Gamer of the Void

by a-shifty-sword

After being rescued from the Void by a passing Love Fairy, Axton enters the world of Highschool DxD with the power of the Gamer. His life of adventures and a sexy harem start here! Lemons and a morally grey protagonist.

16. DxD: Recruitment Week 07

Patch Notes:
- Added the Handmaid's Dagger and Shard of the Traveler items to the character sheets because apparently, I forgot to add them to his inventory after pulling them. Thank you guest reviewer for pointing that out.
- Edited the Race Change potion description to get rid of the DNA requirement. Don't know why I got so specific, it didn't need to be. It just needs 'samples' of other races and beings, it doesn't have to contain any actual DNA.
- The Hibiki omake is now semi-canon. Axton didn't have that dream, but Hibiki did. Expect scenes similar to that in the future, whenever I feel inspired to make them.
- Rogue Class level 80 gave him a perk called Weak Spot that let him instinctively know where to hit an enemy for a critical hit. Somehow, it didn't make it onto his character sheet, and so I ended up forgetting about it until an FF reviewer reminded me of it. It's there now, though I haven't gone back to the old ones to add it. Maybe later.

---

Deep in its inner sanctum, the Lich waited. His skeletal fingers gripped tight around the blackened bone staff he held. The Interloper was currently carving his way through the Lich's final line of defense, far more powerful than before.

The Lich called back his forces, teleporting them all to himself. There was no point in having them fight there, they could not touch the Interloper now. But with enough bodies packed into the inner sanctum, with less room for the Interloper to maneuver in, it might be possible.

The Lich's gaze was drawn to the gem that was nested atop the staff he held. He had hoped to avoid using it, but with this new development, it seemed he had no other choice. It was the only trump card left to him, and he could only hope his undead army would provide him the chance to use it.

---

I stood in front of the door to the boss room, wary. I've only been in the dungeon for twenty minutes, and it's been weird.

The first thing I did was finally try out one of my new Void Mage skills, [Void Cloak], and try to go through the dungeon wall. I was able to put my hand a couple of inches into the wall, but I couldn't phase through the indestructible part of the dungeon that I noticed in one of my previous runs.

I then ran out of mana and learned that thankfully, dropping the skill when inside of something doesn't try to overlap the two, and it instead just pushed my hand out of the wall. Well, I say pushed, but it felt more like one second my hand was inside the wall, and then my hand was pressed up against the wall with no sense of movement attached to it.

I didn't experiment with [Void Travel] after that, deciding it would be better to get a sense for it in a non-dungeon space first, since the rules might be different here.

Instead, I used another Ultimate XP Potion and started clearing rooms using only [Void Beam] in an attempt to level it up some. Boosted by [Void Blood], it did massive damage and I was able to clear the first room in seconds. However, in the second room, things went wrong.

As it turns out, [Void Blood] had another risk to it that the skill didn't make clear until after it happened. With [Void Blood] active, any other Void skill ran the risk of causing [Void Blood] to lose control, resulting in void energies tearing me apart from the inside, dealing massive damage, and applying the Void Ravaged debuff to me again for 50%.

Thankfully it only happened as the last enemy in the room died, but it could have been so much worse. I used my only Cure Status Potion and decided to continue without [Void Blood] active.

I did note that [Void Detect] didn't seem to be at risk for use with [Void Blood], and I'm not sure if that's because of what kind of skill it is, or the fact that it was originally [Void Sense] and it was mixed with [Detect] to create a new skill. Maybe it was stabilized? Or maybe I had just gotten lucky. It's impossible to tell right now, I'll have to experiment later.

After deactivating [Void Blood] and deciding to continue trying to level [Void Beam], I entered the next room and found nothing. No enemies at all. It wasn't a safe room, nor were they hiding, they just weren't there. And they continued to be absent from all the remaining rooms.

This made them easy to loot, and I got lucky with the things I found. One had a CHA Crystal that increased my CHA by 10, and in another, I found a skill gem that taught me a new skill.

[Speak with Dead] - Level 1(0%)
Imbue a corpse with the ability to speak. The corpse must be less than 1 day old. They are not compelled to tell the truth or listen to you.

Potentially useful, but not as important as the other loot I found. 4 Gacha tokens.

I don't want to waste too much time before starting the boss fight, I only have 45 minutes left with my Ultimate XP Potion, and I'm not sure how long the fight will take. But it's worth it to use these Gacha tokens first, they could give me something that would give me an advantage.

The first three items I roll are neat, but nothing amazing.

Ring of Stone
At will, the wearer can cast an illusion that makes them look like a large rock. Taking any action breaks the illusion.

Gantz Sword
When not in use it appears to be just the hilt of a katana. When triggered, a blade can extend out of the hilt, up to 30 feet.

Sovereign Glue
Jar of a white sticky substance that can permanently adhere two objects together when applied.

The last item gives me pause though.

Devil Fruit(Bird-Bird Fruit, Model: Phoenix)
A strange fruit that can grant the eater a special super-human power, at the cost of the eater's ability to swim.

A Devil Fruit is an impressive power, but more than that, this specific one has a lot of potential. No Devil Fruit is bad, and it's more up to their users and how creatively they use their abilities, but some are very good even if you aren't very creative.

And being able to turn into a Phoenix with control over extremely potent healing flames is one of them.

The inability to swim and weakness to materials like Seastone isn't insignificant, but outside of the world of One Piece, it's not a very big risk. Especially when I have other ways of avoiding water.

I pull it out of my inventory and stare at it, tempted to take a bite out of it and gain its power. But there's a little voice in the back of my mind that tells me to stop and reconsider.

Every advantage the fruit could offer me is also something I can get with a different method. Flight, healing flames, increased regeneration...those are all things I can get with time and the right Classes. I can even get better versions of them.

But this Devil Fruit will work on anyone. I'm limited in how much of my strength and skills I can share with someone else. So should I really use this, when I can give it to someone else?

Someone else, someone I care about and want to keep safe, would benefit from this fruit far more than I can, especially in the long term. No one else has the same options for gaining strength I do, and a powerup like this can make a massive difference.

So, a little reluctantly, I put it back into my inventory. Eating it myself would satisfy me in the short term, but giving it to someone else is far too much better of an idea in the long term, and I would regret it down the line.

Besides, as good as the Fruit is, I can only eat one, so if I get another one that I like more later, then it would be too bad.

I'll figure out who to give to later. Atsuko and Asia are both good candidates, but I have another candidate in mind that feels more appropriate. After all, it's not just me that's restricted to a single Devil Fruit power. Everyone is, so I should use it on the most appropriate person.

I shake my head and look at the time. Five minutes wasted standing around thinking. I'm not eating the fruit myself, so it can wait. I double-check that I have all my skills prepared. With my new discovery of the limitation on [Void Blood], my strategy has to change a little.

Fortunately, the skill is maxed out, which means I can activate it and deactivate it as much as I want. Unfortunately, this process takes time. Not a lot, a little less than a second either way, but that meant casting any Void spells would require the extra delay if I had it active. But it was too good not to have active.

Thankfully, I can scope out the situation with [Void Detect] before heading it and- holy shit. Well, I've discovered where all the enemies went. The small room is packed nearly to bursting with undead. All of them are facing the door, and in their center is one that stands out.

It floats a few feet above the floor, a skeleton wrapped in robes and holding a staff. It gives off a powerful magical aura, though it's dwarfed by the staff it holds, and the locked box in the back of the room. Thankfully, that's no barrier to [Void Detect], and inside is a small metal jar. I use [Void Sight] inside of the safe, and despite the dark, I'm able to use [Observe] on the jar.

Phylactery
Contains the soul of a lich. So long as it exists, the lich cannot be killed.

Bingo. I turn my attention to the safe itself. It's made of something called 'Necrotic Iron' which makes it both physically strong and resistant to magic, and the locking mechanism requires very precise necromancy, with the lock itself being some sort of undead golem.

It's actually a fascinating lock design, and unfortunately, it's also unpickable by me, especially in the extremely limited time frame I'm likely to have. Brute force is my only option, and even that will be tricky.

The most efficient method would be to take out the lich, which would probably take out the rest of the undead, or at least make them far easier to deal with. But to do that, I have to take out his phylactery, and he's done a good enough job securing it that I can't do it easily.

Or so I presume. I haven't tested it against anything with magic resistance yet, but I suspect Void damage cuts through that a bit better than most spells. But that's a dangerous assumption to make here.

So the safest option will probably be to clear the room of the low-level enemies, dodge the lich, and hammer on the safe until it's destroyed.

Plan ready, I take a deep breath to ready myself and then fling open the doors.

Immediately there are a dozen spells and arrows sent towards me, but I'm already ducking low and rushing in. I immediately use most of my MP to use [Void Collapse] twice, one in the middle of the mass of enemies on the left, and another one on the right side.

[Void Collapse] - Level 21(34%)
Create a small orb of Void that instantly collapses reality around it and draws things in. Consumes beings and attacks it draws in to sustain itself. Costs 12980MP

[Void Collapse] isn't a skill I use often. It roots itself in a specific location and its range is small enough that it's not that hard to just go around it, so for the cost, it's usually not worth it. However, in a room so tightly packed, when the enemies can't avoid it? That's a different story.

Undead groaned as they were torn to pieces, consumed by the two swirling nexuses of Void. As the undead and some fired spells were absorbed into it, it only grew larger, and more undead are sucked into it. But not all of them.

Which is why, immediately after casting the two spells, I activate [Void Blood] and start throwing more undead into the vortexes. I don't bother trying to throw the heavy tanks or incorporeal banshees in there, but ghouls, skeletons, and witches all are fed to the hungry Void as I use [Void Detect] to dodge and weave between the attacks. It's no challenge at all with an effective STR and DEX of over 2,500 thanks to [Void Blood].

Making sure to stab all the Tanks I come across, [Void Edge] having been applied to my Hestia Knife before coming into the room, it's not long before I'm left with just one panicking lich and a dozen or so banshees. Enough time for my MP to have regenerated to about 50%. But seeing the [Void Collapse] skills still active, I decide to try something.

I rush for the safe, which I had previously ignored, and confirm that it's not mounted to the ground or to anything at all. As I approach the safe, the lich levels its staff at me, but I ignore it, scooping up the safe. I turn towards the nearest [Void Collapse] and-

I nearly trip as the weight of it disappears from my hands, and I scream in pain as I feel like I've been dipped in acid. The world has gone dark to my eyes, and [Void Detect] was confusing me. How did the lich get there so quickly?

Before I can gather my senses, I'm rocked by the dozen banshees arranged in a circle around me all hitting me with their sonic attacks. I panic, and without even dropping [Void Blood], I use [Void Travel] to escape to the other side of the room.

It works, but as I arrive I feel the misfire happen again. Void energies tear into my body from the inside, [Void Blood] deactivates, and I feel my world slow down as my base stats drop by half. My only lifeline is that [Void Detect] remains active, and I'm able to finally get a grasp of the situation.

Somehow, in one instant, everything changed. The safe containing the phylactery is now floating behind the lich. The banshees are surrounding the spot I was just in, which is covered in a dark fog. They haven't noticed my disappearance yet.

I immediately activate [Fade] and down a Major Health Potion. The attacks plus the misfire had reduced my health to dangerous levels, less than ten percent. I watch the remaining enemies as I consider my options. With reduced stats and [Void Blood] no longer available to me, they are limited, but not non-existent.

Going after the lich directly is pointless. But I can immobilize him, and in the same move take out the banshees. I pull the three Black Keys from my inventory and push mana into them to create their blades. Then, I use [Void Edge] to increase their damage, and I move.

The first Black Key goes into the Shadow of the lich, who starts to turn as soon as it leaves my hand but is too late to stop it. As the blade sinks into the ground the lich freezes, suspended in midair. Good, I wasn't sure if that would work if they weren't on the ground.

The other two Black Keys in hand like they're normal swords, I rush the banshees, twirling as I cut them to pieces. The Holy damage they do plus the extra damage from [Void Edge] does the trick and soon all the banshees are dead, leaving just me and the lich.

Earlier I might have bantered, maybe gloated a little. But right now, having almost fucking died? Fuck that, I'm finishing this and then I'm going back home to get some sleep. I use [Void Call] on the safe, and it's visibly damaged, but still holds strong.

[Void Beam] also damages it, but not enough. Either void skills aren't effective against magic resistant materials, or it's just far tougher than I expected. I can feel the rage and fear coming off the lich with [Empathy] as I experiment on ways to destroy the safe, and he sits there helplessly.

Or not so helplessly, when he lashes out and the blade of the Black Key snaps, freeing him. I curse and dodge the wave of black ice shards he throws at me. Fine, if Void magic won't do it, how about holy?

I take out a Light Gun, stolen from the Fallen Angels so long ago, and shoot the safe while I dodge his attacks. It seems to be working, the damage done to the safe is considering. The lich protests, throwing its body in front of the safe even as it levitates it out of my reach, but I don't let it.

Even with my stats halved I'm fast enough to rush around the lich, dodging the waves of ice and darkness it sends at me, peppering the safe. It's rotating too much for me to focus on a single spot, or else I would have punched through it by now, but even so it's barely held together, in fact, I suspect that it's the lich that's keeping it from falling apart more than anything.

The lich was angry and scared before, but now all I feel from it is fear. It can't hit me with its attacks, and whatever it did earlier it doesn't seem to be able to do again. But I need to finish this before he gets a chance to try again.

Putting away my Hestia Knife, I pull out my Sanctified Whip. I've never used a whip as a weapon before, but it's my best weapon against undead.

It takes a few swings for me to figure it out, but soon I'm comfortable with it. At least, comfortable enough to use it to wrap it around the safe and yank it towards me, disrupting the lich's control over it.

Sure enough, once it's yanked from his telekinetic grasp, and potentially due to the extra damage done by the whip, it crumbles to pieces, spilling the metal urn out onto the floor. The lich panics, but before he can recover it, a shot from my Light Gun bores through the unholy phylactery.

The lich shrieks, but the sound trails off as its bones crumble to dust and it dies. The ragged robe it wore falls to the ground along with the staff it used.

I take a deep sigh of relief and turn my attention to the Game windows suddenly popping up.

Hard Mode Zombie Dungeon Cleared
Special Dungeon Key rewarded

Void Mage Class has reached level 100

New Skill
[Void Rebirth] - Level 1(0%)
When health reaches zero, glimpse the Void between Life and Death, and harness it to be born anew. Overflows MP that must be used in an immediate attack or spell. 100 day cooldown. Levels up once per use.

