Dungeons and Devils (Chapter 14) (Patreon)

I am crouched before a large hole in the ground.

My demonic aura is obscured, I'm nothing more than a human looking in a deep hole.

"You find it yet?" I call down.

"Er... maybe?" A voice calls up, it's incredibly echoed, so the pit is probably reaching at the very least one hundred feet.

A head suddenly peeks up over the edge, revealing Virgo in all of her masochistic hole-digging glory, there's a few clumps of dirt on top of her head, but overall, she appears mostly clean.

She lifts a fancy looking sheathe, it is caked in dirt, but immediately I can feel the raw holy power radiating from it... as can probably everything supernatural in a several mile radius.

I shove Virgo in the hole, earning a moan for my rough action, cast a disruption spell to fuck up the surrounding magical auras as I fall in after her, a wall of earth follows me as the hole begins to fall in on itself and as I fall on top of the Rook I store the sheathe and teleport us both back to the underworld.

**Linebreak**

I sit beside the door to my biotope with a grin, a large sheathe sits in my hands, it has a primarily blue color with quite a few gold and silver accents, there's a red band of cloth around the very center of the sheathe and a few golden tassels around the top the blade.

Avalon:
The sheath of Excalibur, this item holds indescribable power. It holds power similar to that of the Longinus, granting the wielder incredible durability and healing ability, allowing a simple man the ability to resist the power of even the gods.
Whoever wields this sheath shall have regeneration 20, this regeneration stacks with any regeneration you may have, secondly, the wielder will have damage reduction 100/-, thirdly, the wilder will have incredible spell resistance equal to 20 plus their level, fourthly While wielding this, no sword based on the original Excalibur will cause you harm, regardless of who or what you are, and finally, this sheath has access to all the special powers of Excalibur, yet they are incredibly weakened.

"Hehehe HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" I cackle as I overlook the cleaned sheathe.

It was a little risky to grab it, but now I have it... and it'll stay in my hammer space until I am in a life-or-death situation... it's always nice to have a pocket nuke. Who knows when you'll need it.

Now to work on grabbing my second pocket nuke... which just so happens to be attached to a girl.

I look to my phone and slowly stand, shunting Avalon into my Dimensional storage.

"I need to announce that I am going to overlook a territory in the human world, then I can move on."

And I know just the one.

Maybe I can solve three issues instead of just two.

I get up slowly and teleport out of the bunker.

**Linebreak**

"You want to observe Cleria Belial's old territory?" The Red Haired man in front of me asks.

"Hn, I had wanted to give that to Rias." He sighs.

"There's nothing that says we can't share it." I shrug. "Besides, if there are two clan heirs there, we should be able to support each other in the event of something disastrous happening."

"That is... fair." He slowly agrees. "I had been meaning to look over the territory briefly before giving it to her, but with supplies you have given us, I have been busy with deciding on who should use them."

"How many have you used out of curiosity?" I slowly blink.

"Fifteen. Twenty were given to the great king faction to hand out to who they think deserve them, and the remaining fifteen are going to be slowly given out over the next three to ten years."

"I see. Good." I nod with a small smile.

I bow my head. "I thank you for agreeing to meet with me so soon, Maou Lucifer, I wasn't able to think of anyone who might be able to help me with this."

"It is fine." He responds with a kind smile. "You have done much for the underworld, see this as the underworld paying you back."

I nod once, and with that I turn and leave. "I wish you well."

"As I, to you." He responds.

**Linebreak**

Fucking worthless powers.

I cross my arms and tap my foot.

"Master, should I begin scanning the area for any strays?"

"Hn." I lowly hum.

I have been here for a couple hours now, I finally got this territory's ownership shifted under my name- and Rias and Sona's, but they aren't here right now- and already this place is sort of pissing me off.

My flash of omniscience failed three times in a row.

Three. Times.

Are you fucking kidding me?

The first question was to know if there were any strays in Kuoh, the second was to learn where Issei was, and the third was to learn where the boosted gear was.

