Fabricator v2 - Chapter 30 (Patreon)

AN

So, 10.2k words for this chapter.

Now that I've done a couple like this, what do you all think? Should I keep taking the time to do longer chapters like this, or stick to shorter ones?

Hope you all like it!

Chapter 30

Akeno caught up to Rias in the old school building after giving her some time to cool down from the 'battle' they'd just participated in. Thankfully, Rias didn't still look mad, though there was a contemplative look on her face that probably didn't bode well for someone.

“How are you doing Rias?”

Rather than answer Akeno's question, Rias replied with, “What do you think of Arai-san?”

Akeno took a moment to formulate her answer, “Strong. Not magically, or even physically, but mentally. A bit of a jerk, but not unforgivable. Insightful, and helpful.”

Rias nodded along in agreement, “We never stood a chance against him did we?”

Akeno shook her head, “We did not.”

Rias turned to face Akeno head on with a wide grin on her face, “I want to recruit him. I was hoping to find a powerful Sacred Gear holder, hopefully even a Longinus, but maybe that's not what I need to save myself. Arai-san defeated us while weaker than us by every measure that usually matters. If he could help us get stronger, teach us to think like he does, or even just give us a few ideas to help, it would be worth recruiting him.”

She turned to look out the window toward the new campus, “Onii-san once told me that raw power wasn't the thing that mattered most, only that it helped. I thought he was just trying to be gentle toward me since he's so much more powerful than I am. Maybe this is what he really meant.”

Akeno thought for a bit before she spoke again, “I don't see why you couldn't recruit him...”

Hearing the pause, Rias asked, “But?”

“But he doesn't exactly need to be reincarnated like the rest of us did. He's not in any danger, fairly powerful, and clearly financially well off. You'd have to make a deal of some sort with him.”

Rias thought about that for a bit. It was true. She'd rescued everyone in her peerage from death while Junichiro was perfectly safe and happy. Even the background check they ran said everything about him was on the up and up, even his home schooling to avoid public schools.

“I'll just have to make the offer and negotiate if he doesn't jump at the opportunity to take the base package. No need to point out that it's things he would get regardless, right?”

Akeno and Rias shared matching conniving smiles. While Devils had become better in recent years, it was still best to double and triple check everything before signing on the dotted line.

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

Junichiro opened the front door to his home, hiding half of himself behind it, and held up a check for one hundred million yen, “Your money, as promised.”

Rias blinked at the bluntness of him just handing over such a large amount of money. She silently accepted the check, not even double checking the amount and opened her mouth to speak, only to realize he was closing the door in her face, “Wait!”

When Junichiro paused, she continued, “There was something else I wanted to discuss with you.”

Junichiro examined her serious look before sighing and stepping away from the door, “Fine, make it quick though. I was in the middle of something.”

Rias walked inside, followed closely by her ever present shadow, Akeno. As they stepped inside, both noticed something strange and shocking. Rias immediately pointed to the obvious problem, “Arai-san! What happened to your arm?!”

Junichiro sighed and gave the pair a bland look, “I lost it years ago. I built myself a nice replacement. After yesterdays fight, I checked it for maintenance and came up with a few ideas to enhance it. I had no idea you'd be here first thing in the morning or I'd have waited.”

Seriously, he'd expected her to sulk a bit more before coming to claim her prize sometime in the afternoon. Why the hell would he expect her to show up first thing on a Sunday morning?! He led the pair into the living room and flopped down into his favorite recliner, one heavily magically modified for comfort, “So, what is it? I'd like to get back to work.”

He didn't necessarily mean to be rude toward Rias at the moment, but he was pretty annoyed to be interrupted. It'd been over two weeks since the last time Mittelt had stopped by and without her around, there was no one else to answer the door for him. He'd had to leave his half disassembled arm on his workbench to get the door and not having both of his arms was annoying and felt weird to him. He'd gotten used to having nearly full feeling in both limbs again and not having it was terrible. It reminded him of worse days.

Rias and Akeno sat on the couch side-by-side, though it was Rias who addressed him, “I wanted to make you an offer. After our battle, I was forced to acknowledge your strength. I'd like to invite you to join my peerage.”

Junichiro tilted his head and studied Rias. Naturally, she wasn't quite what he had expected. That could mostly be laid at the feet of her younger age. Two years was a fair bit of time for someone to grow more mature and change. Especially two teenage years.

“What's in it for me?”

Rias smiled at the pretty standard and expected question, “You would become a devil and gain all that it entails. You'd have a lifespan measured in millenia, access to Devil Magic, and a fully enhanced body. I'd like to reincarnate you as my second Knight, so that comes with an increase in speed above the usual norm as well.”

Junichiro snorted, “I'd get all of that regardless. That's all part and parcel for joining any peerage.”

Rias winced a bit. She hadn't expected him to be that aware of what the Evil Pieces did. She let out a sigh and intensely focused on him, “Fine. What would you want in exchange for joining my peerage?”

“Nothing too complicated. First and foremost, I'd require you to nottell anyone anything revealing about me without my express permission. I have many secrets and I will not have you, or anyone else in your peerage, spreading that information around as gossip.”

Rias tilted her head at the somewhat odd request, but eventually nodded her head, “That's not really a problem, a bit odd though. Anything else?”

“What's mine is mine.”

Rias blinked at that, “What do you mean? Like, your money? I have no interest in taking your money.”

“Not just my finances, but my skills, knowledge, abilities, anything like that. You're not allowed to take my stuff or demand it in other ways. Same for the peerage. In fact, consider anything I request as applying to your peerage.”

Rias frowned, “I'd never take things from you, though part of why I wish to recruit you is your knowledge. I wont demand it, but I would ask that you use what you know to help everyone grow stronger together.”

