Happy New Year! for those that are in 2022 anyway, got this chapter out to celebrate the end of the year!
I read your ideas for monsters they are all great! though most will take some time to come into the story as Felix starts to push his gear to its limits.
Speaking off him we get to see more of his actual personality in this chapter.
Thanks to Everpeach for Betaing this chapter! his big brain helps a non-native speaker like me when it comes to writing.
(POV: Felix)
I could feel myself smirking, a mixture of excitement and anticipation rushing through my body as I stretched my muscles.
Little Lucifer and I were in one of the building's (which I still don't know the name of) training rooms which coincidentally had an arena for sparring.
The walk here had helped me a lot in managing my emotions, yes Vali was an exceptional rare individual, and taking his power for myself was extremely alluring, but I am also at the heart of the Grigori, Azazel is still in the same building so there will be no killing Vali today.
Opening my suitcase I pulled one bottle of holy water from it, as I nodded to myself.
I am still beating his ass though; it would make my bargaining position with Azazel much better and well...
I am still fucking mad that I was sent to this shithole as a human, I could probably be eating the finest of foods while getting my dick sucked by a hot devil girl with any of my other CYOAs.
That can still and will happen eventually if I have anything to say about it, but the simple truth is that I will have to work quite hard for it.
"Are you ready yet?" impatiently asked the kid with silver hair, Albion's wings were already spread as he tapped his foot to the ground.
I mostly ignored him as I downed the bottle of holy water like it was a party drink, Jeff is looking directly at him so I am sure he would warn me if Vali got impatient.
Fun fact! Part of training as an elite exorcist (aka: me) consists of drinking holy water daily since childhood, it burned a fucking lot at first like I was drinking gin or something, but that stopped with age and numerous consumptions.
The reason why is simple, drinking holy water boosted the user's aptitude for light magic for a short time, though the time itself depended on the power of the angel who blessed it.
This should be enough for 15 minutes or so, an angel with two pairs of wings.
I closed my suitcase after that, I could have brought my holy grenades, but like I said I don't want to actually kill Vali... yet.
Azazel would probably obliterate me, not 100% sure how close they were to each other but probably more than enough for it.
So, it will be just me, my skills, and my two new revolvers for this fight.
I could bring out Jeff or try and make more monsters, but this will be a good test to see how good my base stats are, in a controlled environment, I have a lot of ideas on how to improve that base but having a good understanding of it can only help.
Besides, I am confident that I can beat Vali without the gear, not in a straight fight, but I never planned on it being a fair confrontation in the first place
The moment that I stood up and started walking to Vali a pair of lights and magic circles appeared signaling someone having teleported.
Two figures were instantly clear, though I only recognized Azazel, the other was an unknown angel with black hair, maybe another of Azazel's assistants?
"Really Vali, I leave you alone for only an hour and you already picked a fight," said Azazel with a tired tone, assuming that Vali started it, because of course he did.
"And you, weren't you going to eat some food? Why did you follow this idiot" continued Azazel this time pointing at me.
"I am still mad that the devils are being a pain in the ass and Vali here was so kind as to offer himself as a training target," I said with an innocent shrug that was obviously bullshit
"Just let the two pests fight each other Azazel, this way at least you know if the kid is recruit worthy" said the other fallen with a bored expression and a yawn, who the fuck is this guy, he looks like a fucking elf.
"Kokabiel stop being... well yourself, although… that isn't a half bad idea" Azazel said dismissively with a snort, before turning to look at Vali and I with an interested expression.
I couldn't help but blink at the start of his sentence before it turned to a snort and from there a loud chuckle.
"Man, I thought you would be uglier" I say to Kokabiel without a care in the world, he didn't look like the crackhead elf that I was familiar with due to the anime.
He looked like what you expected an angel to look like, handsome, though he still had his elongated ears and red eyes, and his skin was pale, but he wasn't ugly.
"...What?" said Kokabiel with a frown, looking at me like I was a fucking idiot, while Azazel laughed to himself.
