Chapter 6
Alexander sighed happily as he tapped the keys on his keyboard and clicked his mouse. After introducing Tali to Lucy, which wasn't nearly as fun as he'd imagined, he'd stepped away and finally gotten to play some games! Oh, how he'd missed the thrill of playing a new game. His current one reminded him of Diablo 2 in his old life, though with obvious differences that made it something unique. It was still greatly enjoyable.
Over the last week, he hadn't had to do too much but play his game. Though there were a few things he'd had to do. The first involved the perverted trio. They'd continued to spew their filth, so he'd made sure it would always be a highly painful experience for them whenever they did. A nice, or nasty, depending on your point of view, curse. Anytime any of them said anything perverted aloud or tried to knowingly break the law, such as peeping, they would feel a pain as if they'd been kicked in the balls by a professional football kicker. American football.
He'd seen the results firsthand with a bit of a scrying spell. Seeing them suddenly bend over while groaning in agony after saying something unsuited for polite company had sent him, and the girls in the class, into a fit of laughter. Asia reported that it happened nearly thirty times the first day, but had dropped to only twenty on the second. They'd been on a steady decline of perverted comments and actions ever since.
The one to hold out the strongest was also the only one among them that was slightly interesting, some kid named Issei Hyoudou. The dude was obsessed with breasts to an unhealthy degree, and no amount of nut shots seemed to get through to him. On top of which, there was a weird, inhuman scent around the guy. With his senses so amped up by being a Perfect Lifeform, he could easily tell the scent wasn't a normal part of Issei. What was the scent? He hadn't a clue. He also didn't really care.
Another thing that kept him from gaming on occasion was helping out Tali. It hadn't taken her very long to create the blueprints for an Omnitool. Once he had them, it only took him a few moments to produce a dozen of them. Why a dozen? Spares, and in case he decided he wanted one for fun. It was an Omnitool after all!
They weren't fully operational yet. While he made the physical structure of the tool and it did work, it lacked programming. Something Tali wasn't highly skilled in, as she was an engineer. That wasn't to say she had no skill; it was just taking her a while to get the programming right. Between the computer OS, sensor feedback, and minifacturing fabricator, it required a lot of programming to run properly. He could have likely created a fully operational Omnitool, but Tali didn't trust the programming skills of his Sacred Gear.
Lucy was content with the massive expansion of her business empire. Thanks to the hyper-efficient recycling plant he'd made, she was making money hand over fist, then using that money to buy her way into power over other companies. Needless to say, she was having the time of her life.
Asia was also having the time of her life. She was loving every minute of going to school and making new friends. Though he didn't really approve of her friend Aika. While she wasn't nearly as bad as the perverted trio, she was still a pervert. Lucky for her, a quick conversation with him had her toning down her perverted remarks around innocent Asia. So, she was allowed to come to the resort with Asia whenever she wanted and to enjoy the facilities. Although he didn't quite appreciate the looks Aika would give him when Asia wasn't paying attention. Her eyes always seemed to focus on his crotch, for some reason.
Valerie... Well, she was still in recovery. Whatever had been done to her had done a lot of damage, and it was taking a while to reverse. The piece of the Holy Grail that Red gave her was clearly helping, but it would still take some time to get her back to any semblance of normal. Until then, with some help from Sona, Lucy had hired a nurse in the know to help take care of Valerie's needs. Their best guess was that it would take at least a few more months for Valerie to recover enough to take care of herself.
Lastly, there was Sona. She had taken the initiative to invite him to dinner as a date. Her plan was to take him to the underworld, to one of the restaurants with one of the ancient chefs she'd mentioned existed. It was scheduled for the upcoming school break, when she would be returning to the Underworld to visit her family.
He had a sneaking suspicion that she planned to introduce him to her parents. He was very much not looking forward to that. It looked like she'd given up on trying to win her freedom from the engagement. This was made even more annoying because he was actually worried about challenging her himself. Mostly because he had no idea what to use as a bet. More sex? Well... she did seem to enjoy it the last time. Between the complete mastery of his own biology and his Healing Fluids, she'd been able to enjoy every moment of their time together. She'd only owed her virginity, so one round would have been enough, but she kept coming back for more.
Not that he was complaining. Especially since Serafall had been the same way. Though he hadn't heard a word from her since, and didn't expect to.
“Alex.”
“Nooooo.”
“Alex.”
“Nooooooooooooooo.”
“They're paying through the nose for an appointment with you.”
He froze, then slowly turned to stare deadpan at Lucy, “You didn't. I already worked my three hours today!”
“I did. He insisted on wanting you and paid an excellent premium for it. Now, get out there and earn mama her money.”
Alexander rolled his eyes but climbed to his feet regardless. As he got closer to her, she reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder, “He's a rank two.”
Alexander paused, then let out a deep sigh, “Great.” He gave Lucy a bland glare, “If he's anything like Red, I swear I will bend you over my lap and spank you until your ass matches your eyes.”
Lucy licked her lips, “Promises, promises.”
He rolled his eyes but kept walking. After the incident with Red, they'd made a simple system to rank the patients and people coming into the resort. Rank zero was a normal human or some supernatural that wasn't any stronger than one. Rank one was someone on their level, as in equal to how strong Alexander currently was. Rank two was anyone who was stronger, no matter how little or much.
With his shoulders slumped, he walked to the massage area. As much as he complained, he didn't really find it more than mildly annoying at most. He was honestly grateful for everything Lucy did and wasn't going to give her a hard time over a little bit of easy work. Especially since the work became remarkably easier after he became a Perfect Lifeform.
It was infinitely better than the life he'd had previously where he'd work ten plus hours a day for a pittance that he could barely survive on. This was much much better.
