Catch'em All
Night time in the Underworld was always interesting to witness, courtesy of my dear uncle. The fake aurora borealis is replacing the Overworld's stars, with them also being a source of dim yet colorful light… always a breathtaking sight to witness.
Even when you were spying on an extremely powerful clan house, whose actions were horrendously unjustifiable if my knowledge was correct.
We sat on top of a cliff, a few miles away from the main castle while staying the hell away from the barriers that would alert intruders. Val and Lin were using binoculars to watch over the castle while I was using my enhanced sight combined with my ability to see through illusions and my Inquiry.
9 layers of strengthened barriers, similarly protected to the Agares Castle. They didn't use any illusion from the outside though, so if they were hiding anything fucked up, the barriers for them would be inside the castle.
" Aether-sama, couldn't you replicate the process you used with me, if the main mission is getting those girls to safety? "
" For you, I delayed the barriers' signals once it was broken, so when your brother got the signal and ran towards your cell you'd be long gone. It helped me create the illusion that you were the one who escaped by yourself.
… For this case, two little kids escaping by themselves would be highly unbelievable and the Naberius clan is a strong ally to the Great King faction. They would start investigating the culprit and if they were to employ my uncle, I'd be found out. Let's say I broke through the barriers and managed to hide my involvement though, then they would name the two of them into Strays, creating a manhunt. "
" That's… messy. What's the plan then Ace? " That was the million dollar question, and the question that was eating me alive.
" I-… I don't know. Unlike the past, the enemy is an ally of my superiors. I'm a stronger devil than the Naberius clan head, yet I'm not politically stronger. Our best option is gathering proof, but even then, I'd be questioned as to why I targeted another Clan and could be labeled a traitor- "
A soft hand landed on my shoulder in a comforting manner, and I felt the loving kiss on my cheek, taking me out of my rant.
" Aether-sama, you can come up with a solution. I'm sure of it. " I held the hand on my shoulder with my own, appreciating the emotional support greatly. I sighed to calm my nerves and helped that process with Senjutsu.
" Thank you Val… There is actually one way to handle this without getting myself too caught up in the mess. I could just let the older sister kill her King, and swoop in after that to save her from being labeled a criminal.
I don't think I'd be any better than the abuser myself if I let that happen though, the girl would go through torture more and more till she breaks, and would lose her mind once she learned her sister would be targeted next. "
Every option I could think of, was coming short one way or another for my plans to save Kuroka and Shirone. Think, Aether, think! What do you know about this mess that could give you a road to success?
…
" Girls, I have a terrible idea. We're pulling out for tonight after I try a little stunt. "
Without waiting for their replies, I used my personal teleportation spell and entered into the inter-dimensional highway.
I needed confirmation. Confirmation that the two Nekoshou sisters' fates were still the same in this timeline, for all I knew my existence would have made it so that their mother never died or something like that.
I flew through the dimension until I came across the spherical barrier layers that protected the castle, and flew all around it looking for a number with Inquiry.
Penetrating these barriers would alert them eventually, no matter how much I slowed the signal down. But I didn't need to break them for what I needed. A single object here would prove to me what I needed to know.
While the barriers did mess with my ability to read numbers somewhat, Inquiry was not a studied type of magic so it was impossible to block out completely. And this little object would be extremely easy to point out if my knowledge was correct.
… And it was there.
If I were to guess, on one of the basement floors, there was a series of numbers that made no sense all jammed into a tiny piece of metal without it being significantly enchanted.
Oh the girls were here all right…
[}-o-{]
" Where are we now, Aether-sama? "
" A place where we can gather some help for my plans, my love. Make a guess. "Both of the lovely ladies looked around to properly take their surroundings in.
We stood in a clearing, surrounded by tall trees and mountains surrounding the extremely wide forested area. Clearly somewhere supernatural, considering the trees, the red sky and the very air being misty foggy due to the raw amount of magic here.