Void Mage Class maxed, extra XP held

Please choose a new Class

[Warrior][Saber][Archer][Lancer][Berserker][Gunner]
[Assassin][Ninja][Spy][Thief][Shadow]
[Mage][Summoner][Elementalist][Illusionist][Healer]
[Hollow Knight][Blue Mage]

Before I can even begin to process all of that, I hear a voice behind me. "That was quite the fight, Champ. I was worried there for a second."

I spin to face the voice and see...myself? Oh. That explains why [Void Detect] didn't pick anything up.

"I see you've finally decided to come out and say hello," I address the Man in the Wall. He looks exactly like me, though instead of armor he's dressed in the casual clothes I usually wear. The only difference is his eyes. There are no irises or pupils there, only the swirling gold of his Void.

"I decided you were interesting enough to warrant a discussion," he replies. His voice is like mine, but there's another layer to it. I can hear the Void clearly in his voice. It's hard to describe what Void sounds like, but the best way I can put it is 'incomprehensible musical static'. Not staticky music, musical static.

"I'm glad I entertain you," I say a little sarcastically as I make a show of relaxing, though I'm still tense. I don't believe he'll attack me, but I don't believe it's possible to predict what he'll do either. I start gathering the few scraps of loot on the ground, picking up the remains of the safe, the hilt of the Black Key, the lich's robe, and finally the staff. The staff itself is putting off a lot of magical power, so I use [Observe] on it.

Blackened Bone Staff
A staff made of bone hardened by necrotic powers. Boosts Dark and Death magic by 50%. Currently topped by Kronika's Gem.

"That's quite the artifact," I hear the Man in the Wall say. "It almost managed to turn the tide on you, though much of that was your own foolishness."

I grit my teeth at the reminder of how I fucked up. The damage that was being done to me by the banshees and fog was bad, but in hindsight, if I had used [Shadow Step] or even just ran out of the area it would have cost me far less health than the misfire, even considering how much slower the techniques were. "I wasn't exactly thinking very clearly at the time," I defend myself.

Wait, this staff is what caused the weird jump? I don't see how. Unless...my eyes travel up to the gem nestled on top of the staff, and I use [Observe] on that.

Kronika's Gem
A jewel containing a fraction of the power of Kronika's Crown. Can be used to stop time for all but the user for 5 seconds. 7-day cooldown.

Holy shit, that's what that was, a time stop. No wonder that fight suddenly went so poorly, the god damned boss used a time stop on me. But it wasn't enough, and now I have it.

Mood improved, I turn back to the Man in the Wall. "Anyways, aren't you a little far from home? Don't you have some immortal kids to spy on?"

"I'm quite capable of multitasking," the Man in the Wall responds easily. "Besides, you are far more interesting. The Tenno I understand, having been transformed by the Void. You, however, are something else." He makes a small humming noise. "This 'Game' is interesting. Never before have I seen anything like it."

"So you can see that too, huh?" I ask. "You've been rummaging around in my head then?"

He smiles maliciously. "I did not need to." I wait for him to expand on that, but he doesn't.

I sigh. "Well, you have my attention. What is it you want?"

"Oh not much," he answers. "I just thought congratulations were in order. You've reached a major milestone after all."

"That's it?" I ask, not believing him.

"For now," he grins. "We'll talk again later, okay Champ?" And before I can respond, he vanishes.

"Fucking creepy god damn stalker," I grumble, though I'm relieved. It seems that the Man in the Wall is at least acting friendly, and while that doesn't make me trust him the slightest, it does take some of the edge off. For now. I quickly go through the rest of the loot I got from the fight. Nothing special, mostly ingredients.

The boss's loot is much more interesting. I remove Kronika's Gem from the Blackened Bone Staff and store them into my inventory separately. I have a plan in mind for the staff, but the time stop stays with me.

Besides those, he also dropped three Gatcha tokens, which I store to use later, and his robe.

Ragged Mantle of Death
A robe weaved with the power of death. It has degraded over time. Increases the effectiveness of Death magic by 10%.

I don't have a use for it, but maybe fixing it will level up my [Tailoring] skill? Not sure what material it's actually made of. Maybe it's actual death magic turned into cloth? I'll have to figure it out later.

Now onto the far more important things. First, maxing out Void Mage. I was close and knew it would happen soon, but I wasn't prepared for the final skill. A get out of jail free card for dying, though one with a massive cool down. A difficult skill to level up too, and I'm not sure what benefit there is to doing so. Does it reduce the cooldown? Or maybe it just increases the amount of MP that overflows?

Either way, it's not something I'm going to try to train on purpose. 100 days without it is a high cost. Hell, training it properly would take years. No, it's safer to just continue like I don't have it, and know that I have a small safety net in case the worst happens.

Next, I look back over my class options. The options look the same as last time, except the two additional ones at the bottom, which I assume are the unique classes I unlocked. They certainly look unique.

[Hollow Knight][Blue Mage]

Hollow Knight, a game about a bug who wielded the power of soul, void, and dreams to contain or slay a god, depending on the ending. And Blue Mage, which I assume will let me learn any skills I'm hit by.

Honestly, they're both very tempting. Hollow Knight because of the synergy with my existing combat style and ties to the Void, and Blue Mage because of all the skills it can get me, especially once I start combining skills.

I mull over the decision for a bit, but ultimately I decide to go with Hollow Knight. I believe it'll keep me safer in the short term. I can always pick up Blue Mage afterward, assuming something better doesn't come up.

Hollow Knight Class selected

Held XP given to Hollow Knight Class

Hollow Knight Class is now Level 18!

Trait added
[Empowering Soul]
Use the power of your soul to strengthen your skills

Perk rewarded for 500 DEX
[Vicious Wounds] - Critical hits deal 100% more damage

Perk rewarded for 1000 INT
[Mana Lake] - Increases maximum mana

I blink, waiting for a skill or two to be added, but nothing happens. Wait, is that it? Just a Trait? Is this because the class is Unique? Still, the Trait itself is pretty good. I pick a spot on the wall and attempt to add the strength of my soul to a [Void Beam], but I don't notice a difference. Frowning, I check my stats screen. There's no new bar or anything, and no way to measure my 'soul'.

Whatever. I'll meditate on it later and figure it out. I'd do it now but...well a creepy dungeon where I just talked to the Man in the Wall was not the place for me to do some literal soul searching.

So instead I turn my attention to the last thing of interest.

Special Dungeon Key
A key that teleports you to a special dungeon. The dungeon must be cleared on the first visit, and cannot be exited until cleared. Once cleared, the dungeon is inaccessible. The dungeon is random, and not scaled to the user's level.

That was both a lot of information and basically none at all. It made it very clear that this was a one time challenge but offered absolutely nothing about the dungeon itself or its rewards. The last bit, about it being a random difficulty, is also worrying. Going into one is a gamble since leaving is impossible.

I'll hold onto it for now, and save it for when I'm more prepared. I need better armor, better potions, and I need to experiment more with my skills, especially my new soul stuff. I take a quick look at my new stats.

Axton
Level: 218
Class: Hollow Knight(18/100)[0%]
HP: 9,900 (198 per second)
MP: 40,320 (806 per second)
SP: 9,040 (181 per second)
CON: 495
STR: 427(452)
DEX: 632
INT: 1008
WIS: 884
CHA: 331
LUK: 423(433)

My MP shot up again, which I appreciate, but I'm starting to get a little annoyed. For a Rogue, I sure do have a lot of magic power. Still, from what I saw of the stats, STR and DEX are the main focuses of the Hollow Knight class, so hopefully my SP will get the same treatment soon.

I do a quick sweep of the room with [Void Detect] to make sure I haven't missed anything. I don't think I have, considering I got the notice that I cleared the Dungeon, and [Void Detect] backs that up. With a nod, I use [Dungeon Traversal] and go back home to my room.

Things are exactly how I left them. I use [Void Detect] to make sure. I don't sense any sources of magic that I don't expect to see, and all of the people in my range are the neighbors I expected. Most of them are asleep at this time of night, though I note that the girl in the room next to me is still up at her computer, but that isn't unusual for her from what I remember from the couple of times I've used [Void Detect].

Satisfied that everything is as it should be, I relax. I look at Asia, sleeping comfortably in the bed, Yua curled up next to her. After my close call in the dungeon, I'm tempted to crawl back in bed and join them. But I shake my head and free myself of those thoughts.

First, there is something important I need to talk to Kyu about that I should have talked to her about already. The Man in the Wall. I had forgotten about the way he had edited the Game by the time I saw Kyu again yesterday, but after my last run-in with him, there's no way I'm going to forget again.

I head over to a slightly hidden spot on top of my dresser behind some books and find Kyu in her smaller form curled up in what appears to be a nest made out of panties. So that's where they went. I had noticed they weren't in my inventory but wasn't sure where she had stashed them.

Ignoring this new information, I gently poke her awake. "Hey Kyu, wake up real quick," I tell her while using [Sound Domain] to make sure Asia doesn't hear and wake up. "I need to talk to you about something important."

Grumbling, she sits up and rubs at her eyes. "I just got to sleep," she grumbles. "What do you want? I swear if you're here to ask me about unimportant dungeon-"

"There's a Void being stalking me that can access the game," I interrupt her.

"He can do what?!" she exclaims. "What do you mean he can access the game? This shit is like airtight, the only way he could do that would be…oh." She looks at me. "You said a Void being? Like something that lives in the Void or what?"

"Like he's a manifestation of the Void or is the Void or something, that wasn't ever made clear," I answer. "Why? What did you figure out?"

"Well," she starts, expression complicated. "The System is hooked up directly to your soul, through me. It feeds from the System, through me, and then to you, and that's where all your powers and your window and all that shit comes from. So if something had access to your soul, it could theoretically tweak things a little, but only on your end. What exactly did it do?"

"Well at first all it did was add a message to one of my skills that disappeared a couple moments later," I say. "But now he's here, probably watching me. We had a chat just now after I maxed out Void Mage."

"When that happened, were you in the dungeon?" she asks, looking unusually serious.

"Yeah. Both times I was. Does it matter?"

"Of course it fucking matters you dingus," she shoots back. "The Dungeon is in the Void. Sorta. They're like little pocket spaces, but more malleable." She shakes her head. "The point is, if this dude is a manifestation of the Void, he's going to have it a lot easier when you're in the Dungeon."

"So he might not be watching right now?" I ask.

Kyu takes a moment, closing her eyes. "I don't sense anything wrong, but my ability to parse your soul is pretty limited, I mostly just plug shit in."

"Shit," I curse. "Should I just not go to the dungeons anymore?"

"I don't know," she sighs. "Is this thing after you? Is it a threat?"

"I honestly don't know," I answer. "I don't think so? If I had to describe him it would be 'enigmatic and creepy'. He's potentially a threat, but he also might just be a voyeur."

"Then you do whatever you're most comfortable with," Kyu says, tired. "You're the one that knows him. I can shift the game into 'no dungeon' mode, that basically just gives you more quests and XP for those quests, but locks the dungeon."

I sigh. "No, keep it the way it is now. If he's just going to creep, then it's fine. I'll let you know if that changes. Besides, I just got a new class that's based on soul stuff. That should help. Or it'll hurt."

She frowns. "Did you?" Her eyes unfocus slightly. "Oh you did, one of the Unique classes. Huh. That's a weird one. Yeah, it could go either way, though I think it'll help more than hurt."

"I guess I'll get to work on figuring it out then," I say. "Sorry to wake you up." She waves me off, already lying back down and settling back down into her nest. Without a further word, she falls back asleep, leaving me alone.

With another sigh and a glance at the inviting bed where Asia slept, I sit down on the floor across the room from the bed, my back against the wall.

I remove all my armor and equip only a pair of soft pants and my Omni-Ring. Here, in the comfort of my own home, is a good place to figure out this soul business.

Since the game doesn't seem to be willing to help me, I have to do it the old fashioned way. I get into a comfortable position, close my eyes, disable [Void Detect], and turn my senses inwards.

The first thing I notice is all the Void damage, which reminds me of my state. I sigh, cut off the meditation, and quickly throw together the ingredients for a Cure Status Potion. It's actually extremely cheap to make, as it's a Minor grade potion. I'm tempted to take a quick minute to experiment and see what the higher tier versions are, but I only have the ingredients to make the next tier up, and only a few at that, so I leave it for later.

Status effect gone and stats back to normal, I once again make myself comfortable and turn my attention inwards. My senses are good enough that I can feel magic and life force running through my body. I've never really paid attention to how my body has changed since becoming a Gamer and powering up, so I decide not to rush it and I lose myself in feeling those forces flow through me.

Mana flows through my body like it's electricity, following pathways along veins and bones and whatever bit of tissue it finds. It's centered on my mind, the mana flowing to and from it like it's a heart.

Stamina, or what would probably be called ki by others, is more like heat. It spreads evenly throughout me, and changes in it happen in waves and ripples. It's focused on my heart, which is the point where it's the 'hottest'.

Both are difficult to pick up on. They're subtle and they're 'dark' for lack of a better descriptor. This must be the result of the Void Touched trait. Which means it's the influence of my soul, which is the thing I need to get a sense of.

So I pay attention to both my mana and my ki, getting a feel for the Void-ness that affected both of them. Once I feel like I understand it and recognize it, I search for it elsewhere.

It's difficult because my mana and ki run through my entire body, and so I find it everywhere in my body.

I pause as I consider something. I'm assuming that my soul influences my mana and my ki at their central locations and that those two energies then carry the touch of void throughout my body. But what if that's not the case? What if my soul is already present everywhere in my body, and it's visible where it overlaps with the ki and mana, because of the void?

I turn [Void Detect] back on, but I limit its range to just me and I use it to look inside myself for the first time. Despite how I normally use it, technically what the skill does is look for Void, which is usually absent where physical things are, though the nature of it still gives me an accurate approximation of the objects within my range. But that's not what it's meant for.

I find the Void in my body, and I push down and search 'deeper', and all I found is more void. But that makes sense, doesn't it? After all, [Void Detect] senses Void, not souls. It could pick up on magic, but a soul isn't magic. But combined with my new class and my new trait, now that I have a vague sense for it, maybe I can…

I cut off [Void Detect], but keep my attention inwards. With a deep breath, I pull at what I believe is my soul and direct it towards my mana as I use [Void Detect] again.

Instantly, I can tell it works. There's a slight stretching sensation, and as [Void Detect] comes into effect, I can feel how it's different. The biggest difference is the new presence I feel inside myself. And as that presence slowly fades, I realize that it must be my soul.

