“Yes.” My head whips towards where Kaori is already fluttering closer to Rias.
“Wow.
Zero hesitation,” I say, halfway between impressed and appalled.
Even Rias looks a mixture of smug and surprised, probably not having expected such an immediate positive response to such a life-changing offer.
The black magic fanatic turned fairy looks back at me and says without a shred of self-consciousness, “I’ve always wanted to sell my soul to the devil for power, this is better than I could have ever asked for.” Okay, this girl is hot.
And easy.
But the red flags are crimson… “Ahaha, we don’t really buy souls, although I’ve had to answer that kind of request a few times,” Rias admits, rubbing the back of her head.
“But by becoming part of my peerage that’s a lot more than just being a contractor, it’s more like being family.” “Even better,” Kaori says, clearly fixated at this point.
“Besides, if I become a devil will it mean I get a body like yours?” That makes Rias look down at her own chest before she flips her hair over her shoulder and says, “Well, it’s flattering you see me as aspirational-” “I mean will I become human-sized again!” “Oh!” her face doesn’t quite become as red as her hair but it’s getting there.
“You should do, yes.
Reincarnated devils from other species usually combine traits from both, and all devils are capable of concealing our more inhuman aspects so we can move among humans freely.” See, if she’d led with wanting to become big again that would’ve been a lot more understandable than having her first thought be the realisation of a long-cherished dream to sell her soul for power.
“Then I’m ready, I pledge myself to the great devil Gremory,” Kaori deepens her voice a bit to make it sound more dramatic as she floats directly in front of Rias.
Didn’t she pledge herself to me this morning?
She just throws these out everywhere, doesn’t she?
At least I got a light show, nothing happens in response to her words here, although the light in the room seems to recede as Rias holds up her hand with a chess piece balanced between her fingers.
It emanates an eerie red shine, that kind of reminds me of the dildo statue in how I can sense something from it even if I don’t have the knowledge or vocabulary to put it into context.
“I, Rias Gremory, accept your pledge, and welcome you into my peerage, Kaori Saeki.
From this day, you will serve as my bishop,” everyone is just watching silently now out of respect for the dignified energy they’re both giving as Rias presses the chess piece against Kaori’s chest, where a black portal seems to form, allowing the devil to push it inside of the handkerchief-wearing fairy.
“Ahhhn~” a rather ecstatic moan comes from her, her head lolling back as starting from her hands and feet her body disintegrates into motes of bright silvery light that push back the gloom overtaking the room.
Those motes all condense into a sphere of pulsing radiance and… Pop!
A naked Kaori-chan appears!
Still fun-sized and with cute little fairy wings, while her improvised clothing and the magical chess piece drop to the cushy carpeted floor beneath us.
“Ah!
It didn’t work!” Rias gasps out in surprise.
“Oh my!” “That’s unusual.” “Didn’t want her anyway…” The other members of the Gremory peerage give their own feedback, the spellbound silence lifting as Kaori gives Toujou a dirty look and then turns her indignant glare towards Rias.
“Why didn’t it work?!” “I don’t know!” sounding a bit rattled herself now, Rias bends down and retrieves the fallen bishop piece.
“Sometimes powerful beings are too much for the system to reincarnate, but you’re not that powerful, are you?
And besides, it looked like it was working at first, normally your body would just reject it if that were the case.” Hearing that she might possess a shockingly unprecedented level of power does seem to visibly perk Kaori up, I can see her fighting back a smile as she thinks over that while otherwise floating there unconcerned by her nudity.
I’m sure not concerned, even if she’s too small to do much with, when you’re just looking it’s as good as a picture on a page or a screen!
“I did feel myself starting to come apart, but then it’s blank until I heard you saying it didn’t work,” she says, cupping her chin in her hand in a thoughtful pose.
“It seemed automatic, but I can…” she closes her eyes, everyone watching as her body dissolves into light particles, that condense and then with another audible pop, she reappears.
“It’s a reversion… no, a resurrection,” she says, growing more animated, “This body is truly immortal, no matter what happens I can always reform myself!
You can’t reincarnate me if I resurrect myself first!” There’s a big grin on her face now, her disappointment at not being able to sell her soul to become a devil giving way to happiness at discovering the true power of her fairy body.
“Okay.
Well, I’m sure there are still some things that could kill you all at once before you can reform, so don’t rely on it too much,” Rias says in a grumpy tone, surely annoyed at failing to secure an immortal devil for her peerage.
“Congratulations, that’s still a powerful ability, even if it means I can’t welcome you into our peerage,” Akeno says more supportively.
