Shin was walking to school, Yuki right next to him following him. Through the use of repulsive and attractive forces, he was confident she wouldn't be able to wander off. Last night, he had spent nearly the whole night altering his plans in light of his heart situation, as well as potential ways to solve it. Although he had come up with one last night, he was still open to trying another way.
There were, of course, ways he could fix it right away, however, it required him to cross moral lines he refuses to cross. Such as stealing people's sacred gears. He would not kill someone just so he could continue living. At least, not someone innocent, someone who hasn't done anything wrong. Besides, there are other ways of solving his situation, or at the very least delay the inevitable.
Shin had come to the conclusion that he had been reincarnated into this world for a reason. What that reason was he had no idea. However, if he was important, then something would come around eventually.
Shin smiled when he saw that Yuki was catching on quickly that whenever she wandered too far away from him that she would be stopped by some force and decided to walk behind him, sniffing and getting distracted by almost every little thing she found to be even the least bit interesting. She was a puppy, however, so this was to be expected. However, a quick nudge in the butt with some attractive force always worked to get her focus back onto him.
When they finally arrive at the ORC, it was only 6:00 A.M., so it was quite early in the morning and he didn't know if Rias would be awake at this time or not. When he walked in, he noticed that while Rias was here, she was not awake.
Sitting behind her desk, her glasses still on, sleeping with arm under her head, a little pool of drool running the piece of paper below her arm. Shin shut the door behind him quietly and moved over to the couches.
Throwing his bag onto the couch, he pulled something metal out of it, which once unfolded proved to be a hexagonal metal pin. It was a play pin for Yuki to play and sleep in while Shin was attending classes that way, she didn't tear up all the furniture. However, he would have to stop by as soon lunch started and school ended to let her out and use the bathroom.
Once it was set up and he had put a sufficient number of toys as well as a dog bed in, Shin light shook Rias awake, hearing her release several frustrated groans. Obviously, she did not want to be awoken. However, after several times of waking her back up after she fell asleep, Shin finally got her to stay awake.
"Shin? What time is it?" Rias asked groggily as she sat up and stretched her arms out, her chest puffing out and bouncing as she did so.
"Six in the morning. I told you yesterday that I would be coming here early remember?" Shin said as he took a seat on the couch. Not even a minute later Yuki came over and tried jumping on it, however, her little legs didn't have enough strength to propel her high enough, only being able to get her an inch off the ground at most.
Shin laughed amusedly as Yuki continuously tried to jump up on the couch but failed every time. Taking pity on her, he helped her up and onto the couch, to which she almost immediately started attacking his hand.
"You never even wanted a strong familiar, did you?" Rias asked, smiling because of how adorable the situation was as Shin would every so often release a grunt of pain due to Yuki's small, sharp teeth digging into his skin.
"Nope. I don't need someone to fight my battles, or even help me fight my battles. I'm confident in my own ability. However, I'm not here to talk about my choice of familiars." Shin said.
"So then, what are you here so early in the morning for?" Rias asked, ticked off that she was awoken so early in the morning. She was not a morning person.
"Well, I wanted to talk about Riser. Or more specifically, how we are going to prepare for the upcoming fight with him." Shin said, catching Rias' attention.
"What about it?" Rias asked.
"Well for starters, I want to know what kind of training you and the others are undergoing. Second, I want to talk about bringing someone into the fold that could potentially help in the fight." Shin said, Rias tilting her head to the side.
"What do you mean training?" Rias asked, causing Shin to facepalm. He had suspected something like this; however, he didn't want to believe it.
"So, you're telling me that you've known about your engagement to Riser for years, knew the only way to get out of it is to fight for years, and yet you haven't trained for it at all? Are you stupid? How do you expect to beat him if you don't get stronger?" Shin criticized Rias.
"It's not as easy as you say, Shin. My strength is just my Power of Destruction, and it can't get any stronger than it already is. So, what reason would there be to train?" Rias said; however, all Shin saw was a bullshit excuse to be lazy.
"Okay, if that's the case, then how come Sirzechs is so much stronger than you? After all, you use the same power. Why is he so much stronger?" Shin asked.
"Because he was born with immense demonic power," Rias explained simply.
"Really? You're going to blame this on fucking genetics? That's a load of bullshit. In fact, I'm sure if Sirzechs was here right now, he would take that as an insult more than anything else. Calling undoubtedly all the hard work, blood, sweat, and tears he's put into becoming as strong as he is, and you just pass it off as genetics. Pathetic." Shin said heatedly.