I had all these jokes about his appearance as well, what a shame.
What this difference from the anime meant for me and my future knowledge is unknown, I am seeing subtle but clear differences, it is kind of like the anime was limited in its representation.
I doubt Riser Phenex will look like in the anime when I see him, the dude was twenty but looked thirty in the anime, maybe it is just the creator making the villains ugly, despite them belonging to a race of supernaturally attractive creatures.
Cause everyone knows ugly people are assholes *snort*
"Don't worry about it" I said calmly waving his anger off which funnily enough made him frown harder.
Was it a smart idea to antagonize the most dangerous Cadre? Probably not, but I am who I am, I won't start acting polite all of a sudden, this comes from both lives.
Felix was literally created to wield a demonic sword of destruction, he wasn't a chill dude, he was prone to anger and prideful, as was Siegfried and Freed, Lint was the exception but that wasn't good, she was almost as talented with the sword as Siegfried and took the enhancement procedures better than Free and I.
Yet she still lost 9 out of 10 spars, and had absolutely no chance of wielding Gram, making her seem like a failure, in reality she was just too nice, not taking all the chances she had due to some sense of honor.
"Well then let's get to it," said the rudely impatient Vali flying to the arena and jolting me out of my reminiscing.
I simply walked slowly to it, as Azazel managed to calm Kokabiel down and walk to the stands, it was a big arena allowing for sufficient movement both on the ground and in the air, it was probably enchanted as well.
"Come on hurry up!" whined Vali from his position floating above the arena, man this guy is a pain in the ass, then again, most characters in the anime were one even the girls. The only difference is that the girls had the bodies to make people ignore their faults.
"Jeff stays away from this" I order my first (and only) monster who chirped obediently going near Azazel and landing next to him, making the fallen leader look at him greedily.
"The fuck are you doing up there? Get down here we need to set the rules of the spar" I say calling him down like he was a dumb puppy, making him grit his teeth.
"Why aren't you using your gear!" sheesh, that is one preteen ball of anger.
"I literally learned how to use it today" I said in a deadpan tone as he came back down, making him look at me in disappointment.
Well, fuck you too.
"Well, the rules are simple, let's not try to kill each other, okay?" I said simply as he landed in front of me
Vali looked at me like If I had been dropped in the head as a baby, as I extended my hand for a sportsman handshake.
"Of course, you idiot do you think the Grigori is an anarchy" he said with a snort and a shake of his head before he halfheartedly shook my hand.
I laughed as well sheepishly scratching the back of my head.
And then I pulled his arm upwards.
POV: Azazel
Azazel couldn't help but sigh as his protégé was sent flying through the arena, Kokabiel's mocking cackle making one of his eyebrows twitch.
Fucking dammit Vali.
"He fell for one of the oldest tricks in the book" said Kokabiel after he finally controlled his manic laughter, though his chest still shook.
Felix had managed to pull one of his revolvers the moment he pulled Vali's arm up, pulling the trigger four times in less than a second, the double-barrel nature of his gun meaning that Vali took eight shots.
Vali wasn't fucking stupid he should have seen a trick like this coming, but the idiot just had to get overconfident.
Azazel could understand why he had underestimated Felix, he was a pure human with almost no idea how to use his sacred gear, compare that to Vali being related to Lucifer and having years of training with his gear at this point...
Well, it was a good lesson for Vali at least, he could clearly see the burns on Vali's torso, Azazel's eyes could clearly see even from here that they were second-degree burns, painful for sure but not the worst.
Azazel felt slightly grateful this only was a spar and taking place in a controlled environment, he knew how much damage those guns could do, of course, he did he fucking made them!
And he knew them well enough to be able to tell they were currently only on stun mode, not full power at ALL, he implemented that method so the user could actually practice with it without fearing having to kill someone.
Both ancient fallen realized the message Felix was sending them, he could have killed Vali right then, tearing a hole in his chest with a full power point-blank shot.
