could be so enjoyable?”
Lucy rolled her ruby red eyes and smirked down at him, “An X-ray vision spell? Really? The infinite power of the cosmos, and you use it to peek beneath my clothes?”
He shrugged, unrepentant, “What can I say? I wanted the best view in the resort, and now I have it.”
“Well, now that you know magic, how about forming a covenant with me?”
He paused and considered that rather than automatically rejecting it, “What would it entail?”
“Seeing as it's for you, I will be more generous than usual. In exchange for your soul when you die, as is standard, I will help your magic grow at a vastly accelerated, but safe, rate until I am unable to do so. “
He ruminated on that before asking, “What's a usual contract like?”
“Their soul for a flat boost to a certain point. If they got too greedy and didn't request safety measures, it would often end in them exploding from magic overload. Idiots.” Her grin grew wicked, “In this case, the stronger I make you, the stronger I become until I reach my prime. If we do this, it'll take a while, but eventually you and I will be as strong as I was at my peak. Maybe even stronger if you get appropriate rolls from the gacha.”
He hummed for a bit as he thought it over, then he shrugged, “Give me some time to think about it. I'm not even sure I would even need to be all that strong.”
Lucy eyed him for a bit before saying, “Just remember, one person has already tried to kill you. Where there's one, there's more.”
“Yeah, but I mean, I have Pyrokinesis, Electromagnekinesis, magic, and Unknown Dictator. I should be able to take pretty good care of myself. Speaking of Unknown Dictator, how goes acquiring the materials I'll need to put it to good use?”
Lucy huffed in mild annoyance, then decided to make him wait for an answer as she dropped to the ground and lay down next to him beneath the shade of the tree. She sighed happily as she relaxed for a minute before she answered him, “It's costing me a fortune, but I should own ReTech Industries, the biggest recycling company in Japan, within the next week. I just need a few of the final holdouts to sell me their stock, and I'll own fifty-one percent of the company and be able to take it over.”
He gave her the side eye, “Like you did to me?”
She snorted, “Please, you were much easier. You just handed me the keys to everything and left me unsupervised.” She turned her head to look at him, “Are you complaining?”
He thought about it, then shook his head, “Not really. Compared to a real job or, god forbid, corporate life, massaging a few people each day is heaven. You like all the CEO shit, you take care of it.”
She nodded agreeably, “I do, and I will. Do you need anything else?”
He considered for a moment before asking, “Any luck getting a better chef?”
She shook he head, “No. It looks like your only hope is to either get a cooking skill yourself, or get a familiar with good cooking skills. No human alive has enough skill to count as an Expert by gacha standards.” She paused and considered, “There might be someone that good in the supernatural world. Possibly someone ancient or maybe a god, but there's no way to know until we get more into that side of the world.”
He scowled at that, “No thanks. Just dealing with Sona's silly devil shit is annoying enough. I don't even want to think about dealing with a giant bag of dicks like a god. Just look at the petty shit they do to people over the smallest things! Imagine what one might do to me if I asked them to cook for me!”
Lucy considered that and then nodded in agreement, “Yeah, I see what you mean. In my world, there was only God, my father. Humans made up the other gods, but I did read what they wrote on them. If the gods here are even slightly like they were in those stories, it would be best to avoid them at all costs.”
She sighed wistfully, “Though I can't help wondering what Father is like in this part of reality. Or what my local counterpart is like. It would be pretty interesting to meet a different version of me.”
Alexander chuckled at the thought, “Well, we might find out one day. If Sona keeps failing to find ways to break our engagement, I get the feeling that I will eventually be dragged into Hell for a wedding.” He pointed at Lucy, “A wedding where YOU will be my best man.”
She snorted at that, but didn't argue.
Silence filled the small yard while the pair simply enjoyed some time outside in good weather with nothing pressing to do. It was a wonderful way to spend a few hours, and, hey, if Alexander kept glancing over to look at Lucy's breasts through her clothing, it just made things better.
-----Line Break-----
Alexander looked around curiously as the light of the teleportation magic faded. Tsubaki had come to pick him up for his duel with Sona and teleported him to where the duel was being held. It looked like wide open space with stands of trees scattered around here and there. Plenty of space to maneuver, and some areas to possibly set up ambushes. Not too bad, really.
Sona, who had already been there waiting for him, stepped closer and addressed him, “I hope you appreciate the effort I went to, to secure a place for our duel. We'll begin in five minutes, if that's alright with you?”
Alexander nodded in acceptance, “That's fine with me.”
“Good.” She turned to her Queen, “Tsubaki, I'll see you later with good news.”
Tsubaki nodded and teleported out of the small pocket dimension where the duel would be held. Sona looked at Alexander, “I will send up a blast of sparks when the duel has begun.”
With her message delivered, she turned and began walking away. The duel would start with some space between them. It was a magic-only duel, after all. It also, totally by coincidence, would give her time to cast some of her biggest water spells before sending them at Alexander. The safety systems would prevent him from being hurt too badly.
She went through her plan of attack several times in the remaining moments before the duel would begin. Finally, the time was up. She raised one hand and sent a small blast of blue sparks high into the air. She then raised her other hand and conjured a massive blue spell circle with the Sitri crest in the middle of it. Thousands of gallons of water burst from the spell circle and formed into multiple gigantic serpents that charged across the open space toward where Alexander should have been waiting.
While she felt the sea serpents should have been enough, she also planned ahead on the off chance he could pull something off. She continued to control the rampaging serpents while conjuring a massive lake of water she could use as fuel for more spells. She had been tempted to request a setting with a lake, but that felt too much like cheating to her.
With her first attack launched and her preparations for further attacks and defense made, she waited to see the results of her action.
