Don't Own the DXD or whatever other nonsense I eventually add in this fic, Only The Oc
'thought'
"Speech"
"Tvs, Radios, and Text via book or newspaper... when those are around..."
I let out a low groan as I sit up rubbing my forehead.
I glance to the spot beside me to see Mittelt curled up in a ball, a closed laptop clutched to her chest as she hugs it like a teddy bear.
Ah. Right. We got into a little coding tizzy last night and just kept going and going. Mittelt invited me over, then we coded and coded until we fell asleep.
Looking over her sleeping face like this, she is... pretty cute.
I'm not sure if it's my second round of puberty talking, or just... me enjoying the fact that I met someone who enjoys my pastimes.
I stand up, grabbing my own laptop and walking towards the kitchen.
I glance into the garbage can to see... a frankly unreasonable amount of instant noodle cups.
"…"
I look in the fridge, spying seemingly endless sodas and energy drinks.
The freezer has basically nothing but microwave waffles, ice cream, and other frozen toaster pastries.
'Damn, bitch. You live like this?'
I let out a quiet sigh and activate my balance breaker, the color of the world being torn away and replaced with blueprints.
A small device appears on the table and a second appears in the far distance.
With a gentle hum, a rift appears in the air... a rift leading to the inside of a fridge.
My fridge.
I let out a low hum as I open a carton of eggs, snagging four from it, then pulling my hand back.
The teleporter changes targets to one of the lower shelves within my fridge, allowing me to pull out an entire pack of thick cut bacon.
I sit it aside as I gather a pan, a bowl, whisk, flour, baking powder, milk.
Generally just a bunch of stuff to make a simple breakfast.
Normally... I'm sort of like Mittelt.
I might heat up a frozen panini, a hot pocket, or a frozen burrito, but... I want to do something nice for her. I want my only friend to be happy and healthy, and that means that I, at the very least, should offer up a great breakfast.
Cracked eggs and cheese make a fairly sizable omelette which I plan to split in half, the bacon begins frying nicely, and the pancake batter begins to turn a nice golden brown in the second pan.
I glance up to see Mittelt sit up, a dazed look on her face, she tiredly looks around the room with a weak groan.
"Hey Mittelt." I wave, causing the girl's head to snap over to look at me.
"WHAT THE HELL- oh. Right." She tiredly blinks, letting out another yawn. "Fuck you, Suzutsu."
"Fuck me?!" I frown. "What did I do?!"
"It's your fault we had to stay up all night coding. Why couldn't you have realized the critical error in the system like... two or three months ago?"
"I didn't see YOU figuring out any bugs." I scoff as I cross my arms, letting out a quiet 'hmph'. "Well, I guess I'll be forced to eat this entire breakfast I prepared all by myself now."
She sniffs the air, eyes widening as she rockets to her feet. "Let's not be hasty!"
She stumbles around the couch, eyes wide as she peers into the kitchen. "Why are you cooking?"
"Not that I don't appreciate it-" she quickly cuts in.
"Well... because frankly, I'm worried about you." I frown as I stare into her eyes. "How many cup noodles have you eaten in the past week? Your sodium levels must be crazy."
"Supernatural creatures are more durable than normal humans. I'll be fine." She waves off.
"Hn." I hum mutely as I gesture to the plates. "Well, I'm cooking because I wanted to do something nice for you. That's it."
She stares at me for a long moment, then looks down.
"Oooooh?" I hum a punchibly smug expression on my face. "Dare I say? Milly-telt... are you bluuuushing?"
"Have you finally fallen for my incredible wit and boyish charm?" I question dramatically.
"You'll be falling unconscious when I hit you with this chair if you keep that shit up." The girl growls.
I point at her and shoot her a cheesy grin. "Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?"
"YOU'RE GETTING SMACKED!" She roars as she lifts the wooden chair.
"IMSORRYTHATWASBADDON'THITME-" I scream as I 'bravely' cower.
She lets out a long calming breath releasing her anger before she can hurl the furniture at me, then she sits the chair down back in the place it was moments before.