At which point I panic and cut off the skill. I come back to reality breathing heavily and tired, broken out of my trance. For the first time in ages, I feel out of breath. I check my stats screen, but nothing on it reflects anything wrong with me. My HP, MP, and SP, are all full, and I don't have any status effects applied to me. But I feel winded.

The feeling doesn't last for too long though, and within a couple moments, I feel slightly tired but otherwise fine. I decide to try again, and this time it's a lot easier. I allow [Void Detect] to spread out to its maximum range, and I marvel at all the souls of the people I can feel. Three of them stand out, mostly because there's a connecting line between me and those three. Kyu, Yua, and Asia.

The connection for each of them is different. Kyu feels like a power source, and her connection feeds from her and into my soul. From what Kyu just said, I assume that's the Game. The other two flow from me to them, though the flow from me to Yua is both thicker and of a higher quality than the one to Asia.

Feeling deep fatigue creep over me, I drop the skill. My stat screen still doesn't show anything. For whatever reason, it doesn't seem to want to quantify my soul. I doubt it's incapable of it, but whatever the reason is, this will have to be something I train manually.

I look at the time. Somehow I lost three hours in that meditation. Yeah, I think that's enough training for tonight. I'm no longer winded, but for the first time I feel tired and spent, and sleep sounds so inviting. So I slowly crawl my way back into bed and back into position to spoon Asia. I fall asleep nearly instantly.

---

I wake up to the feeling of movement within my arms and a slightly pleasant feeling at my dick. I slowly blink my eyes open to see Asia in my arms, but she's turned around now and is facing me, her arms wrapped around me as she pulls herself closer to me. This includes pressing her lower stomach against my morning wood.

It seems like, despite her movement, she's still asleep, so I don't move around and simply enjoy the feeling. And I make sure she enjoys it as well by activating [Touch of Pleasure] and [Erotic Pierrot], both on very low levels.

We stay like this for a good five minutes before she wakes up. Like yesterday, she seems slow to wake up, not realizing for several moments what position she's in. But as her eyes clear up, she surprises me by hugging me tighter.

"Hehe, looks like I'm the one that got grabby during the night," she laughs softly.

"You sure did," I reply, amused. "Not that I mind at all though."

"Can we stay like this for a bit longer?" she asks. "You're warm and you feel nice."

"Sure, I'm in no rush to get up," I answer.

She blushes slightly but smiles as she buries her face into my bare chest. I sense a mess of emotions from her with [Empathy]. None of them are very strong, but I can detect embarrassment, pleasure, shame, arousal, and uncertainty from her.

Altogether, they paint a pretty clear picture. Her intentions are a little less pure than even she thinks they are, and she's still working on coming to terms with her crush and the arousal she feels. But she also likes feeling good and wants to indulge in it.

Well, I'm happy to indulge her, especially if it gets her a little more comfortable with this sort of thing. We fall into a comfortable silence, just relaxing and cuddling for a while. I can feel her slowly get more aroused as my skills work away at her. I'm not sure how long we would have stayed like that if it weren't for her stomach growling a few minutes later.

I laugh. "Come on, let's get some food. I've still got fresh pancakes from yesterday."

Her eyes light up, and she untangles herself from me, getting out of the bed. Her nightgown rides up slightly as she does so, revealing some of her creamy white thighs for a moment. She doesn't seem to notice in her excitement though.

I equip some pants as I get up after her, and once again leave the room to let her get changed. Unlike yesterday, the food is already cooked, so I'm already sitting down eating when she arrives at the kitchen, a plate of pancakes waiting for her.

"So today is going to be a lot like yesterday," I say to her after we've both eaten. "We'll spend the morning here. I'll be working on some of my potions again, I need to figure out some logistical stuff so I can start making them in bulk. We won't be going to the dungeon though, so you can do whatever you please around here. You can go back to gardening, or reading the grimoire, or just relax and watch some TV.

"Probably around lunch, maybe a little after, we'll go out. We'll meet with Atsuko, who you met yesterday, and another friend of ours Aika. Atsuko was only told about the three factions yesterday, and she wants to tell Aika about everything. And honestly, so do I. So we'll talk about that, we'll show you around town, and we'll do some shopping for stuff. After that, we'll see where the day takes us. Sound good to you?"

She nods, and after I clean up the dishes we both go to the living room. She immediately goes to the pots and starts gardening, a smile on her face as she hums and encourages their growth with her magic.

I once again sit on the couch, the most comfortable spot for my planning and thinking. Before I start on potions, there are two things I have to do first. Contact Aika and Atsuko, and use my gacha tokens.

I pull out my phone and send a group text to the two of them, asking if they want to get lunch to talk and then show Asia around town. Aika responds pretty quickly, agreeing and curious about Asia, while Atsuko responds a few minutes later with a half garbled text. That's right, getting up in the daytime is probably difficult for her right now. We set a time and a place to meet and I put my phone away.

Now onto the gacha. I feel like I've been using a lot more gacha tokens than usual lately. But then again, I've been in the dungeon a lot, so it makes sense. Either way, I don't hesitate to use them.

Red Tearstone Ring
Increases damage by 50% when under 20% health

Pale Ore
A mysterious ore that is chill to the touch

[Iron Body] - Level 1(0%)
One of six techniques used by the World Governments secret agents. Concentrate and harden your muscles to block damage. Nullifies attacks that would deal less than 214 damage. The user cannot move while the skill is active.

The ring is nice. I leave it alone for now though. It's just a little too valuable to feed to my Omni-Ring, and it's damn risky to use. The pale ore I make a note of, but I can't currently do anything with it. Though I wonder how much of the timing on that is a coincidence, getting some Pale Ore right after picking up the Hollow Knight class.

The skill though, I'm very excited about. Not because of the actual skill itself, but because that means I can potentially get the other skills in the set, and all of them are extremely good in their own right. Not that this one is bad. In fact, I lack a good method of defense outside of the extremely expensive [Void Cloak]. Especially since the skill itself apparently doesn't have a cost.

I decide to test it out and activate it right away. I feel my muscles tense and lock up, and sure enough, there isn't a noticeable change to my SP. It's possible it only uses SP when it blocks damage, or that the amount it uses is lower than how much I regenerate a second. I also note that the skill level didn't go up just from me using it. Maybe it has to block damage?

I set it aside for now. I'll get someone to help me train it later. I'd ask Asia, but the thought of asking Asia to hit me with a crowbar or something doesn't sit right with me. Instead, I start figuring out potions. My goal for right now is to make a full list of all the potions I can potentially make and the best recipes for them using ingredients I can get in bulk.

It takes a couple hours of writing things down, taking out ingredients, using [Alchemy] to get a sense of what they might make, and figuring out which ones I can get in bulk and which ones I can easily grind for in the dungeons.

I'm pleased by how easy some of the ingredients turn out to be. I even discover some new kinds of potions to make, including a beauty potion and a fertility potion. Neither are directly useful to me, but I can sell them for top dollar.

I only have enough ingredients for a Minor Beauty Potion, so I don't bother, but I can and do make an Ultimate Fertility Potion.

Ultimate Fertility Potion
Grants a 100% chance for conception for the next 24 hours.

Guaranteed baby-making sex. Considering how many races in this setting struggle with low conception rates, I can charge a premium for these. And since they are mostly made of different kinds of common herbs, they're super cheap to make.

I look at the time. There's still an hour until I'm going to meet with Aika and Atsuko. That's enough time to train some of my new Void skills, especially [Void Travel]. I give Asia a heads up that I might disappear and reappear as I train a skill, and then get to work.

The first thing I discover is that targeting the skill is a lot like targeting [Void Sight]. In fact, it's exactly the same, except that when I use the skill I appear in the targeted location instead of just seeing it. The first thing I do is a few short hops across the room.

The movement is strange. I have to physically take a step in order to teleport, though hops and even falling over works as well, so long as I'm moving in some fashion. And the teleportations themselves are smooth. Far smoother than what the Devils use. With the Devil's teleportation, there's always that sense of movement, a yanking feeling in your gut.

But [Void Travel] really does feel just like stepping. There's a vague flash of darkness, so fast you barely notice it, but otherwise nothing of note.

I start increasing the distances of my jumps. I jump to the school and back. Doing that barely takes any of my MP, making it much more efficient than [Shadow Step]. Next, I go a little further, to the room in the airport where Sona teleported me to and then back. It cost me barely any more MP than the last one. Good, that means I don't have to worry about the MP cost for travel in Kuoh at least.

I spend the next hour jumping around town and back, just leveling up the skill. Each jump didn't seem to offer much XP, but since the MP cost was negligible, I made up for it in quantity. I always jump back to the apartment though, so Asia can see me. She seems a little surprised at first, but after a few jumps, she seems to just ignore my antics.

Partway through I call Yua to hop on my shoulder and take her with me on my trips, just to see if I can bring other people with me. It turns out, I can. It doesn't feel any different and it's only a slight increase in MP.

Shortly before we leave I remember that Asia won't be able to talk with Aika due to the language difference and quickly buy a Babel Fish that will translate everything she hears and says from the Hunie Store for 1,000 Hunie. The Mailman delivers it as quickly as usual, and Asia looks weirded out, but once I explain what it is, she agrees to let me put the small orange fish into her ear, where it disappears without a trace.

Instead of walking I take Asia's hand in mine and teleport us to an out of sight spot close by. Yua and Kyu come with us as well. Yua I instruct to continue leveling her [Fade], something I've been slacking on having her level up lately, and Kyu just doesn't want to miss any more sexy times.

It's a short walk to the family restaurant where we agreed to meet, and since Asia and I are the first ones there we go ahead and grab a table. We pass a couple minutes worth of time with Asia asking me what all the different foods on the menu are and me explaining each one so she can decide what she wants to eat.

Before she decides, Aika and Atsuko come walking in together. Aika is wearing a blue blouse, a black skirt, and black thigh high socks. Atsuko is wearing a red and white striped spaghetti strap top and a red skirt.

I stand up to greet them. "Hey you two," I call out to them as I pull them into a hug. I turn to Asia. "Asia, you and Atsuko met last night, but this is Aika. They're both my girlfriend. Aika, meet Asia. Due to some stuff I'll explain here in a minute, I'm taking care of her for now."

Aika smiles at Asia. "It's nice to meet you Asia." She turns to me. "Are you taking care of her because she's cute? Because really if that's all you explained that would be enough for me."

I chuckle. "No, I agreed before I saw her. Her cuteness is a bonus."

Asia, who started blushing a little when I introduced Atsuko and Aika as both being my lovers, is blushing even harder now. "C- cute?!" she stammers. "No wait, you're dating both of them?"

I motion for everyone to sit down and we pile into the booth, and I go to answer Asia but it's Aika who answers. "Axton has a big big heart and too much love for just one girl to handle," she says with a grin. "So we've all agreed to share Axton so he can spread his love between all of us."

Atsuko blushes a little at Aika's innuendo, but it goes straight over Asia's head. She turns to me, and I feel hope and uncertainty and longing from her with [Empathy]. "Really?"

"I give my love freely, openly, and frequently," I say, continuing Aika's innuendo with a grin. "I have a lot of love to give and enjoy giving it to girls who want it."

Atsuko's eyes widen, but it's not embarrassment that I feel from her, it's arousal. Asia herself is wide-eyed as well, but for a different reason, as that feeling of hope strengthens.

Unfortunately, the moment is interrupted by the arrival of a waitress. All four of us quickly order our food. When she leaves, Atsuko speaks up. "So uhh. Axton? Can you start explaining things? I only barely understand things and I don't think I could do a good job."

Aika frowns a little. "Explain what? Asia?"

"She's part of it," I say, "but it's more than just that. There's no point letting you wonder for long, so let me just say it. Magic and the supernatural are real. I've known this for a long time, Asia here has known it for most of her life, and Atsuko was clued in yesterday, and both of us really wanted to clue you in as well."

Aika looks uncertain. "Like...magic magic?"

Atsuko looks around. "Actually, Axton, is it okay to talk about here? With so many people around?" Her concerns aren't entirely unfounded. It's a Saturday at lunchtime, and the place is fairly crowded.

"Don't worry," I reassure her. "I'm making sure no one can hear us." And I am, with [Sound Domain]. I'm not erasing the sound coming from our table, but anything that's a voice is being garbled and muted. To demonstrate for them, I cut off the sound coming from the rest of the restaurant, leaving us in a sudden bubble of silence, with the only sound coming from us.

All three girls jump slightly in surprise and start looking around at all the people that should be making noise. "You're doing this?" Aika asks.

I nod and slowly let sound fade back into our bubble, though I keep it at a low murmur. Honestly, it's pretty good training with my [Sound Domain] skill. "All of the sound in an area around us is under my control."

"That's actual magic?" Aika asks again. "This isn't one of those TV magic things?"

"If you want to be sure, then here, this is probably the least flashy example I can give." I pull the Bloodhound Ring out of my inventory, making it seemingly appear from nowhere, and her eyes widen. I hand it to her. "Put this on, it should increase your sense of smell to be on par with a dog's."

She looks at it, curiosity in her eyes, and slips it onto her finger. I can tell it works because she immediately recoils and takes it off, but her expression is amazed instead of disgusted. "Magic is real," she says to herself. She hands me back the ring. "I don't like that though, there are too many smells."

"That's why I don't usually wear it myself," I say as the ring vanishes in my open palm. "But since I have a nifty little pocket space I can store things in I keep it on me anyway."

"That's so cool," she says. "So you're like a wizard or something?"

"My skill set is a little broader than most magicians, so I'm not sure the label fits," I say. "I'm just good at picking up a bunch of different tricks."

She looks at Asia. "Are you a magician too?"

Asia shakes her head. "I'm a nun with the Church." Her eyes look down. "Or at least, I was."

Aika frowns in confusion. "The Church?"

"You know the Bible? God, Heaven, Devils, Fallen Angels?" I ask. Aika nods, though I notice Atsuko flinch slightly when I say 'God'. "That's all more or less true. Some of the details are off, but those factions very much exist today. The Church is backed by Heaven. Asia is a healer, and she healed for them for a long time. Until one of the people she healed ended up being a Devil, and the Church, who had touted her healing power as something Holy, turned their backs on her rather than admit they had been lying for their own benefit."

Asia frowns, and I can tell with [Empathy] that she didn't like some aspect of my explanation, but she doesn't say anything. Aika and Atsuko are annoyed though. "Wait, they lied but they threw you out?" Atsuko says. "That's so fucked up!"

