Chapter 21: One Year Today
It's been a year since the formation of the new country that the Seven Sages founded. The four original nations' shares have been plummeting steadily no matter what the CPUs do. Progress on my Majin Trigger has been slow; I can maintain control for a whopping forty-five seconds now. The three of us males decided to exchange notes so that we had a wider variety of abilities. Dante helped Johnny and Storm train to properly wield there weapons. He was a little too excited to mess around with Storm's Sunsinger. Jairaya taught me and Johnny jutsus based on our elemental affinities. Johnny's was lightning and mine was water. He also taught us the rasengan, which I picked up fairly quickly. Taking physics in high school really paid off. I learned the Hidden Mist jutsu and the water prison jutsu, which I messed around with. Vegeta taught us energy management and manipulation. I am physically unable to manipulate ki, but the theories that are used came in handy for an idea of mine. As I contemplate the time that passed, the phone started to ring.
*Ring Ring! Ring Ring!*
"Hello?"
"Is this Devil May Cry?"
"It is."
"I have a job for you."
"What are the details?"
"We've discovered what is believed to be a Hellgate in Eden's main city, and would like you to take care of it. The pay is quite high as well."
"Sorry, but Eden's a no-go. Their laws keep people like me from getting in." By people like me, I mean someone who doesn't intend to apply for citizenship.
"Don't worry about that. We have a temporary pass for you signed by the CPU herself."
"…Alright…I'll be there as soon as I can. Can I get a more specific area that it's in?"
"Trust me; once you get here, it will be hard to miss." The call ended. I put on some nonchalant clothes so I wouldn't get recognized in the unfriendly nation. The trek took six hours so they didn't see me approach. I didn't feel like getting shot down. There was a man in a business suit waiting at the main gate.
"So you're the Devil Hunter? I was expecting a bit more…red…"
"I wanted to be able walk around without having to be noticed. So when did it pop up." I said, pointing at the Hellgate.
"About a week ago. Nothing major has come through it yet, but we don't know how long that will last. Here are the papers that will let you have free reign in the city while you are here." The hands me the paperwork and I stick them in my back pocket after folding them up. He walks off to where ever. Time to explore the city. From the looks of things, the source of the gate is underground. This is strange, not having anyone with me. Walking around, I see a sketchy looking building that was giving off a demonic vibe. I open the double doors and take a few steps in. From the ceiling, a multitude of demons dropped down and attacked. I weaved past the attacks and landed behind the crowd. I get to let out some steam. Sweet. They were all weak, but there was a lot of them so it took a little while to deal with them. I used Nix to cleave through them. I really need to investigate this place. There's no way that a gate shows up out of nowhere. There's a door at the back of the atrium that lies in the middle of the large building. The door led to stairs going down. Yay…Stairs…
*Several flights of stairs later*
"…I…Hate…Stairs…Okay, first things first. Close the Hellgate before more demons come through. Now, where is the anchor point." It was at the base of the gate, but instead of the usual glowing orb that held most gates open, there was a sword. Not just any sword, but a very familiar one.
'Hey, isn't that?'
'Yeah, it is. Now the question is; how did they get their hands on it? And who would use it to open a Hellgate?'
'Questions for later.'
'I guess.' I walk over and pull the large sword from its place in the middle of the runic circle. The eye sockets of the skull that rested on the handle started to glow. Oh, this is going to be fun. I place Rebellion on my back. Lucifer may be my first Devil's Arm, but I think it's only appropriate that the magic claymore is to become my default weapon. It's versatile and badass as fuck. There was a roar from the surface.
"I shouldn't keep my guest waiting any longer." I make my way outside to see people panicking, and go the opposite way of the crowd. I find the ruins of what was once an elegant looking plaza. Standing there was an enormous beast comprised of rock and black flames. It doesn't look very fast, but looks can be deceiving. Its arms do look meaty, so a punch from it will most likely hurt.
"Why hello there, mortal. What is an insignificant welp like you doing here?"
"Well…I WAS going to ask you politely to leave, but now I'm going to take you out."
"While I commend your bravery, you are foolish. Now you will fall to the might of Labareda!"
"You really think I'm going to let an overgrown toaster put me down?! You're the fool."
"Enough talk!" The demon threw a punch towards me, but I back flipped to avoid it.