It wasn't that simple obviously; Azazel could tell the gun was on its weakest setting from the start, and even if he hadn't, he could have stopped the bullet from hitting Vali before they had reached him, the chances of him ACTUALLY killing Vali were almost 0%
But it still was a statement that irritated Azazel and had Kokabiel giggling like a fucking idiot in Azazel's opinion.
He must have gotten mad at the worth comment Kokabiel made.
What a pain in the ass Felix was turning out to be, why couldn't Sacred Gear wielders be normal?
Pov: Felix
I almost started laughing like a maniac, when I saw Vali's body go flying like a companion NPC in a Bethesda game, my training took over though.
The moment Vali touched the ground again, I could tell he was slightly disoriented but still in the fight.
I pulled my other revolver from its holster and shot twice at his back, one of the shots landing cleanly with the two holy bullets burning the back of his jacket, he groaned in pain but managed to start flying up only to get two more light bullets on his face.
These revolvers don't have any actual ammunition, each chamber instead has been enchanted to shoot out something similar to a light bullet from an actual angel, the need for multiple chambers comes from the fact that the enchantment can burn out if overused, so having six of them in each chamber helps that.
Weapons like this are created for ease of human use, only a small amount of mana is necessary to activate the enchantment.
Honestly, I didn't expect this half-assed plan to work as well as it did, I would never fight someone like Vali in a straight fight he can literally take half my strength and add it to his with a lazy wave of his hand, why would I do it?
Some may call attacking him like this cowardly or douchey, I would call those people fucking retards with shounen protagonist syndrome.
This is exactly what Felix was trained to do, he was a human, I AM a human, why would we fight fair? That is a great way to die in this world.
No, what a human and especially an exorcist is supposed to do, is take every advantage they can to survive, humans are weak in comparison to the other races, that is a fact that only a few humans can escape.
Vali fell to one of his species' classic sins, Pride, he saw a human who had no idea how to use his Sacred Gear and assumed he was better, maybe he will learn a lesson, maybe he will not.
Hell! Maybe he will learn it only to forget it 800 years down the line!
"Divide!" shouted Vali and Albion at the same time, but I was already moving shooting directly at Vali before doing so.
I was able to see the bullet cut down to half the size, the extra energy seemingly giving Vali enough juice to dodge it...
Only to get hit with two more on his left knee, I would have been disappointed if I couldn't do at least this much, this talent with ranged weaponry cost me half my initial points, it supposedly made me as talented as Siegfried was with the sword in comparison.
The fight descended into me playing duck hunt with Vali, he tried to Divide my power twice but each time I had dodged with a bullet covering me instead.
I wasn't sure how divide worked, if it was instant, or if it was even possible to dodge, turns out it is, it isn't like Vali can point at someone and instantly cut their power in half, if there is an attack in the middle the divide will be wasted on it.
It's still an almost perfect one versus one fighting tool, but it has its turnarounds and as the 18th bullet struck Vali, this time on his temple, the grandson of Lucifer plummeted to the ground completely unconscious and burned all throughout his body.
Get. Fucked.
My obsession blurred at seeing such a rare 'prey' wounded, I could feel myself frowning again but the satisfaction I felt was undeniable.
I may decide to not join Heaven as a faction despite my background but this should be enough of a goodbye gift, right? Beating up the child of Lucifer should count for something.
My steadily mounting instinctual excitement suffered a quick death once I felt a hand on my shoulder grasping firmly, looking at my side my eyes met Azazel's he didn't look mad, but I knew I had no chance of being able to tell what he was thinking.
"Well, that was an impressive show kid but try to take it easier next time, Twilight Healing is in high demand after all" he said jokingly but with an undertone of seriousness.
At just that time a man was teleported to the arena with a fallen angel next to him, probably who cast the teleportation spell, the man looked tired as a college student during finals.
Azazel must have called him during the fight.
"Sorry, sorry" I said raising my hands in surrender "I am only human after all" I said with a grin, surprisingly making Kokabiel snort, he seems to have enjoyed Vali getting his shit kicked in.
"Fucking smartass" Azazel 'whispered' loudly to himself, making my lips twitch upwards.