Junichiro nodded, “That's fine. I'm not opposed to teaching you all a thing or two, or even giving you ideas to explore on your own. I'm not trying to be some dick who wants to keep everything to himself. I'm just trying to protect myself. I have things I can't have exposed and I need to guarantee that I'm protected if I join you.”

Rias wasn't sure what he had to protect, but she could understand his desire to protect it, “Anything else?”

“I'm not your dog.” Seeing the look of objection appearing on Rias's face, he rode over her, “While I know the Gremory family supposedly treats their peerage members like family, I want my rights protected in writing. Unless something changes, I would prefer our relationship to be more like a business arrangement where you make requests and I choose whether to fulfill them or not. I'm a busy individual and there's a lot of things I probably wont want to bother with, like going to school.”

He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, “I'm big on free will and I will not join your peerage unless I can maintain my free will.”

Rias still looked slightly upset but nodded her head, “Fine, anything else?”

Junichiro leaned back and thought, “One last thing, I wont join you right this instant.” Seeing her pouting and looking disappointed, he continued, “First, I want our contract in writing and I'm sure that will take time. Second, I want to spend some time as a provisional member. Meaning, I want to spend time with you and your peerage getting to know you all without making the change. It's all well and good to be told by outsiders that the Gremory's are nice, but I want to see what you're like up close and personal. I'll even take time out of my schedule to spend time at meetings or whatever it is you all do.”

He gave Rias a stern look, “That last part is completely non-negotiable. I will not join your peerage until I know you and the rest better.”

When he first arrived he'd been single minded about wanting to join Rias's peerage and while he would still like to do so, he wanted to make sure she was what he expected. If she was too different from his expectations, he wouldn't join her peerage and would find an alternate path. Maybe see if he could talk his way into Serafall's peerage.

Rias sighed but nodded, “I understand, and I don't have any issue with any of your requests.”

She didn't have any issues with them, but they made her extremely curious. It was obvious that Junichiro was protecting himself and more. She wanted to know about the more. What did he have to hide? It was a mystery and one she wanted to solve! She was willing to bet it had something to do with how he talked about his missing arm. She wasn't sure what it would take to make a working replacement arm, but it had to be a lot of work!

Junichiro leaned forward in his chair, “If there's nothing else, I'd like to get back to work.”

Rias pouted at the dismissal, but let it go, “Alright. If you want to see what we're up to, come to the old school building at Kuoh tonight. We have daily gatherings after school before everyone goes out to try and get clients, or to fulfill one of the few requests we're getting. I'd like for you to see the process and how we're building up a client base since we just took over this territory recently.”

Junichiro nodded in acceptance, “I'll be there.”

With that, their meeting broke up. Junichiro led Rias and Akeno out, noting that Akeno had been silent the whole time. He thought it was a bit unusual until he thought about the nature of the meeting. They weren't friends and it was a business meeting, it would have been completely inappropriate for Akeno to be her usual teasing self. Rather, silently supporting Rias and being nearby to fulfill her requests seemed more appropriate for a Queen.

After escorting the pair out, he returned to his workshop where his arm was laying out on a table completely disassembled. Scattered around it were various bits and pieces that made up the shell beneath the Doppelganger Flesh, the flesh itself, and the blood red metal that made up the bones in the shape of actual bones.

Junichiro smiled as he picked up a metal box containing thin strands of the same blood iron that made up the skeleton of the arm. The strands were slightly thicker than a hair, but not by much and there were thousands of them. He'd been working on producing the strands for weeks and if one were to examine the strands under a microscope, they would see an array of runes carved into each one.

The last item on the desk was a very thick book that showed a picture of a human arm stripped of its skin to reveal the musculature beneath. He carefully studied the medical text while gathering strands and arranging them in bundles with telekinesis. The work he needed to do would be far to delicate to attempt bare handed even if he had both hands to work with.

He took the bundle of Blood Iron fibers and began laying them down in layers that attached to specific points on the Blood Iron bones. He slowly and carefully used the medical text as directions on how to build up the layers of muscle that an arm would be expected to have. He added the Blood Iron strands layer by layer until the end product was an arm that looked like it had been flayed. The red color of the iron almost matching what one would expect flesh muscles to be colored.

Junichiro smiled as he picked up the arm in the gentle grip of his telekinesis and examined it one final time, “Looking good.”

He moved the arm to the socket on his right arm and connected it to himself with a light click, “Time to test it.”

With the arm attached, he didn't really try to think about what he wanted to do. The arm was designed to work on unconscious control just like his other one did. So, he simply tried lifting it. The arm instantly responded, the strands of Blood Iron shrinking or expanding as flesh muscles would, only significantly faster. The arm snapped up faster than Junichiro could follow, the Blood Iron muscles making the arm significantly more powerful than he'd expected.

“Damn that's a snappy response.”

He tried moving the arm again but focused on moving it slower, moving his left arm in tandem with the right to match their speeds. As he worked on getting a feel for the newly improved limb, he remembered why he needed to do so.

While he'd gotten some practice with his arm and fighting with it in spars at the various dojo's he visited, he'd never fought at such high speeds as he did in the fight yesterday. He'd known he would need to improve the arms strength, hence the Blood Iron muscle fibers, but not so soon. He'd wanted to make a few more upgrades then just install all of them at once. Now he'd do them as he finished them.

Why? Because yesterday he'd been forced to use Rapidly from Avalon to make his right arm match the speed of the rest of his body while using the enhanced speed granted to him by his sword. The principles that caused his arms to move were vastly different between right and left. This left the right lagging behind as it relied on magic to move while the left had magic and muscle. The difference wasn't too large, but he knew it would only get larger as his flesh and bones became stronger.

Hence the Blood Iron muscles complete with a rune array and enchantments to help the strands shrink and expand as needed while being nice and flexible without losing any of their durability. He would now literally have muscles as hard as iron.

