DxD: Like a Devil

by Mirlnir

Life was nice, but I may have made too many enemies, and that resulted in my death. Thankfully I've been given another chance, and in an ironic twist, it's an even more dangerous world than the last. Devils, gods, and everything in between running around is concerning, but at least I didn't start with nothing. Being a Yakuza Princess is bound to be useful. Fem Gamer MC. Evil MC

24. Devilish Ventures

– Daigo –

He never anticipated that this risky decision would yield so many rewards, but Daigo had to thank his lucky stars that it had. This was more than just a best-case scenario.

It had left him confused when Majima had reported that Akane apparently wanted to help the devils with something. Sure, he knew that they were relatively okay with one another and that his plan was progressing smoothly, but the sudden news had given him a pause.

When it was explained to him more in-depth, Daigo realized just how useful this could be to him. With her helping the devil heiresses, Akane, and him by extension, would have more allies and a tighter relationship with the faction as a whole.

So he decided to put a lot of effort into helping her. From letting the Majima Family work on that facility to giving her the training belts. She did not ask for much, surprisingly, but whatever she did seemed to be enough, if the news of the Gremory winning the Rating Game was anything to go by.

He knew enough about Tatsu's daughter– how she inherited her mother's anger issues and how much of a rebel she could be. She had grown up to be a delinquent, and Daigo could relate to a lot of her traits. He used to be a delinquent as well, before taking the Tojo Clan Chairman position.

There had always been the risk of her simply not getting along with the devils and at worst, ending up completely hating their guts. Instead, it was the opposite– she had gone out of her way to help one of them deal with a problem that had plagued them for years and was ultimately successful in doing so.

It almost felt surreal when he heard the report. This was much better than anything he had been expecting. Helping Sirzechs' sister get out of a marriage that neither of them had wanted in the first place? Almost like everything had aligned itself to work with his plan somehow. Daigo almost couldn't believe it.

With Akane being regarded highly by the New Lucifer, New Leviathan, and their sisters so much that they were willing to invite her to the underworld for a party, Daigo saw an opportunity.

Since they couldn't exactly let Tatsu's daughter go on her own for several reasons, the invitation was extended to Daigo and whoever he or Akane wanted to bring along, so they would have to accompany her, and what would the world say when they heard the news that the Sixth Chairman of the Tojo Clan was personally invited to the underworld alongside the Immortal Dragon's child by Sirzechs Lucifer himself?

"The plan turned out a lot better than most of us anticipated." His first captain said, reading the report. "How should we move from here?"

"Attend the party of course," Daigo responded.

"This could be a trap." Mine argued. "Is it wise to accept the invitation?"

"I doubt it's a trap. Sirzechs has been trying to find ways to loophole his sister out of the marriage for years now. He's being genuine." The Chairman shook his head. "Tatsu's kid becoming the reason that his sister isn't married off will make him even more grateful to us."

"I suppose so." Mine quickly relented. "Sirzechs has never been the scheming type."

"Ajuka is, and he should be under watch while we're there." Daigo nodded. "Though, I doubt he'd be remotely interested in this party."

"And what of the Amamiyas?" His captain raised another point. "What is your plan with them?"

Daigo paused for a moment as he thought about this. Akane had to attend the party– it'd make them kind of suspicious if the main reason they were invited wasn't there, or even given notice of the said party. So far, the devils didn't suspect a single thing, and he'd rather keep it that way until the peace talks.

But the main issue here was Mizuki. As far as he knew, she didn't know anything that had been happening with her daughter or the devils. She did look a bit apprehensive about Akane's 'camping trip', but she didn't do anything about it, which was good enough. It would've been a disaster if she'd found out in the middle of their training.

Now though, she had to know. He couldn't exactly whisk her daughter away to the underworld without her knowledge or permission. Daigo respected Mizuki far too much to do something like that. He was willing to do everything in his power to convince her, though.

"I'll try to convince Mizuki."

Mine let out an unprofessional snort before quickly clearing his throat as Daigo sighed.

"Futile effort, I know." The Chairman said. "But I'd rather not get kicked in the dick or punched in the face again."

"If I was an ignorant man, I'd say you're letting her walk over you."

"It's how she communicates. I've grown used to it." Daigo shrugged.

And it was all well-deserved anyway.

"And I suppose the apple doesn't fall far from the tree after all."

"I guess not." Daigo chuckled as he stared at his phone. About time he told her what had been really happening.

He took the device and called Mizuki's number, and she answered almost immediately with a happy tone.

"Oh, Daigo!" She greeted him. "How nice of you to call first. Everything okay?"

"Thankfully, yes. It's good to talk to you again, Mizuki-san." He greeted her back, suddenly feeling nervous. "There's something I want to talk to you about."

"Oh?"

Once he told her the entire story, Mizuki remained quiet for a few moments, and Daigo could feel the anger emanating from the phone. The silence was too overbearing until she finally spoke once again.

"I see." She said coldly, her relaxed tone having evaporated. "Thank you for telling me."

He was about to reply, but the connection was cut before he could utter a word. Daigo blinked at his phone a few times before putting it back down on the table as an idea made itself known in his head.

He should wear a groin guard next time they met. Preferably one made of magical metal.

---

– Akane –

Once the Rating Game concluded, we basically partied until late at night. It was great– sure, Rias and her peerage weren't there to party with us, probably busy with whatever was happening down there, but that's fine with me. I still don't like Rias. I just tolerate her existence.

It's currently 1 AM and everyone's gone home after having their fill of KFC because I thought it was extremely hilarious. My throat is gonna end up as dry as a desert in the middle of the night with how much fried chicken I ate, but it was worth it. The joke will never get old.

I have been given a letter of invitation by Rias' brother before I left the facility, delivered by Sona because I don't think he can actually pop in here whenever he wants, but I don't think I can go there even if I wanted to. I'm not sure the Yakuza will allow it.

I am admittedly interested to see what the underworld looks like. I've traveled around the world with my parents before, but I've never been to a different dimension. Is it as toned-down as the actual DxD series or is it actually filled with fire and brimstone everywhere? I haven't asked any of the devils about it, so I don't know what hell looks like.

We'll see. I'm more excited about the gravity belt and what I can do with it in my free time. Aside from the obvious benefits of training, I can maybe try to dismantle it and learn how it's made, which will probably level up my engineering class a lot. I haven't forgotten about it, but there just hasn't been enough time to work on it.

But now I have all the time in the world. Or until the next arc starts at least.

I open the front door to my house, blinking once I see the lights still on. Asia, who was on the verge of falling asleep, doesn't notice it, but she too sees my mother on the couch, smiling softly at her and waving.

I spot several empty beer cans on the table and deduce that she's been drinking again. I'm a little surprised that she's not knocked out, but in hindsight, she didn't drink a lot in comparison to the usual.

Though, it is late.

"We're back, Mizuki-san." She says before yawning as I close the door.

She turns to look at us, flashing us a grin.

"Took you long enough~" She says. "You look very tired, though."

"Mhm." Asia nods, rubbing her eyes.

"Same." I stretch my arms with a satisfied groan. "I'm going to bed now."

"Not before you tell me what happened on your camping trip," Mizuki says, making me roll my eyes.

"Can't it wait?"

"No." She responds, sounding a bit forceful, which makes me blink. "It can't."

I pause for a moment but chalk it off. She's probably on her 'special daughter withdrawal symptoms' or some shit. Not like this is the first time it happened, and it certainly won't be the last. How is this grown woman still functioning?

"Asia, you can go to bed." She said. "I'm sure Akane will tell me everything."

"Oh." The blond blinked before going up the stairs. "Okay then. Goodnight!"

As Asia leaves us, I quickly realize something with how she phrased her words. Did she imply that she knew Asia was with me? I'm pretty sure Majima told me that Mizuki won't know a thing. What gives?

I mean, unless he meant she wouldn't know about the training trip, or the devils being there in general, but I doubt he'd do that. He's probably smart enough to not mention this at all or she'd snoop around and–

My train of thought comes to a screeching halt as my cheek suddenly flares in pain. It takes me a second to process that my mother slapped me, and even then I don't know how to react. I was too focused on my thoughts to see her coming.

I look at her directly, putting a hand on my cheek, eyes wide in shock. My heart begins pounding as she glares back at me with so much anger for some reason, preventing me from uttering a single word.

"You may not know this," Mizuki starts with a cold tone. "But that hurt me a lot more than it hurt you."

I uncharacteristically stammer, quickly tearing my gaze away from her as my chest starts to tighten, no word coming out of my mouth. What the hell is going on? Why am I feeling like this? How can she hit me like that?

"I understand keeping secrets, hiding things away from me. You have every right to, and I told you I won't pry anymore." She continues. "But I have limits too, and what you just pulled? That crosses the line."

"I-I just–" I stutter, not being able to understand these feelings and why they make me so passive.

I try to summon my rage– force myself to be angry at her for hitting me so this painful feeling goes away, but every time I think of the slap, it just makes me feel so much worse, so I try to think of other things and to no avail. So when I want to be angry, I can't be? Is this really how it's gonna be? I can't even be aggressive to her in any way. What the fuck is happening to me?

"I keep telling you that these devils aren't trustworthy– that they'd do anything for just a tiny bit of power," Mizuki says. "These bastards are responsible for your father's death, so you go around and play with them as if nothing happened, and for what?"

I take a step back still looking down as I try to calm my pounding heart.

"Do my words mean nothing to you anymore? Does Tatsu mean nothing to you?" She narrows her eyes.

"T-that's not it…"

I feel myself mutter something, but I feel so out of it.

"Then what the fuck were you thinking?!" Mizuki growls, making me flinch. "Why would you do all of that without telling me?! What was it all for?!"

"I-I'm sorry, okay?!" I respond just as loud, making her stop. "I get it, I should've told you. I was wrong not doing that, so just stop yelling at me."

This got her to back off somehow, giving me enough time to calm myself and think. I can't get angry, and this seems to have made an effect, so clearly I should act like I'm guilty and sorry so she leaves me alone.

I don't know why my vision suddenly got blurry, but I rub my eyes and struggle to look back at her, noticing her expression of worry and remorse. Okay, I feel calmer now. I can wiggle my way out of this easily now that I'm in control.

"I-I know you feel about them, and I know it's not unwarranted either," I say. "But I don't feel the same way. I can't just bring myself to hate them."

"They–"

"I know what they did." I cut her off, feeling a bit more confident. "But generalizing the entire race because of one doesn't seem fair. Would you feel the same if a human did it? Would you hate all humans then?"

"One?" She chuckles mirthlessly. "Do you even know that your father's killer is still alive? That these New Satan refuse to hold him accountable for robbing him from us?!"

I pause, absorbing this new information.

"All of them are the same." She scowls. "Power-hungry bastards with no sense of justice or mercy. They can act nice all they want– they're nothing but mindless animals that seek destruction everywhere they go."

"Didn't you say the same thing about your father's side of the family?" I argue, shutting her up completely. "A long line of sadistic, evil killers. Worse than even Devils you said."

The tables have turned as Mizuki stutters, realizing her hypocrisy.

"Yet here you are." I continue. "You come from that line, you saw firsthand how that family operates, but you refuse to be like them because you're a good person at your core."

This makes her flinch. Good, it's working. She caught me by surprise at first, but now I'm in control. That's probably what all that was. Just surprise and shock, nothing more.

"I'm not stupid, Kaa-san," I say, taking Angel's Sorrow out of my inventory. She knows I have it anyway and probably overheard my conversation about the inventory. "I know you weren't always the kindest. I know you have blood on your hands."

She remains silent.

"But I don't bring it up because I know it would hurt you. I know you feel bad about it. I know you're different." I put the gun on the table. "And it's the same thing with the devils. Sure, I still keep them at arm's length, but they're nearly as human as us."

"They've taken Tatsu away from me." She responds with tears welling up in her eyes, her voice as loud as a whisper. "He's shown me so much love and happiness when I never experienced anything of that sort. He's given me you."

"And I can't expect you to turn a switch and suddenly be fine with the devils. They hurt you a lot, and I understand if you never forgive them." I take her hand, gently squeezing it. "But you have to keep an open mind at least. The devils I hung out with are my age– they're innocent of anything they've done to us."

A look of disappointment crosses her face before it's replaced by confusion and conflict.