He stepped into the employee room to change into his uniform then into the massage room where his client was waiting. He looked at the man, already naked and face down on the table. Thank god the man had a towel around his waist. The man looked middle aged with a goatee on his chin and the weirdest hair he'd ever seen. The majority of his hair was black but for some reason he'd bleached the front portion blond.
As he stepped into the room the man addressed him in a deep voice, “Ah, you must be the young man with magical fingers I've heard so much about!”
Alexander grimaced, “Could you have possible made that sound any skeevier? But yes, I'm the masseuse.”
The man laughed and seemed to brush it all off. Alexander didn't really want to talk to the man. The last thing he needed was a second Red throwing him around and making him perform like a dancing monkey. He was just thrilled that Red had left him alone so long.
Alexander quickly got to work after oiling up his hands. He did his best to tune out the moans of the man on the table. That was probably the biggest downside to his job, listening to men moan. Sometimes enhanced senses were a true nightmare!
About half way through the massage, the man commented, “You really do have magic fingers. I haven't had a massage like this in centuries.”
If he was expecting some sort of reaction out of Alexander, he was sorely disappointed when none came. Due to his interactions with the devils, people living for a few hundred years wasn't all that big of a deal. It might've been more surprising if he hadn't known the man was some sort of strong supernatural being.
Others might've taken the bait. Gotten curious and asked questions. Which would have gotten answers to make them more curious and so on and so forth. He wasn't about to get caught in that loop. Instead, he ignored it and went through his work without comment.
The man seemed to notice but didn't comment. Alexander finished up the massage and swiftly made hi exit. He didn't notice, and wouldn't have cared about, the disappointed look on the mans face. He was far more interested in getting back to his gaming!
-----Line Break-----
Azazel watched the young man he'd come here to meet walk out of the room. He frowned slightly and wondered what was going on. He'd tried to get the boy talking but he had refused. Too bad the kid wasn't a devil he could contract with.
He didn't know what the kid was. He wasn't human, that was for sure. Azazel hopped off the massage table and returned to the changing room. After dressing he pulled various items of his own design out of his pockets and began to examine them. Each device was a specific kind of scanner.
The first one he looked at detected race. The result was definitely not human, the problem was the result was an error. More specifically, 'Unknown.' So, mystery race, considering his little detector would point out if he was anything that had ever existed before that he had encountered... that was a long list of races that were excluded.
From his own senses he could tell that the boy was around the strength of a six to eight winged angel, or fallen. Given his age, that was fairly impressive. Another device confirmed that yes, the boy did have a Sacred Gear and that it was fairly powerful. Likely a Longinus, but that was speculation. His other devices didn't provide any useful clues.
He grumbled about that, but there wasn't much else he could do without more powerful equipment and there was no way he was sneaking that into the resort in his pockets. Well, he'd just have to spend some more time at the resort and see what more he could learn. Shemhazai couldn't call it slacking if he was looking into the kid supposedly being visited by one of the Dragon Gods, right?
-----Line Break-----
Alexander cackled maniacally as he watched his character blast its way through wave after wave of high level enemies. He may have turned on Grandmaster Math in order to help him optimize his build for the maximum amount of possible damage.
It. Was. GLORIOUS!
“Oh good, you're not doing anything.”
Alexander froze at the familiar male voice. Slowly, he slumped, “Dammnit.” he muttered as he slowly turned around, “Red. Long time no see.” He put on a very clearly false smile, “What brings you around this time?”
Red's grin was unsettling, “Well, I wanted to check on your growth. You don't seem any stronger though.”
Alexander sighed, “I haven't gotten anything that directly effects my strength. Just other useful things here and there.”
At Red's raised eyebrow, Alexander slumped further and let out a sigh. He then proceeded to explain all of his gains since the last time he'd seen Red. Red's grin didn't falter. In fact, there was a certain gleam to his eyes that Alexander did NOT like. Especially when Red asked, “You have access to an entire Universe in your pocket?”
Alexander shook his head, “Not in my pocket. I've got it in my lab area.”
Red made an impatient gesture, “Show me!”
Alexander sighed, yet again, and led Red to the lab area. Tali was already there working at a custom computer running a modern OS to program her Omnitool. Red looked over at her while she looked at Red in return, but he seemed completely unconcerned with seeing an honest to god alien. His gaze shifted to the currently three meter diameter portal that led into an entire Universe.
Looking through the portal showed a thick forest similar to the one that was on the edge of their property. Just thicker and more primal. As it should be. Alexander had checked it and the 0,0 coordinates matched where the onsen was in Japan on Earth. Only, there was no onsen on the other side due to that being a gacha granted item and not part of the natural world.
Red looked through the portal, then just stepped right though it. He glanced over his shoulder at Alexander, “Wait here, I want to check a few things.”
Alexander watched as one moment Red was in his human form and the next he was in his massive form.
“Keelah! What is THAT?!”
Alexander turned to find Tali next to him with his eyes glued to the giant flying lizard on the other side of the portal, “That, Tali, is Great Red. He is a Dragon God, and I mean God quite literally, who likes to appear at random and force me to do things.” He looked back through the portal where Red had flown off and was no longer in sight, “I'm not sure what he's going to put me through this time.”
Tali looked at him and he could feel the disbelief rolling off of her in waves. There was no point in trying to convince her. She'd come to learn the truth of her new world in her own time. Not seeing anything else, she moved back to her table and got back to work.
Alexander grumbled as he waited for Red to return. The bloody dragon took over an hour before he returned. Red stepped back through the portal with a massive smirk on his face, “This, is going to be fun.”