After flexing the arm a bit more and getting used to the feel of it, he detached it once more and returned it to the bench. He needed to cover it back up and put the Doppelganger Flesh back over it to disguise it as a normal arm once more. Sadly, installing the muscles meant he had to remove a couple of the hidden surprises, to make room. He was happy he didn't have to remove them all though.

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

Junichiro smiled and lifted his arm in a casual wave, “Hey Kiba.”

He'd just arrived at Kuoh Academy and found Kiba waiting for him at the entrance. Kiba turned toward him and gave a small polite bow, “Greetings Arai-san.”

Junichiro waved the polite greeting off, “Just call me Junichiro. I'm not one for being overly polite.”

Kiba just gave a polite smile and turned to gesture in the direction of the old school building, “Rias-sama is awaiting your arrival.”

Junichiro rolled his eyes at the continued polite attitude, “You know that if I do join her peerage I'll expect you to treat me like a friend, right?”

Kiba just continued to smile politely. It was only then that Junichiro noticed a little twitch at the corner of Kiba's lips. The straitlaced guy was messing with him! That actually made Junichiro a bit happy. It'd been a long time since he'd had someone his own age to mess about with. There was just something nice about messing around and doing stupid stuff with guy friends that women would likely never understand. Something to look forward too!

The pair walked to the building where Kiba led him up to the second floor and a finely decorated room. Junichiro looked around and could tell they hadn't been using it for too long. It just didn't have that comfortable lived in feeling. Everything looked too... newly installed.

Everyone else was inside of the room, apparently awaiting his arrival. Rias gave him a bright smile, “Arai-san, right on time!”

Junichiro found and empty seat and carelessly flopped into it, “Alright, I'm only going to say this once, all of you are free to call me Junichiro, or even just Juni. No need to be overly polite. After all, if things go well, I'll be one of you soon enough.”

He saw subtle looks from Kiba, Akeno, and Koneko directed at Rias along with the tiny nod Rias gave them in return. The interaction finished, Rias continued to give him a cheerful smile, “Then feel free to call me Rias.”

Junichiro gave her a lazy salute and smile, “Sure thing, Rias.”

Rias coughed to cover up the slight flush she got from him referring to her so intimately so soon. She might not have been raised Japanese but she was an otaku of the highest order and it bled heavily into her daily life and personality. She cleared her throat before speaking once more, “I did have a question or two for you, feel free not to answer but I would appreciate it if you did.”

“Ask away.”

“Can you tell me why you don't want to attend school? I ask because we're planning to open Kuoh Academy to male students starting next year and I would like you to attend second year with myself and Akeno. You mentioned it in our negotiation and I wanted to get more details.”

“It's simple really, school holds nothing I need. I'm sure you've realized the check I gave you was legitimate by now.” Rias nodded so he continued, “I am independently wealthy. I could spend a ton of money daily and never run out. I don't need a normal education or a normal job, instead I focus on other things.”

“What other things?”

Junichiro turned his focus to Akeno after she spoke, “I'll only talk about that if the contract between myself and Rias has been signed and I've joined the peerage. Until then, it's a secret!”

Both Rias and Akeno pouted, though Rias had a cute pout, he could tell Akeno was just putting one on to attempt to look cuter. Frankly, he had no interest in her. Akeno was a well known sadomasochist and he wasn't heavily interested in either half of that equation. With that complete lack of interest in her, despite her already being one of the most beautiful women he'd ever seen, came the ability to see through her act.

Rias chimed in, “Even if the educational aspect doesn't matter to you, what about the social aspect? Making friends, joining a club, having fun with people your own age?”

Junichiro shrugged uncaring, “I've got more important things to do with my time. Even if I was interested in making a bunch of friends and joining clubs and stuff, it wouldn't be worth sitting through pointless classes for a majority of the day.”

Rias frowned a little at that. She really wanted to know what was so much more important than school, but knew he wouldn't answer that question yet. She moved on, “Alright, I guess that partially explains it. I'll wait until later for more details. Would you be willing to work with all of us to help us all get stronger? The tidbits you gave out during the fight are definitely helpful, but maybe some one on one time and practice would be better?”

“That's not a problem. I don't mind helping out in small ways like that. Like I said in our negotiations, I'm not trying to be an asshole or anything, just trying to protect myself.”

Rias smiled brightly. Having someone like Junichiro in her peerage, or even just helping her group out, was a huge help. She still had the better part of a decade until she would be forced to marry Riser Phenex, but that was still too close. She would never admit it aloud, but she knew he was stronger than her, for now. If her plans worked out then by the time she finished her four years of college, she'd be strong enough to crush him and free herself of the arrangment.

“Thank you for that. My next question... It might be too personal. I'm not requiring you to answer, but I would appreciate it if you did.” Seeing Junichiro nod in acceptance, she continued, “What happened to your arm?

Junichiro let out a long sigh. He'd been expecting that and was surprised she waited this long to ask him. Rather than answer her right away, he pulled out his cigarette case and retrieved one with a calming mixture. He still hadn't completely gotten over the incident so a little extra help to remain calm would be appreciated. After lighting the smoke and taking a deep drag and exhaling, he answered, “The day I moved to Kuoh, I went out to get some food because I didn't have any inside the house.”

He took another drag before he continued, “After leaving the shop I heard such lovely music. Before I knew it, I was inside of an abandoned house. A stray devil had lured me to the house and attacked me. Before I knew it, she'd sliced off my arm and was eating it in front of me.”

His voice lost all emotion and became flat as he explained the event, “I fought back with some stuff I had. I passed out with the house burning down around me and the stray. When I woke up, I was patched up but still missing my arm.”