While we talked all the burns vanished from Vali's body, hopefully, he wouldn't wake up just yet, I would like to talk with Azazel about my working relationship with the Grigori as soon as possible.
Besides I wasn't feeling comfortable with Kokabiel's interested stare at the back of my head, I respect peoples' choices, but I am not into dudes!
"So, how about we talk about the employee benefits," I say with a completely shameless and greedy grin, making Azazel chuckle.
I am feeling much better than when I first arrived in this world, my head is clear, the irrational fear that was clouding my head has started to dissipate as I saw Vali being dropped onto a levitating stretcher.
My previous words came back to me.
'I am only human after all' and that is just great.
(Azazel's Deluxe Casino and Hotel 10:00 PM)
I sighed in satisfaction as I took a sip from my beer can, it was an Underworld brand apparently, it tasted okay, I've definitely drunk worse as a teen.
Currently, I was resting in my hotel room's bathtub, the steamy water relaxing my tired muscles as I also ate some peach slices, my favorite fruit to go along with beer.
The fact that I was under the drinking age was easily ignored by the staff, I was Azazel's guest after all, and besides the effects that underage drinking can have are easily fixed with magic.
The negotiations with Azazel went great in my not so humble opinion, we ended up with a decent arrangement, though the contract will take some time to sign.
The standard procedure according to Azazel, so that each party has time to go over the contract with experts/ close friends and not feel ripped off.
I am getting a house built in the Underworld, the location is yet to be pinpointed but the features inside it are already decided.
I looked at Jeff who was calmly resting next to the bathroom sink, chirping every once in a while.
Shit today has been a crazy day.
Nevertheless, I feel quite good about my current situation, I will have to work with the Grigori for a couple of years before I can renegotiate the contract with Azazel.
It may seem foolish to agree to lock myself for that much time, but I did so for multiple reasons.
Firstly the contract isn't magically binding or any Harry Potter fanfic level shit, I can and probably will not follow it to the letter, this means that if shit gets hairy with the Grigori, or more probably Kokabiel, I can get the fuck out and go live in Argentina or something.
Secondly, it is the best way to become more powerful, even if I beat up Vali it doesn't mean I am powerful or something, I may be arrogant but I am not brain dead I know that if Vali divided my power even once in that fight I would have lost.
That last part brings me to something I had been pondering for a while, why do I want power? for power's sake? there is honestly appeal to being powerful just to enjoy the power.
But I am honestly not that type of guy, I ain't Vali, I don't have a quest for revenge or an ever-growing thirst for battle, I have my hunting obsession but letting my life be dictated by a half-assed chosen drawback sounds dumb.
So what do I desire?
A lot of answers flooded my mind, but I was able to recognize what they all had in common.
"I desire luxury," I say out loud making me feel more certain.
"I want the most expensive of wines, to be able to relish all these world's cuisines, to experience laying on the most comfortable mattresses while wrapped in the silkiest of sheets" I continue getting a big smirk on my face as I imagined the possibilities.
"I lust for the most beautiful of women," I say thinking of all the supernaturally sexy women this world had to offer, if fucking Issei can get a harem I can as well.
" I crave for an extravagant living, a life of opulence" I conclude, now smiling calmly to myself, I don't remember ever feeling like this, just admitting my desires if only to myself feels fucking great.
The question is how do I obtain all this?
Looking at Jeff again I can feel the excitement building, what a stupid question, I have a friend that can bend to my every need after all.
Idea after Idea came to my mind, I always considered myself a creative individual after all.
The best part is that this isn't even my limit, after all I took quite a boon, even if the drawback was honestly worse than my obsession.
And I am sure that boon shall in conjunction with my potentially world-destroying Sacred Gear give me all I hunger for.
I wonder how Azazel will react to the fact that I brought enchanting like never seen before to this world?
(Grigori HQ the next day 9:00 AM)
I walked right next to Azazel sharing some idle conversation as we walked into the room that would start my 'education' it was part of the contract, before I actually went out into the world and did some missions I agreed to take some basic supernatural knowledge courses.
