Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own DGM

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Allen stared at the being that was kneeling in front of him. Had the Earl not said that there was nothing beyond Level 4? Allen looked at his claw.

"There isn't, or at least there wasn't. Now I'm really interested in your power." The musician added and Allen couldn't help but agree. Just what was his power that turned humans into... whatever the siblings were now and push Akuma to a Level that didn't even exist?

"Well, it's obviously a influence-type." The musician sensed Allen's confusion, so he explained. "Noah powers can be categorized in three types. The first is the most common, the physical-type. It basically means that you alter your body or create things and elements. Skin Boric was a physical-type, just like Lulubelle and Jasdevi. The other two types are equally rare. There is the mental-type, which basically gives one the ability to mess with people's mind somehow, Road is a good example. The last one is the influence-type, which basically allows you to mess with existing things, like Tyki choosing what he touches or what you're doing. All types have certain weaknesses, your type for example would be powerless in an empty space, though that's rather rare in this world. Although I heard that the oldest and most powerful of the Earl's skull has a technique which allows him to imprison one in such a space."

Allen gulped. 'What was your ability?' He mentally asked. The musician seemed surprised.

"I was of the mental-type, but since I'm nothing more than a voice in your head, I have no power whatsoever. Though I might teach you a few tricks against the Earl's magic someday." He simply stated. Allen turned his attention to the problems at hand, like the being in front of him and what he'd tell Road once she arrived.

At that moment, as if she had read his thoughts, Road dropped from the ceiling, aiming for Allen. Suddenly, Crown Clown billowed up and wrapped itself around her, softly letting the girl down a few feet to Allen's left. Allen blinked. He hadn't even noticed Road, so why did his cape react like that? Oh well, as long as it didn't hurt anyone, Allen guessed it would be fine. Road jumped at him and pulled him into a hug, his cape not doing anything this time. Luciano gave a wolf-howl before Sophia slapped him on the back of his head.

"That's rude, brother!" She hissed at him. Road looked at the two.

"So, you're Allen's little creations?" Luciano raised a brow in annoyance.

"I'm Luciano de Fuego and this is my sister, Sophia." He turned to Allen. "Is this your girlfriend?"

Road blushed and looked incredibly pleased, while Allen imagined what Cyril would do if he heard this. He looked at Luciano. "Do me a favor." Luciano looked confused, but he nodded. "Never, and I mean never, say that when people, or anything else for that matter, can hear you. She has a father who's obsession with her has long since passed the border of madness." Road seemed pleased that he hadn't said no, and Luciano and Sophia noticed it as well. Then Road spotted the being kneeling in front of the door.

"Allen, who's that and how did he get here?" Allen sighed.

"That's the Akuma that the Earl sent as my watchdog." Road looked at it.

"Is that correct?" The being looked at her.

"Positive." was its only reply. There was no emotion in his voice.

"Do you have a name?" Allen asked the Akuma, who blinked surprised. Then its face frowned in concentration.

"Michael." Allen nodded, but Road didn't seem to like the emotionless expression on Michael's face.

"Does it have a personality is a better question. And it doesn't look like a Level 4." Road muttered. Allen sighed.

"You might think I'm crazy, hell knows I'm thinking that myself, but apparently, this is a Level 5" Road stared at him, her eyes wide and her mouth open.

"If you open it any wider, birds might start to build a nest." Luciano said and even Sophia chuckled. Road glared at them and waved her hand. A few pointed candles appeared and shot towards the two, who, to their own amazement, caught them a few inches before their faces. Road looked at them.

"It seems they have the speed and reaction time of Noah. If they also have their healing abilities, do you think you could let me borrow them for a few days, Allen?" She looked at him with begging eyes.

"I didn't bring them here so you can use them as torture dolls, Road." Road tilted her head.

"Then why did you bring them, Allen?" Allen hadn't expected the question and had to think.

"Well, I wanted to show them and this" He took out the Innocence "to the Earl and if he decides it's okay, I'll give it back to Luciano and he can make himself useful."

Road raised a brow. "And the girl?" Allen shrugged.

"Not sure yet." When he saw the gleam in Road's eyes, he quickly added "And no Road, you won't get her as a toy." Road pouted.

