– Mizuki –

"You know, Akane…" She started with a mixture of confusion and exasperation in her tone as she watched her daughter work on her… project. "When you told me you wanted a car, I didn't expect you'd want to… dismantle it."

Her daughter, taking out the entire car engine, the last part remaining in the poor vehicle, hummed in response, clearly neither concerned nor giving her mother any mind. She seemed too focused on what she was doing, and Mizuki felt… strangely proud.

Now her daughter had always had hobbies, like playing video games – which was totally valid by the way – drawing, singing, and a couple more. But she'd never really shown interest in things like being a mechanic or programming until recently. It astonished Mizuki– it felt kind of abrupt.

She wasn't perturbed by this. It only felt rather strange to the confused mother. From destroying small things like flashlights, microwaves, TVs, and now entire cars? Where did this passion for engineering come from? Still, Mizuki would support her daughter's new hobby anyway. It somewhat fascinated her, too. Akane's mind was a complete mystery to Mizuki.

Akane still hadn't told her what she was trying to build that needed a whole car engine to work, but Mizuki could guess from the current progress her daughter had made. Considering the countless tools she'd bought, the many hours she put into it, and how it looked like a half-finished plated armor…

Mizuki put a hand on her chin as she watched her daughter set up the car battery with the engine. Her glance flickered to the bulky armor's craftsmanship, inspecting it a bit closer. Now obviously it wasn't complete– it only covered a chest and one side of a stomach, but to make such a thing in what, three days?

That was very impressive, especially for a beginner like Akane, and ignoring the fact that she was wearing the training belt at eighty times gravity this entire time, taking multi-tasking to a whole new level. It did seem to be tiring her out, though, if the light sweat gloss on her skin was anything to go by.

Still, this was absolutely nuts. Now Mizuki had never made tech, but she had seen and used Amon technology before, so she knew a thing or two about advanced technology. Specifically weapons and armor.

Also, seeing how Akane made this using normal day-to-day tech like fridges, spoke volumes of her potential. She didn't have or ask for materials or funding from the Tojo clan, and if they saw what she was capable of in this tiny garage of theirs? They'd want to cultivate such talent for sure.

Should I tell Daigo about this? Mizuki thought to herself.

That was an idea. There are a lot of good and talented mechanics and engineers in the Tojo Clan. Having one of them come over as a teacher for Akane would probably make her happy. There was no telling just how much she'd improve, too.

She should probably ask her daughter first, though. That reminded her–

"By the way, Asia and I are going karaoke," Mizuki said. "Wanna come along?"

"No thanks." Her daughter declined, as expected.

As Akane attached the encased engine and battery to the back of the armor, it suddenly flickered and flashed blue, making her grin widely. Even Mizuki was surprised at this, not expecting it to do that. A forcefield? Not exactly a strong one. It was very thin from the looks of it, but still, that was incredible.

"Alright, it's working…" Akane said, taking the armor and giving it to her mother. "Hold this. I need to test its durability."

"Uh, okay, sure." Mizuki blinked and held it in front of her.

Akane took a step back and cocked her arm, delivering a powerful punch to the armor, making it flash blue as sparks flew off the car battery. Surprisingly, considering how physically strong her daughter was, the armor only had a hole in it. A big one, sure, but she didn't completely destroy the damned thing.

Akane, however, wasn't as impressed as she winced and hissed in annoyance, pulling her arm back.

"Shit, still not strong enough…" She muttered to herself. "Isn't gonna do much if it can't withstand a punch without being damaged."

"What are you saying? This is beyond impressive!" Mizuki said, shocked by her daughter's unreasonably high standards.

"If this is what I can do in three days, then I might not be ready," Akane responded, eyeing the hole intensely with a hand on her chin. Er, well, Mizuki didn't know if she was responding to her or talking to herself. Probably the latter. "I need a better energy source. A car battery and engine aren't enough, but where do I get that? Trucks aren't gonna be much better either. A plane? Too big, won't fit."

"What… do you need this armor for, exactly?" Mizuki asked, putting the armor back on the table. She hadn't seen her daughter this focused in a while. "You're not going to do crimes, are you?"

