Marinus P.O.V

It was Saturday a day that was supposed to be for kicking back and relaxing. Instead I had spent the better part of my day dealing with explaining away the damage that had occurred courtesy of Momo's battle with the fallen angels. Of course Rias didn't know it wasn't me this time.

Rias was at first not happy that I had another fight with the fallen angels, especially one that resulted in an innocent persons death, but eventually relented. It took some convincing, but I had managed to get her to think I had sensed the barrier go up and tried to stop Hyoudou's death. It was something that took me all morning and I was happy to finally be done with.

If I was being honest I really, really wanted to pull the 'fuck off I don't have to explain shit card', but I can't at this time. Reason one being that I want to stay on Sirzechs' good side and pissing off his sister was an easy way to fuck that up. Two being that I want to eventually put Rias in a position where she owes me. It was mainly for those reasons, and the fact I still haven't outed myself as a Leviathan, that I had to play nice with Rias.

Now I was standing in my house as I looked for my first mission to jump worlds. There were two ways for contractors to go to new worlds. The first was to take a setting specific mission, by doing so you would be teleported to the world in question.

The second way was by using the exit stage left perk and choosing a world to jump to. The main reason I wasn't using that second method at this moment was because my progress meter was only at about sixty percent. For that reason I was looking for a standard mission so I could visit a world and not be slowed down by the mission requirements again.

There was a problem though, why were so many standard missions so damn long? I mean seriously there's like three or four I've seen already that require you to raise some unfortunate character as a child. Yeah contractors can basically live a very, very long time, but still.

With that in mind I finally find one for a world that I'm fairly familiar with.

{Maiden Hunt by TuxedoBlack

Location: RWBY

Scope: Standard

Apart from Aura - one of the most commonly purchased and used powers amongst the Contractors - Remnant also has that curious thing called 'Maiden's Mantle'. It is quite profitable for the Company - while the original power is restricted only to females, with simple adjustment it can be turned into vast array of elemental abilities that can be further refined for creation of various Templates, including [Power Swap] ones.

However, seeing as there are only four Maidens per Remnant timeline, the Mantles are always in short supply, and while they (as the components) can be replaced with other ingredients most of the time, some of powers the Company provides require Mantle to be produced.

You know what you have to do, Contractor.

Conditions:

Captured Maidens must have their full power. That means capturing Cinder or Amber while they each possess half the Mantle will not count until one of them is dead.

Reward [ Credits ] : 0

Additional objectives:

Objective 1: Capture the Maiden - repeatable up to four times.

Reward [ Credits ] : 5

Objective 2: Sell the Maiden - repeatable up to four times. If your Contract forbids Sales for some reason, the restriction will be lifted for Maidens only, though you will still not receive the Sale price.

Reward [ Credits ] : 10

Objective 3: Capture all four Maidens.

Reward [ Other ] : 1 use of [Four Seasons] Generic Perk OR Any Elemental [Template Stack I]

Objective 4: Sell all four Maidens.

Reward [ Other ] : 2 uses of [Four Seasons] Generic Perk OR Any Elemental [Template Stack I and II] OR T6 Companion Ticket.}

It's not the best choice, but RWBY has a lot of named characters and most of them are at least tier five. That means at the very least I can milk Remnant for some credits. As for the objective...well I really don't care.

I mean I'll catch at least one maiden to say I got it done, but the maidens really aren't all that powerful when compared to DxD magic users. If I had to rate where they would stand it would be around mid-class devil. They would be low-class, but aura is a hell of a power up.

Without another thought I accepted the mission and almost immediately I could feel a shift. A bright light surrounded me blocking my vision as I could feel my body being moved.

When the light died down I was surrounded by lush green forest. Blinking the spots out of my eyes I start looking around before flash stepping directly into the air. I stopped just short of the clouds and took in my surroundings. The most obvious landmark was the city that looked as if it was built right onto a mountain.