"I just can't share this hatred for them, Kaa-san," I say. "I know that's rich coming from me, but it's just how it is."

"What if they take you away from me too?" She persists. "Then what will I have left?"

…I don't like seeing her crying. It hurts.

"They won't." I comfort her. "I promise that no matter what happens, I'll never leave you. I'll always be by your side."

This breaks the camel's back as Mizuki starts to sob, tears freely rolling down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry." She says, falling to her knees. "I'm sorry. I-I shouldn't have hit you."

I kneel and hug her tightly, patting her head as she cries on my shoulder, continuously apologizing to me. I reassure her that it's fine and I 'had it coming', not believing a word I say as a frown takes over my face.

I hate this.

1 Affection with Mizuki Amamiya [100/100]

-59 Obedience with Mizuki Amamiya [1/100]

Perk gained

[Eye of the Assassin] - Affection Perk

With eyes like yours, no enemy is safe from you, no matter how powerful they are in comparison. You know where to strike and how to make it painful

Occasionally, thin lines will pop up in your sight, guiding you to a specific location on the target's body. Hitting these lines perfectly will ignore all resistances, durability, and immunities, and deal three times the damage. Five times if it's a melee attack.

Perk will be lost if Mizuki's Affection lowers but can be regained at any time

Not even this powerful perk managed to cheer me up as I stew in my anger at my inability to handle such a stupid thing.

I hate this so fucking much.

---

– Mizuki –

Being jolted out of her sleep by a particularly annoying nightmare, Mizuki gasped. Her eyes opened wide as she looked around, ready to kill the closest living thing until her brain caught up, making her groan in frustration.

It was the same damned thing all over again. Her daughter gets kidnapped and turned into a soulless killing machine for the Amon clan. She'd been getting this one since telling Akiyama about them. Mizuki could barely get any sleep.

She scanned her surroundings, realizing she was sleeping on the couch in the living room. Mizuki rubbed her eyes tiredly after checking her watch, which told her that it was already afternoon.

She grimaced, her head pounding from how much she had drank last night. She hadn't planned on drinking, but after being told about what Akane had been doing behind her back, she felt intense anger and worry. She would've rushed to where the batfuckers were if she hadn't been told that Akane was on her way home.

So with nothing to do, she coped with her rage by drinking a copious amount of alcohol. She knew that it wasn't healthy for her mentally, but that was the only way to mute those emotions. She didn't want to be angry or sad anymore.

That was a terrible decision, though. Sure, at first, she felt better, maybe cried a little bit, but that was fine. It was nothing at the end of the day, but then her daughter got home, and all the anger she felt before erupted once again, prompting her to do something she regretted.

It wasn't the first time she'd hit Akane of course. She nearly got herself killed in an especially brutal brawl a few years ago, and Mizuki had had enough of her getting in so many fights at the time. Plus, she was sober, so she at least weighed in the options and thought it was the best she could do to get to her stop, or at least calm down and stop looking for fights. You can only do so much by being nice and understanding.

But it never got easy. Seeing her beautiful daughter in shock, looking so hurt, guilty, and on the verge of crying tore Mizuki's heart out and stabbed it a few more times for good measure. Akane always used sorrow and grief only as fuel for her anger– it was how she coped. She rarely got sad. It was a rare sight that Mizuki never wanted to see again.

Mizuki never wanted to do this. She hated seeing Akane like this, yet at the same time, she was glad. With how scarily empty and emotionless her daughter looked sometimes, this was proof that she was still human. Feeling remorse and sadness wasn't something the Amon clan was known for. She could still be steered away from their path.

With a deep sigh, she stood up from the couch, stretching her arms before heading towards the kitchen counter. She saw a few plates with a random assortment of food, a cup of coffee, and a note from Asia. Mizuki smiled slightly as she read it, taking a bite of toast.

I'm out to get some groceries, Mizuki-san. Please eat what I made for you.

With love, Asia.

Mizuki needed to fill out some adoption papers real soon. She'd always wanted a second daughter.

She blinked in confusion as she heard her daughter swearing profanities loudly. It was still early– she thought Akane would still be in school. Did she not go? Whatever it was, Mizuki had no idea what she was doing in the garage, but still felt curious enough to investigate.

She took the cup and headed towards her daughter, noticing Angel's Sorrow on the counter which made her hesitate. Mizuki pursed her lips and took the gun, putting it in her back pocket before opening the door leading to the empty garage. She paused, seeing so many different kinds of broken and dismantled electronic devices littering the place. Microwaves, clocks, laptops, radios– and so on.

Akane, in a simple gray tank top and jeans, was standing in the middle, not even noticing her mother entering as she worked on a small robot-looking thing that was as big as her arm, screwdriver in hand. She didn't know what this was for or how her daughter could even make something like this.

She also noticed that her daughter had become very fit. Whatever training she had done with those devils yielded a lot of rewards, it seemed. Just before that, she had been a bit pudgy due to lack of exercise, but now she's the opposite. Not exactly shredded, but a very good figure regardless.

Mizuki felt very proud of her. A good physique was important.

"What are you doing?" Mizuki blurted out, catching her daughter's attention.

She instantly felt awkward under her gaze, almost expecting her to be angry for what she did last night, but then Akane responded.

"Building this. I didn't feel like going to school and I wanted to waste some time." She answered. "And good morning."

Akane then paused as she checked the time on her phone.

"Or afternoon. I could've sworn it was 7 AM just a few minutes ago." She continued, scratching her head. "Oh well, I'm almost done with this anyway."

With that, her daughter went back to work, carefully building the robot. The silence was strangely comfortable. Enough for Mizuki to approach Akane, curiously watching her using her tools. She didn't know Akane could do something like this.

Usually, it was Mizuki who fixed things whenever they broke. She wasn't an expert, but she had learned the basics from Tatsu. Akane was the one who always complained that stuff wasn't working properly or whatnot.

"Soo…" Mizuki cleared her throat. "What is it for?"

"Dunno." Akane shrugged.

"Wasting time, then?"

"Yup. I haven't thought that far ahead." She nodded. "...I might turn it into a maid or something, though. That'd be cool."

"I suppose having something clean instead of Asia would be nice." Mizuki agreed before shifting awkwardly. "About last night–"

"We've had this same conversation a billion times this month alone." Akane cut her off casually. "And like always, it's fine."

"I-I see…"

…At least she's not mad?

"Anyway, you know how to program stuff, right?" She suddenly asked, putting her tools down. "You used to work for a video game company for a while. Unless that was to cover up your real job?"

"No, I didn't lie about that." Mizuki shook her head. She wanted some normality in her life at some point. "Why?"

"Well, making this thing is cool and all–" Akane tapped the robot. "But it can't do much unless I program it. Mind teaching me how to do that? I looked up some videos, but I like how you explain things"

"Of course!" Her mother nodded enthusiastically, grinning widely. Spending more time with her daughter and teaching her random stuff? Sign her the hell up. "When do you want to start?"

"Right now," Akane said. "Assuming you have nothing something to do?"

"Nope. Let me just bring my work laptop and we can start."

"'Work' she says. Watching porn isn't work and you know it." Her daughter deadpanned. "You do realize that I know you play eroge on it, right? Your library on Steam is open to the public. I saw over twenty different hentai games."

"Hyperdimension Neptunia is NOT a hentai game!" Mizuki denied it immediately. "How dare you imply such a thing?! I will not tolerate this slander!

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

The doorbell ringing stopped their banter, prompting Mizuki to glare at the two devils standing in front of the door. On the other hand, Akane blinked, apparently not good enough to recognize their energy signatures when lowered.

"Asia?" She mumbled before opening the garage door.

Mizuki stayed back as Akane waved for them, making her look away. She remembered her conversation last night– how her daughter didn't share her hatred and anger toward the devils, and Mizuki found it… understandable.

She knew she was being unreasonable– those two specifically were just toddlers when that happened. She hated Sirzechs and Serafall, but their siblings weren't to blame for their incompetence. Mizuki knew it wasn't fair to hate them.

But hatred this powerful usually isn't very rational.

"Akane!" The one named Rias called out, sounding excited.

Mizuki damn near charged at the redhead devil when she hugged Akane tightly, but stopped herself and took a deep breath through her nose. She still kept an eye on them, however. Rational or not, she still couldn't stand them.

"Thank you. Thank you so much for helping me." The redhead continued as Akane squirmed, trying to wiggle her way out. "I don't know what to say."

"Thanking me is enough, I promise." Akane pushed her away, though she didn't seem to be annoyed. More exasperated than anything. "So what do you want?"

"Rias wanted to visit and thank you." The other devil, Sona, said. "And here, since your other school uniform was ruined."

"Ah…" Akane grimaced.

"Sorry, we're out of male uniforms," Rias said.

"Can't you just order more or something?" Akane replied. "Seems like an easy issue to resolve."

"No," Sona responded with a smile.

"...You just want to see me in a skirt, don't you?" Her daughter accused the Sitri Heiress.

"There's nothing wrong with looking girly, you know," Sona argued.

"Don't worry, she'll grow out of her tomboy phase sooner or later," Rias added.

Mizuki hated to admit it, but that almost got her to snort in amusement. That would probably never happen.

"I don't have a problem with looking girly. I have several dresses in my wardrobe," Akane said, ignoring the redhead's comment. "I just hate skirts."

"Too bad~" Rias smirked. "You're gonna have to deal with it."

"Do you want me to kick your ass again, Gremory?" Her daughter scowled. "Because my schedule is free."

"It's a joke! I'm just joking." The redhead flinched as the other devil giggled.

Mizuki noticed how close they looked– like regular friends she made at school, and she felt incredibly annoyed and uncomfortable at the fact.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Akane scoffed, smirking a second later. "I did well teaching you to know your place."

"Too well," Sona added as Rias pouted. "That aside, we just wanted to make sure you were coming to the party."

Mizuki froze and grimaced. Right, that was happening.

"I'll try," Akane replied dryly. "You mind if I bring Ichiban with me?"

"Of course not. We'd be glad if he came along." Sona nodded. "He helped us too, after all."

"Koneko would be sad if he didn't come." The Gremory heiress added.

"She's gotten very fond of him, hasn't she?" Akane chuckled. "Good. Then it's fine to bring everyone else too, right? Issei and Asia I mean."

"Sure." Rias smiled. "We'll leave you to do what you were doing now. See you at the party, Akane."

With that, the devils left and Akane closed the garage door, walking back to Mizuki. Her daughter paused for a moment, meeting her eyes and tilting her head in confusion.

"What?"

"You shouldn't have accepted the invitation," Mizuki responded bluntly.

"This again?" Akane sighed.

"You know I don't trust them." She said. "Maybe those two are fine. I can admit that. But willingly going to their home? That's madness."

"It'll be fine, Kaa-san. I promise." Her daughter replied. "I'll have Ichi and everyone else with me. Even Dojima-san will go. They won't do anything to me with the Tojo Clan chairman there."

She hated how valid that argument was.

"It's just a simple three-hour party and I'll be back home like nothing happened." She insisted. "Hell, I promise I won't drink or eat anything, and once I come back we'll go out and have some Yakiniku. Sounds nice?"

Mizuki hesitated for a moment, calming herself before sighing deeply.

"...I can't stop you." Mizuki relented reluctantly. "But please, please be careful, okay?"

"I will." Akane smiled. "And don't worry, even if some dumbass tries anything, I can defend myself just fine. I've gotten powerful since last time, y'know."

"I suppose so."

She's right. Mizuki had to trust her daughter– she'd always been smart and skeptical enough to not do anything unbelievably mindless, so it'd be just fine. Plus, Daigo would be there. He'd take care of her.

She tried to calm herself with a lot of logical and valid reasoning, but for some reason, she just couldn't stop the treacherous thoughts from breaking in with a billion different irrational ideas of what could happen.

Mizuki shook her head. No, enough of that. She trusted Akane. Her daughter wasn't stupid.

She could take care of herself.

"But just in case–" Mizuki said, making her daughter tilt her head as she pulled the gun from her back pocket. "I want you to take this."

"That's your gun, though." She raised a brow, then fidgeted sheepishly. "I'm sorry for stealing it, by the way."

"I was more worried about you asking questions than touching my stuff, to be honest." Her mother shrugged. "Still, I think you're better off using it than me."

"Are you sure?"

"I trust you." Mizuki insisted, and as much as she wanted to hide it, her daughter looked moved.