Alexander quietly watched as the giant snakes made of water charged toward him. He lifted his hand and casually summoned, then activated a hugely complex white magical circle. All of the snakes exploded into mist as he separated the oxygen and hydrogen that made up the water molecules. A different magic circle appeared over each of his hands and gathered the two gases into small balls that floated above his palms. A simple spark ignited the hydrogen and turned the ball of gas into a miniature sun.
He casually tossed the ball of fire in Sona's direction.
Sona watched, horrified, as her attack was so easily dealt with. Even Rias would have had to fight harder to deal with such a large attack! What had he done?! She saw the glowing ball heading toward her and immediately used the water she'd summoned to create a defensive dome around herself. She didn't stop there and surrounded the dome inside and out with multiple shield circles that could blunt the incoming attack.
The next moment, she was extremely glad for her foresight when the glowing ball detonated into a massive and powerful explosion that shattered multiple shield spells and shook her water dome violently. Her choices saved her again as the explosion failed to get through the final defensive layer of shield spells at all.
She shuddered and gasped when the flames that had started to fade suddenly roared to life while gaining in intensity and size. The water of her dome began to boil almost immediately. She threw her hands up and began conjuring more shields to protect herself as the roaring fire began to crack her third defensive line.
Whatever he was doing was insane. There was no way he had enough magic to create something this powerful! Was he cheating? No, there shouldn't be any way for him to cheat in here. If he tried to use weapons or items, alarms would trigger.
Slowly, the flames surrounding her began to dim, their power fading. She let out a sigh of relief and began preparing for the next exchange. She created a magic circle and prepared to take control of what water remained from her earlier conjuration.
She suddenly yelped as she felt something grab onto her ankles. She looked down and caught a glimpse of hands wrapped around her ankles before she was suddenly and violently pulled down into the ground. The earth around her solidified, locking her in place so tightly she couldn't move even with her enhanced strength from being a devil.
Slowly, as if coming out of water and not solid ground, Alexander rose and smiled down at her. He knelt on one knee and cast a spell that created a scintillating blade of energy around his hand that he held to her throat. Just the very lightest touch of the blade gave her a tiny cut that dripped a single drop of blood. He spoke in a soft voice, “I believe that's my win.”
Sona was silent, staring at Alexander like she couldn't comprehend what was happening. He could see it slowly sinking in as her eyes widened. It got worse when her eyes began to moisten. The moment dragged out until Sona finally whispered, her tone disbelieving, “I... lost?”
Alexander's spell petered out, but it didn't change the facts. He looked down at her with a small amount of pity, “I'm sorry to say it, but... Yes, you lost.”
He created a new spell to gently push her out of the earth. Not that it helped much as she crumpled to the ground. Not really knowing what to do in this situation, Alexander decided to remove himself from it. There was zero reason to stick around and possibly make things worse by speaking. He took a few steps back and cast a simple teleportation spell to leave the duel arena and return to his bedroom.
For some reason, he felt fairly bad about what had happened and what it meant for Sona. He hadn't picked his bet with her out of some nefarious purpose. Now... now she owed him her virginity, and that seemed really, really bad. He'd fully expected, and even wanted, to lose to her. Was it his fault that human magic just so happened to be calculation-based? Was it his fault that he was nearing the level of the gods with his mathematical skill?
“Shit.”
-----Line Break-----
Rias looked at a despondent Sona who seemed to have reverted to a child. She'd climbed into her bed and hidden under the covers as if the thick blankets would protect her from reality. Rias left out a soft sigh and turned to look at Tsubaki, “What happened?”
Tsubaki, looking heartbroken to see her King in such a condition, answered softly, “She lost to Alexander Smith in a magic-only duel.”
Rias arched an eyebrow, “That seems... unlikely. While he has respectable amounts of Magical Power for an untrained human, it's nothing special.”
Tsubaki grimaced, “It gets worse.”
Rias looked confused, “How?”
Tsubaki sighed, “He didn't know magic at all. So, Sona, being who she is, gave him a primer on human magic and three days to prepare.”
Rias chuckled, “What would be the difference between three hours and three days for a complete novice when it comes to human magic? It's not like it's Devil magic that even untalented reincarnated people can learn the basics of in hours.”
Tsubaki nodded in agreement, “Even so, she felt she had to give him at least that much time to prepare. Then the duel happened today.” She turned to stare into Rias's eyes, “Sona lost. Which means that Alexander Smith once again won their wager.”
Rias had a sinking feeling, “What did she wager this time?”
Tsubaki's cheeks colored even as she maintained a professional demeanor, “I feel I must preface that by first explaining that Alexander fully expected and even wanted to lose to Sona in the duel. He claims to be cursed to always try his best when challenged, but even he admitted his odds of winning when lacking all knowledge of magic were zero.”
Rias frowned and wore a 'get on with it' expression, so Tsubaki obliged, “With the full expectation that he would lose, he asked for Sona to give her virginity to him within a week of the loss. Sona agreed, fully expecting him to lose.”
That elicited a grimace from Rias to match Tsubaki's. This was bad. Not just because Sona had bet her virginity and lost. With no fiancé or marriage contract, Sona was free to do what she wanted with it. Though it was preferable she keep her virginity intact for her future pure-blood husband. Unfortunately, that future husband was currently a human. If she slept with Alexander, it would be bad. She would, essentially, be saying that she was choosing a human for her husband and spitting on the other pillars.
It wasn't a polite thing to say, but it wasn't wrong to call the majority of devils racist. They especially looked down on humans. While some humans could get extremely powerful and even live extended lives, they still didn't compare to devils. A human with a strong sacred gear pushing themselves to the limit might live a hundred and fifty to two hundred years, if they were lucky. Compared to the stated ten thousand years a devil could live for?
So, not only were the vast majority of humans weak, but they also barely lived for a single century. Was it any wonder that beings who'd live for centuries or millennia looked down on them? Hell, a lot of devils could remember when humans were illiterate savages living in homes made of mud. They had been alive since before the invention of the wheel!