Toujou stretches her arms and clasps her hands behind her head before saying in a thoroughly unimpressed voice, “Yeah, being able to revive yourself forever is great.
Just watch out in case someone sticks you in a jar.” “Either way, do you want to put your clothes back on?” Wow, Kiba is averting his gaze.
What a gentleman!
Huh, should I feel bad?
No, she showed me everything this morning, I’m totally entitled to feast my eyes all I want.
Hell, she even said I could have her body as part of our compact earlier too, it’s perfectly okay!
Unfortunately she does in fact drop down to retrieve her improvised clothing and start covering herself up again, while Rias recovers enough to say, “Well, even if you can’t join my peerage, lets still be friends, okay Kaori-chan?” in a chipper tone that’s maybe just a little overdone.
“Of course.
I’d be a fool to turn down the goodwill of Gremory,” the now dressed again fairy says as she flies back up to a more convenient height for conversation.
Rias’s expression flattens out before she turns to look at me now and repeats her earlier offer.
“Well, what about you, Jiro-kun?” Right.
Yeah.
Do I want to damn myself to Hell?
I mean, if it’s full of nice and cute girls like Rias, I’m not exactly seeing the moral problem, although it still feels existentially troubling to change species like that, even if there’s no telling if my power won’t do to me what it did to Kaori and turn me into something else on its own.
Wow, that’s actually a scary thought.
But one to unpack later, better answer Rias right now.
“Okay, so unlike Miss Black Magic Fanatic here, I do have some questions,” I start off, gesturing at Kaori who makes a disgruntled sound at the label I just gave her.
“Like first off, what would I actually have to do?” What ensues is an explanation about devil contracts, which leaves Kaori looking utterly devastated when Rias shows off one of the ‘magic circle flyers’ they distribute because no one knows how to make proper magic circles these days, with the other three devils chiming in to describe the kinds of menial chores they often end up doing when responding to summons.
Are devils just gig workers?
Perhaps sensing she’s losing me from the expression that forms with that realisation, the devil heiress changes her tack.
“Also there’s rating games, you remember I told you about them earlier?
I haven’t made my debut yet, but I’m assembling a strong peerage that’s going to make a splash when we do.
You’d be a hit with your kung fu skills, Jiro-kun!
And that’s even before counting whatever might come from your ability, which I promise I’ll do my best to nurture.” Yeah you can nurture my dick, Rias… “Eww, he’s thinking something disgusting now,” Toujou says, her eyes judging me.
“Okay you could just say that whenever and have a fifty percent chance of being right,” I scowl back at her, crossing my arms above my belly.
Though it’s probably for the best she derailed that train of thought before it really left the station, this is a serious decision and not one I should make just because I’m horny for Rias.
Because when you think about it… do I have a chance?
Yesterday I’d have said no, flat out.
But she has been really nice today!
Except is it nice because she likes me, or nice because she sees me as a potentially useful underling?
And if I do work for her, does that kill any chance of her being like a girlfriend, because she’s my boss?
Or would it help because at least then I’d be a devil like her?
“I think… I need to think about it,” I conclude by stalling in the end.
“I only just learned about the supernatural today, so becoming a devil immediately feels a bit rushed.” “That’s fine, Jiro-kun!” she smiles brightly back at me, nodding her head.
“And don’t worry about what Koneko said, you’re a healthy boy after all, and I know Akeno and I were teasing you earlier, so it’s fine.” Geez, forget being a devil, she’s like an angel with such permissiveness!
“Even if you don’t want to join we can still be friends, but while you’re deciding you’re free to come visit with us to learn more about what it’s like.
And I’ll want to know if your power summons up anything else that’s interesting.” I laugh at that, the self-interested angle is easy enough to deal with.
“Yeah, if I summon anyone else like Kaori and you do recruit them, I should get a finder’s fee!” Though hopefully I won’t summon up anyone like Nanael that just starts fights and causes trouble… still no idea what she must be doing out there now… — Deep in the Underworld, an ancient figure damned by the heavens stood hunched over a bench laden with a mixture of archaic tools that wouldn’t look out of place in the laboratory of Doctor Frankenstein, coupled with sleek high tech implements that the most modern research campuses would covet.
Picking up a beaker full of greenish liquid that was slowly eating away at a pure white dragon’s scale, he swirled it gently and muttered to himself, “Barely any progress, might need to try getting some bile from Fafnir to see if that reacts better…” The door to his workshop slid opening, allowing entry to one of the few people who could disturb Azazel in the throes of his research, a slender pale-skinned figure with white hair, a red beret perched at a jaunty angle upon his head.