"Aww…And here I thought we were becoming friends…" Another punch, another dodge. "Are you even trying?" I just barely rolled out of the way of a pillar of fire that rose up from where I was standing a moment ago. That's when I decided to let my guns do the rest of the talking. They didn't do as much damage as I would have liked, seeing as how they were not deterring him from shooting fireballs and making pillars of flame erupt. Time to get up close and personal. I draw Rebellion from my back and pull Alastor from where ever my Devil Arms go. A claymore being dual wielded with a longsword. This will be interesting. I charged forward, dodging the pillars and cutting through any fireballs that I couldn't avoid. Not my best idea. I feel like I got quite the nasty sunburn and it's not going to go away any time soon. It really is disappointing that he's so slow. That kind of strength and power is far too useful to be so clunky. And those black flames are no joke: Those burns hurt worse than they should. The two swords carved through the rock that made up the demon's body. Molten hot "blood" spilled out onto the ground, melting the marble and, at the same time, set it ablaze. Labareda let out a dome of black flames from his earth-like body. It felt like I was hit by a car again. The fight became a rinse and repeat operation; dodging, striking, then dodging again to avoid his counter attack. This process went on for fifteen minutes. Would've been done sooner, but I didn't want to cause any unnecessary property damage.
"How could I be…defeated…?!"
"You're slow and predictable. I would've finished you sooner, but I didn't want any innocent people losing their homes. Now, do me a favor and die." One last round found its place in the fire demon's head, causing it to explode in a shower of sparks and a pain filled wail. The sparks coalesced in my outstretched left hand. The black orb expanded like when I took Ouroburos' soul and became a set of gauntlets and grieves. The fingers had claws at the end of them, flames coming off of the first two knuckles (the two that aren't near the tips of my fingers) and wrists, and had what looked like jet boosters mounted on the elbows. The grieves had vents on the feet to allow my kicks to be coated in flames. Cool. As much as I want to give these a test run, I think Rebellion wants to taste monolith. I throw the massive claymore at the hellish stone, and it pierces right through and kept going. Next thing I know, the blade is sawing through it horizontally. After catching the sword, I jump up and dice the falling debris into more manageable and less dangerous pieces. Resting the blades edge on my shoulder, I turn and see a ton of citizens standing around awestruck. They started to cheer and I smiled. It's nice to see that it's only the government that's corrupt. The man from before walked up to me with a fairly large envelope.
"Here's your pay, plus some bonuses for making clean up easy and for keeping damages to a minimum. It is good to know that your reputation proceeds you."
"Just remember, my kindness is towards your people, not your nation."
"I did not expect any less, honestly."
"Well, I'll be on my way. See ya." I walk out of the city, and check the time on my phone to find out that it's only one-thirty. Let's make a call, shall we?
"Hello?"
"Hey, Blanc. What are you guys up to?"
"We've done as much as we could today here in Lowee. We're heading over to Leanbox now."
"Well, I'm done for the day. Mind if I join you?"
"Sure. Meet us in half an hour." She hung up, and I decide to do something stupid. I'm not going to fly there with my wings. I'm gonna do it Iron Man style. Equipping Labareda once more, the flames intensity turns up just enough to provide me lift. I lean forward and take off. Forty-five minutes later, I crash down in Leanbox with a decent sized tree branch through my shoulder.
"Note to self: Fly long term with wings, not fire."
"Stevie, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Vert, just decided to take a more…unconventional route here…"
"Hold still."
"Blanc, I can…Ow…! I could've gotten that…"
"I know…But you really need to learn to stop being so reckless."
"Fine, fine…Let's get started, shall we?" The two girls had a lot of Quests lined up for the day. I got mostly hunt Quests because anyone can do them and increase a nation's shares. While questing, I got hit more than I should have, but that's only because I know next to nothing about MMA, which is really needed to use the flaming Devil's Arm fully. Good thing the fire doesn't need to be controlled via movement. Three and a half hours of continuous work later, and the three of us are crashing on a couch in Leanbox's Basilicom.
"Can we all agree that today sucked?"
"Yes, Blanc…Yes we can…"
"You two can't complain. I'm still a bit charbroiled from dealing with my last job."
"Couldn't you have made that energy armor thing?"