He pointed at the portal, “Shrink it down. We're going to go meet a... friend.”
With a grumble, Alexander did as asked and shrank the portal down to pocket sized, picked it up, and put it in the pocket of his track suit pants. That's right, he went full hiki-NEET and was wearing a tracksuit to relax and enjoy his game time in.
One the portal was in his pocket Red grabbed him by the shoulder. Alexander caled out, “Tali, tell Lucy I'm with Red!”
Then they were somewhere else. They were in a dark and rather dreary place. On either side of where he was standing were rows of chairs that looked like thrones. But the real throne was at the head of the room and what they were facing. There, sitting on the throne, was a sight he felt would call the FBI down on their heads any moment.
Sitting there on the throne was a cute little girl who couldn't have been out of her early teenage years. She had long black hair, dark eyes, a cute face, and cute little pointed ears. What would get the FBI involved was her attire. Some sicko had dressed her in a gothic lolita outfit which, again, on its own wasn't terrible. No, what was bad was that the front of the outfit over her chest was completely open exposing all of her small breasts except for the X-shaped pasties over her nipples.
As he stood there, the girl stared at Red beside him, “You. Have you left my silence?”
Red shook his head, “You really should learn to share little Ophis, but nope! I'm here just so this guy,” He grabbed Alexander by the shoulder and shook him, “could offer you something special.”
He then shoved Alexander toward Ophis with a wide smirk. Alexander looked between Red and the now named Ophis. He frowned but focused his gaze on the girl, “I'm not sure what's going on here, but are you alright? No one's doing anything... inappropriate to you, are they?”
Ophis, face still blank, stared at him before asking, “Can you give me back my silence?”
Now, Alexander might be lazy. He might prefer to play video games in the dark alone. He might prefer just being left alone for long periods of time. But being a hiki-NEET didn't make him stupid. Especially not with Grandmaster Math running. He would have to be a complete moron to not notice the connection between Red going through his Pocket Universe portal and then bringing him here to this little girl. One he was beginning to suspect wasn't actually a little girl.
He dug in his pocket and pulled out the portal. After setting it down, he had it expand back to ten feet in diameter. Ophis looked curiously through the portal which still showed the woods where his onsen was in this world. She stood from her throne and approached the portal. She curiously stuck her hand through it and wiggled it around. The next moment she stepped into the portal and immediately vanished from sight.
They stood there in silence for a few moments before Ophis returned. She looked at Red, “You will not disturb my new silence.”
Red shrugged, “Sure.” He mockingly ran his finger over his chest in an X pattern, “Cross my heart.”
Ophis nodded and turned to leave again before Red cleared his throat. She paused and looked at him with what looked like mild annoyance. He spoke in his same gruff tone, “You shouldn't leave scraps laying about.”
Ophis seemed to consider his words, then nodded in agreement with them. She raised her hand and created a swirling black vortex of divine power that sucked the breath right out of Alexander's lungs with its strength. He collapsed to his knees and focused on trying to breath before remembering he didn't actually have to. Even so, he couldn't push himself back to his feet under the weight of her power. She had to be on the same level of Red! Was she another dragon god?!
While he was forced to kneel, he saw black snakes, each radiating power of their own, flying through the air and into the vortex in her hand. The process went on for several minutes. When it finally died down, Alexander was left speechless. He'd calculated, roughly, how much power each snake had possessed and added it all together. In all, it was at least a hundred times his own total power! And she'd... what, left it laying around? Given it to other people? That was ridiculous!
With her work done, Ophis stepped back into the portal but paused. She turned and looked at Alexander, “This is your universe?”
He nodded. He found it hard to speak in her presence. She walked up to him where he was kneeling and leaned in to kiss his forehead. He felt something he couldn't quite describe rush down his spine and then through his entire being. With what she wanted to do accomplished, she turned and walked through the portal where she vanished once more.
[Feat Achieved! Complete Canon Breakdown! Reward reduced due to the involvement of entity: Great Red. +1 Random Divine Gacha Ticket.]
Alexander staggered at the notification causing Red to curiously ask, “What did you get?”
“D-divine! And it was DOWNGRADED because of your involvement!”
Red cackled, “Good! GOOD! Grab that portal and let's go. I want to see what you get!”
Alexander climbed to his feet in a daze and did as he was told. Red grabbed his shoulder and just as they vanished he heard an enraged voice shouting, “Who the hell...” and then they were back at his place.
The moment they arrived, Lucy came running over from where she'd been standing near Tali, “You're back! What happened?! You look like you've seen something terrifying.”
Alexander swallowed then nodded, “Terrifying and brilliant. The trip with Red resulted in a Divine Gacha Ticket.”
Lucy froze, then a predatory look appeared in her eyes, “Have you rolled it yet?!”
He shook his head. Red beat her to the next part and growled out, “Roll it.”
Alexander took a deep breath, this was the highest tier of roll possible and he doubted he would see another one anytime soon. Calming himself a bit he finally said, “Roll the Divine ticket.”
[ROLLING!]
[Mansion of the Boundary, Divine Item, A regular mansion to the user's tastes that sits in the middle of everything. Even the Outer Ones cannot breach its dimension, and as the mansion sits in the middle of everything in its own reality, you can enter the mansion through any door you touch and exit it at any door that exists in the confines of reality. Even other multiverses or gardens.]
Just seeing the name of his item made him feel slightly disappointed. He already had a house he loved! Then he read the description. At first it was alright. A mansion filled with gaming equipment, a private movie theater and all kinds of man caves sounded awesome. Being in its own reality was nifty too. As was the ease of entry.
What he didn't like was the implication that Outer Ones existed and would be his neighbors, even if they couldn't come in! That was goddamn terrifying! Thank god his home came with protections to keep them out.