"Well… alright," Akane said, changing the subject quickly, which may or may not had Mizuki grinning. That definitely got her. "Now let's get to programming."

"Sure!" Mizuki patted her head. "Let's start with the basics. First Lesson: Do not use C++."

"Hold that thought. There's actually something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Oh?"

"It's kind of related to this. Kind of." Akane said. "I want to buy a car."

"What? Why?" Mizuki blinked at the sudden request. "Do you want to learn how to drive finally?"

"First of all, I know how to drive–"

"A motorcycle, not a car."

"–But no, I just want one." She insisted vaguely. "Trust me, you're gonna love what I have in store."

"...Well, okay." Her mother sighed. "But I'm not getting you anything expensive. Your budget is five million yen."

"Fine by me."

If they weren't rich beyond belief, Mizuki was sure they would've gotten bankrupt ages ago. And she'll admit, she's a bit interested to see what Akane will do with a car.

Still, the incapability to say 'no' to her daughter truly was a curse, in more ways than one.

---

– Ichiban –

If he was being honest, Ichiban had never considered himself to be that important of a person.

He was an orphan– the man that took care of him when he was little had passed away, and he wasn't even old enough to join the yakuza yet. No ties, no connections, and not exactly a bright future. That wasn't to say he hated living or anything, but he was aware enough to realize that, in the grand scheme of things, he was a nobody.

He wasn't like, say, Daigo Dojima, or even Akane. One of the most influential figures in the entire clan due to her relations with a yakuza legend. Just by her mere existence, she had a lot of political power.

Yes, he had a Longinus, but it's not like Sacred Gears were that uncommon. When he died, another guy would have the Boosted Gear. It wouldn't be lost forever or anything like that. But that was fine with him, he didn't mind it at all.

At the end of the day, what mattered helping his friends and serving his future patriarch. Being important to those you love was what he cared about, and he liked to imagine that his best friend did like him to an extent.

Regardless of his importance – or lack thereof – he was surprised when he was told that he was also invited to the party. He didn't think he had done a lot in the training to warrant such a thing. It was Akane who really focused on them being better, excessively harsh methods notwithstanding.

He did appreciate the sentiment, but when he asked Akane why, she responded with 'I need a meatshield in case things go south.' which admittedly made him chuckle in amusement. They both knew there was no way of that happening unless they were attacked by an entirely different faction or something. Even then that was highly unlikely.

Ichiban wasn't good at politics, but even he knew that attacking the leaders of the yakuza and devils would be an unbelievably stupid idea. That was probably just her way of saying she wanted a bodyguard.

He accepted the invitation, though, because he was admittedly curious to see what the underworld looked like, and it wasn't like there was anything else to do. So with the money he had, he went out, bought a classy red suit, and got back to his apartment to prepare. Ichiban needed to get rid of the messy afro on his head because he was not about to embarrass himself or the yakuza.

And Ichiban was very glad that he did that. Being seated in front of the right hand of the Tojo alongside the chairman himself made him sweat bullets. Yoshitaka Mine and Daigo Dojima respectively. Even Issei, who was right next to him, was dead silent from sheer anxiety. The whole ride to Akane's home was unbearably quiet.

They eventually stopped and the car's doors opened by themselves. The four of them got out and Ichiban finally managed to breathe– the tense air inside nearly suffocated him. He glanced to the side and stopped dead in his tracks as he spotted his best friend walking toward them with Asia in tow.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but he thought she wouldn't take this whole thing that seriously. Ichiban thought she'd probably wear casual clothes, and at worst, a suit like him. But that wasn't the case this time.

The first thing that caught his attention was how her hair didn't obscure her left eye as it was slicked back, ditching the usual emo look he'd grown so used to seeing. She wore a sparkly black dress that exposed her left shoulder, a silver necklace and earrings, and bright red lipstick alongside some light makeup.

He legitimately didn't recognize her for a few seconds, opting to stare in shocked silence. There was no doubt that Akane was very attractive, but he didn't realize just how good-looking she could be if she put in some effort. It was certainly breathtaking.

…Strangely enough, though, he still preferred her regular self. It felt more 'her' so to speak. He never pegged her to be the kind of person to like this stuff anyway.

"Dude…" Issei whispered. "I think I'm in love."

Ichiban glanced at his friend in exasperation. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to deduce that, my guy.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Akane-kun," The chairman suddenly said, smiling politely at Ichi's best friend as he extended his hand to her. "I'm Daigo Dojima, a friend of your parents and the Sixth Chairman of the Tojo Clan."

To nobody's surprise, even Akane was a little nervous in his presence, but she held her composure very well as she smiled back and shook his hand.

"Pleasure's all mine, Dojima-san." She bowed respectfully before glancing at the anxious blond girl next to her. "I'm sure you know her already, but this is Asia Argento. A Sacred Gear user I took under my wing."

Asia, who was also very striking in her strapless white dress, didn't respond verbally out of nervousness and just nodded too. Ichiban did find this to be very amusing, though. She was a nun going to hell for a party. You couldn't make this shit up.

Poor Asia. She'd always been kind of anxious, so this must be hard on her.

"I do. It's kind of you to help someone struggling." He praised her. "Now if you're all ready, please enter the car. We don't want to be late."

An exaggerated clearing of one's throat prompted them all to look at a serious-looking Mizuki in front of the door of her house, who was looking directly at Daigo with a fierce glare. He paused for a moment before addressing the group once again.

"After I have a private conversation with Mizuki-san."

They all got the message and entered the car, with Issei and Ichiban facing the girls. The car was big enough to easily take eight people in the back. It was much larger than a regular limo, and he'd seen a lot passing by Kamurocho back in the day. A lot of yakuza families used to be there.

An awkward silence followed after closing the car's door, with Ichiban stealing glances at his best friend and looking away whenever she turned to look back at him. It was weird– he shouldn't be feeling that way, but he seriously felt Akane was too different to be taking the usual casual manner with her. Even her earlier tone sounded much softer than he was used to.

"The hell is up with you guys? Why are you so quiet?" She suddenly questioned. "Say something stupid already so I can make fun of you."

Ah, never mind. There's the asshat he knew and loved.

"Sorry, but it's kind of nerve-racking, y'know?" Issei responded. "It's just a few weeks ago when I was just a normal guy, and now I'm being invited to hell by demon nobles alongside the big boss of the Yakuza. It's crazy."

"...Fair enough." She nodded. "It wasn't a long time ago when all this stuff only existed in fiction for us."

"Yeah, life can change a lot faster than you could comprehend," Ichiban added. "For better or for worse."

"Definitely for better in our case. Let's be honest, without any of this existing, we'd be doing fuck all. Our lives would've been pretty boring." Akane said. "I'm glad I got involved with the supernatural, all things considered."

"Isn't it kind of dangerous, though?" Issei argued.

"So?" She raised a brow.

"I'm not saying it's bad." He quickly clarified. "I don't know. Doesn't it worry you that you have enemies that want you dead like that Ed guy? I mean, he almost killed me, and I really don't want a repeat of that."

"Obviously it's worrying." She rolled her eyes before smiling. "But it's fine. I just have to get stronger now, don't I? Like, imagine if I become as powerful as say, Majima or something. Then nobody would want to mess with me, or you for that matter. Besides, we have the entire Tojo Clan at our beck and call. We'll be alright."

"That's true." Ichiban agreed.

"It is." Akane insisted. "At the end of the day, we took care of those stray exorcists just fine, and Ichi got the Boosted Gear out of it, so I say let them come. We'll beat the ever-living shit out of anything that comes our way."

He could get behind that notion. Plus, they all could benefit from the experience they'd be getting from defeating whatever tried to kill them. Beating up several punks a day was fine and all, but that could only get you so far.

Just then a loud thump was heard, which prompted the four to look out the window to see Mizuki pinning Daigo on the car door, his back nearly covering the entire view. Akane's smirk instantly dropped, and she was about to rush out to stop whatever was happening before the terrifying, angry scowl on her mother's face froze her.

The rest of the group was too shocked to do anything, and by the time Ichi wanted to act, Mizuki let the chairman go and backed away from him before her pissed expression evaporated. They couldn't hear anything, but whatever Daigo told her calmed her down.

That was when Mizuki went back to the house and the two yakuza entered the car, sitting beside Ichiban and Issei. Once the car started to move, Mine finally spoke up for the first time.

"I told you that's how she'd react." He said bluntly.

"I knew that." Daigo sighed. "I was prepared for it."

"I'm very sorry for what she did." Akane apologized, looking genuinely embarrassed. "She's never been good at handling her emotions."

The sheer irony of that statement felt almost like an insult to them all, and Ichiban barely contained his laughter.

"No, it's fine. I'm used to it." The chairman waved it off. "And I don't blame her, either. Any parent would be worried about their child."

"Enough to do that to you of all people?" She questioned.

"Don't underestimate the lengths a parent will go to for their children." Mine quipped. "There's nothing more absurd than that."

That seemed to have ended the conversation as Akane didn't respond, merely giving the right-hand man a glance for a few seconds before looking away. The rest of the ride was quiet, and Ichiban realized how incredibly nervous Asia was when he saw how hard she was squeezing Akane's hand.

His best friend didn't seem to mind it, trying to soothe her by gently squeezing back until a bright light consumed the car they were in, making them look out the windows to see the scenery completely changed.

At first, it was the nice and peaceful scenery of Kuoh Town, and now it's some kind of mansion in the middle of nowhere. None of them understood what was going on – the younger four anyhow – until Daigo clarified.

"We've teleported directly to the Gremory Estate." He said simply.

"Magic?" Akane asked, making him smile.

"Pure tech." He replied.

Damn. Ichiban thought. Does teleportation tech exist? That's so cool.

Curious. Ddraig hummed in mild fascination. You humans and your unorthodox ways of evolving.

The doors then opened by themselves, and the group left the car as it went to park somewhere close. Quickly after, two people came to welcome them, one of whom Ichiban recognized as Rias, who wore an asymmetrical red dress, a pearl necklace, and red earrings.

Damn, nobody held back today. Ichiban almost felt out of place. He only did his hair and wore a suit.

The man in a suit next to her must be Sirzechs, then. Ichi noticed the similarities between them, bright red hair being the most prominent feature they shared. They both wore polite smiles on their faces, with Rias waving at them.

He is powerful. Ddraig suddenly said as Ichiban eyed Sirzechs. Very powerful. So this is the New Lucifer?

You've never met him? Ichi wondered.

No. My previous partners didn't concern themselves with devils very much. The Dragon of Domination responded. I've heard of him, however, and as strong as he is…

Ddraig trailed off for a moment, making Ichiban blink in confusion.

What is it?

It is nothing. Ddraig snorted. You enjoy this party, partner. I'll be taking a nap, so don't bother me unless something is interesting happening.

Oh, okay. Ichiban paused. Wait, you can sleep? How does that work?

Ddraig didn't respond to that, and Ichi let it go for now. He could get his answers later. Probably, assuming his partner was in the mood to give him any.

"Welcome to my family's estate, Mr. Daigo." Sirzechs greeted. "It's good to see you again, especially on such a joyous occasion."

"Likewise, Sirzechs-san." Daigo smiled back and shook his hand. "We're honored to have been personally invited."

"I'm only repaying the favor." He shook his head, eyeing Akane for a moment. "Please follow me. I'll lead you to the main hall."

And so they did. The group consisting of merely six humans followed the New Lucifer and his sister to the Gremory Estate. This was the first time Ichiban had ever seen a mansion that big, and he was understandably impressed. Issei felt the same if his wide eyes and dropped jaw were anything to go by.

The girls were different, though. Akane didn't show any outward reaction, and Asia looked even more intimidated than before. She did seem to calm down a little bit once Akane whispered something to her and gently patted her head. He couldn't hear what she said since they slowed down their pace a bit, but whatever his best friend said made Asia smile a little.

Once they'd entered the estate, Ichi noted that this place was guarded to hell and back, pun unintended. There were guards everywhere– at every door and every corner there were at least three devils. That was understandable though. You'd want to protect your potential allies as much as possible.

…He had to admit, though. Not all of them were very powerful.

The huge gate leading to the main hall opened, showing a very large… well, hall. There were quite a lot of people inside, many of whom he didn't recognize, but some he knew well enough, like Rias' peerage, Sona and her Queen, plus the Phenex for some reason. Both of them.