"I can only make one rib. The skeleton is just the first layer, too. I'm meeting Storm and Jairaya tomorrow afternoon to work on it more."
"And he can't protect himself unless he forms the full ribcage, Vert."
"Sorry. I forgot. Do you blame me, though?"
"Not at all. I really want to call it a day."
"Why don't we do something while we're here? It's not often that we are alone, just the three of us…"
"It's is six o'clock, Steven…"
"Alright. Let's go. Vert, you know someplace good, right?"
"Indeed. Follow me." We walked down the streets and Vert lead us to…a place.
"Really, Thunder Tits? A burger joint?"
"What…? It's not a fast food restaurant and I've had a craving for a while now."
"C-Craving…?"
"V-Vert…Your'e…?"
"W-What! No! No, no, no, no, no…! I am not pregnant…"
"Oh thank God…"
"Don't scare us like that!" Vert held the shaken Blanc close to her.
"I'm sorry! I didn't realize you two would jump to that conclusion!"
"Heart attacks aside, let's go in and get something to eat." This diner…This diner would make Naruto question the divinity of ramen. Everything was absolutely delicious. After I pay for the bill we walk out and head to Planeptune to pick up Iffy. When we land, Iffy storms out to us all huffily.
"You were supposed to be here an hour and a half ago!"
"We wound up working later than expected, so we got something to eat."
"Don't worry, though. I bought you a pie when I paid for the bill."
"What flavor is it?" I made the most serious face I could muster.
"Pie flavor."
"Really, G1…? Really…?" Johnny said unimpressed.
"Dad, what flavor is it?"
"Banana cream."
"Oh, okay. Cool."
"We should head home. I plan on taking you fishing tomorrow morning."
"Really?! Finally!"
"So which one of you two is the mastur bater?"
"Fuck off somewhere else, Johnny."
"Come now, dear. Let us head home. You will have to hold the pie for your father, though."
"Okay, Mom." She's come to refer to Vert as Mom over the last year, which is nice. Thought it would take longer, honestly. She grabs the bag from my hand and walks out to the balcony.
"Hey Storm, we still on for tomorrow afternoon?"
"Yeah. Meet us here, then we'll go to the usual spot." And with that we headed home. The four of us adults each got a slice of pie after Iffy impatiently forced us to cut it. Said impatient bundle of joy ate the rest of the pastry. Me and Iffy went to bed early so we can get up early. The next morning, I'm standing by the door, waiting for my daughter. Instead of my usual ensemble, I'm wearing a blue flannel shirt, jeans and those overalls that were also boots. You know what I'm talking about. In my hands were an adult's and kid's fishing rod, a tackle box, and a bag with things of bait in it. Two fish buckets, chairs, and some refreshments were stored away in my infinite pocket. Iffy was dressed in jeans, a black tank top, her usual oversized jacket, and boots.
"Are you ready to go?"
"Yeah! Let's go already!" She turns to me, expecting to be picked up.
"We're not flying, Iffy. We're gonna do this the fun way." Outside was a four wheeler that I had procured from Noire. "Seeing as how the lake that we're going to is fairly close to here, I thought that we'd take a bit of a ride." I packed up what was in my hands and climbed onto the ATV.
"Do you know how to drive one of these?"
"Nope. The last time I was on a four wheeler, I was a passenger and the driver was drunk."
"That sounds like it was a bad idea."
"It may have been a bad idea, but it was a fun idea."
"No wonder Mom and Blanc call you an idiot."
"…Why would you say something like that…?" She just shook her head and climbed on the back, wrapping her arms around my torso to hold on as we took off. Despite what she was saying, Iffy was hooting and hollering the entire time. Once we got there, I pulled out the chairs and the coolers. One cooler had the food in it while the other had the drinks. From the drink cooler, I pull out two things of orange juice. I tossed one to my daughter, who didn't like happy about it.
"Can't we have the soda…?"
"It's seven-thirty in the morning. It's too early for soda."
"Fine…" We finished preparations before casting out our lines. It wasn't until an hour passed that one of us had a tug on our lines.
"Dad! I got one! I got one!"
"You got it?"
"Yeah!"
"Okay. I'll go get the buckets." I grab the buckets and when I came back, she's got a decent sized sunny flopping around on her hook. "So, do you want to keep it as a pet, eat it, or toss is back?"