The Sitri were fairly modern in their thinking and wouldn't look down on a human too terribly. At the same time, they would rather utterly obliterate Alexander from existence than let him touch their daughter. Let alone marry her or take her virginity.
They weren't the worst, though. No, that was reserved for Sona's sister, Serafall.
She couldn't even imagine what Serafall would do to Alexander if she even caught a whiff of what was happening in Sona's life right now. No one would be able to stop her from turning Alexander into an ice sculpture, then shattering him into billions of pieces. It would be a miracle if Alexander were the only victim of Serafall's rage and she didn't plunge half of Japan back into an ice age.
Rias looked at the despondent Sona and nodded to herself, “Go ahead and rest, Tsubaki. I'll take it from here.”
-----Line Break-----
Alexander rubbed his hands together, warming up the oil on them. He was thankful that Lucy only had him work for three hours a day because by the time hour two was up, his hands always started to hurt. He was on his last client for the day, so giving his own hands a bit of a massage was necessary to get through the last client.
The door to the room opened, and a man walked in. He looked to be maybe in his late thirties to early forties. It was hard to tell, given the man was built as hell with muscles on his muscles. What really drew Alexander's attention was the man's hair. It reminded him of Rias, being actual Red and not orange. While hers was a bright crimson, this man's was several shades darker. His eyes were also nothing like hers, as his were dark molten gold.
The man gave Alexander a casual wave, “Sup?”
Alexander produced a business smile and gestured to the massage table, “If you lie down, I can get right to work.”
The man nodded agreeably and lay down while shifting the towel around his waist to make sure all the important parts were covered. Thank god. Alexander was tired of ugly men with no body shame. Once he looked comfortable, Alexander stepped closer. The man spoke up, “So, Alex, can I call you Alex? Alex, how did you get into this kind of work at your age?”
Alexander was mildly annoyed by the man's attitude but didn't let it show, “It just sort of happened. One day, I got really good at using pressure points to do whatever I wanted. After that, Lucy, the boss, blackmailed me into working for her using the skill I had at hand.”
He began his work, hitting pressure points in the man's back in a manner meant to relieve tension. The man hardly seemed to notice as he continued talking, “Ah, lettin' the little lady push you around?”
Alexander chuckled, “Something like that. She can be a pain in my ass, but I know she cares. She probably just wanted to get me out of my room to meet new people. Or something else equally sweet.”
The man chuckled, “Well, if that was her goal, she succeeded. What do you do for fun?”
“Play games mostly.”
“What about your studies in magic?”
Alexander paused and double checked his senses. Electromagnekinesis let him sense the bioelectric auras of people within about a meter of himself. The man was much closer than that, yet he felt like a human. Alexander couldn't feel anything off like he could with Lucy or Sona.
He continued the massage and decided to play dumb, “Magic isn't real.”
The man snorted, “Sure it isn't. But I can see you don't want to talk about it. How about we talk games? I'm a fan of gacha games, how about you?”
Alexander immediately jumped away from the man. Flames erupted around his right hand while lightning wrapped around his left. Behind and above him, six different colored magic circles all burst to life, ready to be activated at a moment's notice. Lastly, he triggered a subtle spell that would summon Lucy urgently.
He glared at the man still lying comfortably on the massage table, “Who the hell are you, and how do you know about that?”
The man sighed, “I should have waited until the massage was over before saying anything. It actually felt pretty good.”
The door to the room opened, and Lucy came charging in with black magic circles hovering in front of her fists, “What's happening?!”
She stood next to Alexander and faced the man who was still lying face down on the table. Alexander answered, “He knows.”
She sounded confused, “Knows what?”
“I'm assuming everything. He asked about my magic training, and when I denied it, he asked if I liked gacha games.”
Lucy's eyes narrowed while magic circles began to spin in them. She did a basic scan of anyone who came into the resort, just to keep an eye out. She'd seen a few supernatural races, mostly yokai looking to relax, so not worth mentioning or bothering. The man had registered as human, so he hadn't gotten a second glance. Now she was using something far more powerful than the basic scans.
Her eyes widened in shock at what she saw. She slowly lowered her hands and canceled her spell circles, “Alexander, don't attack. In fact, end your spell circles.”
He looked over at her, confused, and saw something he'd never seen in her before, fear. He glanced at the man and slowly disabled his spells and abilities while asking, “What is he?”
Lucy winced slightly as she said, “A Dragon God.”
Seeing that the massage definitely wasn't going to continue, the man sat up and turned to face them. While he did, the air around his body shimmered like a heat haze, and clothing replaced his towel. He now sat in front of them wearing biker leathers and a cocky smirk, “People call me Great Red,” he pointed specifically at Alexander, “You can call me Red.”
“Okay... Red... What does a Dragon God want with someone like me?”
Red ginned in excitement, “It might help if you knew more about me. I have many titles such as Apocalypse Dragon, True Red Dragon God Emperor, Dragon of Dragons, and my personal favorite, The Glorious Red God of Dreams.”
Alexander and Lucy both paled at the last one. Alexander was the one to ask, “You can see dreams?”
Red's grin grew to inhuman proportions, “See, enter, manipulate, and more. Normally, I don't care about the wisps that float around. Humans dream all the time, and they're usually soooo boring. I can fly; what do I care about humans dreaming they can fly? But then one day, I caught a dream of something I'd never seen before. Humans dream of power all the time, this human, though? He was dreaming of being able to use a power he already had, but was too weak to actually use. And what a power! Control over electromagnetism is definitely up there as far as power goes.”