It was the very last bit of the description that made him understand just why his mansion was listed as a Divine Item. The ability to open a door in his mansion to any other door that exists in the confines of reality?!
His whole body began to shake with a combination of excitement and terror. He could visit any world he could think of, hence the excitement. He could visit any would he could think of, hence the bone chilling terror.
Both Lucy and Red's impatient questions about his roll brought him out of his thoughts. He read the description of the skill word for word. There was a shocked silence from everyone at the implications. Then, it began. It started with a chuckle, which became laughter that slowly transformed into full body shaking cackling of glee from Red.
Red's eyes were wide with glee and something distinctly manic, perhaps even a bit... crazy. He stared hard at Alexander, “I thought I would only learn about other worlds through your mind and the gacha. But now? Now I have the chance of visiting them?!” He laughed again, “Ohhhh But where to visit first? Should I have you take me to a Naruto world? I have been enjoying it in your memories. Or perhaps Bleach? I'd love to give that prick Aizen a real fright!”
Alexander shuddered at he thought of going anywhere near Souske Aizen from the Bleach universe. That man's Shikai alone was a nightmare. He didn't even remember the man's Bankai, if he ever even used it. He just remember the man was a complete monster and that was enough to stay far far away from him.
If he was more of a pervert there were at least a dozen ecchi anime worlds he could think of with hot girls in them. Several of whom would be very grateful for a rescue that led to a world not experiencing a zombie apocalypse. Such as High School of the Dead. Tons of babes who would all be happy to get out of that world. Hell, he could even see a way to make that psychopath Busujima happy by sending her over to either Rias or Sona to join one of their peerages. That whole Rating Game sport would probably appeal to that sadist.
He shook his head to dismiss his thoughts. He'd much rather start with a safer world where there isn't a deadly virus, or fungus, or whatever caused the zombies there. He'd seen too many zombie shows to keep them all straight. Maybe a world like To-Luv-Ru would be worth a visit? Sure it was mildly dangerous, if you were that tard leading man, otherwise it was a rather normal and peaceful world that just so happened to have alien technology he could get a nice look at.
Oh, speaking of alien tech, there was always heading to the Mass Effect universe. Tali would make an excellent guide and with the right knowledge, they could do just about anything. After all, he could open a door anywhere... Wait, did he just become the worlds greatest break in artist? Well... he could open any door, anywhere, while exiting his mansion so why couldn't he exit into some high level CEO's office or a high tech R&D facility?
The more he thought about it, the more broken he realized his new item was.
A deep sigh from Red drew him out of his thoughts. The Dragon God in human form looked disgruntled as he commented, “I can't make up my mind. I'll come back later after I've reached a decision.”
With his piece said, Red vanished leaving Alexander alone with Lucy and Tali. He turned to face the pair of them and grinned, “You two want to take a look at my new mansion? No trips to other universes through.”
Tali crossed her arms under her breasts and cocked her hip to the side, “Not even a quick stop at the Citadel so I can get my hands on a complete Omnitool and save myself another hundred or so hours of programming?”
Alexander paused and considered it for a brief moment. Finally he asked, “Is there a place on the Citadel to turn in gold for credits?”
Tali nodded, “We can hit a Volus Bank for that easily enough.”
He considered that for a bit. They had a few small bars of gold from the recycling plant and he didn't need huge amounts of it when he made stuff. He really needed to get off of his ass and make some machines to automatically head into his pocket universe and start mining.
He paused, or...
He walked over to the door out of his workspace and opened it. Instead of showing the hallway of the resort it was attached to, it showed a massive main entrance into the mansion. Directly across from them was a massive double staircase leading up to the second floor. Looking left or right reveal huge hallways lined with doors to all kinds of different rooms. It would definitely take a long time to explore it all.
That wasn't his plan though. He stepped inside and was followed by Tali and Lucy. Once everyone was inside, he closed and then reopened the door to reveal a massive vault filled to the brim with gold bars. All three stared at the glittering wonder before Lucy asked, “Where are we?”
Alexander grinned from ear to ear, “Fort Knox, from the 1964 movie, Goldfinger.”
While Tali and Lucy continued to stare at the massive amount of gold, one of whom was rubbing her thighs together and whimpering, he lifted his hands and conjured a dozen magic circles. It was a spell he'd just made on the spot and in moments they saw it going to work. The gold inside of the barred and locked vaults all began to liquefy and flow thought the air.
Alarms began blaring loudly and the sound of guards running filled the air. Alexander ignored it until half of the gold in the vault had flowed into his mansion and formed one massive lump. He closed the door just as the first guards managed to run into the vault.
When he turned around he found Lucy literally hugging the solid lump of gold that had to weight several thousand tons. Meanwile, Tali was staring at him in abject shock. Finally she spoke and he could here the awe in her tone, “Keelah! You just went to an alternate universe AND into the past to rob a vault filled with gold, just to get a few credits to buy an Omnitool?!”
“Well... when you put it like that it sounds like a horrendous abuse of divine power.”
Tali snorted and shook her head, “I thought learning about the truth of my universe and the cycles of slaughter would inure me to further surprises. Yet, here you are, casually crossing the infinities of time and space to casually steal some gold for some light shopping in yet another universe. I just... I don't know how to process this.”
She turned and walked over to where Lucy was practically dry humping the gold, took one look at her, and shook her head. Alexander walked over and used another spell to separate small parts of gold from the huge mass into small ten ounce bars with no markings on them.
Once he had a small pile, he looked over to Tali, “Will this be enough?”
Tali looked at the pile of a dozen ten ounce bars and nodded, “More than enough.”
