The next morning Cassius awoke to see Nevan sleeping beside him, completely nude.
They hadn't done anything naughty that night but they did do the nightly challenge together.
Cassius frowned as he remembered the challenge, it hadn't been the unusual Bloody Palace and instead they fought against fucking angels from Bayonetta! It had been one he of an experience, and strangely he had received an Item he hadn't expected to find.
Opening his inventory he looked at the item and his frown deepened.
[《Item: Fragmented Rebellion shard: 1000. Description: A shard of Rebellion, the devil's greatsword. Even fragmented the Rebellion still holds the power to strengthen the bonds between Man and Devil. Reveals a new strength within》]
This wasn't the first time he'd recieved this reward. He'd met several devils in this world and in the Bloody Palace that he would later receive the item as a reward. He'd already tried cutting himself with the blade shards to try and Jumpstart his devil trigger... but the shards didn't seem to do anything.
Eventually he decided that maybe collecting enough would do something, he tested his theory every time he received a new fragment.
"Time for another test..." He said as he once again selected the item, this time a new menu popped up.
[《Fusion. Yes? No?》]
He blinked at the new window and pushed on the yes, prompting a new window to open.
[《Please select a Devil Arm to strengthen. Eligible Devil Arms: Satanael. Select? Yes? No?》]
Cassius sighed in disappointment, he had been hoping that the blade fragments would fuse to create their own separate blade, then he could've just created a hilt for it with Grave Artificer.
"Fine..." He sighed before accepting the prompt, the way things were looking... he would have to use that temen-ni-gru key if he wanted a chance to awaken his devil trigger.
[《Fusion Complete! Devil Arm Satanael, The Rebel's Gunblade, has been strengthened! New powers await discovery!》]
Cassius rose a brow at the window especially at the sudden addition of a title to the weapon, and opened the weapons description but saw no changes.
Deciding to take a closer look at the weapon he summoned the blade and was immediately taken aback by it.
For the most part the weapon was the same, still made of a fusion of gun and blade through demonic tendrils, but the blade had changed. It was longer, straighter and bore the distinct shape of Rebellion's blade, yet the base of the blade had feather blades that fanned out wide to form a serrated wing shaped guard that connected with the base of the pistol grip, which had also changed to be longer and shaped closer to that of a slightly curved sword hilt.
"Holy shit..." Cassius breathed as he looked along the weapon's new appearance, noticing that the new blade had a very distinct crack pattern that flickered with crimson and orange light on occasion, reminding Cassius of the thousand demon dagger from that Netflix anime Scissor Seven.
"Note to self... make a katana of some kind..." Cassius thought as he remembered that he had no Katana based weapons and skills.
He'd look into something like that later, for now he had to get ready, plus he was anxious to test the upgrades to his first and trusty devil arm.
For the time being... he needed to get ready for school... he had a dragon emperor to befriend after all.
Upon his arrival at the school he decided to avoid the attention from the many girls by casting a quick hypnosis spell with the use of his Alpha Stigma.
Walking peacefully through the halls he came across a certain trio at the stairs to the third floor, which he needed to climb in order to get to class.
However he knew he had no choice but to wait, the reason being to red hairedgirl that was walking down the stairs right that minute.
Cassius leaned against the wall as he waited for her to pass, she of course saw him and he gave a two fingered mock salute before he climbed the stairs, having dropped his illusion as Rias passed him.
"'scuse me dudes. Gotta get by ya'." he said as he climbed up the steps. He spared a glance towards Issei Hyoudou, which the boy seemed to notice, before he passed the trio.
Once he was upstairs he stopped to listen in on them.
"That damn handsome... who does he think he is?!" The glasses dude cursed.
"Yeah! What a jerk! How dare he be so hot!" Baldy cried into his sleeve.
"Uh... who was that?" Issei asked.
"Huh? Oh that's right you weren't here yesterday." Glasses said before baldy spoke up.
"That's Cassius Sparda. He's the infamous no-show king! Only for some reason he started showing up as of yesterday!" Baldy cursed his name like he was the devil himself, oh wait!
Cassius suppressed a snort at their nickname for him.
"No-Show King huh? Well... I always hate to disappoint a crowd. I guess I'll have to change that title." he thought with a smirk before he continued on his way to clclass... or he would have had he not been stopped by a gang of male students, all looking none too pleased to see him.
Cassius cocked a brow at the gang of male teens.
"Can I help you gentlemen?" He asked them.
