Don't Own DxD or anything else, Only The Oc
'thought'
"Speech"
System Text
"Tvs, Radios, and Text via book or newspaper... when those are around..."

"So. Latia." I begin small talk as I sharpen another blade. Her eyes flicker across my form as I do so, seemingly lost in thought.

"Hm?" She hums.

"Have you heard of what Mundane humans are using now on earth? Cannons I think they call it?"

"Hm? Oh. Yes. Fairly interesting if I do say so myself... why?" She questions.

"Those weapons... could likely be used to kill devils if they hit." I observe. "What do you think would happen if we improved them?"

"These weapons were created purely through mundane means... what happens if we were to add magic?" I idly question.

The woman blinks slowly.

"There are so few magical ranged weapons... bows, slings, or crossbows" I admit quietly as I look over the straightened and sharpened blade. "So few weapons that are weaved throughout some form of myth or legend... some of the only ones I can find being the ones from the Hindu pantheon. Then of course, typically the weapons of gods."

"But bows and arrows are made of one thing. Wood. And wood is far less capable of withstanding the test of time. It lacks the strength and certainty of metal."

I point forwards slowly, a smirk on my face. "But. Even without magic. A weapon that can kill Low class... would eventually become a weapon that can kill medium class... then, through more promotion, a weapon to kill High class. With my power. I can theoretically make a spoon that can kill deities. So what happens when I take one of the most efficient weapons Humanity has ever created... and improve upon it? What then?"

"I have plans for what to do, yes, but you are smart. Incredibly intellectually advanced. I would like your assistance in creating a weapon of this sort."

She stares for a moment more.

"You have my attention..."

"Great!" I smile brightly as I toss aside the sword I had just finished sharpening. It clatters onto a nearby table as i stand up. "I'll put a hilt on that sword later. Right now. I have an idea that should revolutionize human weaponry and bring it up to our standards. Besides. We can cheat with magic. It should be no issue for us."

I grab a piece of paper and a quill, dipping the tip gently in some ink and flicking off the excess.

"The human's cannon has general idea behind it. Making an explosion inside of a contained place to propel a large iron ball forwards at tremendous speeds." I begin as I draw an extremely basic rectangle with one end open.

"There are issues with this, however. Firstly, size. They are far too big for casual transport- for humans, at least." I begin as Latia looks over my shoulder. "Now, I have heard that humans have actually gotten around this, and have made portable 'hand cannons', but that issue still remains. They are unwieldy."

"Next. Inaccuracy." I list. "A perfectly spherical ball is fairly inaccurate at long distances. Which, is why we should carefully shape the projectiles fired from these weapons into sort of a cone shape... like this."

I draw a bullet shape.

"That wouldn't work. They would begin tumbling as soon as they leave the barrel." Latia observes.

"Aha. You'd think that. However. What if I put a bunch of little spiraling grooves in the barrel to cause the bullet to spin as it is pushed out? A spinning projectile is far more stable than one that isn't.

"That could... work, actually." The woman notes. "I doubt humans have the capabilities to carve said indentations, however."

"Which is why this technology is still primitive." I agree.

"Next." I begin. "Comes the issue of fire rate. Reloading one of these weapons is a long and tedious practice. First, after firing, a man comes and cleans the debris from the barrel with a large, spiraled piece of metal on the tip of a pole. Next, a man shoves a wet sponge into the barrel to put out any residual embers deep in the barrel. After that, a dry sponge is used to dry the barrel."

"Then, and only then, do they insert gunpowder, patting it down, then, they get a sheet of some form of paper, tap that down, then they add the iron ball. It's an extremely tedious practice that I feel as if we can make far faster. First things first. Instead of just simple gunpowder, what if we inserted the entire bullet at once? We could specially craft the ammunition beforehand, keeping it safely contained in some form of soft metal casing to prevent water damage, then, if we develop a way to store multiple shells at once inside of it, we could fire it repeatedly."

The woman taps her chin as i draw an extremely rough design for a revolver. "This is my idea. Miniaturized hand cannon, meant to be wielded in one hand, rotating cylinder with six loaded shots inside that can swing outwards for easier reloading. This is without any form of enhancement at all, by the way. We are free to do whatever we want. With it"

"This is..." The blonde woman cups her chin a quiet whisper leaves her lips. "Genius."

I quietly polish an honest to god- ow- revolver, looking over it with a pleased smirk on my face.

Latia is a fucking genius. She took one look at human-made black powder, then made what is basically magical smokeless powder that shouldn't appear in the world for another good four hundred years or so.

I look at the six bullets that I have crafted for it.

All of this took a week, however I'd like to say that the week of experimenting and careful blacksmithing has been absolutely worth it. Even if the last day had been engraving it.

"I still do not see a need to engrave it like that, Gaius. It seems like a waste of time."

