Devils and Divine

When I was struck by lightning on the way to work, the very last thing I expected was to end up like a character from my favorite Anime. Of course, unlike him I've ended up, not in a fantasy world, but instead in another awesome Anime...where God is supposedly dead. This...is going to suck.

And we're back. Nothing really to say here, so lets get started. Enjoy!

Chapter 2

It really is amazing how quickly the utterly bizarre can become normal. For example, I never once believed that getting the crap kicked out of me by a catgirl who barely came up to my chest would ever become a part of my normal day, but thats exactly what happened. On the other hand, while it was a tad humiliating to be tossed across my garden by such a shrimp, I had discovered another of the abilities God had given me. It was called Talent and its exactly what it sounds like.

Basically, it affects my learning and retention skills, allowing me to learn just about anything in record time. Now, that does not mean I could necessarily master it quickly as that required practice, but it did allow me to learn the basics of Koneko's style in a very short time, learn how to cook and even master a few advanced mathematical formulas when I was experimenting with it. That did not mean I was about to become the next Einstein or anything since, while I knew the theory's and could use them, thats all Talent did. No coming up with the secrets of reality for me! After all, theres a difference between learning something and mastering it, which is why I was still getting my arse kicked when Koneko and I sparred. The fact she was much, much stronger than me certainly didn't help though.

Currently, I was out jogging through the streets early in the morning when it was quite. In my last life, I would never had bothered doing something like this, but since I really needed to get stronger to survive, I decided to make an exception and actually do some exercise. Plus, it was interesting to find out just how much God's upgrades had changed about me. The answer to that was apparently quite a bit. Near as I could tell from my experiments thus far, my body was physically superior to a normal Humans. I wasn't Captain America strong, but I was stronger, faster and had more stamina than a normal Human at peak condition. When I asked God, he told me that my physical powers were currently at a similar level to a recently reincarnated Devil and would increase as I continued to train and improve.

The sky was turning from gray to blue as I reached the local park and slowed to a stop. I bent over, planting my hands on my knees as I caught my breath. I wasn't gasping, but the run had winded me slightly. After a moment, I straightened and took a long pull on the water bottle that was strapped to my belt to keep my hands free. I made my way slowly through the park to give myself some time to recover from the exercise. As I approached the area where the playground was, the sound of a teenaged boy screaming in pain reached my ears, just in time for me to see Rias bend Issei over. Hmm, maybe I should have worded that differently...I think the Ecchi logic of this world might be affecting me.

I lent against a nearby tree to watch, sipping on my water as the wind carried their conversation to my sensitive ears. Apparently I'd just walked into Issei's very first training session as Rias was telling him how strength was more important that wit in the Devil world. She really needed to learn the meaning of subtlety…

"U-um, hello?" said a voice from behind me carrying a rather adorable Italian accent.

I turned and was completely unsurprised by the sight of Asia stood there in her Habit, eyeing me with a look of confusion.

"Oh, hello, am I in your way?" I asked with a slight smile.

"Um, no, not at all," she said, "Its just...you feel...strange."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Strange how?" I asked.

Asia hesitated.

"L-like...I don't know, the only way I can describe it is how I feel...felt when I entered a church," she said.

"Is that so?" I asked, "Hmm, interesting…"

Apparently God's messing with me might have had some slight side effects. I wonder if other people would be able to sense that something was different about me...

"Oh, Asia, there you are," said Rias' voice as she spotted the former Nun and headed over with Issei, "And, you are…?"

I blinked and shook myself out of my contemplation.

"Oh, sorry," I said, rubbing the back of my head in embarrassment, "I'm Lucas and, unless I'm very much mistaken, your Rias Gremory, correct?"

I hid a smirk as Rias' eyes widened in surprise.

"I am, but how did you know that?" she asked.

"My boss had me learn all the movers and shakers in the Mythical world," I said, "Plus the local folks to watch out for. I also happen to be one of Koneko's clients."

Rias blinked.

"Wait, you're the guy who Koneko's been training?" she asked.

I winced and rubbed my shoulder as it twidged.

"Thats me," I said.

Rias frowned and eyed me up and down.

"So...your a Human?" she asked.

"Yes, why?"

Rias frowned again.

"Its just...never mind, its not important," she said, "Thank your for your patronage, I hope that Koneko is living up to your expectations."

"Would I keep summoning her if she wasn't?" I asked with a smile.

"Good point."

"Anyway, I gotta go," I said, "It was nice meeting you kids."

I waved and jogged off in the direction of home.

When I got home, it was to find a large parcel on my kitchen table with a note attached.

"OK, looks like something from God," I muttered as I opened the note.

Hey there Lucas!

Heres your first payment to help get started on your mission. The box contains some useful items that should help out and some information that will help you learn some magic. I'm sure they'll be very helpful

God

PS, nice job with Rias, you lucky sod.

My eye twitched and I crushed the note in my fist.

"If I didn't know better, I would have thought that ass was the Devil," I growled as I reached for a knife.

I quickly cut the box open and pushed back the top, reaching inside to pull out...a hooded long coat? It gray and made fabric I hadn't seen before. Splashed across the back was a large, golden yellow bird symbol that looked oddly familiar, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out where I'd seen it before.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to be best pleased when I figure this out?" I muttered, "At least its cool…"

I shrugged and reached into the box again, this time pulling out what looked like a wallet for ID cards. However, all that was inside was a blank piece of paper.

"Um, what am I supposed to do with this?" I muttered as I examined the paper.

At that moment, words suddenly appeared on it, nearly making me drop the wallet in surprise.

"This paper is psychic," I read, "It can appear as anything you need should you need to sneak into somewhere or deflect suspicion."

I raised an eyebrow.

"OK, so I now apparently have the Doctor's psychic paper," I said, "Fair enough."

