Fabricator v2 - Chapter 35 (Patreon)

Junichiro sat on a comfortable seat on a train as it moved through dimensional walls on its way to the Underworld. The view out of the windows was quite spectacular as a kaleidoscope of color moved constantly by.

He wasn't alone on the train either. The entire peerage had come together for the trip to the underworld. Normally, the group would have taken the much faster shortcut of teleporting from the ORC to the Gremory estate. However, as a new Devil, Junichiro was required to take the train so he could be officially registered when he arrived. So, almost the whole peerage had voluntarily joined him for the ride. Everyone except Gasper.

Yes, he'd finally been told about Gasper when they were preparing to leave. A maid from the Gremory Household would be teleporting in on a daily basis to provide for the extremely powerful trap Dhampir. Honestly, Junichiro felt like Gasper just needed a swift kick in the ass to man up. Though, being told of Gasper reminded Junichiro of someone else he really needed to hunt down and kidnap.

Valarie Tepes.

He didn't remember a whole lot about her. He had no recollection of what she looked like. What he did remember was her Sacred Gear being horrifyingly over powered. The fact that a dirty cheater like himself felt her Sacred Gear was OP just showed how scary it was. From what he recalled, infinite Boosted Gear Scale Mails. Just that was horrifying. But her Sacred Gear, Sephiroth Grall, was a sub-species and she had fucking THREE of them!

Granted, he couldn't remember if he actually saw that, read about it, or just heard about it. Frankly, it didn't matter. What mattered was that he had to do something about it if it was even remotely possible.

Oh yeah, wasn't Valarie Tepes also a friend of Gasper's? He thought he remembered something about that. Wasn't that what reminded him of her? If so, finding and saving her might help the little trap come out of his shell and into his power. Gasper, like everyone else Rias recruited, had a huge amount of potential that just couldn't be wasted.

“What are you thinking about?”

Junichiro was pulled out of his thoughts by Rias's voice. He turned to look at her and snorted, “I'm still trying to comprehend that you have your own personal Dio. Yet, he's scared of his own shadow.”

Rias froze for a moment as her mind tried to comprehend what Junichiro meant. Her eyes widened dramatically as she made the connection to the time stopping vampire from Jojo. Suddenly she looked extremely excited and very determined. Junichiro suspected he'd just given Rias an ungodly amount of motivation toward getting Gasper out of his shell.

He left Rias with her thoughts on her mini-Dio and went back to looking out the window and enjoying the sight.

-----Line Break-----

Getting his paperwork done to become a citizen was a piece of cake. He just had to show his identification from Japan and they used that to register him along with who his King was. After that, they were done and could take a public teleportation circle to the Gremory estate. As the beings that created bureaucracy, Devils had an innate understanding of it and made their way through it with ease.

Their arrival at the Gremory estate was far from what Junichiro was expecting. He didn't remember much about Rias's family, but he was pretty sure they didn't care much for all the pomp and circumstance that came from being a noble clan. Rias certainly didn't. So, he was rather surprised when they teleported in to see lines of maids on one side and butlers on the other side of the main hallway leading into the foyer.

At least, he thought it was a foyer, he'd never studied what various parts of mansions were called.

“Welcome home Rias-sama!”

All the maids and butlers intoned at once. Rias, for her part, looked slightly embarrassed. As the sound of the butlers and maids died down, Rias's parents appeared at the top of a grand staircase at the end of the hall to greet their daughter.

Rias led her group up to her parents and gave them a somewhat strained smile, “Mother, father, was this really necessary?”

Junichiro winced slightly at the venom in Rias's voice as she addressed her father. She was very clearly unhappy with the man and Junichiro could understand why. Though the man was clearly unphased by the tone of her voice as he addressed her, “We weren't expecting you to come home so soon, with a new member of your peerage no less.”

His gaze moved to Junichiro, “I am Zeoticus Gremory and this is my wife, Venelana Gremory. I'd like to welcome you to our home.”

Junichiro gave a small, polite, bow as he replied, “Arai Junichiro, Pawn of Rias Gremory, at your service.”

When he straightened up, Junichiro could help noting that Rias clearly got the majority of her looks from her father. He had the same hair, eye, and skin color as Rias did, though he was obviously more masculine and had a small goatee on his chin. Though Venelana is clearly where Rias got her figure. Velelana had flaxen hair down to her shoulders, light purple eyes, and a much more mature version of Rias's figure.

Junichiro couldn't help thinking that the Gremory genes were damned powerful. Every descendant of Zeoticus had the Gremory-red hair, despite whatever hair color their other parent might have had. He expected that any children Rias had would inherit the red hair as well.

While he was making his observations, Zeoticus, in turn, was studying him. His eyes lingered on the solid black plastic arm that Junichiro chose to act as his prosthetic that day, “Her new Pawn? Interesting. If you don't mind my asking, how many pieces did it take to reincarnate you?”

Junichiro smiled brightly, giving off the aura of an impressionable youth, “Just the one.”

Everyone could see the instant Zeoticus dismissed Junichiro as even vaguely interesting, “I see.”

There was a hint of disappointment, or maybe disapproval, in his tone. All According to plan. Junichiro had specifically chosen the crappy arm to make himself look weaker. On top of that, he wore a necklace covered in enchantments to hide his full strength. It made him appear to be a little weaker than Kiba and hid any signs of his true power and potential. No need to give information to the 'enemy' and make Rias's old man nervous about the planned wedding. Zeoticus's attention returned to Rias, “Will you be staying long?”

Rias shook her head, “Just for the day. I wanted to get Junichiro registered and take care of some business. We'll only be staying one night before we return to the human realm.”