He grinned from ear to ear, “Excellent. Now, I need you to describe a nice door off in a niche where we wont be spotted on a pre-invasion version of the Citadel. We're going in a coupe of years before Sovereign showed up.”
Tali thought for a moment before describing a door in an alcove on the promenade that was out of sight and rarely used. After listening to her description, he opened the door and noise flooded into his mansion. The promenade was one of the busiest sections of the Citadel filled with species from all across Citadel space.
He stepped out of the door with Tali right behind him. Lucy was not about to leave the pile of gold anytime soon. After walking out of the alcove, he took a moment to stop and stare at the world around him and all the beings in it.
[Feat Achieved! Traveled to Another World! +1 Random Gold Ticket.]
He looked at the feat, but ignored it for now. He had much more important things to do, like follow Tali's cute butt as she led him to a Volus Exchange where they could convert their raw gold into credits. The Volus was kind enough to send a gopher to get them each an Omnitool that they could register the account with. Hard Currency wasn't something they dealt with on the Citadel. It was something only smugglers, pirates, and thieves really dealt with.
It took about an hour, but when they were done both of them sported brand new state of the art Omnitools with all the bells and whistles. They made the ones Alexander created look like absolute trash. Tali made sure to let him know that.
After exiting the Volus Exchange, he looked at Tali, “Go ahead and buy anything you want to take home with us.”
Tali looked excited at the prospect of a shopping spree, but she looked at him with some concern, “What about you?”
He shrugged, “I'll explore for a little bit. Meet you back at the alcove in two hours?”
Tali considered for a bit before she nodded. They split up. Alexander made his way right over to the nearest console with access to Avina. After the purple hologram of an Asari greeted him, he asked for directions to what he was looking for. With directions obtained he hopped into an automated skycar and gave the address he wanted to be taken to. As the car flew, he looked out the window and was in awe at the sheer scale and majesty of the Citadel. The games didn't do the place justice, they simply couldn't.
Only when the sky car flew into an area without a view did he decide to see what his newest reward was, 'Roll the gold ticket.'
[ROLLING!]
[Canto, Rare Item, Cyberpunk - The Canto is a legendary Cyberdeck considered a myth by many. This implant functions as a very powerful computer connected to your brain, allowing you to interface with and easily hack even the toughest networks, thanks to the sentient Super AI loaded inside helping you with your endeavors. Manifests as a ticket that installs itself in your body when you rip it.]
He blinked at the result of his roll. That was... interesting. He wasn't sure how he felt about having a computer with a Sentient super AI in his head. Especially when it didn't say anything about the AI being loyal. AI was a scary prospect in almost every universe he could think of. There were very few where the AI were all nice and cozy with the humans that made them.
He'd have to think about it before deciding if he would use it or not. Until then, he hopped out of the sky car as it landed in a busy shopping district. Following the directions given to him by Avina, he found a small shop tucked away to the side. Looking though the dingy window, his grin grew. It was just what he was looking for!
-----Line Break-----
Tali carefully made her way through the Citadel. She had not missed the looks given to Quarians by the other races. Or the occasional derogatory comment. If she never heard the phrase 'suit rat' again, it would be too soon. Still, no one actually tried to stop or bother her. They wouldn't in the higher class areas where she was. If she were to head to a place like Chora's Den though, that would be a different story. She'd almost gotten killed the last time she ventured into that area. Then again, it had led to her meeting Shepard and the greatest adventure of her life. So it wasn't all bad.
Given the sheer amount of money they had thanks to Alexander's crazy cross-dimensional heist, she had enough credits to buy new from a reputable store. Hence being near the offices of C-Sec where some of the best gunsmiths for custom work existed. Not to mention being able to get her hands on some offensive programs.
She was actually happy with the time frame they'd arrived in, it was the pre-thermal clip era. Now, don't get her wrong, she understood and appreciated the utility of thermal clips. Being able to fire frequently without concern for overheating was nice. But it also meant having to carry around spare thermal clips, a pain in the ass. She had a few ideas for upgrades to good old fashioned pre-thermal clip weapons.
She hated to admit it, but Alexanders bullshit power over technology might help her with some of them.
She stepped into the first weapon shop and looked through the wares for anything special. Her eyes widened slightly when she found an M-6 Carnifex, a heavy pistol with some real stopping power. It was also a great base for mods. She also found one of her favorites, an M-9 Tempest Submachine gun.
Unfortunately, that was all she could get her hands on with her available licensees. She might have tapped into her alternative selves identity to get them. Unfortunately, younger Tali didn't have a Spectre to get her passed all those nasty license requirements. Still, the two weapons she'd gotten her hands on were excellent and a great base to expand out of.
Attack programs were actually easier to get her hands on, she knew a guy for that. She spent the rest of her time picking up bits of technology that she'd missed having access to as well as some more, modern, entertainment. Earth programs were kind of... well, lame. She got her hands on some copies of her favorites so she could enjoy them back on Earth.
Overall, it was a pretty nice shopping spree.
-----Line Break-----
Alexander spotted Tali walking into the alcove and opened the door to his wonderful, amazing, lovely, perfect, mansion. He stepped inside and watched her enter with a few bags of items. He didn't pry, whatever she'd purchased was her business.
As soon as the door closed, he reopened it back into the doorway of the work room at the resort. Then he turned and quickly walked deeper into the mansion. His bedroom was all well and good, but the GAMING room in his new mansion? It was on a whole other level that appealed to him on a deep level.
After stepping into his room he looked at his first purchase, a sleek black box with glowing blue accents. A cable trailed from the back of the machine to his second purchase, a small plinth with an inset center.
