Dungeons and Devils (Chapter 68) (Patreon)

"Ah, Michael, Gabriel, it's a pleasure to see you again." I smile as I walk over to the trio of two angels and one devil sat at a large meeting table.

Ravel is at my side, looking slightly nervous at being in the Prescence of the two seraph.

I take a seat next to Serafall with a bright smile. "Sorry for causing you so much work."

"It's fine, Gaius." The woman sighs. "It's helping us achieve peace at a faster rate."

"Greetings Satan Decarabia." Michael smiles.

"Sathanas!" Gabriel pouts before looking over to me. "You said that there was something you needed to show us?"

I look across the table to Michael and Gabriel. "The thing I want to show you is absolutely mind-numbing in scale, thus I will save it for later. Allow me to show you the sacred gears I am willing to give to the heavenly faction."

With a flash four crystals appear on the table. "These are my first four sacred gears. Based on four powerful relics that house genies within."

"Where did these genies come from?" Gabriel mutters. "Do not tell me that you sought out spirits just to place within these gears!"

"Oh, don't worry, I didn't. They were already sealed within items; I just changed their prison somewhat." I reply with a small handwave. "Being a sacred gear is far better than being locked in a vault for all eternity after all."

I gesture to the one on the far left. "First off, Extinction. A great sword that creates an aura of energy that is similar to the Bael Clan's power of destruction, just slightly weaker. In addition, it makes whoever wields it roughly five times stronger. It houses the spirit, Ifrit."

"Five times stronger? Anyone who wields it?" Michael whispers as he brings a knuckle up to his mouth, seemingly deeply thinking on the potential of a times five multiplier.

One of the four great seraphs wielding that sacred gear might possibly be able to stand up to someone like Sirzechs. A twice critical becomes a Longinus in the hands of a god, after all.

"Now, please be aware, these are merely the base forms of the sacred gears, I have no idea how they may grow when they experience a balance breaker."

"Extinction is probably the strongest of the four sacred gears... for now... but its downside is that it doesn't exactly have a very high... skill ceiling if you wish to call it that. It’s a large power boost on its own, but beyond learning how to wield a sword, there's not much else you can do with it."

"There's another sacred gear roughly on its level, with a much larger boost in the now, rather than later."

I gesture to the second crystal. "Insight. It gives you the ability to see one second into the future basically whenever you want. Plus if your life is ever legitimately in peril, it will summon itself and grant you five seconds of precognition instead of the mere one."

"How... does this work exactly?" Gabriel mutters. "Would you need to stop moving for the precognition to take effect?"

"No, actually." I state with a small head shake. "You instantly know what's going to happen. if you want to know what it is akin to experiencing... five seconds of your life, then going back in time five seconds and keeping the knowledge of what happens in that other future. Say for instance during a meeting someone shoots you through the forehead. You now know the blast is coming five seconds ahead of time, and can tilt your head out of the way."

"I... see..." The woman frowns.

"The next two have the potential to be Longinus easily, it just takes a bit of time to empower them. Both pass on the knowledge they collect to the next wielder. The first, Creation can scan and store blueprints, allowing the wielder to assemble them as long as they have the requisite materials, in addition, it can 'create' blueprints of items given enough time, allowing the wielder to create copies of the original item with only a minor decrease in quality. Barely one percent."

"The final is probably the best. Enlightenment. It takes the form of a lamp and allows you to whisper questions to it... and sometimes, it whispers answers back. The more well known something is, the much higher the chance is for the lamp to whisper back. Any question it answers is one hundred percent correct. But keep in mind, it may take your wording literally. Say for instance a question like... 'how do I defeat blank' it may just give you an answer like 'YOU can't. Or it could give you a list of how to defeat the thing in question. You should also be extremely specific with these questions, as it may list things that are impossible. Say for instance an angel asking a question like 'how to I grow stronger quickly' could be led to a dark tome that teaches how to sacrifice people in order to gain their powers."