"Racist." She scoffs. "That's like... the worst pickup line you could ever use on a fallen. you're lucky I'm so nice... also the fact that I'm a second generation and didn't actually fall from heaven. anyone else would probably try to stab you."
I flip the last pancake and put it into a plate as I begin transferring the assorted plates and silverware to the table. "So. Unrelated to my general teasing. Do you think we made any progress last night?"
"I don't know." She yawns. "We'll have to double check our work thoroughly. A twenty-four-hour coding binge fueled by nothing but energy drinks and junk food isn't something I'm willing to sell to the masses. I'm still mad at you for not thinking of this sooner... but since I didn't either, I'll let it slide."
"Yeah. How did we even miss that?" I ask as I sit across from her. "Like... Eden is a dream world, right? So reasonably sacred gears with a spirit inside should manipulate the contents of the game, right?"
"Maybe this will allow us to determine the location of the Longinus." The girl shrugs.
"That'd be useful." I agree.
We eventually finish our breakfast and after a short moment of putting our dishes in the sink, we go to our lab.
Mittelt unlocks the door with her thumb print and a five number passcode.
We pause as there's two men sitting on the other side of the door.
"Hey hey." The first greets, being a man that I've come to know quite well, the leader of the Grigori, Azazel. "If it isn't the mini Merlin himself and his utterly brilliant Co-researcher."
But the other is... unknown to me.
He has slicked back hair, red and blue in color... then he has Heterochromia, having one red eye and one blue.
He has 3D vision!
He wears a simple and regal looking suit. But there's a sort of 'air' about him that makes me cautious.
He's not a fallen, nor is he a human...
A devil?"
"Mr Azazel." I bow my head slightly. "To what do I owe the honor?"
"Oh, I was just showing my friend here around. He wanted to see this Vr game for himself so I brought him over." The blond banged fallen nonchalantly shrugs.
"Have... Have you been waiting long?" Mittelt questions. "I apologize, Suzutsu and I have been up all night working on a potential problem for the Eden System."
"Not at all." The man with red and blue hair waves off. "We had only just gotten here around five minutes ago."
"Mephisto Pheles at your service." He introduces.
"A pleasure to meet you, Sir." I bow my head slightly. "My name is Suzutsu Hyoudou and this is my co-researcher Mittelt. What do you wish to know about?"
"First," Azazel cuts in. "You said there's an issue? What is it?"
"We had a brief thought that certain sacred gears could likely seep into the system due to the mental link between most sacred gears with a trapped spirit and their wielder."
Azazel takes on a pondering look. "Oh? Yeah... I can see how that'd be a problem. But I thought you said that the games don't effect souls?"
Ah. Yeah. That was a fun week. I was afraid that soul destroying magic might have an effect in-game.
Luckily, I was wrong, but it's better to be safe than sorry.
"It doesn't. But this technically isn't related to souls. Like how some sacred gear beasts appear before their wielders in dreams, we're worried that they might be able to break out into the game and... seriously destroy the balance of it."
Azazel lets out a single huff of laughter. "So, you're worried about balance? Yeah. I can see how that'd be a problem. You wouldn't want a heavenly dragon torching the starting town on day one. I'll send Vali over in a bit. See if you can work anything out."
I turn my attention to Mephisto who had been patiently waiting for my conversation with Azazel to finish. "Azazel mentioned something to me about the magics the last time he tested this game of yours... and I wanted to see it for myself."
"He tested the game?" Mittelt and I question.
"I got bored." The twelve winged fallen shrugs. "Regardless. pretty fun experience. I give it a ten out of ten."
"Alright... ah... Mittelt, Load up showcase V1. I doubt that the more average magics of V2 wouldn't interest Mr. Pheles all that much."
"Got it." She nods as she walks over to the large egg-like device, she pops open a little panel and grabs an extension cord and inserts it into her laptop.
With a few taps a loading bar appears on the screen.
After around ten seconds, she nods and removes the cord, closing the panel.
With a push of a button on the side, the egg-like pod cracks down the middle, two halves sliding outwards and revealing a plush seat safely tucked within.
The man walks forwards and steps inside, looking to a helmet and visor sat just above him.