"Hn. I disagree." I reply evenly. "Engraving it like this... is..."

I rotate my hand, looking for the right word.

"It is showmanship. It's all about appearance. And, frankly, appearance is important. Devils as a whole would be less afraid of the Excalibur had it been merely a rusty hatchet. Sure, it'd be incredibly powerful. but it would be the butt of numerous jokes. 'look at the church's best weapon. How unrefined. I guess that's the best filthy fey can accomplish.' 'oh no. Not the hatchet of doom!' It would become a laughingstock. Hell, it already has due to the fact that it was shattered in battle. It has lost most of its prestige. Excalibur is now nothing more than a bunch of fragmented sham weapons that are barely even a twentieth as powerful as the original blade despite the fact there were only seven fragments."

"Regardless. I wanted its name to fit it better." I continue, gazing to the blue flower sat just above the trigger, long indents that look like little thorny vines seem to creep along the remainder of the naked metal. "Plus, engraving it like this allowed me to pour more of my energy into it. Hardening the barrel slightly as I continued."

"Of course, I won't be engraving the guns I'll be forced to make to fuse into this one, but this is the first. It should be special." I smile brightly as I hold up the gun by the barrel, offering her the handle. "I present to you, Blue Rose. Hopefully the first in a long line of 'Rose' weapons."

The bullets themselves were a bit annoying to figure out, as we didn't really have 'percussion caps' and all, but, Latia and I figured something out with an incomplete runic circle, with said circle being completed by the hammer as it slams down, activating a targeted magic spell at the very tip of the hammer which goes through the base of the enhanced brass bullet casings and ignites the powder within.

"Shall we go see if it works?" I question. "Perhaps show it to Serafall? She has zero idea what we have been doing this past week, after all."

"I have retrieved the items needed for testing." Latia informs as she takes all six bullets from the table. "High quality metal armor. Something a general might wear."

"Well, let's go see what our creation is capable of, then." I begin as the woman turns and leaves the room. I follow after her.

We weave through the camp, eventually coming to Serafall's tent.

Latia blandly steps inside. "Serafall. There is something that we need to test and we wanted you to observe as well."

I peek into the tent, seeing the black haired woman look up, she looks a little tired.

"Sure, sure. It's not like I was doing anything." The woman yawns, slowly rising from the map she was looking over. "What is it?"

Latia turns and walks away without so much as another word causing Serafall to sigh. "I swear... your lack of social skills would get you eaten alive in a political setting if we weren't at war right now."

I follow after Latia, Serafall just behind me.

We walk out of the camp, coming to the outskirts.

Latia holds out a hand, and with a flash, a barrel with a suit of armor sits just in front of a tree.

She slowly loads the six bullets into the gun, the faintest of smiles appearing on her face.

"You may want to create some sort of noise suppressing ward. That is going to be loud." I point out. "Like, to a deafening extent."

"Ah. Right. I knew I was overlooking something insignificant."

With a wave of her hand a magical aura seems to descend upon the weapon. She holds it up, carefully aiming.

*Pop*

There's a fairly loud pop from it as it kicks back, as if someone had clapped their hands next to my ears, then there's a loud. 'CRANNNNG'

The barrel in the distance detonates, water spraying out in all directions as Latia lets out a low hum.

The tree it was propped up against lets out a crunch and begins to slowly fall.

"Fufufufu." The blonde woman lowly chuckles as she looks into the distance, the plate armor had leapt slightly and is now laying on its side in the dirt.

Latia holds out a hand, the armor picking itself up then rushing towards us.

It stops in her grasp as she looks over it. "You... have outdone yourself, Gaius."

In the very center of the chest is a hole about the size of a fist. It punches through both the front and the back, and from the looks of it continued on beyond that tree.

"What... what is that?" Serafall whispers.

"Our newest creation." Latia admits. "Blue Rose."

"Gaius had the core idea for it, but I assisted quite a bit in its creation, such as the propulsion powder and the runic circuit to activate it." Latia hums. "It went through this armor as if it were made of paper, creating a hole large enough to pass an entire apple through. This... might not be comparable to the armor worn by commanders, yet it was still magical armor. Even with how basic it was."

"It you manage to strike an unprotected location, like a neck or eye, you'll likely be able to kill even one of the descendants of the four satans. Not to mention it will drastically improve. Just keep it unbroken and a new weapon of legend is likely to have been born today." I grin savagely.
Serafall just looks shell-shocked at what we have accomplished.

I turn to Latia. "Oh, and I suppose we should cover this now, what do you think would be a beneficial effect for this weapon?"

"Speed." She admits after a moment of consideration. "The stopping power is decent. The spiral made it accurate, and it seems to have held up well. There's some slight straining on the metal here and there, but it appears that your energy is fixing it as we speak... fixing and improving, that is. With more speed, the projectile becomes stronger and harder to dodge. This will become quite the potent weapon in time."