Red crossed his arms over his chest and smirked, “So, I took a peek. Normally, a weakling who couldn't control their power wouldn't interest me, but this weakling was certain, even in his dreams, that he would be able to get a power to REPLACE the one he already had. Something I would have thought impossible. Beings grow stronger over time by honing the power they are born with or creating that power for themselves. They do not just swap powers in and out like they're changing a battery!”
His golden eyes stared deep into Alexander's blue ones, “But that's not true for you, is it? I watched your dreams for days and learned everything I could of you.” He sighed in a rather happy way, “It's amazing to find something new, something even I couldn't have dreamed up!”
Alexander swallowed heavily, “So... what? You want power from my gacha?”
Red laughed like he'd heard the funniest joke, “No! Not at all! I am the STRONGEST! I don't need anything for you. I had planned to just watch, but then you got something I didn't think was possible. You got a Sacred Gear.”
Alexander frowned, “A Sacred Gear? I've got nothing of the sort! That bird girl said I had one, too, but she was wrong as well. I don't even know what a Sacred Gear is.”
Red chuckled, “Well, the Fallen Angel, that's what she was by the way, was wrong. They were detecting your abilities, power, and misunderstanding it as a Sacred Gear. But then, you got a Sacred Gear from your gacha, Unknown Dictator.”
Alexander blinked and double checked the description for Unknown Dictator, “It doesn't say anything about a Sacred Gear in the description.”
“Ah, it does, you just don't understand it. All Longinus are Sacred Gears, but not all Sacred Gears are Longinus. But there's more. I saw the description for it in your memories while you dreamed. DxD, Dragon of Dragons. Your gacha named the universe that Unknown Dictator is from after ME. I gotta say, I'm flattered.”
He lifted a finger to keep Lucy and Alexander from talking, “But, here's where it got really interesting! After you received Unknown Dictator, I went through the trouble of searching the world of dreams to see if someone had it. Imagine my surprise when I discovered a man in America had the exact same Sacred Gear, only he was born with it.”
Alexander was surprised but surmised, “So, either I got a copy, or it's from another version of this universe.”
Red pointed right at him, “Exactly! And if you can get a copy of a relatively obscure and unknown Sacred Gear like Unknown Dictator, can you roll more powerful and well-known ones? Can you get a copy of True Longinus and bring it into this world where a True Longinus already exists?!"
His gaze almost seemed manic as he continued asking, "Can you summon copies of people from this world to be familiars as you did with your strange copy of Lucifer? Maybe more abilities like Dress Break? So many possibilities! I want to know! Then there are the things from entirely different universes! This is so much more interesting than doing stunts in the dimensional gap!”
Alexander tilted his head, “I thought Unknown Dictator was Longinus.”
“Ah, I see the confusion.” Red nodded in understanding, “Longinus is a classification of Sacred Gears. In simplest terms, a Sacred Gear with the potential power to kill a god is classified as a Longinus. The True Longinus is a Longinus Class Sacred Gear created from the Spear of Longinus, said to have pierced the side of Christ on the cross. Its name is where the Longinus Class is derived from.”
“So... you're curious if I can pull another Spear of Longinus that matches the one already in this universe?”
Red shrugged, “Or other powerful Sacred Gears like Boosted Gear, Divine Dividing, Sephiroth Graal, and others. But it's not just items. I'm curious about anything related to this universe. I saw you can get race changes, so can you change into a dragon? A devil? A Yokai?”
His grin turned feral, “I want to know. Then I want to see the effect you have on the world. Right now, you're too weak. I could do something like making you a new body from my flesh and shoving you into it, but that's boring!” His teeth turned sharp as his grin took on an edge of menace, “So, instead, I'm going to give you jobs to do that I think have a good chance of earning you a ticket. We'll start small, you'd die if I sent you after anything too strong.”
Alexander swallowed. He had to ask, even if he was pretty sure he knew what the answer would be, “And if I don't do as you say?”
“Then I eat you and your little pet demon. If you're going to bore me, then you might as well become the most interesting thing I've ever eaten.”
Alexander nodded in acceptance; that was about the answer he expected. Though he was leaning more towards expecting death by fire breath rather than death by chewing. He sighed and looked at Red, “I accept then.”
Red clapped his hands together with a bright smile, “Great! I've even got your first job for you. That Fallen Angel you took down was working with a group. There are three more of 'em in the local church along with a bunch of humans. Go kick their asses. I figure, the chick you beat gave you one roll, so three more ought to be worth three more rolls, right? Hell, while you're at it, there's a little blonde girl with them named Asia. She dreams of having friends and family. Rescue her and make her happy while you're at it, got it?”
Alexander nodded his head slowly, “Yeah, beat up the angels, save the cute blonde human. Anything else?”
Red shook his head and hopped to his feet, “Nope. When I see something else maybe worth a roll or two, I'll let you know. Later, minion.”
Red didn't teleport out so much as he vanished as if he'd never been there. The whole time that Red had been there, Alexander hadn't felt even a flicker of change with his senses. It was... strange. He turned to look at Lucy, “Well, that was a thing.”
[Feat Achieved! Survived a Face-to-Face Encounter With Great Red! +1 Random Gold Gacha Ticket.]
“You got a roll, didn't you?” Alexander looked at Lucy, confused, so she explained, “I could see it on your face. How big?”
He shrugged, “Gold, for surviving our encounter with him.”
She nodded, “Sounds about right. He would have only killed us if we were stupid, yet he is, apparently, the strongest living being, so it couldn't be Silver or Bronze. Frankly, I'm surprised it wasn't Platinum or Diamond.”
He shrugged and mentally commanded, 'Roll the ticket.'
[ROLLING!]
[Tinker – Metallurgy, Elite Ability, This tinker ability allows you to build, design and build technology, and technological constructs related to Metals and Alloys. Such as metal fabricators, wondrous alloys out of mundane metals, superconductors, metals with seemingly impossible properties, as well as metal-based cold weapons and armor.]