With a massive grin on his face, he pressed the on switches for both devices. The plinth lit up brightly and began projecting a full color high definition hologram. The second device hummed to life and presented a simple menu that listed a bunch of different devices. He picked up something every gamer would be familiar with, a gaming controller. He began scrolling down the list until he reached familiarity.
In his last life the latest gaming systems were the Playstation 5, Xbox Series X, and Switch 2 from the big three. He was looking at a label reading 'Playstation 6' and above it was 'Playstation 7' all the way to ten, where the naming convention changed for some reason. On selecting the PS6 label, a massive list of games appeared.
There was a manic gleam in his eyes as he looked at a list of games that hadn't lived to see released in his last life. That's right, he'd bought one of those multi-generational emulators that held tens of thousands of games. Only, in this case, it was a library of games and consoles from just before the First Contact War going all the way back to the nineteen eighties. After the war, human gaming had kind of become a small subculture as everyone shifted to consuming alien media.
He laughed gleefully as his chosen game came to life as a fully rendered hologram. This was going to be the best gaming session EVER!
-----Line Break-----
Lucy stood outside the door to the mansions gaming room and shook her head in exasperation. Give her Master access to all of time and space in the infinite multiverse and what does he do? He buys games and locks himself in his gaming room. She turned and walked toward the door of the mansion to head back out into the real world.
She paused when she spotted Tali sitting at her workstation playing with her own recent purchases. Lucy chuckled and walked past her into the resort. She could see that Alexander and Tali were very similar, just obsessed with different aspects of technology.
When she stepped into the main area of the resort, she paused and stared at the man in front of her before she let out a sigh, “Red, what brings you back so soon?”
He stared at Lucy, “I can't find Alex, did something happen to him?”
She paused as she noted a slight bit of panic in his voice. Looking closer, he looked anxious, maybe even worried. About Alexander? She suddenly understood. If Alexander died, all of Red's entertainment died with him. She offered Red a comforting smile, “Alexander is fine, he's in the mansion. That's probably why you can't find him.”
Red stiffened then scowled, “Did he go to another universe without me?!”
That sounded like jealousy mixed with anger. She was tempted to try lying to him, but knew it would be pointless, so she tried to downplay it as much as possible, “Only for a few hours to get some video games. He didn't do any actual exploring”
Red continued to scowl but seemed somewhat appeased. Though he muttered, “I'll have to make his next job harder as punishment...” Red's eyes suddenly gleamed and his grin turned malicious, “Show me where he is.”
Lucy sighed and prayed for her Master.
-----Line Break-----
Alexander hissed like a vampire when the door to his room opened and he was exposed to sunlight. He turned to look at the door and froze when he saw the look on Red's face. He knew vindictive when he saw it!
Red walked over and towered above Alexander, “You're going to open a door for me where I want to go.”
Alexander nodded his head repeatedly in acceptance. What was he going to do, tell Red to fuck off so he could get back to playing Spiderman 4? Yeah, right. He got to his feet and walked to the front door with the dragon in human form, “So, where do you want to go?”
Red's grin turned feral, “I want to go to an alternate version of my world, ten years in the future.”
Alexander blinked at the request, then shrugged his shoulders and opened the door while picturing the bathroom door of a convenience store he frequented. Red looked at the open door with clear curiosity. He sniffed the air, then frowned. He placed a hand on Alexander's head that sent a shudder through his body. Red released him and smirked, “I've just placed a curse on you. If I don't remove it in twenty-four hours, you will die.”
Alexander looked at Red in abject horror. The dragon-man stepped across the threshold and into the alternate reality, “If you want to live, you'll be back here in just under twenty-four hours to pick me up.”
Alexander nodded his head vigorously. He even lifted his wrist and activated his Omnitool to program in several reminders. Red smirked and vanished like a mirage. Alexander closed the door and ran back to his game room where he opened his character sheet for the gacha and looked for Red's curse. He found it, along with something else unexpected.
[Blessing of Ophis, Divine Trait, DxD - A Blessing from the Dragon God of Infinity, Ophis. So long as you have this blessing you will never run out of energy. This does NOT increase your maximum capacity, throughput, or other attributes of your Energy.]
He must have gotten that when Ophis kissed his forehead. That was pretty goddamn amazing! Although it did seem kind of weak for a Divine trait. Maybe it was just that rank because he'd gotten it directly from the goddess herself? There was really no way to tell. Still, unlimited energy was nice, even if it was restricted still by his current abilities.
He closed the character sheet and went back to his game. If he had his way he would spend the next twenty-four hours straight gaming... only he did have work and he liked sleeping with Lucy so he couldn't skip out on it. Damn women and their ability to withhold naked fun times!
-----Line Break-----
Alexander stood with the door to his mansion open a good thirty minutes before Red was due back. There was no way in hell that he wanted to be late for this, even if it meant standing in the doorway for half an hour doing nothing. Not that he would ever do nothing, he had a nice handheld. Sadly it was one from his homeworld and nothing special.
It wasn't until five minutes before the full time had passed that Red finally showed up. He walked past Alexander while tapping his shoulder. A quick check showed the Curse Red had placed had been removed. Alexander closed the door and opened it up again. Red stepped back out into the homeworld and looked at Alexander, “I need to take some time to process everything I've learned. I'll be back later.”
Seeing the look on his face, Alexander said nothing. Red looked... lost? Confused? Concerned, maybe? It was hard to tell, but something wasn't right. Red had clearly learned something that had him lost in some manner. Alexander was curious, but didn't question Red. Not that the dragon would have answered as he vanished right then and there.
He considered spending time trying to figure it out, but that would be a waste of time, he moved back into his tricked out gaming room with a manic grin. Time to waste more of his infinite life on games!