Yeah. I don't know shit.

Annoyingly.

"Yeah." I slowly nod. "Go ahead."

She bows her head and sinks into the floor.

I suppose the next logical course of action would be to wait...

That is, If I was fucking LAZY!

I slowly walk towards the seedier parts of the town, in particular where a few people have been going missing.

**Spoiler**

"GRHG- GRAAAAGH! YOU FILTHY HUMAN! LET ME GO!"

I stare blankly down at a brown haired teen, a school uniform on his body.

A large rat-scorpion centaur with a shark tail trashes in the background, restrained by several glowing chains connected to Virgo's wrists.

I wordlessly look up and point at the devil, causing him to go completely silent, his thrashing making no noise despite him rattling the chains and screaming insults at the top of his lungs.

The boy before me is missing both of his legs, an arm, and his intestines are out of his body, yet he still breathes shallow breaths.

"…"

Well now. This is unfortunate.

At least I had the foresight for this situation. I sure hope Ddraig fails this.

Steal Soul Level 5: (Seeds: Create Soul Gem)
Casting Time: 1 Full Round Action
Components: Verbal, Somatic, Focus: crystal lens worth 5000 gp
Range: 25+5 Feet/2 levels
Target: One Dying or recently deceased creature
Duration: Instantanious
Saving throw: Will Negates
You target the soul of a dying creature and tear it from its body, crystalizing it into nothing more than a gemstone, these souls may be used for nefarious purposes, such as using them to fuel evil spellcasting, or may be released as you will it. A creature may resist this ability with a successful will save.

I point a hand down at the boy who's eyes are glazed over, a sickly ray jumps from my fingertips and pelts him in the chest, I feel two presences within him, I move past the weak first one and focus on the much larger one far deeper.

I yank my hand back suddenly causing the ray to grow taut and tug a bright green mist from his body.

The mist slowly swirls and condenses into an orb roughly the size of a fist.

I catch it with one hand as I cast the same spell on the boy again, this time targeting the shuddering tiny speck- compared to the one I just freed- and tugging that one out as well.

A tiny diamond shaped crystal appears in my hand beside the first.

The green one lights up. "Ngn? Wh- who dares wake Y Ddraig Goch in such a manner?!"

Oh goody. He was asleep and automatically failed the save.

"Your user is dead." I deadpan down at the orb.

The green orb dims for a moment before lighting up a moment later. "I see. And I take it you are the one who killed him, Devil?"

"No, no, I actually wasn't." I state as I slowly turn to the stray devil. "That is."

"Tch. A filthy monster. Ah well, get it over with. Send me to my next wielder."

"Actually... I was thinking more along the lines that I could be your next wielder." I smile.

"You arranged this... didn't you?"

"Once again, no I did not. Of course I knew that you were in him, and I was absolutely about to take you from him, but this disgusting creature got to him before I showed up."

"You wished to take me from my wielder?!" The dragon snarls.

"Would he have really accomplished anything with you? Ah well, that plan has changed of course. Now I am going to save his life in exchange for you becoming my partner."

"And why should I care about him? I'll never work with a devil."

"Even when Albion is?" I ask.

"…"

"Explain." He growls.

"It's quite simple, Ddraig, it appears in this life, you and Albion started with an incredible gap, you got... him." I gesture to the now deceased Issei. "And Albion won the literal genetic lottery and managed to find himself in the half human great grandson of lucifer himself who, due to his demonic power, can pull off juggernaut drive without going insane."

"…"

"And despite only being half devil, he'll still probably live for several centuries which means your next wielder will have to deal with him, and the next, and the next, and the next. He's set up to be the strongest white dragon emperor ever who was introduced to the supernatural at a young age and has probably trained every day of his life... and you get this pervert who only gets exercise through masturbation. And let's be real here, even if this pervert had SOMEHOW gotten strong, with his personality... say goodbye to your red dragon emperor title... say hello to Breast dragon emperor."

The orb lets out a long sigh. "Fuck."