"Let's keep it!"
"Glad we got that fish tank…" Two and a half hours after that, Iffy had caught three more sunnies, a salmon, and two bass. Me? I caught nothing. Absolutely nothing. I technically caught the salmon, because Iffy wasn't strong enough the reel it in. But, it was on her line so it doesn't count, even if she insisted that it did. We're going to keep the sunnies and sell the other three. I pull up in front of Planeptune's Basilicom after selling the fish, and rev the engine. Iffy traded places with Storm, who grabbed onto the cargo rails. He also shot me a questioning look.
"What? Four wheelers are fun." He just signaled me to leave and I did. Jairaya and Dante appeared once we got to the clearing, and the two of us split up. Storm with Dante and me with Jairaya.
"So…Any progress since last time?"
"No. I still can only form one rib out of the entire protective ribcage."
"Even making ONE without a Mangekyo Sharingan is impressive."
"But you'd think I'd have made more progress by now."
"Maybe we aren't looking at this problem at the right angle."
"What do you mean?"
"You've never been the most talented when it comes to defensive techniques, and that's all you've been working on. Why don't you try to make the skeleton, and figure out how that works before making parts of it?" Alright, let's do this step by step. Form an image of what you want, release the necessary energy, then shape it. "Oh…would you look at that…"
"What?"
"You hit the nail on the head. Look."
"Oh…I did the thing…"I made the whole fucking skeleton. This should make making partial parts a lot easier.
"See. Progress. Now let's start working on smaller parts."
"Still. Six months of nothing, and then I form the entire skeleton on my first try. Why is Susano'o so weird?"
"No idea. You do know that the scroll says that it only gets harder from here, seeing as how this is only the first layer?"
"Hey, I'll take what I can get right now. This will still be useful."
"Celebration time over. Let's keep working." For four hours we worked with the Uchiha's powerful technique. I can build the partial parts almost instantly. It's still hard to incorporate it into my fighting style, but things like that DO take time. The full skeleton takes a few seconds to form. The Susano'o standard blade is in its left hand, and a big gun in its right. What comes out of the gun depends on the Devil's Arm I have equipped. I drop Storm off before picking up the money from the fish place. I was asked to come inside the purple capital building via text. I walk in to see the Histy-phone is up and running.
"Storm, Johnny…Bryce?"
"Hello." He said with a wave.
"What did the author say about this?"
(Which one?)(On3dgeGaming)
I think it was me…
(Oh shit! Run for the hills! We must escape his wrath!)
Get back here!
…
…
…
"Anyways…Plutia has a sister now…"
"…What's that sound I hear in the background?"
"…Nomia and Plutia bonding?" I heard Johnny cough out a bullshit after Bryce said that.
"…" Cue deadpanned stare.
"Iris Heart is being Iris Heart with Iris Sister, who also happens to be a masochist."
"Oh…" Yeah…Not gonna touch that one.
"I'm just going to warn you, Mini-Me doesn't have one of these bracelets yet, so sooner or later he may end up…trying out his powers and just…making a complete mess of everything…Hope you like anti-gravity!"
"…This all?" I mean really…Anti-gravity is fun. I flew up to space once just to see if I could and floated around a bit. And it's not my place being made into a mess.
"I'll probably end up sending him a package with a bracelet in it…and maybe something else…"
"Okay. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go."
"Bye."
"Uh, guys? Anyone feel…floaty?" I turn away from Johnny and the ensuing chaos to see the connection got cut. "G1! Help!"
"Not my problem! See ya later!" I fly home with Iffy and when we open the door, it's chaos. Nepgear, Vert and Blanc are freaking out. Blanc is also in HDD for some reason.
"Steven! Help! I can't change back!"
"Slow down. Tell me everything that led up to this."
"So we did our normal thing and I was feeling fine, but after breakfast, I felt sick and threw up. I took a nap to try and feel better and when I woke up I was in HDD and couldn't turn back."
"*sigh* Alright, stay calm. I'm going to make a call." I find the business card that was in my pay envelope.
"Hello, Devil Hunter. How may I help you?"
"Could you redirect this call to Anonydeath? I need his help." God, now I feel dirty.
"Of course. Give me a moment." A few seconds later, I get a greeting that was eerily similar to a greeting from Donut.