Zeoticus nodded his head, “Very well.”

The man was clearly done with the conversation at that point. It took everything Junichiro had not to laugh. If there was one thing he loved, it was messing with people by telling them the truth. It was even better that he got one over on the head of a pillar family!

Venelana gave Rias a bright smile and a hug, “It's not the same without you in the house. It's good to have you here.”

After that, she followed Zeoticus out of the area to do whatever it was the pair did with their days. Rias gestured for her peerage to follow her. She gave a guided tour that focused on the things between the main entrance and her section of the mansion. A wing of the house was dedicated to rooms for her and her peerage members. She even pointed to a door they were walking past, “This room is for you when we stay here, Junichiro.”

After that she led him to a large sitting room where the entire peerage, and future members, could all meet and have discussions. Everyone got comfortable before Rias asked the question on her mind, “Junichiro, why did you mislead my father like that?”

Junichiro, uncaring of his location, pulled out his cigarette case, selected one, and finally addressed Rias as he dug out his lighter, “It's simple really, like all of the contracts suggest, I like keeping things secret. I also fear that if who, what, and how powerful I am were to get out, things would become annoying. A simple man reincarnated by a single pawn sounds completely harmless, weak even. Telling him it was your mutation pawn would put him on guard and make him curious about me.”

He lit his cigarette, took a short drag, and exhaled some bright green smoke, “It would raise concerns and make him wonder what makes me so special. He would then dig into things and try to find out everything he could. There's no guarantee that he would keep what he learned within the family. If the Phenex family found out about me... Well, you'd be facing Riser in a Rating Game by the end of the week.”

Everyone considered his words before nodding in agreement. It seemed plausible enough and there was no benefit to bragging about how powerful and skilled Junichiro was. Between being the Red Dragon Emperor and The Artificer, he would be a major threat to the plans of the adults.

Rias frowned a bit, “So what? With you we could easily beat Riser and his entire peerage. I'm pretty sure you could do that entirely on your own.”

Junichiro sighed and nodded, “Probably. Even if Riser is stronger than me, in my base state, I've got all the tools needed to take him down without really breaking a sweat.” His gaze focused on Rias, “But is that what you really want? Do you want me to crush Riser under my boot? Or, would you prefer to crush him under a very pointy heel?”

There was silence for a while before Rias spoke up, “I want to crush him myself.”

After the words left her mouth she gave Junichiro a look of pure determination, “And you're going to help me get strong enough to do it.”

Junichiro nodded in agreement, “We'll get to work on that when we return to the human realm.” He took another drag before exhaling the smoke with a sigh, “On to other things. I know I needed to register with the devil government at some point, but is it really necessary for me to go to this party?”

Junichiro did not relish the idea of going to a fancy party that was being hosted for the young devils of Rias's generation. Something they apparently did once a year to keep in touch. Despite whatever conflicts individuals might have, the entire devil race was expected to work together against their common enemies, such as Heaven and the Grigori. To that end, the various generations got together on a regular basis to touch base and keep in touch.

It also served as a way for the Kings among them to show off their new pieces. Needless to say, Rias wasn't thrilled that the only thing Junichiro was willing to show in public was his Sword Birth. Worse, he wasn't even willing to show his full skill with it! She understood his reasoning, even agreed with it, but that didn't make her pout any less. She really wanted to crow about having not just the Red Dragon Emperor, but The Artificer all in one! Which was arguably an even bigger deal!

Rias gave Junichiro a stern look and nodded, “Yes, it is. You failing to come would be interpreted as me being unable to control you. I have Gasper already, but his circumstances give me some leeway. Saying you're a pawn with Sword Birth and not being able to get you to come would be a black mark against me.”

Junichiro sighed but nodded his head. If he really wanted to, he could completely blow the whole thing off and there wasn't anything Rias could do about it. However, he saw no reason to be a complete dick over it. Even if the thought of being around so many people made him uncomfortable. Spending so much time on his own or with very few people around had made him a bit uncomfortable among crowds.

Worse, he would be expected to at least try and make some connections. Normally, he would love making more connections so he could have more work. Keeping his alter ego secret kind of sucked in this one instance.

“Fine. But until then, I'm going to get some exploring in.”

Rias smiles brightly, “Take Kiba with you so you don't get lost.”

Kiba nodded his head in acceptance and climbed to his feet to follow Junichiro. Ever since the first lesson that Junichiro had given Kiba on using his Sword Birth to its full potential, they'd become something like friends. Nowhere near the level of bro's yet, but at least friends.

-----Line Break-----

Junichiro looked around the streets as he walked through Lucifaad City, the original capital of the underworld before the current four satans took over and moved it to Lilith. Lucifaad was the first, and therefore oldest, city in the underworld. Hence why Junichiro had insisted he and Kiba tour there instead of through the Gremory territory cities.

With age came opportunities and stores that had lasted millenia and would have the most unique stock and possibilities. He was hoping to catch sight of some rare materials or items to snag and take back to his workshop. To that end, they were in one of the oldest area's of Lucifaad. Old, not decrepit or slum-like, rather distinguished, in fact.

Kiba was leading Junichiro to one of his favorite stores in the area, a place that sold swords, naturally. Junichiro didn't argue as the shop would have connections to the blacksmith making the blades. Then the blacksmith would know where to get the better, or even the best, materials to work with.

He was also looking forward to seeing what the weapons the store sold were like. He'd never actually taken the time to look into what was commonly available to the public. He'd just done what he wanted to do and moved on with it. He'd likely never work down to the 'standard' but it would still be informative for him to see what they sold and how much it sold for.

Then it was off to buy some materials. He'd never have enough materials for his tastes.