"My thoughts exactly." I nod.

"Fine." The dragon scoffs. "I'll accept you as my partner... for now. I'll give you some time to impress me. But I hope you realize, with me not being bound to your soul, there's no way you could bring out even a fifth of my power."

"I have a plan to get around that. Do you want me to save the pervert?"

"Can you even revive him now? I've heard of your evil pieces, devil, and I know your type... you are far too greedy to spend a piece on him now that I'm out of the equation. But even if you did, he is too mangled."

"Eh, debatable. Just decide. I have a way to revive him."

"*Sigh* He was one of my wielders, even if he didn't unlock me. It wouldn't feel right to leave him like this."

"I see. I see." I slowly nod. "Alright, I'll revive him, but I'll do it a bit later. And you are right, that body's fucked. No way for me to revive him like that."

I reach down and pluck a few strands of his hair. "That's why I'm going to clone him and stuff his soul into the meat puppet."

"That is- can devils really do that?"

"I can." I shrug. "I'm built different."

I place the strands of hair and Issei's soul gem in a ziplock bag and put it within my spatial storage.

I turn to the struggling stray devil.

"Now for the next thing... he killed your previous wielder, it's only fair you get to decide how he dies."

I lift the gem as I slowly walk over.

"Burn him... reduce this pathetic existence to ash."

"Easily accomplishable." I smirk as I nod to Virgo, her eyes widen as the chains holding the demon in place disappear suddenly, as does the silence spell placed upon it, she leaps back out of range.

"YOUUUUUU!" It roars, foaming at the mouth. "I'LL KILL YOUUUUU!"

"Good luck with that." I smirk as I hold up my other hand and snap my fingers as black and white fire crosses my body.

A ring of dark fire surrounds the devil and rises upwards, shooting to the rafters of the building.

"AAAAAGHHHHH!" It roars.

I clench my fist causing it to freeze in place, body shaking.

I narrow my eyes at it remains there in the crackling inferno.

"Well, this is a fitting punishment for those who cross me."

"Hn, yeah, a little brutal for my standards though... I sort of thought this would kill him quicker... I'm not going to stop, of course, shooting him with something else is just more effort than he's worth.

The devil's skin is charred, it flakes off in large chunks as he continues to twitch slightly.

I turn away as the crackling fire continues, the chimeric devil's arm falls over and crumples to dust on contact with the floor.

"Well. Today has been a productive Tuesday... I'll begin working on reviving the pervert and removing these memories."

With a wave of my hand I purchase two things... for fifteen electrum.

The boosted gear for fifteen electrum.

Worth it.

A fairly expansive lab appears before me, a large test tube before me.

With a wave of my hand, Ddraig begins slowly floating. "Hn?"

I crack my fingers. "Allow me to show you why demonic engineering is the greatest in the world!"

**Linebreak**

Issei has been revived, promptly knocked unconscious, and had his memories of the event erased... also a few other events obscured... purely for my future convenience, then put in his own bed.

"Not many can impress me... but that was honestly surprising."

"Yeah... he'll probably be a little more frail and susceptible to disease now, but I'd say that's better than being dead."

"True." The dragon in the orb rumbles.

"Alright, now we are going to see about giving me a sacred gear... this'll probably be risky- for me- but I'm willing to take that risk."

I look to the Agaresite blade that I tug from my storage.

I calmly spend two thousand electrum on a certain ability.

Transfer Legacy: (2000 Electrum)
This ability allows you to shift the effects from your 'Legendary Item' to a new one and change the abilities you have given it.

I pull out a second blade, it is blood red in color and radiates incredible power. "Sorry, Hrunting Replica. You will be missed."

The blade seemingly loses a fair chunk of its aura as the sword in my other hand begins radiating that power, but it's raw. Untamed. Like a hunk of iron that has yet to be forged into a blade.

"Yoink." I deadpan as I grab the boosted gear's core and press it against the blade.

"Wh- do you want me to fuse with the blade?"