"Hello~"
"Look. I don't like you, and you probably don't like me, but I need your help."
"Sure thing. After helping us, I do owe you a favor."
"Could you look into anything involving CPUs not being able to change back from their goddess forms?"
"Give me a few minutes, would you please?" Five minutes of keyboard clicks coming through the speakers passed by before he spoke again. "Quick question: Did she throw up for seemingly no reason?"
"Yeah…"
"Well if that's the case, I have some interesting news."
"And that is?"
"Well, there have been several isolated cases of this happening in times past. Due to certain circumstances, their unique biology makes it so they are stuck in HDD."
"And that circumstance is?"
"She's pregnant. Her body won't age out the hormones and physical changes. I do have to congratulate her though."
"Oh…uh, thanks…"
"You're welcome." I hung up and turned towards the four others in the room.
Well?! What the hell's wrong with me?!" All I do is walk up to her, place a palm on her stomach and smile. "W-What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that Iffy is going to be an older sibling."
"R-Really?"
"Congratelations, Blanc! Though, I am a bit jealous that you are to be the mother of his first child and not me."
"What about me being in HDD?"
"You're…stuck like that. Forever…"
"Oh…"
"Hey, at least they can't say you're flat anymore."
"Heh. I guess you're right. This ain't all bad." My stomach rumbled loudly.
"So…uh…What's for dinner?"
"We haven't really thought about it, all things considered."
"I don't feel like eating out."
"We could order some pizza."
"Nepgear, add in wings and some garlic knots and you have a deal."
"I think I shall pick out a good movie. Come Iffy, maybe you have one in mind."
"Sure, Mom."
"Gear, could you order the pizzas. I need to talk to Blanc alone."
"Okay." She walked out of the room.
"I really wanted to do at a better time for a better reason, but it's only appropriate that I do this now."
"Do what?" I get down on one knee in front of her and pull out a small box.
"Oh, you know…This." I open the box to reveal a gold ring. There was a flower shaped set of gems, with diamonds being the petals and a sapphire in the middle.
"I-I-Is that…? Are you asking what I think you're asking?"
"Yup. So, what do you say?" She ran up and kissed me.
"Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes!" I know that Blanc is more emotional in this form, but this is just shocking. She has a huge smile on her face and tears of joy welling up in her eyes. Her lips met mine again after she forced me onto my back. We laid there for a few minutes in each other's arms before I stood as both up and slid the ring onto her finger.
"The pizza will be here in about half an hour. Are you two…done…?" Nepgear's eyes are staring directly at the piece of jewelry on Blanc's left hand.
"Yeah, we were just about to join you guys. Come on, Blanc."
"I'm coming, I'm coming…" We walk into the living room to see Vert with a shit-eating smile on her face. "What's with that smile?"
"I've been waiting so long for this. Finally, all of my planning has come to fruition."
"Of course…So what movie did you two pick out?"
"A movie called 'The Avengers'."
"Good pick. Now we just have to wait for the food." Nepgear sits down in my Lazy-boy while the rest of us get comfortable on the couch. Vert is leaning against my left side, Blanc situated herself in my lap, and Iffy is to my right. Both pieces of furniture was angled towards the TV and had a decent sized table in front of both. The movie started, and just when the previews ended, the doorbell rang.
"Hey, Blanc? Could you get up so I can pay?"
"Yeah, sure. Now they come, right when I was getting comfortable, too." She stands up and I go to the door.
"A sheet pizza with two dozen wings and a dozen garlic knots?"
"Yup. Here you go and keep the change."
"Thanks. Have a good one." Food in hand, I shut the door and place the boxes onto the table next to the plates that we grabbed earlier.
"Alright, everyone. Dig in." The plates were claimed and filled while Vert restarted the movie. Blanc occasionally fed me a bite from a slice of her pizza and I returned the gesture. Who knew she would be such a romantic in this form? The movie ended at 9:15, and we head to bed to get up early in the morning. We had to get as much work done as possible. As the three of laid in bed, Blanc sighed contently.
"What's up?"
"I thought everything was going to Hell, but now things might not be as bad as they seem."
"You're right, Blanc. We have a ray of hope for our nations."
"I don't know about you two, but I've had enough excitement for one day. Good night."
"Goodnight." Happy that the two are happy, I close my eyes and fell asleep.