"This is all your fault!" One shouted at him.
"Eh?" Cassius blinked confused.
"Yeah! If it wasn't for you... then my girlfriend wouldn't have left me!"
"Yeah! And Mikato Miyamura wouldn't have rejected me!"
Several more boys shouted out their various grievances over his arrival, before...
"Pft- is that it? You think I'm responsible for your girl troubles? Please! Have any of you looked in the mirror lately? Half of you probably wouldn't get a girlfriend until your thirties! Besides I'm spoken for anyways." Cassius said with a cocky smirk.
"Why you little-!" One teen tried to attack him, only to be met with a fist to the face that sent him flying back into the crowd of boys.
Cassius cracked each of his human fingers one by one with only his index and thumb, Tokyo ghoul style.
"Anyone else want a taste?" He said in a low voice, his glare chilled them to the bone and made them nearly piss themselves. Several would later say they pictured a shadowed figure that could only be considered a demon glaring at them from behind Cassius.
The boys were immediately cowed and as such parted down the middle for him to pass.
Cassius' smirk returned as he passed them and finally arrived in class.
That day his school title shifted from the No-Show King... to the Devil of Kuoh.
Oh if only they knew how right they were.
Later in the day Cassius found himself following Issei to his friend's place where he knew they were watching a kinky anime, which he really did not want to see, so while they watched the anime he scrolled through his menu to take stock over his various items, including unused skill books and shop item redeems. He had found several of such things over the years and honestly had no use for most of the skill books.
They just didn't suit him or were completely useless to him. Like this one skill book he found that would give him the ability to use fire magic. He didn't need it because his Alpha Stigma could reproduce and spell he'd seen, so what was the point.
Unfortunately his system shop didn't have a sell option or he'd clean out several of the skill books he'd found.
The shop redeems were a different matter altogether. He could use them to get items that he wanted but he figured it best to save the majority of them for a rainy day... but he was more than bored enough to want to cash one in.
Which was what he was doing now.
As he scrolled through the shop's wares his eyes fell on something that might prove useful, something that might even compensate for his lack of a devil trigger.
"Linked Energy Manipulation huh... heh- I wonder how that'll effect my DP and my Holy." he muttered as he selected the skill of anime's most infamous rogue hero and quickly learned it.
[《Skill learned: Linked Energy Manipulation Lvl:1 - the ultimate physical art. A martial art created to achieve victory even without the use of magic or weapons Enhance you strength, defense, healing and other physical states with Energies from the body.》]
Cassius raised his human fist and activated the skill, the signature runes appeared, spiraling along his forearm, however he noted they were purple and not blue, and seemed to weakly flicker before dying out.
"Hmm... I'll have to invest some blood orbs into this if I want to avoid grinding for days on end to get it to a sufficient level." he surmised as he used 400,000 of his saved blood orbs to enhance the skill from Lvl: 1 to Lvl 40.
"Damn that was costly...better be worth it." he muttered, each level cost him 10,000 blood orbs.
Raising his fist again he used the skill one more time and grinned as the runes flared up quicker and with a strange sense of solidity to them.
"Much better." He said as he released the skill.
He looked up from his menus just in time to see Issei leave the house and seemingly stumble along with a hand over his eyes like he had a headache. Which Cassius could honestly believe he did with how his sudden ability to see in the dark was so new to him.
"Better get a move on." He said before using his Alpha Stigma to cast a cloaking spell on his person and followed after the boy.
Issei Hyoudou wasn't having a good day. First he ended up having this nightmare that his girlfriend Yuuma Amano turned into to black winged angel demon thing and then killed him! Next his friends all seemed to think he was crazy for saying he had a girlfriend... when he knew he had introduced them to her the day before his date!
And now he could apparently see in the dark? What was even up with that?!
Oh and one last thing to tie it all together... he was being chased by another one of those things that Yuuma had turned into!
"Aaaaah!" Issei screamed as he tried to dodge a blade that looked like it was made of crystallized light.
"Hoh? You dodge it? Not bad for a stray. Well then I guess I'll have to turn up the heat!" The thing commended before it summoned a dozen more blades and fired them at the poor kid who had fallen to the ground because he tripped on his own feet.
"Yeah not on my watch." A voice called out just before what sounded like hundreds of gunshots resounded throughout the park that they were in. Every single Light blade exploded into a shower of sparks as a bullet impacted them.
"What!?" The demon-angel thing shouted in disbelief.