"The power should reasonably increase if we increase the length of the barrel somewhat." I mutter quietly. "That gives me an idea for a much longer range weapon. It'll fire slower, but it should also be able to launch a larger projectile."

"Can you handle this on your own?" The blonde woman questions. "I believe that I should return to the front lines."

"Yeah. I should be able to." I nod slowly. "it'll have a lot fewer moving parts than the revolving cylinder on the Blue Rose. I take it that you are going to be bringing it with you into battle to gain experience?"

"I am." She nods once. "First I should probably create a surplus of ammunition, however."

"I wonder if I could delegate that task to others?" The woman mutters. "Certainly not you. You will be making other things. But I believe other blacksmiths should be capable."

"The issue with that is that by having someone else do it, your bullets could very easily be sabotaged. They could be laced with some sort of tracking spell, or it could be marked with explosive runes to damage the Blue Rose. Plus, if we tell people how it functions, it's likely the old satan faction might figure out their own version."

"That... is mildly worrying." Latia agrees.

"What even IS this?!" Serafall questions.

"A human invention that has been advanced a good five hundred years then has had enchantments cast upon it." I answer. "If you ever want something that is really good at killing your own kind, look no further than humanity. They've spent thousands of years perfecting the artform... and they will continue to do so."

Latia bows her head slightly. "I will return soon, Gaius. Thank you for your assistance."

"I couldn't have done it without you, Latia." I reply.

With that, she turns and walks away.

"I am... sorry about her." Serafall begins. "She has both extremely high standards and is quite inept at talking to people as she views most devils as being 'less intelligent' than she is. But... she actually spoke quite well towards you. Huh... maybe she sees you as a creative equal?"

"I mean, I'm sort of cheating with my absolutely bullshit clan trait, but she is quite fun to be around. Awkward and a bit haughty at times, but someone who helps me push something further and further." I admit.

I stretch my arms above my head, as I turn away from the black haired woman. "I need to go make another revolver now... so I'll have something to fuse with Blue Rose when Latia inevitably shows back up when it has enough experience to promote. See you around, Serafall. Be safe."

I run the edge of a sword across a fine whetstone, the faintest of smiles on my face.

After that chaotic start, I'd say that my life has been quite good.

It's been about a month since I have reincarnated.

I feel as if I have finally gotten into the groove of things.

I can feel my skills improving,

What was once 'subpar' is now inching closer and closer to 'average'.

And that's good!

The higher quality of the base product, the further it can go in a shorter time!

But to be fair, I don't think ANY weapons I have made will ever have a cap at where they stop being effective. They will continue to upgrade and evolve, eventually surpassing Gram and Caliburn as the strongest magic swords as long as I continue to tend to them.

After around ten more seconds of honing the edge, I overlook the blade, a smile on my face as I tilt it forwards and back.

"Decent balance." I give the sword a single swing, letting out a hum of appreciation. "Light. But also oh so sturdy and sharp."

I offer the blade a slow nod. It now has my approval, thus, onto the weapon rack it goes.

I rise from my seat, stretching my legs as I walk across the forge tent, the sword finds itself carefully nestled alongside about fifty others arranged oldest to newest.

I even wrote that down on the weapon racks themselves.

According to Serafall, the oldest set of sixteen have now surpassed what they give to regular soldiers, thus someone should be coming by sometime today to hand them out.

Most will probably be broken, but those that survive will steadily become our secret weapon.

A week ago, Serafall actually had a fairly interesting idea as well.

The Agares clan.

Their clan trait is an affinity for time magic.

They can speed up or slow down time in a certain area.

Reasonably. This begs the question, if an item of mine is trapped within an area that has time progressing faster... what then? Do they grow stronger at an accelerated rate?

If so, I need to meet with the Agares clan as soon as physically possible.

I pause as I can feel something... wrong...

Well, wrong might be the wrong word. Different is probably a better word for this feeling.

It's almost a sixth sense. The way the surroundings sound. They way any and all noises reach the edges of the tent and ripple back. The way the air flows.

Its something I have gotten used to during the month here.

That's why I can tell that something has changed.

I glance over my shoulder towards the exit flap of the tent, the quiet noises of the outside now no longer muffled.

I pause at what I see.

Flashes of memories coming to the forefront of my mind.

Standing there is a blonde girl, with her hair tied up in pigtails, she has a vibrant and frankly an extremely expensive looking pink dress. Her eyes a bright blue, there's a hint of joy deep in her features.

I... remember her.

Or, rather, this body does.

"Gaius!" She beams.

"Ravel!" I reply with a bright smile.

A small part of myself notes that it appears that Ravel has replaced whoever her ancestor originally was.

Ravel Phenex. My Fiancee. Apparently.