" Wait… Is this the Familiar Forest? Aren't you supposed to contact the caretakers of this place before appearing here? " I chuckled at Lin's confusion.
" Dear, when have I ever followed the rules when there was no one around to find out? " The two ladies gave me an unimpressed look, one clearly filled with judgment.
" C'mon, the only advantage to having a guide is knowledge, and I know a lot about the wildlife here already. We're gonna be searching for potential familiars for each one of us. " They both sighed at the same time, and they started following after me.
The forest was probably the biggest one I've ever been in, and that really was saying something. Everything about this place screamed of wilderness and beauty, a perfect combination that represented nature.
" What type of familiars would you two like? We can go to designated habitats for those types of monsters. "
"" Something cute. ""
…
You know what? I should have seen that coming.
" I'll need something a little bit more than that, also we are here to gather extra strength not just housepets. "
" We can find something both cute and useful though, so why settle? " It was my turn to sigh from Val's simple logic.
" I guess I have always liked birds, and an aerial scouter would be useful especially if it wasn't particularly eye-catching. Maybe something smart like my boyfriend as well. " I thought about the choices for a bit for Lin's preferences.
A bird, not too rare to be eye-catching, and also smart… Most birds of prey were kind of dumb, no offense to them, so maybe something a little bit more omnivore. A gatherer.
" I can think of a few options, there are Screamer Parrots, Numbingbirds, BrightCanaries and some corvids on different parts. If you want offensive capability though, the only 'smart' ones are probably owls. "
" I like the sound of corvids and owls actually… Wait how are we going to bind them to our service, the ritual requires the night to be one of Full Moon? "
" I changed the ritual, don't worry about it. Those two are going to be around the eastern parts, you can look for the places where the trees get a lot denser and you could find both of them. What about you Val? "
" I've always liked bats. " Why am I not surprised again?
" Then your target is in the same area, we can go to where the trees meet the mountainsides. There should be caves around those parts with bears and bats alike… Also owls hunt bats so during this time of the night, I'm sure we could come across an active hunt and just grab the hunter and the hunted.
Let's go there first then… since… you guy- "
Something was watching us. I didn't train my sixth senses for years for no reason, I could feel a pair of eyes looking at us… from our backs.
I looked back sharply, my girlfriends following my movements to see what got me spooked, and was now in a staring contest with two purple eyes.
… An imp. A gray imp, to be more precise, was looking at me with an annoyingly happy smile on his face.
He had a short build with short legs, and pretty long arms compared to its lower side. Its build was mostly on the thin side, looking slightly skeletal, yet its forearms and forelegs were twice maybe three times as thick.
It's… His body was covered in dull gray fur and its face reminded me of a small animal with two horns sticking out from it. Other than its bulkier, more muscular build, it looked a lot like the imp from Strange Magic.
The little creature looked like it could easily be bipedal or quadrupedal, and it was hanging from a tree like a monkey using its tail, still smiling with mischief clear in his bright purple eyes.
" That's… Aether-sama, right? "
" Has to be. What is Ace doing hanging from a tree like that though? Also why is he smiling like that, you think he likes the chokers? " I felt the veins in my body throbbing from annoyance.
" … Oi. That's an imp. " The imp started laughing at my anger.
" While that only justifies our comparison further… I do have to ask, I thought imps were supposed to be red and fiery, and I thought they had wings. "
" There are both Red Imps and Grey Imps and they have evolved differently. Red ones have fire, flight and invisibility; Grey ones have teleportation and invisibility and they can completely conceal their existence since they are mostly prey. "
… Although, the amount of demonic energy this one has- "
" It's Mutated. " Lin was right. Its reserves weren't that high or anything, but imps never got this strong normally.
" Keh keh keh! " This fucker was looking at me directly…
" Wait, why would it show itself to us if it could just hide? "
" He wants something… and I'm gonna find out what it is! " I jumped at the bastard activating 100x speed, and tried grabbing it before it could react.