He took a final long drag to finish the cigarette, snuffing it out in the palm of his right hand. He could feel some of the heat, but not pain and the Doppelganger Flesh wouldn't be damaged by such a weak source of heat, “The replacement I have was made by 'The Artificer,' and no, I wont explain how I managed that.”

The mention of 'The Artificer' sent a wave of shock through the group. Junichiro's title was well known in the supernatural world. His healing potions had made their way into the hands of every faction and his works were shown off by those he did a job for. Hell, some people treated his items more like works of art and displayed them for prestige, which annoyed him a fair bit. Anyone that did that was blacklisted from getting anything else custom made by him.

“Your arm was made by The Artificer?! That's amazing!” She tilted her head in thought for a bit, “Which means you have some connection to the Grigori. May I ask what the nature of your relationship with them is?”

This was something she needed to know. If he was a member of Grigori then recruiting him would be entirely inappropriate, even if he wasn't personally against it. The members of Grigori might see it as her poaching him regardless of Junichiro's personal decisions.

Junichiro waved his hand dismissively, “I'm not a member of the Grigori. Just familiar with a few and dating one of their members.”

That got everyone's attention, especially Akeno. Her violet eyes narrowed in suspicion as she stared hard at Junichiro. He glanced at her, but made no other move. He could see her personal bias shining through and wanted so badly to slap her around for it.

Rias was the one to break the silence, “Y-you're dating a member of the Grigori?”

Junichiro nodded, “Well, for now I am. It seems like things are coming to a close between us though. She's been growing more distant lately so I think she's pushing for me to end it.”

The whole peerage, minus Koneko who seemed uncaring, exchanged looks between themselves. Rias was the one to speak for them, “Are you certain that wont be a problem? While we are in a sort of ceasefire, none of the three factions are friendly with each other. If they take you joining my peerage the wrong way, it could cause some serious trouble.”

Junichiro waved his hand dismissively, “I wouldn't worry about it. While I'm friendly with the Grigori, I'm not one of them. Additionally, the few Grigori I know, minus my soon to be ex, will want to maintain a standing relationship with me. I highly doubt they'll have much to say.”

He believed that too. Mittelt had no doubt told Azazel of his desire to join one of the two heiresses coming to Kuoh. Yet, Azazel hadn't said a thing to him about it. He hadn't even tried to subtly increase the offers to join the Grigori. He suspected Azazel approved of him joining one of the peerages as it might help play into his plans for peace. While Junichiro might not enjoy being used for other peoples ends, in this case he fully supported Azazel's push for peace. If him joining Rias would help with that goal, he didn't mind being used just a tiny bit by Azazel.

Besides that, Junichiro liked to think of himself as someone who keeps his word. Azazel and the Grigori were the front for his activities as 'The Artificer' and would remain so even after he joined Rias. More practically, Azazel had more contacts and was more neutral to the other supernatural factions allowing Junichiro's products to sell to just about everyone. Rias, despite her family connections, wouldn't be as well positioned to sell his products.

He also worried about the political shit-stains within Devil society trying to get their hands on himself and force him to work for them. It's why he would be paying strict attention to every single word in the contract Rias would be presenting him. He'd make her rewrite the whole thing a thousand times to get it right, if necessary.

Rias studied Junichiro and, seeing no obvious signs of deception, asked, “Are you certain it will be alright? We can't risk a run in with the Grigori. If things were to get out of hand it could easily re-spark the war.”

Junichiro nodded, “It'll be fine. Like I said, as long as I explain properly, there will be no problems from the Grigori.”

Rias continued to study him for a bit before she nodded, “Alright. We can stop here and just take some time to get to know each other. For now, I'll explain our activities here in Kuoh that you would be expected to take part in.”

After the questions were over and the conversation finished, everyone went about their, currently, usual jobs. Kiba, Koneko, and Akeno all grabbed boxes of fliers and left to different places to distribute them to people on the streets. Meanwhile, Rias was left in the room and forced to do a large amount of paperwork. Due to the territory not having someone actively taking care of it for so long, on top of the changes coming to Kuoh Academy, she had a lot of things to go over.

None of that appealed to Junichiro though so he excused himself and made his way home for the day. A tentative schedule had been laid out. During the week he would come to the school for the little informational sessions before everyone went on to their business, be that fliers or clients. On the weekends he would work one-on-one with a member of the peerage and see if he could offer them some advice or just to spar with them and provide experience.

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

Junichiro walked through the gates of Kuoh Academy a while after Saturday club activities had ended for the day. He drew some attention from the few remaining students of the still all female student body but no one said anything. Why would they when Junichiro walked through the place with confidence in what he was doing and where he was going. If he'd been acting sketchy he would have drawn even more attention, all of it negative. Acting like he was supposed to be there made the people looking at him believe he was supposed to be there.

It didn't hurt that he was a little excited to be there either. Today was the first day he would be doing some one on one training with a member of the peerage and Kiba was up first. It had been decided he would go first for a few reasons. The biggest reason was their shared Sacred Gear and Junichiro's clear superiority in its use. The second, slightly lesser, reason was to see how he behaved as a teacher.

Neither Rias nor Akeno would admit it aloud, but they were slightly worried about how Junichiro might behave with them in private. It wasn't a serious fear or anything deep but a not unexpected fear of being around a virtual stranger that you know is stronger than you are. In their world that meant he was, technically, superior to them despite the power they had a Devils. Though Rias believed she could beat Junichiro with her Power of Destruction, she'd rather not have to find out if she was right or not.

Junichiro didn't mind either way. He had no plans to do anything nefarious to anyone in the peerage. In fact, he was actually beginning to look forward to joining them. So far they had all acted like he'd expected them to.