"That's what worries you?"

"Hey, this wouldn't be the first time you committed a crime." The mother said. "Or the last time for that matter. Remember Chishiki International Academy?"

"I've said this a million times before– I will NOT apologize for that!" Akane replied, getting defensive. "Those pieces of shit ganged up on me. They deserved every single thing that happened to them."

"You nearly split a kid's skull open!" Mizuki argued. "Hell, one of them was in a coma for six months!"

"Did I stutter?" Her daughter scoffed, crossing her arms unapologetically. "It's not like I started the fucking fight. Some moron thought it'd be funny to 'pull the emo girl's hair' and spontaneously make an appointment with a dentist."

Mizuki covered her face with her hands tiredly. Ah, her middle school days. The worst time of Akane's life as a student. Every single day there was a fight with other kids and sometimes even teachers. Puberty hit the girl like a goddamn truck– her emotions were running wild at the time.

Of course, this was partly Mizuki's fault for her earlier neglect after her husband's passing. That's when Akane developed her anger issues, and the first time it bubbled up was not a happy time. The child on the receiving end of her relentless wrath was probably traumatized.

Mizuki was very glad that Akane seemed to have calmed down a lot compared to her middle school days, even if it was at the cost of unlocking her magic and heritage, which basically was just getting superpowers.

…There was no telling just how much destruction she could cause if she lost it. Mizuki hoped it would never come to that point. She should probably help her find a way to control that anger soon. Before it became the cause of some terrible event.

But if therapy wouldn't help, then what the fuck was she supposed to do?

"We've been over this." Mizuki sighed, glancing at the suit. "Look, just don't use it for bad stuff, alright?"

"Wasn't gonna," Akane responded. "I'm just preparing for the probable battle ahead. I'm not confident enough in myself, not with this rust bucket anyhow."

"What makes you think you're gonna fight?" Her mother frowned. "Do you honestly think I'm letting you go fight some insane warmonger? We'll let Majima and those exorcists handle it."

"Yeah, you don't really have a choice in the matter, unfortunately." Akane pointed at her with her screwdriver. "And before you complain and whine, I don't have a choice either."

"What do you mean?"

"We're talking about a cadre here." She explained, casting a layer of ice on her as she took her welding torch. "And you think he doesn't have a plan regarding the yakuza? Get real, Kaa-san. You act like an idiot all the time, but we both know you're smarter than that."

Mizuki scowled, not at her daughter, but at the situation at hand.

"I'm just preparing accordingly." Akane shrugged, putting her welding mask back on as she resumed her work on the armor, fixing the damages she caused. "As should everyone if we want to beat them back."

She… couldn't really argue there. After being told everything by Majiima, Mizuki understood just how urgent it was to break the seal on her power, and that was really easy to do. Just force her magic out and bam, seal broken. That's how strained it was after nearly two decades and one pregnancy. The unfortunate thing was, she didn't exactly know how to do that without accidentally freezing Japan three times over.

Learning to fully master and control her magic was a futile effort considering how unbelievably restless it was. The amount of traumatic experiences she went through probably had something to do with it.

Thanks, Dad. You fucking piece of shit.

If she needed to do that without consequence, there had to be an equal magical force to combat the explosion of her power, or she had to do it in some remote place in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, which didn't exist because every place is owned by someone or something.

…You know what, at least I'm strong as fuck and can protect Akane. She thought. That's good, at least.

Silver lining.

Mizuki stared at her daughter in silence for a minute, resolving herself to help her daughter. Akane was serious about this, as she should be. Mizuki should stop treating her like she was made of glass and start helping her if she wanted her to survive this fight.

Talking to her about the Amon Clan would be a good start. She thought, getting nervous at the prospect of doing that. …I don't know if I should, though…

"...I could ask the Tojo Clan if they can spare some materials, you know." Mizuki suddenly said as she thought of an alternative at the moment, making her daughter freeze, stopping her work completely. "I'm sure they have better energy sources than car batteries."

