Dungeons and Devils (Chapter 15) (Patreon)

I drum my fingers on my desk as I look to the clock in front of me.

'What a disgusting creature.'

'I know, right? Ugh. I wish my summons looked normal- er... well, actually most do, it's just I don't have any other small flying invisible creatures to summon.'

It should be in position by now... I have eight minutes.

I look through a large ring in front of me to see a girl sat on a bed with her knees brought up to her chest, blankly staring dead ahead, she has vibrant blonde hair, and bright crimson eyes with slitted pupils, she wears a fluffy looking coat, nobody is in the room with her.

The ring itself is wide enough to easily stick my head through if I wanted.

"Hey." I whisper.

"…"

"Hey!" I whisper slightly louder.

Her eyes slowly turn to look at the ring, she has a blank impassive look on her face as she tilts her head.

"Who... are you?"

"My name is Gaius, I am a devil." I announce.

"I'm not supposed to talk to devils." She responds in an even deadpan tone.

"But then how would you talk to Gasper Vladi, then?" I ask with a small smile.

I actually see emotion on her face for once, her eyes widen as she gasps. "Gaspi?! You know Gaspi?!"

"Not personally, yet I do know who takes care of him. If you don't believe me, that's fine, but I know that you are the reason he cross dresses so much."

She flinches back at my statement.

"Y-You really know him?!" She asks with wide eyes.

"I do." I slowly nod with a small smile.

I suddenly frown. "Your name is Valerie, right? Valerie Tepes?"

She slowly nods once. "Mhm?"

"Valerie... are you... happy here?"

A glazed look crosses over her eyes for a moment.

"Mn." She answers.

"If I could give you the chance to leave this place, to visit Gasper Vladi, and to never look back... would you take it?"

"I could visit Gaspi?" She mutters with wide eyes.

"You could... my friend has been trying desperately to get him out of his room, but... he just shuts himself away... his power scares him, and well... maybe if I brought him a friend he had before running away from the vampire faction, that might help him open up."

She frowns for a moment, looking fairly sad at her friend's plight. "How... do I leave?"

"You can turn into bats, right?" I ask.

"Mnm." She nods once.

"Well, then just turn into bats and fly through this hoop." I shrug as I lay it down on the table.

Nothing happens for a moment, then in the next, an absolutely massive storm of bats spew from the ring and fly around the room.

The corners of my mouth turn upwards as the bats flutter around the ceiling and slowly begin coalescing across from me, I can see her full glory now, and frankly she is... stunning.

She's roughly my age, has long blonde hair that goes to about half way down her back, she has pale skin, deep red eyes, she wears a long sleeved red coat and a skirt which goes about six inches past her waist, one thing I notice is that she doesn't have any shoes on at the moment- that's expected as I had literally just ripped her from her room.

Her coat is one of those with little fuzzy pompoms all over it, and it has fur on the collar but not around the wrists.

Damn supernaturally hot races.

'are you complaining?'

'pfft- of fucking course not.'

"Would you be opposed to joining my peerage?" I suddenly ask.

"Hm?"

"If you were to join my peerage, your family won't be able to ask for you back and you'll be able to meet with Gasper as much as you want." I announce. "However, if you are just a Dhampir, I might see them being resistant to allow you to see him as he is extremely shy."

"Okay." She nods. "I am fine with that."

This is strangely easy.

'Her gear has strained her mind it appears. Sad. It doesn't even look like she thinks you may have nefarious purposes.'

'I mean, I don't. I'm going to let her see Gasper.'

'oh? I thought you were just bullshitting her because her gear scared you.'

'Can't I do more than one thing? I'm greedy, power hungry, and extremely wary of what she can do. Enough to seek her out and manipulate her into joining my peerage. But I'm not an asshole.'

I pull out a red crystal piece and smile. "Alright then. But first."

A red crystal blade appears in my other hand and with a flash of movement a cut appears in the ring, causing the curtains on the other side to disappear as the ring gate snaps shut.