"Spoilsport." Allen grinned and Sophia sighed in relief. Road looked at Michael, who hadn't moved from the spot. "About this, the Earl is going to find that extremely interesting. How did you do this?" Allen explained, and Road whistled. "Now even I think this is great. I guess your power is some sort of boosting. I wonder if it'll work on Noah." Her eyes were gleaming again, so Allen quickly cut her off.

"We're not going to experiment with this before we have an idea what this does. Cyril would brutally massacre me if something happened to you." Road nodded. She didn't want to be left with no personality like this thing before them.

"Well, I have to leave now, Cyril is probably taking the arc apart looking for me by now."

"Sounds like that guy has a major screw loose. " Road looked at Luciano.

"Shut up, experiment." Allen sighed as an argument started. He turned towards the door.

"I'm leaving now. I'll be back with a mop to scratch what's left of you two from the walls." He stated with a mocking tone and started walking. He passed Michael and both he and Road looked at him in surprise as he made no try to stop Allen. Allen looked at the Akuma and asked "Weren't you ordered by the Earl to keep me in this room?"

"Positive." Road jumped towards them, a look of shock on her face.

"Are you now ignoring all orders from the Earl?" Michael turned his head towards her.

"Negative." Road thought about it. If it was still following the Earl's orders, then the only reason why it wouldn't move was that something else had higher authority and ordered it to remain still. She knew that Level 2 never ignored the orders of a Level 3 unless a Level 4, a Noah or the Earl gave a different order. But there shouldn't be a higher authority then the Earl in the Akuma's mind, unless... She looked at Allen.

"Level f... Michael, if Allen ordered you to go left and the Earl ordered you to go right, which way would you go?"

"Left." The answer came immediately, without a moment of hesitation. Allen looked up in astonishment. Road looked at Allen.

"It looks like when you made it evolve, you've prioritized your orders above the Earl's. So basically, this thing is going to do anything you say." She shrugged "Oh well, not my problem. I'll go before Cyril comes here." Allen nodded and headed for the bed.

"I think I need some sleep right now." And with that, Road left and Allen fell into his bed. Luciano and Sophia looked at each other, shrugged and made themselves comfortable on the mattress a Akuma had prepared for them.

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"So basically, Allen is a Noah and with the Earl now, but he still doesn't like killing and is still our friend, right?" Lavi asked when Lenalee finished her explanation. She nodded. Timothy had never liked Levrier, and when he had found out the man had ordered Allen's execution, forcing him to escape, he had sworn to help make his life hell, which lead to him, Jesaia and Lavi cooperating to organize new ways to make Levrier's life miserable. He saw Allen being alive and still a friend a good thing, even though he couldn't see him in the Order anymore. He looked at the others.

"So, will Allen have to attack us next time we see him?" Everyone seemed to shudder at the very idea, but Lenalee shook her head.

"I don't think so. He called himself Noah's compassion, and I don't see any way that compassion would bring him to fight us. So the Noah in him doesn't want to fight and Allen doesn't want to fight either. When I talked to him, he asked me if you're all okay, so he hasn't forgotten us either."

Lavi chuckled darkly. "If we could get Levrier and his goons out of the way, he'd might actually come visit us." That idea seemed to cheer everyone up.

"I volunteer as a helper." Everyone turned around and looked at Jesaia and Valkyrie. The girl simply walked away while Jesaia joined the group. Miranda looked at the girl.

'I used to look a bit like her before I met Allen. Only she seems even more broken than I was. Her eyes say that she's a walking corpse.' She felt sorry for the young girl. No one should have such hollow eyes, especially not a sixteen year old girl that should have her whole life ahead of her.

"Do you think she will sell us out?" Lavi asked, but Jesaia shook his head.

"I can't say I know her very well, but I don't think she's the type to sell people up the river." Miranda seemed to share Jesaia's opinion.

"She looks like she doesn't care about anything in this world. She seems broken somehow."

"So what do we do?" Crowry asked, not certain what would happen. Lavi grinned.

"The only thing we can: Wait for news from Allen and wreck Levrier's nerves to pass the time."