"To enter the virtual world, you need to put on that visor, push this button here on the side of the arm rest to close the Eden System, then push this button here, and it will begin to place you into a sleep-like state."
"I see..." The man mutters, eyes flicking around the pod. "And this is all done... without any form of magic. Fascinating."
I step back as the pod begins to close, then raise my hand to a screen which shows a black void.
It takes around sixty seconds, but eventually a figure appears in an open field.
'ah. He chose Grey...'
He walks forwards rapidly, looking around as he moves at four times speed, he seems to look at the screen that appears in front of him.
A moment later, he holds his hands up, letting out a small high-pitched squeak. "ielnc!"
A spear of ice shoots across the screen and explodes.
He cast an Ice Lance spell.
"The fast forwarding is pretty humorous." I roll my eyes as I look to Mittelt. "Can you slow it to one-fourth?"
The man on the screen instantly slows down as the blonde tweaks a setting.
I gesture to the screen. "Yeah, Azazel, this is another one of the issues we're having. The people in game move four times as fast as people outside of it. So it's pretty unwatchable if you watch it at normal speed... so we slow it, but that makes a fairly large delay. "
"People inside of an Eden should be able to watch with no delay, however." Mittelt adds in.
"Eh. That's fine. I can see this being more of a feature than a detriment. Everyone wants more time to play games."
"The time dilation does give me some ideas for alternative launch titles." I begin.
"Oh?" The man questions, looking over to me.
"School." I simply state as I raise a sole finger. "You could learn just as much as a person going to school for eight hours... in merely two."
"Oh shit." The fallen whistles.
Mittelt smirks, catching onto my idea. "And, if we were to... say for instance... create fun and unique ways to learn... they might even retain the information better. like, instead of merely sitting in a classroom to learn Italian, we could have them walk throughout a digital copy Venice. steadily learning more and more from the system as it feeds them words and information."
"We've got our hands full with Domain of Magic, though. We can give you the Vr game setup tools, and you can hand this off to another research division." I shrug.
"We do need more launch titles with the Eden." Azazel admits with a slow nod as we watch Mephisto continue to create a large castle of ice... something that was decisively not in the tutorial. "Got any other ideas?"
"You ever heard of the game Planetside?" I ask.
"Nope."
"Well, basically it's a massive multiplayer game where three factions fight over control of a planet. A team wins when all the areas are captured by them. Basically. My idea is that, however... we add research and progression to it."
"What do you mean?"
"You start by throwing sticks and stones. Then learn how to work soft metals. You tech-tree through the bronze age. Then the iron age and so on."
"I could see the appeal. What happens when a team wins? Or a team gets knocked out?" He asks.
"If someone wins? Put their top one hundred players in a hall of fame to make their fight actually mean something, then reset it all back to zero. If a team is wiped out before the end of the game, they can pick between the two remaining teams to rejoin the battle. Oh, and make it so dying gets the player locked out for a full twenty-four out of game hours. That way it'll be a lite-permadeath game." I explain.
"Any other ideas in there?"
"Single player spy game using all of the tropes of one?" I shrug. "Maybe skill-based games where everyone goes in with equal statistics like Kendo, boxing, archery, that sort of thing?"
"Those last ones aren't really that interesting, but I can see the appear of a single player story-based game." The man sighs.
"To be fair, not everything can be like our child, Domain of Magic." Mittelt announces. "I've personally wanted a Vr legend of Zelda game. if we can get the rights to it from Nentendo that's be cool."
We watch as Mephisto creates an ice anvil and drops it on a large wolf, then peppers it with spears of ice. He isn't even saying anything to cast at this point.
He seems to have enough of that and quickly goes back to the character select menu.
"So... 'Mini Merlin', Sir?" I question.
"I'll get to that in a second." The black haired man states, scratching his chin as he looks to the screen.
A bald man with an angular jaw appears on the screen next. He looks around briefly then raises a hand, causing a literal mountain of earth to rise up from the ground.
"Hm." He hums mutely, then without another word, goes back to the character select screen.
He returns shortly as a blue haired man with a red tattoo over his eye.