I shake the crystal slightly. "This is by far the most finicky of the four, but it has great potential that I thought you may appreciate. Any question it answers is answered one hundred percent correctly the next time it is asked, no matter how long it has been since the original question has been asked. This also works beyond the current wielder. So if the gear has been through several incarnations it will still be able to answer the questions asked by the first wielder."

"The sacred gear also increases its wielder's cognition by a bit, but that's a bit tame compared to the first ability."

"Any question?" Gabriel suddenly asks leaning forwards, a slightly desperate expression on her face. "Any question at all?!"

"Any question, just be aware questions that nobody knows that answer to will have such a low chance of being answered you could potentially ask the same question for maybe even hundreds of years and you might never get an answer... there's also the cooldown in between questions you have to look out for. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but there's a period where the sacred gear won't be able to be of use after answering- or not answering- a question. I assume more well known questions will have a much lower cooldown, but I haven't exactly tested it."

"Could... I ask it how to... revive father?" The woman whispers, causing Michael's head to snap over to look at her.

Apparently, he didn't even think of that possibility.

"I mean, you could." I shrug. "Doubtful if it will give an answer though, plus you might want to clarify that question otherwise you might end up with 'evil' god or something."

Serafall glances over to me with a confused expression, silently wondering if I should really give that to them.

"What?" I question. "The chances are so slim that we shouldn't even really worry about it. Besides, even if they do get lucky enough to have that answered. He is pretty chill, right? At least more chill than Lucifer."

I look back to the two seraphs. "Would your father see our peace as a blight and attempt to reignite the great war?"

"Of course not!" Gabriel exclaims. "That is horrible! So many lives were lost! I am offended that you would think that father would do such a thing!"

"There you go." I state while gesturing to the seraphs, glancing back to Serafall. "Now, let's move onto something else. Primarily the thing that I need to show you two as the leaders of the heavenly part of the Biblical faction."

I steeple my fingers in front of my face a smile appearing on my face. "What exactly are your thoughts on other worlds?"

**Linebreak**

Pov: elsewhere

That damned red dragon emperor.

A white-haired teen weaves in between the punches of a golem, arms raised and bloodied.

Normally he would use his armor, yet...

Divine Dividing is worthless in the face of this generation's boosted gear.

Annoying. How the hell did his rival grow so strong?!

He ducks the surprisingly quick punch of the golem and lashes out with a roundhouse that causes the bones in his shin to creak ominously.

His attack barely has an effect, causing the golem to take merely a single step to stabilize itself.

he must cast aside his weakness.

He swats aside the punch of the golem, shoving it aside roughly with one arm.

He needs more power.

"HRAGH!" He roars as he punches forwards.

{DIVIDE!}

There's a crackle of lightning as his punch speeds up. Crashing into the torso of the golem with a meaty crunch.

Cracks cascade across the golem as it staggers back.

"Albion... I thought I told you I didn't need your help here." The teen frowns as he looks down to his broken knuckles.

"I didn't." The wings on his back announce. "You summoned divine dividing on your own did something... strange..."

"Sacred gears resonate with the feelings of their wielders. Your desire for power has created something truly dangerous... not merely for your enemies. A double edged sword. You seem to have divided yourself... divided your 'weakness'."

"Huh?" The white-haired teen mutters as he looks to the damaged golem laying on the floor, magical sparks cascading across its body where it remains prone.

"Divine Dividing is not meant to function in such a manner... it's as if you copied the boosted gear's 'boost'. However instead of doubling your strength... it only appears to increase it by fifty percent... still, against our current foe whomst the divide doesn't work upon, this should even the playing field slightly. But do not rely on it. My power is not meant for this."

Lightning sparks around the white-haired half devil as he grits his teeth and falls to a knee.

"Until you are used to it. It will more than likely shave off decades of your lifespan. Be careful Vali."

"Tch. That won't stop me from making use of it. Just like juggernaut drive. I'll master it and use it to knock my rival down off that high horse of his."