This was something he saw people do all the time, especially in the fitness industry. Blaming their downfalls on genetics, or envying people because of their genetics. As if saying all the hard work that person puts in equals to nothing, that they are only where they are due to genetics and not by their own hard work.
"However, if you don't believe me, you could always ask the person Sirzechs sent to follow me around," Shin said, pointing out the fact that he knew someone had been following him ever since his meeting with Sirzechs. He didn't know who it was as he hadn't been able to spot them, however, he had been able to feel them. Due to his control over his body, he had very acute senses.
"What are you talking about?" Rias asked, confused. Looking around, she saw no one else anywhere in the room, nor could she sense anybody here.
"I'm talking about the person who's been following me since my meeting with Sirzechs. I don't know where they are, who they are, or what they look like. However, I've been able to feel them watching me ever since them. Your brother likely saw me as a potential threat to you and decided to send someone to watch over me to make sure I didn't do anything to you." Shin said, wondering if the person who had been following him would reveal themselves or not. He was weighing on the side of not, however. After all, there was no reason for them to reveal themselves to him.
"Anyways, we're getting off track. So obviously, we need to start training you, as well as everyone else in the peerage as soon as possible. The second thing I want to talk about my little brother, Issei. He has a sacred gear does he not?" Shin asked.
Rias put aside what Shin had said earlier and decided to focus on what Shin was saying now. "Yes, actually your brother has a Longinus class gear. However, because I had prior contact with you, as well as you are being more of a fit physically, I decided to reincarnate you instead of your brother." Rias said.
"Well, then what's stopping you from reincarnating him now? A chess set has 16 pieces, and from what I've seen you still have 2 bishops, 1 knight, and 1 rook." Shin asked, even if he already knew the answer. However, there was a simple solution to the problem.
"Because all Longinus class gears are worth 7 pawns, and then on top of that there's the person itself which cost another pawn. In total, it cost 8 pawns to reincarnate somebody with a Longinus class gear. A Queen is worth 9 pawns, a Rook is worth 5, and a Knight and Bishop is worth 3 each. I don't have enough pieces to reincarnate your brother since it's impossible to mix and match." Rias explained.
"Okay. Then why not simply remove his sacred gear, which would kill him. Revive him. Then put the sacred gear back in?" Shin said, explaining literally the simplest of solutions to Rias' problem. Why Shin had never seen anybody do this in the DxD series was always a wonder to him.
Rias was about to protest, and say it wouldn't work, however, she bit her tongue. She actually had no idea whether it would work or not. Shin, however, knew for a fact it would work, and that it would work with flying colors.
With the knowledge he knew, he knew that the Evil Piece grows in strength along with its owner. So, if they were to revive Issei, and then put the Boosted Gear back into him, it would forcefully mutate the piece and grow stronger to accommodate the power of the Boosted Gear. It was the simplest of solutions, and also could be considered an exploit in the Evil Piece system.
Now originally, he was going to save Issei until a later time in which he could revive him himself into his own peerage. However, with the issue of his heart, he had come up with a plan to use Issei to solve his problem, all the while without having to kill his own little brother by stealing the Boosted Gear from him.
"But then we would have to get permission from him to do as such," Rias said, nervous. She had never actually had to convince someone to join her peerage before. Everyone she had reincarnated thus far didn't really have a choice in the matter. Their choice was either die or become her servant. Even if in the end it turned out to be the right decision in which they were given a better and happier life, she had never convinced someone who didn't have the incentive of death before.
"Don't worry about that. Just tell him that there's a good chance of him having a harem and he'll dive in dick first." Shin said, Rias nodding in agreement. "And if that doesn't work, just show him your tits." Shin heard Rias choke on air, not expecting him to say that. However, she also knew Shin was serious when he said it, as it most likely would work if Issei really is a big of a pervert as everyone says he is.
"Alright, then I'll have Kiba bring him to the clubroom at the end of the day. Meanwhile, I'll have Akeno set up for a sacred gear extraction ritual." Rias said surprising Shin. He wasn't exactly sure if devils had a ritual for extracting sacred gears as the fallen did. Apparently, they do.
"And how does the extraction ritual work?" Shin asked.
"It was a ritual developed just a few decades ago. Someone will set up a magic circle that has the purpose of isolating the sacred gear from the body, then proceeding to rip the sacred gear from the person. Almost all of pantheons and races have their own ritual for extracting sacred gears." Rias explained, Shin, nodding at the simplicity of it all.
However, he couldn't help but wonder how devils didn't take advantage of it. Devils were, by nature, greedy. So, it was a surprise to him that there weren't more people out there trying to collect sacred gears other than Azazel.