A pair of boots crossed Issei's vision as they seemed to appear from thin air and walked right past him.
"You got a lot of nerve showing up here Dohnaseek. Not after the shit you pulled in Venice." the voice said.
Issei looked back to see just who his savior was, and to his surprise he recognized him.
"You're-"
Before he could finished Dohnaseek spoke up and sounded afraid.
"Y-you... why are you here!? Did Azazel send you?!" He demanded to know as he faced the infamous Devil Hunter.
"Nope I'm here on my own time. Decided to take a little vacation, maybe settle down in one spot for a while. You know how it is." Cassius said nonchalant.
"Then... you're not here to kill me?" Dohnaseek asked with a little hope..
"Oh no I'm still going to kill you. Whether it's now or later you will die by my hand for what you did." Cassius said with cold glare.
"Do they... know each other?" Issei thought weakly as he struggled to remain conscious.
Dohnaseek began to sweat before he roared with fear fueled fury and summoned seemingly a hundred light spears and launched them at them.
Issei cowered at sight but he heard Cassius speak again and focused on him.
"Heh- Time to go to work girls!" Cassius said as he spun a pair of black and white handguns in his hands before aiming them at the approaching spears.
Gunfire rang out as Cassius pulled the triggers at speeds that Issei couldn't track and destroyed each spear.
"That all you got?" Cassius taunted with his cocky smile as he waited for the clouds of smoke caused by the destruction of the light spears to dissipate.
"Against you? Maybe... but I can still kill this devil!" Dohnaseek said from behind them.
Issei didn't even have time to turn before pain exploded from his back and chest.
"Gyah!!" He cried out as he collapsed to the cobblestone below.
"Tch-" Cassius clicked his tongue in annoyance as he whirled around to fire at the angel. A bullet from Ivory managed to clip the angel un the shoulder before he could strike the finishing blow on Issei.
Dohnaseek leapt backwards to avoid more gunfire from the half-devil before he attempted to close the distance between them to enter into a melee bout with the devil who he thought was vulnerable with only his guns.
Big mistake.
Cassius waited for Dohnaseek to be right in front of him before he dismissed his guns and lashed out with an open palmed devil bringer charged with demonic purple lightning, courtesy of La Muerte.
The phantom arm slammed into the angel and discharged a blast of electricity shaped like a hand.
Dohnaseek's body spasmed and smoked as he bounced across the park like a skipped stone.
He managed to recover in time to unfurl his wings and take to the sky.
"You bastard! I'll end you and the boy here and now!" Dohnaseek shouted in rage as he summoned a massive light spear charged with a large amount of holy power.
It was a tactic that Cassius had seen before, it was intended to be used as a bomb.
He knew his guns wouldn't be able to fend that off, but he knew he wouldn't have to.
"She should be here any second now." He said just as a red magic circle flashed into existence and Rias Gremory entered the playing field.
"Right on time! Your turn. Tag in." He waved as he approached Issei's downed and dying form.
Rias glanced at him before turning her attention to Dohnaseek and began her monolog.
He was stopped by a certain white hair kitten who stood there in a In-boxer stance.
"Don't worry little kitten I'm just gonna fix the kid up enough to live through his injuries, you all can take his recovery from there." He said as he held up a Large Life Star and flicked it towards Issei before she could react.
Koneko tried to catch it but failed and it landed inside the hole of Issei's wound. Green light flashed and the wound closed up for the majority of the damage.
"That should hold him. He lost a lot of blood though so he'll still need some assistance later. I'm sure Gremory can deal with that." Cassius said as he made to walk away.
"Wait!" Rias called to him from behind.
He turned to face her only to see she held up a ball of black destructive power.
His Alpha Stigma flashed on and off before anyone noticed, but it was still enough time to understand and Copy the spell. Sure his version wouldn't be as powerful because of the blood ties to the power but it would still work as an enchantment to his weapons.
"Jackpot." He thought with a smirk.
"What is it princess? You think I'm with the asshole fallen?" Cassius asked with his arms crossed.
"Just who exactly are you?" she demanded.
He rose an eyebrow.
"I take it you didn't do your research after our encounter in the auditorium. Sona did, why don't you go ask her?" Cassius said.
Rias narrowed her eyes before releasing the spell.
"Very well I will ask her... however tomorrow I will require you to meet us in our club room. I can not have an unregistered mage and sacred gear user gallivanting about like he owns the place." She demanded with a warning tone.
He shrugged.
