Dungeons and Devils (Chapter 13) (Patreon)

I let out a long yawn as I wipe my eyes.

At least I have the 'Keep Watch' spell... that let me finish up some paperwork when I should be sleeping.

I stretch and let out a yawn.

*Ping*

I look down to my phone where I have apparently received a text.

G: Your sword is done, as is the ring. - 21:32

L: Oh, I see, let me summon you. - 6:23

L: Wait... you are awake, right? - 6:23

I type my response.

G: Yes, I am awake. - 6:24

It's not even ten seconds before I feel the tugging on my body from the summoning paper.

"Well, let's get this over with." I sigh as I allow myself to be teleported.

With a flash I reappear in the girl's dorm room. This time the room is actually lit up, there's no elaborate magic circles on the floor, there's stacks upon stacks of loosely bound papers sat on a nearby desk.

The brown haired girl waves. "If it isn't the Euro devil."

"Shut. You'll be paying me fifty more tidily winks or whatever the hell you use if you keep teasing me." I deadpan. "This is literally the second time I have been out of the underworld... ever. And I didn't come to be bullied by you. We use Lillum in hell, so all of these yen, dollars, euros, and pound bullshit is annoying. Why can't people just decide on one currency to save me a headache?"

I summon a small box. "Anyways, this is the ring. It should let you turn magical power into a ranged ray attack. Do you have the books?"

"About that..." Le Fay slowly begins. "Do you think you could take them for slightly more? Uh... a few had tricky diagrams that we had to copy."

"In color?" I ask

"Yep!" The girl nods.

"Alright, how about... fifty thousand for each of the normal beginner books, and more depending on any rarer books."

They share a glance and shrug. "That seems reasonable."

They look to the table. "What we've got here for you are the basics for human magic, there's three books of that, then, we have a few books listing the equations of basic combat spells ranging from icy spears to firebolts, then we've got basics in sealing, security, and defensive spells, two issues of each. Then finally we have one advanced combat spell book, teaching more advanced spells.

"Hn. Alright." I slowly nod as I hand Meredith the box. "That's easily enough for the ring."

I look over the stacks of paper as I cross my arms.

'lets see here... three issues of that, the two weaker spell books, I'll give slightly more for those,

I look over the six fairly thick groups of paper, then to a final larger book.

"Alright, this is enough." I shrug as I summon a sheathed blade.

I hold it sideways towards the descendant of Le Fay. "Some bad news about the sword, I couldn't fit Cold nor electricity in it, so I went all in on fire... honestly it's probably better that way."

The sheath is made of a dark glossy metallic material, there is a red line going down the very middle. "This is the Final Dawn. I enhanced it as much as I comfortably felt doing, but keep in mind, I could probably push it further if I really wanted. If you ever get to a point where you want it upgraded further in the future, I'll leave behind a summoning contract for you."

I slowly draw the blade and lay it in my palms. "This blade was quite a treat to make, it's the first time I've ever worked with Scarlet Steel- a mythical metal from Japan- and, honestly, it turned out extremely well."

Her eyes widen as she steps over slowly and observes the blade.

"Because of the material, the fire effects I was put on it were pushed to the max, the blade is always warm to the touch, and when the wielder wishes, fire will coat the edge... additionally, I've enchanted the sheath to grant some minor protection to whoever has it free of charge, so don't just throw it away."

She slowly presses a hand on the side of the blade and takes her hand away a moment later. "Oh wow... that is really warm."

"Scarlet steel also enhances any spirit based techniques as well, so if your brother knows how to use Touki, that'll improve the blade's power considerably."

"Hn?" She hums.

"If you don't know what it is, don't bother. Your brother probably doesn't have it... its mostly a yokai technique due to its close relation to senjutsu." I state.

I take a single step back and grab the handle. "The fire enchantment is quite strong as well."

Crimson flames shoot down the length of the blade and flicker around it menacingly.

In the next moment they disappear and I re-sheathe the blade.

The Final Dawn
an Impervious +2 Bastard Sword Made of the legendary Japanese metal 'Scarlet Steel', any fire enchantments placed upon this blade increase in strength several fold, it is constantly warm to the touch, just as durable as adamantine, and is also an incredible conductor of magical power and soul-based powers like Senjutsu.
Flaming(+1): This has been enchanted to deal an additional 1d6 Fire Damage per attack, and due to the material this blade has been made of, this has been doubled to 2d6.
Magically Keen (+2) This enhancement functions much like the 'Keen' enchantment, however, instead of simply doubling the weapon's threat range, this also increases the crit multiplier by 1.
Magically Enhanced (+3) This blade has been enhanced with magic, the weapon's base damage is doubled, as are any damaging magical effects, finally, the weapon adds an additional .5 times the wielder's strength modifier on attacks.
Hardness: 52
Health: 247
Weight: 2 Lbs
Damage: 4d8+12+Str*2 (+4d6)
Crit Range: 17-20. (x3)

Sheathe of The Final Dawn:
An item which was inspired by the incredible sheathe of Excalibur, whoever has this sheath is treated as having a +5 Deflection bonus to their Ac.