“Governor General, I’ve had a report back from the team we sent to Kuoh,” he spoke up.
Despite himself, Azazel was impressed.
He hadn’t thought much of those low-ranking fallen angels, but if they proved competent he might even remember their names.
“That’s early, have they made contact with the Red Dragon Emperor already?” he put aside his work to turn and fully regard his lieutenant, the fallen angel Shemhazai.
“No, instead there’s been a complication,” Shemhazai answered, and Azazel’s low opinion of the low ranks was once more solidified.
“Well why are you bothering me with it, they can’t have gotten into that much trouble by themselves.
You know I hate to be pulled away from my work over trivial things,” he gestured over his workshop, the fruit of a long immortal life spent studying the inner workings of sacred gears and seeking to create his own versions to surpass even God’s work.
“I thought you might find it interesting in this case,” the other fallen angel’s voice was dry, taking just a moment to draw out the suspense before elaborating, “They were attacked by an angel.” That did change things a bit, Azazel rubbing his chin as his interest was piqued.
“An angel?
In the territory of those two young devils?
Are they working together somehow, or running their own scheme like us?” he muttered, his mind awhirl with the potential political ramifications of all three factions competing in Japan of all places.
“It gets worse.
Or perhaps better.
The angel has taken over their group and declared an interest in turning them back into ‘proper’ angels.” Shemhazai’s lips twitched with the effort of keeping back a smile.
Azazel wasn’t so restrained, grabbing his stomach and almost doubling over as he let out a sharp bark of laughter at the absurdity.
For thousands of years angels had been falling from grace, cast out for sins both trivial and gross.
Damned and hated, there was no going back.
God would not accept them, and even the most kindly and forgiving of angels could only tolerate the Grigori as equal but separate.
There was no going back, no overturning God’s judgement.
“Come on!
You can’t come into my lab and pull jokes like that, Shemhazai!
This is meant to be a serious place!” “Oh, I’m deadly serious.
Here, this is our culprit,” the white-haired fallen approached his doubled over superior and held up a smartphone showing a picture of a blue-haired girl in a white dress with mismatched wings, leaning forward with such a confused expression on her face that one could imagine she’d never seen a phone or a camera before.
“Apparently she calls herself Nanael.” “Nooo… Nanael died years ago, and she had eight wings.
And no breasts.
Flat as a cutting board,” Azazel recovered enough to poke a hole in that one.
“This girl’s only got one and a half wings.
And no halo – are we sure she’s not some dove tengu or something?
Nice breasts though, I’ll give her that.” “There are definitely discrepancies,” Shemhazai admitted with a shrug, “But they reported her as being so resistant to holy energy that the exorcists’ light pistols did nothing, and their own spears barely phased her.
And she was able to unleash her own holy attacks that felt genuine.
But here’s the kicker: this redemptive angel after declaring her mission, then went out to pick up some high school boys, brought them back to the hideout, and according to their reports,” Shemhazai coughed into his hand before quoting, “She wrung them dry.
After all that?
Her wings are still white.” Azazel let out a low whistle while stroking his chin.
“Heaven’s really changed since we were there, huh?” he commented, getting an eyeroll in return from his old friend.
“Alright, I’m intrigued.
Tell our Kuoh flock to go along with their new angel benefactor and provide regular reports as to what she’s doing with them.
I’ll see if I can discreetly reach out to the other side, find out if they can shed any more light on this girl.” An angel that could have sex without falling?
That was interesting enough for him to put aside his sacred gear research.
Maybe he’d be able to look up Gabriel again sometime… — After school let out, I went to do a little shopping on Kaori’s behalf.
Some craft supplies for her occult practices, and something to sort out her clothing issue.
I probably should’ve just kept my head down and bought the doll without making eye contact, my insistence that it was a gift for my little sister just ended up making me look even more suspicious, but once we got home the sailor suit style school uniform the doll had been wearing managed to mostly fit on Kaori with some adjustments made for her wings.
Didn’t have any underwear, but even if it did I imagine stuff made for a doll wouldn’t be very comfortable.
Then while she starts drawing a magic circle onto a big sheet of paper so as to not ruin the floor, I… exercise the power of my imagination.
Thinking about Akeno when she’d been grilling me about my fantasies earlier, how I could’ve shut her up by sticking it in, grabbing hold of her ponytail and using her throat like an onahole… [1-12 Azur Lane Manjuu Pizzeria A selection of pizzas from Manjuu Pizzeria appear, along with drinks and sides.