I paused as a rather unpleasant thought passed through my mind.

"Um, I'm not going to end up having to face down stone angels or anything, am I?"

The words on the paper changed.

"Nope, I just thought this might be handy."

My eye twitched. Great, another way for God to annoy me.

The next morning, after a good nights sleep and a good stretching to work out the kinks from my training session the night before, I headed downstairs to have breakfast and grab the morning paper. To my surprise, I also had a letter. Considering that no one had lived here for at least a year before I moved in, I only got papers because I stopped by the newsagents the day before, so there was no one who knew my address to post anything. A quick check however revealed that the letter was sealed with the Gremory family crest.

"Huh, guess I made more of an impression than I thought," I muttered as I broke the seal, "Lets see what Rias wants…"

I skimmed the note. Apparently, Rias had sensed that there was something off about me and now she and Sona wanted to speak to me in person. As such, I had been invited to drop by the ORC clubroom in a couple of days.

"That ought to be fun," I groused as I took a sip of tea, "I wonder why they want me in a few days though? Eh, I'll ask Koneko later."

I set the letter aside and reached for the book that had been in the box I'd received yesterday. I hadn't had chance to look through it yet, so I figured I might as well do it now. As it turned out, it was a beginers guide to magic, which immediately had me salivating, although I wasn't 100% sure how this was going to work. The book seemed to be describing Devil magic, which Humans couldn't use. Then again, things were starting to point to the fact that I may not be Human anymore. Besides, as annoying as God could be, I don't think he'd send me something useless.

"Hmm, I wonder if I can actually use this," I muttered as I flexed my fingers idly, "So I just have to will it?"

I flexed my fingers again...and nearly blinded myself as a brilliant, white light erupted from my fingers.

"OUCH!"

I blinked and rubbed my eyes as I tried to clear my vision with my free hand as the light faded into a glowing orb of light the size of my fist floating above my hand.

"Well, that was easier than I was expecting," I said as I stared at the orb of light.

It was pure white and seemed to be crackling like lightning, flickering like fire and swirling like a whirlpool all at the same time, despite being completely still. Just from being near it, I could feel the skin of the palm of my hand tingling as if a current was flowing through me. After a moment studying the light, I let it dissipate and turned back to the book.

For those who use the Light, the powers available to them come in many forms.

The book said.

For most, the use of Light is primarily used for forming weapons, such as Spears and swords, but others use their power to form lightning, fire and so on. All of these are useful and extremely effective, however, no Angel has ever been able to grasp the true nature of Light.

While powerful in its raw form, Light can be refined and split into different elements. In doing so, control becomes more difficult, but the power grows dramatically due to the new level of focus within the power. These three elements are:

The Devouring Void

The Burning Sol

And the Surging Arc

By mastering these three, a wielder of Light can bend the very fabric of reality to their will and affect Creation itself.

My eye twitched. Well, this was an interesting turnout for the books. Does that mean that God was the Traveler? If so, then what on earth was the Darkness? Trihexa maybe? Eh, whatever, so long as I don't end up having to face off against time traveling robots or something, I don't care.

"Right, lets see what I have to do to turn myself into a Warlock," I muttered as I turned the page.

The first section was on the manipulation of Void Light, high in raw power, but lacking in defence and potentially very dangerous. Calling it the Devourer was pretty damn accurate too as, according to the book, its main attribute was that it basically consumed and destroyed anything it came into contact with, even its user. It was the power of the Void between stars, the Darkness that came before Creation. That may seem contradictory, but bare in mind that all of creation is continually moving towards Chaos or, to put it more plainly, back towards the Darkness. Light was Creation and it had to follow the laws of reality that state that all things must come to an end.

The next section was on Sol, the opposite of Void. While Void was Darkness and Chaos, Sol was Light and Order. Where Void was cold death, Sol was the burning heat of life. To control it, all one had to do was embrace the light and warmth of light and it would obey gladly. In terms of power, not even the flames of the Phenix could match its raw heat. After all, it was basically the power of the Sun and was able to burn away any darkness, even that of the Void.

Finally, there was Arc, the balance between the two. In order to master the unstable element, one had to be in perfect harmony between Light and Darkness, Creation and Destruction. You had to be the calm eye of the storm as raw devastation roared around you. Harmony within, hurricane without. Attempting to use Arc without harmony was basically suicide and would result in the user being obliterated and turned into raw energy.

The book went on to explain how to use Light to basically master all three Subclasses of all three classes in Destiny. I skimmed through the sections on Titans and Hunters, before flipping straight to the section on Warlocks. Being a Titan didn't suit me, I was never the type to act as a tank and I certainly wasn't a sniper. Besides, who wouldn't want to master Space Magic? I spent the rest of the day carefully reading through the basics of each subclass, ready to start practicing tomorrow.

And done. Sorry for the weak ending, but thats as good a place as any to end it.

So, more information on his inborn abilities. Just to be perfectly clear, Talent only increases his learning abilities, so he still needs practice to truly master what hes learnt.

Hmm, apparently people can tell that theres something off about him, but only those who are strong in magic or familiar with how Holy places feel. That could be rather interesting.

I'm not entirely sure where the Doctors psychic paper came from considering I'm not a fan of Doctor Who. I think it might have been based on the idea that I had of Sona being a big fan of British TV… eh, still could be fun.

Yep, Lucas is indeed going to be learning to become a Warlock. No, this does not mean hes immortal or that any of the baddies from Destiny will be making an appearance. I just wanted to give a character Destiny powers for a while and it was either this or a Replacement Soul in Star Wars as Anakin. Or Mass Effect as Shepard. Hey, now theres an idea...

He might learn some other skills from the other classes later, but for now hes raw Warlock.

And with that, I'm signing off. Don't forget to leave a review!