His eyes met with Koneko's for a split-second, who wore a sparkly yellow dress, and she smiled at him, prompting him to smile back.

The attendees all stopped whatever they were doing to stare at them, which made Ichiban nervous. He wasn't a fan of the attention they were getting, but most stared at Daigo and Akane, whispering to themselves.

"Everyone, let me introduce you to our guests of honor," Sirzechs spoke. "Mr. Daigo Dojima, the current chairman of the Tojo Clan, and Akane Amamiya, daughter of the legendary Tatsu Amamiya, the Immortal Dragon."

The whispers got more common after the introduction, and Ichiban could even pick up a few.

"Daigo Dojima himself? Here?"

"I didn't know the Immortal Dragon had a daughter."

"I hear she's the sole reason why Gremory won the Rating Game."

"She certainly feels powerful. For a human."

At least they weren't getting any negative attention? Looking down on them for being human notwithstanding. That had to count for something.

"Mr. Daigo, if you don't mind, there are a few things I wish to discuss with you." Sirzechs then said.

"Of course," Daigo said, glancing at Akane. "If you need anything, just call for me and I'll respond. Your mother will have my head otherwise."

"Sure…"

With that, the chairman left with Sirzechs, Mine walking alongside the former as a bodyguard probably. Rias then turned to them with a smile.

"I was worried you wouldn't come when you said you'd 'try'." She said. "Glad I was wrong."

"Again." Akane smirked.

"Again." Rias nodded.

"Maybe you should let Sona think for you at this point since you're always wrong."

Rias only sighed in exasperation, not bothering to argue with her. The atmosphere seemed to shift positively after this as some familiarity entered it. The shift continued as more approached them, like Sona and the rest of Rias' peerage.

Ichiban noticed that out of Sona's, only her Queen was present.

"It would certainly save me a lot of headaches," Sona added playfully. "Alas, my job as a babysitter will continue indefinitely. If only someone was responsible with her time…"

"Okay, we get it, I was dumb and I should've listened to you earlier," Rias whined, though she didn't seem bothered. "I thought you were on my side."

"Whatever could you mean?" Sona's smile gained a hint of smugness. "I've always been on your side."

"You know what I meant."

As the two went back and forth, Ichiban looked behind him as he felt someone pull the hem of his jacket and spotted Koneko.

"I didn't get to say it before." She started before he could question her. "But thanks for helping us."

"Oh, I didn't do much. Your thanks should be directed toward her." He nodded at Akane. "If anything, I'm in the same boat. Kind of."

"No, you helped too." She disagreed. "I liked sparring with you."

"Hey, same." Ichiban beamed, appreciating the indirect compliment. "Most use magic or weapons so it's kinda tough to find someone who knows how to throw a punch."

Koneko nodded, mirroring his smile as they continued the conversation.

---

– Akane –

I hate heels. They're the only thing I hate more than skirts. They're the bane of my existence. I don't even know why they were invented, and whoever did that should be burning in the deepest parts of hell, alongside the dipshit who invented dark chocolate.

I pause as that thought crosses my mind, and a question pops into my head.

"So I was wondering." I start as Sona and Rias look at me. "We're in hell, right?"

"The commonly used term is 'Underworld', but yes." Sona nods, adjusting her glasses. "Why do you ask?"

"So what happens if someone who is supposed to go to hell dies?" I ask, genuinely curious. "Or like, a devil dies. Is there some kind of a special room or place for those?"

The devil heiresses blink and Rias answers first.

"They go to Super Hell."

I look at her with a confused look.

"What?"

"Super Hell." She repeats. "A place worse than hell."

I take a moment to process what she said before replying.

"You're making that up." I accuse, making her smile mischievously.

"I'd be shocked if you believed her," Sona said. "But no, in that scenario, their souls go to the lifestream to be purified before reincarnating."

That piques my interest.

"Lifestream?" I raise a brow. "What's that?"

"It's akin to a river in a metaphysical sense, connected to every living thing in the universe," Sona explains. "It's where gods, devils, and most supernatural races go when they die."

"And humans?"

"Kind of a special case. It depends on their religious beliefs." Rias answers. "Some go to Heaven, others to Valhalla or Elysium, and so on. If you don't worship anyone, you also go to the lifestream."

"There are some exceptions, though," Sona adds. "I don't know if what I'm about to say is true or not, but I remember hearing about a devil going to heaven when they died."

"How does that even work?" I question. "Wouldn't they just get burned to death from the holy energy?"

"I don't know. It's what I heard." She shrugs.

So if I die, I'm going to be reincarnated again? Is that right?

No. You are an exception.

Really? I didn't expect you to respond to that, to be honest, but can you clarify a bit?

If you die, we will cease to exist.

…Oh. That's kinda frightening. No afterlife for me then? And did you say 'we' as in you too?

Yes. So for both of our sakes, be smart and avoid that fate.

I'm not planning to die any time soon even if I did have an afterlife waiting for me, Game. Relax. You even put that little trait to prevent me from dying. Good to know, though.

I look around the hall, spotting the group I came with in separate places. Daigo and Mine are with Sirzechs and Serafall, Ichi is chatting with Koneko, Issei with Kiba, and Asia is taken care of by Akeno and Tsubaki, who has a knack for soothing her apparently.

Good, she looked like she was about to pass out on the way. I threw the invitation out there but she seemed kind of excited about it at first. Maybe the fact that she's going to the underworld and being surrounded by devils didn't catch up to her at the time. Celestial Presence and the other Charisma perks seemed to have calmed her down significantly, though.

Ichiban and Koneko seem to have gotten fond of each other. I always thought the latter was kind of unapproachable with how apathetic she looks, but there is some camaraderie she shared with Ichi. Cute, more ammo to use against him.

As for the big guys… well, a few things.

Power-wise, I can only see Daigo's stats, and he's around as tough as Akiyama, maybe a few hundred points above my uncle. Not being able to see the stats of the other three means they're all stronger than the leader, which on the surface, might not look good.

But the sheer, commanding presence Daigo had when I first saw him was inexplicable. Something about him just screamed 'authority', just as much as Majima screamed 'dangerous'. Perhaps he's a leader by charisma and wits rather than strength.

As for his right-hand man, 'Mine Yoshitaka'… I don't know, there's something about him I don't like. It feels like he knows way more than he should, and it makes me kind of nervous. He's too sharp, and he knows how to hide it.

Lastly, I guess not seeing Serafall's stats proves that she's more powerful than Grayfia. I remember there was some kind of rivalry between them in the main series, but I'm not sure. The memories of my past life have been getting weaker and weaker recently and that's concerning.

I can still recall the key points in the story, though. Very clearly too, so at least I have that going for me.

"Makes sense," I respond after a moment, glancing at Sona. "You know, you've been staring at me for a bit now. Something on my face?"

"Apologies, I'm just not used to… well, making actual eye contact with you." She says, confusing me for a bit before explaining. "Your usual style obscures your left eye and sometimes makes it hard for me to understand your emotions through facial features."

"Oh, that? Don't get used to it." I snort. "It's a one-time thing."

"Why?" Rias raises a brow. "You look a lot cuter and friendlier like this."

"Not in my hands." I shake my head. "It has a mind of its own."

The two heiresses look at me weirdly.

"What?" Sona utters. "What do you mean?"

"Do you actually think I never tried to get rid of it? It used to obscure my vision– obviously, I wanted it gone." I say. "But everything I did never worked."

You'd think I'm fucking with them here, but I'm being 100% truthful. It's like I'm destined to have the emo look for some fucking reason.

"...I feel like you're messing with us," Rias states, tilting her head and squinting suspiciously.

"I'm not. I'm being serious." I insist. "Temporary solutions like hair gel work, but it doesn't last forever."

"Cutting your hair?" Sona offers.

"It would just grow the next day." I deflect. Not even shaving the fucking thing got rid of it. "Always up to here, around my neck."

The two devils look at each other incredulously, still in disbelief.

"I'm convinced that either my hair is some eldritch entity–" I continue. "Or it's the will of the universe. It's fine though, I learned to live with it."

"I don't know why I'm kinda believing you, but that's a thing apparently," Rias says before changing the subject. "Anyway, would you like a tour around the estate? There are a lot of things I want to show you."

I blink in slight surprise at how excited her tone sounds.

"I don't mind." I shrug before looking at my 'meatshields'. "Oi, you three. Rias wants to take me on a tour. Wanna come with us?"

The rest look interested and nod. Well, Ichi looks interested in the tour– Issei and Asia just want to stick with me. Which is fair. Just like Ichiban, It doesn't take a genius to know that Issei is crushing on me hard, but unlike Ichiban, he doesn't know how to hide it. And Asia's like my own puppy who follows me everywhere.

…I did always want a younger sibling. Mostly to bully them.

"She's trying to impress you," Sona whispers to me as we follow Rias. "She's been anxious about this party and how you'd react, you know."

"That right?"

"You've made a strong impression on her." She confirms. "So bear with her for a while, okay? She can be quite clingy."

"I see."

And a sudden realization dawns on me, making me frown thoughtfully

Now that I think about it, I've unlocked affection for Rias and Sona, but what does that imply? Even before unlocking his affection, Ichi had a crush on me, but can that be said for the devils as well?

…If yes, then I think I'm making a harem without even realizing it. I've only ever hoped to get closer to them for political power and perks, but maybe I can do more. Swinging one way doesn't mean I can't seduce girls– I have perks that even say that exact thing.

I should probably test this out before getting too ahead of myself, though. The Game did say that high affection doesn't necessarily mean romantic or sexual attraction. I'm pretty sure my mother doesn't have feelings for me. Thank god for that.

And if I got a perk that powerful from my mother...

My gaze lingers on Rias as a small smile makes it onto my face.

I wonder if I can get Power of Destruction from her.

---

As Rias continues to show us around, we exit the mansion and walk around outside. I wasn't necessarily impressed by what I saw, but credit where credit's due, it is a nice place. Anyone can tell that they've been taking care of it very well, from how spotless the place is to how decorated it was.

Personally, I'm not very into Western designs or giant mansions in general. Maybe because I've been raised in an Eastern-style house most of my life, despite traveling around the world and seeing the wonders of Earth. Maybe that's why I'm not that impressed. I've been to a lot of places because I'm spoiled.

Those were the good days.

Still, it was fun. The main hall where the party took place felt kind of stuffy. I don't even like fancy events like this one, and only came out of obligation and curiosity. The pool party before the Rating Game was a lot more fun than this one.

My impressions of the Underworld would be 'underwhelmed' and 'disappointed'. It's just the human world but with a different name. The only thing I noticed is the weather feeling a little hotter. That's it. No roaring flames or tortured souls around.

I shouldn't have been expecting anything that would've blown me away, though. That one is on me. It's fine, though. In hindsight, I don't think it would've been nice if the entire fucking realm is on fire or there are people in a perpetual state of burning to death and coming back to life, only to burn to death again.

Though, with the knowledge that there's something called the "Lifestream", I don't think that's a thing that actually happens. That is actually very interesting to me and I should probably ask my mother about it. I didn't know I was in Final Fantasy.

"And this is the garden." Rias points out. "My mother has been cultivating it for years now, even before I was born."

And I believe it. It was an admittedly beautiful garden with all kinds of flowers, a few I'm pretty sure don't exist on Earth. Some of them are spouting fire for fuck's sake, and that's the first demonic thing I've seen so far.

"Wow, what kind of flowers are those?" Issei asks, pointing at the fiery flowers.

"You get fire powers if you eat those," I say before Rias answers. "Do it. Eat them."

Ichiban finds this especially amusing as he chuckles.

"Don't eat them, Issei," Rias warns seriously.

"Wha– I won't eat them!" He looks at the redhead, slightly offended. "What do you take me for?!"

"An idiot," Ichiban says.

"You almost snapped your own spine with the gravity belt, you dumbfuck." I scoff. "You have no room to talk."

That shut him up immediately as his smirk dropped, his lips thinning.

"Exactly." Issei grinned smugly.

"Do I have to remind you of what happened to your shit friends?" I raise a brow, crossing my arms. "You're still stupider than him. Don't get ahead of yourself."

Our banter seems to amuse everyone else as they giggle at the two boys. They have nothing to blame but themselves– if they weren't so dumb, they wouldn't be easy targets for me to pick on.