As they entered the store Kiba was leading him to, they were greeted by a middle aged looking Devil behind the counter, “Welcome to Bountiful Blades... Oh! Kiba! Welcome back young man. I see you brought someone with you this time. How can I help you?”

Kiba smiled at the Devil, “My friend, Junichiro, wanted to get a good look at what kind of magical swords we use here in the Underworld. He's recently reincarnated and rather interested in magical blacksmithing.”

That was an understatement. Sometimes keeping secrets really sucked. He offered his hand for a shake, which was a bit awkward since it was his left one, “It's nice to meet you.”

The man looked confused until he noticed the very obviously fake right arm and quickly switched to his left hand to shake, “Likewise. So, you're interested in magical forging eh? I'm just a distributor so I can't tell you much, but there's a book store I can recommend that has a few primers. I'd recommend reading those first.”

Given how the man kept glancing at the fake arm, Junichiro expected the man thought he was wasting his time but was too polite to point it out. Annoying but not unacceptable. After that exchange, Kiba started to show Junichiro the various weapons on display while the shopkeeper explained their various effects.

Junichiro was not impressed. He hadn't expected to be, but most of the 'magical' swords were barely above the level of the mana infused kitchen knives he'd made out of junkyard steel! The majority were made of simple Mana Steel and didn't even use special techniques. From his examination, Devil bladesmiths just forged the weapon while pouring a ton of magic into it with whatever intent they desired. Mostly, the sword were just more durable, sharper, and so on. Very rarely did they have any kind of special effect.

The ones that did have special effects were more impressive, and significantly more expensive. They managed to have effects like fire and frost without using runes as anchors for the enchantments. Probably an aspect of Devil Magic, using their imagination and their magic to create the desired effect. Useful, but likely fairly limited without an absolute crapton of experience. Someone that experienced would not be selling their wares in a store but rather by commission like he did.

After looking through the store, Junichiro and Kiba made their way to the book store where Junichiro purchased the recommended primers and a few other books on more advanced techniques. Making magical blades wasn't a guarded secret since they were always in demand. At least, the basics weren't. There were individuals, groups, and even a clan or two that had their own secret techniques they didn't share with outsiders. That was all par for the course though and Junichiro was certain he could figure out their techniques if he felt the need to do so. For now, the basics would work.

-----Line Break-----

Junichiro tugged at the bow tie around his neck and grumbled to himself. He'd been forced to dress up nice and fancy for the party they were all attending and he did not enjoy it one bit. He didn't mind wearing nice clothing, but he was being paraded out in a full on tuxedo and all its trappings. It was uncomfortable. Unlike the clothing he preferred to wear, which while nice, wasn't as annoying.

Or maybe he was just annoyed period and taking it out on the clothing.

On the flip side, the ladies looked amazing. Rias was wearing a nice red number that showed a valley of cleavage and draped down to the floor with a slit on the side that allowed her to show off her pale legs, if she wished to. Akeno wore a slinky black number that would have the boys drooling. Koneko wore a cute white summer dress more appropriate to her age. She was still a young middle schooler, after all. Kiba ended up in a monkey suit similar to his own, though Kiba pulled it off better with his 'princely' looks.

Upon entering the venue, they were all announced along with their ranks. Junichiro got some minor interest, though not much since he was a pawn and therefore 'lower' than more interesting people like new Queens. There was a bit of a stigma against Pawns, but Junichiro didn't mind them underestimating him at all. It was, in fact, desired. So he put on a silly smile and leaned into the stereotype.

He did have a goal while he was here. The crowd was all younger demons, many of whom came from pillar families. Those pillar members almost always had special clan traits, magic, or other things to separate them. Like Rias's Power of Destruction from her Bael heritage. He wanted to get samples of the other heirs genetics and magic. It would take a fair bit of effort, but it should be entirely possible for him to replicate their abilities, in time.

He'd already started researching the Power of Destruction from Rias, Holy Lightning and Fallen Angel magic from Akeno, and Youjutsu and Senjutsu from Koneko. His research was currently focused on giving himself the Nekoshou's innate abilities with Senjutsu to gain easier access to Touki. His goal was to master every form of self enhancement he could find and stack them all together to maximize his strength.

He might not be a battle junkie, but he knew that a lot of combat was coming in the future. He'd do everything he could to not just survive, but to thrive.

The only people he knew in the entire ball room, aside form his peerage members, were Sona and Tsubaki. Sona, unlike Rias, wasn't in a huge rush to fill out her peerage and only had Tsubaki at the moment. Though she clearly had her eyes on some of the girls in Kuoh. Junichiro expected that she would recruit the rest of her peerage over the next two years.

Aside from her, he didn't recognize anyone else, though as Rias introduced him to the strangers, he recognized a few by name. Rias, smiling happily, practically bounced her way over to Sona and another young woman with long, pale greenish blonde hair, long slit pink eyes, and glasses that give off an impression of being cold rather than cool. She was like an even more severe Sona, though her gaze did seem to soften a little when she spotted Rias coming.

Rias grasped Junichiro by his prosthetic hand, boldly showing everyone watching that she didn't care about it, and happily introduced him to her friend, “Seekvaira, I want you to meet my newest peerage member, Junichiro!”

Seekvaira's gaze became ice cold as she focused on Junichiro, who just gave her a bland smile while trying to put off as much 'golden retriever' energy as possible. He wanted to project the image that he was an nonthreatening puppy dog. A crippled one even! Once she finished looking him over, she focused back on Rias, her gaze once again ice cold, “Must you pick up every stray you find? What's this one's story? You find him on the street, injured and dying then brought him back out of pity?”