“Huh, not too shabby.” He explained the ability to her, then added, “Too bad I'm not willing to swap anything out for it yet. If I'm about to go into combat, I'll need my combat abilities.”
Lucy put on a considering look, “Should I come with you?”
He frowned and considered aloud, “If you do, would that affect the value of the rolls? I mean, you should be capable of handling all of them with ease by yourself. If I don't participate, do I get any rolls? Or will they be reduced in tier?”
Lucy tapped her lower lip as she thought, “Well, I could beat one up and see what that earns you, if anything. Then you beat up the others, and we compare. With three of them, it wouldn't be as much of a waste if it's a bad result.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. Well, no time like the present. Maybe I'll get a new ability and can equip my new Tinker one. That should mesh really well with Unknown Dictator.”
-----Line Break-----
Alexander and Lucy stood side by side staring at the dilapidated church. Lucy had easily bypassed the warning ward around the property and let them in without alerting the squatters. A simple X-ray vision spell, usually used for perving on Lucy, was now used to look through the walls of the church and see the interior.
Neither of them liked what they were seeing.
There were a bunch of men in black robes all kneeling around a large black cross that had a small blonde girl chained to it. A man in a trench coat and fedora outfit that screamed “streaker” was standing next to the cross and clearly getting ready to do something evil.
That was all below ground. On the main floor of the church, there were three people who seemed to be on guard for intruders. They would need to take them out first. He addressed Lucy without looking at her, “So... which one will you take out as our experiment?”
“Well, the two women are Fallen Angels. The guy is just a human, I'll blast him just to get him out of the way. The two Fallen Angels are about the same in strength, so if there are different rewards for them, we'll know. I'll take out the one with the blue hair. We wouldn't want you getting distracted by her large breasts.”
Alexander nodded, and they both began moving. Lucy, being the physically stronger of the pair, gave the double doors of the church a violent kick that shattered them into splinters, “Knock knock, bitches!”
Surprisingly, it was the human male who acted first, “Who the hell...”
Was as far as he got before Lucy vaporized the upper half of his body with a negligent wave of her hand. She didn't even use an actual spell, just raw demonic power. The two Fallen Angels finally noticed they were in mortal danger and conjured up light spears to fight with. Alexander, meanwhile, was looking confused.
[Feat Achieved! Killed Freed Sellzen! +1 Random Silver Gacha Roll]
Well, it looked like the guy might've been someone. Oh well. He looked at the Fallen Angels and frowned slightly. Coming here, he'd been all gung-ho about a fight, but sitting here... Well, he didn't have to kill, did he? Even Red hadn't demanded he kill them, just kick their asses.
Lucy wasted no time playing around. To her, this was a job, and the only way to do a job was with efficiency. Another wave of her hand sent a powerful blast of demonic power that slammed into the busty, blue-haired Fallen Angel and slammed her hard into the wall behind her. She wasn't obliterated like the human, but she was very clearly heavily injured.
At the same time, Alexander raised his hand and sent a powerful bolt of lightning that was a combination of magic and kinesis many times greater than the sum of its parts. The bolt slammed into the chest of the smaller Fallen Angel, causing her whole body to lock up and shake violently. When the sound of the thunderclap faded, the Fallen Angel collapsed to the ground unconscious and smoking.
[Feat Achieved! Defeated Kalawarna! +1 Random Bronze Gacha Ticket.]
[Feat Achieved! Defeated Mittelt! +1 Random Bronze Gacha Ticket.]
“Well, that doesn't tell me anything!” At her curious look, he continued, “The human got me a silver roll. Those two? Both bronze!”
Lucy scowled, “Yes, that's very informative.” The sarcasm was strong with her, “So, this was a waste of time. Go finish off the last Fallen Angel and the priests, then rescue the princess. I'm going home.”
He sighed but nodded in agreement. He had a pretty simple plan for all this. He walked to the secret entrance to the underground room and shoved it open so he could walk down the stairs. At the base of the stairs, he lifted both of his hands and conjured two small blue magic circles. Sparks of electricity crackled around his hands as he cast his spell and once more combined magic and kinesis to make something greater. A roiling wave of lightning rolled down the hallway and over every single man there, electrocuting them.
He walked down the hallway while he kept the spell going as a continuous effect that swiftly began rendering the humans unconscious.
“What the hell is going on?!” a male voice shouted from the main room, the last Fallen Angel.
Alexander stepped out of the hallway and looked at him and the young girl chained to the evil-looking black cross, “Sup? I'm here to rescue the damsel and crush the villains. That'd be you.”
He threw his hands to the side to finish his spell. The bolts of electricity flashed brightly when the final shock traveled through them and slammed into every human there, sending them all crashing to the ground, either unconscious or wishing they were.
The Fallen Angel in the fedora glared at Alexander, “And who the hell do you think you are?”
Alexander shrugged, “Just a guy doing as he's told so a Dragon God doesn't eat him.”
The man paused for a moment as if trying to comprehend what he'd just heard, “That... what?”
Alexander waved his hand, “Don't worry about it. You'll be too unconscious to care in a moment.”
The Fallen angel was fast, very fast. In a fraction of a second, he conjured and launched a twisted spear of light directly at Alexander's heart. Unfortunately for him, Alexander knew magic now. A simple thought had him creating a custom spell designed to perfectly counter the light spear without using an ounce of excess energy. The shield spell, no bigger than the palm of his hand, successfully blocked the spear, leaving Alexander completely unharmed.
“H-how the hell did you do that?!”
“Don't worry about it. Night night.”
Another twisted spear of light was conjured by the Fallen Angel, but he was too slow. Lightning traveled at a third of the speed of light. So fast someone would have to move at relativistic speeds in order to dodge it. The lightning bolt created by Alexander ripped across the room and slammed into the Fallen Angel's chest. The light spear vanished while the Fallen Angel collapsed to his knees and then onto his face.