-----Line Break-----
Alexander stood in front of his creations. He'd made them with help from Tali in their design phase. It had only taken them a couple of days to work out the design and a couple of minutes for him to create them from recycled materials. Tali was using her Omnitool to scan every machine they'd made to double check that he hadn't messed up.
A large array of robots with tank treads, thick bodies, and heavy digging arms stood at the ready. Each of them ran of of a fusion reactor power core they could refill easily so they could run until they broke down.
That's where the second group of machines came in. They were repair droids capable of using raw materials to create the necessary parts to repair all the other devices that had been made. They also contained a large number of schematics for repair bays, hydraulic lifts, and energy generators, built in Omnitools, and more to help with their work.
The last group of machines were a combination purifier fabricator. The Miners would dig up raw materials, deposit the materials into the Pure-Fabs and the Pure-Fabs would produce purified raw materials. Those materials could then be used by the repair and construction droids for... well repairs and construction, obviously.
This group of machines were phase one for his expansion into material collection in his pocket universe. The construction droids would produce more diggers to excavate materials faster. His main mining target for them was the Hamersley region of Western Australia where the largest iron deposit ever found existed, estimated to be fifity-five billion metric tons. That should be more than enough to accomplish his goals.
Once the mine was going full tilt, he could begin construction of large facilities that could produce anything he desired. What he desired was space ships. While the huge iron deposit in Australia would be amazingly useful, and he didn't mind strip mining the place, there were even more materials in the asteroid belt.
His ultimate goal would be mining it until there was nothing left, then using FTL ships to get to the next nearest system to repeat the process. All while having his machines building more copies of each other to improve mining and processing speed. By his and Tali's estimates, in a year he would have an army of machines billions strong mining every valuable resource they could find. He would have the material wealth and manufacturing prowess of an intergalactic government focused purely on those two aspects.
Tali had stopped thinking about it because it gave her a headache.
Alexander was just looking forward to designing and building his own intergalactic spaceship. He might not have the knowledge, now, but he could, eventually, toll something that would give him the knowledge.
Or he could stop being stupid and just open a door to a universe where such tech already existed, like Star Trek or Star Wars and get the technology from them. Or perhaps another fandom would come to mind with better technology. Both of those had some limitations to them that he wasn't fond of. For example, comparatively speaking, Star Trek Warp Drives were slow. Star Wars Hyperdrve's had issues when it came to gravity wells meaning routes had to be found by trial and error.
Well, it wasn't super important at the moment. He needed to build up his tech base first.
Tali finally turned to him, “They're all in perfect working condition and ready to go. Are you ready?”
Alexander nodded and walked over to the Pocket Universe ring and expanded it large enough to fit all the machines through easily. He looked back at Tali, who used her Omnitool to activate them. As the primary engineer she'd insisted on having control and he hadn't argued. With the machines programmed for replication, she wanted all kinds of safeties to turn them off so they didn't consume the entire universe just to replicate forever.
She guided the machines through the gate. Once through it was Alexander who had to do the next step. A massive spell circle appeared beneath him, the machines, and Tali. With a flash of light they moved from Japan to Australia right where the massive iron deposit would be. Tali started issuing commands to the robots that got them all moving. The built in scanners of the mining bots started taking readings and plotting courses that would be the most efficient for mining the ore the fastest.
Tali and Alexander watched the machines as they got to work, both with their Omnitools out and taking readings. Just to make sure everything was working properly. It took a few hours but in that short amount of time the few robots they'd made had mined and processed several tons of material. It was one hell of a sight to see.
The vast majority of what was mined out was iron, obviously, but their were naturally traces of other elements in the ground. The processors were powerful enough to process the material atom by atom so nothing was missed.
With everything running perfectly, he turned to Tali, “We'll prepare the next set for mining copper tomorrow, then set up the teleporter pads to transport the materials.”
Tali nodded in agreement, “I can't believe we'll be using actual teleportation tech for something as mundane as materials transport.”
Alexander chuckled, “Welcome to the bullshit that is the Chaos Gacha.”
Alexander teleported them back to Japan, after that it was easy to step through the portal back into their home world.
-----Line Break-----
“Oi, minion.”
Alexander paused in his work with Tali to look at the only being who would refer to him like that... Who also had a male voice, “Red.”
Red tossed a small object in Alexander's direction. Upon catching it, he realized it was a small swirling red and green colored marble. He looked from the marble to Red, “What's this?”
Red pointed a finger at it, “That, is the Longinus Boosted Gear.”
Alexander looked at the marble then back to Red, “Why are you giving this to me?”
“It's not specifically for you, I just don't want it. Do whatever you want with it. As for why... When I went to that other world...” Red looked uncomfortable but continued, “Things were... wrong. I traced many of the problems that came down to the owner of the Boosted Gear. I couldn't allow the corruption he would spread to happen in this world, so I took it from him. His corruptive influence will not spread without the power of the Boosted Gear. Now he will live a normal unremarkable life.”
Alexander looked at the marble containing the Boosted Gear and considered using it for himself, but he wasn't entirely sure what it could do. So, he stuck it in his pocket, for now. Red watched him but made no comments. He was still disturbed by the things he'd learned in that alternate world. He'd taken the time to confirm what he could and it left him deeply worried, even scared, for the first time he could remember in an eternity.
His golden gaze focused on Alexander, “I also have your next mission. Sometime soon, a Fallen Angel named Kokabiel will be launching an attack against Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri. You will fight beside them and defeat Kokabiel.”
Alexander sighed, “Alright. When is this supposed to happen?”
Red shrugged, “Soon. That's all I can tell you.”