"Technically speaking, they didn't lie," I say. "Asia's power does come from the big man upstairs," I address him indirectly to avoid harming Atsuko. "But only in the sense that her healing power is from her Sacred Gear, and he was the one to create the system that allows for Sacred Gears to come into existence. But the fact that her powers can heal anything, including Devils, didn't fit the image they had created for her, so they put the blame on her instead."

"That's just as bad!" Atsuko says heatedly.

Aika tilts her head. "Sacred Gears?"

"Special powers that humans are born with sometimes," I explain briefly. "Asia's is Twilight Healing, and it is a powerful healing Sacred Gear. Atsuko has one as well, though we haven't discovered what it is yet."

"And you have one too," Atsuko reminds me.

"That's what the Devils think," I agree. "But I'm not so sure. Their evidence is mostly that they can't sense me or my magic, and that their best guess is that I have some sort of stealth related Sacred Gear." I shake my head. "My gut tells me that this isn't the case, but I don't have a better explanation to give them."

"The Devils think that?" Aika asks. "What Devils?"

"Rias and the rest of the Occult Research Club," Atsuko answers.

"And the Student Council," I add.

"You're saying that they're Devils?" Aika asks with a frown. "Aren't Devils the bad guys?"

I shrug. "If you asked Heaven and the Fallen, then yes. But all three of those groups don't like each other. Devils are a little hedonistic and power-obsessed, but they're not inherently evil or anything."

"Hedonistic, huh?" Aika says with a grin. "Is that why you've been hanging out with them?"

I chuckle. "No," I deny. "Or at least, that's not the primary reason why. It's because they've been trying to recruit me."

Atsuko fidgets a little at the mention of recruitment but doesn't speak up. Aika does though. "How does a Devil recruit someone?"

"By turning them into a Devil as well," I answer. "They invented these things called Evil Pieces that can turn humans and other races into Devils as part of their Peerage. Then those Peerage members can grow, rise up in the ranks, and form their own Peerage."

I turn my gaze to Atsuko, silently asking if she wanted to tell Aika the rest, or if she wanted me to. Slightly nervous, she nods and turns to Aika. "Actually, Rias also invited me to her peerage too, and after hearing what being a Devil is like, I agreed. She used her Evil Pieces on me yesterday after school."

I sense a jumble of emotions I can't untangle from Aika. "Just like that? What is being a Devil like?"

"Well Devils live forever, and can do magic and stuff," Atsuko starts explaining. "And they're really tough and strong, and like Axton said you can get your own Peerage and if you want you can just make your Peerage full of beautiful girls," she smiles a little lustfully at that last one while her eyes unfocus as she daydreams.

"Aah," Aika makes a noise of understanding. She looks at me. "That actually sounds perfect for you Axton, why didn't you become one?"

I shrug. "Two reasons. First, I have other plans in mind that potentially conflict with joining a Peerage. Second, I don't think either Rias or Sona are strong enough. A young Devil can't add someone far stronger to them to their peerage. Not directly at least."

"So you're not against Devils then?" she asks.

"Not at all," I answer. "Of the three factions, I've gotten along with them the best. Heaven I've had no direct interaction with but the Church was mean to Asia. And my Fallen interaction…" I trail off. "Well, they've been pretty mixed. Azazel seemed like an alright guy, but all the other Fallen I've met, not so much."

"Didn't that one chick try to kill you?" Atsuko points out.

"Yeah that wasn't great," I mention. "Especially since she was hunting Sacred Gear users, which included you, and they had some sinister plans for Asia here, despite Asia going to the Fallen after being kicked out by the church. That's why I'm taking care of her. Apparently, it was just a rogue element inside the Fallen's organization, and the leader seems like an okay dude, but if it happens once, it could happen again, and so Asia and the Fallen's leader agreed it would be better if she stayed with a neutral party like myself." Asia nods and scoots slightly closer to me, and I smile and pat her on the head.

I turn my attention back to Atsuko. "But like I said. The Devil's I've met have all been great. I mean, I've only met one outside of the ones that go to our school. And she was scary strong, but she also dresses up as a magical girl."

Aika grins and Atsuko just looks flabbergasted. "She what? Who?" Atsuko asks.

"Sona's older sister," I say. "One of the four leaders of the Devils. Apparently, if you're one of the strongest Devils, you can do whatever you want."

"I can't believe the Student Council President has a magical girl for an older sister," Atsuko says softly, voice full of wonder.

"Should I become a Devil?" Aika asks, unsure.

"If you want to, I'll support it," I say. "Though why do you want to? If you're not sure about being a Devil, I can potentially provide alternatives."

"I don't know," she admits. "I think I'm still taking it all in. But you've just told me magic is real and I definitely want to know more about that."

"Do you want to learn magic?" I ask. "Because I have a book I picked up that can teach you a certain branch of magic. I can't use it, but with some study, some practice, and a little help from me you should be able to sling some spells in no time."

Her eyes widen. "Really?"

"Yep," I confirm. "I can teach you a few of my tricks as well, but you have potential as a magician." And she does, more than Atsuko at least.

Aika Kiryuu
Level: 1
Race: Human
HP: 90
MP: 120
SP: 80
CON: 9
STR: 8
DEX: 9
INT: 12
WIS: 12
CHA: 10
LUK: 10

"Then yes, I want to do that," she nods. "I'll think about the Devil and other stuff, but I definitely want to learn magic."

"I'll give you the book later today," I say. "Our food is about to arrive."

Sure enough, just as I finish saying that, our waitress comes around the corner carrying our food. Conversation sorta dies out as she gives us our food and we start eating, but after she leaves it picks back up, more lighthearted than before.

"So what are we doing after this?" Atsuko asks. "Showing Asia around town?"

I nod. "And I thought maybe you two could help her find some new outfits. She only came here with a single suitcase worth of clothes, and it's not a very big suitcase."

Asia's eyes light up. "You mean I can wear all the really pretty clothes that I see on TV?"

"You can wear whatever you want," I reassure her and pat her on the head again. It's just a reflex at this point. Atsuko looks on, looking slightly jealous, but Aika has a scheming glint in her eyes.

"Oh we can definitely do that," Aika says. "And then afterward, we should have a girl's night. Me, Asia, and Atsuko can sleepover at my place and have a slumber party. It would be a great new experience for Asia."

I lock eyes with Aika, and she grins at me. I know exactly what she wants to do. She wants to start corrupting Asia so I can seduce her. "Sure," I agree with a grin. "That sounds like a fun idea to me." You're the best Aika, I can always rely on you for this sort of thing. "How does that sound Asia?"

"I've never been to a slumber party before," she says, equal parts nervous and excited. "I'd love to go to one."

"Then that's settled," I say. "We'll show Asia around town, do some shopping, and then you three will have a girl's night. Oh, but I do ask that you bring Yua with you, so I know if anything happens and can get there immediately."

"Yua?" Aika asks. "Your cat?"

I grin, and telepathically ask her to make her way to us. "My familiar," I correct her.

Yua, partially invisible with the use of [Fade], dashes under the table, hops onto my lap, and then pokes her head above the table. "Hi!"

"She can talk?" Aika exclaims. "That's amazing! She's so cute."

"Ms. Kiyome used a spell on Yua to make it so Yua could talk with everyone and not just Papa and Mama!" Yua explains helpfully.

"Kiyome?" Atsuko says. "Isn't that the rich third-year girl?"

"Papa and Mama?" Aika asks.

"I'm Papa," I explain. "And Momo is Mama since it was the two of us that found her and adopted her. Kiyome is indeed a rich blonde girl who goes to our school. She's human, but her family tames and takes care of all sorts of magical creatures. She offered to use a spell on Yua to let her talk, which I'm very grateful for." I scratch Yua behind her ears as I feed her a bit of food off of my plate.

"Yua is adorable so she can come too," Aika agrees before looking sharply at me. "But not you, this is strictly a girl's night."

"That's fine," I reply with a chuckle. "I can find something to occupy myself with."

"Papa usually goes to the Dungeon at night," Yua comments.

"Ooh?" Aika says. "You have a secret sex dungeon?"

I roll my eyes. "No, not a sex dungeon," I deny. I wasn't planning on telling them yet, but maybe this works better. "I can enter a sort of miniature dimension filled with fake monsters and I use that to train. It reminds me of a dungeon from a roleplaying game, so I call it the Dungeon."

"That's so cool!" Atsuko says. "What do you mean by fake monsters? And what's the dungeon like?"

"I mean fake as in they act like real monsters, but their bodies fade away after I kill them, so I assume they're not real," I answer. "And I've discovered a few different types of dungeons. One's musty and filled with undead, and another one is like a forest filled with magical creatures. And bears.

"If you want, I can bring you girls with me to one of them tomorrow. You can get stronger by training there, and it'll really help. I brought Asia in one yesterday and her magic energy comes back a lot faster now. For Atsuko, we can start getting you stronger and maybe figure out your Sacred Gear and impress Rias. And for you Aika, it's a great place to practice magic and get better at it."

"I'm all for it!" Atsuko proclaims.

Aika looks less sure. "Could I even learn a spell by tomorrow?"

I shrug. "Maybe? We can always work on it tomorrow morning. You're smart, I'm sure we could make some progress."

"In that case, sure," Aika agrees. "Since Atsuko is all for it."

"Awesome," I say. This way I can train them and make them strong, which will make them safer. "How about you Asia?" I ask her.

She pauses. "I don't have to fight, do I?"

"Not if you don't want to," I say.

"Then I'll come too," she says.

"Great!" I say. "But for now, let's finish up lunch so we can show Asia around town and buy her some cute dresses." Asia blushes, but the other two girls smile and we turn our attention back to our meals. Yua curls up on my lap as I occasionally feed her a few pieces of food.

I'm glad that the discussion with Aika went so well. Hopefully I'll be able to train them up to a fighting force, so I won't have to worry about their safety as much.

---

A few hours later we've dragged Asia all around town and are now deep into clothes shopping. So far we've mostly gotten stuff for Asia. Stuff like casual dresses and more formal wear, and Asia was having a lot of fun trying on all the different clothes. The girls even roped me into trying out something new, and I had to admit, the jacket they picked out for me looks pretty good.

It's like if a zip-up hoodie and a pea coat had a child, with an off-center zipper and the coat overlapping in the front. It also has a wide collar and no actual hood. But it's pretty stylish and it feels comfortable, so I've taken to wearing it already. I bought a few in different colors. The one I'm currently wearing is a sort of mossy green.

While we're in a store that mostly sells women's clothing, Aika pulls Asia away saying something about "a woman's most important weapon", leaving just me and Atsuko. Not that Atsuko seems to mind, as she gleefully goes to pick out a few things and heads directly for a changing room.

I follow her into the changing room after making sure no one was watching and there aren't any cameras. She turns around in surprise. "Axton?" she asks.

"You know, we don't get a lot of one-on-one time," I say as I approach her and wrap my arms around her. "I mean, hot threesomes are great, but you know what sounds really appealing to me right now?" I kiss her neck as my hands reach under her skirt to grab her ass.

"Here?" she asks, panicking slightly even as I feel her arousal spike. "Now? I mean, we don't have the time, what if someone hears-"

"No one will hear us," I cut her off. "Remember, I can control that. And just one round, just me and you. Doesn't the idea of doing it here, in a changing room sound hot? Isn't this something you've fantasized about? I know I have."

She hesitates for just a moment, but then throws her arms around my neck and kisses me back, hard. "One round," she says after she pulls back, and I grin.

I lift her up, supporting her weight entirely with my grip on her ass and her arms around my neck before I push her against the wall, our lips locked and tongues dancing the entire time. I paw at her breasts before being annoyed at the cloth in my way and I stash it in my inventory before taking it back out and dropping it to the ground.

She gasps as the air suddenly touches her bare skin. "You-" she starts, but I cut her off by pinching one of her now exposed nipples. Apparently, she went without a bra today. She moans loudly, the sound being drawn out as I tweak her nipple. I'm using [Sound Domain] to make sure no one hears, but I can feel as she forgets that for a moment and freezes, her arousal spiking slightly before calming down.

She moans again as my lips find her other nipple. "Axtoooon," she says, half whining half moaning. "Just stick it in, we don't need foreplay."

"Oh?" I ask as I move my hand to discover that she's already soaked her panties. "I see someone's more into the dressing room than I thought," I tease with a grin. She opens her mouth to protest, but I interrupt her with a quick kiss before leaning in and whispering in her ear. "That's so hot."

Stashing my pants and underwear into my inventory, my manhood suddenly finds itself resting against her damp panties, which I'm quick to move to the side so I can push myself inside of her, making sure to use all of my lewd skills as I do so.

She moans loudly as I fill her up, both of us taking in the feeling of her new Devil body. She was tight before, and she is still, but it's different. Even before I use [Imbue Elasticity] it feels like she already has it active. Tight, but able to be split open easier than in the past, where I've had to gradually loosen her up.

Her arousal hits the roof and she pulls herself closer to me, catching my lips with a hungry kiss. I respond in kind, pulling her off the wall and using just my arms to lift her up and down, repeatedly impaling her. Her moans slip out between breaths and kisses and fill the changing room. [Sound Domain] makes sure none of them escape the room, but I do make sure to make them sound louder in her ears, and I can feel her tighten around me with every moan.

At this frantic rate, it doesn't take long for either of us to cum, and as I feel her clench and as she moans into my mouth with her own orgasm, I let my own climax wash over me and slam as deep into her as I can get. I can feel her inner walls convulsing around me as I pump my seed into her, filling her to the brim.

Finally, my orgasm ends, and I gently set Atsuko down on the ground. "Huh," she comments. "I don't feel as worn out as normal."

"I've been told that Devils have 'lewd bodies'," I explain. "I could certainly feel the difference."

She blushes. "Yeah, that was intense." She looks down with a frown. "Is that why I'm not leaking right now?"

I shrug, bending down to pick up her discarded shirt and handing it back to her. "Maybe?"

She takes it and starts putting it back on. "I feel like I could go for another round, but we probably don't have time for that."

"Nope," I confirm. "Asia and Aika are looking around for us right now." [Void Detect] and [Sound Domain] gave me a pretty clear idea of everything going on around me.

Atsuko freezes. "Aika's definitely going to realize."

"Probably," I agree. "But Asia won't."

She sighs. "I can live with that. Come on, get out of here, and let me actually try these clothes on."

I laugh and exit, making sure the coast is clear.

I might not be training right now, but it's fine. Sometimes you need to be reminded of why you train. I smile as Asia and Aika spot me and head in my direction. Worry about the future later, enjoy the present now.