[Feat Achieved! Defeated Dohnaseek! +1 Random Bronze Gacha Ticket.]
He sighed and shook his head. For Angels, even Fallen ones, these guys were weak as hell. He ignored the man on the floor and walked up to the cross where the young woman was chained up. She was currently unconscious, but alive. They'd stripped her down to nothing but her shift, revealing far too much of her young body. She was kind of cute, her long blond hair framed an innocent looking face.
No wonder Great Red wanted him to save her. No one so innocent-looking should be subjected to whatever the Fallen Angels had in mind for her. He went about quickly, but gently, unchaining her and lifting her into a classic princess carry once she was released.
He carried her down from the raised platform the cross was on and started to walk toward the door before he stopped, “Duh.”
His magic flared, and he teleported out of the room.
Thirty seconds after he left, a large group of familiar faces rushed into the church and tried to figure out what had happened. They found half of a dead body, three unconscious Fallen Angels with heavy wounds, and a bunch of unconscious excommunicated priests. Rias and Sona both looked around in confusion, with Rias asking the obvious question, “What the hell happened here?”
-----Line Break-----
[Feat Achieved! Changed the Fate of Asia Argento! +1 Random Gold Gacha Ticket.]
He looked at the young woman sleeping on a bed in one of the resort's rooms, then turned to Lucy, “I'll leave her in your care. I have no idea how to deal with a young woman who went through what she did.”
Lucy scoffed, “And you think I do?”
He shrugged, “More than I do.”
She shook her head in exasperation, “You just want to go roll all your tickets.”
“Yup! Bye!” He teleported into his own room, “Roll the bronze tickets.”
[ROLLING!]
[Animal Lover, Common Trait, All mundane animals like you, and non-mundane ones like you more easily.]
[Disillusioned, Uncommon Ability, You can see through any kind of physical deception and concealment. Such as pitfalls, physical disguises, bending of light, one-way mirrors, etc. As long as it's a physical illusion meant to deceive your senses, you can see through it.]
[Lesser Hydrokinesis, Uncommon Ability, Allows you to create and control water around yourself telekinetically. It is not particularly powerful, but it is still very versatile and precise.]
He looked at the results of the rolls and felt ambivalent. Animal Lover could have used a better name. With Animal Lover and Disney Princess, he was going to be absolutely adored by mundane animals. Maybe he should get himself a Gud Boi and put that to use? Disillusioned was... meh. He'd never equip it. As for Lesser Hydrokinesis, he was really getting a large collection of Kinesis abilities, wasn't he?
On the bright side, he could now equip his Metallurgy ability. He planned to wait until he finished rolling, just to make sure he didn't get something better.
“Roll the silver ticket.”
[ROLLING!]
[Tantric Healing, Rare Ability, Allows you to heal ailments and various negative status effects through sexual intimacy, even scars, old wounds, and diseases can be healed, and curses mitigated. The higher the level of intimacy and release, the more effective the healing.]
“... Well, I mean... It's healing so...” He cleared his throat, “Roll the gold ticket.”
[ROLLING!]
[Healing... Fluids, Rare Trait, Your sweat, saliva, and cum heal, yes, it is very awkward, but the effects cannot be denied. The effect scales with your physical stats. It is not incredibly potent, but it is healing; someone can lick the sweat off your abs to heal themselves.]
Alexander couldn't help it; he snorted, clearly one of the ROBs was in a... mood. Still, it wasn't a horrible trait to have and, with Tantric Healing, he could probably do some good with it... Maybe he shouldn't mention his new abilities to Lucy...
Who was he kidding? She'd get him to confess in no time flat.
He looked over his sheet and smiled. He could now equip four abilities and only had two active. Slot three immediately gained Tinker – Metallurgy. As a new slot and not an ability being changed, there was no cooldown. He could feel the knowledge sitting in the back of his brain. All he had to do was think of what he wanted, and it would tell him how to get it.
He thought for a bit and grinned as information came into his mind on how to make Vibranium, or at least a good approximation of it. All he needed to do was build a machine, which he now had the blueprints for, and it would convert steel into Vibranium for him.
Once Lucy finished taking over the recycling company, he was going to have a field day making all kinds of cool shit!
He returned to looking at his list of abilities and wondered what he should slot in as his fourth choice. Tantric Healing was a possibility, but he was leaning more toward an ability he'd had from the beginning, but never had a slot to use.
[Dangersense, Rare Ability, Allows you to accurately sense danger like a sense, the bigger the danger that is posed towards you, the stronger the sensation.]
If Great Red was going to be sending him on quests, which would likely involve combat, it might be good to have an extra layer of protection against incoming danger. Frankly, Dangersense and Tantric Healing were the only two worth slotting. Eh, forget it. He slotted in Dangersense.
His head jerked up as he sensed something just before the door to his bedroom was kicked open violently. In stomped Sona, followed by Tsubaki, Rias, and a girl he didn't recognize. He did recognize that all of them were devils, though there was something different about the fourth girl he'd never seen before. She looked like a Japanese princess with her long black hair, large violet eyes, and other large... assets. Rias was big, this girl looked bigger.
He looked at the angry group of girls, and then things got worse. One more person walked through the door, one he recognized as being the Fallen Angel he'd skewered and left for dead. She looked perfectly healthy, and maybe just a tad angry if her narrowed eyes meant anything at all.
Sona was the one to speak first, being the one who knew him best, “Alexander, you owe us an explanation.” She crossed her arms under her breasts, pushing her comparatively modest bust up and narrowing her eyes in a stern expression.
Alexander blinked and tilted his head, “Uh. Okay. About what, exactly?”
She scowled, “Let's start with Raynare. Please explain why you left her dying on the ground, where anyone could have found her and exposed the supernatural world.”