"Yes, that'd be helpful." I nod.

"I see... hn... I might as well. This sword looks powerful and if it'll strengthen my future wielders I'll do it."

The green orb sinks into the red crystal blade, I watch as it remolds slightly, the greenish gem flattening and coming to rest right where the guard would be.

'Select legendary power: Dedicated Bond'

Affirmative.

The sword begins brightly glowing as a small smile passes over my face, the blade shifts ever so slightly, losing some of its curve as Ddraig seems to be getting used to his new container.

'Well now... you have thoroughly impressed me, Devil... it's as if you were my wielder this entire time... nice choice in the color of your weaponry as well.'

'I might even grow to see you as a true- hold on... what is this- Draconic Blade?'

Draconic Blade, Aur +5
The Completed Agaresite blade, the resilience of a dragon courses through this normally brittle crystal, granting it incredible resilience, and due to the power of the dragon sealed within it, this durability is only further increased.
Due to incorporating a sacred gear into this item, and by binding it to yourself with mythic power, this weapon is now treated as your sacred gear, granting you numerous special abilities.
Legendary Power: 2/2
Hardness: 160
Health: 900 (Auto Repairing 10)
Weight: 3 Lbs
Damage: 4d8+20+Str*2
Crit Range: 19-20. (x2)

Boost: (Active)
despite looking like a sword, this is still very much the boosted gear, whenever you use this trait of your blade, you increase your strength, dexterity, and constitution by 5, then by a further five for every additional time you use this ability. additionally, for every boost you have, you increase your caster level by 1. The maximum number of boosts you can withstand is determined by your level and your constitution score. This ability has a 10 second cooldown.

Further Abilities are Locked.

Ddraig speaks up after a moment of silence. "Wait... Temporary Partner... is this all you ever see?"

"Pretty much, yeah. I've got absolutely bullshit strength." I answer with a small shrug.

You have gained a mythic tier!

Mythic Trials:
Obtain a Longinus
Finding the lost Scabbard of Excalibur.

"Well now..." I slowly mutter.

"Mythic?" The dragon mutters.

"Yep, that's the thing I'm using to turn you into my sacred gear, instead of just something I'm using."

The crystal blade disappears, but this time... not into my spatial storage.

"Well... now that the distraction is out of the way, time for my actual reason for being in the human world." I mutter quietly to myself.

'Actual reason?'

'I'm going to kidnap an abused dhampir with one of the only sacred gears that scare me. Sephiroth Grall.'

'and does my gear not scare you?'

'I mean, sure, doubling power is sort of cool and all, but wanna know what's worse... THE ABILITY TO SUMMON ENDLESS BALANCE BREAKERS OF YOU!'

'endless-'

'Sephiroth Grall has the ability to revive anything slain as long as the soul is intact and free, it also has the ability to create copies of sacred gears- apparently- and turn random people into evil dragons. You might be powerful. You might allow me to take on an army, but the Grall can make an army... of you. Which is why I'm taking her for myself.'

'I see... that is indeed mildly worrying. Even a single Longinus' balance breaker can shake the supernatural world... to think that the Grall has the ability to summon an endless army of Boosted Gear Scale Mails.'

'ohoho my friend, it only gets worse when you realize this vampire's gear is a subspecies and she has three Sephiroth Gralls... which means that she- and two others- can have this power without killing her. Put her in a coma, sure, but it won't kill her.'

"…"

"I like to err on the side of caution." I shrug. "In this world, you never know who's a psycho."

'Does that include you?'

'I mean... I am a little sociopathic and making a mad dash for every extremely powerful item I can think of.'

I cup my chin and let out a low hum.

I wonder if I can use Avalon as a sheath for Ddraig? It's longsword shaped, but if it does have limited powers of the Excalibur fragments it could probably change its shape for him to fit... I'd have to do something for the holy aura, though.

'Avalon?'

'oh, don't worry about it. I found Excalibur's sheath in a hole early this morning... I'm gonna have a busy week.'