He seems to read over his capabilities briefly then lets out a low hum, raising an arm skywards, index finger extended.
He swings his hand downwards, as he calls out his spell. "Starfall!"
A beam of light streaks down from the sky and utterly vaporizes a wolf.
"You said that you changed the characters for the showcase build?" Azazel asks.
"Mittelt said it would probably be better to show average characters... as Jellal there is pretty strong. Normal people would probably be overwhelmed if they gained access to his skills from the get-go. That's why we replaced him and Jura with moderately weaker wizards."
"Fair." The man shrugs. "Why show all it can do from the get go? It'll be more fun to let the people discover that as the game goes on."
Mittelt nods mutely as we watch Mephisto rise from the ground under the effects of a 'meteor spell'.
"One sec, Mittelt, can I see your laptop for a second?"
"Sure." She shrugs.
I quickly type out a message, with some instructions, then hit send.
We return to watching the devil test out Jellal's skills, eventually working through all the tutorial had explained... then he starts experimenting.
His first test would be a variant of the 'starfall' spell, yet instead of coming from the sky, the beam of light shoots from his hand, creating a small explosion in the distance.
After that he begins darting around the plains sending darts of golden magic off behind him like missiles as he swoops past the foes down below, a path of destruction is left in his path.
He seems to pause as a screen appears in front of him.
He cocks his head to the side, eyes skimming the text box.
He holds out a hand, a large magic circle appearing just in front of him.
"ABYSS BREAK!" He calls out.
A black sphere as dark as the empty night sky sprouts from the magic circle. It spirals through the air as it shoots towards the ground.
It makes contact, then it... grows... and grows... and grows.
After around thirty seconds, an encompassing darkness grows to fill an entire thirty foot globe.
After around ten more seconds, it fades... revealing a perfectly circular hole carved into the ground.
"…" Azazel sharply inhales, then exhales. "What the fuck?"
Mephisto holds out a hand, the large magic circle of abyss break reappearing in front of his fist.
With a wave of his hand, the magic circle splits into four smaller copies, then with the use of the meteor spell he flies around the plain once more, shooting smaller black spheres where ever he goes, leaving a massive crater-filled path of destruction in his wake.
The pod slowly cracks open as the man steps out.
It appears he is finished with his testing... but, we still haven't caught up with him yet.
He steps out of the VR pod and looks over to the screen, letting out a low hum as he watches the game version of himself conjure an even larger magic circle, that creates an Abyss break that blows all of the others out of the water.
He watches as the absolutely titanic black hole slowly creep outwards, further and further, then he flies into it.
After around twenty seconds he is sent back to the character select screen.
"Hm." He lets out a low hum, cupping his chin before looking to me. "You. Would you like to join my peerage?"
I recoil at the question. "Pardon?"
"Oi. Mephy. Don't try and poach my researchers." Azazel frowns. "Especially not these two."
"Come now, Azazel. Let the boy answer on his own." The devil sighs with a slightly greedy glint in his eye.
"I'd... rather not? Because becoming a devil implies that I'd be forced to leave the only person who understands me behind?" I gesture to Mittelt.
"I have enough pieces to reincarnate you both." The devil shrugs.
I freeze as an ominous pressure fills the room, Azazel gives the man a hard stare. "No."
Mephisto Pheles raises his hands in surrender. "Alright. I get the hint. Go put great war zazel back in the closet. I won't try anymore... but, to answer your original question, Azazel... yes. It is possible."
"I... feel like I'm missing something." I begin quietly.
The red and blue haired man lifts a hand, conjuring a magic circle. "Well, my boy. The reason as to why Azazel has called you 'Mini Merlin' is because you... have created an entire magic system that is both mechanically sound... and possible to replicate in the real world."
The magic circle changes to that of the abyss break, but the devil quickly shuts his fist around it to snuff it out.
"Oh... oh shit." I whisper, Mittelt being frozen in shock just like I am.
I sit on one side of the couch as Mittelt sits on the other. "So. The Gamescon showcase begins in about six hours... what now?" I ask.