"Yes. We will show him the true power of the Vanishing Dragon!" The wings announce.

**Linebreak**

Pov: Returned

"Welcome to Remnant, friends." I state with a dramatic twirl as I gesture around the destroyed city. "This is Mountain Glenn, one of the failed settlements in this world of bloody evolution. We've got cities full of soon to be potential mages, some of whom are easily Longinus in potential, bandits, totalitarian governments, racism, crime, and ohoho don't even get me started on the shadow creatures created by a vengeful god whose only purpose in existing is to hunt people for sport!"

Gabriel covers her mouth as she looks around the destroyed city while Michael gazes around the city. "To think... that this was possible."

"It's quite a lot to think about." I nod with a bright smile.

"You said... a god?" Michael questions.

"Oh, you don't need to worry about him." I state with a small head shake. "I've already killed him and his brother after they came back and tried to instantly kill us for DARING to look upon the land they have so 'graciously' created... after, y'know, killing the entire human race a few million years ago after a woman who they cursed to be immortal gathered an army to fight against them."

"Oh, and don't get me STARTED on the best part, they grabbed her husband, whom they themselves cursed her to never be able to see, then made HIM immortal and had the two of them duke it out for all eternity."

"What horrid deities." Gabriel whispers.

"Yep. Which is why I killed them and stuffed their souls into Ravel's Sacred Gear."

The drill haired girl weakly waves at the two Seraphs as she becomes the center of their attention. "H-Hi."

"I see..." Michael sighs. "A shame that they couldn't be reasoned with, but you had to do what you had to do."

I nod mutely and fold my arms behind my head. "Yep. This world was left in shambles by those two. It'll take some time to fix it, surely, but at the end of it all, we have a world with endless possibilities. We are already making an attempt at creating a mage's college. Yet, in this world It is... doubtful... that you could get anyone to believe in your father, as most people still worship those two dragons, not knowing how close they came to killing them all... again..."

"Regardless, we should help these people." Gabriel announces.

"Indeed." I nod slowly. "Please follow me and I will show you the four main cities of Remnant."

**Linebreak**

Pov: elsewhere

A large purplish dragon hunches over as a red one gut punches him.

"AHAHA!" The red one grins. "It has been so long since I have felt the feeling of combat with my own body!"

He narrowly ducks out of the way of a counter punch from the purple dragon.

"It is good to see that you are free yet again Ddraig." The purple dragon lowly growls as his next punch is caught by the Welsh dragon.

"It's good to be back, Tannin." Ddraig smirks a slightly sharkish grin as he strains against the strength of the Blaze Meteor Dragon.

"You've grown slightly stronger since you first came here." Tannin notes with a low rumbling hum.

"Gaius said that this body will continue to grow and evolve as I do." The red and gold dragon announces. "A body with limitless potential... All I have to do is continue to hone it."

Ddraig suddenly pulls back and smashes a kick into the purple dragon's stomach, knocking him back slightly, he takes a deep breath and unleashes a brilliant orange fireball from his mouth.

Tannin responds with his own, the two attacks clashing in the air and detonating with a brilliant explosion that shakes the surrounding forests.

The two dragons are rendered light on breath from their battle. It has been going on for the past five hours, neither gaining the upper hand.

"Ddraig... it is probably safe to say that you as you are now would be able to defeat anyone within the five dragon kings." The bipedal purple dragon mutters lowly.

"I am the heavenly dragon, Y Ddraig Goch. Of course, I would be stronger." The red one replies as he raises his fists. "Shall we continue?"

A toothed grin works its way across Tannin's face. "The stronger you grow... at least until you reach an evolution and push beyond me... the stronger I in turn grow as well. Come at me, Welsh Dragon!"

**Linebreak**

Pov: returned

I slowly walk towards a large building; numerous people try to stop me.

I pause in the courtyard as a black-haired man wearing a noble suit steps out of the front doors. "Lord Decarabia? What do I owe the pleasure?"

