Welcome everyone, to my newest fic, 'The Devouring Crimson Devil'. Enjoy.
Beta'd by Memodo shiki.
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"So that's him? I don't understand what you see in him. He has very little presence, his strength, intelligence, and athleticism are all below average, and his perversion is an easily exploitable weakness. He's almost completely useless. Why have you set your sights on him?" a young man asked, looking out the window at the retreating forms of a certain trio.
Aforementioned trio were the three individuals known as the 'Perverted Trio' for their constant perverted actions, such as peeping, bringing pornographic videos to class, and constantly speaking loudly about what they would do to their girlfriends if they had one. Ironically, such things kept them from getting anyway near a female, let alone get a girlfriend.
The trio was made up of the three males known as Matsuda, aka 'Perverted Baldy', Motohama, aka 'Perverted Glasses', and Issei Hyoudou, aka 'Ise' by his friends and 'Pervert' by everyone else.
But they're not important, so let's go back to the man from before.
This man was quite tall, just short of 6 feet tall. He had short, crimson-red hair that reached just above his neck. His eyes were a dark blue color, similar to the color of the deep ocean. He was wearing the uniform for Kuoh Academy's college division, consisting of a pair of black jeans, a white shirt, and a black jacket with white seams and four large brass buttons keeping it closed. One could see red bandages protruding from his right sleeve, wrapping around his wrist and right hand, leaving only his fingers uncovered. On his left ring finger there was a black ring with a small, blood-red ruby embedded in it.
But unknown to most of Kuoh Academy, he was also a Devil, one of the resident species of the Underworld.
"I don't know, Regis. I just have a feeling that he has great potential. That he would be a great addition to my Peerage," the girl previously identified as Rias said, reclining in her seat.
"Everyone has great potential buried deep inside them. But it must be carefully nurtured to be brought to the surface. Do you believe you can bring out his potential?" Regis asked, turning to face his companion.
Rias was silent for a long moment.
"No, I don't think I can bring out his potential," she finally replied, her voice little more than a whisper.
Regis frowned in confusion. As he opened his mouth to rebuke her, she continued.
"I know I can! I'll induct him into my Peerage and make him into a powerful Devil!" Rias finished, conviction flooding her voice and a fierce determination burning in her eyes.
Regis grinned at his cousin's declaration.
"I'm glad to hear it. If anyone can bring out that deviant's potential, you can," Regis assured, clapping her on the shoulder.
His expression turned dark as he said, "I don't think you're the only one who noticed Hyoudou's potential. I have a bad feeling others will be going after him, none of them friendly."
"I know that. Koneko already told me that some Fallen Angels have been poking around the school. I think they're after him, too."
Regis grimaced at that. Fallen Angels were never good news. If they were snooping around town, blood was going to be shed. The question was whose blood would it be?
"Tread lightly with them. We don't want to end up destroying what little amnesty there is between the factions," Regis said, inwardly hoping that the Fallen would leave once Issei was dealt with.
"I know, Regis. I'll be careful," Rias said, shooting her cousin a reassuring grin.
"Good luck with Hyoudou," Regis said. "I have a feeling you're going to need it."
With a wave of his hand, a bright-red magic circle appearing at his feet, engulfing him in crimson light. When the light died down, Regis had appeared in another room.
The room was quite large and split into two areas, each taking up half the room. The first half was a normal living area with furniture, a coffee table, more than a few bookshelves (each one missing a least a quarter of its contents), and a television. In the back of the room was an ornate wooden desk. The other half was a dojo area that contained punching bags, wooden practice dummies, and several racks of swords, wooden, bamboo, and steel. Through a doorway off the living area one could see a fully furnished kitchen. Through another door was a luxurious bathroom. A final door that was closed exited out to the hallway of the first floor of Kuoh Academy's old school building. A magic circle with the same shape as the one that had appeared at Regis' feet earlier was engraved into most of the floor of the living area.
The room was empty except for a single person sitting on one of the couches, obscured from view from the multiple stacks of books piled all over the piece of furniture.
His eyebrow gave a tiny twitch as Regis laid his eyes on the large sea of books that was beginning to tip over onto the floor. Marching directly to the heap he grabbed the individual out from underneath, eliciting a squawk of surprise from the figure, who was revealed to be a very petite male.