"Alright, seems simple enough. By any chance, do you know which Longinus he has? Then it would be easier to determine which piece to provide him with." Shin asked, although he already knew the answer and had been planning the best possible piece to use on Issei.
"We have a sneaking suspicion. Koneko said that Issei had the scent of a dragon and considering the rumors of the white one already having awoken, it is likely that your brother is the wielder of the Boosted Gear." Rias explained, Shin nodding.
"Well then, from what I've read of the Boosted Gear, then the best match would be the Rook piece. When the user uses the Boost ability, it doubles their power. As a drawback, it also doubles the rate at which you use your stamina. In hindsight, it might be smarter to use the knight piece for the boosted stamina, however, you would be thinking narrow-mindedly." Shin said.
"Evil Pieces grow stronger as the user grows stronger, meaning the boost to your attributes it gives also grows stronger. In this case, it would be a stronger physical strength and enhanced defensive ability. Now, as the user of the Boosted Gear, if you focused solely on working on stamina, you would be able to boost more, and for longer periods of time, thus making you stronger, and by extension your Rook piece. Which would start a cycle in which you are constantly growing stronger both in physical and endurance attributes at the same time." Shin explained, Rias just staring at him with wide eyes and in awe.
"And you thought of all of that just now?" Rias asked, awed by Shin's comprehension of sacred gears as well as how to most optimally use them. In this case by choosing the best possible piece for the Boosted Gear.
"Not exactly. The Boosted Gear is a very famous sacred gear, so naturally, I have read about it; and I personally, am one of those people whose mind tends to wander. I actually came up with this just the other day when I was in the shower." Shin explained, Rias sweat dropping.
"Anything else you would like to share?" Rias asked, hoping he would have more tips on how to improve things she's been doing wrong.
"Yea, sure. When it comes to your Power of Destruction, from what I saw with Viser, you just throw it around with no real purpose. However, if you just simply calculate or use your power in more deliberate ways you would be much stronger. Such as, instead of one huge blob of Power of Destruction, what if you create an arrow and shot it at extremely high speeds, targeting someone's vitals? You would use less magic, as well as have a much higher chance of hitting the target." Shin said, Rias furiously taking notes on a notepad.
"Anything else?" Rias asked, basically drooling because of Shin.
"Well, yea, of course. However, the rest pertains to everyone else in the peerage and it would be more beneficial for them to hear it, not you." Shin said. In fact, Shin had come up with a lot of ideas over the last year of how to further improve both himself and other people.
Whether it pertains to more calculated ways to use one's magic, simple weapons that could be highly effective, and even theoretical ways to use magic that had yet to be done. Most of them having been thought up when he was in the shower.
"Come on, anything else you can tell me about my Power of Destruction," Rias said, pen in hand and ready to write down anything.
Shin sighed. He definitely didn't think he would be used as some kind of strategy guide when he woke up today. "Yea, sure. In a lot of things like anime, I have seen people coat weapons in magic, and I see no reason why you couldn't do the same with the Power of Destruction. In fact, due to its nature, it wouldn't even have to coat a weapon. Such as if you made a bo staff out of Power of Destruction. It would allow you a very long reach, quick and precise movements, a very strong defense, and due to it being Power of Destruction, very deadly." Shin explained.
Rias wrote down everything with a fever, although she would likely never use what Shin just said. She wasn't one to use weapons, yet alone coat them in her Power of Destruction. However, she would send the information back to her parents as they might want to know it. Maybe Millicas would want to use it, after all, he was still young and hadn't found his go-to for magic just yet.
"Anyway, I'm going to head out, I'll be back after school. Also, Yuki will be staying here in the ORC in this playpen during school." Shin said, leaving no room for argument as he picked Yuki up off the couch with him and set her down in the play pin. Now, he could just send her to wherever the hell your familiars are when you send them away, he honestly didn't know where they went. However, he preferred not to. What would be the point in having a familiar if it spends most of its time locked away?
Besides, this would help further Yuki's training, which so far, she had very little of. She didn't even really know her name as of yet. However, he only had her for a day, not even that. So, it wasn't exactly surprising.
(Scene Break)
Shin walked into the ORC, now being the end of the school day, and was relatively surprised to see Issei was already there, led to the ORC by Kiba. Although considering Shin stopped by the student council room to inform Sona of him not going to be there today after school, it wasn't all too surprising.
"Shin?! What are you doing here?" Issei said, pointing at him incredulously. He was not expecting his older brother to show up here of all places. However, his mind then went back to what he saw the other day, Rias and Shin cuddling on a couch watching a movie together.