Rias sighed and gave Seekvaira a look that made the other girl wince slightly, “Seekvaira-san, I would appreciate you not looking down on Junichiro-san. He is a valuable member of my family.”

Seekvaira hid a wince and then let out a soft sigh. Her focus moved back to Junichiro, “I apologize for my harsh words. I just worry for Rias.”

Junichiro easily put off an aura of nonchalance as her words hadn't meant anything to him. In fact, he was happy she'd said them as it proved his deception was working as intended. He gave her a bright smile and held out his left hand, “Apology accepted!”

As they awkwardly shook hands, the unobtrusive simple-looking silver ring on his hand took a sample of Seekvaira's skin and the aura of magic that all magical beings unconsciously put out around them. It was more data to research. If he wasn't mistaken, Seekvaira's Agares bloodline gave her some control over Time. That would be an excellent ability to have in his pocket!

The party continued and was rather... well it's not what Junichiro would have expected for a group of young devils. There was some alcohol, but it was only wine and no one was drinking all that much. It was all so... prim and proper. It just didn't fit in with what most people's expectations of a devil party would be. There just wasn't any sin, not even a little debauchery!

The next interesting thing was Rias introducing him to her favorite cousin, “Junichiro, I want you to meet my cousin Sairaorg Bael, from my mother's side of the family.”

Sairaorg was massive both in height and width. He also packed so much muscle it made Junichiro feel a tad bit inferior. Junichiro kept himself in excellent shape, even being the proud owner of visible abs, something he'd never had in his first life. Yet, Sairaorg's physique put that to shame. Tall, Muscular, handsome with black hair and violet eyes, and a genuinely nice guy. Why wasn't he the protagonist of DxD instead of the boob obsessed loser?

Sairaorg gave Junichiro a bright smiled and stuck his left hand out, having already noted the missing limb, “It's nice to meet you! Wanna spar?”

Rias sighed in exasperation while Junichiro couldn't help smiling back at the straightforward guy while shaking the offered hand, “Maybe another time. I'm a little unarmed at the moment. Perhaps another time.”

Sairaorg threw his head back and laughed like the lame joke was the funniest thing he'd ever heard, “Well, at least you're not letting it get you down!” His violet eyes roamed over Junichiro who felt like he was being x-rayed, “You are in excellent shape! I'll look forward to that spar.”

Rias groaned and shook her head, “Don't pick on my Pawn Sai. It'll be a while before he's strong enough to fight you.”

Junichiro wouldn't argue with that. Sairaorg was a beast who could crack Boosted Gear's Scale Mail with his bare hands and base strength. He wasn't called the strongest young devil for nothing. Avalon would protect Junichiro pretty well, but he wouldn't bet against Sairaorg being able to overcome its defensive power. He honestly had no idea who would win if they both went all out. He was sure that he would fine out in the not too distant future.

They didn't get to talk much more as a sleazy voice interrupted them, “Ah! I see my lovely fiance really is here! Wonderful!”

Rias, Sairaorg, and Junichiro all turned to look at one Riser Phenex. This was the first time Junichiro had met the guy and he wasn't all that surprised by what he could see. Despite his crap attitude, Riser was actually a descent looking guy with well groomed blond hair and dark blue eyes. Really, there weren't any ugly Devil's that Junichiro had ever heard of. Not counting Stray Devil's of course.

Rias looked at Riser as if she were looking at a disgusting bug far beneath her notice, “Riser. I did not expect you to be here.”

Riser walked closer with his Queen, Yubelluna, at his side with his arm around her waist. Yubelluna was a voluptuous woman with long, wavy purple hair that falls all the way down her back and matching eyes. At the front, the right side of her hair falls over her breast and covers her right eye, while the left side falls near the top of her skirt. Once he came to a stop, his gaze slid over Junichiro, pausing for a moment on the obviously fake arm which drew a sneer, “Really Rias? So desperate for people to join your peerage that you're even picking up useless cripples? Worse, a useless human cripple?”

Rias glared at Riser, “He might be missing an arm but he still has excellent control of his Sacred Gear!”

Riser actually looked a little surprised, “Oh? And what Sacred Gear would that be?”

Rias flushed a little, only now realizing that it might sound pretty bad. Riser just got directly past her defenses and all she could see was red. The only thing keeping her from shouting that Junichiro had the Boosted Gear and was the 'Artificer' was the knowledge that she'd never get the words out and would lose all the memories of that knowledge. Instead she defiantly muttered, “Sword Birth.”

Riser seemed a little surprised for a moment, before he burst out with a derisive laugh, “Sword Birth?! A one armed cripple with a Sacred Gear for making swords?!” He shook his head in exasperation, “Please tell me you didn't waste a perfectly good Knight piece on adding a second Sword Birth to your peerage.”

Rias's flush deepened as she barely muttered out, “A Pawn.”

“What was that dear? I couldn't hear you.”

Riser heard, he just wanted her to say it even louder, “A Pawn! Okay?! I reincarnated him with a single Pawn!”

Riser wasn't the only one to laugh after Rias practically shouted out her reply. Others were a little more polite about it with Riser being the loudest one, but he definitely wasn't alone. Junichiro didn't let the laughter bother him and continued to smile happily. He might not be certain he could even come close to beating Sairaorg, but he knew that he could crush Riser with ease. Avalon alone would be more than enough to beat Riser even if he was still a plain old human, let alone with being a devil and all his other upgrades.

“Really Rias, you should just stop with the pathetic attempts to get out of your duty. Our parents have decided we will marry, so we will marry.” Riser's gaze swept over Junichiro with open contempt, “But please, feel free to continue expanding your collection of broken toys.”

Sairaorg decided to step in at that moment, “I think that's enough Riser.”