Kiba was polite, stoic, and put on the whole 'princly' act he liked to keep up as a facade against the real world. But, every now and then, Junichiro would see a little hint of the psychotic rage that Kiba kept carefully hidden. Knowing Kiba's past, it wasn't too hard for Junichiro to sympathize with the guy. Still, he'd have to help redirect that rage to the appropriate target in the future.

Koneko was as quiet and damaged as he expected. He had yet to see her show even a single emotion. It was honestly a bit disheartening and depressing to be around the tiny nekoshou. It honestly surprised him how much better and more well adjusted Koneko would be in another two years by the canon story line.

Then there was Akeno. Dear god did he want to take her somewhere and slap the shit out of her. Even if the original author somewhere in the multiverse was to be blamed, she was a shit character. He could understand if her original character in the books hadn't been fully fleshed out and things were just tacked on in future novels, but in this world that would just be a lame excuse.

As far as he could tell, Akeno had lived the life he expected. When she found out Mittelt, the girlfriend he still hadn't broken up with, was a Fallen Angel, she lost her shit. The sheer rage she displayed was astonishing and just made him want to slap the hell out of her even harder. Once he, eventually, weaseled her life story out of her, he planned to do just that!

Then there was Rias. While he hadn't straight out confirmed that she was still slated to marry Riser, he'd picked up a few things that made him certain she was engaged to him. She always got this slightly depressed aura about her whenever the subject of the future came up. While she clearly had some hope and a desire to fight her fate, part of her seemed to think it was inevitable.

Other than that, she was actually pretty fun to be around. They spent a lot of time talking manga and anime. Her knowledge of the subject completely eclipsed his own, but that was to be expected since he spent the majority of his time in his workshop either making stuff for customers or himself. He'd spent a lot of time in his last life on the subject and some time in his current life on the internet seeing what had an analogue and what didn't. With her interest in it, he spent some time telling her about anime from his past life as stories he'd come up with.

If anyone had the connections to make the anime he remembered from his last life into a reality, it was Rias. To that end, she suggested that he write down all of his ideas. He'd taken her advice, but went a step further and made something to read his subconscious and conscious mind to get as much of the story lines as he could remember. Though only the ones with completed stories. He didn't feel he was anywhere near creative enough to come up with satisfying endings to stories like One Piece.

He smiled at the thought of bringing shows like Jojo's Bizarre Adventure to life. While he'd never been the worlds largest fan of the series, he'd watched the available anime at least once so he could follow the references. Aside from that, he though, like many, that Dio would make a semi-decent role-model for Gasper to imitate... to a point. They were both time stopping vampires, after all. Just as long as Gasper didn't mimic the more psychopathic parts of Dio.

Junichiro opened the door to the old school building and made his way to the second floor where the peerage members awaited. As he stepped inside, Rias smiled brightly, “Junichiro-san! Excellent. Before you and Kiba get to training, there's a couple of things to talk about.”

Junichiro sat down next to Koneko on one of the couches and gestured for Rias to continue. She did, “First,” She handed a couple of sheets of paper to Akeno who carried them to Junichiro, “The contract you requested. Take a look over it and let me know if there's anything you don't like so I can change it. After that, it'll be up to you to decide when we sign it.”

Junichiro accepted the pages from Akeno but didn't look them over just yet. Instead he waited for Rias to continue, “Second, I was hoping you would be open to all of us observing as you teach Kiba. We'll stay out of the way and won't interfere, but we'd all be more comfortable there together.”

Junichiro shrugged his shoulders, “That's fine. I wont be giving out any grand secrets or anything. What else?”

Rias smiled brightly, “That's all for now.” She climbed to her feet and gestured to the teleportation circle carved into the floor of the room, “While we do have stairs leading down to the training room I requested built after meeting you, it's much easier to teleport down.”

That caused Junichiro to arch an eyebrow in surprise. He'd made an offhand comment about how dedicated areas were better for training and Rias had, apparently, immediately gotten one. He wasn't surprised about how quickly the job got done. If there was one thing he remembered clearly, it was how ridiculously fast the Devil construction companies could be. Magic helped.

The group of five stepped into the circle which was subsequently powered by Akeno. With a flash of red light, they disappeared from the meeting room and appeared below ground in a massive empty white space. The only thing breaking the scene was a computer console sitting on a pillar. Rias grinned brightly and practically skipped to the pillar, “When you mentioned a training space, I though to myself, 'what would be good in a training space' and it got me thinking.”

She turned to look at Junichiro with a wide grin, “So I did a little more than just make a big open space.”

She pushed a button on the council and, in response, magic circles sprang to life all over the walls, floor, and ceiling of the room. The circles quickly transformed the barren white room into a simulated Roman Colosseum, complete with seating.

Junichiro let out an impressed whistle while Rias preened a bit and explained, “There's only a few settings and we have to spend a little time to recharge the system every day during the week to give it proper power for the weekend. Still, it's very much worth it. With this we can train in a few select environments as a team or alone as needed.”

Junichiro grinned at that and looked around the room. He didn't bother asking who designed it, rather his mind was going over the possibilities and thinking of ways to make something similar, but with far more features and better magic efficiency so it didn't require manual charging like the current system.

He was brought out of his planning by Rias speaking again, “We'll take some seats to watch you and Kiba train from.”

Junichiro nodded at that and led Kiba toward the center of the arena. They didn't stand too far apart since this wasn't a duel but rather instruction, “Alright Kiba. First things first, did you manage to emulate anything I showed you during our previous fight?”

Kiba nodded, “I did, not much though.”

To prove his point he held his right hand out and in a flash of white light a small silver colored sword appeared sitting on the palm of his hand, “I managed to make a small sword but I can't seem to get it to do the things yours did.”

Junichiro nodded, “It's a mental thing, I'm sure. You've spent so long picturing swords as their larger versions that truly accepting what I can do eludes you.”