"Want to watch some horror movies?" The girl questions with a bright smile.
She seems relieved that our work is- for the most part- done.
All we need to do is make a few tweaks here and there for the beta release, then change those tweaks for the full game.
"Horror movies?" I echo. "I didn't really know you were much of a horror movie fan."
"Eh. I'm really not, but it sounds fun! I want to hear you scream like a little girl!" The fallen savagely grins.
She lifts a remote to the Tv and seemingly plays what is already in the dvd player.
"…" After around two minutes I slowly turn, giving her the most unimpressed gaze I can muster. "Seriously?"
"What?" She asks.
"Michael Myers." I deadpan.
"Y-Yeah?" She asks.
"Is This scary to you?" I question.
"It's a classic!" She shoots back.
"Mittelt. It's about a human who slowly walks towards you menacingly with a butcher's knife."
"H-He can teleport too!" She exclaims.
I give her a look that sits nicely between disappointment, a little disgust, and genuinely befuddled. "Mittelt. You can blow up entire blocks of a city with a single light spear. Why are you afraid of 'steadily approaching man'?!"
"Sh-Shut up!" She growls.
"Do I have to worry about freaking you out if I ever walk towards you one day?! Do you have a fear of walking?!"
"No..."
"God forbid- no... M-Mittelt. Did you hear? I-In sixteen twelve, Thomas Running invented running by trying to WALK twice as the s-same time! THE HORROR!"
"I'm going to hit you." The blonde threatens.
"You won't."
She leans over, weakly slapping me on the arm. Not even enough to hurt or even STING me at all.
"Bitch." She casually insults.
"I'm not the one scared of menacingly walking man." I shrug.
"YOU KNOW WHAT?!" The girl exclaims as she stands up, marching towards the Tv where she grabs another DVD and replaces the one that is currently being played. "Fuck you! We're going to watch a movie that was CRAFTED by the Grigori... and I'm not talking about no bitch boy shitty human horror movie... we are going to watch a movie painstaking designed... at each and every waking moment... a movie that was ENCHANTED to inflict as much physical terror as possible to the watcher... and you are going to watch every. Single. Second of it."
Mittelt and I quiver on the couch, her body pressed against my own as I hug her close for comfort. Her face buried in my chest. Sheets and pillows surround us on all sides like a large cocoon, the blankets lightly shaking from our shivering forms.
My eyes paranoidly dart around the room as she rarely peeks out of the comfort of our little blanket fort.
Yeaaaah... we didn't even get through ten minutes.
Five minutes of ominous buildup... jump scare. Title card and we got the fuck out of there.
Mittelt looks up at me. "Y-You pussy! Y-you couldn't even hold o-out until the end of the t-title screen?"
"You... are the o-one who practically dove into my arms the second anything even m-mildly scary happened."
"I-I thought you would be scared!" The girl exclaims. "And, as your friend, I felt the need to try and comfort the scared whiny baby that you are!"
"Oh yeah?" I ask. "W-Well... why don't I go back home for a bit?"
"DON'T!" The girl screams.
She lets out a quiet cough and embarrassedly looks away. "I-I mean... the showcase is going to begin in just five hours. That is so uh... soon. It would surely be a waste of time to walk all the way to your room and all the way back... just stay here. With me."
I was bluffing.
I was ABSOLUTELY bluffing.
But luckily she didn't call it.
"Fine." I sigh as I stop 'trying' to stand up.
"S-So." I begin quietly. "Do you want to watch something else? Preferably not scary as you clearly can't handle it."
"S-SHUT UP! I know that YOU can't handle it! I'll turn on the movie!"
She's totally bluffing.
"You won't." I state, narrowing my eyes down at the girl.
The TV turns on.
"Big brother..." *SCREEEIIIK*
""AHHHHHHH!"" we both scream.
Well, Suzutsu figured out the biggest part of his Vr system, the ability to invent magics in game... and re-discover them outside of it... remember what the god who reincarnated him here said... The human mind is a powerful thing... and Suzutsu just became the Merlin of an entirely new magic system.
I wonder if his sacred gear will be able to do anything fun in the near future?