“Right. Guess I better go spend some time with my fiancee then.”
Red chuckled and began fading away.
Alexander frowned after Red vanished. That whole encounter had been... different. Red was usually boisterous, cocky, and laughing as he threw Alexander into one situation or another for his own entertainment. This time was more... serious. Like he had a goal to accomplish instead of random entertainment to get Alexander gacha rolls.
He turned to Tali, “I need to go. You alright working on this alone?”
Tali scoffed, “I could do this work blindfolded in zero gravity.”
That was good enough for him. He turned and made his way over to the door to the room and opened it into his mansion. He closed the door and made his way to his room to get changed out of his mechanic outfit and into a nicer one he could be seen wearing in public without upsetting Sona. He paused at that thought, was he starting to like her? They'd barely spoken since they'd had sex, but here he was changing his clothes just to make her happier.
Shrugging, he continued to his room and got changed. When leaving the mansion, he picked the door to the student council room where Sona would be at that time of day. When he opened the door he found himself staring at a group of shocked faces. Mostly female, but there was one male among them. It was the male who reacted first.
“Intruder!”
The guy lifted his arm and aimed it directly at Alexander while there was a flash that revealed a chameleon looking bracer on his arm with its mouth open. From that mouth he launched a glowing line that Alexander casually caught midair.
“Gotchya! Now I'll drain you dry!”
“Genshirou-san! Stop!” Sona finally caught up with what was happening.
The now named Genshirou turned to look at Sona in surprise, “But.. Kaicho...”
She glared at Genshirou, “Release him.”
Genshirou scowled but gave a jerk of his arm that caused the line and gauntlet to disappear. Sona stared at him with narrowed eyes for just a moment longer before turning her gaze to Alexander, “What brings you here in such a... unique fashion, Alexander?”
Alexander stepped into the student council room while closing the door to his mansion behind him, “Sorry to just drop in, but Red came by.”
Sona stiffened at the mention of Great Red. She quickly recovered and sat back behind her desk while gesturing for him to take a chair in front of it. He obliged and took a seat while Genshirou continued to stare at him. Finally, the guy turned to Sona, “Kaicho, who is this guy?”
Sona sighed in exasperation and looked at Genshirou, “He, Genshirou-san, is my fiancee.”
Genshirou jerked in shock then looked rapidly between Alexander and Sona, “Y-your fiance?!”
Sona nodded, “That's right.” She focused on Alexander, “What did Red have for you this time?”
“He didn't give me any specifics but according to him, a Fallen Angel named Kokabiel is planning an attack against you and Rias.”
Silence filled the room as everyone tried to comprehend what Alexander said. Sona was the first to recover and he shock changed to concern, “How certain is this?”
Alexander shrugged, “Given the source, I'd say pretty certain.”
Sona let out a deep sigh, “I see. I will make sure those who need to know are informed. Was there anything else?”
“Well, with the business taken care of, I was wondering if you would be interested in going on another date.”
Sona's gaze softened slightly, then she smiled, “Perhaps.” She magically summoned a deck of cards between them, “If you win, we'll go on a date. If I win, you tell me about how you got here.”
Alexander moved closer and looked at the deck of cards. Sona might actually be able to beat him at a card game, “What are we playing?”
Sona grinned, “Poker. First to win five hands.”
Alexander grinned in return, “Excellent.”
-----Line Break-----
Sona sighed as she looked at her two pair and compared it to Alexander's four of a kind. She shook her head in exasperation, “Even a game based mostly on chance and I still can't defeat you.” She gathered up the cards, “Very well. We can go on a date, after whatever Kokabiel has planned is dealt with.”
Alexander nodded in agreement, “That sounds great. Contact me as soon as you have any information or anything happens. I'd really like to help you out.”
Sona's smile turned from sardonic to gentle, “I will, I promise.”
Alexander got up and made his way to the door, “Excellent. I hope nothing happens, but I'm prepared to fight with you if something does.”
“Thank you, Alexander.”
There wasn't anything else to say. He opened the door to the student council room into his mansion and stepped inside, and closed the door. Now he just had to wait for Sona to get in contact with him and figure out what was going on. Then fight another Fallen Angel, most likely.
He pulled the small marble containing Boosted Gear out of his pocket and considered what he should do with it. Maybe he should have taken a moment to ask Sona about it. Ah, well, he could ask her later. Right now, he wanted to get back to working on his resource-gathering machines for his Pocket Universe.
He sighed. He hated waiting.
AN
9.5k words
Before anyone goes ape over his Divine roll, I downgraded it from a 5x Advantage Roll. Although Ohpis doesn't see a ton of screen time, she is a HUGE part of the story in the background. Without her or her snakes to give them power, the Khaos Brigade is likely to implode.
Just think about it. During the peace conference, Azazel loses an arm to Katerea Leviathan because she uses one of Ophis' snakes. Diodora Astaroth is only strong because of his snake. Otherwise, he's weaker than Rias.
She was also integral to a large number of other people's plans, especially Rizevim. Splitting her in half to make Lilith, using Lilith to awaken Trihexia. I mean, all of that is now almost impossible with Ophis just up and vanishing.
So, yeah, endgame DxD is basically obliterated at this point. The only canon things that could still be on track to happen due to how close they already were are Kokabiel trying to start the war, and the peace conference. Maybe the young devil tournament, too, but that doesn't have anything to do with Alexander.
I hadn't planned to make this story a crossover, but after rolling that mansion, well, it seemed perfect. He can still participate in DxD, but he can also hit other worlds, just like he did the Mass Effect world.
What worlds do you guys think Alexander should explore? I'm really curious to know what you guys think of everything that happened this chapter!