And that annoying smiling face of his disappeared from my vision in an instant, and appeared on the tree next to me.
He didn't react at all. He couldn't react, I saw time moving slowly and his eyes didn't even register my movement, since I was going easily Mach 80+. It was a defense system, a reflex that teleported him subconsciously in the face of danger.
" Bleeg Hhhhh! " It stuck its tongue out to me.
… Oh now it was on.
" You girls stay together, here's the updated circle and my summoning circle if things go wrong. I'm catching this asshole. "
I jumped towards the next tree, and then the next, and on and on… Ignoring my girlfriends' yells of annoyance, and chasing the bastard around the forest.
I might have been laughing with joy, but no one could prove it damn it.
[}-o-{]
" Haaah~ Why do we even bother with him sometimes? " The blonde spoke with a sore throat after trying to catch her king's attention.
" Because for some fucked up reason we love him?
At this rate he is going to unlock his sin of 'Pride' though, did you see his eyes when he failed to catch his twin? " The blonde chuckled at the nickname.
" That might've been his happiness from finding a kindred spirit… Joking aside though, I knew our master was fast, had zero clue that he was 'I couldn't follow him with enhanced senses' fast though. How much does he hold back in our spars? "
" Technically, none. He's just not abusing his time powers to their highest degree. That's all, the actual fight makes him grow faster instead of just beating us over and over again. "
" How fast do you think he is? "
" After his father and some of the strongest mutated knights, Ace is probably the fastest devil alive. He uses Touki's accelerating effect with his inherent magic to create an exponential growth system similar to the Boosted Gear, so he might pass his father sometime soon as well. If Lord Agares uses 10.000x the speed, all our king has to do is match 1/10th of his acceleration rate and activate Touki for a 10x boost as well. "
" You just said something really scary there, considering his baseline is faster than mine and equal to yours. And you have a knight piece boost… "
" You get used to it. He trains harder than both of us combined and is trying to find ways to increase that further, we just have to try our best and not compare ourselves to a future god. Now then, my sexy vampire girlfriend, would you like to go on a Familiar Hunting date with me? Maybe cuck our boyfriend along the way? "
" You're still pissed off about his punishment, aren't you? "
" He's making me watch you two cuddle for our study sessions the next decade Valerie, A DECADE! AND I'M FORBIDDEN FROM COMPLAINING ABOUT IT! "
The blonde vampire tried her best to console the silver haired Exorcist with cuddles while they moved further east to find their new pets.
" I would love to go on a date with you my love. Let's make that man regret his decision to choose an imp over his two hot girlfriends. " She unzipped the top part of her stealth cat suit to show more cleavage to her girlfriend.
Said girlfriend must've liked this idea, as she did the same as well.
They wouldn't just be finding familiars in this forest it seemed.
[}-o-{]
" Kheee? "
" No, I'm not tired. I wonder which one will last longer though, my stamina, or your magic? " I stood on a tree branch, my arms folded into each other, watching the imp do the same after me on the tree in front of me.
I've been chasing him around the entirety of the forest for the past two or three hours, and we circled the entire forest like twice now. It was clear to me that this was a challenge for me, to see if I was good enough, I just didn't know good enough in what exactly.
" Keh keh… " Its ears drooped down, actually looking kind of cute for something that resembled a goblin.
" So you are aware that you'll eventually lose. Why did you bring me here then? "
He pointed down towards a small lake, before teleporting to the edge of the water. I jumped down after him, and slowly came closer to his side, curious as to why he made us stop here.
He made a signal of peace before stopping our little chase, so he wouldn't teleport away if I got close. I still made sure to move extra slow not to spook him though.
After he made a noise resembling a melody, I gave him a questioning look. I looked back at the water after he pointed to it, and saw the bubbles appearing close to us, before a… Is that a girl? Some sort of mermaid maybe?