Now I won't be roasted by the heat of the sun as my boy teleports into it.

The Boosted Blade disappears again as I stand up slowly and walk towards her. "This is an Evil piece; it is used for reincarnating other races into devils due to our low birth rates. With this, you will no longer have any ties to the vampire factions, Tepes or Carmilla. are you sure you want me to do this?"

The girl gives me a blank stare for a moment before smiling. It seems like while most of her emotions are muted, she can show some emotion. "If I can see Gaspi this way, I'll do it!"

"Alright, then." I shrug as the piece in my hand glows.

Better this piece than eight pawns.

The crimson crystal presses against her and disappears as it is sucked within her body, there's a sudden pulse of power as she looks around, then looks at her hands.

And thus... my queen is born.

She looks up a moment later. "Can I go see Gaspi now?"

I feel my summon die.

He either got found, or he accomplished the mission. I'm not sure which, but it was more than likely the latter.

Ah, I sensed him preparing to teleport moments before the gate snapped shut. It was the teleportation.

"We may." I nod with a small smile. "Please come with me, I'll take us back to the underworld."

I look to my wrist. "The train itself should be leaving in ten minutes so we should hurry."

I hand her a pair of flat-bottom shoes. "Here. It's a fairly long walk."

The girl tilts her head. "Why don't we just teleport right to Gaspi?"

"Oh, that's easy, it's actually illegal for new peerage members to enter or leave the underworld without riding a train at least once, they'll create documents for you at the station, then you are free to teleport in and out."

I let out a low click and cup my chin. "Hn, I really should grab Tyra and take her down to the station, but getting her to do anything not related to eating, sleeping, training, or fighting is like pulling teeth."

"Tyra?" She blinks.

"That's my bishop. We devils use chess as a basis for our reincarnations." I answer is I slowly begin gathering my things.

"What's chess?"

I glance back as I point a hand forward and create a magic circle, summoning another devil fly baby chimera abomination- although it is invisible as to not scare the dhampir behind me.

"It's a board game." I answer.

'It seems like she was never given anything to entertain herself... that's sad.'

'Indeed.'

I look forwards to the chimera and nod to the broken ring.

It begins floating, then in the next moment it disappears.

"It typically has two players, and the objective is to take the other player's king piece. There are sixteen pieces on each side, eight pawns, two knights, two bishops, two rooks, a single queen piece, and a king piece. For reincarnating devils, this is much the same, however each piece gains a special ability." I explain as I grab a small purple lizard gauntlet on the table to my left and draw it into my storage space. Another spoil of me coming here.

"The pawns have the ability to promote when their kings allow it, gaining the abilities of all the other pieces. The Bishops have better control of magic and typically more of it. Knights are extremely quick. Rooks are extremely strong and durable, and the queen piece combines the abilities of the Rook, Knight and Bishop."

She tilts her head. "What am I?"

"The queen piece." I respond as I open the door and spy the pink haired maid on the other side.

"Virgo, we are leaving."

"As you wish, Master." The pink haired woman behind the door nods.

**Linebreak**

The train cars rattle as we pass over some interdimensional turbulence.

The girl beside me is staring out the window with wide eyes, watching the passing distortions in reality with a bright smile.

The maid across from us is silent, her hands folded in her lap as her eyes remain closed.

'Out of all the times I have come to the underworld... this has got to be the most boring.'

'Fair. Kuoh town's stop is pretty early on... and I don't exactly have a personal train so I am forced to ride along.'

'ah. I should probably message Rias that we are going to show up.'

I summon my phone wordlessly and let out a low hum.

"Hey, Rias."

"You know that shut in bishop you have?" - Gaius (1:24)

I slowly look around the train car with a bored expression, eventually I see that she has read the messages and is making a response.

"Gasper? What about him?" - Rias 1:26

"You got anything to do today?" - Gaius 1:26

"No... Why?" - Rias 1:26

I take a moment to type out my response.