The male was very short, reaching only 127 centimeters in height, with pale skin, medium-length, messy, pale green hair and sharp, metallic silver eyes. He had a very lithe and feminine figure, making it near impossible to tell he was male to all but the most observant individuals. He was wearing a pair of jean shorts with a strange, sleeveless, white shirt with buttons holding the shoulder straps together. Though the strangest thing about this boy was the fact that he had legs exactly like a birds from mid-thigh down, ending with razor-sharp talons, as well as wings that started from mid-bicep that had feathers the same color as his hair, a thumb-like claw protruding partway down the wing. This was a member of the species known as the Harpy.
"Hey! What's the big idea, you jerk!?" the harpy shouted, struggling desperately in his captor's grip.
Regis twisted his hand to swing the flailing harpy around to his face. The humanoid, upon seeing the one who was holding him, immediately stopped his struggle and began to chuckle nervously.
"Uh, heya Boss. How's it hanging?" the boy asked, raising his wing to awkwardly wave at the much larger man.
Regis released his grip on the bird boy, sending him collapsing onto the floor.
"That hurt," the feminine boy complained, rubbing his head as he pushed himself into a sitting position.
"That was for the terrible pun," Regis stated, a deadpan look adorning his face.
"And that was for making a mess again. I thought we talked about this, Happy. How did you even make this much of a mess? You've been here for less than an hour," the crimson-haired man asked, examining the mess of books that was encompassing the couch.
The harpy, now identified as 'Happy', followed the larger man's eyes to his mess, sweatdropping as he viewed it from an outsider's perspective.
"Uh, that's a very good question. As soon as you find out, be sure to let me know," Happy explained, rubbing the back of his head with his wing.
Regis sighed deeply, massaging his temple.
"It doesn't matter. Just clean up your mess," Regis ordered, his irritation flaring when he heard the sound of books tumbling onto the floor.
"Yessir, Boss," the avian saluted, or saluted as well as someone with wings for arms could. He scrambled to pick up as many books as he could in his feathery appendages and began to rush from bookshelf to bookshelf, shelving the books as quickly as he could.
While he was doing this, Regis had taken a seat at his desk and began to pull out his books and schoolwork
Regis was broken out of his thoughts when the hall door opened to admit a teenage boy.
The boy had long, black hair that was tied in a pigtail, and indigo eyes. He was wearing a red, long sleeved shirt with the end of the sleeves rolled up, revealing the interior to be white, and black pants tied off at the ankles. Both articles of clothing were made of Chinese silk. On his feet he wore black slip-on shoes.
As he entered he carelessly tossed his school bag onto the unoccupied couch.
"This sucks! Why the hell do I hafta go to school? It's so boring," the boy complained loudly.
Regis sighed, looking up from the assignments littering his desk.
"We've been over this, Ranma. I require every member of my Peerage to have a high school education. Whether or not you decide to continue your education afterwards is your own decision, but until then, you will attend school," Regis calmly said sternly.
The boy called Ranma just grumbled something unintelligible under his breath, heading into the dojo to begin going through his daily kata.
Regis watched his rebellious servant for a few moments before rising from his seat. He approached the martial artist, taking a stance in front of the dark haired boy.
"Come at me, Ranma. Let's see if you've gotten any stronger," the Devil goaded the teen.
With a battle cry, Ranma leapt at the older male, lashing out with a barrage of punches and kicks, which Regis expertly weaved through, not taking a single hit.
Landing in front of his opponent, Ranma immediately followed up with a rising kick, nailing Regis directly in the jaw and sending him flying.
Regis reoriented himself in the air, landing on his feet. He swiped his thumb over his lower lip and pulled it away, looking at his bloody digit.
"Not bad, Ranma. That almost tickled," Regis taunted, his busted lip slowly sealing shut.
"It'll more than tickle when I'm done with ya," Ranma boasted, renewing his assault.
Their spar continued for an hour, during which both parties were heavily bruised. About half an hour after they began, Happy had finished his cleanup and had taken to shouting encouragement and insults at both of them from the sidelines.
This was the scene a young woman came upon as she entered the room.