Riser glanced at Sairaorg and capitulated. He might be arrogant but he wasn't stupid, Sairaorg would crush him as easily as he believed he could crush Rias's entire peerage. Riser knew he wasn't nearly as invincible as he liked to pretend to be and was smart enough not to push it. He'd found his niche in life and didn't have the ambition necessary to try harder.

Once Riser left, Sairaorg turned to address Rias, “You know if you need any help you only have to ask. I can't do much about the marriage contract, but I can help you train.”

Junichiro's eyes widen in surprise at the offer. He catches Rias's eye and nods his head. Rias catches the look, and with a sigh, nods her head as she addresses Sairaorg, “I'd appreciate that. I've still got plenty of time but I would appreciate your help.”

That gets a bright smile from the big guy and conversation slowly wanes from there until they split up. Rias leads Junichiro off to a more secluded area, “Why did you want me to accept Sai's help?”

Junichiro gave her a bland look, “Are you kidding? Look, I know some stuff and can help a bit here and there, but I don't know everything. Sairaorg-san? He's got to be the most powerful devil here tonight! He clearly knows what he's doing to get stronger and we could use his advice.” He leans closer to whisper, “Especially if we're going to get me stronger to use you-know-what.”

Rias bites her lip as she thinks before letting out a sigh, “I really wanted to do this by myself.”

He gave her a bland look, “You're getting help from me.”

She waved a hand in a dismissive gesture, “That doesn't count, you're part of my peerage.”

His reply was a roll of the eyes and to leave her alone to hit the buffet, he was a little hungry so he might as well enjoy the high quality food. The remainder of the night was pretty bland. Junichiro was just very glad that he'd be back home the following afternoon so he could get back to work.

-----Line Break-----

Azazel glanced to his side once more and grimaced at the sight before him, “Did you really ave to pick such a... sub-par disguise?”

Junichiro smiled to himself as he enjoyed hearing Azazel ridicule his choice of disguise. Why? Because he looked utterly average with short spiky brown hair, with two short locks of hair behind his head, light brown eyes, and a rather weak looking physique. He'd copied the looks of Hyoudou Issei to use as a disguise for the meeting he was about to have with Yasaka.

The party in the underworld had only been a few days ago and now he was in Kyoto to meet with Yasaka, the leader of half of all yokai in japan, and one hell of a foxy MILF. However, meeting with her had presented a small problem, one easily overcome. She couldn't leave Kyoto for anything more than short periods of time due to her being connected to the leylines beneath the city. So, she couldn't come to him to discuss whatever she wanted to have him make, he had to come to her. Hence, the disguise. He wouldn't mind Yasaka, and Yasaka alone, seeing his real looks but he wasn't about to expose himself to every last yokai in her service.

So, since a disguise was necessary, he decided to have a little fun with it and used the looks of Issei to disguise himself. No one would ever associate him with the boy that was so weak you would have to be within a few feet of him to even begin to sense him. The guy was seriously gimped in the magical energy department, weaker than even his own parents in that area. Copying his looks, aura, voice, and all other details made for an amazing disguise that made Junichiro seem like an exceptionally non-threatening (weak) human.

Though, his disguise might have worked a little too well. The guards who'd greeted them had been slightly respectful to Azazel, though they clearly didn't like him. They'd been downright disdainful of Junichiro though. I'd taken a bit of effort on Azazel's part to explain that the weak human boy with him was in fact the person Yasaka wished to see and that they were there for the appointment he'd made.

His suspicions were looking more like fact as they were stuck waiting in the room until well after the time that was set for their appointment. Yasaka being a little petty toward Azazel and the pathetically weak human with him? Probably.

The door to the room finally opened about thirty-five minutes after the time that had been set for their appointment. Far more than 'fashionably' late. Azazel looked distinctly annoyed and Junichiro wasn't feeling very charitable himself.

Yasaka, in her human form, appeared as a young woman with a voluptuous figure and very long blonde hair with matching eyes, delicate facial features and her eyebrows cut very short and round as a traditional symbol of nobility. Her hair was tied in a loose ponytail, reaching all the way down to her legs that ends in a spiral, with taut bandages to keep it in place. She wore traditional shrine maiden attire, and over that she wore a white coat held closed by a red ribbon and a golden crown. To cap it all off, nine golden, super fluffy looking, tails swished behind her as she walked into the room.

Junichiro wasn't one hundred percent certain, but he would be willing to bet that Yasaka had the largest bust among all the women he'd met thus far. That was definitely one thing he didn't mind about reincarnating inside of a near hentai anime world, all the women with any relation to the canon story were downright gorgeous. Even the 'side characters' and random people on the street went from above average to beautiful by normal standards. At least, if they were female. The guys didn't get nearly as much preferential treatment.

Once Yasaka took a seat across the table from them, her golden eyes focused on Azazel as she showed her displeasure openly. Her voice was tight as she addressed him, “Azazel-san, I was under the impression you would be bringing the Artificer with you, not some random little human boy.”

Her eyes barely glanced at Junichiro in his Issei disguise, a flash of disgust passing quickly before she focused back on the fallen leader again, “You cannot expect anyone to believe that someone so young, let alone so physically and magically weak, could possibly be the one making all of the items your group has been distributing over the last few years.”

Junichiro, using Issei's face, just smiled blandly and said nothing as he was insulted. The whole point of the disguise was to fly completely under the radar. Plus, it was a ton of fun to see Azazel getting put in his place by the foxy mamma.

Azazel sighed and gave Junichiro a gimlet eye, “You going to stop pretending anytime soon? We've already been here longer than I expected thanks to your disguise.”