"I found someone from his past that wants to desperately see him."

"Her name is Valerie Tepes, a Dhampir like him." - Gaius 1:26

"Tepes?!" - Rias 1:26

"Yep. Tepes. If you do that whole 'I'm suspicious of this new thing as they may be dangerous for my family' thing, please go easy on her, overuse of her sacred gear has rendered her... emotionally muted. From what I can see in her, the fact that she is able to get excited at all is astonishing. But her gear honestly scares me. So, I'd prefer if she didn't use it at all, which is why I've taken her as my queen piece."

"If they meet again, maybe we can rid Gasper of his shut-in-ness and start fixing this broken girl. Who knows." - Gaius 1:27

"Alright sounds good, I guess I'll be seeing you soon, then?" - Rias 1:27

"The depends entirely on when this train gets back to the underworld." - Gaius 1:28

"Alright." I say as I look over to Valerie, the girl blinks out the window and looks over her shoulder at me.

"I've arranged a meeting between you and Gasper. I honestly should have done this before, but ah well. It worked out."

Her eyes sparkle with excitement as she looks back out the window.

"Well. That was a busy week."

'busy week.' The dragon next to my soul scoffs. 'You gained access to two Longinus, a third weaker dragon sacred gear, and found a long-lost holy relic more powerful than that holy toothpick Excalibur... in one week.'

'speaking of said holy relic, do you want it as your sheathe?'

'hn? Oh that is a pleasant idea... the perfect sheathe for my new body. Yes. I'd like that.'

'I've also got to decide your two other mythic enhancements.'

I've even unlocked Tier three Legendary Weapon abilities.

I'm thinking of these two.

Heart Seeking:
By spending a single Legendary Weapon Point your next attack is an automatic Critical Hit upon your target, slipping past most magical defenses and armor.

Shadow Locking:
By spending a single Legendary Weapon Point your next attack locks your target in place, they are unable to move from their current location, any form of spell or effect that attempts to move them from the location fails, they are treated as paralyzed (And thus helpless unless they can fight without moving) until they recover.
Note: the weapon with this effect must remain in contact with either the shadow of the target or be imbedded into the target's body in some manner.
Note: a target may naturally recover from this effect, but the time changes depending on several factors.

'the ability to lock a person's maneuverability is indeed powerful, yet I don't see the benefit of the first.'

'Critical hits are overpowered. If I enchant your blade with the thing I want to, you'll deal three times as much damage as a regular attack. If it really bypasses most defenses, you'll become a weaker, sword shaped, Gae Bolg. Just imagine... bypassing Albion's armor entirely and stabbing the wielder inside, then as their body locks up against their will, I land the coup de grace by turning them inside out with fire.'

'ohoho yeah. Let's get that. I had a power similar to that back in my prime!'

And because this isn't a sacred gear ability, Rizevim shouldn't be able to stop it.

'hn?'

'oh, don't worry about that. I'm just planning on eventually killing a super devil if he pisses me off- which he is going to. Dude doesn't know any better.'

**Linebreak**

"Uwaaaaaah! Valerieeeeee!" I look to the sobbing vampire shota dio as he bawls his eyes out.

The girl in question gives him a lopsided smile and pats his head slowly.

Rias and Akeno seem to be feeling a little... awkward... standing at the side of the room.

"We should let them catch up." Rias decides.

"We should." I nod as I stand up and turn to the door's exit.

Rias follows behind me as we both leave the room.

Virgo is standing there with her hands folded in front of her lap.

"Virgo." I nod.

She perks up at my voice. "Is it punishment time, Master?"

I sharply inhale, then exhale.

"Ufufufu." I hear Akeno laugh behind me.

"No." I deadpan. "Can you guard Valerie?"

"As you command, Master." The maid nods.