Akane took a moment before she responded, still keeping her eyes on the armor.

"That'd be awesome." Akane nodded, sounding grateful. "Thanks, Kaa-san."

Mizuki puffed her chest and grinned.

"Of course! Anything for the best daughter ever!"

Said best daughter ever snorted in amusement, seemingly in a better mood now than she was when she tested the mechanical armor's power. So much so that she didn't even stop Mizuki from patting her head.

Mizuki's grin softened into a warm smile as she looked at Akane.

There was nothing she felt more proud of than her.

– Xenovia –

It'd been quite some time since their meeting with the heiresses and owners of the region. Three days of looking around the town for anything that could lead them to the thieves – who was a possible cadre – and so far, they'd yet to find anything remotely interesting.

The thief was being extremely careful, and for some reason, was biding his time. Xenovia did not know Kokabiel's goal was that led to him stealing Excalibur pieces, nor did she know how he did it in the first place, but she knew, whatever it was he was planning, it could lead to a catastrophic event.

The cadre's reputation was known far and wide. One of Azazel's finest, a powerful leader that had led one of, if not the strongest squadron of Fallen Angels in the Great War. He was Thunder God Barakiel's right-hand man, in fact.

He was a general with thousands of years of experience under his belt. However, what he was mostly known for was his thirst for blood and his love for war. He was at the center of the tension surrounding the Grigori, and it didn't seem his… 'passion' ever fizzled out.

If anything, he seemed to have had enough and was now working on his own terms. Xenovia could not let the man start another great war. That would be a complete disaster. That man had to be stopped at all costs, and Xenovia swore by her sword to be the one to do it. He would be put down.

Kokabiel being in Kuoh of all places meant he wanted to drag the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance into it, which would cause great damage even to humanity. So much so that the common folk might discover the supernatural.

But finding him was a lot easier said than done, especially with those funny little cloaking devices they were using. They couldn't find him no matter how hard they tried, and while she wouldn't admit it to anyone, she was becoming more and more anxious.

Coward. He knew he couldn't handle all of them so he hid. Just what you'd expect from a heretic who had abandoned the light of the father. Degenerates like him belong in the deepest parts of hell, and Xenovia would be glad to send him there.

The same could not be said for her partner, though.

"Do you really think it's Kokabiel who stole the pieces?" Irina said as the two waited for their leader, who had taken off to investigate the nearby woods on his own.

The two were sitting on a bench in some empty children's park, waiting for the return of their leader or at least a call from him. It hadn't been long since he left, only around thirty minutes. Xenovia had wanted to go with him, but his word was final.

He looked rather serious when he decided to investigate. Did he possibly sense something?

"Why does it matter?" Xenovia raised a brow.

"No, I mean, it's kinda farfetched, isn't it?" Her partner said. "Why would Lord Azazel let him do this?"

"Why are you calling a heretic a 'Lord'?" The blue-haired swordswoman frowned. "He is not befitting of such a title."

"Not the subject of conversation." Irina rolled her eyes. "I just don't understand why a cadre would try something like this."

"Haven't you been listening to our classes?" Xenovia questioned. "He's a warmonger. He wants war."

"Why though?" She frowned. "Like what's the point? Especially when most factions are against you? You'd just get crushed."

"Why would I know that?"

"I don't know– you know what, never mind." Her partner sighed before puffing her cheeks in a pout. "I forgot how boring you are at conversations."

"I'm not boring."

"Yes, you are."

"I'm not."

"You are."

Xenovia narrowed her eyes and scoffed, not bothering with the back-and-forth with her partner. She was stupid anyway, always sleeping in class and getting them in trouble whenever she could. Also, she liked acting nice with heretics when she shouldn't.

Irina then sighed deeply, looking a bit depressed. Xenovia was quick to pick up on this and asked.

"What's wrong?"

"Er, no, it's just…" Her partner paused for a moment, then continued. "Remember the guy I told you about? My childhood friend?"

"Ah, Seiya?"

"Wha– no, what? That's not his name at all." Irina looked at her in confusion. "How'd you get it so wrong? It's Issei. Issei Hyoudou."