"Here you are." I state as I hand over the sheathed blade to the small witch girl.

I step over to the table, and with a swipe of my hand, all of the bound papers disappear into my spatial storage.

I look over to see Meridith looking at the ring with wide eyes.

"That ring shoots a beam from the gemstone so be careful with it." I state as I pull another contract flier from my pocket and walk over to her.

"Well, our contract is completed." I hum as I hand her the flier and create another and walk over to Le Fay, giving her one as well. "And with the completed contract, I am no longer required here. I bid you both Adieu. Please call me again if you need anything. Oh, and Le Fay, you have my number, so when you give your brother the sword, can you please tell me what he thinks? If he's dissatisfied, he might be able to give me some pointers on how to make better weaponry in the future."

And with that, I teleport out of the human world.

**Linebreak**

Pov: Elsewhere.

A black haired magical girl looms above a shaking man, her arms folded behind her back. "Don't be silly~ I'm not going to hurt you! I just need some information."

"I-I don't know anything!" The man protests.

The magical girl frowns and looks down at the man as a red light appears on the wall behind him. "We both know that's a lie..."

"In hell, things have changed a lot in the past five hundred years." The girl begins as she sits down at the other side of the table. "Several of our laws changed, as did our punishments for prisoners... another thing that also changed was technology. You see, in this room, with a medium class devil like yourself, you are unable to hide your lies."

"Why am I telling you this?" She asks. "Well, you see, recently, we have started introducing a new system to our prisons... we call it the nine hells of punishment. The more intense the crime, the deeper you go and the more intense your punishment gets."

The corners of the woman's mouth turn upwards. "You see. You are only on level three."

"Assault with deadly intent." She states. "The mere fact that you were crippled- by myself- and the fact no lasting damage was caused is the only thing holding you back from level four or even level five punishments."

"However."

"Political assassination is a much larger crime." The satan continues. "With that, you'd be immediately placed into level six, regardless of your strength or winglessness."

"I'll tell you nothing!" The devil snarls.

The woman smiles briefly, a smile that shows that she knows more than she is letting on. "Why do you have so much loyalty to lord Phenex I wonder?"

"Is it because of your sibling?" The Satan suddenly asks, causing the man to briefly freeze.

"Ah it is. I see. And yes, I did my research on you, Stein Nerl."

The woman's smile falls slightly. "I regret to tell you... that your sister is dead."

"What?" The man whispers with wide eyes.

"Poor girl, she was apparently afflicted with a disease that required a fair amount of money to cure. Too bad she never did get the cure."

"What?!" The man hisses under his breath.

The Satan absentmindedly nods, this is starting to come together now, she had almost no knowledge of who this man was or why he would attempt to assassinate a clan heir, he was stricken from the Phenex family's hiring records. Thankfully a third party stepped in and procured some older documents which allowed her to piece a few things together.

"Is it true that you were sent to assassinate Gaius Dacarabia at the command of lord phenex?" She asks suddenly.

"…" the man is silent for a moment as he stares down at the table.

"Please..." He whispers suddenly. "How did my sister die? She was scheduled to be cured."

"She was... but the request was canceled." The satan states.

"By who?!" The man snarls.

"I think we both know who." She shrugs with a small smile.

She is lying through her teeth right there; it was actually the old lord Phenex that canceled it. He didn't see the need to spend so much on a simple middleclass devil.

Of course, the current lord didn't try all that hard- or at all- to resist, so in a way it's also his responsibility.

"So... was it lord Phenex that attempted to have Gaius Dacarabia killed?" The satan smiles menacingly.

"…"

"Yes."

**Linebreak**

"Well..."

A blood red blade sits in my hands, it's a short sword, about two feet long, the handle can only support one hand, and the blade is slightly curved and single-edged. I had modeled it roughly after Meliodas' sword, and it turned out quite well...

Is what I would say if my disappointment wasn't immeasurable.

+5 Agaresite Sword:
One of the most versatile substances in the universe and you use it to make a fucking sword. Seriously? It's too brittle currently to be used as an effective weapon and it feels incomplete. Any enchantments beyond the simple +1-5 will not stick to it in its current form.

It doesn't actually tell me the effects of it.

Sad.

Also, extremely annoying.

I let out a sigh and shake my head, then relax back in my chair, sending the blade into my storage magic.

Half of the hunk of Agaresite was used to make that... so I've got half left.

"What now?"

It would be wise to amass some power. But how exactly do I do that.

I've got twenty thousand unspent electrum, so I can purchase a level or two, but I don't exactly want that quite yet.

I scratch my chin and let out a low hum.