Rias looks confused at my sudden decision. "They are in the center of the Gremory Mansion-"

"Rias. Do not tempt Murphy." I deadpan over my shoulder. "Valerie's gear is so utterly dangerous, having only a single ultimate class nearby is frankly underkill."

"Dangerous?" Rias gasps. "Is Gasper-"

"No, no, don't worry, it's not dangerous... yet... or in her hands- barring to herself of course. But considering how world shaking it has the potential to be, I don't exactly feel safe leaving her defenseless."

I look back. "You wanted to talk, right? It has been a while since we have talked."

"I did." She nods slowly. "And it has."

We quietly begin walking, leaving Virgo behind.

"So what does her gear do that's so dangerous?" Rias asks.

"At the cost of the wielder's sanity is can do many things... healing, body alteration, soul manipulation, reviving long since dead evil dragons creating an endless army of death and destruction as long as the dragon's souls aren't destroyed... the ability to copy sacred gears, the ability to clone sacred gears... honestly her power's so bullshit, having her emotions being chipped away at upon every use is completely and totally fair." I respond.

Her eyes grow wide. "W-What?"

"Yep. I'm less worried about her doing that, more so worried about someone kidnapping her and tearing the gear out of her." I continue.

"O-Oh... I see... thus Virgo." The girl mutters. "That poor girl."

"Yeah." I sigh. "It's sort of sad, but I think I'm going to be forced to lock her up sometimes like you do Gasper... primarily when I am forced to do things elsewhere."

"That is... cruel." Rias slowly states.

"Nah." I wave off. "I'm home most of the time, and honestly It's just until I can figure out how to steal the Holy Grail from the church-"

"…" we both fall silent for a moment.

I slowly look over my shoulder. "Forget you heard that."

"Wh-"

"She'll begin to recover if I can get the Grail, that's the connection." I answer, cutting off her question entirely.

"Oh." She mutters quietly.

"Yeah." I nod. "I'll probably find the last Excalibur fragment or something and trade it for a piece."

"Please don't say that name around here." Rias commands.

"Ah, right, your Knight. Sorry about that. It's just I'm really good at finding things."

'You found two Longinus class items in under a day. One of which has been missing for thousands of years.'

"Scarily good, you might say." I hum, ignoring the dragon's mental interjection.

"…"

"So can we talk about the food you gave my mother?"

"If that's what you want." I slowly nod.

**Linebreak**

Pov: elsewhere

Two men slowly walk their way towards a large mansion, there is zero resistance as they cross the grounds and come to a large metallic gate.

One of the men raise a hand, a ball of fire appearing in his hand, but the other places a hand on his shoulder. "Riser. That isn't wise."

"Damn right it isn't." A third figure states, announcing their presence as they laze in a nearby tree, the two men's heads immediately snap over to look at the figure who had just spoken, apparently they had apparently escaped their notice as they approached.

The first man looks up, a flash of recognition crossing over his eyes. "We are here to speak with the lord of this manor, Gaius Dacarabia."

"Boss is out right now." The tanned woman shrugs as she folds her arms behind her head, tilting her large witch hat down over her eyes as her coat dangles down the side of the branch she is laid upon. "Get lost."

"You filthy servant do you honestly believe you have any right to speak to a high class-" the young adult begins, only to have the other blue eyed blonde man cover his mouth.

The other man bows his head. "I apologize for my brother's insult. He did not mean anything by it."

"I have rights... because I am strong." The woman states as she glares down at the two men, her eyes nothing but raging embers, her teeth sharpening to needle-like points as a feral smile crosses her lips. "Stronger than you at least. High class? Low class? Class doesn't mean shit to me. I just care if you're strong... if you are high class, I'm super high class. An apex predator. And from what I can see, you are awfully arrogant for prey."

The younger man tenses, shaking with rage, causing the second to bow his head. "We will leave and return at a later date. Thank you for your time."

"Hn." The girl scoffs.

The older brother has to practically drag his sibling away as younger man fumes, absolutely frothing with wrath.