"Anyway, those fire flowers are used for medicine," Rias explains. "But on their own, they're pretty poisonous. My mother is a pro at gardening, though, so she can take care of herself."

"Hmm…" My gaze lingers on the flowers before I turn to Ichi, who's been shifting around weirdly for a few seconds, trying to see something. "What are you doing?"

"I think I just saw something over there." He points in the general direction of what he's supposedly seen, over the garden. "I don't know if I'm imagining things or not, but I think it's a camel."

I pause and look at him in confusion, though I notice Rias stiffening from the corner of my eyes.

"Ah, that." She grimaces. "W-well, yes, those are camels, but they're veeeeery dangerous. We shouldn't disturb them."

"They're well trained." Sona quips. "I can take you there if you'd like."

"No, they're not. You're not allowed to–"

"Did you know that the Gremory clan trait is camel taming?" Akeno cuts her off, dropping a random fact out of nowhere that I did a double take. What? "I'm surprised Rias never told you."

"Stop, don't tell them that!"

"...Camel Taming?" Ichiban repeats. "That's it? That's their trait?"

"That's so fucking stupid," I say bluntly. "The Phenex clan have fire, wind, and rapid regeneration. Sona and her family have extreme control over water. Bael and their Power of Destruction. But the Gremory got Camel Taming?"

"Don't make it sound so lame!" The Camel Tamer whines, looking very flustered.

"It is lame." A condescending laugh escapes me. "You're so lucky you still have your destruction power. Fucking Camel Taming!"

Rias refuses to argue, but she looks upset and embarrassed, glaring daggers at Sona who had an unapologetic smirk on her face.

"C-can we see the camels?" Asia, who was quiet nearly the entire time, asks timidly. "I've never seen one before…"

Rias was about to shut that down instantly, but the puppy eyes are effective even on devils. She hesitates for a moment before a long, drawn-out sigh leaves her. I don't know why she's so against showing us random demon camels, but you can never say no to Asia.

"...Fine." She says after a moment. "But just for a bit."

Asia beams brightly as Rias leads us there through the garden surrounded by bushes, her pace slowing down more and more until she just stops. We all pause and turn to look at her, and in response, she points forward, refusing to take another step.

"Go there and you'll see them on your left." She says.

"You're not coming with us?" I raise a brow.

"No."

"Yes, you will," Sona interjects, grabbing her by the arm. "They're your guests and this is your responsibility."

"Hey, stop!" Rias struggles, but she's dragged either way. Sona is decently stronger than her. "S-stop, I don't want to see them!"

I'm watching this in amusement, loving every moment until we arrive. They were behind a magically enhanced fence and looked like regular camels. Kind of. They have three humps instead of two, but other than that, they look normal.

I check one with Observe, eyebrows raised in interest. They're actually kind of tough, around as strong as Rias herself even, physically anyway. Why couldn't she add some to her peerage for the Rating Game against Riser, though? They would've been a big help.

The closest to the fence notices us, and I could almost feel the mischief coming from it as it rushes toward us, more specifically Rias. The redhead, once she notices the giant demonic camel charging at her, screams bloody murder before pushing Sona away and hiding behind me.

"Get it away from me!" She cries out.

Ah, that's why. She's scared of them.

The camel can't get over the fence but tries to intimidate me by unleashing some of its demonic energy. I scoff and respond with my own Aura Release, accidentally freezing the grass underneath and making it flinch. It may be relatively tough, but I can still beat it without much difficulty.

It looks a bit annoyed but backs off anyway. What the hell is its problem? Why did it target Rias specifically?

"You didn't have to go so far…" Sona says, staring at the frozen ground under me.

And I just realize that my little show made everyone back off from me except Rias. I don't have as much mana as the devils here, but due to the countless perks I have, it feels a lot heavier and sharper than theirs. It makes me feel stronger than I am.

"My bad. I'm not good at doing this." I say truthfully, referring to the whole 'using magic for intimidating' thing. "And can you get off me? It's gone now."

Rias realizes how tightly she's been hugging me and immediately lets go, blushing in embarrassment.

"Camel Taming clan trait but she's scared of camels," I mutter loud enough for everyone to hear. "You can't make this shit up even if you tried."

"F-for your information, devils can't be born with two clan traits!" She argues. "Clearly I was good enough to get the better power."

"Right, right." I wave it off. "Where do we go off to now, Camel Tamer?"

Her face gets even redder as she's about to complain, but then Ichiban calls out for the redhead as he points at something in the distance.

"Hey, Rias? Where does this lead to?" He asks, referring to an ancient-looking door inside a small cave. "Looks kinda creepy."

"Ah, that?" Rias quickly approaches him, as do all of us. She's clearly thankful the subject changed. She knows I would've relentlessly teased her if it didn't. "Well, this place was used as a prison in the civil war a few hundred years ago."

"Damn." He responds, pushing the door and prompting it to creak open ever so slightly. "Oh, it's open. I thought for sure it'd be locked."

"My mother uses it as a storage for her garden tools now." She shrugs. "You can go in if you'd like. There isn't a lot more I can show you, to be honest."

And so we enter the prison-turned-garden cave, and lo and behold, nothing is interesting. I don't know why I expected torture devices and shit. Obviously, they're gonna take them away to some other place. Sure, there were a lot of cells, but that was it aside from the garden tools like Rias said there would be, and some trap door in the corner.

I look at said trap door for a moment before looking back at Rias.

"What's in there?"

"That leads to the sewers." She answers. "It was built recently."

"...The sewers or the way leading into it?" I blink, slightly confused and concerned.

"The way leading into it, obviously," Sona answers, looking at me strangely. "Did… you think we didn't have sewer systems built for hundreds of years?"

"Hey, she phrased it weirdly." I point at Rias. "Not my fault."

Sona just sighs at that.

"Do devils even need to shit?" Issei whispers very quietly.

…That is a good question. Can't they just, I don't know, will the waste away?

"Well, that's it really," Rias says, but not before throwing a glare at Issei. Oh, she heard that. "Let's go back to the main hall. We've been out for too long and I don't want to worry about my brother or Mr. Daigo coming after us."

That causes the rest to follow her, as do I, until Ichi taps me on my shoulder with a mischievous grin, making me blink in confusion as everyone else leaves the garden cave place.

"What?"

"Bet you wouldn't go there." He challenges, pointing at the trap door. "Do it, you won't."

"Ichi, that's stupid. Of course, I won't." I scoff. "I don't want to ruin my dress. This is my favorite one."

"Since when did you care about that?" He tilts his head. "Or wait, is that just an excuse?"

"I'm being serious," I respond, crossing my arms. He's getting kinda annoying. What the hell is up with that smirk anyway?

"Fair, fair." He backs off, rolling his eyes. "Honestly, I wouldn't blame you. There are probably lots of roaches down there. Demon roaches even."

The thought and mental image nearly send a shiver down my spine, but I still don't like the implication of that.

"Hey, what's the hold-up?" Rias peeked at us from the door. "You two coming or not?"

"Yeah, sure, give us a few minutes," Ichi asks, putting a hand on my shoulder as I try to walk away. "There's something I gotta tell Akane."

"Well, alright, but hurry up." The redhead says. "Or you're gonna miss out on the cake."

There's a cake?

"Sure." Ichi waves as she leaves us. "...So demon roaches."

"Could you stop that?"

"I mean, you're scared of them, aren't you?" He accuses.

"No, I'm not." I deny it, scowling at his proofless statement. Unbelievable.

"Deathly afraid even." He wiggles his eyebrows. "Remember the time we explored Kamurocho's sewers? When I found that grenade lying around? One little roach poked out and got you screaming like a little girl."

"That never fucking happened." I deny it once more, my face flushing and gaining a slight reddish tint.

"Oh yeah? Prove it, then." His smirk is so infuriating I damn near punch it off. "Go down there."

I was about to do just that before I stop, forcing myself to think clearly. He undoubtedly just wants to get a rise out of me since I always do it to him. He only wants to see me flustered, and the best way to play this game is to not even acknowledge its existence.

"Are you even listening to what you're saying?" I say, keeping my cool.

"Chicken."

"You want me to go in there in the middle of a political party?" I continue calmly.

"B'gawk!"

I nearly lunge at the bastard, but my heart is as tranquil as the surface of a pond, and I take a deep breath through my nose. Nice fucking try, Ichi. You almost got–

Quest added

[I Ain't No Coward!]

Objective: Do Ichiban's challenge

Bonus Objective: Explore at least two hundred meters worth of the sewer system

Rewards: 5 LUK, Slightly increase affection with Ichiban Kasuga

Bonus Rewards: 10 WIS, 10 INT, [Lucky Underground Navigator] Perk

For fuck's sake, Game. Whose side are you on? You even had to make it a Luck increase because I'm that amount of points short of gaining a new perk.

Gaining LUK is not very easy through quests, and I doubt you'd be taking any class that can increase it.

Be thankful I even bothered.

How dare you be logical with me. Let me complain about this damn it.

I don't know how, but I'm able to sense some kind of playful amusement from the Game, making me groan. You're having fun with this too, you dick.

"Fine." I click my tongue, and Ichiban's smirk widens considerably at that. "But if my dress is ruined, you're getting a new one for me."

"Sure!"

"It's custom-made, by the way." I lie, making him hesitate a bit.

"S-sure…"

I stare at the trapdoor for a moment before sighing, taking off my heels, and conjuring up more comfortable footwear with my ice magic. I give Ichiban one last glare before opening the trapdoor and going down the ladder.

Holy shit this place is deep.

"Don't you fucking dare close it." I growl at Ichi.

"I won't, I won't." He puts his hand up. "That'd be too far."

I squint at him suspiciously before continuing down.

The perk better be worth it, Game.

---

Ugh, this place stinks. It's not as terrible as I expected it to be, but still pretty bad.

"Oooiii!" Ichiban calls out for me. "How is it down there?"

"I don't know, how about you get down here and see for yourself," I respond.

"...So demon roaches?"

"Could you stop bringing that up?!" I shout at him with a scowl. "For fuck's sake, it's bad enough stepping a foot down here."

"Sheesh, relax. I'm just fucking with you."

"Whatever, I'm coming back up." I scoff.

"What? No, you barely even got there." He argues. "That's no fun."

"Not part of the deal, I don't give a shit."

He stays silent for a moment before he exaggerates a sigh.

"Oh well. Can't do much." He says. "I still think you haven't proven yourself, but whatever."

My lips thin as I weigh my options. I'll be honest, while the perk doesn't exactly sound very useful in my day-to-day life, it's still a permanent power. Ten– or twenty for my wisdom and intelligence doesn't sound that good either, but it like the perk, it's permanent…

"Okay, fine, how about this." I calm myself down to think about this utterly and completely rationally. "I'll walk around the sewers for like, ten minutes, then come back."

"Ooooh–"

"But if I do that, then your servitude to me will extend for one more month." I offer, still rational.

"Shiiit that's a tough bargain you drive." He mumbles for a moment before answering. "Fine, you won't stick to it anyway. I'll start a timer in four, three, two…"

I start walking away as soon as he starts the timer, quickening my pace so I can get those meters over and done. I mean, two hundred meters ain't much. I'll just walk in a straight line until I get the quest ping.

Worst case scenario? I run into hostiles because I don't like fighting in a dress. Best case scenario? I run into hostiles because nothing's stopping me from murdering anything here and getting EXP for it. I'm close to level 150, which unlocks the next dungeon for me.

And the levels from that will probably make me strong enough to handle Kokabiel when he shows up. So really, it's a win-win for me either way. I don't care if I run into 'demon roaches' or rats. As long as I can kill it, I'm happy.

Though, I'd prefer rats. Just saying.

…It's eerily quiet here. I mean, yeah, I'm in a sewer, but still. I don't know why, but the silence makes me feel like I'm being watched. It's creeping me the fuck out.

…

"So what if I'm scared of cockroaches?" I mutter to myself, the urge to make a sound becoming too strong. "Have you seen the little shits? They're creepy, gross, and unsanitary. Nothing wrong with avoiding them."

Okay, maybe him insisting about 'demonic roaches' got into my head and it's making me paranoid as fuck.

"Besides, not like there's anything wrong with having fears." I continue, the silence continuing to be unbearable. "Everyone has those. Kaa-san is afraid of dentists, and apparently, she's some legendary assassin."