---

An hour or so later, after the girls, Kyu included, have left to do their slumber party, I start shopping around for more alchemy ingredients. I made sure to give Aika the Grimoire of Dark Magic and to apply [Erotic Dreams] to all of them, since the maximum number of people I can use the skill on went up after it leveled from being used on Asia.

This morning I discovered that a lot of my potions can be made with ingredients that are relatively easy to buy in bulk, but for some, I can only partially supply the ingredients in bulk. So my goal for tonight is to find substitutions for the ones I can't buy in bulk so I can mass produce all of the recipes I've discovered.

It's as I'm walking the aisles of some beauty shop looking for more ingredients to use in some Beauty Potions, I run into two familiar faces. Sona and Tsubaki.

"Hey ladies," I greet them. "We sure do seem to run into each other a lot, don't we?"

"I'm surprised to find you in a place like this though," Sona replies. "It doesn't seem like the kind of place that caters to you. Unless you're searching for a gift?"

"Ingredients, actually," I laugh. "You wouldn't believe the sorts of things I've turned into useful potions."

"Potions?" Sona asks, curious.

"Have I not told you guys about my potions?" I ask. "I'm sure I mentioned it at some point." I think back. "Oh, right. It was after that thing with the Fallen angels."

"I remember now," Tsubaki says. "You mentioned it when you were listing what you could do, and I believe we all were distracted by everything else and didn't question you more on them."

"Yeah, a lot was going on then," I say. "Still, I'm surprised they haven't come up again since then, they're super useful."

"Oh?" Sona asks. "What sort of potions do you make? I'm afraid I haven't really heard of any potion makers before."

"Well, I have your standard ones for healing, restoring magic, and restoring stamina," I start.

Sona cuts me off. "Wait, you can make potions like that?" She has a calm mask on, but I can feel her getting excited. "How effective are they?"

"So far the ones I've made can practically instantly heal grievous wounds," I say, trying to estimate what 50% and 75% max HP translates to. "But I've been working on a new recipe that should be able to completely heal any wounds. Doesn't do much for illnesses, but I have a different potion for that."

"You can really do all that?" Sona asks.

"And more," I confirm. "I figured out a couple new recipes this morning. I have maybe 20 or so potions I can make."

I can see Sona's mind racing. "Are you willing to trade or sell these potions?"

"I've been thinking about selling some of them, yeah," I say. "The problem right now is that I'm working on figuring out recipes with ingredients I can get in bulk. Some of the ones I use right now are rare or hard to buy. I've been trying to grow my own, but there's only so much room in my tiny apartment."

"Would you be open to making a deal then?" Sona asks, in full business mode already. "We can supply you with ingredients and anything you need in exchange for the potions."

"I'm open to negotiations, sure," I answer. "Some help in procuring ingredients would save me a lot of time. Surely you don't expect me to give you potions for just the cost of the ingredients though, right?" I grin. "Especially since I finally cracked the code on Fertility potions."

Both of them freeze, though Sona recovers herself quickly. "Are you busy right now?" she asks suddenly.

"I mean, aside from the shopping, no," I say. "Why?"

"I want to make this more official," she says. "If you have a potion like that…" she trails off. "Well, that's big. I'm sure Momo has told you about Devil's struggling to reproduce."

"It's something that's come up a few times, yes," I say. "And it's part of why I started trying to make this kind of potion. I know how valuable it could be."

"Something as valuable as this, if they work, is something I need to bring my sister into," she says, slightly regretfully. "While I could provide you some recompense for them as the Sitri Heiress, for something on this scale it would be best left in the hands of my sister, especially since you aren't a devil. Yet." She gives me a fierce look. "I haven't given up on recruiting you."

"So you want to bring her into this," I say while nodding. "Makes sense. Sure, I'm down. I'd love to talk more with the super-powerful magical girl."

Sona closes her eyes and sighs, and I see Tsubaki's eyes twinkle with barely constrained amusement. "Somehow I get the feeling that I'm going to regret this."

Sona leads us to a nearby restaurant that offers discreet and private rooms. Apparently, it's often used for business deals. You wouldn't think there would be enough of that going on in Kuoh to warrant it, but maybe this town is more of a business hotspot than I thought.

Serafall is already waiting for us in one of those rooms when we arrive. Sona had called her on the way over and I guess she was able to drop whatever she had going on to teleport here immediately. Sadly she's not in her magical girl outfit but instead is dressed in a black business suit with a knee-length skirt and stockings. Her jacket and shirt below it are cut low enough to show a little skin but still be professional.

She stands up as we walk in. "Axton! My precious little Sona tells me you have quite the surprise up your sleeve."

I shake her proffered hand. I don't activate any of my skills. Do I want to seduce Serafall? Hell yes I do. Does she terrify me and make me hesitant to do anything even slightly out of place? Oh yeah. So no [Touch of Pleasure] or [Erotic Pierrot] or anything of that nature. Although…

"And she tells me that you can help me get the ball rolling on production," I say as we sit down. With my hands hidden beneath the table, I quickly withdraw and use a Super Heart Crystal, bringing Serafall's Affection from 34 to 54.

Perk rewarded for reaching 50 Affection with Serafall Leviathan
[Defender of Love and Justice] - Increases Affection Gain with Magical Girls by 20%

If I had thought ahead I could've used a Large one yesterday and a Super one tonight to get her even higher, but above 50 is pretty good already.

"So," she starts when we're all sitting. "Let's cut to the chase. Tell me about this fertility potion."

I pull the potion in question out and set it on the table. The liquid inside is pink and milky. "This is what I dub my Ultimate Fertility Potion. Ultimate is a tier, mind you, not just a cool-sounding adjective. Ultimate tier potions are the best ones I can currently make. I just discovered the recipe for this one this morning, so I only have the one and I haven't tested it yet. But, if my understanding of it is right, and it always has been with my other potions, this should guarantee conception for 24 hours."

I feel shock coming from all three of them with [Empathy]. "Guarantee? Even on a race with low fertility?" Serafall asks me.

"I have no reason to think it won't work on any race," I say. "It doesn't actually affect fertility, and instead magically ensures the success of fertilization," I bullshit. I have no idea how it works, but I trust in the Game to make it work.

"Here," I say and I push the potion towards her. "Take this one, free. Consider it a sample. You can test it, verify it works, and any deal we make can be contingent on that."

+10 Affection with Serafall Leviathan

"Are you sure?" Serafall asks, even as she reaches for it.

"I only had ingredients to make the one," I say. "But that's more due to happenstance than anything else. It's not expensive to make, just difficult." I considered playing up the cost of the ingredients, but I have a plan in mind for this conversation and I need to be truthful about the ingredients for it to work. Which is why I emphasized the difficulty, even though it's not really hard.

"Besides," I continue. "I know that I'm making some pretty bold claims. Without seeing the results of it yourself, it will be difficult to bargain in good faith."

+7 Affection with Tsubaki Shinra

Oh? I guess Tsubaki likes that logic? Though I feel similar levels of gratitude and respect from all of them. Maybe it was only her Affection that was low enough to go up from something like that?

"Thank you, Axton. I'll put it to good use," Serafall promises.

"It shouldn't matter who drinks it either," I say. "One person needs to drink the entire thing for it to work, but it doesn't matter if it's the guy or the girl. My advice? Give it a male with a harem that he wants to knock up and let him go crazy for the next 24 hours."

"Oh? What happens if both partners drink it?" she asks.

"Hmm," I say, trying to guess. "It wouldn't cancel each other out or anything, but I'm not sure it would offer any benefit. It might increase the chance of fraternal twins? Something to test once I make more."

"Can you?" Serafall says. "Make more that is? You said the ingredients weren't expensive?"

"They aren't," I confirm. "Not to go into details about how I make them, but the physical ingredients I need are often somewhat random. Not completely, there are patterns to what works. But there's no real correlation between ingredient rarity and the effect of the potion. The Fertility potion is a case where a very useful potion is cheap to make, but I also have the opposite case where the only recipe I've figured out for some less useful potions uses expensive or rare ingredients.

"They're still not easy to make though. Not very time consuming, but that's because I've spent a long time refining my processes. I don't have any intention of extortion, but just because the ingredients are cheap doesn't mean I'm going to sell them cheaply."

"I understand completely," Serafall says seriously. "And I wouldn't ask you to."

"The downside is, I'm not sure what price to put on these. In short, I need to do some market research, and I need to do all sorts of business management stuff I haven't done yet. But, rather than sell them to you, I am willing to offer you a one time trade. A batch of these fertility potions in exchange for the ingredients they need and what I need to set up a proper production."

Serafall smiles. "That's perfectly acceptable. What do you need?"

"To be honest, what I need is a house," I say. I feel small notes of surprise from them all. "A large one, with space where I can grow a lot of my own ingredients. I have some rare plants that I can't buy anywhere but are easy enough for me to grow in large quantities if I have space. And honestly, I just want more space than my cramped apartment. But as a 16-year-old, real estate is difficult for me to purchase myself. So, for housing with enough land for me to grow whatever I need and the ingredients themselves, I'll provide you with fifty of the potions."

I'm instantly hit with a huge amount of shock radiating from all of them. "Fifty?" Serafall asks. "Are- are you sure? Just for that?"

...I may have underestimated how valuable these potions are to them, despite my speech. Still, it's too late to back down without looking like a dick, and if I'm stupidly generous then the Affection with Serafall will be worth it.

"As I said, I'm not interested in extorting the Devils for this. For the amount of work and my expertise in making potions, that seems fair to me." I reason. "I can even have them done tonight. I've fine-tuned my process enough that it doesn't take too long. If you can get me the ingredients tonight, I can have them ready for pick up by morning."

+10 Affection with Serafall Leviathan

"There's no need to rush them that much," Serafall says. "But if the ingredients are as easy to get as you say, then I can probably arrange for them to be sent to your place by tonight. As for the rest, if testing with this first one proves fruitful, I'll start arranging the rest of it. That should only take a day or two."

I pull out a scrap of paper and a pen and start making a list. "Here, this is what I need," I say when I finish, handing her the list of ingredients. I kept the ingredient list mostly truthful, though I doubled how much of everything I needed. Making 100 Ultimate tier potions should max out my [Alchemy] class, or at least get me close. This way I have something to sell to the other races too.

Serafall glances over the list. "Really? This is all you need?"

"I said they were cheap, didn't I?" I say. "Really, it's the amount that is annoying for me. You get a lot of weird looks buying some of those things in bulk at the grocery store."

"I suppose," she says. "Still, I can get this on your doorstep within a couple hours, even in these amounts."

"Great!" I say. "Looks like we have a deal then. And once I get set up, I'll set up a store or something and we can discuss more deals then."

"Sounds good to me!" Serafall says, and I can tell from her tone that she's back out of business mode. "Come on, let's celebrate with some dinner. The sirloin here is fantastic."

The atmosphere relaxes as Serafall calls in a waiter and orders sirloin steaks for all of us. I noticed during the talk that Sona was feeling tense, but she's more relaxed now.

The steaks come out within a couple minutes, and we chat casually while we eat.

"So Axton, I notice you're going for a new look," Sona mentions.

"My new jacket?" I say. "Yeah, I was shopping with the girls earlier and they picked it out for me."

"Well, they chose well," Sona says matter of factly. "It suits you."

"Thanks, Sona," I say with a wink. "I'll let them know you think they did a good job." I notice Serafall looking on at our interaction with interest, and decide to tease Sona just a little bit. "You know, last time we ran into each other, it led to a chess game. We should have another game soon. I've been practicing, and I think I might be able to beat you soon."

A slight blush creeps up Sona's neck and at the tip of her ears, but she does a good job keeping a calm mask. "I've been practicing as well," she replies only a little stiffly. "When we get some time we'll have to play again. I've been using that chess set you gave me, it's been making my games much more satisfying."

"Ooh, Axton gave Sona a chess set?" Serafall chimes in with a teasing grin.

"I pick up a lot of interesting things," I explain. "And one of them was a nice magically animated chess set. I figured Sona would get more use out of it than I would, and I'm glad to see that I was right. I'm glad you're enjoying it, Sona."

"It was a thoughtful gift," Sona says with a nod.

Serafall doesn't comment further, but there's obvious interest in her eyes.

It doesn't take long for us to finish our steaks, and I make my excuses and travel back home, walking out of the building before [Void Traveling]. I check up the girls briefly with [Void Sight], able to focus it directly on Yua instead of trying to figure out where Aika lives, and they seem to be doing alright. They're eating as well, though it's more casual fare. Still, they're safe, and that's enough.

I leave them to their fun as my thoughts turn to tonight. I have a couple of hours to kill before those ingredients get here, so I may as well work on my [Alchemy]. And maybe my [Poison Resistance] as well, it's been a while since I've done that.

I once again sit on my couch and start pulling out ingredients. Yeah, it'll be nice when I get a proper lab for this.

---

"One, two, three, another chance spot!" Asia cheered as she moved her piece along the board. She drew a chance card and read it out loud. "You accidentally trigger a trap. Thankfully, it activates the trap somewhere else. The player on your right moves back five spaces to avoid the trap." She looked at Atsuko. "Oh no! I'm so sorry!"

Atsuko sighed. "No, it's okay. Accidents happen, and you can't control the chance cards." She reached down to the board and moved her piece, which was already a distance behind the other two pieces, and moved it back five more spaces. Then she turned to Aika. "It's your turn Aika."

"Hmm?" Aika asked as she looked up from the book she was reading. "Oh right, sorry." She rolled the dice, rolling a seven. As she moved her piece up, passing Asia's piece on the way, Atsuko spoke up.

"Is that grim-thingy really that interesting?" Atsuko asked.

"Grimoire," Aika corrected her. "And of course it is! Today I discovered that my boyfriend is magic, my girlfriend is a Devil, and I was given a book that can teach me magic."

"I guess if you put it like that," Atsuko admitted.

Asia fidgeted slightly. "I know you kind of explained it before, but are you both really dating Axton?"

Aika's attention fully focused on Asia at her question, and she closed the grimoire as a smile spread across her face. "We sure are," Aika confirmed. "And not just us, Axton's dating two more girls too. Both are Devils now that I think about it."

"Harems are normal for Devils," Atsuko comments. "They explained that before they reincarnated me."

"Four girls?" Asia asked, surprised. "Isn't that cheating?"

"Not if we all agree to it," Aika countered. "Which we did. Like I said earlier, Axton has a lot of love, and he likes spreading it, but it's too much for just one of us, so we share it." Atsuko blushed as Aika repeated her innuendo. "But this way everyone's happy," she continued. "We all feel loved, which makes us happy, and Axton gets to share his love, which makes him happy."