'Perfect.' I thought to myself. I was in Mistral and looking at Mistral city, real creative RT, the kingdoms capital. That means Haven Academy is nearby and I just happen to know a cowardly little kitten is it's headmaster. Oh I'm going to have some fun.

'All things considered Haven is a pretty cool looking place.' I thought to myself as I stalked the halls.

The school wasn't hard to find considering it was literally at the top of the mountain. That and the giant CCT tower was impossible to miss considering it looks just like the one Cinder infiltrated. The only difference was that this tower looked like it had a mix between Japanese and Chinese architectural theme.

From there it was only a matter of doing a bit of looking around to find the headmasters office. Thus here I am walking up to a pair of double doors and knocking. There was a bit of a panicked shuffle from somewhere inside before I heard someone announce it was open.

Walking into the room I have to admit that while Lionheart is a coward he has good taste in interior decor. The room was made of a redwood and had a very open feel to it.

"Yes, can I help you?" The man behind the desk asked slightly subdued. "You don't look like one of my students." He stated.

'Showtime.' Smirking inwardly I turn around and close the doors while also locking them.

"Oh I'm not a student, but we most certainly have an... acquaintance in common." I said as I turned to face the headmaster.

"W-who?" He asked while turning pale.

"Oh don't worry you'll see them soon." I replied airly as I slowly withdrew Kyōka Suigetsu. "You know usually our lady would send one of her little seekers, but she wanted a face to face for this talk." I stated while grinning wickedly.

Now that Lionheart had seen the blade of Kyōka Suigetsu I began changing his perception. While I simply stood watching as he was seeing exactly what I wanted him to see.

Regular P.O.V

As the powers of Kyōka Suigetsu took effect Lionheart was none the wiser as he watched Marinus slit his own wrist. Only the blood that fell wasn't red, but pitch black. From there Marinus dropped a vial of black liquid that shattered upon hitting the floor.

Lionheart's already heavily beating heart nearly jumped from his chest as the moment the black liquid met the blood it reacted. The blood and liquid shot back up into the young man as if he had rewound time only for his skin to start turning white. There was a grotesque creaking and cracking of bone and flesh as the form that had haunted Lionheart's nightmares took shape.

Now Salem stood before Lionheart with a sinisterly evil smirk. "Ah the little cowardly lion." She stated.

"Sa-salem! What a- wha- what are you doing here?!" Lionheart asked in a panic.

"I decided I should see if you've done as I've asked...personally." She replied as she looked at him as if he was a bug.

"Of course! I-I would never betray you!" He replied while panicking even more.

"Just as you never betrayed Ozpin?" Salem questioned with a smirk. "Regardless, I have decided Cinder can not be trusted to handle her tasks alone. You will see to it that the individual who I possess will be given all your aid that has been given to Cinder." She ordered causing him to nod rapidly.

"Yes, yes, of course lady Salem." He agreed instantly. Of course he would, everything he had done till now was to prolong his survival.

"Good." Salem replied before there was a flash of red light and her form reverted to that of Marinus'.

When the 'transformation' was done he stood before Lionheart with a small smirk. "I trust you have everything?" He asked to which the headmaster nodded as he scrambled to gather the information. "Good, I've also been instructed to gather any information on Raven Branwen." Marinus stated to which he stalled.

"Raven Branwen?" He asked in shock.

"Don't stop on my account." Marinus stated with a glare forcing him to get to work again.

Marinus P.O.V

It was only a few minutes later that I left Lionheart's office with a folder full of information. As it turns out the mission dropped me into Remnant just a few days before Cider's ambush on Amber. That makes it...I'm not exactly sure, but I think it's between a year or six months before volume one starts.

Oh well, not like I have any plans really dealing with the canon plot all that much. My plan is to finish this mission and capture some people. Of course I won't be keeping everyone, no I plan on keeping some people for either my peerage, selling others for credits, and using whoever remains as pieces for other peerages.