"Yeah sure whatever. Also you got one thing wrong about me." He said with a single finger raised.
"And that is?" She asked.
"I'm not a mage. I'm half-devil." he said as he held up his demonic arm for them to see.
Rias inspected the limb curiously, having never seen such a thing before.
"I see... then all the more reason to keep an eye on you." She said.
"Yeah yeah. Anyways if we're done here I gotta go. Take care little kitten, we should spar later! What do you say? An MMA fighter vs and MMA using Rook? Sounds like fun don't it? Of course weapons and skills are allowed so long as it's martial arts centric. What do you say?" He asked with a wink.
Koneko blinked at the request but found herself nodding in affirmation.
"Sweet! Then I'll see y'all later!" Cassius said before he vanished through an unseen portal he had hidden with his Alpha Stigma.
Rias and her peerage stared at the space he had been, surprise written on their faces.
"What are we getting ourselves into...?" Kiba wondered aloud as he stared at the space. He had a nagging feeling that he had met the half-devil somewhere before... but he couldn't remember for the life of him.
"We'll find out soon enough." Rias said as she approached Issei.
"His wound has healed?" She noted with confusion.
"That guy threw something, a green crystal star or something, and Issei's wound closed. He said that he did lose a lot of blood so you'll still have to treat him if he wants to wake up in the morning." Koneko relayed what the Devil Hunter had said.
Rias have a pensive look before nodded.
"Very well. I'll take him home, you all return for the night, finish any contracts you have and then get some rest. We have a full schedule booked for tomorrow." She ordered to her servants.
They all nodded before vanishing in a series of teleportation circles.
Rias used her natural devilish strength to lift the boy and flashed away.
Cassius stepped through the portal and took a seat in his chair.
"Hah... that's nice..." he sighed as he sank into his chair... only for his door to swing open.
"Oh what now!?" He shouted as he rose to his feet.
"It has been some time Devil Hunter." A feminine voice said in a smooth tone.
"Kalamazoo right?" He intentionally got the name wrong.
"Kalawarner!!!" The voice shouted indignantly as she stepped into the room.
"Yeah yeah what do you want?" He waved her off as he sat back down.
"Why are you interfering with our mission?" She asked him.
"Mission? If you mean the mission to watch Issei Hyoudou? The same one you derailed by trying to kill him?" Cassius pointed out.
"W-we were told that Azazel wanted him dead." she said.
"By whom?" He asked her with a deadpan.
"Lord Kokabiel." She said.
"And that's where you fucked up." He said as he sat back.
"What?" She asked confused.
He shook his head.
"Nothing. There's no point in me explaining if you can't figure it out yourself. You might as well just leave. If I were you I'd leave the city entirely." he said gesturing for the door.
"..." Kalawarner said nothing as she stared at him, before sighing.
"Very well... from this point on we are enemies then. If I see you... I will try to kill you." She said with narrowed eyes.
"We were never friends to begin with so that's fine. But I will warn you that if you touch her... I will destroy everything you care for and make you watch." he said before he leaned back in his chair and placed another game catalogue onto his face.
Kalawarner felt chills run up her spine as she turned to leave.
"And close the damn door on the way out! Serious it's like the people of this town have never listened to a Panic at the disco song in their lives!" Cassius called after her.
Kalawarner nearly tripped at his reference but did as asked nonetheless.
Cassius watched her go with a critical eye hidden by his magazine.
"Dammit... Looks like I won't be sleeping much for a while." He cursed as he stood from his chair and went up stairs to get some sleep.
Nevan was there to greet him, with a saucy smile and a coiling finger.
He froze for a split second before a cocky smirk grew once more on his face.
"Who cares about sleep?" He thought as his jacket dropped to the floor, along with his shirt and pants.
He sure didn't.
Time to test the... other applications for his newest skill.
The next day Cassius awoke feeling very refreshed, his demonic arm was wrapped around the very naked Nevan's waist, practically clutching her very firm rear.
The vampire was also awake as she ran a hand over his chisled torso.
"Last night was wonderful lover. I see you learned a new trick." she complimented.
He gave a small chuckle.
"Well I aim to please." he said.
"And please you did~" she purred before extracting herself from his person.
"But don't we have a meeting to attend?" She asked him with as she stood above him with her hands on her hips, giving him a free show of every part of her.
"Ugh right right. I better get going then... Wait we?" He asked her with a look.
"Of course I'll be coming along. I'll be hidden of course, perhaps you can take me along in that guitar case you never use?" she asked him.