He held up his own right hand and in a flash of white light a sword bent into the shape of a ring appeared, “Tell me, why isn't this a sword?”

Kiba looked at the 'sword' sitting on Junichiro's palm and frowned, “Because it's a ring.”

Junichiro gripped the ring shaped sword in his fingers and began to unbend it with relative ease. He'd made it out of pewter, after all. So it wasn't very hard to straighten out the ring into a small sword about the same size and shape as the one sitting on Kiba's palm, “Tell me what the difference between the sword you made and the sword I made really is.”

Kiba looked between the two small swords and frowned, “Nothing.”

“Exactly! There is no difference.” Junichiro rolled the sword back into a ring shape, “No matter how I shape it, it's still a sword in the end. You can do the same thing. Once you realize that...”

He dismissed the little sword and his hands both flashed with golden light as ten rings connected by small chains appeared on his hands once more, “You can push it to the limits. Making magic swords with Sword Birth is easy, once you go through the process of designing them anyway.” That got a nod from Kiba, “I can help you design some magical swords if you have a problem doing it on your own.”

Junichiro made the offer as he knew that while Kiba was an excellent swordsman, he had no imagination. To fight Riser, Kiba only made swords to stop fire and wind but nothing that could counter or compete against regeneration. It was clear that Kiba's thought process on making magic swords was simple and straightforward. That would need to be changed to get the most out of Sword Birth.

“Kiba, I want you to focus on Sword Birth now. We're going to make you a new sword. I'm not sure of your process so I'll tell you how I make a sword into jewelry. It's a multistep process so follow along and let me know as you complete each step.”

Kiba nodded and sat down on the ground and crossed his legs to be more relaxed and focused. Once Kiba was ready, he began, “First, let's make something from my home country, Hihi'irokane. Hihi'irokane is a legendary Japanese metal with a close relationship to fire, some even say it is fire itself turned to metal. It's a lovely light shade of red and is always warm to the touch. Can you picture the metal in your mind, Kiba?”

Kiba silently nodded, not wanting to speak and risk breaking his focus, “Good. Now shape the metal into an ingot or a simple rectangular brick. Once it's formed, flatten it out in your mind until it forms a long bar. Fold the bar in half. Then stretch it back out. Repeat this process a few times, at least five. Nod when you're finished.”

He looked away from Kiba while the blonde continued to work on the process of folding the metal in his mind. It might seem like something that could be imagined instantly, but in reality Sword Birth slowed the process down. Otherwise Junichiro would be able to instantly imagine any kind of sword with any kind of metal and bring it to life with whatever magic he wanted. Sadly, it wasn't quite that simple, not too complicated, but not that simple.

His gaze swept over the three ladies watching the process. Rias was on the edge of her seat practically vibrating in excitement. He wasn't too surprised about that. Rias was a Japanophile, after all, and Kiba was working on making a sword out of a legendary Japanese metal.

Akeno, meanwhile, looked slightly interested in what was going on, but not nearly as invested as Rias. Koneko, on the other hand, looked bored out of her mind and was munching on cookies to keep herself occupied. He gave all three of them a smile before turning back to Kiba. Just a minute or so later, Kiba nodded his head.

“Excellent. Now that the last fold is completed, stretch the metal out until it becomes a katana blade. Just the blade itself with a proper tang for the handle to come. Don't forget to place a hole in the tang for a pin to hold the handle on.”

While Junichiro could use all the proper terminology for making a katana, he didn't believe that Kiba would be able to follow along. Kiba seemed to prefer western swords so he kept the terminology simple but understandable for him.

After Kiba nodded once more, Junichiro continued, “Alright, next we need to made the tsuba or guard, and the handle. For the tsuba you can keep it as simple as a plain circle made out of brass, or something more complicated such as Hihi'irokane with a complex design. Whatever you do, let me know when it's done.”

After another nod came the last part in the super simplified process. When doing it himself, Junichiro actually imagined the entire forging process in his mind step by step to make his most powerful swords with Sword Birth. He doubted Kiba could do the same.

“Now picture the handle. A simple wooden handle covered in ray skin, properly wrapped, with a buttcap. Once it's finished, construct the katana. Slide the tsuba and handle on and picture the fully completed katana.”

Another nod and he continued, “Now, for the magical effect of the weapon, we want it to be able to absorb fire and convert it into magical power to refill your own reserves. Once the effect is in place comes the last step before we finalize it. The sword you've been making this entire time, is tiny, so small that you can easily roll it into a circle to create a ring to wear on your index finger. Once the sword is properly shaped, finish it.”

Sweat beaded Kiba's brow as he focused intensely on the process of finalizing the katana. Kiba had made plenty of magic swords before, but he'd never made one out of legitimate magical materials before. It was taking a large amount of effort for him to keep every detail in mind while adding it into his Sword Birth. Finally, after a few minutes of effort, he felt it click in place and relaxed.

After taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out, Kiba looked up at Junichiro, “That was intense, do you go through that every time?”

Junichiro shook his head, “Nah, when I do it, it takes longer and more effort since I put even far more detail into the swords creation. I go through the entire process of making the sword in every detail, step by step.”

Kiba shook his head and climbed to his feet, “That almost seems like too much work. Still...”

He held his hand up and focused. With a flash of golden light, a light red colored katana in the shape of a ring appeared on his index finger. He gasped and sagged a little, “Oh man, that really takes it out of you. That took at least ten times as much demonic power as summoning any of my other swords!”

Junichiro smirked, “That's the Hihi'irokane. Using magical materials in the creation of the sword makes the process harder and the final product more magically draining. It's entirely worth it though. Swords made from magical materials are more durable and their magical effects are more potent.”

Kiba nodded, “That was always something that... bothered me about Sword Birth, how fragile the blades were. I never thought too deeply on it though since it was so easy just to summon another copy.”

