Chapter 2: Deranged
With his new limited form of the Essence of the Archmage, he was now even more confident in getting all he wanted from the crazy woman's mind than before.
Kneeling next to the woman, Aurum patted her down, finding and confiscating her main wand, a spare, and a small dagger. If his hands lingered in certain areas a little too long? Who was there to call him out on it?
Aurum gestured towards Bellatrix, an intricate golden seal forming on her forehead before his consciousness was pulled into the woman's own.
For such a low-level supernatural being that she was, it took him only minutes to categorize everything of interest into his perfect memory.
As he figured, the two seemed to be from another weird crossover universe. This time, it was a much simpler mix of Harry Potter and High School DxD. The wizards and witches didn't have much of an effect on the greater supernatural community, preferring to keep to themselves.
With that done, he was ready to leave the cave and find out if the outside world was another fictional one he knew. But first he put away his wings before using the transfiguration knowledge he'd stolen to conjure up a simple black shirt and trousers, along with a band to tie his long hair back.
Not wanting to deal with Bellatrix's particular brand of madness at the moment, Aurum flicked an overcharged stunning charm at the unconscious woman with the wand he'd looted. He'd save that conversation for after figuring out what type of world they'd stumbled into. Looking at Fem Harry, he decided to send a stunner her way too.
Still, he was excited to explore. He'd put the crazy death world he came from on the back burner for now. He needed to get a grasp on his Essence of Creation. After all, he still didn't know how the mysterious ability judged how much essence to award.
The cavern the two ended up in had no exit in sight, the only hint of an outside world being the small cracks allowing air to enter the room.
Even if it was just the Fem Harry, Aurum was sure the girl would figure a way out. With his mastery over the mystical arts gained from the memories of Bellatrix and his lesser Archmage essence, the stone walls parted like a field of grass as he strolled along, the bodies of Bellatrix and Fem Harry dutifully levitating at his side.
Finally breaking through to the surface, the dark pathway he created was bathed in light as the harsh winter winds battered the trio. If it weren't for the warming charms he'd placed on the two witches early on their journey, they'd likely have already died from exposure.
Aurum overlooked a densely forested valley with the mountain he'd just carved his way out of on one side and one nearly twice the height on the other. But the annoying part was over now. With his line of sight no longer interrupted by the cave walls, he could simply Apparate his way around.
Not wanting to wander around randomly and wanting to figure out his current location, he cast a human-revealing charm with enough juice to cover the valley.
It seemed he was lucky enough not to have spawned in a completely uninhabited wilderness. With a pop, Aurum and his captives disappeared from the mountain peak, reappearing in the snow-covered forest.
It only took three more uses of line-of-sight Apparition before he found the nearest signal his charm had picked up: two scraggly men covered head to toe in animal pelts. From the bows slung across their backs, Aurum assumed they were out hunting.
Leaving Bellatrix and Fem Harry propped up against a tree, he made his way toward the two men. He wasn't trying to be discreet, and after a few steps in their direction, the hunters turned to him, drawing their stone weapons after finding a stranger so close.
After their surprise seemed to wear off and exchanging a few words, Aurum noticed the two start to eye him up like a particularly succulent piece of meat.
His enhanced senses easily picked up their conversation, and the ability to speak and understand all languages that came along with being an angel came in handy. Apparently, Aurum's man meat was on their menu for tonight.
"Savage cannibals," Aurum scoffed, about to incapacitate the two with a spell before one of his soul-bound companions grabbed his attention.
"Oh, you wanna play, Noir? Sure, come out and have your fun."
Aurora seemed satisfied to simply watch her surroundings from inside his soul so he only summoned one of the little trouble makers.
The two locals obviously didn't know what Aurum was murmuring to himself about, but the small wolf walking out from behind a tree and growling as menacing as the little cutie could manage did get their attention.
He could see the greed in the two's eyes, and after hearing the men's whispers, he knew why. The fuckers thought the pitch-black wolf pup would fetch a good price.
"Did you hear that, baby girl? These bad men want to separate us," Aurum sneered. "Why don't you show them why that's a bad idea."
His words seemed to provoke the little wolf, and with a blur, Noir appeared behind one of the men, now covered snout to tail in blood and gore, a suspiciously Noir-shaped hole in the hunter's torso.
"Girl, I was hoping to catch them alive," Aurum deadpanned at the wolf sending him a questioning head tilt, trying to appear as innocent and cute as possible in her current state.
"Try to bring his friend in one piece this time," he scolded the pup, pointing toward the remaining hunter fleeing in terror.
Noir seemed to grumble at that but still sped over to the man who hadn't gotten very far. The man desperately clawed at the ground as the supernaturally strong puppy dragged him over, her jaw locked around his leg before Aurum hit the savage with a Full Body-Bind Curse, ready to get some information about the world he'd found himself in.
A New God's Conquest
Aurum sat on a rock next to the campfire he'd started, leisurely stroking his two wolves' soft fur. Thankfully, they could dismiss their menacing blades at will, so he didn't need to worry about getting sliced up during cuddle time.
He'd gotten all the information he needed from the hunter to start working on his future plans. Unfortunately for the hunter, the man's brain didn't have an enjoyable time when Aurum's Legilimency tore through his life's memories. He ended up brain-dead, but his usefulness had run out anyway.