"... you just want to stay by my side for a while don't you." he said, knowing she didn't like being stuffed into his inventory.
"Guilty." she shrugged, the movement making her chest bounce.
"Alright... fine. But I really don't like putting you in that case." he said.
"Oh hush now Lover. It's a thousand times better than that inventory of yours. The others may not mind but I like a little fresh air from time to time." She said placing a finger on his lips before she walked away with a sway of her hips, he body vanished in a flash of lightning and struck a long black rectangular case.
Cassius watched her leave before too rose from the bed and began to get dressed in his school uniform, and placing his usual hunting outfit into his inventory.
A quick stretch made him groan as his muscles released the tension from the previous night's events.
"Uurnh alrighty then... time to get this road on the show." he groaned before grabbing the case and slinging it over his shoulder like a student's bookbag with one hand, his human one obviously. His demonic one was in its sling as usual.
For the most part Cassius' school day went as normal as could be, the male students were too afraid of him to try anything and the girls had taken the hint that he wasn't interested in them. It was towards the end of the day that things started to get weird.
Specifically when Kiba and Issei showed up at his classroom, it was that moment that the girl started fussing about a threeway yaoi fanfiction between a Devil, a prince and a pervert.
"Makes you wonder who the real perverts are in this school eh?" He said as he jabbed Issei in the side.
The infamous pervert actually chuckled at the joke, along with Kiba.
"It's not that bad. I'm used to it." Kiba said with a shrug.
"Yeah well I'm not into dudes. And from what I've heard from your reputation you aren't either." He said addressing Issei who was still on edge.
"Yeah! Boobs are the best thing to ever exist." Issei said.
Cassius nodded. He couldn't fault the kid for his tastes.
"True that dude. But remember not every nice rack has a good person attached to them. You gotta be smart with who you chose to fall in love with... and maybe lay off the peeping if you ever want to get an actual girlfriend." Cassius said, with a knowing look.
Issei flinched at his words and looked down.
"R-right... thanks for the advice..." Issei muttered looking depressed.
"Don't worry about it. Unlike most, I won't fault you for your tastes. Just tone down the way you express it... and whom you express it to. You're a good kid. I can see it in your soul." He said with a pat on the back.
Kiba listened to the exchange with a smile. He might like having the devil hunter around after all. He gave solid advice without tearing someone down.
"So Cassius..." Kiba began with a glance over his shoulder.
"Yeah?" Cassius asked with a raised brow.
"I know you're skilled, you proved that much last night... but do you by chance have any experience with a sword?" he asked.
Cassius sent him a smirk.
"Looking to find yourself a proper sparring partner sir knight?" Cassius asked with a joking tone.
"Perhaps... depending on your answer." he said with his own smirk.
"Well the answer is yes, I'm familiar with the sword, well... one version of a sword at least." Cassius said cryptically.
Kiba rose a brow at his response but dropped the subject.
Issei on the other hand... was very confused. He had absolutely no clue what they were talking about, but didn't want to sound stupid for asking, especially in front of Cassius. He didn't know why but he felt like he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of him.
Cassius, noticing his stare, glanced at the boy and smiled.
Issei found himself suddenly feeling embarrassed, like he'd been caught in the cookie jar.
Cassius chuckled as they walked.
Soon enough they arrived at tbe old school building, and were shown inside by their guide.
Upon entering the club room, Cassius let out a low whistle at the sight.
"Some really went all out with occult research cover story." He said as he glanced around.
"Ufufu~ Aren't you a lively one." The voice of Akeno said as she motioned for them to sit.
"Don't mind if I do." Cassius said as he plopped himself into the seat beside a certain white haired kitten.
"We meet again little kitten." He said with a wink.
Koneko stared at him blankly before she held out a cookie to him.
"Ara? She seemed to like you." Akeno cooed with a hand on her cheek.
Issei tried to introduce himself to the whit haired girl, only for her to clutch her snack to her chest and glare at him.
"None for you." She said defensive.
Issei visibly wilted and cried comical tears.
Cassius clapped him on the back.
"Don't feel too bad. This kind of thing happens all the time." He said to comfort the poor teen, it didn't work as he just sagged deeper.
Akeno giggled at his reaction before she took a spot beside the empty desk.
"So where's her highness?" Cassius asked, already knowing.
Issei blinked as he too realized that Rias was nowhere to be seen.