Pineapple, pepperoni, and anchovies, oh mamma mia!] The soft thud of something appearing on the table next to me draws me away from fantasies, before my nose twitches at the appetising smell.
There’s a stack of pizza boxes, along with smaller boxes and cartons, and a pair of soft drink bottles.
I don’t recognise the brands.
Pepsi?
Manjuu Pizzeria?
Mountain Dew?
But it smells good!
“Alright, I don’t need to make dinner!” I throw my hands up in celebration.
It’s pretty mundane, but better than a broken vacuum cleaner or weird statue.
Hell there’s enough here I can keep it in the fridge for the next few days.
It does put a dent into the ‘fantasising provides knowledge and skills’ theory that Rias came up with earlier admittedly.
Maybe it just truly random?
Either way, Kaori and I have ourselves a feast, before I come to a decision as the greasy meal settles in my stomach.
“I need to like, go and train my ice powers, and exercise.” “You should take up swimming,” Kaori surprisingly volunteers something practical instead of a crazy magical solution I might have expected from her.
“It’s slimming and exercises the whole body.” “Not a bad idea,” I point at her, “But for the ice stuff I need somewhere isolated where I won’t be seen, the apartment’s not big enough to do it in here.
I think I’m gonna head out, do you wanna come with or stay here?” Unsurprisingly she decides to stay home, considering she’d have to hide in my pocket or something if we were out in public.
So after changing into my tracksuit, I head out for a jog across town.
And it’s kind of startling how I don’t get tired.
Even pushing myself to run faster, my sneaker-clad feet slapping loudly on the sidewalk as I push into a sprint, I only feel a little shortness of breath and my speed… that’s definitely faster than I’ve ever moved outside of a vehicle before.
That contract I made with Kaori this morning is putting in work!
Faster then than expected, I reach my destination.
Some woods on the edge of town, surrounding an old church that’s been abandoned for years.
Shrouded by trees, in a place no one is likely to visit, it’s the perfect place for me to practice my freezing ninja art without breaking the masquerade.
I start with the basics, the most straightforward way I know how to perform the technique (though I understand that it would work better if I had a fan or something similar to more powerfully direct the freezing flow of air), spinning around and cutting my arms through the air as a chill wind picks up, sharp icicles forming a second later as the technique picks up steam.
They follow the air current, travelling around me like satellites as I spin, creating a zone of freezing and sharp danger spreading maybe a metre or so around me.
I can move a little, but since I have to keep spinning I can’t really push aggressively if I wanted to bring this to an opponent.
It’s more a defensive technique, or one you drop after leaping into a crowd.
Still, I do my best to cover ground while maintaining the technique, working around the space amidst the trees I’ve appropriated.
Icicles collide with branches and trunks as I get close enough, loud thunk noises of impact and a spreading glimmer of frost wherever they hit.
After maybe ten seconds, I start to struggle.
I can feel the cold myself, numbing pinpricks spreading from my fingers.
A woozy light-headedness settling in from the constant spinning.
My feet catch against each other despite how sure-footed I’d been since becoming a kung fu master, and I stumble.
The icy wind gutters out, and I hunch over, trapping my hands beneath my armpits to try and warm them back up.
“Shit, that was actually hard,” I pant out, but even so?
Looking around, the grass covered in white rime that crunches underfoot like it’s a crisp winter’s day and not the middle of May, the tree bark covered in spreading snowflake patterns where my icicles had landed, a few branches broken off from their own impacts… there’s an undeniable sense of satisfaction in my chest.
I did this.
It’s not like a snowstorm just manifested around me because I popped a stiffy.
It’s something I did, with my own technique.
Something I could do again too.
I have power.
It’s a heady feeling.
Taking a few to catch my breath and warm back up, I start over.
Using the technique in smaller bursts.
It takes a little wind-up to get going, but stopping after just a couple of seconds makes it a lot easier to control it and recover afterwards, to combine it with punches and kicks as a coherent part of my fighting style.
But does it have to be a dance?
If I’m just fighting one person, then it’s a lot of wasted motion.
Also I just kind of want something more focused and controllable.
Cryokinesis rather than a specific ninja art.
That leads to me trying to do just the bare minimum.
Enough to start it without any follow-through.
The flowing style of my kung fu helps a lot, it synergises with flashy dance-like motions, giving me a big advantage compared to if all I had was the ice technique and was figuring it out as a clumsy unfit nerd.
Probably all the energy I’m getting from Kaori’s contract helps too, letting me keep pushing these acrobatic motions and channelling my energy without getting tired before making progress.