Everyone nodded, not noticing Kanda standing behind the door. "So that's going on here. Not my business." he muttered before returning to his room.

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Allen woke up from a very familiar feeling. "This is getting old real fast, Road." He could hear her giggle. She had dropped on his stomach again. Allen remembered what had happened the last time Road had dropped towards him and considered keeping Crown Clown permanently active. But before he could make a final decision, Road started talking.

"Get up, Allen, it's time for breakfast and then the Earl wants to talk to you about a few things, like your two experiments, that new Innocence and the Level 5. And before you look at me, Cyril came to your room while you where asleep looking for me and found him." Allen's head spun towards Michael.

"Did you tell Cyril Road was here, Michael?" Michael shook his head.

"Negative. You have ordered no information suggesting Road being your girlfriend to be spoken. "

Allen sighed in relief. Apparently, Michael understood what could get Allen in trouble and avoided to do such things. Allen was grateful.

Luciano and Sophia were standing at the exit. "So, what's for breakfast?" Luciano asked. Road looked at them in surprise.

"You want food?" She asked, as if the very thought of that was simply ridiculous. "Well, we might find a few dog bowls we can fill with food and you can eat from there." Luciano paled and turned to Allen.

"Please tell me she's kidding." Allen shrugged.

"It sounds plausible. As far as I know, the breakfast is only for Noah." Road nodded.

When she saw Luciano's shocked expression, she laughed out loud. "Don't worry," She then added "for today, we have given you a seat at our table. But if you want to keep it, you'll have to earn it somehow." Luciano looked relived as they went to eat.

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Levrier and the men he had called to help went through the footage of the golems again. They had pulled an overnighter already and the sun had started to rise, but they're work was not proceeding well at all. There had to be some weaknesses of the Noah hidden in those records, but they had yet to find anything that could be labeled a breakthrough. He looked at what they had gathered as potential weaknesses.

Tyki Mikk: Inability to phase through Innocence
Tyki Mikk ultimate: Lack of reason, but with near-invincibility given in return. (Retreat on sight has been ordered)
Solution: Operation End of Pleasure (?)

Lulubelle: \
Solution: \

Twins (names unknown): Absolute concentration required for the fake Earl, but once it is released, it is extremely difficult to get a chance to break their concentration.
Twins ultimate: \ (Can out muscle five exorcists at once, extreme caution required.)
Solution: Alystar Crowry. Supply large amounts of Akuma-blood and let him absorb it in perfect condition. Similar method shown to be effective

Road Camelot: Lack of physical power (?)
Solution: \

Allen Walker: Humanity. Has shown hesitation to kill and sorrow for deceased
Solution: \

All in all, it was not satisfying, since almost all of the weaknesses listed were either superstition or temporary. Both Tyki Mikk and Allen Walker might loose their only found weak spots over time. Perhaps it was time to begin Operation End of Pleasure, but they had yet to find the bait. Levrier sighed and turned to the footage again.

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When Allen entered, he noticed the Earl had already fulfilled his promise of getting a round table. He sat down next to Tyki and Road took the other free seat beside him. Allen noticed tree things. First, Cyril was glaring at him, nothing new on that end. Second, Luciano was glaring at Tyki. Well, nearly killing someone could strain the best relationships. And most importantly, there was finally an acceptable amount of food on his plate. Luciano looked at the mountain of food almost reaching the ceiling, and he and his sister simply stared at the speed Allen reduced that mountain to crumbs in a matter of minutes, while still retaining his manners. When Allen was done Luciano spoke.

"Very impressive Allen, but you waste so much time with all that chewing. You should learn to just dislocate your jaw like a snake, that would save you so much time." Everyone laughed, especially Cyril. Even Allen had to grin and was about to reply something when the Earl spoke.

"Well, now that we're all fed, Allen, Tyki, Lulubelle, you two" he pointed at Luciano and Sophia "come with me, we have to discuss some things." They rose and followed the Earl to a hall where Michael was already waiting. They stood waiting, but suddenly Luciano and Sophia spun around. They caught the large bullets of the Level 1 hiding in the background a few inches before they would have hit them. The Earl nodded.