"Zekram Bael. I have arrived here to the Great King Faction's headquarters to make a statement." I slowly begin as my eyes stray across the numerous lingering people hanging around the edge of the courtyard. "Recently, Lord Vassiago has threatened me... he has stated that if I do not turn over the blade that I have created that he, as a representative of the great king faction, would forcefully remove my ownership of my evil pieces."

"Does the great king faction truly think of me as such a joke?" I question idly.

Lord Bael's eyes widen as he stiffens slightly only to glower "Enrich Vassiago has no right to demand such a thing! I shall see him reprimanded at once, stripped of his position and cast out of the great king faction."

"Hn. That vaguely pleases me." I note slowly. "But it does continue to irk me that there are devils arrogant enough to attempt this with me despite the fact that I have clearly shown the consequences for angering me..."

"That is why I am doing... this." A blade appears in my grasp causing every devil nearby to flinch back, but before any of them can move I stab the blade downwards into the stone path before me, it sinks roughly halfway into the brick road, the multicolored blade that seems to change its appearance with each and every second. A swirling nebula contained in a simple blade-like shape.

The black-haired man's hands shake slightly, seemingly observing just how close to death he just was.

My hand comes off the hilt of the Ark of the Cosmos as I look around the clearing. "As of this moment, I have cast a spell on this blade... I will leave it here for one week. If any devil can remove this blade from its resting place... the one who pulled it free may keep it... however... should anyone bother me over my creation after this week... the next place it will be sheathed will be through their torso."

I turn and begin to walk away. Pausing at the exit of the courtyard. "Oh, and Zekram... if I were you... I would shape up... because I haven't even begun to show what I am capable of."

**Linebreak**

"Azazel." I nod to the man sitting across from me in a booth.

"So... this is the new world, huh?" The man lazily hums as he glances around.

The horned woman at the bar continues cleaning a glass with a small frown.

I take a sip of my white apple cider with a small sigh. "Yep. Similar to our own... yet oh so different."

"So how'd you make sacred gears in the first place?" The man questions suddenly, seemingly more interested in that than anything in this 'new' world.

"Well, first I need an item of great significance, Excalibur would work, but souls also do fine. Then it's a matter of turning that into a magic item. The type is unimportant, just so long as it has the abilities you want. Next using the crystallization method, it is turned into the 'Concept' of that power, after which implanting it into someone fully transforms it into a sacred gear with a fully fledged balance breaker."

"So I should stop trying to duplicate the effects of a balance breaker and focus on transforming the gears into 'crystal', huh?" The man asks taking a sip of his own drink.

"The crystal has properties similar to Agaresite, but like... an opposite... an Anti-Agaresite. If I had to liken the sacred gears to something... it's as if they are reincarnating into their wielder. Its why half devils and other not exactly human sacred gear wielders are able to much easier access a subspecies of their sacred gears." I explain quietly.

A grin crosses the man's face. "Well shit... that's an angle I haven't looked at so far. Interesting."

The door jingles as a man enters the bar.

"So, I've heard that a couple of the Seraphs now hold sacred gears?"

"That's right." I nod slowly. "I turned relics from this world into four sacred gears and gave it to the Seraphs as a gift. Gabriel got Knowledge, Raphael got Creation, Michael got Insight, and Uriel got destruction."

"You gave Uriel more destructive power?" Azazel huffs in amusement. "Well now. That's a startling thought."

"In addition to an ability similar to a weakened power of destruction, he also got a five times boost to his physical abilities.

"FIVE times?!" The man questions with widened eyes.

He runs a hand down the side of his face and lets out a shaky gasp. "Wow, okay, that's pretty impressive."

"So, where's my sacred gear?" The man hums with a smirk.

"I was considering giving you one once I finished processing the god dragon corpses."

"Cool. Can I be there while you make it?" He asks.

"If you want, sure, why not." I shrug.

"Hey. You." A third voice begins.