“Oh. Well, that was panic mostly. She tried to murder me after a lovely date, and I ended up trying to murder her back. It was my first real life-or-death fight, so when I hit her and thought I'd killed her, I panicked and ran away.”
The girls all looked at each other while Raynare scoffed and chimed in, “You sure as hell didn't act or fight like it was your first time. You manhandled me with ease. You were almost cold when you did it.”
Alexander grimaced at the looks that earned him, “I was focusing on math.”
Raynare laughed, “Math?!”
He nodded, “Yeah, I was using math to calculate the trajectories of the spears you were throwing and how much force I would need to counter them. It took a lot of my focus, so I simply didn't have the brain capacity left to do much else, like panic.”
That got him a lot of stares. Sona broke the silence by asking, “You... calculated the flight trajectories of her attacks as they were happening?”
“That's right.”
Sona looked impressed while the others looked disbelieving. All of them could dodge a light spear thrown by Raynare. Their version of calculating an attacks trajectory was seeing it coming and jumping in a different direction. Or, more likely, they'd just block it.
Sona studied him and let out a huff, “Fine, let's say that's true. According to her, and the wound she had, you used fire magic to defeat her. Yet you told me you didn't know magic.”
He nodded in agreement, “That's right. I didn't know magic back then. I never lied to you.” He lifted his hand and conjured a flame using his pyrokinesis, “I have a gift for pyrokinesis. The ability to create and control fire with my mind. No magic involved.” He lifted his other hand and created a magic circle that he activated to conjure another small ball of flames, “Unlike this, which is magic.”
They all stared at the display of two distinct ways to conjure flames. They could all feel the difference and clearly see the magic circle needed for the second flame. All magic casting required a magic circle, even something as intrinsic to them as Rias's Power of Destruction needed a circle to be used.
Sona stared at the pyrokinetic fire for a moment before she asked, “Did you use your pyrokinesis in our duel?”
Alexander shook his head, “No. That duel was magic only, so I only used magic.”
Sona scowled, “Then how did you beat me?! Was it the Sacred Gear Raynare says you have?!”
He sighed, “I'm sorry, Sona, but no. I used a simple spell to split the water serpents you attacked with into oxygen and hydrogen. Then I used spells to gather both elements into tight balls. A simple spark spell ignited the hydrogen, which I threw at you. Once it detonated, I used another spell to continuously feed pure oxygen into the flames. While you were distracted defending yourself from the flames, I used a spell to pass underground as if I were swimming in water. Grabbing your legs made you part of the spell until I let go, thus leaving you buried up to your neck. Then the final cutting spell to force your loss.”
They all stared at him in shock. The girl with the long hair that he didn't know chimed in, “There's no way you have enough magical power to do all of that!”
He blinked in surprise, “Why would you think that? Sure, splitting that much water into oxygen and hydrogen might seem like it took a lot of power, but really, it was easy.” He canceled both fires over his hands and created another, much larger, magic circle. “I just created this spell that caused a cascading effect on the water, so I really only initiated the spell, and it did the rest using the magical power within the water. It also helped a lot that the water was pure. Normal electrolysis to split oxygen and hydrogen apart requires an electrolyte, but in the case of magic, those extra elements get in the way and make it harder.”
They all stared in shock at the massive spell circle that none of them could actually comprehend due to its sheer complexity. A normal magic circle usually has a fair bit of empty space; his had only enough to differentiate the different elements that made up the spell. It was insanely detailed and complex, something they'd never seen before in any form of magic.
Sona was almost scared to ask her next question, “And your Sacred Gear?”
“Oh, that.” He glanced at Raynare, “When my ex over there tried to kill me, I had no idea what a Sacred Gear was... actually, I'm still kind of confused on what they are. I know I have one, what it is, and what it does. But I only learned it was a Sacred Gear when someone told me.”
Rias glanced at Raynare, who didn't look the least bit embarrassed or remorseful about her past with Alexander. She decided to answer his implied question, “Sacred Gears are items made by the God of the Bible. He used his vast knowledge to create them, some seal items, beings, and souls into Sacred Gears. Then he gave them to humanity so humanity could protect itself from stronger beings. No one knows exactly how many he made. Which one do you have?”
“Mine is called Unknown Dictator, a Longinus capable of controlling technology on a large scale and constructing advanced technology using only my imagination. Though the items I can create are limited by my personal strength so I can't do something super crazy like create a spaceship capable of faster than light travel. But I could make things like energy weapons or maybe even a small mech or something like that.”
While everyone was looking at him in surprise, Rias had a particular glint of greed as she stared at him. It was Sona who broke the silence, “Alright. That explains a lot, but there is more we need to know. Why did you attack the Fallen Angels and Excommunicated Priests at the old church?”
Alexander blinked, “That was barely an hour ago!”
Sona smirked and pushed her glasses up, so they flared, “That just goes to show how much you still need to learn about the supernatural world. Suffice it to say, I was able to recognize your magical signature. Though it was a bit distorted.”
“Huh. Okay, well, first off, it wasn't my idea to attack them.”
Sona stared at him, “So whose idea was it?”
“Some Dragon God calling himself Great Red,” he casually revealed.
Every single one of the devils stiffened and stared at him with wide eyes. Even Sona was looking at him in abject shock and maybe even a little terror at such a dangerous name being uttered. He looked over them all and slowly nodded, “So you understand why I had to attack the church and rescue some girl named Asia.”
Raynare jerked at the mention of Asia, drawing attention from the others. Rias asked the obvious question, “Raynare, who is Asia?”
Raynare bit her lip for a moment in indecision, then decided to answer her new King, “Asia Argento is a young woman who used to be a Saintess of the Church. She was recently kicked out of the church and declared a witch because she used her Sacred Gear, Twilight Healing, to heal a Devil.”