"I never would have thought about it like that," Asia said in a wondering tone. "I guess, if everyone's happy and is okay with it, then it's fine."

"Exactly," Aika confirmed with a smirk. "Besides, it also means I get to share a little love with my cute little Atsuko too." She latched on to Atsuko and kissed her deeply on the lips while Asia watched with widening eyes and a blush creeping up her face.

Aika broke off the kiss after just a few moments and winked at Asia. Atsuko looked shocked, but also pretty pleased with what just happened.

"But- two girls- you can't-" Asia stammers, confused and embarrassed.

"It's fine," Aika denied. "We're both dating Axton, but he's not here right now, so we're just sharing the love he gives to us and we feel for him between the two of us. It makes us both happy, and it makes Axton happy to know that we can be happy and loved even when he's not around."

Asia doesn't seem convinced. "Really?"

"He just really wants us to be happy," Aika claimed. "And he works really hard to make that happen."

"I guess that's true," Asia says. "He's done a lot for me too, all because I wanted to stay with the person who saved me, even though he didn't know I even existed. But despite my selfishness, he's been really nice and kind and he's let me experience new things and meet new people and I'm really grateful for that."

"That's just the kind of guy he is," Aika said, and Atsuko nods in agreement.

"What's it like living with Axton?" Atsuko asks suddenly.

"It's very different from the Church," Asia answered while she thought about it. "I've only been there a couple days, so I'm not sure what normal is yet. He said he talked to someone and I'd be able to go to school. But so far it's been...relaxed? We've spent the past couple of mornings just doing some simple work and then usually the afternoons we go around town. Axton seems like he's always busy with something or someone."

"He did mention that he has a lot going on the other day," Aika said. "But wait, his apartment is pretty tiny, and it's all Western-style and he uses a bed instead of a futon. Where do you guys sleep? Does he sleep on the couch?"

Asia blushed. "Ah, well. He was going to do that, but I didn't think it was right for him to in his own home. So we eventually compromised and we're kind of sharing the bed."

Aika's grin widens. "Oooh? What's that like?"

"It's warm and comfortable," Asia admitted. "It makes me feel safe. But it gives me weird dreams."

"What kind of dreams?" Atsuko asked.

"Umm, well," Asia hesitated. "I had a dream last night where I was sitting on his lap. And we were both in our underwear." She trailed off there.

"And? What next?" Aika asked, prodding the other girl on.

"He- he had his arms wrapped around me," she continued, a blush creeping up her face as she got more embarrassed. "And I could feel his- his thing. Pushing into my bottom." She stops, face flushed.

"Is that it?" Aika asked.

Asia hesitated. "He also was kissing the back of my neck," she admitted in a rush before burying her reddened face into her hands.

"That is adorable," Aika commented with a caring smile. She turned to Atsuko. "I think it's pretty obvious what's happening here."

Atsuko nods. "It's going to be five girls soon."

"Five girls?" Asia asked, confused, before it clicked, and she grew even redder. "I- you mean- me and Axton- there's no way-"

"Please," Aika interrupts. "It's obvious you've got the biggest crush on him. And you're the most adorable little thing, I'm sure he likes you too. If he hasn't made a move yet, it's probably because he doesn't want to make you uncomfortable."

Asia paused and didn't say anything for a moment. "You think so?" She eventually asked in a small voice.

"I'd bet you anything that if you start giving him obvious signs that you're interested, he'll pick up on them immediately and start acting on them," Aika said.

"How would I do that?" Asia asked, and Aika grinned.

"Here's what you do…"

---

The first thing I did when I got back was make five Ultimate Poisons and started soaking my Poisonous Sheath in them. So far I've been going against a lot of undead where the poison isn't very helpful, especially since [Void Edge] let me one-shot most things, but it will vastly improve my damage when I can't score a critical hit.

Ultimate Poison
1008 damage per second for 60 seconds

I was going to then drink that to level up my [Poison Resistance] but even with that skill, the poison does too much damage. Thankfully I have weaker versions still.

Though only the Major Poisons do enough damage to actually level up the skill but not so much that I'm at risk of going below 50% health, so I make some more of those while drinking them. I would do what I did with [Void Blood] and balance it out with restoration potions, but I don't get XP in the skill unless my health actually goes down.

As I get the skill above 61 and the Major Poisons stop doing a very good job, I sense someone land on the balcony in front of my door with [Void Detect]. I stash all of my ingredients and such and head for the door before they even knock.

"I thought you would send someone rather than come out here yourself," I greet Serafall, who is now dressed in her magical girl outfit. "I'm flattered. Please, come in."

"There's something I wanted to talk to you about," she explains as she comes in and I shut the door behind her. "So I figured I'd swing by and drop off the ingredients myself."

I lead her to the living room. "Well I certainly don't mind seeing you again," I comment. "Please, have a seat. You want anything to eat or drink?"

She sits down, looking weirdly out of place in her magical girl outfit on my plain couch. "No thank you, I don't have that much free time, so I'll have to be relatively quick with this."

"Understandable," I say as I pull up a chair across from her. "So, to business then."

"First, here are your ingredients," she says, waving her hand. A magic circle appears on the table and a large box appears on top of it. "And second, I wished to talk to you about something of a more personal nature."

"And what's that?" I say as I wrack my brain. Her Affection is pretty high now at 74, but that's not high enough for her to make a move. Something to do with Sona then?

"You mentioned earlier at dinner that you played chess against Sona?" she starts. "Are you aware that for years, Sona has been using her skill at chess to ward away suitors? She's refused to marry anyone that can't beat her in chess, and our parents have accepted that, though they're growing annoyed that no one's beaten her yet." She bites her thumb in irritation. "I myself have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, only the best should have a chance at my precious little Sona, but on the other hand, those who can beat her in chess haven't tried and it pisses me off that they're not scrambling at the chance to marry her. Not that I'd let them."

Wow, she has it bad, huh? I wonder how many of those who can beat Sona in chess are also smart enough to know Serafall would never let it happen? "Well to address your points, yes I've played a few friendly games with her. She kicked my ass the first time, but it awoke my competitive spirit and our last match was very close. No, I didn't know she used chess to ward off suitors, but it fits her perfectly so I have no trouble believing it. And finally, I agree, Sona deserves the best."

"I'm glad you understand," she says primly. "But that is what I wanted to talk to you about. You see, it's not that Sona doesn't want to marry anyone that isn't smarter than her, or at least it's not just that, but she's just not interested in marriage at all, especially any that are arranged. My Sona is a prideful girl who wants to be able to make her own decisions. And if she holds out long enough, she will be able to.

"But tonight I saw something from her that I've never seen before," Serafall continues. "It looks like she has a little crush on you~"

"There's been a little bit of back and forth flirting," I admit, hoping she doesn't get protective. "It can be hard to tell with Sona, but the signs are there."

"The way Sona plays it cool but gets all embarrassed is so cute," Serafall coos. "But yes, I've noticed the two of you. I've been paying very close attention to you, Axton."

Ah. Shit. "I thought I've felt someone watching me," I fib. "But I could never sense anyone who it could be nearby."

"Please, I'm not an amateur," Serafall dismisses. "I've been spying on Sona for years, and I've had to get very good at it so she doesn't notice." She pouts. "For some reason she doesn't like me watching her."

"I can't imagine why," I say in a deadpan voice.

"Me either," she says earnestly. "But I'm very good at it. And when a strange boy like yourself starts getting close to my precious little sister, I pay very close attention. And there's one thing I've figured out about you."

I struggle to not panic. Has she figured out I'm manipulating Sona and Rias into fighting over me? Does she know that my history is fake? The scary thing is that her emotions have barely registered any change over the whole conversation, she's just been confident the whole time. "And what's that?" I ask casually.

She grins. "You're a pervert."

I blink in surprise, staring dumbfounded at her for a moment. "I mean. Yeah, I guess that's true," I say, caught off guard. "Is this the part where you say 'you pervert you better stay away from Sona'?"

"The opposite actually," she says with a smug grin. "In fact, I think you're the perfect match for Sona."

That is not the answer I expected, though I think I see the direction this is going now. Still, I'd rather hear it from her to be sure. "Can you explain your reasoning for that?" I ask.

"Well for one, the fact that Sona actually likes you puts you ahead of just about anyone else," Serafall says casually. "Which is fine and all, but there are a few things specific to you that mean I can use you to enact my plan."

"What plan is that?" I ask immediately. "And do I benefit from it as well?"

"Of course," she replies immediately. "See, you're a pervert, and I've seen the way you look at me. You're not the only one who finds me attractive. But there's only one person that I really want to be with."

"Sona," I supply, surprising her for the first time. I roll my eyes. "Oh please. There are rumors, and I'm not so bad at sniffing out information myself. Plus, the entire conversation has made it clear that your love for Sona is less than pure." I smile. "But please, continue. I'm very interested in this plan of yours."

She looks at me, and I see my own smile reflected back at me on her expression. "You know, I think I see what Sona likes about you," she comments. "As you've said, I'm in love with my little sister. But I can't act on these feelings, not without consequence. And while Sona loves me, it's not in quite the same way. But if, hypothetically, Sona were to be courted by a powerful young magician who moved in and started helping her, and if I were to be seduced by the person responsible for creating the potions that will save our race, then wouldn't it be fine if the two of us, as your lovers, also shared some quality time with each other?"

"I certainly don't see a problem with it," I say, grinning. This is going better than I possibly could have hoped for. Approval from Serafall to seduce Sona, and I get Serafall too? I couldn't ask for a better outcome. "And I'm sure that with a little bit of time, I could encourage Sona to broaden her horizons and to try new things."

"That's what I'm counting on," Serafall says. "So we have a deal? You officially court Sona, encourage her to try new things, and in return, I'll gladly become one of your girls."

"I'd have to be an idiot to turn down such a deal," I say. "I was already interested in both you and Sona after all. Sona because she's Sona, but I also have a thing for magical girls."

"Is that so?" she asks, intrigued. "Well, that just shows you have good taste. As to be expected from someone who has earned Sona's approval. Unfortunately for you, you'll have to wait until you make some progress with Sona before you can get me in your bed."

"I'll eagerly wait for my reward," I say. "Though it feels odd to be rewarded for something that is already a reward." Easy pro-tip for earning Serafall's favor, just keep praising Sona.

"It's a situation where everyone wins," Serafall says. "Speaking of which, your potions. I gave the potion you gave me to a lucky young male from some minor family who has a full peerage of fifteen women who all wanted to get impregnated. I hadn't even left by the time their fun started, so we should know soon if your potions work. Once I have confirmation, I'll get to work on your new housing. Do you have any other preferences for it?"

I shrug. "Something nice so I won't want to upgrade it or move again within a year or two. And something within Kuoh. It's convenient being close to the center of town."

"Both are easy to arrange," she says cheerfully. "Now, if that's all, I should probably get back to work."

An idea occurs to me. I don't need to do it, but I think I'll like how it will play out. "One more thing," I say.

"Oh?" she says, stopping from where she started to get up. "Did you need something else?"

"The opposite actually," I say, and I pull the Imaginary Porn Tablet out of my inventory. "I have something of a gift for you. I'm not willing to part with it permanently, but until I fulfill my end of the bargain, I'm willing to let you borrow this."

She eyes the tablet, unsure. "What exactly is that?"

"I pick up a lot of strange things," I say. "And this is one of the weirdest. I wish I knew who made it because it's beautiful. This tablet can create realistic porn of anything. Punch in your request, your kink, the person it features, the format, and any other information you want. And it creates it. I have no idea how it works, but it does."

Her eyes widen. "The blackmail potential of it alone…" she wonders.

I shake my head and make a small noise of disapproval. "You're thinking too small Serafall," I say, and I work at the tablet, bringing up a specific video. "I'm sure spying on Sona is great and all, but you know what's better?" I ask. I press play on one of the videos and flip it around so she can see.

I feel a spike of arousal so strong with [Empathy] that I suspect I'm going to find a wet spot on my couch when she leaves. She snatches the tablet out of my hands hungrily staring at the video of herself eating out Sona in dominatrix gear.

"This, this is," she says, flabbergasted.

"It's not real, but it looks convincing doesn't it?" I say with a grin. I hear Sona moan in arousal as the video plays, and Serafall can't stop watching even as one hand goes below her skirt and starts masturbating without a care that I'm watching.

+10 Affection with Serafall Leviathan

"And you're just giving this to me?" she says distractedly. From my angle, I can clearly see her hand shoved into her panties and furiously working away at herself.

"Letting you borrow it," I correct her. "You weren't wrong about the blackmail potential, and I might need it for something else in the future. But by the time I need it, we'll have turned that video into a reality."

She forcefully tears her gaze away from the screen and looks at me. "I'm so glad I chose you for this," she says genuinely. Then she suddenly stands up. "I need to get back and take care of this quickly," she says. She bends over and pulls her panties off before throwing them at me. "Here, have fun with those while I have fun with this."

Before I can reply a magic circle appears beneath her feet and she vanishes, teleporting away.

Well then. I take hold of the very cute and very wet panties and I'm tempted for a moment to use them as she described. I haven't masturbated since arriving on this world, but the sight of Serafall fucking Leviathan masturbating on my couch in her full magical girl outfit had left me horny as hell.

I sigh and stash them away in my inventory. I said I'd get these potions done tonight. I can ignore a little bit of horniness. It'll be worth the good reputation I earn with the Devils, and Serafall especially.

So instead of dropping my pants or calling up a girl for a booty call, I turn to the box that Serafall left me and open it up to discover twice the number of ingredients I asked her for. I smile. Perhaps being overly generous was a good move, if this is the kind of thing it earns. Pulling them out and placing them on the table, I have my automated mortar and pestle start turning them into neat little piles of powder. I have a long night ahead of me.

-x-

I sit back as the first rays of sunshine come in through my windows. It took all night, mostly due to having to prepare all of the ingredients, but I did it. 100 Ultimate Fertility Potions, and finally, [Alchemy] is maxed out.

[Alchemy] - Level 100(0%)
Combine ingredients, items, and materials to create something from them. Limited to five ingredients max. Skill can also be used to find out what would be made from held ingredients. The results of Alchemy can be used as ingredients.

As I suspected, the number of ingredients I could use didn't go up, but the skill description did change. My previous limitation of not being able to use my potions as ingredients is gone now, and I can't even imagine how many more things I can do with the skill now. That's experimentation for later though.

I pull out my phone and send a text message to a number that was written on a business card that was inside of the box along with instructions to contact that number when I was ready for them to be picked up.