Why would I share this world with other peerage's? I really won't be, I plan on using my ability to visit other worlds to influence my political position. With that I could offer those that make things interesting for me a chance to build incredibly strong peerages. What shouldn't have to be said is that I plan on mainly using this as a way to capture certain devil heiresses.

With a shrug I decide to head towards the site of Ambers ambush. Realistically I would stop over in a city on the way to spend the night seeing as I had a couple of days. Plus I really don't have any reason to stick around Mistral.

A few hours later

Argus was the city I ended up stopping over at, I didn't really have any particular reason either. It just happened to be the nearest city to the location I had been given by Lionheart. I made pretty good time considering I decided to fly with my wings. I had also went ahead and finally bought the ability to use aura.

{Added potential [You have Aura (RWBY)] -5 [76]}

Seeing as I had a few hours I walked around the city to explore. It was a decent sized costal city protected on the land side by a large wall, there was also the large CCT tower that sat on a cliff over the city. There was also a fair bit of Atlas influence considering they had a nearby military base.

As I continued walking I heard a good bit of commotion nearby and with nothing else to do I decided to check it out. There appeared to be a large crowd of fans surrounding someone in the center. As I got closer I happened to catch sight of a head of familiar shade of red hair.

'Ah, so it's a mob of Pyrrha fans and she seems a bit overwhelmed.' I thought to myself as I could see that she was a bit panicked.

With a smile I flash stepped in the middle of the crowd and put my hand on her shoulder startling her. "Mind if I cut in?" I asked just before flash stepping out of there.

We reappeared on a rooftop a few buildings away. As soon as we landed I let go of her and stepped away with a smile. "There feeling a bit better?" I asked.

"Yes, but uh...did you just kidnap me?" She asked hesitantly.

"That's rude, I saw a crowd surrounding a young woman and I decided to help." I replied with a deadpan expression. "My name is Marinus Leviathan by the way." I told her before watching her expectantly.

"Sorry! It's nice to meet you as well." She replied

"..."

"..."

"Well aren't you going to introduce yourself?" I asked to which her eyes widened.

"Y-you don't know who I am?" She asked in surprise.

"Should I?" I asked, lying as naturally as I breathed.

"Ah no, no! My name is Pyrrha, Pyrrha Nikos." She stated with a beaming smile.

"So Pyrrha, what was with the chaos back there?" I asked.

"I uh, I competed in the last Mistral tournament." She replied while shuffling a bit.

"Ah got it, so that was a bunch of fans going crazy." I simply stated to which she nodded while biting her lip. 'Jeez girl do you even know how to lie?'

"Is there any way I could repay you for your help?" Pyrrha asked changing the topic.

I had to think about that for a minute. Truthfully I hadn't even planned on encountering Pyrrha, but it was an opportunity too good to pass up. Pyrrha may only be a tier five, but her semblance makes her drastically more dangerous. Of course being far more dangerous equals far more useful, especially in a world where everyone has some form of metal.

"I just arrived and was planning on looking around the city. Would you mind playing tour guide?" I asked to which she smiled.

"Of course!" She replied before she seemed to realize something and wilted. "But...I'm afraid that if we walk around publicly I may cause another incident."

With a smile I fished out a ring with an emerald in the middle. This was a piece of Tempest Jewelry that I had been experimenting on with the 'Rune' perk series.

"Here put this on, it should help." I stated as I gave her the ring.

Pyrrha blushed slightly as she looked the ring over. When she was satisfied with not finding anything wrong with the ring she put it on. As she did I used the company device to activate the disguise app.

Immediately Pyrrha's appearance changed from that of a redhead with emerald green eyes to a blonde with honey brown eyes. She blinked as she took out her scroll to see what she looked like with the camera.

"This is amazing, is this your semblance?" She asked.

I chuckled a bit before answering. "No, this is just something I've been working on. There's a small device built into the ring that can change your appearance to a predetermined disguise at will." I explained. Usually it's preset so that only the contractor can enable and disable the disguise, but this makes it easier to form pretext for Pyrrha to keep the ring.