Then again, she could be faking that too. Though, the last time she went there she looked genuinely fucking terrified. I stifle a snicker as I remember her face. It isn't easy seeing her scared– she'd take nearly everything on the chin and laugh about it later, but not dentists.

I shouldn't laugh about that. It's probably some PTSD or the like she got from her early career.

No, wait, why do I care about that? It was funny. Who gives a shit if it's ethical to laugh or not. Besides, she didn't look very bothered when I did laugh that one time, more of her pouty, 'stop being mean to me' whining.

Quest complete

There it is. Fuck me, took way longer than it had any right to. I should complete the ten-minute mark if I go back now.

As I'm about to turn around, a horrible chill goes down my spine– I feel imminent danger right behind me, prompting me to twirl with a quickly formed ice blade, swinging it widely, but there was nothing there.

I scan my surroundings and calm my pounding heart. I don't know what the hell that was, but fuck the challenge. I have to go back right now.

So instead of a slow-paced walk, I begin my jog back to the ladder, casting ice flesh and preparing for any kind of fight. The feeling of being watched from earlier intensified tenfold– there's definitely something terrifying here planning to kill me.

I don't know if it's strong, but whatever it did, it's not normal. The entire atmosphere just feels off now. Even the bad scent of the sewers has disappeared, and it's not me just getting used to it. All I smell right now is dust and… some kind of floral cologne?

The latter is very faint, but even with how sweet it smells, something was just wrong.

As I continue my jog, which had turned into a sprint by now, I nearly slam into a wall, stopping just in time. My brain freezes for a moment as I process this, looking around as my heart drops into my stomach.

The ladder isn't there. I couldn't have missed it– I walked in a straight fucking line.

"What the hell is going on…?" I mumble, worry gripping my chest tightly. "Where am I…?"

No, calm down. Panicking won't get you anywhere. Relax and assess your situation rationally, and you'll get out of here just fine. I don't know what happened, but I just need to find an exit. That's it.

I take a deep, calming breath and stop shaking, my eyes sharpening in focus as I start walking in the opposite direction, away from the wall as I look for any possible way that could lead to an exit while leaving ice cubes to keep track of where I am.

That's all I have to do to get out of here. Whatever's going on isn't normal– something or someone teleported me or is using some kind of illusions to keep me from leaving for some reason I'm unaware of.

Regardless, if I come across the bastard, I'll cave his head in.

---

– Ichiban –

As he waited for his friend's return, Ichiban checked the timer. Only five minutes passed, huh? Damn, why does it feel so much longer than that?

He had to admit, though. He didn't expect her to take the bait. He was messing around with her of course and enjoyed her flustered look way more than he thought he would. She thought she could just torment him forever without him returning the favor. Should've thought better than that!

Still, he also had to admit that she was very brave for accepting the challenge. He'd seen it firsthand, and she was unreasonably afraid of roaches to the point of screaming and running. He's seen it once and didn't think much of it at the time since, yeah, different people have different fears and all that.

But now she liked annoying him too much and he decided to bring it up. She looked positively bothered when he did, and also fairly cute. Was this what she saw when she got him mad? That couldn't be, though. Akane was like, way beyond supermodels in terms of looks while he was just your average Joe.

He had started to understand the appeal, though. It was fun to be annoying.

Waiting around and doing nothing was kind of boring, though. He could just leave to mess with her when she climbed back up, but that sounded too mean for him to do. He shouldn't push her around that much or she'd probably get really upset, and the thought of being responsible made him feel kind of terrible.

"What are you doing?" Sona suddenly asked him, waiting at the door.

Ichiban was snapped out of his thoughts, startled as he looked at her in a slight panic.

"Oh, uh, well, you know…" He quickly thought of an excuse. "...Hanging around…?"

She looked at him blankly.

"And Akane?" She crossed her arms.

…

…

…

"Promise you won't be mad."

"For the love of–" Sona rubbed the bridge of her nose in exasperation. "What did you two do now?"

"She may or may not have gone down there." He pointed at the trap door. "...And it may or may not have been because of me challenging her to do so."

Sona did not look one bit amused.

"And you did that why exactly?" She asked.

"Look, I just thought it'd be funny. It's not that serious.." He argued, making her pause. "...It's not that serious, is it?"

"It's not. I wouldn't mind it if this was a casual visit, as strange as it is." Sona confirms with a sigh. "But what possessed her to think that she can explore random sewer systems in the middle of a political party?"

And now Ichiban feels incredibly guilty for egging her on. Shit, he shouldn't have thrown her under the bus like that. It's not right.

"I'll go get her," Ichiban promised, looking very apologetic. "I'm so sorry about this, Sona. We shouldn't have. I didn't mean to make this tough for you."

"It's alright, Kasuga. My sister would likely find it hilarious if anything." She shakes her head, her features softening slightly as she walked up to him. "Just be mindful about this next time, alright?"

"Got it."

"Now let's hurry up and get her." Sona smiled. "We wouldn't want to miss out on the cake now, would we?"

Ichiban smiled back as she quickly climbed down the ladder before him, going after his best friend.

He should prepare himself for a super special method of plastic surgery by Doctor Ice Queen. It'll probably hurt less then.

…And now the image of Akane in a sexy nurse outfit won't leave his mind.

God fucking damn it.

---

– Akane –

It's been… I don't know, a few hours? I didn't keep track. I still have no idea what's going on, but I'm a lot calmer than I was at first. If anything, I'm just pretty frustrated. The yakuza haven't even tried to help yet, nor have the devils. I don't know what's happening up there, but they're taking their sweet fucking time.

I tried to break through the walls, but I don't know what they were made of to withstand my most powerful spells. Legit not a single scratch was made even after using all of my mana on an overcharged Ice Burst. Not even Angel's Sorrow with a silver bullet did anything to the walls. Can't call anyone with my phone, either. No signal.

That's one thing, of course. The presence that's been watching me is deliberately trying to fuck with my head, but thankfully, Gamer's Mind prevented the bigger attempts, like the whole whispering thing. I keep getting notifications about some 'demonic whispering' getting blocked over and over.

[Demonic Whispering] has been blocked by [Gamer's Mind]

Yeah, like this.

So that's pretty cool, I guess. Pretty sure this is the first time Gamer's Mind has done something like this. Fuck you, 'demonic presence', you'll never get into my head. I have the power of a probably eldritch entity on my side.

The smaller attempts, however, still get to me.

Something tries to sneak up on me and I swing my sword at it, only to see nothing, making me scoff. This shit that tries to attack me from behind every time is pissing me off. It's not like I can ignore it either– something tells me I probably won't like it if I did.

Though, that proves that there is something here. Someone kidnapped me and is trying to play these stupid games with me for one reason or another. I don't know who fucking got it into their head that they can do something like this, but I promise, I'm going to make them suffer for every second I've been here.

I flinch as this promise of violence crossed my head before I scowl. I've been getting more and more irritable the longer this goes on and feels… off. If anything, I should feel terrified as fuck. Whatever is in here is probably way ahead of me in terms of power.

But I'm not scared, I'm just unreasonably frustrated. Is this the work of my trait? This is the first time it worked this way, though. What the hell is going on?

Regardless, I've yet to make any progress, and it's been getting kind of draining. I'm hungry and I didn't put a lot of food in my inventory – even though I should've – I want to sleep since I woke up early, and my throat is parched.

I wish Gamer's Body disregarded those needs, but it is what it is. There are a lot of games where you need to sleep, eat and drink after all.

I shouldn't have fucking come here. I could've been back home, building my funny little robots, but no I had to suck up to those demonic assholes because of 'politics'. Who gives a flying fuck about that shit anyway? All that got me in this stupid situation.

Wait, hold on, what if I-

[I.D Create] cannot be used while enemies are nearby.

Nevermind.

Game, mind lending a hand here before I fucking lose it?

…

It doesn't answer.

I can feel my rage slowly overwhelming my senses, and this time, it's not something I can easily control. Not when so many emotions are swirling around my mind. I can feel myself grinding my teeth together– fists clenching so hard they turn white.

"Fuck…" I mutter, never slowing down my pace. "Damn it!"

That's when I hear something– someone saying, in the quietest of whispers…

"Here."

I look in the direction of where that voice came from. I can't tell who it belonged to. It wasn't feminine nor was it masculine. It's just… a voice.

I take a deep, calming breath through my nose and stop myself from losing it. I don't want to waste energy. I need to keep moving. Getting mad won't get me anywhere. Then I pause, though, as I feel something cold dripping down my nose.

I wipe and frown in confusion at what I see. Why am I having a nosebleed? Doesn't Gamer's Body protect me from this kind of stuff? I don't see anything wrong with my HP, so nothing has damaged me.

Is it the stress getting to me? My hair has some white strands right now, likely my heritage manifesting more. They go back to black when I calm down, but that's an indication of my mental state at the moment, and it's not looking good.

Whatever. I may have a lead now. It could be a trap, but so far, I've been walking for hours without any progress, so I'll risk it and go to where this voice is. It might be someone trying to help me. Maybe this is the Tojo Clan's attempt at sending some help.

"Better than nothing, I guess…" I mutter to myself, walking toward the voice.

…I hope this nightmare ends soon. I hate eerie shit like this.

---

– Mine Yoshitaka –

He knew coming here was mostly out of courtesy, but god, it still bored him to death. He hated standing there and doing nothing productive for the clan. It was his responsibility as the right-hand man and the first captain to do so, but so was attending this borefest.

His job was simple, and it was to guard the chairman and the kids, primarily the Amamiya girl. The others weren't big priorities. Although, Arakawa showed a strange amount of fondness for the Boosted Gear wielder in their last meeting.

And if he's a potential recruit for the Tojo Clan as he said, then he might be a lot more important than Mine gave him credit for. Not as much as Tatsu's kid, but still pretty high up there.

So of course, they put chips on every one of the kids purely for safety reasons. Microscopic tracking tech that can send signals throughout dimensions and a physical distance of one million kilometers, sticking to their clothes as soon as they sat in the car.

Speaking of the girl, Mine was fairly… well, he didn't quite know enough about her personally to make an opinion yet, but she was sharp and very attentive. When they got in the car together, he'd noticed her glances everywhere, as if she had been calculating everything in her field of vision.

It was impressive that a child so young was very observant, so he was willing to give her points for that. When Majima said she was exactly like her father, Mine had thought he was exaggerating. Tatsu was one of a kind– arguably the most powerful man the Tojo Clan has ever cultivated.

But after seeing her, Mine was inclined to listen. He wouldn't agree just yet, but she had potential. Aside from that, she was so much better at socializing than her father ever was. With the amount of bullshit, his idiocy put everyone around him through, Mine was surprised Mizuki didn't pass away from a heart attack.

Regardless, he was slightly more looking forward to what the man's daughter would end up becoming. Not sharp enough to notice the chips sticking to her dress, but he wouldn't blame her. She was still young and inexperienced.

As the leaders had their talks, Mine quickly checked his watch, gaze sharpening as Akane's tracking chip signal suddenly disappeared before it reappeared just as quickly. What was that? Some kind of glitch?

That couldn't be– this was state-of-the-art technology they had. Glitches like this were nonexistent. Did something happen to her? If yes, why did the chip reappear just as fast as it vanished? Mine's mind raced for an answer before he excused himself.

"Mine?" Daigo looked at him quizzically. "What happened?"

Serafall and Sirzechs were also slightly concerned. No, showing panic right now wasn't a good idea. He needed to relax and come up with a good, yet truthful excuse. Mine took a moment to calm himself before he answered.

"I'd like to check on the kids." He said. "They've been out for a while."

"I see." Daigo nodded, getting the message immediately. "Would that be alright, Sirzechs-san?"

"Of course." Satan Lucifer nodded. "Serafall, would you please go with him?"

"Sure." The Leviathan obeyed.

With that, the two walked away and out of the mansion.

He really hoped this was a glitch in the system of some kind. The peace treaty is right around the corner– he'd rather there would be no complications when they're this close to it.

---

– Akane –

It's been over a fucking day since I've heard that stupid voice and nothing. More than twenty-four hours of walking and nothing fucking changed. To make matters worse, the fucking asshole says the same thing every time I get angry, getting my hopes up again before disappearing. Every single goddamn time.

I don't know who the fuckwit cunt that's doing this or what he wants, but I'm going to parade his mangled, desecrated corpse across all of Japan as if it's a BALLOON IN A FUCKING FESTIVAL!