I get a text back almost immediately.

?: Thanks Axton~ 3 I'll send someone to pick them up. I'm super busy right now so I can't come myself :(
?: By the way, your gift works great ;)

Huh, I guess it's Serafall's number. Neat. I packaged up 50 of the potions I made as best I can in the box that Serafall gave me the ingredients in, making sure they're secure. The vials are made of some pretty tough stuff though, so I'm not too worried.

Just a few moments after I finish that up, [Void Detect] picks up someone unfamiliar landing in front of my door, just like Serafall did last night. I close the box as they knock, and carry it to the front door.

I open the door to find a young man I don't recognize, though my senses make it clear he's fairly powerful, more powerful than any Devil I've come across other than Serafall. He doesn't come close to matching her.

"You're Serafall's guy?" I ask.

"That's me," he responds cheerfully. "You the potions guy?"

"Got 'em right here," I say, shaking the box slightly so the vials clink together. "Here. They should be pretty secure, but handle them carefully anyway."

"Thankfully, magic makes transportation safe," the guy says, and with the flash of a magic circle, the box disappears. He smiles at me. "As of a few minutes ago, the first potion drinker is still in the process of testing it out, so to say, but we should know within a day or two if it works, and either Serafall or one of us will let you know."

I whistle. "Damn, it's been like 8 hours, hasn't it? That's some impressive stamina, especially for something so last minute."

The guy smiles. "There's a reason this Devil was chosen in particular." He looks at his wristwatch, checking the time. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get these back to the Underworld, so we can start figuring out how best to distribute them."

"Sure, sure," I agree, waving him off, and he teleports away with another magic circle.

I close my door and pull out my phone, sending a text message to the girls to have them let me know once they've woken up, had some breakfast, and are ready to do some training. I was going to do more [Poison Resistance] training, but I realized I was being dumb about how I was doing it. I just need to wait for my Poison Sheath to finish absorbing the Ultimate Poison, and then I can apply the effect to myself as many times as I need to for free by cutting myself instead of drinking expensive poisons.

So instead, I decided to spend the next couple of hours waiting for the girls by training [Void Cloak]. It's bound to be one of my most useful skills, and if I can get the MP cost down to something reasonable, I'll be untouchable.

---

As I kill the Vampire Lord with a soul empowered [Void Beam] through its head, I pull up my Game window and check on my party members. Perfect, it looks like the final boss was just enough to get them high enough.

The girls let me know this morning when they were ready, and as I was preparing to take them into the Zombie dungeon I realized a small issue. Because Asia was in my party the other day, her level was a lot higher than the other two girls, which meant they wouldn't share full XP. So I decided to run through the Vampire Mansion dungeon again, but with just Atsuko and Aika in my party. This time I used [Void Beam], hoping to level it up some, but I ran into a small problem.

Apparently, I'm too high level for this dungeon, so the game reduced how much XP I got from it. It seems like the girls still got 10% of the amount I would have gotten, but I also only got that same 10%. I felt like less loot dropped as well. The only thing of note I picked up besides alchemy ingredients were a few okay quality weapons and armor pieces.

Still, the main point of this was to get the girls within ten levels of each other, and as I [Void Travel] back to the first safe room, I'm able to [Observe] them and confirm it.

Atsuko Hyoudou
Level: 28[42%]
Race: Reincarnated Devil
HP: 1020 (10.2 per second)
MP: 880 (8.8 per minute)
SP: 1040 (10.4 per minute)
CON: 51(102)
STR: 52(104)
DEX: 50(100)
INT: 44(88)
WIS: 45(90)
CHA: 95(190)
LUK: 70(140)

Aika Kiryuu
Level: 28[21%]
Race: Human
HP: 360 (3.6 per second)
MP: 670 (6.7 per minute)
SP: 350 (3.5 per minute)
CON: 36
STR: 35
DEX: 36
INT: 67
WIS: 67
CHA: 37
LUK: 37

Asia Argento
Level: 38[43%]
Race: Human
HP: 430 (4 per second)
MP: 1720 (52 per minute)
SP: 420 (4 per minute)
CON: 43
STR: 42
DEX: 41
INT: 86
WIS: 135
CHA: 89
LUK: 44

Atsuko has benefited the most due to her Race. Not even 48 hours since she reincarnated and she's already surpassed Kiba in some stats, though she's still much lower in the ones Kiba specializes in. That's the difference between a Pawn and a Knight I guess. And being leveled up by the Game. Honestly, that's probably the bigger difference.

Paltry as the XP might've been, it was still enough for me to level up as well, passing a few milestones in the process.

Axton
Level: 229
Class: Hollow Knight(29/100)[0%]
HP: 10,340 (207 per second)
MP: 42,080 (842 per second)
SP: 10,800 (216 per second)
CON: 517
STR: 515(540)
DEX: 720
INT: 1052
WIS: 928
CHA: 353
LUK: 445(455)

Perk rewarded for 500 CON
[Tough Skin] - Negates external damage that would deal less than 1% of your maximum health

Perk rewarded for 500 STR
[Who needs physics?] - You can lift and push things even if you don't have enough leverage for it.

Trait Added
[Devouring Soul] - Your attacks passively drain the strength of an enemy's soul to fill your own.

Hollow Knight still hasn't given me any skills, but the new trait is nice. I could feel it too as I experimented with empowering my skills with Soul, which tired me out. But as I killed more vampires, I felt that fatigue wash away quickly.

"Axton!" Atsuko says when she sees me. "I did it!" She holds up her left hand, now covered in the bulky red armor of Twice Critical.

"Yua told me," I said. "You've kept it manifested the entire time?"

She nods. "It disappeared a couple times, but it was a lot easier to pull it back up after the first time." She tilts her head. "I'm still not sure what it does though."

I look at it. "Oh, that actually looks familiar. I think it's one of the common types, Twice Critical. It should let you double your strength for a time."

She frowns. "That's kind of underwhelming actually," she pouts.

"I think you underestimate how good it can get once you get stronger. Ten times two isn't that much more, but double a thousand is a big deal," I counter. "Besides, I think there's something else to it. You took 8 Pawn pieces to reincarnate, and that's a lot. You might just need some more training to reach it."

I'm not sure how to unlock the Boosted Gear. I know she has it. The perk I got when I reached 100 Affection with her and the fact that it still took her 8 Pawn pieces to be reincarnated pretty much confirms it. In canon, Issei only unlocks the Boosted Gear after Asia died and when getting revenge on Raynare. I can't exactly recreate that sort of emotional turmoil though, so I'm hoping just getting her strong enough will do it.

"How about you girls?" I ask Asia and Aika, who are both reading their grimoires.

Asia nods. "I think I understand," she says. "I might be able to protect you, a little." Her gaze lowers. "I- I don't think I can do any fighting though."

I step over to her and pat her head. "Don't worry, you won't have to. Being there to support the rest of the team is also a crucial role." I look at Aika, who is still reading the grimoire. "How about you?" She doesn't respond. "Uhh. Aika?"

She looks up, blinking as she focuses on the room. "Oh! Axton, you're back," she says distractedly.

"Yep," I reply, amused. "You're pretty into that thing, huh?"

"It's just so interesting," she says. "And it makes so much sense."

"Oh? Have you made progress then?" I ask. She nods and closes the book. She raises her hand and points it to the wall, palm first. She concentrates, and I feel power well up within her and then move to become a small mass of darkness. When it reaches the size of a marble, she lets it go, and it flies at the wall, cracking it.

"That was bigger than the last time I tried it," she said with a grin. I check her MP. She only used 50 MP for that, not bad for her level.

"Good job Aika," I praise her. I turn to the other two. "Come on girls, I have some gifts to hand out. It's time you guys get some experience fighting."

"Gifts?" Atsuko asks.

"Well, sorta," I correct myself. "Armor and weaponry mostly. Atsuko! Let's start with you. First here's some armor." I drop a black leather cuirass and black leather boots on the table in front of her. "It's not a lot of armor but some protection is better than none." The game had definitely changed the drop tables though to include stuff for my party members rather than just me.

"Oooh," she makes a noise of excitement. "This is so cool!"

"As for your weapon, you can choose anything you want," I say as I drop a selection of weapons on the table. Her eyes widen as she considers the weapons in front of her.

"I'm the tank, right?" she asks suddenly. "I mean, you're the thief, Asia is the healer, Aika is the mage, so that would make me the fighter who acts as a tank."

"I don't think we have to stick to proper party balance," I say. "But if we were to, then yes, that is the role that would suit you best."

"A tank?" Asia asks, confused.

Aika sighs. "It's a video game thing, I'm sure Atsuko will explain it to you at some point."

"Oh yeah!" Atsuko says. "We totally should have played games last night!"

"We were at my place, remember?" Aika points out. "I don't have any."

"Oh right," she says, slumping. "Well, if I'm gonna tank, then I wanna use this guy!" She picks up the largest weapon on the table, a double-headed ax meant to be wielded with two hands. It's made of simple wood and iron, but it's solid.

"As a Devil and with Twice Critical, you can probably use it pretty effectively," I comment. "If you're sure, then we'll go with that for now. If you want to try something else, let me know."

"Got it!" she says as she takes a few practice swings with it, facing the other direction. Well, at least she's having fun.

"For Aika, I have some sexy robes, a cloak, and a staff," I say as I pull them out. The robes I picked up just a few minutes ago from a Greater Vampire. "These robes offer a bit of protection and will increase how fast your magic regenerates by a little bit."

The cloak and staff I picked up in previous dungeon runs. "This cloak will help you hide a bit better," I say as I hand her my Shadow Cloak. "It works especially well in the shadows. And this staff will boost the strength of your magic if you use it to cast your spells." I give her the Blackened Bone Staff that the Lich used, minus the time stop gem.

"Ooh, creepy," she says with a grin. "I love it." She starts stripping out of her clothes so she can put on the robes, uncaring of where we are or the people around her. Asia blushes and turns away, but Atsuko just watches, a grin on her face.

I chuckle but turn my attention to Asia. "I have a lot of weapons you could use, but if you don't want to fight, I don't have much to give you. I do have one armor option for you though." I pull out a set of Exorcist Robes. "These will provide a bit of protection, so if you're comfortable wearing them, you can."

She hesitates, looking unsure, but she nods. "I don't feel like I deserve to wear those, but if it's to be safe, then I will." She blushes. "Do I have to change here too?"

I shake my head. "No, Aika just got impatient. We'll go back to my apartment and you can change there. We're going to be training in a different dungeon anyways, one a little more suited for training."

She nods, and I turn to address the room. "One last thing. I have some tricks to teach you girls."

[Mentor] lets me teach each person a maximum of two skills, though I'm certain it's close to reaching three skills. Still, I plan on teaching them what I can.

Atsuko I teach [Iron Body], showing her how to strengthen her muscles so they act as armor. If she's going to act as a tank, then this is the best possible skill I can give her. I also try to give her [Void Blood], because it's my most useful skill, but a window appears when I attempt it.

Warning!
Void skill not compatible with party member
Skill may be incomplete, degraded, or dangerous to the party member
Do you wish to continue teaching them the skill?
Y/N

I guess that Void Touched perk is more important than I thought. I don't want to imagine what a dangerous [Void Blood] looks like, and I'm still not sure how to remove skills I teach my party members if it's at all possible. So instead I go with a passive skill, one I don't even have to tell her about and give her [Unnatural Rhythm].

I thought about giving her [Photosynthesis], to boost her healing, but as a Devil, she probably won't be fighting in the sun too often. Something to make her harder to predict and harder to hit when she's not using [Iron Body] is a better choice.

Instead, I silently add Asia back to my party and give her [Photosynthesis]. She's more likely to be in the light, and rule number one is to always keep your healer alive because if they go down, you're fucked.

Picking skills for Aika is hard. I'm tempted to give her [Shadow Step] for the mobility, but right now it would just be a large drain on her relatively small mana pool. So instead, I lean into the cloak, and I teach her [Fade] since it uses SP instead of MP. It's a lot for her right now since it costs a flat amount of 100SP/s, but as she levels up and maybe once I get some better items that won't be as much of an issue.

As I'm showing her how to activate it, and as she fades from view just ever so slightly, I also give her a passive skill, [Pericognition]. My ability to notice and deduce things since gaining this skill has gone way up, and Aika's a smart girl wielding a type of magic that lends itself more towards a tactical mind than brute force. It will be an invaluable tool for her.

Once I teach them the basics I bring us back to my apartment so Asia can change, and then I bring them straight to the Zombie Dungeon. With their levels, such an easy dungeon shouldn't be an issue.

We arrive in the safe room, and [Void Detect] picks up two zombies in the next room.

"Okay girls, this dungeon is an easy one," I start explaining. "You know zombies? The dead walking again, on the hunt for brains? This place is filled with those. The ones you guys will be facing at first are slow, dumb, and barely dangerous at all."

"Will we turn into zombies if we get bit?" Atsuko asks.

"You won't," I assure her. "Not with Asia here to heal you. And with me here there's a zero percent chance of that happening. Also, I don't think they're infectious. Not the ones we'll face at first anyway, maybe some of the ones deeper in. They get a little more dangerous the deeper we go."

"Then what are we waiting for, let's go!" Atsuko shouts, and she starts for the door. I grab her by the back of her collar and stop her from going.

"Wait just a second Atsuko," I chide her. "Until you guys get more used to this, you can't just rush in." She pouts but stands still. "So through that door is a room a little bigger than this one. Inside are two zombies. They might not even notice you when you go in, they're dumb and not very observant. They will notice as you approach though.

"So this is the plan. I'm going to go in first, stealthed. Atsuko you go in next, followed by Aika, then Asia, and Yua will bring up the rear. Atsuko you attack the closest one. I suggest just rushing it and not giving it a chance to notice you. Don't hesitate, remember, they're not real, they're projections of this place. Aika you attack the farthest one. Atsuko, after you kill yours I want you to draw the other one's attention so Aika can hit it as many times as it takes, but don't kill it, let her do that. If Atsuko doesn't kill hers in time I'll prevent it from getting too close to you Aika. Asia, you stay near the door and be ready to heal, or cast your barrier if it looks like either of them are in danger. Got it?"

Asia and Aika nod, but Atsuko looks a little lost. "Umm…"

I sigh. "Follow me. Kill the closest zombie. Distract but don't kill the other one, let Aika kill it. I'll keep you safe."

"Okay, got it!" she says confidently. I'm not totally convinced she does, but if she messes it up, I can step in easily enough, so I'll have a bit of faith in her.