"I'm in here. Don't mind me I'm just finishing up!" said devil called from a nearby curtained area.
"Is that a shower?!" Issei asked with a pervy grin as he watched the silhouette of Rias getting dressed.
Cassius smacked the boy upside the head.
"Ow! Hey what was that for?!" Issei exclaimed at the older teen.
"You're a guest to the person who saved your life. Be respectful and don't stare too much." Cassius scolded to the teen, who looked down, knowing he was right.
"Sorry..." Issei mumbled.
"Oh it's quite alright Issei. Unlike the rest of the girls at school I don't mind it if you stare." Rias said as she walked out from behind the curtain.
Issei perked up like a puppy and Cassius knew that if the boy had a tail it would be wagging at high speeds.
"Down boy." Cassius muttered to make him calm down.
Issei stilled and seemed to do just that.
Rias rose a brow at their strange dynamic.
Cassius shot her a wink.
"You may be the Master, but I'm the male role model." Cassius casually teased, much to her chagrin.
Issei felt his face turn a bit red at the knowledge of who his new role model was being revealed.
"Ahem... welcome you two. As you know I am Rias Gremory and these are my club members, Kiba Yuuto, Koneko Toujo and Akeno Himejima. And Issei... everyone in this room is a Devil." Rias said getting straight to the point.
"A devil? Like... the take your soul in exchange for riches kind of devil?" Issei asked her like she was crazy.
"Indeed... although we don't take souls anymore." Rias said.
"This... this is a prank right? You're recording me with a hidden camera right?" Issei asked as he looked around for anything that might be a camera.
Cassius snickered at his reaction.
Rias however expected this and motioned to her servants.
Issei fell silent as he watched each person, except Cassius, sprout a set of black bat wings.
"N-no way!" He exclaimed only to feel something tugging at his own back, before eventually bursting through his shirt. A set of his own bat wings.
"W-what the hell!?" Issei shouted as he grabbed at the wings and tried to rip them out, only to feel a pain unlike any other he had experienced, enough to make him drop to his knees and nearly vomit.
"Issei!? Don't ever try to rip out your own wings!" Rias screamed as she rushed to his side to help him to seat himself on the couch.
"Damn kid... not gonna lie I wasn't expecting that kind of reaction from you. Hard core. I'm gonna enjoy hanging out with you." Cassius said as he clapped a hand on Issei's shoulder, which made him wince from residual pain from his attempt at self-mutilation.
"Oops sorry." Cassius raised his hands in apology.
"I-I... I'm a devil too?" Issei asked Rias with a weak expression.
"Yes you are. I revived you after that fallen angel killed you in the park." Rias explained with a gentle voice.
"Yuuma..." he muttered to himself as the cruel and wicked smile of her beautiful face as she killed him flashed to the forefront of his mind.
"Is that what she called herself?" Rias asked him, which he nodded with a pale face.
"Kid's traumatized, princess." Cassius said as he took a seat.
They all looked at him.
"Think about it. He wanted a girlfriend and then suddenly a beautiful girl asked him out and they have a wonderful time and he genuinely falls in love with her... could imagine what it feels like to have that person literally rip your heart out?" Cassius said with a look of sympathy towards the boy who looked away.
Rias looked to Issei with a sad look on her face, she immediately noticed the pain withing his eyes and pulled him into a hug, with hisbhead buried in her chest, much to Issei's enjoyment.
"Oh Issei... I'm sorry that I couldn't save you... you must have been in so much pain..." she muttered into his ear which made him relax into her embrace.
Issei, reluctant as he was to, removed himself from the embrace to ask another question.
"Then... what about last night? Did that happen too?" Issei asked as he looked to Cassius.
"Yea it happened. That asshole fallen angel has been a thirn in my side for a long time. Last year in Venice he fed thirty people to a vampire we were hunting for a job, just so he could have a better challenge in the fight." Cassius explained.
Rias and the others looked at him in horror, but Issei was still confused about something.
"U-um... are you also a devil?" He asked.
"Half-Devil, kid. I'm an orphan so I never met my parents but apparently one of them was a devil. Which is ironic because I was raised in a church. Did some work as an Exorcist for a while. Ol' Mikey didn't want to make an enemy out of me so he insisted I work for him for a few years." Cassius explained with a shrug, as he displayed his demonic left arm which garnered a decent amount of attention to it from the devils in the room.
The older devil of the room tensed at the knowledge of his working for the church, but Issei didn't know much about that.