Junichiro, his face carefully blank, looked at Azazel while Yasaka seemed a little disturbed at hearing the word 'disguise'. If the boy before her was just a disguise that the Artificer was using, then it was a terrifying one. Her ability to sense people, especially so close and inside the heart of her strong hold, was top notch. If he could hide from such scrutiny, then it was a serious problem that she didn't have a ready answer for.

He finally sighed and pulled a small black box with a big red button on it out of his pocket. He set it on the table between the three of them. Azazel looked unconcerned but Yasaka was looking at the device with suspicion, “What is that?”

Junichiro turned his bland look to Yasaka as he answered, “Just something to keep the following conversation private.”

She watched him, on guard and wary, as he pushed the red button. As soon as he did it lit up and a ward sprang to life surrounding all of them and some of the area around them. The ward was actually multiple wards all combined to, essentially, cut them off from the outside world. It was the ultimate privacy ward that would prevent them from being spied on.

Yasaka, with suspiciously narrowed eyes, carefully examined the wards around them. She did not expect betrayal from Azazel, not when he was pushing for peace among his own factions, but it never hurt to be on guard when around a fellow powerful being. Once she determined that the wards were harmless, she focused back on Junichiro, reevaluating him in light of the device he'd just used. With a smirk, Junichiro dropped his disguise letting out the entirety of his aura. He still wasn't super powerful, nowhere near as strong as Azazel and Yasaka, but he was infinitely stronger than Issei.

Yasaka's eyes widened as she took in the changes that came over Junichiro. He looked rather normal, still younger than she expected, but he was a far cry from how he'd previously appeared. Between the box making the wards and his perfect disguise, she was more willing to believe that she was in the presence of the Artificer.

Of course, the fact that Junichiro had chosen to wear an obviously prosthetic arm versus his human looking ones might have helped as well. Today he chose to wear an older arm that looked like highly articulated medieval armor. It wasn't nearly as strong as his most recent model, but it was still pretty strong in its own right and would help sell his identity even more.

Finished studying the changed Junichiro, Yasaka spoke again, “Perhaps I spoke too soon, though you still seem to be far too young to be someone as prolific as the Artificer. Oh, and lets not gloss over the fact that you're a devil!”

“I'd say I get that a lot, but very few people have any idea who I really am. You find yourself among a very select few people. As for my race, it's a recent development. My King knows who I am and has no say in my business. She doesn't even know I am here, with you, only that I am out of town for business. My race is irrelevant as I am not here because I am a devil, I am here in spite of being a devil. For this, you should ignore my race as it has no bearing on past, or future, interactions with the devil government or peoples. Now, can we get to the point of this meeting? I don't enjoy wasting time just sitting around when there are much more interesting things I could be doing.”

Of course, he didn't mention that whatever Yasaka wanted, was going to cost her extra after how long she'd kept them waiting. He hadn't brought anything to keep him entertained so the wait felt like it took forever. Yasaka wasn't the only one who could be petty.

Yasaka bit down the immediate remark she would have preferred to say to the rude child. She still wasn't one hundred percent convinced that the boy was the Artificer, but if he was she didn't want to put him out any more than she already had. She took a short moment to center herself and return to her normal self, “I apologize. I'm a little out of sorts, you see. I called you here for the sake of my daughter and I can be a bit... irrational where she is concerned.”

Junichiro made a gesture to encourage her to continue, “Kunou, my daughter, has been asking me for years to be allowed to go to a human school. I told her she couldn't until she mastered her human form so she wouldn't give herself away to the humans. Unfortunately, for me, she has and I needed to keep my word to her. I have guards keep an eye on her while she's out in the human world, but I would like more protection for her. That's where you come in. I'd like to commission a work from you that would protect her and return her home where it's safe in an emergency.”

Junichiro leaned back as he considered that. In all honesty, he didn't know much about what happened to Yasaka and that whole saga from the High School DxD story. He'd only read a bit about her and seen some stuff here and there. The full details eluded him but he believed the Hero Faction of Kaos Brigade had something to do with it. He so wanted to steal all of their Sacred Gears. The things he could do with Annihilation Maker alone... Anyway. He didn't care if this would destroy 'canon' events, he wanted to help the sexy MILF kitsune and her adorable daughter, so he would.

“I'm sure I can come up with something. Is that all you wanted? I don't see why you couldn't have just told Azazel and had him deliver the order.”

Yasaka smiled coyly, her voice turning a little breathy and teasing, “Well, if you had been a few years older I would have tried to negotiate for a discount.” Seeing that Junichiro had no reaction to her playful flirting, she pouted a bit and continued, “I also expected that you would need to know where I wanted her to be returned home.”

“That wont be necessary. I'll make it so that you can set it to deposit her wherever you want it to. That way you can change the location at will. I'll add in other features to protect her as well.”

He would need to do some extra work on whatever he decided to make for Kunou. The teleportation aspect would need to be especially robust to counteract Dimension Lost, the space controlling Longinus class Sacred Gear. Not something Junichiro would expect to be easy, but he had some ideas. With ideas floating around in his mind, he brusquely asked, “Anything else?”

Yasaka, looking a little put out answered, “Only the price.”

Junichiro grumbled but nodded. He both loved and loathed negotiating for his items. He usually let it up to Azazel with vague hints at what he would like, which would work here. He turned to the fallen, “Materials.”

Azazel, who had been content to remain silent, nodded, “Fine.”

Junichiro smirked and teleported directly out leaving behind the ward box so the two super powered beings could negotiate in peace. Yasaka immediately turned to look at Azazel, completely ignoring how his eyes hadn't left her breasts since she arrived, “Is that boy really the Artificer?”

Azazel nodded his head, “Really and truly.”