Shin however just rolled his eyes at Issei. He wondered how he didn't realize he was apart of the ORC, especially when Yuki was happily yipping and jumping around a play pin not 5 feet away from him. It wasn't as if Issei hadn't met Yuki, in fact, Issei was elated when he found out they got a pet dog, not knowing Yuki was actually a wolf.
In reply to Issei, however, Shin simply pointed over to Yuki, who by now had noticed him here, and due to the familiar connection suddenly was overcame with happiness and started jumping up against the walls of the pin.
Issei, looking over made a sudden o-face. He hadn't even seen Yuki, which was something he didn't understand at all. She was not five feet from him, and he had not seen nor heard Yuki at all. "When did Yuki get here?!" Issei yelled.
Shin rolled his eyes, somewhat amused. "Don't take it too hard Issei, she is easily looked over. After all, she is very good at stealth." Kiba said, hinting to things Shin had not realized until now. Yuki was a wolf, an animal naturally gifted at things such as stealth. On top of that, she was a supernatural wolf, likely meaning people not associated with the supernatural world don't easily take notice of her due to her supernatural status.
Filing that information away for later, Shin walked over to Yuki and picked her up. "Well, enjoy your talk with Rias, Issei. It's time for Yuki to go to the bathroom again." Shin said as he walked right passed them without another word. With Yuki's current excitement, as well as her lack of control of her bladder, he didn't want to take any chances.
When Shin came back from taking Yuki to the bathroom just outside, which took quite a long while, all the members of the ORC were in the room. "Ah, Shin. You came back just in time. We were just about to do the ritual on Issei." Rias said, a smile refusing to leave her face, her entire form exuding success and happiness.
"You convinced him already?" Shin asked, surprised. He didn't think he was gone that long, was he? Or did Issei just agree that quickly?
"Well, Issei agreed to it the instant he caught wind of him possibly getting a harem," Akeno said from the side of Shin, holding an empty tray up against her stomach.
Shin shrugged. "Can't blame him. I mean, there isn't really a lot of cons of becoming a devil, whereas there are certainly a lot of benefits. Where are we going to do the ritual though?" Shin asked.
Rias stepped forward, taking the spotlight back. "The ritual will be performed upstairs. Akeno has already set up the magic circle, all it requires is Issei." Rias explained.
"And he knows what the ritual is and what it will do?" Shin asked, receiving a nod from Rias. He had to admit, he was surprised they did this all so quickly, he thought it would take a few days, not a few hours to set all this up.
"A small price to pay for my harem," Issei said as he puffed his fist in the air, trying to pull off the whole cool-guy look, however failing greatly. In fact, it looked so horrible Shin actually cringed.
"Please, stop that. It pains me." Shin said, Issei's fist falling down to his sides and his shoulders slumping in depression. Shin proceeded to place Yuki back down into the pin, considering the fact that she may mess up the ritual in some way if he allowed her to roam free.
"Alright, we're all set for the ritual. Let's go Issei." Rias said, leading them out of the main room of the ORC and into the room the ritual would be performed. The room was basically empty, only having a chess table in it over by the window that Rias would occasionally look out of.
However, on the floor, there was a large white circle, looking as though it was drawn with chalk. Inside the circle was hundreds of incantations, Shin having no idea what a single one of them stood for. He may be a fan of the anime, but that in no way translates to him being able to understand what incantations meant.
"Alright Issei, go ahead and lay down on the incantation. As long as you lay somewhere in the general area of the center, it will work. Also, don't worry about messing up the chalk, it's special chalk that only disappears after it's served its purpose." Rias explained, Issei nodding and hesitantly laying down in what he thought was the center of the circle.
"Akeno," Rias said. Akeno took the signal and started to channel her magic into the chalk, Shin watching, fascinated from the side as the chalk started to glow a bright red. The chalk seemingly burning away, being replaced by small red flames, which caused a lot of panic in Issei, thinking he was about to be burned.
"Do not panic Issei, what your seeing is not flames, but the physical representation of demonic magic. It naturally takes a form similar to flames, so there is no reason to worry." Rias explained, seeing as Issei was starting to freak out. "Oh, and also, this might hurt a bit," Rias added offhandedly.
"What? I didn't quite hear yo-" Issei stopped as suddenly his back arched unnaturally, the flame looking magic suddenly biding his hands, feet, and neck to the ground as his body arched up, Issei releasing a silent scream as pain assaulted his entire being.
Shin cringed when he heard and saw Issei silent scream evolve into a full born scream. Of course, he had expected something like this. A sacred gear was something akin to a limb to humans. It was a part of his body, and currently, he was having that limb ripped off his body very slowly, and very painfully.