"And you mentioned something about a job?" He asked.
"I'm a Devil Hunter. Which btw is mostly me hunting strays and other rogue supernatural creatures. If you ever need a hand with killing a stray or just need someone to train with I'm your guy. No one knows more about killing monsters than I do." Cassius said slipping a business card into Rias' hands.
"Devil May Cry? Wait there's just a phone number and the words-"
"Sh! Don't say it. That's the password. So long as you know that password I'll know you're an actual client and not someone trying to kill me." Cassius shushed her.
"But that password is very derogatory!" Rias said with a glare.
"Not if you understand the true meaning behind it." Cassius stated.
Rias blinked.
"There's a meaning?" she asked him.
"Yeah. If you're lucky I'll tell you it one day." Cassius said with a wink.
Rias rolled her eyes before deciding that now was the best time to address the half devil.
"I asked Sona to give me the information she had on you and I will admit... I am surprised that someone so young has such experience in the supernatural." she said.
Cassius shrugged at her words.
"Well when your hunted down because your blood could make a stray devil stabilize into a true demon... you pick up a thing or two. But jokes on them, their souls now belong to me" He said with a cocky grin.
"Their souls?" Kiba was the one to ask the question.
"My weapons, well most of them, are made from the souls and bodies of various devils I've slain, although a few submitted them to me of their own free will." Cassius said as he patted his guitar case, which rested by his feet.
Again the devils all tensed at his words.
"I've never heard of a sacred gear that can do that." Rias stated with an edge to her voice.
"Not part of a sacred gear, it's a power that I inherited from my devil parent." he said, which was partially true. His ability to create devil arms was tied to his blood as a Sparda.
"A power that creates weapons from souls...?" Rias mused having never heard of such a devil that could do something like that.
"Yup that pretty much sums it up... speaking of..." Cassius said before tapping the case he had brought with his foot, allowing it to open.
Rias immediately recognized what was in the case.
"That's the weapon you used against the stray devil from before..." she breathed as she had the chance to take in the weapon.
"This is Nevan. She's created from the soul of the Celtics version of the Succubus and Vampire entities. She is one of my favorites." He said as he held up the weapon and gently strummed the strings.
"Aw... you're such a sweetheart Lover." Nevan's voice cooed from all around them, as she partially manifested her true form for them to see.
Issei would have drooled but he noticed how close the two seemed to be and held himself back from staring.
Rias examined the woman.
"Pleased to meet you miss Nevan." She said.
"Ufufufu~ such a well mannered girl. We'll get along quite well, I'm sure." Nevan tittered before turning to Akeno.
"Oh~? My my aren't you an interesting one. An S and an M? What an interesting combination. The scent of lightning permeates your blood... hm you intrigue me." She said with a blown kiss to the girl.
"Ara?" Akeno chimed with a tilt of her head.
"You can flirt later Nevan, we've got business to deal with.
Nevan huff with a cute pout, before she stroked his cheek.
"Of course Lover. I shall return home at my own discretion." she said before she, and the guitar vanished in a flurry of black and purple bats.
"Well she was... something." Rias said simply.
Cassius chuckled.
"You get used to it. And don't worry you don't have to worry about her draining anyone of blood or other fluids. I'm more than capable of supplying both to her." Cassius said with a saucy wink.
"Ara ara." Akeno placed a hand on her flushed cheek, while Rias merely blushed at the mental images they had gained.
Meanwhile Issei was crying tears of blood at how lucky his new role model was to have such a smoking hot babe all to himself.
Cassius sweatdropped from the sight.
"W-well then... at least we don't have to worry about her... but the real issue is... what do we do with you?" She said in a serious tone.
"Well to be frank there's nothing you can do. I'm in town for my own private reasons as is my right a part of the human race in the human world. I may be half devil, but I'm also still human." He summed up.
Rias narrowed her eyes at him.
"I still can't have you running around killing every devil you meet." She said.
"And that is what the password is for. Listen I have my own code I live by. I don't just flat out kill the devils I meet. I test them first. Guage their abilities and emotional capacity. If they pass in one condition... then I let them live. But if they fail... well more often than not they fail." he sighed at the end of his explanation.
"I see... well for now please contact me if you take any bounties on any stray devils you come across." She said.
"Yeah sure. Same goes for you. If you're too busy to handle the situation just call me up and give the password and the information. I'll take it from there." He said, to which she nodded almost appreciatively.
"Sweet then... can I go?" He asked.