I glance to the side to see a grey haired man with some light stubble, he has red eyes and wears a simple grey dress shirt and black pants, there's a tattered red half cape that hangs off his shoulders. "You're the one they call Gaius Decarabia, right?"

"I am. What can I do for you Qrow Branwen." I nod slowly.

"I want you do to something for me." The man begins as I gesture to the seat beside Azazel.

"A contract, then?" I mutter as the man takes a seat beside Azazel.

"You can call it that." The man nods. "In exchange for the thing I want you to do for me, I'll give you my semblance."

"…"

"Hn, me taking your semblance from you seems pretty beneficial to you in my honest opinion, yet I agree. Bad luck is a concept... and conceptual powers are really hard to come by. What is this thing you need me to do?" I question.

"My bitch of a sister and her clan are tormenting Mistral in its weakened state. I want you to take care of the Branwen clan completely and utterly." Qrow growls.

"Oh? Alright. How do you want me to go about this? I can just drop a spell on them from space that detonates their entire outpost killing everyone instantly, or should I capture all of them and hand them over to the authorities?"

"Despite what they are doing... Raven is my sister... I'd like it if you didn't kill any of them and brought them to Vale to face their crimes... Raven was a huntress of beacon, so reasonably she should be judged here in Vale." The man sighs.

"Hn. Hn." I lowly hum. "Alright. I can do that. Azazel, do you mind if I take this quickly? It'll take like... five to ten minutes... max."

"Sure, sure, go ahead, I'll have a word with my new drinking buddy here." The blonde banged man shrugs.

"Five to t-" Qrow begins but I simply cut him off.

"Qrow, I've killed gods before. The ones who cursed your boss and his ex-wife to eternally be at each other's throats in fact. Taking care of a few bandits is literal chump change for me. I'll cast a massive spell to put them all to sleep, then pile them up, and teleport them outside of Vale... of course, Raven Branwen is a fairly large threat... I'll be forced to take those maiden powers of hers and give them to someone else... hn... eh, it's Ozpin's magic anyways, I'll let him decide."

"Wait wait wait, Raven is a maiden- the Spring Maiden..." Qrow falls silent as he seems to quickly piece things together. "Oh, that bitch."

I slowly remove myself from the bar and brush my suit off with a calm smile.

I turn back to Qrow, a smirk forming on my face as I lean forwards slightly and hold out a hand. "Do we have a deal, then?"

My eyes glow as purple fire crackles around my extended hand.

"One slight change to my wish... before you bring her here, I want you to make her experience true fear."

"Oh, Qrow." I state with an eyeroll. "I was already planning on doing that in the first place as a free gift to Yang."

He stands up and shakes my hand.

There's a pulse of power as the deal is completed.

I nod slowly.

"Shevet." I command to the cohort dragon working the bar. "Give this man a glass of the top shelf stuff. I'll be back shortly."

"Whatever." The dream dragon shrugs.

**Linebreak**

"Annnnd I'm back!" I grin as carry a woman over my shoulder.

I sit her in the bar across from Qrow and Azazel who seem to have become quick friends in the time I was gone.

Raven's head smacks into the table.

"So, here's your unconscious sister." I hum as I gesture to the woman. "I'll be taking that semblance now."

I reach out and with a grasping motion Qrow cringes and writhes slightly, with a sudden gasp he falls forwards, catching himself on the table. "Ow- holy shit. Fuck."

A wispy burgundy crystal forms in my hand as I slowly nod and teleport it away.

"Congratulations, you now have your sister here and the rest of the Branwen tribe is unconscious south of Vale. Don't worry about the grimm, I've left a summoned guardian there... as long as you can find them within twenty-four hours you should be fine."

"Now." I begin slowly. "I should get back to work, Azazel, you can use the doorway to go home. I have allowed you- and only you- to pass through the door. It requires quite a lot of energy to pass through so be wary about that."

"Goodbye Qrow, thank you for your business." I wave as I get up and walk to the door.

**Linebreak**

I let out a low hum as I slowly approach the great king faction's little keep.