… Holy shit, that's a Siren. A heavily injured one, considering the fact that its barely conscious.
" Kuhhh… " Aww, he sounds sad.
He cares about the half human half fish looking girl. What a fitting combo though, the trickster of the land and the trickster of the sea.
" You want me to heal her? Why would you have the idea that I could even heal her? " The little monster folded his legs into each other and connected his palms in front of his chest.
… He was floating in the Zazen position, while making 'Ohmmm' sounds. This bastard knew I could use Senjutsu.
" Fine, I'll help you in one condition. I want you to become my familiar temporarily for me to study your unique ability. You will not be harmed in any way, and I can release you from being my familiar after the job is done. "
His teleportation was truly unique in the sense that, unlike Ajuka's teleportation circles or my Teleportation Highway; his didn't connect two separate places through a line. He simply skipped through space, cutting out the middle part completely.
It could still be blocked by a strong enough Spatial barrier, yes, but just the knowledge I could gain from researching his abilities would be invaluable. Spatial Skipping or a form of blinking was exceptionally rare to find, only reserved to some gods and some sacred gears.
If I could crack the code on that ability…
After thinking for a while, he nodded and walked over to me for me to do the ritual. Ignoring the fact that it knew how rituals worked, I casted the spell and felt him accepting the request.
The magic created a symbol on his chest, my symbol. After declining my Heir status, I decided to come up with my separate magic circle instead of the usual Agares sign. It was a sharply drawn hourglass shape with some additional demonic looking surroundings.
With that symbol flashing a silver color and disappearing afterwards, the ritual was done. He was my familiar to me now… Yey!
… God I wanna make a pokemon joke so bad.
I walked over to the siren and activated my Ki reading to see what was wrong with her body. The answer made itself clear as soon as I got the bloodstream and the liver.
Poison. The deadly kind.
…
It took me nearly half an hour to get all of the poison neutralized and then remove it from her system. Siren could not talk, however they communicated through musical notes. I knew enough musical theory, and also had a perfect pitch so understanding which emotion she was conveying was easy.
When I was done, the tiny monster reaching similar heights as my forearm jumped to hug the very young siren in happiness. I sat down and leaned against a stone to let the tiny monster say goodbye to his friend for now.
While he did that, I checked up on my girlfriends through their necklaces. Their vitals seemed mostly fine, with just slight exhaustion, probably after trying to catch their own familiars. They must have been successful since I spent at least three hours chasing the tiny monster.
Little tap sounds of footsteps came closer to me, and I looked away from my screen at the imp standing next to me. Seeing he was ready to go, I sat up from the ground.
" Jump up buddy, we are going to make fantastic use of your powers in the next month or so. You can come back and hang out with your girlfriend afterwards. "
" KHEEEE-! " I laughed at the annoyed screech.
" What? Can't handle the taste of your own medicine? " He reluctantly jumped up on my shoulder, and I was pretty sure he would be blushing if he could.
We disappeared from my teleportation circle after giving the singing girl a wave.
[}-o-{]
You see, exhaustion was generally a three in one deal with sweating and heavy breathing included. So, knowing that my girlfriends had tired themselves out, I was expecting that.
… What I didn't expect however, were the heavy smell of pheromones and… bodily juices… of various kinds.
The smell was so intense in fact, it was the first thing I could pick out after my teleportation was done. I cursed my enhanced smell so much at that moment.
The two of them were petting their new familiars innocently enough looking from the outside.
But their hastily put on clothing and their messed up hair told a completely different story. The looks of naughtiness in their eyes also told me that they weren't ashamed at all, at what they had done in the middle of a forest full of beasts and monsters.
… They were fucking proud, and they were rubbing it on my face.
" I see that you two are finished- " I wanted to just move on from this cursed knowledge.
" Oh, you better believe we finished, a few times actually. " Lin, of course, decided to speak first.