She skips forwards, wrapping her arms around my shoulder. "I-I... You didn't send me any letters! I-I thought I lost you!"

Tears prickle at her eyes, and even I, despite not actually living through any of our previous interactions, feel emotion welling to the surface.

I- as in this body-... truly loved her.

As for my Isekai self? Is this the feeling of love at first sight?

"I'm... sorry." I whisper, my arms coming to wrap around her gently as I look downwards. "I have just been... busy."

"I... I understand." Ravel whispers, her Gaze straying to the numerous swords that are sat to the side. "I... I had heard what had happened to your lands, and, well... after not getting any word back I got worried... but eventually I did hear about you working with the reserve army and I wanted to see you."

"Oh, and... well, the Phenex Family also joined the Anti-Satan faction as well after hearing what had happened." She continues. "Why did they do that? Why?!"

"They stopped caring about winning." I announce mutely. "Now, all they care about is causing as much chaos and death as possible. They do not care if the devil race dies, thus, they need to be stopped."

"I am glad that you are here, Ravel. And I apologize that I didn't send a letter sooner." I mutter.

I take her hands gently and walk her over to the nearby table, she takes a seat as I quickly walk around the side and sit across from her. A small look of concern rests on her face.

"Gaius." She whispers, her hand finding its way up to my cheek. "Are... Are you alright?"

"I'm as fine as I can be in this situation, I suppose." I sigh, my hand cupping her own as I give her a small smile. "I... I don't really like to think of what has happened. I like to push it aside. I keep myself busy to avoid coming to terms with what happened as when I do... I'll likely be... broken. At least for a while. And I can't afford to take that time currently. Everyone relies on me."

"Gaius." She whispers, standing up and leaning over the table, taking both of my hands into her own. "You aren't the only blacksmith in the underworld. The entire war effort isn't resting solely on your shoulders."

I glance around and with a wave of my hand, silence descends on the tent, I stare into the girl's beautiful blue eyes. "Ravel... it sort of is."

"What?" The girl whispers.

"I am sorry that I never told you, but my Malthus clan trait has mutated beyond the scope of what my father's did... it's a secret that my father never wanted to get out until I was able to protect myself... but."

I quietly swallow the spit in my mouth. "I've already told some people. They've all agreed that this is a secret that should not get out. But... you deserve to know, Ravel. weapons I make grow in strength extraordinarily quickly, and this growth never stops. Merely slowing down with time but never stopping."

"Oh..." She whispers after a moment. "I-I see."

She looks over me slowly, a pitying look on her face. "You. You think that just because of this trait, you have to be the sole person to supply entire armies."

Her eyebrow twitches slightly as she seems to become annoyed. "You... You are so pigheaded and foolish sometimes! What happens if you burn yourself out hm?! You could get sick! You might have good smithing abilities, but wars are fought by people! Not just one person! You need to rest, Gaius! What if you get hurt... or worse! Then I'll be forced to live alone! Forever!"

"How long have you even been awake?!" She continues. "I can see dark circles under your eyes! You're not taking care of yourself!

"Ah... I'm fine, Ravel, really." I wave off.

"How long." She frowns.

"About... eh... Twenty five hours-"

"TWENTY FIVE HOURS?!" She gasps.

She practically drags me over to the bed. "Gaius! That isn't healthy! You need sleep."

"I should have a meeting with a member of the Agares clan soon, though." I protest quietly. "I should be up for that... then someone is coming to take away some of my older creations to use in battle."

I quietly fight off a yawn as I am pulled across the tent, she forces me to take a seat on the bed as she sits next to me, her hands tightly grasping my wrists as she gives me a disapproving gaze.

"What if Serafall or the other generals need something? I said that I'm fine, Ravel I can't-"

She cuts me off by taking my lips with her own, my eyes widening as she shoves me back slightly.

We have always been pretty close, childhood friends, in fact- which is how we were engaged in the first place, our parents seeing the benefit of combining our clan traits, the fact we liked each other merely being a bonus- But I think that is the first time she has actually kissed me.

"Ravel..." I gasp as she blushes and looks away.

"You... Get some sleep. I'll wake you up if anyone shows up... okay?"

I open my mouth to reply, but after a moment of trying to find the worlds I relent with a long sigh. "Fine..."

"Regardless." I whisper as I crawl into the bed. "It was incredible to see you again, Ravel... I missed you."

My memories didn't tell me she existed beforehand, but I did constantly feel sort of uneasy about something... and with her appearance, that unease has disappeared completely.

At my statement a bright smile appears on her face, her eyes seem to sparkle slightly, then she looks away and lets out a quiet cough. "Hmhm. Yes."

Merry Christmas my friends! This will probably be the last thing I post for a while, at least. I don't think anything will be ready by tomorrow, at least. So this is my official 'Merry Christmas' for the year! I hope you all enjoy the holidays!