Of course, this time is also intended to help me integrate my sacred gear into my combat style, though I will get actual combat classes later in the day.
I experimented a little with the gear in the morning, tested the limits so to say, I tried to create a gauntlet monster that could boost myself, even if only like a twice critical, didn't work, I just didn't get that click that I got after I finished designing Jeff.
I imagined the gauntlet without the boosting powers and it worked, but that was useless so I absorbed it back into my shadow (only requiring a thought, surprised the shit out of me), I knew it would be like this if it was that easy to copy skills then Annihilation Maker would be the strongest gear by far.
I tried making some animals, kind of like Jeff, it actually worked very well, I made a cat, dog, lion and even a snake I couldn't make anything bigger than those though, not enough space and they didn't have any special abilities like venom for the snake.
I am not sure if that is an actual limitation or just due to the fact I have no idea what snake venom is made of, I am really hoping it is the latter.
The drain wasn't big at all, in comparison to what I got, it was really affordable, what little magic I knew costs much more mana without anywhere near as powerful of an effect.
Makes you wonder how God made this damn thing.
"We are here," said Azazel as we entered a business room, where I will meet my teacher for the supernatural, even if I already know a lot about it, Azazel said a lot of people complain about that but universal lessons were essential to keep peace and order inside the Grigori.
"Lumberloon freeze is so cheap, who does that!" we both hear being shouted the moment we enter the room, the woman who I assume is going to be my teacher had her legs up into her desk as she played with her phone.
Wait a second… I know this bitch.
"Mittelt, it seems you haven't learned anything" chuckled Azazel, startling the girl causing the chair she was balancing on to tip over, leading to her deep kissing the ground.
Coincidentally this made her extremely short skirt ride up giving Azazel and I a full view of her panty-clad ass.
I whistled lowly as Azazel sent me a sneaky high five which I quickly returned, that is a lot of ass for a girl her size.
"Governor-General what are you doing here!" squeaked the small blond girl, as she quickly stood up. instantly looking nervous while giving me only a glance.
"What is the matter Mittelt, can't I walk through the Grigori as I please?" seeing Azazel fucking with her was quite funny, but my mind was already running through the possibilities.
She was that fallen angel girl that got destroyed by the ORC at the start of the series if I remember correctly, the gothic lolita.
Now, why would Azazel have her be my supernatural history and political scene teacher? if I remember correctly she didn't like humans at all.
Looking at her I chuckled as Azazel continued to make her sweat.
"Also playing games again Mittelt? didn't you land this job due to playing so many of them, Kokabiel kicked you out of your cozy office job" laughed Azazel giving me some much needed context.
Kokabiel had something to do with this, I swear to the heavens above that if Kokabiel is already interested in murdering me I will go fucking nuts.
"That was so unfair, Kalawarner literally watches porn during her breaks why can't I play some Pokemon dammit!" she shouted, snitching on her fellow fallen with the greatest of ease.
"Okay that is hilarious and also Kokabiel's problem, not mine, you know what you are here for, this is the kid" says Azazel pointing at me, as I waved at her.
Better not to show I recognize her after all, not sharing what I know about the future unless it becomes a matter of life and death after all.
"A human?" she said with disgust making me snort and Azazel frown.
"A human indeed! glad to see you are so excited" I sarcastically said as Azazel rubbed his brow.
"Mittelt I am leaving you to teach him what he needs to know, I am recording this room in video and audio, if I catch you giving any other comment like that I will have you on cleaning duty, without any wifi or technology on some remote island" he ruthlessly says with a small glare that is enough to make Mittelt flinch as if slapped.
"The big brother scolding the little sister, how cute," I say just to be a little shit, I wonder how old even is this loli?
"Yes sir," she says with a defeated tone, making me snicker at her misery gaining me a glare from the cute blond.
"So, Pokemon huh?" I say the moment Azazel teleports away (he is one of the few individuals with teleportation right's on the building) making Mittelt glare at me.