This woman had short, dark red hair and sharp, amber eyes. Along the left side of her face, neck, and left shoulder she had strange tattoo-like markings that were the same color as her hair. She was wearing armor that consisted of nothing more than a breastplate, a crotch plate, pauldrons, and a metal headband. She also had pointed ears with reptilian, wing-like protrusions underneath them, both of which were green and scaled. Her arms from the elbow down and her entire legs were scaled as well. Both set of appendages were also tipped with deadly, razor-sharp claws. Sticking out from her tailbone was a reptilian tail. On her left hip she had a scabbard containing a large two-handed sword.
"Smash his face in, Ranma!" Happy yelled, pumping his wings in excitement.
The woman came to stand next to the energetic harpy. She watched Regis and Ranma trade blows, examining their every move.
"He's gotten better," she spoke up suddenly.
Happy squawked in surprise, tripping over himself in his shock.
"G-Granberia! You scared me. When did you get here?" he said, rubbing his head where it had smacked into the floor.
Granberia looked at the young male with annoyance.
"You really have to pay better attention to your surroundings. If I were an enemy, you'd be dead already," she said, crossing her arms over her armored chest.
Happy scratched his head in confusion.
"Eh? But if you were an enemy, how would you get in here? The room's protected against unauthorized entries."
The reptilian woman scoffed and said, "No armor is impenetrable. Any enemy worth worrying about would have a way either around or through the protections."
Happy waved her off.
"You're too paranoid, Granberia."
"It's not paranoia. It's the ingrained instincts of a warrior who's fought countless battles," she said with pride.
Happy shrugged, not really understanding her passion for battle. He had always preferred intelligence to brute force. Though that was probably because his body was very delicate in comparison to the average Devil. His bones had to be less dense in order for him to be able to fly, after all.
"Soooo," Happy started, desperate to change the subject, "who'd you say was getting better?"
Granberia shrugged, her eyes tracking the other males sparring match.
"Both. Though Ranma wouldn't have a chance if Regis wasn't limiting himself to hand-to-hand. Or if he was fully healed," a fierce grin stretched across her face, showcasing her sharp fangs.
"I can't wait for his injuries to finish healing. He beat me before, and just barely won. I want to fight him at his best, when he's holding nothing back! A battle where a single misstep or moment of hesitation will lead to utter defeat!"
Happy quickly scooted away from the impassioned dragoness. Her fanged grin, her hand tightly clenching the hilt of her blade, and the dangerous gleam in her eyes making for a very terrifying image for the young bird monster.
A voice chimed in from the side.
"I'm glad to hear it. I look forward to the day when we will be able to have our rematch," Regis said, approaching the inhuman duo, his body rife with slowly fading bruises. Ranma had moved to one of the couches, his injuries and fatigue almost completely gone, his acquired durability combined with his Devil abilities causing him to surpass Regis' own natural healing factor.
Regis strode past the two, walking to his desk. Taking a seat he looked at his school supplies, brushing them off to the side for the moment.
"Everyone, take a seat. I have something to tell you."
Happy moved over to the currently occupied couch to sit next to Ranma. Granberia sat on the couch opposite them, laying her blade across lap. All three of them were completely focused on Regis.
Regis took a moment to survey each member of his Peerage before saying, "Fallen Angels have settled in our territory. So far they have yet to make a move against us, but I want all of you to be extremely cautious while outside the school grounds. Don't provoke them, and do not attack them unless they make the first move. Is that understood?"
"You got it! I'll be sure to stay far, far away from the Fallen," Happy assured, shooting off another winged salute.
"Fine. I'd rather just kick their asses and be done with it, but you're in charge," Ranma said with a huff.
Regis turned to look at Granberia, who had taken out her sword and begun to clean it. She spared him a short glance before returning to her sword.
"I make no promises. If they try anything, I'll slice them apart."
Regis hung his head in exasperation. That was probably the best he'd get from her. It's not as if he expected anything else, anyway. He turned his attention back to his abandoned schoolwork and sighed. It was going to be a long night.
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Well? What'd ya think? I thought it was pretty good.
For the record, Regis and Happy are OC's, created by me and TheAceol respectively, Ranma is from Ranma 1/2, and Granberia is from Monster Girl Quest.
Be sure to leave nice, inspiring reviews and nice, constructive reviews. Flames will be used to make delicious S'mores.
Until next time.