The local didn't know much about the greater world but it was still enough for him to figure out what world he was in.
He was either in 'A Song of Ice and Fire' or 'Game of Thrones,' More specifically, he was in Skagos, a land just the slightest bit more civilized than Beyond the Wall. He couldn't get the exact year from the peasant since news of the Seven Kingdoms rarely reached the island, but at the very least the hunter knew that the Targaryens had already lost the throne.
Unless the gods of this world were real, something Aurum highly doubted, conquering this measly world would be child's play. Aurum figured that, at most, what the locals referred to as gods were nothing more than magic taking a sentient form. And even then, they didn't seem to be able to directly interfere with the world.
Aurum planned to eventually conquer this world, but for the moment, his goals were simple: figure out his Essence of Creation and gain further power using his Archmage Essence to expand his magical repertoire.
And he would definitely need that power for when he ended up returning to this body's original world. Sure, he could simply avoid the dangerous world, but that wasn't his style. There was too much to be gained for him to hide away like a rat. Still, if everything went according to keikaku, his power would grow more than enough to face the future threats.
With the weird crossover he'd found himself in, there were more than enough options to choose from to increase his strength.
For example, Bellatrix had knowledge of Touki and Senjutsu from The Dark Lord. Fortunately for the wizarding world, by the time he learned of those powers, the damage done to his soul by the Horcruxes prevented him from mastering the skills. Honestly, wizarding magic was a considerably weaker form of devil magic that would likely harmlessly bounce off his body. If it weren't for his Archmage Essence allowing him to expand on magical systems, he wouldn't bother with it beyond its utility.
But Touki and Senjutsu were just the beginning of his plans. There were plenty of powers from various other universes with similar origins that he hoped to learn.
Haki from One Piece must involve some sort of spiritual or physical energies similar to Touki. So, could he learn it?
Senjutsu practitioners wielded chakra. Could he expand on the limited uses that the DXD universe showed to create jutsu on the levels shown in Naruto?
For now, these were just theories that he'd need to experiment with.
On top of all his plans for power and conquest, Aurum wouldn't neglect what he considered to be of utmost importance: enjoying this second chance at life to the fullest.
He wouldn't put his plans of becoming the strongest aside, but what would be the point of all of that without having his fun?
And speaking of fun… Aurum looked toward the unconscious, crazy woman he'd nearly forgotten about.
A New God's Conquest
She woke up with a groan.
What the hell happened?
Her foggy memories slowly came back.
She'd just been reveling in the glee that came from sending her blood traitor of a cousin to his death.
Then… Potter! The Potter brat ruined everything. How could she serve her lord when she was dead? Wait, was she dead? She did tumble through the Veil of Death, right?
Before Bellatrix could figure out for herself if she were dead or alive, the sound of someone clearing their throat knocked her out of those thoughts.
This also made her realize that based on her surroundings it was unlikely she was dead.
Her combat instincts, honed over the years, brought her back to her senses, her hand going for her wand before turning to the stranger.
Even when prepared to fight to the death, she froze for a moment at the sight of the man's appearance. She could honestly say that she'd never seen a more attractive man. But those thoughts were immediately consumed by rage after noticing the man holding her wand.
"Oh, finally noticed, huh?" his mocking tone only deepened the scowl on her face.
"Bastard, hand over my wand if you don't want to die the most painful death imaginable!" she threatened, only getting a laugh from the man holding her at wand point.
"Those are some strong words for someone without the ability to fight back," he continued to mock her. "But enough of the word games, how about we make a deal?"
"What kind of deal," she bit back, not having much of a choice but going along with his demands.
"I think a simple duel will suffice, but if you lose, your life will be mine," he said, making her pause. Was he a dullard? There were only two men she would admit defeat to when it came to battle. Was he really going to give up his advantage?
"Fine, it's not like I have much of a choice," she agreed, a nasty smile finding its way onto her face, ready to put this foreigner in his place.
Bellatrix didn't fully believe the man was going to fight her in a fair fight until he casually tossed her precious wand in her direction.
That didn't mean she was going to play fair, though. Feeling the familiar connection in hand, she directed all of her fury and indignation toward the man who hadn't gotten his own wand out yet.
Bellatrix's manic grin at having the opportunity to unleash a torrent of varied curses quickly turned to confusion as the man she was growing increasingly frustrated with casually batted her spells away with his bare hands.
"Why… won't… you… just… die!" She roared in between each wave of her wand, each curse becoming darker and crueler as her frustration grew.
"Avadakadavrr!" She finally cried out, now panting and heaving on her knees from exhaust.
Her last curse at least got a reaction more than a casual wave of a hand, but it was all still in vain as the sickly green ray harmlessly bounced off a shimmering barrier.
"Well, that was something. But I think it should be my turn now, don't you?" The detestable man asked, and she could only let out a snarl in response.
"Crucio," Aurum pointed the mad woman's spare wand at its owner, watching the red beam turn her into a convulsive mess, writhing on the ground. Even though it hadn't happened in this timeline, this one's for you, Dobby.
After a few minutes of uncaringly torturing the woman, he cut off the curse, satisfied that a beloved character had been avenged.
Crossing the gap to Bellatrix's downed form, he had to give it to her: she had grit, able to get to her knees by the time he stood in front of her even after being under the Unforgivable for so long.