Would have been intimidating if I A) respected her or B) found gothic lolita fashion scary.
"Shut up! you humans have no manners, not even introducing yourself" she says in indignation making me smile.
"This coming from the girl that got demoted for not working" I tease making her stutter a response.
"My name is Felix by the way" fun fact I don't actually need to get a surname, angels and fallen angels don't have them after all.
"Mittelt it's a pleasure" she grits out clearly not meaning it.
"Well, Mittelt or should I say professor. How about we get into the class" I say plopping myself down on one of the comfortable business chairs and setting my feet on top of the table.
"While we're on the subject, getting caught playing games at work? Weak" I mock her, I have played games while working before, that isn't a problem, but getting caught? I reiterate, WEAK.
"Fuck off!" she says vulgarly, sounding hilarious coming from her cute form.
"It's all Rayanare's fault anyway, never lending any money again to that gacha addicted bitch" she angrily says, making me raise an eyebrow, the fuck is up with the Grigori.
One plays pokemon at the job, another porn and the third plays the cesspool of degeneracy that are gacha games.
"Calm down Mittelt, you were promised your 3ds back if you just taught this human pest," she says loudly rubbing her temples in frustration.
Ah! There it is!
The reason why I have absolutely no problem being an annoying piece of shit to Mittelt, she is a fallen angel supremacist, she is hot I can admit that I would clap that ass if given the opportunity.
But that doesn't mean I will treat someone who treats me as an inferior due to my species any better, that is something a lot of men can't seem to understand, you can dislike a woman and still want to bang her perfectly fine, they end up getting led by their dicks when they fail to realize that.
"So how about we start with Japan, I heard that place is quite a shithole" there was a reason why I so easily agreed to these classes, besides just to appease Azazel.
The last trait that I chose was one of the most expensive ones, and that is the ability to enchant, more than that it was being a genius at enchantment that I spent my points on.
Considering I was at literally 0 points at that point the drawback I had to pick was the worst yet, one could gain upwards of 500 points by adding random fandoms to the world, into the world of DxD.
Of course one may say why not add a lot of Slice of life anime and rack in the cash, well firstly there was a limit of two fandoms, and the number of points you desired defined how strong the fandom would be.
And secondly and most importantly, it is a drawback which means that one of the most important figures on the fandom will despise me the moment they see me.
For example, if Naruto was one of the fandoms maybe Sarutobi would hate me the moment he sees my handsome mug.
I added a fandom worth 500 points and another worth 300 points and I still have no clue which ones they are, Felix training focused more on the Biblical factions so I will take this chance to find out which fandoms they are and how they integrated.
There are potentially extremely powerful figures who will want me gone from this realm of existence by the route of painful death, I need to know who they are as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, I can flirt and tease the blond fallen as much as I want.
And of course, I will start searching for the mysterious fandoms in Japan it was either there or the USA.
Hope you liked the chapter!
Felix seemingly managed to beat Vali easily but that is far from the truth, it would have taken Vali one Divide on Felix to steamroll that fight, Felix wasn't fighting fair and Vali got cocky (as you would expect from a devil pre-teen) so he got underestimated Felix and paid for it.
Someone asked me to write the choices Felix made in his CYOA so here it goes.
Initial Points: 1000
Human (Race) + 300 Points
Annihilation Maker - 1000 points
Obsession (Drawback) + 300 Points
Süßes Blut (makes the body smell almost like catnip to the supernatural races, mindless beasts think you taste delicious) -100 Points
Once in a generation Talent (Marksmanship) - 500 points
Two Fandoms spliced into DxD (Random) + (combined point total) 800
Legendary Enchanting (gives an intrinsic understanding of the esoteric art of enchanting, just looking at an enchanted piece is enough to gain some understanding of it) -800 points
So yeah that is Felix's build, not too shabby being a human gives points due to their weakness compared to every other race, to give an incentive to pick it, remember that Felix picked these choices just for the fun of it, to make a 'character' that he found cool, they aren't optimized to get the most for his points at ALL