“Isn't that dangerous? He's a devil.”

Azazel waved his hand dismissively, “Nah, it's not a problem. We worked together before he became a devil and his King knows about our relationship. He's got her bound, magically, to keep her mouth shut.” He snickered a little, “So bound that, as far as the underworld is concerned, he's just a weak crippled reincarnated devil with a copy of Sword Birth. They have no idea how skilled or powerful he is.” His eyes finally moved from her breasts to lock on her own, “You wouldn't have seen him if you hadn't signed those contracts yourself. His true identity is known to exceptionally few, and we are all bound by contracts to keep it secret, even myself.”

And didn't that just annoy him? But, he understood where Junichiro had been coming from when he'd asked Azazel to sign one of the contracts. It wasn't about not trusting him, but about protecting him from being forced to reveal the information somehow. The only person who knew Junichiro's identity and hadn't signed a contract to protect it was Mephisto Pheles. Neither Azazel nor Junichiro were going to try and force that old devil to do anything he didn't want to do.

“Then I will wait to see what he comes up with. What kind of payment will I be expected to make?”

Azazel affected a lazy attitude, “Cash of any kind isn't something that interests him anymore. He'll be looking to trade for materials that only yokai could provide. Things like shed hairs for a powerful kitsune, shed feathers from a tengu perhaps, scales from a lamia, stuff like that. No need to hurt anyone or anything like that, just whatever naturally falls off.”

“Why would he want things like that?”

“To experiment with. Maybe he'll find some amazing potion he can make using Kitsune Tail Hairs, or maybe it will be a waste of his time. I never know with the kid, but I have seen him make some really impressive stuff that I would have just considered as complete garbage.”

Yasaka hummed in interest and considered what kind of materials she could get her hands on. She just hoped it would be worth it.

-----Line Break-----

Junichiro carefully studied the runes carved into the delicate little golden fox amulet. It was small, something a child would wear, and absolutely covered in microscopic runes carved into it by his laser. The majority of the runes only had a single purpose, teleport the person wearing it to the designated destination. The rest were just support for that. Things like detecting stress levels and making it so only the person who puts the necklace it will be attached to on, can take it off. Yasaka will need to put it on Kunou and then only Yasaka will be able to remove it. Anyone else attempting to will trigger the teleportation.

The destination was variable, though he did include a secondary override that would only kick in for very specific situations. The variable destination would be easier to block than a hard coded one. Though, if he put enough power into it, that shouldn't matter.

Once he'd satisfied with his inspection, the Boosted Gear gauntlet appears on his arm with a flash.

[BOOST!]

A shudder ran down his spine as he felt his power spike. He hoped he never got used to the feeling of getting stronger. In the last two days, since his visit to Kyoto, he'd worked pretty much exclusively on the item Yasaka requested. He had other things he wanted to play with, like the five pounds of Agreasite and half dozen Twice Criticals now sitting in his vault thanks to Azazel. But, he wanted to get this job done because protecting the mini kitsune would make the mega kitsune happy. He also wanted to keep Yasaka out of the hands of the Hero Faction and he was pretty sure Kunou had been used as a hostage to get Yasaka's copperation.

Granted he had no recollection of what the plan was, but if this fucked that plan up, all the better. Why? Because any plan put together by that particular group of mouth breathers had to be beyond stupid. They claim to be heroes for humanity, but nothing they do ever seems t be about humanity so much as their own egos and pride. So, fuck 'em. Ruining their plans will be fun and stealing their Sacred Gears would be a nice cherry on top.

Granted he had no idea when or how he would meet any of them, but he would be ready to rip them to shreds. He was growing stronger every day. Thanks to his Seven Stars, his magical power grew near nonstop and his Essence of the Blank just helped it do its job. His gravity and resistance bracelets meant he was almost always putting at least some stress on his body to make it grow stronger. Then there was the minor boost to everything that he got whenever he used a Boost. It was tiny, but every boost improved his overall abilities by a tiny fraction of a percent, permanently. The more he used the Boosted Gear, the more powerful he would become over time. Granted, the permanent gains were minimal, but they were there. Lastly, he still planned to have his heart and lungs replaced by Ddraig on top of using the genetic samples he's taken to learn more about bloodline traits.

He had a lot to do and all of it was geared toward becoming more powerful.

Junichiro boosted to his maximum limit, ten. Giving him a full thousand times his base power. He wasn't certain how powerful that really made him, but it certainly felt like he could take on the entire world by himself. Of course, Ddraig would never let Junichiro get a big head and was more than happy to inform him of how weak he still was even boosted to his limit.

With the power roiling inside of himself, Junichiro picked up the amulet and began feeding the power he had into the runes while weaving the enchantments. The amulet instantly began to glow brightly, only getting brighter as he fed more magic into it. He was going to make damn sure that the amulet could break through even Dimension Lost. He might not be as strong as someone like Azazel or Sirzechs but he was certain he was stronger than the idiot with Dimension Lost.

It took less than a minute for him to feed all one thousand times his base power into the trinket making it one of the most powerful items he'd ever made. It was a little ridiculous, if he was being honest. He'd put a stupid amount of power into the teleportation enchantment. No way in hell Dimension Lost could stop it from going wherever it wanted.

[RESET!]

That brought a smile to his face as he dismissed Boosted Gear and sat down to relax. The magical power he'd fed into the amulet would take a while to completely set, but that was fine. With this, his job for Yasaka was done. The golden chain the amulet would hang from just had a simple durability enchantment. The ones on the amulet would protect the chain from anything that might break it. Kunou would be perfectly safe now.

As long as Murphy didn't try to put him in his place for thinking that.