"Uh one last thing." It was Issei who spoke up, causing them to look at him.
"Yes Issei? What is it?" Rias asked him.
"Yuuma mentioned something about this thing... a sacred gear you called it?" Issei asked.
"Oh yes that's right. You see Issei, Yuuma Amano's mission as a fallen angel was to kill you to prevent you from awakening your sacred gear." She began to explain.
"Ok... and what exactly is a sacred gear?" He asked her.
"I can answer that." Cassius interjected, causing them to look at him.
"You see dude a sacred gear is an item or power that the biblical God created in hopes to give humanity a fighting chance in this world of demons and other monsters. They're essentially like my Devil Arms, the weapons I make from devil souls. However each one is unique and can evolve in ways that suit their user. I myself possess two sacred gears, one is always active but the other is a creation type sacred gear that was a modified version of the blade blacksmith sacred gear, called Grave Artificer, basically it allows me to create more modern weaponry like guns, so long as they can be created by human hands then I can make it... of course I can't make a nuclear bomb so that should put your mind at ease." He explained as he summoned Ivory and showed the weapon off a bit.
"You possess two sacred gears?" Rias asked surprised.
"Not naturally mind you. Grave Artificer was a gift from Mikey during my time in the church. My real sacred gear isn't something you'd ever know about as I am the first ever host of it. According to Michael at least." Cassius explained with a shrug.
Rias understood what he meant but was curious about his sacred gear.
"I see." She said before she returned her attention to Issei just as he spoke.
"Um then what sacred gear do I have?" Issei asked curious about his power.
Rias simply shrugged.
"We don't know. The selection process is a mystery to even angels. But Koneko said that you have the scent of a dragon so it is likely related to that." She said.
"And... how do I awaken my sacred gear?" He asked.
"Well typically one imagines the strongest thing they can think of and imagine that as themselves... of course I'm only going based off things I've heard." Rias said.
"Yeah that doesn't work I can tell you that immediately." Cassius said instantly.
They looked at him again for him to elaborate.
"A sacred gear awakens when one of two conditions are met." Cassius began as he held up two fingers. "The first is more common but results in an incomplete awakening until the second is met, those conditions are survival, and adaptive. The Survival awakening commonly occurs when the host is about to die, and tends to be incomplete more often than not. The Adaptive awakening occurs when the user's body is fit enough to handle to power of the sacred gear. Those who go through a Survival Awakening will eventually have to go through the Adaptive awakening if they ever want their true power to shine through. Although sometimes this awakening can occur even with the host being weak." Cassius explained showing a surprising amount of insight into the subject.
"Wow that was rather informative. I will have to make a note of that." Rias said with a look towards Akeno who was already writing what he had said down.
"Yeah you do that. Anyways Issei your sacred gear will awaken when you need it, all you have to do is call for it in that moment." Cassius said as he stood up and began to make his way for the door.
"Wait where are you going?" Rias asked him.
"Home. We should be done here now right? Or at least I'm not needed? I gotta get to sleep. The past few days have had me beat." He said with a yawn as he opened the door and paused.
"Oh and only last thing... my little sister should be moving here very soon. She's a valuable asset to the Fallen qnd is well known in the church ... so if you don't want to deal with me and the angels on your case... I suggest you deal with the fallen as quickly as possible. Or I will." With that he closed the door leaving them in silence to wonder just who his sister was.
Phew done with this one. I got a bit of free time so I'm trying to get at least a couple more chapters done before I get super busy over the next few days.
Time to address something from the reviews... about Grave Artificer and the System potentially getting a balance breaker form, and I'm here to tell you that... no the system will not be getting a balance breaker, because it already breaks the balance of power! It's a fricken video game system! Now as for Grave Artificer... maybe. Technically it's already just blade blacksmith in a balance breaker state that then became its own sacred gear, but if I had to imagine a balance breaker for it... eh it would probably be a mech suit similar to something from Infinite Stratos, but it would only really be accessible when he awakens/uses his devil trigger.
And to the guest who talked shit because I have Cassius being in the older brother role for Asia... you don't have to read this. I don't remember asking you specifically to read this. I didn't just knock on your door and say "Hey read my cringy fanfiction!" you came here on your own. So sit down, and shut up, or simply leave, I couldn't care less about whether or not you read this.
Get your Troll ass out of my comment section.
Anyways thanks to those who actually enjoyed reading this story and aren't just here to shit on someone's work for gits and shiggles.
See you in the next one.