Junichiro grinned and started walking away a few paces, “Since you've got a new toy, we should test it out and see how well it works for you.”

As he finished talking, he held his hand out and summoned a sword with a flash of golden light that revealed a Hihi'irokane katana. He turned to face Kiba while feeding some magical power into his blade. The edge of the sword started to glow red before it ignited into raging flames, “Since you made something to handle flames, I'll obviously send some flames at you.”

Kiba smiled and nodded, though he summoned one of his previously created weapons, Flame Delete. It seemed like a good idea to have some extra protection. Seeing that Kiba was ready, Junichiro lifted his sword up and performed a textbook downward slash. The flames along the edge of his blade roared as they were launched at Kiba in a crimson arc.

Kiba, perfectly capable of dealing with such a simple straightforward attack, held his sword in his left hand while holding up his right hand to intercept the arc of fire. As the flames approached him, the girls on the sidelines witnessed the same phenomena that they'd seen during their fight against Junichiro. The flames heading for Kiba were visibly shrinking and quickly vanished before they reached Kiba.

Rias clapped excitedly at the display, even cheering Kiba on for his success and drawing a small flush of embarrassment from him. Akeno chuckled and gave a polite clap while Koneko just munched on a cookie.

“Good job Kiba.” Junichiro dismissed his sword, “Did it work completely?”

Kiba dismissed his swords as well and nodded, “It did. I don't think I got as much energy out of the attack as you put into it, but I did recover some of my demonic power.”

“Excellent. Now all you have to do is make another one for each and every energetic element you can think of, like lighting. I, uh, wouldn't suggest trying to use the same technique against more solid attacks. It's a completely different beast to try and absorb a magical attack made of ice or a giant stone. It's not impossible, but those kinds of attacks are just more solid and take a lot longer to drain.”

From there, Junichiro explained some more of his thought process on making magical sword shaped jewelry to enhance the user's abilities. Junichiro had other tricks, and did mention that he did, but didn't go into details on them. He just encouraged Kiba to question his definition of 'sword' and try various things out. He was willing to teach, not give away all of his personal tricks.

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

After the teaching session was finished and Kiba was left with a lot to think about, Junichiro spoke up, “Now that that's out of the way, how about a friendly spar? I don't often get to practice with people around my strength. Not to mention, you're better than me at handling a sword so I could definitely use the learning experience.”

Kiba smiled and nodded in acceptance, “It would be my pleasure.”

Both of them held out their hands and summoned swords in mutual flashes of white light. As expected, Kiba did have a blunt training sword just as Junichiro did. The only difference was Kiba's preference for western swords while Junichiro stuck to eastern blades. This time Junichiro summoned a straight bladed ninjato, a simple one handed sword popular among ninjas in media.

The two eyed each other until they both moved at the same time. Without his magical ring-swords to enhance his base abilities, it was instantly clear that Kiba had the absolute edge on him in every way. Kiba was faster, stronger, and more competent in the use of a sword. It brought a smile to his face as Junichiro was forced to fight at the very limit of his strength and speed just to keep up with Kiba.

Thankfully Kiba wasn't really the vindictive sort, anger issues with a certain sword aside, so he was kind enough to keep his speed and strength limited to just above Junichiro's.

Their swords clashed repeatedly as Kiba probed Junichiro's defenses, pointing out holes for Junichiro to cover properly. While Junichiro was using the opportunity to improve his swordsmanship some, Kiba was using the time to learn about his skill level. Though he would never admit it aloud, Kiba was slightly disappointed with the skill level that Junichiro was showing. It was clear he had some training, but it clearly wasn't as much or from very highly skilled teachers.

Of course, not everyone could be taught by a legendary Japanese swordsman that happened to be in the peerage of their Master's older brother. Junichiro would do a lot to have an opportunity to learn the sword from Okita Souji the legendary member of the Shinsengumi.

The spar lasted for a good fifteen minutes before Kiba decided to end it. In the blink of an eye, Kiba's blade sliced through the air aiming for Junichiro's chest in a diagonal slash. Junichiro moved to intercept but the slash turned into a feint. With his sword out of position, Kiba's blade passed through his open defenses and came to a stop at his throat.

Kiba had a polite smile as he said, “Not bad Arai-san. You did very well.”

Junichiro chuckled as he dismissed his sword as he tried to catch his breath. The spar might have been short but it was intense and he was having trouble catching his breath while sweating profusely, “That might sound less condescending if you were even slightly out of breath.”

Kiba just chuckled and shrugged his shoulders in a 'what can you do' manner, “It's not my fault you've not taken Rias-sama up on her offer yet.”

Junichiro rolled his eyes and shook his head, “Maybe soon, but not yet.”

He caught Rias pouting out of the corner of his eye. The young woman clearly wanted him to join her peerage and he was definitely leaning in that direction. He just wanted to triple check the contract and spend a little more time to get to know her better. So far he was happy, but it could all still be an act. Though he highly doubted it.

With the day's lesson and extra spar out of the way, the group returned to the club room and split up to do their own things.

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

Junichiro sat at his workbench looking over a golden colored ring with a rough surface. If one were to look at the surface of the ring under a microscope they would see that the roughness was actually a plethora of runes carved into the ring via laser.

He'd made the ring quite a while ago, however he had been unable to use it due to the magical power it needed to absorb to work. He'd kept it stored in his workshop since making it so it could draw in extra power from the thicker atmosphere it contained. It had only finished charging the night before and now he was contemplating using it.

“It's still a little early but...”

He looked at a few sheets of paper next to the ring on the table, the contract. It contained everything he asked for. If he signed it and joined Rias's peerage, she would only technically be his Master. In reality, she really would be more like his boss. It, essentially, would be his choice on whether or not he did as she said. If he chose not to, there was nothing she could really do about it.