Now, with an animalistic scowl on my face, disheveled hair, ruined makeup, tired eyes, a grumbling stomach, and a dry throat, I drag around my ice sword, not even comprehending the noise it makes as it scratches the stony ground.

"Here." the voice calls out again, making me grit my teeth.

"Shut up," I growl, my pace quickening.

Where the hell are they? The yakuza– devils– fucking anyone?! What, am I gonna stay here forever? Walk and walk and walk until I fucking collapse?! All because of this stupid challenge by Ichiban?

This is all his fault. He's the one who's suddenly gotten high and mighty thinking he can get me to react, and I'll make him pay for it. I'm going to gouge out both of his fucking eyes when I see him again. I'm going to beat him to an inch of his life– have him beg me for mercy.

"Here."

"Shut. Up." I slam my fist against the wall by my side, continuing my walk.

I do whatever I can to calm down, but at this point, it's futile. I can't think straight, not when I'm in this shape. The Game doesn't respond no matter how much I beg and plead for it to help, and nobody even tried to send in anyone.

The thought makes me even angrier than I already am. No matter how weak I physically am, I can feel immense magical power bubbling alongside my rage. I'm at my limits. I can't take this anymore.

"Here."

"Haaah…."

My breathing gets increasingly erratic and so does my heartbeat as I flinch, the unbearable migraine making me almost collapse.

"Here."

"Ngggghh…!" I grunt and hold my head in pain then growl deeply. "Stop it…"

I let go of the sword and it dispels itself as I fall to my knees, the voice which I realize is getting louder and keeps saying here' over and over as I put my hands on my head. It's painful– I can't even hear anything anymore, just this irritating word getting louder and louder every time.

"Here."

I try my hardest to ignore it again, knowing the angrier I get, the louder this voice becomes, and so I stand up and continue on my way. I could barely think, but a moment of clarity makes me able to at least do so for a few minutes.

That's when I feel something behind me, prompting me to turn around and unleash one of my strongest spells up to date. This got me to break my concentration as I start hyperventilating, the stupid voice now outright screaming in my ears as loudly as a freight train.

The ringing in my ears was worse than anything I'd ever felt before. Everything sounds muffled. I can hear my heartbeat, and each pound feels like it's about to make my eardrums burst.

I'm slowly losing my grip on consciousness, but I know in my heart that if I let whatever this thing knock me out, I won't wake up ever again. I know what I must do to survive this mental attack, and honestly, I don't care if it's my last option anymore.

So if it wants to make me angry, then I'll show it rage.

Letting go of whatever sense of reason I have left, I give the sin of wrath full control of my decisions, and the results are instant.

My magic explodes– I feel overwhelming power coursing through me. As if all the hunger and weakness I've felt never existed. But I can't enjoy that feeling, not when the voice keeps getting louder and more frequent. Not when this anger in me makes me unable to even think like a regular human being.

"He–"

Before he finishes it, I let out a powerful roar as my magic erupts even more, covering the entire area in blue ice, but even with all of that, my power keeps expanding at a rapid pace, Releasing all of my anger and resentment caught me in the moment, and it wasn't until I noticed that the walls around me finally shattering into tiny little cold particles that my screaming just… stopped.

Stopped so I can process what I did.

I look around– the entire sewer turning into a frozen cavern from the uncontrollable power I unleashed. For a moment, I'm in awe– I didn't know I was close to capable enough to do something like this. I try to look at my stats, but they all decreased back to normal.

As I continue scanning my surroundings, I see something to my right. I spot… some ruins where the light of the sun shines. I rub my eyes and stand up, walking down. Nothing I can recognize– just debris and boulders… and a single sword stabbed into the ground, the glare of the sun directly on it.

I stare at it in confusion for a whole minute, approaching it slowly. I'm not the best at sensing, especially not in my current state, but I can tell that this deceptively regular-looking longsword with a red gem on the guard is unbelievably powerful. Nothing I've seen can compare to it.

It's beautiful. It looks like a normal sword, but something about it draws me to it like it's calling for me. It must be sentient– it wants me to approach it, to pull it out of the stone. It almost feels like it's begging me to do so.

"You…" I mutter softly, feeling a bit out of it. "You were responsible for all of this, weren't you?"

The sword, being a sword, doesn't respond, so I do the next best thing and use Observe on it, drawing a disbelieving chuckle out of me.

[Excelsis, Blade of Vengeance] – Mythical Item

The almighty blade of the Ascended Devil– the ultimate, unmatched artifact, forged by legendary blacksmiths from across all the pantheons using mixed metals from every realm. Poured into it were the hatred and anger of Lucifer, his blood, and the countless souls of its victims used as essence to power it.

The blade seems to be dormant. More accurately, it is waiting for the return of its rightful master.

Deals 0000.1 Damage

Accepted Holder will become more powerful the angrier they are

Siphons lifeforce the longer it is used

Feels like a dream. Some kind of a twisted joke of a dream.

It's so weird, though. I can think so clearly now. Not like before. I don't understand– I should've been terrified, but all I was feeling was rage. This time it felt… like it wasn't me. Almost like something forced me to be angry.

I stare at the sword silently for a few moments.

"Was it you?" I say in an odd trance, crouching to see my reflection on the beautiful, silver blade, and see my snow-white hair slowly darkening back to its original color. "Was it your doing too? Was that the only way to get you out of here?"

Of course, it doesn't respond, but I don't expect it to. Its intentions are clear enough.

I stand back up and look at the sword. I can either go back and walk aimlessly until I starve to death, or risk it and try to pull it out. I'm convinced that all that I went through was made by it. I have to listen to it. It won't let me leave until I take it with me.

With my shaky hands, I tightly wrap them around the grip, taking a deep breath before pulling with all of my might.

The quiet, almost peaceful atmosphere of this place shifts into a dangerous one. Hundreds and hundreds of notifications telling me Gamer's Mind blocked something filled my vision until I minimize the entire UI.

Black lightning crackles around the blade. The golden, glowing light of the sun turns crimson red as blood pours out of the stone it's stabbed in. I see shadows from the corner of my eyes jumping at me. Tendrils of darkness wrap around my neck as horrifying screams and screeches of ungodly-sounding monsters approach.

I feel it. The blade's anger. Its uncontrollable fury and hate it holds for the world– for life itself. The fear and sorrow of millions of souls echo out in my head, Gamer's Mind not capable of blocking all of them. I try to pull even as every atom of my body tells me to let go and run.

But I can't.

Because if I do, I know for certain I'll die.

I pull and pull. Using all of my strength, every single ounce of it, but the blade refuses to budge. The terror begins to overwhelm me and my senses. Tears run down my face as the screams of those monsters get closer, and the dark tendril begins to choke me out.

My mind runs at a million miles a second, doing everything it can to find a solution, and one final idea pops into my mind. The moment I will it, the sword vanishes out of sight, and everything just stops.

The shadows and dark tendrils disintegrate into nothing, the approaching monsters become dead silent, and the rage of the sword evaporates. The only things that remain are the red light from the sun lighting up the room I'm in and the pool of blood from the stone.

I immediately fall, gasping for air as I tremble uncontrollably until I begin to laugh. It worked. The sword, plunged to a rock or not, was still an item, so sending it to the inventory should be plausible.

And it was.

"I–I did it." I half giggle half sob, still quivering. "I did it. I'm still alive."

I almost can't believe it. I've never been this happy to be alive in my life. Not once have I felt this scared. Not once, no matter how close I got to actually dying. It feels so unreal like all this was just a nightmare, but I know for sure if I was late a millisecond more, I would've died.

I don't know if it's the blade itself that responded that way or if it's a third party, but I'm just glad it's over. Whatever defense mechanism that was, it wanted the sword to stay here at all costs. I don't know what kind of consequences this will cause, but at this point, I can't bring myself to give a fuck.

I'm alive. That's all that matters.

I wipe my tears and stand up, taking one more deep breath before looking back at the sewers I was in. We'll see if taking the sword out actually worked. If it didn't… Then I've probably already gone insane.

As I walk back in, I look to my left and right before looking back to the ruins.

Only to see a wall instead, as if whatever that was never existed.

"Oh, there you are!" A familiar voice calls out, making me whip my head at the culprit.

"I-Ichi?" I whisper, seeing him alongside Sona.

"Yeah, that's me." He blinks. "What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

All the threats and promises I made in my mind regarding him seemingly vanished. I feel nothing but relief once I see his face. I manage to keep my composure, no matter how tempting the idea to tackle him in a hug is.

He's still in his suit, and he doesn't look worried like I haven't been there a whole day. What the hell is this? Was all of that me hallucinating? No, I still have the sword in my inventory. Some kind of temporal bullshit?

Then again I don't feel weak, tired, or hungry anymore. My dress isn't torn, and my makeup is only slightly ruined. Not one strand of my hair is white either like all of that never happened.

Okay… it's probably some illusion. In the end, there was so much happening that Gamer's Mind couldn't keep up and didn't stop everything. It's not almighty, then. I was probably affected the moment I felt that thing try to attack me at the very beginning.

I shouldn't tell anyone about this. I don't think it'd be wise if I did. I certainly won't hand over a mythical tier item to some randoms.

"T-the whole demon cockroach thing was real, you asshole!" I act, stumbling over my words but quickly regaining my composure. "It scared the fuck out of me!"

"For real!?"

"Perhaps you shouldn't have listened to such childish challenges," Sona added, looking at me in playful disapproval. "You disappoint me, Amamiya-san."

I glare at Sona before I scoff, crossing my arms to hide my trembling.

"How long have I been here anyway?"

"Exactly twelve minutes." He says, bringing up his phone. "So I guess you win this one."

I knew it. It felt like I spent more than a day there, but only minutes passed.

"Yeah, I do." I roll my eyes and walk past him. "Let's just go."

I notice the two looking at each other weirdly before Ichi asks once again.

"...You're sure you're okay?"

"I am, now shut up."

I find the ladder and climb up quickly. Too quickly I almost bump into Mine, who looks down on me with a very stern glare with Serafall behind him looking at me with an amused look. I stare back at him, completely unintimidated after what I've been through.

"...Mind explaining what you're doing there?"

Goddamn it.

---

– Sona Sitri –

"...Are you certain you're alright?" Sona asked the human girl in concern as she, Akane, and Rias made some distance between them and the rest of the attendees. "Kasuga was right. You look rather pale."

"I'm fine." Akane rubbed her eyes, looking slightly irritable.

"You don't look fine," Rias noted, eating a spoonful of cake.

"I just got yelled at by some hardass Yakuza. Can we not?" She huffed.

"And whose fault is that?" The devil deadpanned.

"Ichiban," Akane said, completely shameless. "It isn't and was never my fault. He did it, not me. I'm innocent."

"It'd do well for you to admit when you're wrong, you know." Sona sighed. "I'd say it's an admirable trait."

"Never."

Sona shook her head in amusement and exasperation. She knew Akane exaggerates her own hype and importance as a joke, and she had to admit, Sona did find it somewhat endearing after some time being exposed to her faux-childishness.

Still, it didn't take a genius to know that there was something definitely bothering the girl. There's a slight quiver in her hands. She's anxious, and for what reason, Sona did not know. It shouldn't be because of who's surrounded with– when she first came along, she was as cool as a cucumber.

Was Captain Mine's scolding that effective? Or did she encounter something in the sewers? Akane did complain about some demonic cockroaches to Ichiban, and those things were certainly creepy. Humans were lucky– their roaches were so tiny in comparison.

Sona resisted a shudder. Ugh, she should stop thinking about such disgusting things.

Still, Sona was worried about her a little but didn't want to press the girl about it. They've gotten close, yes, but not close enough for her to pry further. The devil should've kept a closer eye on them from the beginning. She could've prevented this from happening.

She didn't know why they'd even do such a thing, but Sona chuckled when she realized that Rias wasn't the only person she was babysitting after all.

"What's so funny?" Akane frowned as Rias tilted her head in curiosity.

"Nothing." Sona waved it off.

That was when someone unexpected approached them. A shorter blond girl with her hair styled in twin tails walked up to them in slight nervousness. Akane's sharp eyes landed on the poor Ravel, who flinched under her gaze but remained composed.

"Um, hello." She started meekly, which was highly unusual of her. "I hope I'm not intruding on you."