"So..." I start holding out my hand. "About that tour?" I asked with a smile.

Pyrrha returned the smile with one of her own and took my hand. "Absolutely." She replied.

All things considered Pyrrha was a very good tour guide. Argus was apparently where Pyrrha and her mother were currently living as she had moved here to train before leaving to attend one of the huntsmen academies. It further helped cement my understanding of the current timeline when she explained that she hadn't applied to anywhere yet. This was apparently because applications weren't available until three months before the school year.

Anyway, Pyrrha had shown me around Argus' usual tourist destinations. These included shops, restaurants, and even an area designated by Atlas to view their shield and base. Really those guys were a bit too megalomaniacal with all their showing off. Maybe I should fuck with them a bit?

Of course Pyrrha had been equally as curious about myself and as we walked she asked plenty of questions. Thankfully the world of RWBY was written in such a way that I didn't have difficulty answering those questions. As far as Pyrrha was concerned I was just a traveler from an unnamed frontier town that had decided to cut out on his own to see the world.

Now we were coming to our last destination according to Pyrrha, a private training field. This field was apparently available only to huntsmen and students of combat schools. Due to those restrictions Pyrrha had dropped her disguise when we were close enough to get there without being bothered. Our reason for coming here was simple...to spar.

Pyrrha had expressed interest in sparring with me due to my earlier showing of my speed and the fact I constantly had Kyōka Suigetsu on my hip. Of course I agreed readily enough, it's not like I could turn down a chance to get some practice in with my aura. Now the two of us stood across from each other my blade was still sheathed as she held her weapon and shield, Milo and Akouo respectively, at the ready.

"You ready?" I asked with a smirk.

"Yes." She replied with a smile.

We stayed in our positions for a few moments before I made the first move. In a blur of speed I was upon her blade in hand as it clashed against Milo in its short sword form. Taking a step back I rose the handle dropping the blade to block a thrust. This was the pace we set as the both of us probed each other for our style and technique.

I have to say Pyrrha isn't a champion for no reason. She's damn near unstoppable and almost completely without flaw, hell there's no way I could ever hope to beat this girl in a straight up fight. She's obviously dedicated her entire life to the way of a warrior and I, who only has a weeks experience at best, stands no chance in a fair fight. So it's a good thing I don't like fighting fair.

With a grunt I flip backward over a leg sweep and continue making distance as I form a magic circle in one hand. Without a word tendrils of water form and shoot forward as they strike around the champion.

"Not fair!" She yells, though I can see her smiling as if she's enjoying herself.

"Alls fair in love and war!" I replied with a smirk.

With a flick of the wrist the tendrils swing wide combining into one large whip of water about the size of an oak tree trunk. Unable to dodge Pyrrha braces herself for the hit and tanks it as it sends her sliding several feet back, though she's quickly on her feet again. With a flourish of Milo it's now in its rifle form forcing me to quickly form a wall of water to block the fire dust rounds.

I quickly reinforce the water wall making it several feet thick as I freeze it solid. With her vision of me now obscured I sheathe my blade and use both hands to form a much larger magic circle under myself. No sooner does the circle form does Pyrrha round the corner with Milo in spear form.

Unfortunately, it's a bit too late as I surround myself in a tower vortex of water that takes the form of a gigantic sea dragon. Throwing both hands forward the water dragon surges forward with the speed of a bullet only giving the champion enough time to slam Milo into the ground in a bid to hold her position. Too bad that, like many people, it seems Pyrrha underestimated the force with which water hits a person when traveling that fast.

Shes quickly thrown off her feet and forced to release her grip on her weapon as she's thrown into the wall. Even as she makes contact I continue to force the remaining body of the dragon to slam into her as I watch her aura slowly grind away. However, I reach the point where I'm forced to release the spell if I don't want to drown her, which I really do not.