"What about him?" Xenovia blinked, not addressing or acknowledging her mistake.

"Well, I kind of wanted to meet him." She said. "I haven't seen him in so long. I wonder if he still remembers me. I sure hope so."

Xenovia didn't really find this conversation very interesting, so a quiet hum was her response.

"Anyway–" Irina glanced at her. "What do you think of the yakuza girl?"

The blue-haired swordswoman paused, her frown turning thoughtful at the mention of this 'Akane'. That girl honestly shocked Xenovia with her skill with swords. She was even more skilled than her, who trained most of her life and was even capable of wielding an Excalibur Piece.

When she was told about the girl, Xenovia expected some spoiled brat who had gotten everything handed to her, like those devils. She was the daughter of a legendary yakuza after all, it was only natural she'd practically be treated like a princess.

And when she acted so 'disrespectful' to them, it only reinforced the idea that she wasn't taught proper manners and needed to be knocked down a peg or two, only for Xenovia to be beaten at her own game.

She had learned everything she needed to know in that clash of theirs. The girl wasn't exactly being disrespectful, but brave in wanting to protect her own territory with her own hands. You'd think someone so spoiled would rather let her bodyguards or servants deal with the issues.

But no, she wanted to take responsibility even though it wasn't really her fault to begin with, and Xenovia admired the girl for it. Working with devils or not, that was a leader who deserves proper respect.

Plus, her skill with the sword and surprising physical strength had truly been a sight to behold. Such interesting techniques Xenovia had never seen before made her want to learn more about how the girl became so skilled even though they were the same age. Had she also been training her whole life?

Yes, perhaps Xenovia should try to speak with her when she got the chance.

"I think she's interesting," Xenovia said truthfully, not seeing a reason to lie. "I did not expect her to be the person that she is."

"Right?!" Irina's eyes sparkled. "She looks pretty cool, doesn't she? She wasn't one bit nervous when speaking to Father David, even though the devils were."

"Of course. She's human, she has no reason to be afraid." She responded. "The devils sensed Father David's power and cowered in fear of the light. It's only natural."

"Eeeh… I guess you could say that was it." Irina scratched her cheek. "I'm pretty sure they were more scared of our swords than us. Durandal, two Excalibur pieces, and Galatine. That's a lot of holy energy in one place."

"Your point being?"

As her partner was about to respond, Xenovia felt a sharp spike of holy energy in the woods where their leader had gone, making her squint and frown seriously. What the hell was that? It disappeared just as quickly as it appeared.

"Did you feel that?" Irina asked.

Xenovia nodded.

"Let's move."

"What? But what about our orders?"

"Whatever that was, it's close." Xenovia countered. "We can't afford to let it escape. We'll investigate and report our findings–"

Xenovia's eyes widened as she felt something behind her, twirling and swinging her blade. She barely managed to block a spear of light that nearly took her head off, disintegrating it with Excalibur Destruction. She growled as she and Irina stood side by side, pointing their swords at whoever had attacked them.

A Fallen Angel? Armor covered them from head to toe. She couldn't tell if they were a man or a woman. So it really was Fallen Angels that stole the Excalibur pieces? Figures. Of course the degenerates would dare to do something like this.

"Get ready for battle, Irina." Xenovia said.

"Way ahead of you." Her partner responded.

"Good reflexes, young swordswoman." A third, unfamiliar voice from behind spoke. "But not good enough, I'm afraid."

As soon as he finished the sentence, Xenovia felt imminent danger, which completely froze her. She could scarcely look around to see the blade of light directly above her, inches away from cleaving her in half.

Fortunately, her leader finally returned right in the nick of time, unleashing true holy energy from Galatine that completely disintegrated the attack. Xenovia acted quickly and grabbed Irina by the arm before jumping to David's side, cold sweat running down her cheek.

That was close. If not for her leader, then Xenovia was sure that would've killed her. Who the hell was–

She froze as she made eye contact with the main suspect.

"Bastard…" Father David scowled.