Of course, as her employee, he was expected to work and he had no problem with that. Working for her would be the fastest way to climb his way up the political ranks. He could be the number one most powerful being in the world and still be classed as a Low-Class Devil if he never passed the tests to become Mid-Class.

There were other options than testing, but that was beside the point. The point was, he didn't mind earning what he wanted.

He thought about it for a bit more before he sighed and picked up the ring. After examining it once more, he slipped it onto his left hand ring finger. It could almost be mistaken for a wedding band. The ring began to give off a soft glow after a few seconds letting him know it was ready for use.

With the ring on, he collected a couple of wands, put on his utility belt, and strapped on his favorite large knife and revolver. Everything was placed under charms to redirect attention to keep himself from getting in trouble with the police. With his gear gathered, he left his home.

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

Junichiro sat on a bus stop bench with a cigarette between his lips and a wand in his hand. He happily smoked as the tip of the wand gently glowed. Not too far from where he sat was a modest home where a small family of three lived.

He quietly watched as the front door opened and a young man stepped out wearing casual clothing. Anyone familiar with High School DxD wouldn't have any issues recognizing Hyoudou Issei.

Issei had a somewhat glazed look in his eyes as he casually walked in Junichiro's direction. As he got closer, Junichiro stood up and began to walk away. Issei silently followed a short distance behind. As he was in a bit of an ironic mood, Junichiro led Issei into the same park where Raynare would have killed him in the canon story.

As they approached the center of the park where the recognizable fountain sat, Junichiro decided it was time. Issei, still out of it and not seeming to recognize anything that was going on, came to a stop at a silent command.

Junichiro walked up to the younger boy and held up his left hand to look at the golden ring, “I really hope this works as expected.”

Without wasting another moment, Junichiro pressed his hand against Issei's chest, making sure the ring had full contact. With a pulse of magic sent to the ring, his entire hand began to sink into Issei's chest, “Holy shit that's creepy!”

Even if he was the one doing it, seeing his hand sink into someone's chest was just weird. His entire hand continued to sink inside of Issei until it was up to his elbow. He wasn't reaching into Issei's physical body but rather into his metaphysical one where his soul and, more importantly, the Boosted Gear resided.

With another pulse of his mana, the ring began phase two of its function. It took a few moments, but eventually he felt something touching his fingers. Without waiting any longer, he curled his fingers into a claw shape and grabbed onto what he was feeling. Once he was certain his grip was tight enough, he began to pull.

Issei's blank face snapped into focus as intense pain radiated throughout the boy's body. His mouth opened but he couldn't even begin to scream as the pain overwhelmed all of his senses. Junichiro grimaced at that. He'd hoped the process wouldn't be painful and could be done without Issei experiencing anything.

Despite feeling a bit bad about it, Junichiro didn't stop and continued tugging. His arm was slowly retreating out of Issei's chest cavity. As he pulled his hand out, rays of red light began to shine out around his arm bathing the area in blinding light.

Junichiro gave a final tug ripping a red gauntlet with golden spikes and a green gem on the back of the hand out of Issei. Issei gave one final gasp of pain and collapsed to the ground with his eyes rolled up in the back of his head.

The gauntlet was ignored as Junichiro knelt down and quickly checked Issei's pulse. It was a few moments before he let out a sigh of relief. Issei's pulse was still strong. He'd probably passed out from the pain.

A wand was retrieved and leveled at Issei. A quick spell modifed his memory so he wouldn't remember the pain. A recast of the same spell let him implant false memories of Issei wanting to try his luck buying a porn mag, and succeeding. To that end, Junichiro pulled out a new magazine and set it in Issei's hands. He considered it a little gift from himself to Issei as thanks for the Boosted Gear.

He was totally ripping Issei off and didn't care at all.

With that taken care of, he moved away and pulled out another wand and cast a spell at Issei. Issei stirred on the ground and climbed to his feet before his mind fully kicked in. He looked at the magazine in a brown bag in his hand and giggled perversely. He opened the bag and peered at his prize, “I can't believe I actually managed to get a copy of Heavenly Cantaloupes.”

Issei let off another perverse giggle as he started to slink his way home. As far as he was concerned, today was one of the best days of his life.

Junichiro watched him got with a little smile, “Maybe I should slip him some porn mags every now and then as thanks.”

He looked at the red gauntlet in his hands and smiled brightly. The Sacred Gear Extractor had worked, though not as perfectly as he'd intended. He'd based some of it off of the scans he'd made of that soul eating yokai he'd helped. Her ability with souls had let her separate Sword Birth from it's last user. Granted she killed the guy, but whatever. He ability combined with the scans he'd made of himself gave him all he felt he needed to take Boosted Gear from Issei.

He smiled to himself and turned to make his way home.

“Oh, shit.”

Standing in front of him with her arms crossed under her bust and a delicate eyebrow raised in question was Rias Gremory. After he swore, she smirked, “Can you imagine my surprise when I saw a potential member of my peerage leading a younger man into a park all alone?” Her grin was positively wicked, “For a moment I thought you might be the kind of guy that certain... fanatics would like.”

Junichiro groaned in agony at the thought of thosetypes of women thinking he swung that way.

“But then, I was even more surprised when I saw that potential member ram half of his arm into the other boys chest. I'm not opposed to killing people who deserve or need to die, but I'm against random murder. I half expected that poor boy to die, except there was no blood. Instead, there was bright red light that became a red gauntlet.”

She tilted her head to the side, “Apparently my surprises weren't over for the day because I just witnessed you ripping a Sacred Gear right out of someones chest without killing them. Something I wasn't aware was even possible!”

She narrowed her eyes at Junichiro dangerously, “Who, exactly, are you?”

“...”

“...”

“Shit.”