Alexander blinked and thought back to all his rolls. Did he get so many healing-themed ones from saving Asia, a magical healer? Or was it just one hell of a crazy coincidence?
Raynare continued, “Under orders, I recruited her and sent her here to Kuoh. The end goal was to use the Sacred Gear Extractor to remove Twilight Healing from her and take it for myself. Though after I was defeated, Dohnaseek, the second in command, would have continued and taken it for himself.” She looked at Alexander, “If he hadn't been defeated.”
Everyone was silent at that. There was no condemnation from anyone for Raynare's past actions. It was well known what many Devils got up to, not to mention the Church people. No one had any ground to stand on for a righteous speech, so none was given.
Sona got things back on track, “Do you know why someone as strong as Great Red would bother to send someone to save a single human girl?”
Alexander chimed in, “It's more about me.” Seeing everyone looking curious, he explained, “Apparently, the guy is the Dragon God of Dreams, and he found mine particularly interesting. So, he decided I would be his entertainment. Whenever he sees anything interesting, he'll be back to tell me to do something.”
There was clear confusion before Sona sighed, “Little is known about Great Red, so I suppose it shouldn't be much of a surprise that even he would act like a typical god and use a mortal for his entertainment.”
She sighed deeply. She hated what she was about to say, “Rias... this is way above our heads. If Great Red is getting involved, there's nothing we can do but report it.”
Rias grimaced but nodded in agreement, “You're right. We'll need to tell... them.”
Sona groaned as if she were in physical pain, “This is going to be bad.” She looked at the other devils, “Could you all give Alexander and me some privacy? I need to talk to him about our last bet.”
They all understood, even if not all of them knew the contents of the gamble. Soon, they all left to deal with the situation, leaving Sona and Alexander alone. Sona looked nervous as she addressed him, “About our last bet...”
“I had an idea about that.”
She looked at him, surprised. Her surprise only grew when he produced a one-hundred-yen coin, “Pure chance! I will flip this coin, and you call heads or tails. If you call it right, your virginity once more belongs to you.”
She swallowed and spoke in a soft voice, “And... if I lose?”
He carefully considered his answer. Part of him wanted to say something like her giving him a kiss, only he didn't really want to kiss her. At the moment, she owed him her virginity within the week, and he was her fiancé. Yet they'd never really spent any time together. Somehow, he got the feeling he would have no say in matters as they progressed. Sona seemed the type to practically rape him to keep her side of the bet. So... the thing to do was get to know her better?
“A date. You. Me. Alone.”
Sona's cheeks colored, but she nodded in agreement. He flipped the coin into the air. As it rose, Sona called, “Heads.”
The coin clattered to the floor, rolled a short distance, and fell flat closer to Sona than himself. They both walked over to the coin and saw it showing '100', tails. Sona whimpered and looked devastated, “I can't even beat you in a game of chance.”
She took a deep breath and slowly let it out, “Friday, pick me up at eight by the gates of Kuoh Academy.” She stared into his eyes, “I'll dress appropriately once you've informed me of the required attire.”
With her piece said, she turned around and walked out of the room with all the dignity she could muster. Alexander bent over to pick up the coin and glared at it, “All you had to do was land on your OTHER side, you piece of shit.”
He threw the coin across his room so hard that it embedded in his wall. He ignored that and made his way toward his bath; he wanted a good hot soak, dammit.
After the door to his bathroom closed, Lucy calmly stepped out of the shadows while sporting a wide smirk. Leaving something like the virginity of the Sitri girl up to a flip of a coin? Not on her watch! It was a good thing she decided to watch events from the shadows when she noted the girls all coming together. It made giving the coin a little nudge so much easier.
She looked to where Alexander was and chuckled. He might be ignorant of the names Sitri and Gremory, but she wasn't. Sitri, a Great Prince of Hell. There was no way that a member of that house's virginity wouldn't be worth a Gold ticket at the minimum. Her Master needed to be stronger, and if the Sitri girl's virginity could make him stronger, then she would make sure he got it.
She turned her red gaze toward the door from which the others had left. Now the question became, how could he get the Gremory girl for him as well? She'd seen the greed in the Gremory's eyes when she learned he had a Longinus. She just needed to find out why the Gremory girl wanted power and a way to use that knowledge to make Alexander stronger.
She smiled happily as she walked toward the bathroom door while stripping off her clothing. Between claiming the virginity of the devil girls and the work for Great Red, things were looking up for her Master.
AN
10k words
Sooooo some serious shit went down, huh?
As far as the duel, no way in hell was Alexander losing after he learned human magic. Grandmaster Math is the 2rd highest Math related skill possible. The only higher one is Divine Formula, which is the level Ajuka is at, since it specifically mentions his Kankara formula. So, it's not wrong to say that Alexander is the second greatest mathematician in the world. Human magic is his bitch.
Then there's Great Red. heh. I've rarely ever seen him mentioned in other fiction, let alone used. His abilities aren't really gone into deeply, but with his link to dreams, this seemed like a nifty way to not only introduce the strongest character in DxD but to have a fun way to force Alexander into doing things.
NO Great Red will NOT be forcing Alexander to follow canon events. Hell, canon is already partially messed up. Raynare being in Rias's peerage gives her someone actually willing to use their holy/light power to fight. (I'm looking at you Akeno.)
Iseei? He's there, somewhere, being ignored because Alexander is a shinier target. Without Raynare killing him and Rias rezzing him, his Boosted Gear is still slumbering. Without the race change to Devil, Issei is pathetically weak. Even after it, his magical ability is so low that he can't teleport. It takes him how many boosts to use Dress Break? So, yeah, he's just of no interest to anyone at the moment, so he's irrelevant to the story, for now.
Anyway, lots of stuff, lots of fun. Let me know what you thought!