War General Kokabiel smirked widely at the insult as several high-class armored Fallen Angels surrounded them.

– Majima –

"So that's the dickhead, eh?" Majima looked at the screen showing Kokabiel's ugly mug. "...Why does he look different from all other Fallen Angels? What's with them long ears?"

"I… don't know." His advisor responded. "Maybe they're fake ears?"

"Dumbass." Majima smacked Nishida's head. "Why the fuck would he wear fake ears? Ain't no reason he'd be cosplaying fuckin' elves of all things."

"I don't know– I was just guessing!" He complained. "Besides, these people always wear the weirdest things."

Majima opened his mouth to argue but then stopped as he remembered Sirzechs' weird-ass pauldrons on his weird-ass cloak and Michael's dumb fucking armor thing. Fair point. Though, the last time they had met, Azazel was wearing normal clothes like a normal person.

"Wait a fuckin' minute–" Majima glared at Nishida, who flinched under his boss' gaze. "Are ya callin' my fashion sense weird?!"

"I'm not!"

"Yeah, yeah you better not. You dumbfuck." Majima scoffed, then his gaze turned back to the screen. "...Guess I gotta deal with that, then."

As the Mad Dog of Shimano was about to leave, everything turned dark. The lights, the screens– everything stopped working. Majima's eyes widened, but he managed to act quickly.

"Turn on emergency power!" He ordered his men as he rushed to the outside. "Move! I'll handle the shit outside!"

As he exited the secret base, phasing through the walls of an inconspicuous mountain, Majima rushed toward Mizuki and Akane's house, gritting his teeth in anger and worry. He began to call the men positioned near there via his earpiece.

"OI! Protect Akane-chan at all costs!" He shouted, but none answered. He growled and tried to get in touch with his sworn brother. "Saejima, you there?! We're under attack! Get to the girl, now!"

There was a response, but there was too much noise that he couldn't understand what was said. He could only hear the explosions and roars of Saejima. Was he fighting someone?

Majima clicked his tongue in annoyance, but then flinched as he felt an incoming attack. Thinking and acting quickly, the Mad Dog pulled out his Demonfire Dagger and blocked a slash from a powerful blade, the force of the blow sending him back down to the forest surrounding their secret base.

Majima flipped and landed on his feet as his opponent slowly faded into view, dispelling some sort of invisibility magic.

"Shoulda known you assholes were gonna show yerselves eventually…" He muttered. "You Amon bastards planned this from the beginning, didntcha?"

The man in a dark suit and sunglasses holding one of the stolen Excalibur Pieces smirked in response.

– A few minutes earlier – Akane –

As I take my smoke break outside of the garage, I reflect on the past few days spent building the armor, staring at the crescent moon. Now I don't particularly think I'm wasting my time here, of course not, but as fun as creating my own armor is, it's still stressful as hell, considering the unknown deadline of that fucker's attack.

Ugh, I hate being so anxious.

Armor is my best bet here because even if I somehow gain one thousand Endurance points, I'd only have 25k HP – possible perk notwithstanding –, which is still lower than Xenovia, who couldn't even land a single hit against me. I'm the embodiment of Glass Cannon.

Sure, I'm getting quests from the game to use my gravity belt a lot, and I've been completing them one by one and farming END, STR, WIS, and INT that way, but it isn't really enough in the grand scheme of things. I can withstand eighty times the gravity of Earth with relative ease, but what's annoying is that the rewards don't scale with the level of the quest.

It's always one hundred of each stat for every twenty levels. Well, fifty, but the Rising Star perk doubles that. Still, the END perk I got was pretty good, and the INT perk after reaching 2500 is outright incredible.

But that isn't enough, unfortunately.

Regardless, the low scaling can be fixed later. I can look for some more perks or something through quests that can increase my natural defense and/or HP, but objectively, focusing on this armor of mine is the most optimal route at the moment. I don't want to be relying too much on equipment, of course, but that's the only choice I have right now.

And I'd be doing amazing progress if not for Kokabiel. Three days and I manage to make forcefields strong enough to somewhat handle High-class physical strength? That's incredible, even if the battery immediately died after the punch. Kind of surprising it didn't go 'boom' on me now that I think about it.