"They have the strength, speed and reaction time of Noah, but as far as I know, they do not possess any special abilities or memories of Noah, am I correct?" The siblings nodded. "It seems you can turn humans into, let's call them Deminoah. I really wonder what your ability is, this is unlike anything I've ever seen before. But let's leave it at that." The Ear started to question Tyki and Lulubelle about what had happened during their mission, then he turned to Allen.

"Show me that Innocence." Allen gave it to him. The Earl looked at it, rolled it in his hand, passed it to Tyki and Lulubelle, then he gave it back to Allen. "It seems like this is safe for Noah. Since we have the user already, this could become a useful weapon. Do you think you could do that to other Innocence as well?" Allen shrugged.

"It should work, I mean, it worked on this one. Though I think it won't work if the user has it and doesn't allow it." The Earl nodded.

"But if this new Innocence is safe for Noah, maybe Noah can use it as well." There was gleam in the Earl's eyes. If the Noah could really use Innocence, he could get rid of a few problems, like the real reason he had spared the Black Order the fate of annihilation all this time. And if they got the Heart...

Allen shrugged again. "Maybe, we'd have to try." The Earl threw the Innocence back to Allen and Luciano raised the arm with the bracelet. Allen sighed and activated Crown Clown. He took the Innocence with the tips of his claws and put it on the bracelet. It again felt like he breached the surface of a pond as the Innocence vanished in the bracelet. Allen let it go and it completely vanished. The bracelet lost its gray color and turned red. Luciano looked at it, then he shrugged.

"Oh well, better than gray." The Earl looked at Allen.

"You can remove or place Innocence in objects?" Allen nodded.

"As long as the user lets me." The Earl nodded.

"Tyki, Lulubelle, you may leave. Luciano, Sophia, wait for Allen outside." They nodded and left. The Earl looked at Allen.

"How did you make a Level 5?" Allen looked at him. He had no idea, but he told the Earl what had happened. The Earl seemed to think.

"Yes, that's the only possible explanation. Allen, your Innocence has Purified the soul and the Akuma, canceling the corruption that usually makes the Akuma unusable. But I guess there is a price to pay for this evolution." Allen looked at the Earl, confused. What was he getting at? "I'm fairly certain this Akuma prioritizes your orders above mine. Oh well, sacrifices must be made. Still, I'm not sure what a Level 5 can do, so why don't we test its power? You can let it deliver a message to your friends in the Order, and if it makes it back in one piece with the Generals there, we know its strong enough. Don't look so shocked, did you really think I haven't figured out how you managed to get fifty miles of distance between you and the Order in your condition?" Allen nodded. It sounded fair. Allen looked at Micheal.

"Can you turn into a human-form?" He asked, since he was pretty sure Level 4 couldn't. Instead of answering, Michael stood up and folded his blood-colored wings around his body. They seemed to merge with his skin and a few seconds later, a man an a blood red suit with long black hair was standing in front of them. He looked like a normal person, at least on first glance. Then Allen noticed his eyes. The irises had turned from white to a cat-like yellow and the eyeball was still black, not white. It would have to do. He turned back to the Earl. "Would that be everything?" The Earl nodded.

"For now, yes. With his Innocence, Luciano might become very useful, so I'll let him work with the Akuma, but I have no idea what to do with his sister." Allen understood how the Earl felt.

"I know I know, I'll think of something." Though he had no idea what she could do around here to help.

He waved at Michael and the Akuma followed him. Luciano and Sophia were waiting for him in the corridor, along with Road. Allen was willing to bet she had spied on the entire conversation. Road reacted how he had expected and hung herself on him as dead weight.

"Road, what will you do if Cyril comes around that corner and slaughters me?"

To everyone's surprise, Michael spoke. "Cyril Camelot is currently in his room on the other side of the arc. It would cost him twenty minutes to reach this point." They stared at him.

"You can sense and locate Noah?" Road asked. No one had never heard of such an ability before, finding Noah had always been a matter of luck.

"Positive." was his only reply. Allen sighed and turned to Luciano.

"The Earl has agreed on letting you work with the Akuma, though I have no idea how much authority you'll get." Luciano nodded. Once he figured out how to activate his Innocence, things would get interesting. "But we have really no idea what we should do with you, Sophia." Allen sighed.