Shin silently apologized to Issei, not that Issei would be able to hear it even if he said it aloud due to the loud screams he was releasing. Hell, he could faintly hear Yuki yipping from downstairs, Issei's high-pitched screams probably painful to her sensitive ears.
It wasn't long before a red light began to emit from Issei's chest, ever so slowly being drawn out. In total, it took a full minute for the sacred gear, which now took the obvious form of the Boosted Gear gauntlet to fully be separated from Issei's body.
Issei's body fell limp, all strength leaving his body as he fainted due to pain, his chest ever so slightly rising and falling, signaling he was still alive, however, he wouldn't be for long. Luckily, Issei was already unconscious, so he wasn't in any more pain.
Stepping forward, Shin looked at the Boosted Gear closely. "So, this is the Boosted Gear? The aura it gives off, it's so strong." Shin, at the current moment, was so very tempted to try and absorb the energy being radiated from the Boosted Gear but was scared that it might instantly kill him.
"You know, you could say to hell with Issei and just give this to someone stronger, someone that would put it to better use. Hell, you could probably even use this a gift the Phenix clan to convince them to terminate your engagement to Riser." Shin said, trying to temp Rias.
Rias looked scandalized at Shin's suggestion. "How can you even suggest such a thing? This is your own brother your talking about." Rias exclaimed.
"Me? I would never do such a thing. However, that's not to say I wouldn't judge you if you did." Shin said, lying straight through his teeth. He would judge her greatly if she tried such a thing. He also would not allow her to do it after all this was his brother's life he was talking about here. He would go so far as to kill Rias if it was the only way to protect Issei.
"No, that wouldn't be right. I convinced him to do this and promised him he would be fine afterword. I refuse to break my promise." Rias said, pulling out a rook piece from her pocket. Shin smiled; glad Rias had said as such. At the very least, it showed that under the spoiled princess there was someone with a good sense of morals.
Looking at the Boosted Gear, he knew that he could take it for himself, and use it to give himself a new heart through Ddraig. Despite that, however, he didn't even feel the slightest hint of temptation. He watched idly as Rias reincarnated Issei with a rook piece.
Now without the Boosted Gear, Issei wasn't even worth reincarnating with any piece, to be honest. He had no redeeming qualities besides his dedication. However, he wasn't exactly gifted at anything. Obviously, the smart thing to do in this situation is to just keep the Boosted Gear and use it on somebody who would put it to better use.
Hell, they could give it to someone like Sirzechs, or any of the four mauo for that matter, and the devil race would undoubtedly become the strongest pantheon there is. With just their power alone, Sirzechs and Ajuka could arguably be on the top ten strongest people list. With the Boosted gear, however, it would be possible that they'd be able to go toe to toe with even Great Red, Ophis, or Trihexa.
He was sure that if this was the real world, and not an anime, that something like that would have already happened. Of course, this was an anime world, however, so something like that didn't happen luckily.
Shin made no protest as Rias pushed the Boosted Gear back into Issei's chest, the gear slowly sinking back into his body. Everybody presents could feel the demonic power inside Issei rapidly grow. This was to be expected however, at least Shin expected it. The others not so much.
The rook piece inside of Issei was being forceful mutated by the strength of the Boosted Gear. The evil piece was growing in strength to accommodate the Boosted Gear. Because of this, Issei's magic, physical strength, defense, and raw demonic power was growing exponentially. In fact, it would be likely that Issei would be reincarnated with the strength of a mid-class devil.
This was the beauty of Shin's plan for Issei. Of course, he had originally planned on Issei being in his peerage, not Rias', but you win some you lose some. As Issei grew stronger, so would the rook piece inside of him to accommodate the strength.
Thus, if he focused on stamina training, with an hour or so of muscular endurance training every day, then he would be able to use more boosts, and in order to use more boosts, the rook piece will need to be able to accommodate the strength that follows.
You could say that every time Issei boosts one further than he previously could, the Rook piece inside of him with double in strength as well, and passively strengthen his body. Of course, this was only theory, however, and there were problems with it.
The biggest problem being the same one that Shin himself overlooked. Just because Issei can infinitely strengthen his rook piece, his body may not be able to hand the strength his rook piece gives him and end up damaging himself, just like Shin did.
Hopefully, however, the daily hour of muscular endurance training would help solve that problem. From now on, Shin would be busy training Issei and molding him to become the perfect Boosted Gear user. Even if he wasn't in Shin's peerage, Issei being stronger would still benefit him. However, only time would prove how accurate Shin's theory would prove to be.
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