All of this power from common materials found in fucking in ovens. I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to be able to do all of that because it isn't even possible, but the system told the laws of physics to go fuck itself with a rusty screwdriver apparently. Yes, I'm 99% certain that this is the Game's doing via the Engineering skill. I've fully maxed out the class finally, so now I can pick another secondary class.

Anyway, I did initially think about asking the yakuza to help me get materials, but I felt… indecisive and a bit arrogant, admittedly. I had two options:

A: Ask the yakuza for some support so I can make better armor and prepare better.

B: Keep quiet and hide my talents for a little while longer.

I originally chose the second option because I wanted to use my own tech to make my own cloaking devices since it's apparently possible to hide from them via tech if what Majima said about the 'artifact' Kokabiel used was true.

I didn't want them figuring out my special tech whenever I inevitably do make that. I want to be hidden for as long as possible until I become strong enough to not feel threatened by them. I've already decided that the best way to grow strong was through devouring souls.

And I very much doubt they'd let me do that, Daughter of Tatsu Amamiya or not. I can't have them or anyone else knowing what I'm capable of. Ever. Not until I know for damn sure I can be safe regardless.

And at the same time, I thought a bit too highly of myself, thinking I could probably make good and decent armor before Kokabiel attacks. Spoiler alert: I could not. Because I realized making armor that strong is a lot harder than it looks and requires a lot of fucking time and materials.

I sigh to myself, rubbing my temple in frustration. I was being stupid, I should've taken the first option. I started overthinking and let my paranoia get the better of me. I couldn't have hidden my talents away from them forever. It'd be better to show them what I can do earlier.

What I should do is hide my growth. Due to the game, I'd be able to learn and improve at a rapid pace, so the unwise thing to do would be to show them that talent. The power given to me by the system. Not that I can make robots and stuff.

Now that I've accepted my mother's offer, I'd be able to get my hands on better stuff to work with rather than car engines and stuff.

I shake those thoughts out of my head as I choose my new class, and after giving it some thought, I think it's obvious, if a little… unorthodox.

Secondary Class gained

[Illusionist] – LVL 1/100 [0%]

Gain 2 INT, 2 WIS, and 1 CHA every level

Mastery skill gained

[Illusion Magic Control: Novice] – Mastery Skill

To bend the minds and trick the eyes of foolish creatures is a difficult but fine art. Don't let its lack of direct offensive capabilities fool you, for what can one damage if they're incapable of seeing what they're supposed to be hurting? Better yet, deceiving them into attacking their own allies? A good trickster knows to win battles without ever participating in them.

You're a mere beginner, and whatever spells you cast can only be used for party tricks.

Trick 25 Entities to reach the next Rank. Progress to Apprentice Rank [0/25]

This is going to be very, very useful in the long run, assuming I can get powerful enough to straight-up mind-control people. Hell, invisibility is a huge deal if I can stack it on cloaking tech.

I'm not dumb enough to use this willy-nilly though. I said this before, but keeping one trick up my sleeve and hidden from even my closest allies has to be a good decision to make. Keep it hidden and use it as sparingly as possible. Who knows just how much this could help?

I could've taken a class that could increase my END, but that still won't help very much. My HP scaling is linear, not exponential. At some point, even thousands of points in endurance won't help much. Perks are my go-to option in that regard.

Still, I'm proud of the progress I made in only a couple of days. Considering my current stats and the hilarious amount of magic damage bonus from perks, my Cryomancy has to be strong enough to seriously injure someone of Kokabiel's caliber. I think. I hope I'm not being arrogant here.

Name - Akane Amamiya

Level - 120

Title - Undead Slayer

Primary Class - Swordmaster - LVL 20/100 [33%]

Secondary Class - Illusionist - LVL 1/100 [0%]

Race - Human

Rank - Mortal

Alignment - Neutral Evil

HP - 17,850 [1190 per minute]

MP - 48,780 [13,368 per minute]

SP - 17,850 [1190 per minute]

STR - 1420

END - 1190

DEX - 1040

INT - 2502

WIS - 2228

CHA - 1190

LUK – 500

[Desperate Persistence] – Perk – 1000 END

Clinging on to life has never been easier for you, keeping you alive at Death's Door for a little longer.