As soon as the spell ends Pyrrha hits the ground coughing and gasping for air. Looking over to the aura meter displayed on a nearby screen I see that she's deep in the yellow at forty-five percent. It's good to know just how hard that spell hits, though it looks like the initial impact is what deals most the damage while the following body of water is a good drowning method.

"Sorry, I wasn't trying to drown you honest." I say as I start walking towards her.

She weakly rises to her feet as she looks to me. While I was expecting to be greeted with a glare or frown I was not expecting her to smile. No not just smile, she was full blown grinning with a small blush.

"No, no, it's alright." She states as her breathing slows to normal levels. "That was the best spar I've had in a long time." She states earnestly.

'Huh, I wonder if she's a masochist.' I keep that thought to myself as I nod to her.

"I see, well hopefully we get to do this again soon, but I'll be leaving Argus tomorrow." I inform her to which she does frown.

"I see, well are you planning on attending a huntsman academy?" She asks.

"I'm not, I'm afraid I have other obligations that will keep me away from such things." I reply as an idea was slowly forming.

So far I've gotten retinue members from three ways, purchase, sexual dominance, and the mandatory waiting period. I wonder how the binding would be affected if I earnestly tried recruiting Pyrrha.

"Is there something wrong?" Pyrrha asked a little concerned with my silence.

Mentally I nod to myself and let out a sigh, it's not like it could hurt trying this. I mean even if it fails I'll still capture her after the time limit.

"Yes, admittedly I wasn't entirely truthful when I told you about my background." I state as I have a quick look around to confirm there are no cameras. Pyrrha had said there wouldn't be due to privacy concerns, but it doesn't hurt to be safe.

"Oh?" She asks slightly hurt.

"I've told you my true name, but what I haven't told you is that I'm actually not from a frontier town. My name is Marinus Leviathan, head to the near extinct house Leviathan and where I'm from we are considered one of four royal houses." I explain causing Pyrrha's eyes to widen.

"So... you didn't tell me because you didn't want me to treat you like royalty?" She asked with a bit of recognition in her eyes. I'm sure she was making parallels to how she herself was held on a pedestal.

"That's correct, but I was also afraid of the repercussions of what I am." I state.

"Are you a faunus? I assure you I have absolutely no prejudice against faunus!" She explained in slight panic.

I chuckled a bit as I waved her to calm down. "No, you see I'm not from this world." I reply as I allow all eight of my devil wings to appear. "You see my ancestor left me an artifact that allows its user to travel dimensions. I am a devil from the dimension known as Draconic Deus." I explain as she admires my wings.

"You...are a devil, but how you've been so nice?" She asked with a bit of skepticism.

"Allow me to tell you a story." I reply before giving a brief history lesson of the DxD world. I told her about the three factions war and the devils civil war all leading to how I ended up in remnant. Of course some details were left out and I romanticized the details of my arrival, but I kept the story relatively close to the truth.

When I was done she was looking in awe. "So that wasn't your semblance, but magic?" She asked to which I nodded.

"Yes, as was the technique I used to help you earlier." I state before frowning. "I am truly sorry that I had hid this from you. I wasn't sure you could be trusted, but I'm glad to say you are more than trustworthy Pyrrha."

She blushed a bit at my praise before she looked slightly uncomfortable. "I should apologize as well, I didn't tell you the complete truth either. You see I didn't just compete in the last tournament, I won the tournament the last four years in a row."

"I see, I guess we were both afraid our status would make things difficult." I replied with a smile that she returned.

"So does that mean you'll be leaving Remnant soon?" She asked a little dejected.

"No." I reply catching her attention. "You see I told you a lot, but what I haven't told you is about the evil pieces. They are chess pieces that all high class devils receive to build peerages or a group of reincarnated devils. These pieces reincarnate individuals into devils since my race has such an incredibly low fertility rate. We also compete with our peerages in competitions, rating games, that we use to determine prestige." I explained while mentally smiling as that last sentence seemed to catch her attention.