'What were the plots in DXD again? Like the overarching one? I know most of my stuff from fanfiction and from that one time I looked at the wiki...'

'Uhhh... something-something, 'How Do You Do Fellow Kids?' Devil guy who is cartoonishly evil for evils sake... uhhh doesn't Ophis get split at one point into two Ophis? Ophi? The biggest problem would be... Trihexa I think its name was.'

And that became an even larger problem because of-

Sephiroth Graal.

'Didn't evil for evil's sake guy make clones of the boosted gear or something with that? Like, unlimited balance breaker boosted gears?'

'What do I know of Sephiroth Grall? It can alter things, I'm also fairly certain it can revive things.'

Old memories suddenly become clearer.

Sephiroth Grall. A sacred gear attached to a mentally damaged dhampir that was Gasper's childhood friend. If I am remembering correctly, she gets two thirds of her gear stolen from her in one of the later volumes.

"…"

What if I steal her first.

"…"

"Well fuck." I mutter quietly.

That's certainly an ambitious plan.

Then there's another thing I can look for. It'll be found in later volumes by the Grigori, and apparently it even allows Devils to Wield it according to Xenovia.

"Fuck it." I shrug.

Might as well, even if this doesn't work, the latter will show up in the future, and if the first question fails I'll just be forced to steal the girl without a how-to guide.

Overwhelming power floods my body, my vision darkens as I feel blood seep from my nose.

**Linebreak**

I sit up with a gasp and rapidly look around, fire clings to my face as I grab my phone.

I power it on as my eyes widen.

I was unconscious for an entire hour.

It looks like that the less information I have on a subject, the more damage it does to me and the longer I'll be rendered unconscious. Interesting.

The downside is negated by my regeneration, but it does take me out of commission for a while.

At least it's good to know now and not in strenuous situations.

I have a plan at the very least.

A plan to coax a small broken girl into my proverbial van, forcibly change her race, and damn her to a life of eternal servitude... ah yes... there's the classic devil in me.

I take a sip of Supear juice which has mostly gotten flat, and let out a long sigh.

Making my actions seem far more evil than they actually are is fairly amusing.

Each and every action in the plan has its own reason, after waiting for the guard rotation to begin, I'll have a ten-minute window to have my demon walk in there, I make her an offer she can't refuse- said offer is the chance to meet Gasper again, then I'll need to coax her through a magical item and have my demon teleport into the sun after destroying the item.

Her sudden disappearance will more than likely make them assume she was kidnapped by the Carmilla faction... or if people try to track the teleportation, they may think that she was teleported into the sun.

She is a female sacred gear user, and the female dominated Carmilla faction would probably see a female dhampir with a sacred gear as more important than a male pure-blooded vampire, thus a motive.

Then, once I kidnap the girl and convince her to become a devil so she can 'Be just like Gaspi-chan.' I'll be in the clear. A Sephiroth Grall user under my wings, and a broken girl to fix.

If she's one of my pieces, the Tepes faction can't just walk over and demand for her back. Because I 'found' her, surrounded by vampires, half dead, and chose to revive her because I felt a strong sacred gear.

If she wasn't a devil, reasonably I'd have to give her back if they asked for her.

I am also working on a time limit.

The only time this will work will be in one week from now, when King Tepes leaves the castle to go to a meeting with all of the other Tepes heads.

My actions may in fact cause the war between the two vampire factions to escalate, but frankly I don't give a shit.

I'd rather have her than give anyone else the chance to use her.

Out of all the sacred gears, only a few scare me.

The first scary one would be, of course, the True Longinus. Called the strongest sacred gear and First Longinus. That one is scary because frankly, as a devil, even with a large resistance to light, that'd still probably one shot me, so that's a given.

But out of all the others... the god killing weapons, only two scare me... the first is Sephiroth Grall.

Why?

It can make endless copies of sacred gears... not even a Longinus is safe from its ability.

It can permanently alter races, granting them new abilities.

It can REVIVE THINGS long since dead.

The second is annihilation maker.

Imagine being able to create an endless army of monsters that target the weaknesses of things you create them for.

Endless creatures resistant to demonic power... to light spears... every single one with dragon slaying properties.

Well.

I've got some things to prepare.

The rings don't work through dimensions, so I'll need to find a reasonable reason to go to the human world.

And I think I've got just the one!

But I'd like to have some additional protection just in cast things go awry.

But alas, what ever shall I do?

What ever shall I look for?

Divine power floods through my power as I smirk, a question forming in my mind.

A question that will tell me where to find an item lost to time, abandoned and left in ruin.

"Where is the Scabbard of Excalibur?"

A feral smirk appears on my face as my vision begins to darken.

Soon.

Soon I will have an item which allowed a simple knight piece the ability to withstand light infused punches from the Olympian sun god... attacks said to immediately kill even ultimate class devils...

The main component of Excalibur... and it's all about to be mine!