Once HP reaches 0, you'll stay alive for one second for every 100 END you have, capping at 20 seconds. Natural regeneration is disabled and a single hit while in this stage will instantly kill you. Works once a day.

Can be bypassed by certain blows I.E decapitation.

[A Force to be Reckoned With] – Perk – 1000 STR

You're so physically powerful, you're able to tear through a lot of armor, physical or otherwise. Quite impressive indeed.

Your physical attacks ignore 5%-50% of armor depending on your own strength relative to the armor's level. Unarmored individuals take 50% more damage.

[Sublime Perception] – Perk – 1000 DEX

Occasionally, during crucial moments, time will slow down around you to a standstill, giving you ample opportunity to think of your next move.

Slight chance of time slowing down by 99.999999% when dodging lethal damage or getting an opening for a critical blow.

[Essence of the Wizard] – Perk – 2500 INT

With such force within, a fragment of your soul gained a powerful essence. This is only the beginning…

Magic damage is increased by 35%

Spell cost is reduced by 20%

MP is doubled

That's a lot of perks.

The endurance perk is going to be saving my ass a lot of times, won't it? It's not a pure invulnerability phase or anything like that, but goddamn if a second chance isn't useful. I need to stack up on healing items or something.

…Maybe I should've gotten a healing class? Hmm, that'd be useful since Asia won't be around at all times. I think after Illusionist, I'll take that. I'd go with Alchemist for potions, but I already have engineering as a crafting skill to worry about. And quick healing should be more useful than chugging potions like a drug addict anyway.

But what's really interesting was this little quest I got after getting that INT perk.

[Essence of Life] – Quest

Objective: Collect all Seven Essences [1/7]

Rewards: ?

Isn't this intriguing? Reaching 2500 in INT gave me an 'essence' perk, which is what I assume this quest is talking about. So I'm guessing that's the last of the milestone perks? I'll admit, it's a bit too simple compared to other INT perks, but it's powerful. Straight-up doubling my magic is incredible.

Just what can the other essences do? And what will my reward be once I get all of them? It doesn't tell me, so it must be something very powerful. I think. I don't trust the Game to be honest, but it's never fucked with the quests before.

Well, this is enough reflection. I just got some good materials from the yakuza delivered right to my door, and I'm very excited to see what they can do for that shitty armor I made.

I freeze the cig in my hand and crush it into tiny ice particles, opening the garage and going inside. Right on my left, next to a couple of toolboxes and broken devices, are two opened black cases. One has a strange, spherical piece of tech the size of a table tennis ball I've never seen before while the other looks like an open cube that's a bit bigger.

Both are colored black and have the Tojo's logo on them in gold, and a check with Observe tells me that the sphere is a 'mini reactor heart' with enough energy to power several city blocks. Now I'm pretty certain that my low-level armor can't handle that much energy, so I can't really use its full potential so to speak, but I still can use this instead of the weak car battery that died after a single punch from me. The cube is more of a case for the reactor than anything though.

…How did they fit so much energy in such a small device? This is incredible.

I take the two items and head to the workshop table where my armor is, taking a deep breath before reactivating my gravity belt on the final levels. 100 times gravity and level 10 of the magic seal thing.

I am nearly brought to my knees as the ground beneath me cracks, but I manage to keep my footing, gritting my teeth before refocusing on the device in front of me. It's going to be tough, but I need all the stats I can get.

With a slightly shaking arm, I take the wrench and begin working on the armor, until Lucifer decides to pipe up after hours of silence. He was content with watching me do my work, and I've learned to somewhat ignore his presence.

"Quite diligent, aren't you?" He notes with an amused smile. "It's very impressive to be working with such precision under the pressure. Physical or otherwise."

I don't give a verbal response, but I do make it clear that I'm listening to him by slightly tilting my head in the direction of where he is.