The cigarette case came out and Junichiro selected one with herbs that helped improve magical recovery. He'd completely drained himself of magic so every little bit of recovery helped, not that his Seven Stars weren't already kicking in and drastically boosting his recovery. After taking a long drag and letting it out, he dug his phone out of his pocket and hit the speed dial.

After a few rings, Azazel's voice came through the speaker, “Yeah?”

“Yasaka's order is done. You can come and get it anytime, bring the list of things she's offering.”

“Sure sure. I'll swing by tomorrow some time.”

Junichiro didn't say anything else and hung up. He continued to smoke as he tried to decide what to do next. Part of him wanted to go and play with the Agreasite, but he was worried about messing it up. It was too precious to make mistakes with. No way in hell was he going to do something stupid like try to forge it into a sword or something similar.

He especially wanted to save it because he was betting that it could be used with his genetic research to make items similar to the Evil Pieces that will allow him to add the special traits of the various races to his soul. That would make them truly a part of him and something no one would be able to ever take away. Though that was best for powers he couldn't have taught to him, no need to give himself the Bael clan trait when he could learn it from Rias.

He really wanted to find a way to give himself access to Angelic Light magic though. Especially if he could figure out ways to combine it with other elements like Fire. He was sure he could pull it off and have some fun taunting Riser by hitting him with Holy Flames. He was letting Rias beat Riser personally, but that didn't mean he couldn't get a few pot shots in.

He snapped his fingers as he remembered something he needed to do. He quickly moved into his workshop and began working on some items to help with his goal. What goal? Why a kidnapping of course! Valarie Tepes. He really needed to stop forgetting about her. Now that he remembered her again, he was going to take some time to make some scouts. The only thing he knew about her was that she should be somewhere in Romania.

That's it.

So, he would need a nice swarm of semi-sentient scouts that could search for her and give him her location once they found it. She could be a gift to Rias once he kidnapped her. He could take Sephiroth Graal from her to make reincarnating her easier. He wasn't sure if he should give it back to her, or hide it. He could give her a Twice Critical until he found something better. He'd have some good choices once he kicked the shit out of the Hero Faction. Besides, he recalled hearing that Sephiroth Graal really fucked her mind up so losing it will, hopefully, help her recover.

On top of that, she was friends with Gasper so maybe they could help each other recover from their traumas? He wasn't one hundred percent on that, but he doubted it would hurt. Oh yes, this was going to be GREAT!

-----Line Break-----

Junichiro dodged to his left as a blazing bolt of golden lightning zapped the area he'd just been standing. Akeno's Holy Lightning, being magical in origin, wasn't quite as fast as real lightning, but it was still damned fast. It kept Junichiro on his toes as they sparred.

[BOOST!]

Junichiro's grin turned mocking as his stats doubled once more. Akeno had barely been able to keep up with him at his previous level of boost. Now he was way faster than her. He pushed off of the ground using his now immense strength to launch himself toward her. She tried to turn in his direction to launch another attack, but wasn't fast enough as his fist slammed into her stomach and bent her over his arm.

Yeah, he wasn't polite in spars. At most the hit would give her a bruise that would heal quickly. His philosophy was that a little pain now would prevent a lot of pain in the future. It was a philosophy he wished he'd been living by back when he first moved to Kuoh. Still, lesson learned and not soon to be forgotten.

Junichiro shoved Akeno off of his arm and dove to the side again as a blue of white shot through the area he'd just been occupying. Koneko slammed into the ground with a thunderous crash that brought her to a violent stop. Lately the little monster had taken to using her strength to boost her speed, mush like he did. This led to lots of craters in the ground and Koneko practically bounced around the place leaving one from her jump and another from her landing. On the bright side, it had really improved her mobility. On the not-so-bright side, it was making her into a living projectile of mass pain.

He didn't have time to focus on her as he moved again, a wave of ice cutting between himself and the pair of girls, blocking him from attacking and providing them with cover. He turned to the side to see Kiba holding up a new sword, once made of a sky blue metal so cold that fog fell from the entire blade. Kiba had really taken his advice and run with it making several new swords. Naturally, the blonde refused to discuss them leaving Junichiro to discover them mid-combat. It made him proud.

He didn't have much time to study the sword through as a volley of small balls of energy with black cores surrounded in red light and lightning came flying at him. They were so widespread that he had nowhere safe to dodge. With little choice, Junichiro threw the sword in his hand into the small ball made up of the Power of Destruction in front of himself to prematurely detonate it. This gave him just enough room to jump through the freshly made gap.

Of course, a second wave was right behind the first. Rias was learning fast and had, with some help from him, come up with a variety of different attacks meant to accomplish various goals. In this case, the widespread volley of small blasts to try and hit him with just one to slow him down. Or, at the very least, to distract him so Akeno and Koneko could recover while she and Kiba kept him off balance.

They were doing significantly better than they had just a couple of weeks ago. None of them had grown particularly stronger, but they had all evolved in the ways they fought and it was making them so much harder to defeat as a group. It kind of made him proud.

He couldn't wait to see how much more impressive they would be when canon came around. Riser was going to piss himself live for the whole underworld to see.

Glorious.

-----Line Break-----

AN

Sitting at 9.7k words. Will probably get to a little over 10k with some review.

So! It's been a while since I hit this story, what do you guys think of the finished Chapter 35? I like it myself. Even cooler though is the next chapter will have a time skip and we'll be moving into canon finally. I can't wait to screw with that! Expect the fallen, Riser, and Kokobiel to happen, but not with the expected outcomes of canon scenarios. After that, things are likely to be different. Known events may, or may not, happen.

Not sure which fic I'll write a chapter for next, but it will be one of them! Lol. Until then!