Sophia understood. She was not a fighter. "Well, I'm good at housework, like cooking and cleaning, and I've worked at a beauty parlor, but I guess I can't be of any real use, huh?" Allen was about to nod, when something hit him. He froze. Road stared at her.

"Did you say you worked at a beauty parlor? As in, you fixed hair nails, make-up and stuff like that?" Sophia nodded. "Were you good?" Sophia swelled with pride.

"They said I was the best they had ever seen, and it was a professional beauty parlor. Some VIPs came to us and I worked on them and there never was a complaint." Allen smiled.

"Then there might be something you can do. It may sound a bit weird at first, but you just might save my life with it." Sophia was confused. Road explained.

"When Allen was still an exorcist, he destroyed an Akuma that was responsible for doing Lulubelle's nails an stuff and to this day she hates him for it. When he was brought here, she opted to kill him on the spot. So, if you take that job, she might stop plotting things that can get Allen in serious trouble." Sophia shook her head in disbelief, but if it helped, she didn't mind.

"Now the only problem is, how do we bring Lulubelle the news?" Allen wondered. Suddenly, Lulubelle appeared out of nowhere.

"I heard everything." She stated, pulled off her glove and raised her hand towards Sophia. The girl nodded, pulled out a nail file and got to work. A few minutes later, she stopped. Lulubelle looked at her fingers. "Come with me." She then declared and left. Sophia hurried after her. Road turned to Allen.

"Well that went better than expected." Allen nodded. But he had a feeling things wouldn't be so easy with Cyril. Luciano left to work on his Innocence, and Road, Allen and Michael were standing alone in the corridor. Road finally let go of Allen and said

"I'm gonna go play with Jasdevi, I heard they got their butts kicked." She seemed unable to wait to rub it in. Allen smiled and waved her goodbye. Then he turned to Michael.

"Now, do you think you could deliver a message to my friends?"

"Positive." was the immediate reply.

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Jesaia, Lavi and Timothy were a good team. While Timothy didn't directly posses people anymore, his ability to leave his body and scout was more than useful. They had done a few pranks that should cause enough paperwork to keep Levrier busy and desperate for a month. Miranda, Crowry and Lenalee had decided to look the other way when they started their operation, and even though they caused a major ruckus, Kanda hadn't left his room yet. They had been careful not to cause any ruckus near his room, so that might have helped. When Levrier had arrived he seemed hardly able to stand without help. He had spent the last two days analyzing the footage of the battles with the Noah, but without much luck so far. The man needed sleep and Lavi and the others made sure he didn't get it. There had been no evidence and the few people who had seen them were from the science department and therefor would sell them out. And indeed Levrier had no witnesses and no proof. He was about to give them missions to stop the chaos, when Reever ran into the room.

"You have to see this, there is someone in front of the gate and we have no idea how he got there."

Everyone ran to the surveillance system and indeed, they could see a man in a red suit coming towards the gate. Long black hair was flowing in the wind and there seemed to be something wrong with his eyes, but they were unable to tell what it was.

"How did he get there?" Levrier muttered. It was impossible that the man had climbed the mountain not only without being noticed, but also without messing up his clothes. He looked like he was heading to a party, not like he had somehow hiked up here.

"I wonder what he wants." Lavi muttered, having the feeling they would soon find out.

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Chapter 12 is done. I was pretty upset when only one review came last chapter, even though a second one followed a bit later. I can live with stuff like "What the hell were you thinking?" or "Now this is just stupid." then the idea was bad, tough luck. But absolute silence? I'm doing this to improve my writing, so how am I supposed to get better if there's no feedback? Seriously, if this happens again I'll pause this for a month or so and work on something different. Since I was upset, I've started to work on something different and since I've already published the first chapter, people expect updates there as well and my workload has quadrupled. Thank god I'm on vacation, even though the teachers gave us stuff we have to do. But enough of that.

The usual: How did you like it, what can I do better, was there anything you especially liked, anyone have any ideas that might help, what do you think will happen next, any requests?

Well, I've complained enough for one day, so thanks for reading and please, more than 2 reviews this time (my thanks to addenza and Starforce119 for reviewing this time as well).

Please review