I calmly walk into the courtyard, seeing a large group of people gathered around an object.

A buff devil strains against a sword caught in a large floating hunk of rubble.

Oh, the cheeky little bastards thought that removing the dirt from around the sword would free it from its spatial lock.

No... just...

No.

I walk through the crowd and pause at the front of the group, the buff devil's wings flap, his veins bulge as his muscles twitch.

Eventually he hunches over, panting heavily.

"DAMN IT!" He loudly curses.

"A week is up." I lazily announce causing numerous hushed murmurs to pass throughout the crowd.

I slowly walk forwards, frowning at the shirtless devil who staggers backwards at my presence.

I grab the sword imbedded in the floating rock and effortlessly tug it free, causing the floating rock to fall downwards and crash into the crater below the sword.

The sword shrinks down into a pair of scissors which I place into my shirt pocket.

"Good day, all." I nod once as I turn and walk through a dimension door spell.

**Linebreak**

"Who are we facing?"

"The twenty second rating game ranker." Ravel supplies.

"Hn. Virgo. Just take them all out... and be flashy about it." I command idly.

"Yes master." The pink haired woman nods as I lazily wrap an arm around Neo, offering the girl a small smile.

The girl smiles back as I watch Virgo hop once with a slight spin and sink into the floor with a noise akin to a jackhammer.

She is completely and utterly gone in the next moment.

Nothing happens for a long moment, then in the next I see a literal mountain rise up from in front of the window, it appears that she has launched an island's worth of rock and stone into the air.

I watch the rubble ark across the rating game arena with an amused smile.

The ground shakes and trembles at the rock makes contact with the ground, I quirk an eyebrow as I realize just what she did.

She basically just folded the rating game arena in half like a piece of paper.

Wow.

"Lord Carnel and his peerage has been retired."

Thought occurs...

I'm now a demigod.

Virgo's strength scales with my own.

Does that also make her a deity?

An interesting question if I do say so myself.

I might be forced to explore that thought later.

But first? The rating game season is soon coming to an end... perhaps it is time that I go out and nab my final peerage member. The main issue is... I am unsure of if I wish to truly go for them or not. I had planned for them, yet at the end of the day? I'm unsure.

I could always just keep that knight piece just in case.

There's bound to be someone I eventually want in the many universes. Do I flesh out my peerage now? Or do I wait for something in the future to fall into my lap. Decisions decisions.

**Linebreak**

I am seated across from the four other Satans as I fold my hands in my lap.

"So... I have yet to see this new world, but your words of its potential are already enough to pique my curiosity." Sirzechs announces as he steeples his hands in front of his face.

"Sounds like a lot of work." The bald lazy satan, Falbium observes.

"It certainly is, yet I don't really feel that this world is exactly a matter for Military affairs." I point out quietly. "So realistically it won't really affect you."

"If, at some point after you correct the magic in this world, it decides to band together in order to attack the devil race, it will become my problem." The man frowns.

"You can say the same about most races. It would pose a problem if the Norse banded together to attack us... or the Greek... or the Shinto pantheon. Yes, Remnant may create new problems, but the things it offers us is far greater than the potential cost." I state with a blank half-lidded stare.

"I agree with Gaius in this case." Ajuka nods. "With merely a single new world it has advanced our technology by decades... in addition, it has granted us the knowledge of, and the capabilities to create dust, a condensed, stable, and powerful magical energy source."

Sirzechs nods slowly. "Nothing ventured nothing gained."

"The powerful semblances of this world is also a great addition to any peerage. That makes it worth the risks." Serafall agrees.

"I never said that this isn't worth it..." The bald man sighs. "Just that it is a lot of work."

"Gaius." Ajuka begins quietly as he looks over. "I have finished the first of the new strain of evil pieces. The spell works as intended, so perhaps we should begin our plan to create pillar clans for this new world."

"oh? That is indeed a good idea." I mutter quietly. "Then I suppose it is time for the Schnee Family to step into the supernatural limelight completely and utterly."