It’s still not something I can just whip out reflexively, but as a combo finisher?
I drive myself forward, a sweep of the legs, a flowing backfist, and then with the final hook?
A punch accompanied with a freezing blast of wind and a single icicle slashing through the air past my fist.
It works, my own fusion of the kung fu skills and the ninja art, all into something new and definitively my own.
I feel incredibly proud of myself.
Though it’s taken long enough for twilight to settle, and I’ve been so self-absorbed in my effort reaching towards the goal that I failed to notice my out of the way training spot wasn’t as quiet as I’d assumed.
“Wow, hey, was that ki martial arts?
Like in Dragon Orb?!” Oh fuck, have I broken the masquerade already?
I don’t know how to hypnotise people!
And if I did it would probably be dangerous for all kinds of other reasons.
I look over and see three figures in Kuoh Academy uniforms, stepping off the path and around the bushes to approach me.
I actually recognise them, three troublemakers that are kind of infamous for how hated they are.
I’m merely disdained by the student body, these three rarely go a week without catching a beating from angry girls.
“Oh it’s you guys,” I say, while trying to come up with an excuse and trying to downplay whatever they might have seen.
“I was just messing around…” “Hey, we’re not just guys!” the shaven haired jock-looking one says, thrusting his chest out.
“Yeah, we’re men!” their brown-haired leader jabs a thumb against his own chest.
“That’s right, today we graduated from boys to men!” the more typically nerdy looking member of the trio finishes their introduction slash comedy skit while adjusting his glasses so they catch a gleam from the setting sun.
If I hadn’t gotten so lucky with Kaori this morning I’d probably feel jealous and bitter, but today I’m secure enough to play along and have a little fun.
“What, with each other?” “What?
No!” all three recoil in shock and outrage, though their expressions as they look at each other definitely tells me there’s something going on.
“I mean, we were kind of together at the time-” glasses wearing Motohama starts before he’s interrupted by Hyoudou making a chopping gesture with his arm.
“The balls didn’t touch, that means we’re fine!
We remain just bros!” “Yeah, we scored with a hot chick, that’s all that matters!” Matsuda says with a jerky nod, jutting his chin out and mean-mugging at me like he’s daring me to say different.
The kind of woman that would put out for all three of them at the same time… well, I’m conjuring up some images and ‘hot chick’ wouldn’t be among them.
Unless she’s got some severe mental issues, like red flags way worse than Kaori’s.
In fact since they were all at the abandoned church, maybe some hot but emotionally unstable goth girl?
“Well, okay.
Congratulations, I guess?” I decide to just give it to them, not my business really.
I do wonder if this’ll make them calm down at school though.
All three relax a bit, clearly relieved to have their heterosexual sex-haver credentials go unchallenged.
Then Hyoudou steps forward and asks, “So hey, what was that you were doing?
I saw some weird energy around your hand, is that really some kind of magical martial arts?
I mean you don’t really seem the type, but I guess you could be like a smiling buddha type in a fighting game…” What the fuck?!
That last part was unnecessary!
“I was just goofing around.
Play-fighting a bit, you probably just saw a trick of the light,” I come out with an excuse, but he doesn’t seem to be buying it.
“Come on!” he whines out, “You don’t need to keep it a secret, we know about magic now.
We know an angel!” His eyes widen and his smile widens hugely as if he just came upon something incredible and he adds, “We know her biblically.” “Oh shit!” “That’s awesome, we do!” His friends cheer at the admittedly clever witticism, while I’m just stuck on the fact that there can surely only be one angel in this devil-run town right now.
And she had sex with these guys?
Is she somehow even more of a slut than Kaori?
Is my power just going to summon absurdly easy women?
Not complaining, but maybe it should’ve been me?
Nanael was cute.
Then again she also called me a pig-faced monkey, so perhaps I’m overestimating my chances.
But still.
These guys?
“So, you guys met Nanael, huh?” I ask, just to confirm the name.
“So you know her!
Because you’re magic too, right?” Hyoudou points at me in vindication.
“Wow, a mysterious angel, then a guy at our school is a ki martial artist.
What’s next, is the student council president a magical girl?” Everyone’s getting a crash course in the supernatural today, but I laugh at the absurdity of the final guess there.
While accurate that she’s linked to the supernatural, a devil would be the traditional enemy of a magical girl, and besides can you imagine a super-serious girl like Shitori prancing around in frills and lace and firing off ‘magical milky miracle beams’ at stuff?
“Haha, just imagine that, yeah…”