"But do take care of yourself. I understand that the situation at hand makes you a bit nervous, but resting is just as important." He continues. "We don't want you collapsing in the midst of battle."

I exhale, still focused on my work. I can see him lean forward, glancing at my face before humming quietly. A moment of oddly pleasant silence passes between us, with Lucifer walking around inspecting everything in the garage. Mostly the broken and dismantled car that I toyed with.

…I'm still not sure what to think about the guy. He's just way too different compared to what I've been told. He's nice, well-spoken, and clearly isn't anywhere near as power-hungry as I'm led to believe. Hell, he seems to value knowledge over power any day of the week.

But maybe that's because he's dead. Power won't be much use to him when he's a 'wandering spirit' as he put it.

"...You know, Akane." He says after a pause. "I've heard something rather interesting recently. A few days ago in fact."

I wait for him to continue.

"While you were asleep, I overheard your mother talking to some individual called Majima on the phone." He continued. "And he said something about the 'power cutting off'. Do you know what that phrase means?"

I immediately stop as I hear this. Wait, what? Power was cut off?

"...It means electricity, which is what powers most tech here, stopped," I respond with a whisper, glancing back at him. "...Are you sure you heard that right?"

"I am." He says, looking at the car. "Isn't that quite serious?"

It is. I think… Maybe? They're advanced in tech and all, so can that still happen? I don't know.

"But that isn't the interesting part." He turns to look at me, smiling. "It is the fact that the 'Amons' had a hand in that."

I pause and frown in confusion and thought. Amon?

"...The devil pillar?"

"That's what I thought as well, but it did not sound like it." Lucifer shakes his head, rubbing his chin. "I'm not quite sure what they meant, but whoever they are, your mother has a history with them."

What the hell does this even mean? Is my mom a devil and she didn't tell me? That doesn't make sense.

"In fact, when she was informed of that–" He points at the door leading to the living room. "She was ready to rush to your room."

…and now I suddenly feel very unsafe.

This is very good info though. So my mother either interacted with the Amon devil pillar, she's a part of them – which is very unlikely – or they weren't talking about devils. Interesting. I'm not mad or annoyed that she didn't tell me yet, but considering her reaction, if what Lucifer said was true…

So I'm not only being targeted by Kokabiel but possibly by an entire assassin clan that produced a legend that now acts like a moron. Wow. That's awesome. What the fuck am I going to do with this information?

…I need to talk to my mother about this, and fast. If I really am being targeted, then I think I have every right to know what wants to kill me so I can kill it first. There is one small issue with this though.

How the hell am I supposed to confront her about this without looking suspicious as fuck?

"I see…" I mutter, putting my wrench on the table. "...Thank you for telling me."

"Of course." His smile widens.

As I try to think of a way to bring this up to my mother, the lights of the garage suddenly cut off, casting complete darkness over the entire place. I pause and frown, putting the wrench down. What the hell…?

"Behind you. Fallen Angels." Lucifer suddenly warns, prompting me to act.

I quickly turn around and flash-freeze whatever's behind me, wings of ice sprouting from my back as I fly high in the sky, easily crashing through the ceilings of my house. I look around frantically, deactivating and taking off the gravity belt, letting it fall back down.

In the next second, I see several spears of light soaring toward me, but I easily block all of them by waving my hand and casting a wall of ice. I narrow my eyes as I spot the armored fallen angels all flying up to my level. They're strong, and all of them are high-class in power. Nothing like the pathetic Raynare and her dumb mooks.

So he does have his own followers, huh…

How brave of them, attacking me so boldly like this. Still, this only brings a smile to my face once I sense the huge amount of power in the distance. So he's finally making his move? Took him long enough.

My grin turns confident as I notice some of them flinching once I release my magical aura.

I never thought that Warmonger would be nice enough to deliver me some appetizers like this.

Had some difficulties writing the beginning of the battle, but everything else should be smooth sailing from here.

The essence perk thingy was inspired by Terraria's Fargo's Souls mod. If you know, you know.