" … finding your familiars. " I felt my left eye twitching in annoyance, and ignored my familiar's evil chuckles, clearly enjoying a sort of revenge.
" So, we can go back home now- "
" I do need to clean myself after Lin decided to use me as a toi- "
" Fucking enough. One more word and I'm using that on you. " The two of them gulped from the threat.
I had a sensitivity increasing spell that was now powerful enough to become a torture tool at the slightest touch, let alone what I would do to them if they wanted to keep this play going.
" Khee~ "
" Yes, I would enjoy that. However I have a job to do, and I take it seriously unlike some certain perverts. "
" Khre, kheee? "
" I'm not lying to myself, asshole. Will you keep quiet or should I make imp-kebab out of you? " That shut him up very nicely, as the giant furry ears twitched from fear.
Finally, some silence.
" Wait… you can understand him? " The depraved ladies stared at me incredulously.
" You're telling me that you CAN'T understand him? I thought he was speaking some sort of language and my devil magic translated it? " I stared at them back, even more confused than them.
Both of them nodded.
If it wasn't devil translation magic, what could it be? And why would I be the only one that has the ability to understand an Imp-
" Don't tell me… " All of our eyes widened at the same time.
" DON'T YOU DARE SAY IT! " I tried my best to cover her mouth, but Val finished her words instead.
" You actually are such a gremlin, that you just understood him instinctively… You know Grem-glish. "
I fell to my knees at the accusation…
Familiar magic gave you a form of telepathy, not speaking proficiency, and I also understood him before he became my familiar. I had no separate magic that would help me talk with monsters, and it also didn't happen with any other monsters to be considered a unique skill.
… That literally was the only explanation I could come up with.
" Val, I kinda don't even wanna joke about it now. We are fucking an actual Imp in devil clothing, what does that say about us? "
" I agree, my love, what's the point in bullying him if he looks that… pathetic already. I guess the knowledge of your spiritual animal being an imp does this to a man…
Should we get him checked out for 'Imp-ification' in a hospital? "
I wanted to die.
The only person here consoling me was the actual imp…
What did that say about me again?
[}-o-{]
We gave our familiars a command to continuously watch over the Naberius castle from far away, and send us reports if anything unusual was happening. They would cycle through shifts of watching and each get 16 hours to themselves doing whatever.
" What do you want us to do now, Aether-sama? "
" I contacted Logan for an item request. He told me that he found what I needed, and that the owner was only accepting trades in return. Such deals are made in person, some sort of unspoken rule, so I want you to learn what she might want in return. "
" What happens if she refuses? " Hopefully it doesn't come to that.
" Tell Lady Gremory that I'd be willing to pay in debts, twice the amount of what that ring would be worth. Also tell her that I was injured heavily on a bounty hunting mission, and that's the reason I was unable to come in person.
Worst case scenario, summon me if she feels disrespected. I'm willing to pay her any material object other than Warwick. Now take this teleportation circle to the Gremory Mansion, she should be expecting us today so going a little early won't hurt at all. "
It was already morning, from me wasting FOUR hours chasing around the forest.
I had a plan, a really fucking terrible one that was the definition of high risk, high reward. And I needed two key items for this to work. Thankfully, I could create one with my enchantment and I already had the materials needed.
Other than those two, I also had my set of equipment that would help in infiltration and stealth, created by me with enough pieces to cover a ten person team.
Now, to send mister Niall Naberius a formal mail, asking to meet him for a research idea. With the payment of my Time fuckery skills for his use in his own research going forward.
A research partnership request, telling him that I was a huge fan of his work in pharmacy.
He won't have an idea as to what the hell was going on before his plans would crumble beneath his feet.
…
Just you wait Kuroka, I only need a single day more to get this plan started. I will stop your torture, and I will free both of you.
I won't fail this time.
" Also… I need one of you ladies to sacrifice an eye along with me. "
[}-Chapter End-{]