"Considering what I've learned about Remnant I'll probably be back often to recruit members for my peerage." I stated.

"What piece would I be?" She asked curiously.

I thought for a moment before I answered her. "If I were to reincarnate you I would use either a knight or rook. A knight because it would increase your speed greatly and you're far more durable than ordinary knights. Alternatively I could use a rook which would greatly increase your raw strength and durability, but you would also be slowed down." I explained before smiling at her. "Why looking to join me?" I asked.

"It...sounds rather interesting." Pyrrha admitted.

"Well I could always use another knight." I state with a smile. "I don't have my pieces yet, but I have individuals for at least two of my pawn's already." I explained.

"What sort of benefits are there to those that join your race?" Pyrrha asked curiously.

"A reincarnated devil is considered low class in terms of ranking, but as they gain prestige and notoriety they can advance. Eventually they can be made high class allowing them to build their own peerage. They also gain benefits of being a devil such as magic, flight, and the ability to speak all languages." I explained.

It was starting to look like Pyrrha was considering the option of joining me more and more. It wouldn't be that far of a leap from her current career path all things considered. It would also add to the combat power of my peerage considerably, especially as a knight she would run circles around others of the same piece. It just looked like there needed to be a little more pressure applied.

"Of course those benefits are just those that apply to all reincarnated devils. There are others if you should join me specifically." I state which causes her to nod for me to continue explaining. "First of all is financial security, should you join me I cover all living expenses and provide housing for you. This also extends to your family if you wish for them to be cared for."

"That makes sense and should I join you then I would very much want my mother cared for. That was part of the reason I took up tournament fighting in the first place." She explained causing me to file that information away for later.

"Second, is that I will cover the costs of any secondary education you wish to take. This includes anything all the way up to a PhD or Doctorate." I explained already expecting her to want to attend a huntsmen academy. It wouldn't be impossible, but I would definitely need her to be flexible. Oh well, I'm sure I could work out something with Ozpin if I wanted too.

Pyrrha smiled as she nodded at the second benefit. "I would certainly wish to continue and gain a huntsman's license. I'm sure you could use it as an opportunity to find other peerage members as well." She replied surprising me with her observation.

In truth I was already planning on letting Pyrrha attend Beacon just for that singular benefit. However, I wasn't expecting her to pick up on that being a benefit to me either. Now that I think about it I should have figured she would easily come to that conclusion with all that I've been telling her.

"Finally, should you wish, I will have territory set aside for you to use and develop as you like. Whether that's in the underworld or an area you would like purchased here on Remnant I will leave at your discretion." I explained. It's not like I would need my peerage every second of every day so letting them have places to go and unwind was just fine with me.

After I finished explaining the benefits to Pyrrha she stood there for several minutes weighing everything that I had told her. I really didn't need to offer her anything as, when she put on the ring, she was as good as mine. However this was a test of how the Tempest Jewelry would react to someone voluntarily submitting to me.

"Okay, I would like to join you." Pyrrha finally stated after a good fifteen minutes of thinking it over.

I smiled as I nodded. "Excellent, as I've already stated I don't have my pieces yet so we need to seal this with a deal." I stated to which she nodded.

"Okay, what must I do?" She asked.

"Give me your hand." I tell her to which she nods and holds out her hand. "In the name of Leviathan, I contract this person to be my sword, my shield, and my confidant. Do you, Pyrrha Nikos, accept to be mine in mind, body, and soul?" I asked.

"I do." She replied while blushing at the phrasing.

"Then we are together in this." I stated as I brought her close and captured her lips in a kiss. She was surprised at first, but soon melted into the kiss as magic surged through us.

Were these theatrics necessary? No, but it was the easiest way to get a kiss out of Pyrrha. And considering I could feel the notification from the company device it was well worth it.

{Captured: Pyrrha Nikos 12 [88]}

Yes, this was definitely worth it.