"Alright then. Yua, you be ready to protect one of them, but let them get the kills, okay? They need the practice, just like I let you practice on the pixies and the bees." She nods, and I ignore the confused looks on the girls' faces. "Let's go," I say, and we head for the door in formation. I don't bother activating [Fade], wanting them to be able to see me, and when we're lined up at the door, I enter.

The plan starts smoothly, with me sticking close to the wall as Atsuko rushes in. As she engages with the Zombie I keep a close eye on her stats. I noticed her SP slowly trickled down whenever Twice Critical was active, but now it fell rapidly as she swung. So passively doubling her stats cost a little, but as she expended energy it dropped in chunks. Still, with her doubled stats she bisected the zombie on her first swing and still had most of her SP.

As the first zombie fell and disappeared, Aika's bolt of darkness shot from her staff and impacted the chest of the other one. It did a lot of damage, but not quite enough to kill it in one hit. The zombie turned to shamble at Aika, but Atsuko appears and gets in front of it, drawing its attention, as Aika prepares another bolt.

"One more will do it Aika," I tell her, and she nods, even as she concentrates. Next to me, I see Asia clasp her hands around a cross and focus on Atsuko's back. My eyes widen as I suddenly realize something important and I place my hand in front of her. "Don't!"

Surprised, she stops, and Aika yells at Atsuko to move. The other girl does, and a second bolt of darkness shoots out and punches a hole through the zombie, and it falls, defeated.

Atsuko turns around. "What happened?"

"I'm an idiot is what happened," I explain. I turn to Asia. "I didn't think of it until just now, but please only use Twilight Healing on Atsuko. I'm pretty sure your shield will hurt her since she's a Devil now."

Asia's eyes widen. "Oh no, I didn't even think-"

"Neither did I," I cut her off. "And that was my job. But I remembered in time, so no harm done." I turn to Atsuko. "Sorry, no buffs for you. Healing should be fine though."

"Aww," she says, disappointed.

I roll my eyes. "Being a Devil makes up for it. But here, put this on." I throw her the Cloranthy Ring. "With that on, you should be able to keep your Sacred Gear up indefinitely."

She sputters. "A ring- Axton you can't- this is so sudden-"

I roll my eyes. "It's a magic item that boosts your stamina, not an engagement ring. Please. That'll be much nicer looking."

Her mouth clamps shut as she goes the most red I've ever seen her as she blushes, but she puts on the ring. Grinning, I turn to Aika. "Those darts-"

"Missiles," she corrects me.

"Those missiles," I start again. "Can you make them bigger and stronger? By say maybe 20%? If you can, the zombies will go down in one hit. You have time for more charging, especially with Atsuko here."

She thinks about it. "Maybe. The more energy I put into it, the harder it is to put more in. But this staff makes it easier. I'll try that next time."

"Good," I say. "Other than that, you did perfectly." I turn to Atsuko. "You did well too. The only note I have for you is to try not to block Aika's shot when you distract a zombie."

She nods. "Right, makes sense." She pauses. "Are you sure they're not real?"

"Their bodies have disappeared right?" I say, indicating the empty room. "And you didn't see any guts?"

"No, but," she hesitates. "It was pretty...hardcore. I could feel it through the ax as it cut through it."

I frown. "Do you want a different kind of weapon? Maybe something with less feedback?"

She shakes her head. "No, I'll get used to it I think. I just didn't think it would be like that."

"If you change your mind, let me know, I have other options," I tell her, and she nods. Next, I turn to Asia. "Sorry about the scare earlier. If you want to practice the shield, use it on me or Aika. I'm sure Aika will appreciate the extra protection. But mostly you should save your energy in case of an injury. That's the most important thing you can do as a healer."

"Okay Axton," she says, nodding slowly.

I look at Atsuko's SP. With the ring, her SP recovery is faster than the cost of keeping Twice Critical active. Hopefully the same will be true for the Boosted Gear.

"Okay guys, let's go. The next room also has two zombies, so follow the same plan."

The next few hours are spent like this, slowly clearing rooms. The girls got really good at it, even in rooms with five or more zombies. Atsuko did a good job drawing their attention all at once and using her heavy ax to take one or two out immediately, and then she'd keep as many alive as she safely could by kiting them around the room as Aika bombarded them with her dark missiles.

Once Aika started to be able to comfortably reach a level of missile that could kill a zombie in one hit, I had her focus on getting to that point faster. Often this meant we had to rest between rooms as she recovered her mana, though I help a little with some of my cheaper potions. Serafall distracted me last night from getting all the ingredients I need to produce a ton of them, but I'm able to make a few Regeneration Potions and give them to her.

The XP they're getting from this is..well it's pretty much nothing. Even as we started coming across Armored Hollows and normal Zombies, which offer better XP and have more health, it's still barely putting a dent in the girls' levels. But the actual combat experience they are getting is invaluable.

Except for Asia, who I can feel growing frustrated. Things have been going too well, and no one has gotten injured. Something I'm glad of, but it's resulted in Asia basically following us and watching. Whenever we're about to enter a room with a lot of undead she puts a protective barrier around Aika. It's a shimmering thing that contorts to her body and shines with weak and calming light and it lasts for a minute or so. But it's not really necessary, as Aika is never even in danger.

There's nothing to be done about it though. I'm not going to let someone get hurt just so she can heal them. Hopefully this will encourage her to study some of the other spells in her grimoire. There are offensive ones and buffs that Aika could benefit from. It's a shame that she can't use them on Atsuko though, who needs them most as the Tank. But we confirmed earlier, even going near Aika when the shield is around her makes Atsuko's skin tingle.

Atsuko is another issue. I can sense some sort of energy building up in her Sacred Gear as it's being used, but it's plateaued. I suspect that it's nearly ready to reveal itself, but it needs something to push it over the edge.

So I guess I'll have to give her one. And [Void Detect] finally spots the undead I've been waiting for that will give me a good opportunity to do so. I turn around to face them at the door to the next room. "Okay, so there's just one zombie in the next room, but he's a little different from the ones we've fought so far. So I want you girls to stay by the door, and let me show you how to handle it, okay? Just so I can give an example. I'll trust you guys to handle the rest."

They all nod, and I enter the room. The girls stay near the door, and I stride confidently into the center of the room. The girls look around, confusion emanating from them when they can't see the enemy. Note to self, for their next lesson, teach them to look up.

The Hunter crawling on the upper edges of the ceiling, a good twenty feet high, leaps down at my apparently defenseless back.

"""Axton!""" all three of them shout out in unison, and [Empathy] feels fear spike from them. But I hear the fourth voice I was hoping I would.

"Boost!"

Atsuko is rushing at me to help me, but I've already spun around and grabbed the Hunter by the throat, and Atsuko skids to a halt, confused.

"I probably should have explained more about what I was doing," I say, acting sheepish. "This is a Hunter. They like to attack you while you're distracted or unaware of them, pouncing on you from above. I didn't mean to scare you guys, I just wanted to show that the best way to deal with them is to reverse that on them and catch them as they pounce." I throw the Hunter back slightly and shove a knife through its eye, killing it instantly. "Guess I should have explained that first though."

"Dammit Axton, I nearly had a heart attack!" Atsuko chides me, though her shoulders slump in relief.

"Well, on the bright side, I think something good came of it," I point out. She looks at me confused, and I point at her now transformed Sacred Gear.

"What the hell, it's changed?!" she exclaims. "Is that normal?"

"No idea," I say. "But it means that I was right. It wasn't just a Twice Critical, that was just a disguise, or a first form or something."

"Well, what is it now?" she asks, looking at the similar but much sleeker design of the Boosted Gear. "Are these roman numerals? I think this is...two?"

"Boost!"

The gem shines brightly as a loud voice comes from it.

"Is that your Sacred Gear saying that?" Aika asks as she comes up to us.

"I think so?' she asks. "Now the two is a three."

"Holy shit," I say, acting surprised. "I think I've read about this one too."

"Another common one?" Atsuko asks with a sigh.

"The opposite actually," I deny. "How does your ax feel? Lighter?" I notice her SP dropping. Not too fast, but it's considerable, and her stats have increased.

Atsuko Hyoudou
Level: 28[60%]
Race: Reincarnated Devil
HP: 1020 (10.2 per second)
MP: 880 (8.8 per minute)
SP: 1040 (10.4 per second)
CON: 51(204)
STR: 52(208)
DEX: 50(200)
INT: 44(176)
WIS: 45(180)
CHA: 95(380)
LUK: 70(280)

I note with interest that those aren't her stats doubled three times, but instead, her stats are four times as high. So instead of doubling each time, it's a linear growth? That certainly makes more sense. Exponential growth would be insane, even if capped by the user's body. Though this is too, considering the large SP drain at even just three boosts.

"Oh wow yeah, it's way lighter now," she comments.

"You may want to deactivate it though," I comment as I watch her SP drop to about half. "You're a lot stronger now, but I can tell you won't be able to keep it up for long."

"Oh, okay," she says, and the gear disappears with a small flash of light. "Guh," she exclaims as the ax she was casually holding in the air suddenly becomes a lot heavier for her, though still well within her ability to lift it.

"I think we should call it there for a day," I say. "We need to go talk to Rias."

"Rias?" Atsuko repeats. "Why?"

I use [Dungeon Traversal] and take us out of the Dungeon and back to my apartment. "I'll let her do the explaining, she can probably do it better, but that Sacred Gear is kind of a big deal, and she'll want to know as soon as possible."

"Should we wait here?" Aika asks.

"Nah, we'll go as a group," I respond. "I told Rias on Friday that we'd be bringing you into things. And this way I don't have to explain it to you guys later."

I check with [Void Sight] to make sure she's where I think she is, and she is, and then I check to make sure no normal humans are within eyesight.

Now, I haven't tried it with this many people, but it should be fine. I pull the three of them close to me and use [Void Travel] to move us to a couple hundred feet from the Occult Research Club room.

"Wow," Aika comments. "That was...weird. It didn't feel like we moved at all."

"My teleportation is the best," I say with a little pride. "Come on, let's go talk to Rias." I stride to the clubroom, the girls following close behind, and I open the door without hesitating. Rias, Akeno, Koneko, and Kiba are all there, sitting around the center of the room, eating lunch.

"Axton?" Rias says in surprise. "What is it? Why are you dressed up in combat gear? No wait, is that Atsuko and Kiryuu? When did they get so strong?" Shock radiates from the others as they realize that the magic power of the two girls has grown massively.

"To sorta answer all of your questions, after telling Aika everything, she wanted to learn magic. So I've spent this morning training all of them, Asia included. And we've discovered what Atsuko's Sacred Gear is, and when I recognized it, I decided to bring her straight here."

"What is it?" Rias asks, looking a little lost in all information I just dumped on her.

Before I respond though, I feel a pulse of magical energy as the magic circle in the corner of the room lights up. But something about it looks different.

"Phenex?!" Akeno exclaims, and I realize what's happening.

With a flash and the scent of ash, a young blonde man appears in the circle. He's wearing an unbuttoned red suit with a half-open white shirt, showing off a lot of his chest. His hair is slicked backward, and the only way I can describe his face is arrogant.

"There you are Rias," he says as his eyes latch on to her. "You haven't replied to any of my messages, so I got worried, and came to find you." Rias's eyes narrow, not believing his excuse, but he ignores it, uncaring. His eyes flicker to me, and then to the other occupants of the room. "But you seem to be doing fine."

"I have been busy, that's all," Rias says while crossing her arms.

"Busy for four whole days, huh?" Riser says, grinning smugly. "I had no idea it could be so hectic up here. Are you sure it's healthy for you to be working so hard? Maybe you should take a rest for a few days. You're welcome to come to relax at my family's manor."

Annoyance and disgust roll off of Rias, and she does a poor job of keeping it from showing on her face. "I don't see how that's any of your business."

"Come on, don't be like that," he says, seemingly good-naturedly. "That's no way to talk to your fiancé after all."

"Her WHAT?!" Atsuko exclaims from behind me, and I just sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose.

I guess this is happening now. Joy.

---

So, after being asked if I had a Ptreon by a reader, I dusted off one I made early last year and finished getting it set up. If for some reason you wish to support me monetarily, you can do so there. I'd super appreciate it.

ptreon com / shiftysword

(sorry for the bad link, blame FF)

Axton's Character Sheets: tinyurl com / axton-cs

AN: And that wraps up the Recruitment Week arc! Which is why this chapter is so long. In hindsight, I could have split it in two, but when planning it out, I felt like the pacing was awkward for two chapters. Oh well, I got it done pretty quickly anyway. The next arc is the as of yet unnamed Riser arc. My plan for it isn't the most original, but I think it'll be fun and satisfying.

That being said, the Riser arc will update a little slower than normal. Remember what Axton said at the beginning, about his knowledge of DxD being kinda shaky past the beginning bits? Well, that's true for me as well. I know enough to get through the Kokabiel stuff(even with the changes I've made), but I don't really know anything after that. So while I'm writing the Riser arc, I'll be reading the LN's, so that when I finish that arc, I can come up with a complete rough outline for the whole story. Or at least, a better one than I have now. Because I really would like to finish this fic, even if it takes me over a million words.

Axton, Asia, Aika, and Atsuko. Throw in the occasional Akeno and boy is that a lot of 'A' names. Lemme know if I got any swapped at some point, it's bound to happen.

I struggled with the scene where they explain everything to Aika. I rewrote huge chunks of it several times. I think the final result is okay, but lacking in some areas. I didn't want to spend more time only marginally improving it though so I decided to leave it as is.

Please don't tell me who I should or shouldn't give the Phoenix Devil Fruit to. Someone suggested giving that specific fruit to a future harem member and I liked the idea and said if I rolled the Devil Fruit on the gacha I'd give it to her. So of course, the very next time I rolled the gacha, he landed on it. Axton's loot luck is actually a statistical anomaly I swear. So it's being reserved for her, and will not be going to Asia, Atsuko, or anyone else in his harem right now.

I'm aware that I'm copying TheDarkWolfShiro quite a bit with the whole Serafall thing. But it just makes too much sense. I can't imagine a better way to handle things. It's a fun characterization that will lead to great lewds, and it's so easy it'd be dumb to do it differently. And hopefully, I'll actually progress enough where it happens. I'm hoping the way I've set things up and how I've handled the rest of it is enough to differentiate my fic from Shiro's.

Find me on Discord, either directly(shifty-sword#6508) or on the Shiro Gaming Omniverse server(discord. gg/k3jTZB9), where I'm glad to answer questions or just talk about things.