"What do you want?" Akane questioned somewhat harshly.

"I-I just wanted to personally congratulate Ms. Gremory on her win." Ravel stammered. Did Akane intimidate her this much? This was unlike the confident Ravel. Perhaps she still felt embarrassed about what Riser did. "And I mean that sincerely! You clearly put in a lot of effort and certainly deserved the victory."

"Oh." Rias blinked in slight surprise. "Thank you? I'll be honest, it still feels kind of surreal to me. I really thought I was gonna lose to you."

"No way, you were spectacular!" Ravel praised, getting a bit more comfortable. "I was in shock when I saw how you and your peerage improved. Your Rook and Knight were not that powerful the last time we met. How did you grow this much?"

"Plain training." Akane intervened.

"Truly?" Ravel looked stunned. "Could it be as simple as that?"

"You'd be surprised." The human girl snorted.

"I know it sounds unbelievable, but she's saying the truth," Sona added. "Even I was shocked at the results. Granted, there were other factors that helped, but for the most part, it's all hard work."

She knew revealing the gravity tech might not be appreciated by her human friends, so she stayed quiet. Unless a superior wanted a detailed report on what exactly happened back there, she'd keep it to herself.

It was a sign of trust.

"Oh yeah, we also had those neat grav–"

Sona reacted quickly and put her hand over Rias' mouth, shutting her up, and prompting Ravel to raise a brow.

"She's saying that she couldn't have done it without Akane's valuable assistance," Sona said, giving the redhead a quick glare. Rias quickly understood her meaning. "She certainly put Rias' body to the test."

"Don't make it sound so weird." Akane glared as Rias snickered childishly.

"Whatever could you possibly mean?" Sona smirked. "You did quite the number on her, didn't you?"

"Oi." The human girl said warningly.

"I felt pretty… relaxed, afterward," Rias added, a faint but noticeable blush on her face. "So it wasn't all bad~"

"You won't be so relaxed once this party is finished."

"Oh my~!" Rias giggled at her threat.

This only made Akane scowl in annoyance as she didn't bother to verbally continue. There it is, the expert in her own game. When cornered, don't play, is it? Either that or physical violence, which is also her forte, but she's not going to be doing that here.

"I see," Ravel said after a moment, clearly looking a bit suspicious at what Rias almost said, but also oblivious to the teasing on display. "I suppose I can give training a chance. Can you tell me what method you applied in yours?"

"Method?" Akane dropped her scowl and raised a brow. "Just push your body to its limits, physically or magically. Rest, then rinse and repeat."

"That's it?"

"What exactly did you expect?" The human girl rolled her eyes. "I don't know how you devils even function as a society when you don't know how simple training works. The more you strain yourself, the stronger you become."

"Devils grow more powerful as they age, so training is usually reserved for toddlers, some reincarnated devils, soldiers, and those who are high on the Rating Game leaderboard." Sona clarified. "Quite a lot of devil nobles think it's worthless, and instead invest their time in business or politics."

She very obviously wanted to mock said devils, but Akane held her tongue. She would've verbally torn them a new one if they were in the human world though. Sona was very thankful for her friend's self-control.

"Perhaps I should convince my brother to join me, along with his peerage," Ravel said, then sighed. "They definitely need this more than any of us if Riser wants to get into the big leagues."

"Heh, good luck," Rias smirked. "Honestly, if Riser actually took this Rating Game seriously, I might've not stood a chance."

"Well, losing to you ought to have ignited the spirit within him." Sona quipped.

"Or broken it completely." Akane scoffed, glancing at Riser in the distance, who glared at them from his seat. He immediately looked away once they met his gaze. "Can't even look at you properly. You've done really well in teaching him a lesson, Rias. Good job."

Rias looked genuinely touched by the praise as her eyes brightened, beaming at the human girl as her cheeks reddened a tad.

"Thanks! As I said, I really couldn't have done it without you."

Sona paused and made a mental note of Rias' rather exaggerated response, but did not mention it. Rias always liked being praised even as a child, but this kind of reaction was… unlike her.

Ravel looked a bit bothered by how they seemingly looked down on him but did not comment. The girl very obviously loved her brother, but she knew damn well what kind of a slimy bastard Riser was, so she couldn't defend him without being unreasonable.

Plus, trying to start an argument with Rias wouldn't end well for the girl, especially when Akane backed the redhead up. She would not survive being torn apart by the two, and she knew that very well.

"Well, it has been nice talking to you, ladies." Ravel bowed, then glanced at Akane. "I will try to implement your kind of training into my daily routine."

"Good for you," Akane responded half-heartedly, making Sona pause.

She's calmer now, but there's still something bothering her.

"And once I feel like I'm ready–" She whipped her head at Rias and smirked haughtily. "I hope you'll accept our challenge again."

"Now the daughter wants to marry me?" Rias joked. "Am I really that irresistible?"

"Hopefully you won't break down crying this time," Akane said bluntly, nearly making Sona spit out her drink.

What a low blow.

"Shut up!" Rias scowled, looking a bit offended.

"It's just for fun." Ravel clarified with a giggle, amused at their banter. "Hopefully you'll come around in forgiving Riser–"

"No." Rias deadpanned.

"I thought as much." The blond sighed. "Well, thank you for the invite. I hope we meet on good terms again."

With that, Ravel walked away, leaving the three alone once again.

"She's so sweet," Rias said once she was out of earshot, smiling pleasantly. "If Riser was more like her, I might've actually considered the marriage."

"She's too nice I feel like." Akane criticized. "Like, she's willing to bend over at a moment's notice."

"I won't deny it, but do keep this in mind," Sona added. "Ravel is actually one of the smartest of our generation. I'd say she's one of the brightest strategists in our current society."

"Oh?" The human girl looked interested. "Better than you?"

"Yes," Sona answered. "Fortunately, Riser seldom listens to her."

"Of course, he doesn't." Both Rias and Akane said at the same time.

"Though, I suppose her being far more experienced might've played a part in her being better than I." The Sitri Heiress said. "I've never been in a Rating Game match before."

"Really?" Akane tilted her head. "You know so much about them, though."

"I've read about them a lot since they're an integral part of our culture." She shrugged. "I've never been interested in them, however."

"I dunno, if I'm being honest, they look kind of fun." The Yakuza Princess admitted. "And it's not like you're losing anything over them unless you're stupid. Like Rias."

"Okay, that one was uncalled for. It wasn't even my fault!"

"Hmm, still not my thing," Sona responded casually, ignoring the redhead's indignant's response. "I acknowledge that I'll have to enter tournaments and whatnot to earn political power, but I don't have the passion for it like say, Ravel."

Akane only hummed but didn't continue the discussion, seemingly content with Sona's reasoning.

That was when someone else approached them, this time much more important than Ravel. Both Rias and Sona bowed in respect at Sirzechs and Serafall as Akane froze up for whatever reason before her muscles quickly relaxed.

She must've sensed their powers since they were so up close. At the very least, her trembling stopped a few minutes ago.

"Ms. Akane Amamiya." Sirzechs started. "I haven't shown my gratitude yet, and I would like to personally thank you from the bottom of my heart for assisting my sister to win the Rating Game."

"Uh, no, it's fine." Akane stammered but quickly regained her composure. "I just thought I'd do my part in trying to mend the relationship."

"And you've done a magnificent job. Truly." The Satan Lucifer praised. "Seeing Rias this cheerful once again… I'm thankful beyond words."

Rias blushed in embarrassment, almost making Sona smirk. Look who has a doting brother–

"And I hear you dragged So-tan into it, didn't you~?" Sera quipped, grinning at her. "'Bout time she got off her butt and exercised for once. I hope she didn't make too much trouble for you~"

Sona nearly flinched and her face turned red, freezing in terror once she caught a glance of Akane's smug look. The Sitri Heiress looked at her with a pleading expression, silently begging her to not make them look like total morons in front of their siblings. Even Rias caught on, looking as pale as her childhood friend.

The amount of ammo she has against them, and the golden opportunity to fire all of it in front of Sirzechs and Serafall… They would not recover from it. Their older siblings will hold it against them forever, never letting them live it down.

As Akane opened her mouth to respond, the two heiresses braced themselves.

"No, they've been fantastic with me the whole time," Akane said.

Sona and Rias looked at her in shock.

"Really?" Sera tilted her head.

"There were some bumps on the road, I'll admit, but overall, they've been exemplary." Akane praised. "I wouldn't mind them dropping in Kuoh any time they'd like. I've enjoyed their company very much."

The two leaders looked somewhat surprised, which may or may not have made the two younger sisters look quite annoyed, but then they smiled.

"That is good to know. I'm glad to know that you've been getting along." Sirzechs said. "And I hope you'll continue being good friends from now on. The fate of our factions may depend on you three."

No pressure. Sona thought to herself.

"Hey, hey, don't pressure them so much." Serafall casually elbowed his side with a pout, having the same thought. "They're kids. Let them have their fun."

Thank you, Sera.

"My apologies." Sirzechs chuckled. "I'll stop bothering you now. Enjoy the party."

The two leaders left them, and as Rias and Sona released their breaths, Akane smirked widely.

"You owe me so much." She chuckled menacingly.

…This look made Sona almost wish she just spilled out everything about them.

"Can I pay it back with cake instead?" Rias questioned naively and honestly kind of adorably as she pointed at the huge tower of cake on the main table.

"Not a fan of cheesecake." Akane declined.

"Wow, imagine having a taste that bad." Rias fired, and Sona agreed silently. "Couldn't be me."

"Mr. Sirzechs!" Akane quickly ran after the Satan Lucifer, making Rias follow her in pure terror. "I have one comment about Rias!"

"Stop, I'm joking!"

Sona chuckled to herself as she saw the scene unfold before her eyes, feeling like a gigantic weight lifted off her shoulder.

Coming to the human realm was such a wonderful decision.

---

– Akane –

I close the door of my home behind me, thanking my lucky stars when I see my mother passed out on the couch. She copes with everything by drinking. She can't let herself be anxious for five minutes without filling her system with alcohol.

But that's good enough for me. I don't want to deal with her brand of bullshit right now.

Once I lead Asia to her room and wish her good night, I go to the dungeons and run off to some nearby park. I use every defensive spell I know and prepare myself to send whatever I'm about to pull out back to the space of my inventory.

As soon as I take out the sword, I jump back and look around, but nothing happens. No noises, no dark tendrils wanting to choke me out, nothing. I let myself sigh in relief before slowly approaching the sword.

The power is still there, but… I don't feel the anger or hatred from it anymore. Did taking it out calm it down somehow? I need to know what it does– how I can use it. I can't just let it rot in my inventory.

It says it deals less than one damage, but it's a mythical weapon for a reason. There must be some special power it can do.

I work up the courage and try to touch the grip, flinching and crying out as I feel it burn the tip of my index finger. I hiss in pain and look at it cautiously.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Someone suddenly says, startling me and prompting me to look at whoever said it. "Excelsis isn't a fan of strangers. He's quite the introvert."

It's a tall, handsome man with silver hair and golden eyes. Soft facial features make me think mid-twenties or so, and he holds himself very elegantly. He wears red medieval formal wear that looks fairly outdated, yet professional and neat.

The man looks very disarming. I can't sense any malicious intent from him.

Yet, at the same time, he feels like the most dangerous person I've met by a landslide.

"Who are you?" I say, still alarmed as I create dozens of ice blades floating around me. "How did you get here?"

He chuckles.

"I'm bound to that blade." He answers as I use Observe on him. "And you, my dear–"

What I saw made me freeze.

Name: Lucifer

Title: The Demon King

HP - N/A

MP - ?

SP - N/A

Race - Devil God

LVL - ?

STR - N/A

END - N/A

DEX - N/A

INT - ?

WIS - ?

CHA - ?

LUK - ?

Thoughts about you – Fairly unsure how you did it, but grateful for freeing him. Incredibly fascinated by your extraordinary existence and would like to know more about you

Reputation - 20

Affection - 0

Obedience - -100

Loyalty - 0

"–are the one who freed me."

---

I had a lot of difficulties making the transition to the sewer scene smooth ngl, so I hope you'll forgive me if it felt a bit forced.

Other than that, this chapter was one of my most anticipated chapters. The biggest turning point in the story. That much I'll say.

I gave you a 20k-word chapter. Put the reviews in the bag.