Fabricator v2 - Chapter 33

Chapter 33

The following day, Junichiro was officially a reincarnated devil. He'd monitored his changes, taking readings every hour or so to track the changes that came about. It had been fascinating to him to watch the process. The Evil Piece, once fused with his soul, changed his soul in a few minor, but significant, ways. This change, as far as he could currently determine, made his soul into a Devils soul. Consequently, his soul turned his body into a devil body.

The soul was the central most part of the body and had the most power over it. It made sense that precise changes to the soul would outwardly effect the body. It was a very complex and very precise matter. One mistake and his soul would have mutated uncontrollably.

This is where Kings came into the picture. The Evil Piece was connected to Rias. It wasn't a large connection, and one he highly doubted she could consciously manipulate, but it was there. It was most likely forged when she registered as a King. It was also necessary for the whole Evil Piece system to function as intended, his connection to Rias kept the piece stable. Breaking that connection was also entirely possible and doing so could lead to terrible consequences.

In other words, if he broke the connection he'd become a stray devil instantly. Even if he didn't directly betray Rias, even if he served her faithfully like a fully devoted slave, he would be a stray and would slowly mutate. Well, he would mutate if he couldn't come up with a way to maintain the stability of the Evil Piece. Something Koneko's older sister, Koroka, must have done to keep from becoming a monstrosity.

He also learned that the material that made up the Evil Piece was even more essential than he'd thought. The... agaracite? Was that it's name? Whatever it's name was, once the piece bound to his soul, it began to leak microscopic amounts of the material it was made of into his body. These small amounts further enhanced his body and helped with the physical changes that gave him the physique of a devil.

On top of that, those small bits were responsible for the drasticchanges that had happened to his magical core. As a human his core was rather small, even after his improvements and didn't 'flow' very well when trying to perform spells. The human method was extremely efficient, it had to be to get the most use out of the small amounts of magic humans naturally had.

The moment his magical core changed, it became more than just a small core. His system transformed into a much larger core, though the density of magic held within went down, and a system similar to his nervous system spread out from that core. Magic now flowed freely through his entire body, the fleshy parts of it anyway. He'd already experimented with it a bit and found it was rather simple and intuitive to use. He'd easily managed to conjure a tiny flame floating above the palm of his hand. He planned to try more complex magic later.

The last big change was the creation of his 'wings'. They were... weird. Both physical and metaphysical manifestations of his ability to naturally fly. He could call them out, and had to if he wished to fly, yet they were very much not designed for flight and didn't even flap! When they weren't out, they barely existed. Once deployed, he could fly. They could also be damaged which would detract from his ability to fly. Which is what made them so weird. If they only needed to exist for him to fly, why would damaging them lower his ability to fly?

Stupid metaphysical crap.

Thankfully he wasn't limited to those wings for options on flight. He could enchant just about anything to grant him the ability of flight and had done so already to multiple pairs of shoes. Hermes be damned.

Now that the changes were done and he was stable, he had a few things he needed to do. He stood before the table that held the Boosted Gear, concealed Avalon, the Seven Stars, and the Essence of the Blank.

That last one is the one he grabbed first. He wanted it fully incorporated within himself before he started adding additional power into his system. With the Essence finally a part of his being, the Seven Stars would be able to work non-stop at peak efficiency and he wouldn't have to worry about anything he did having a negative effect on his growth. He would still need to be careful since the Essence didn't mean he couldn't overdo it an kill himself on accident by pumping way too much magical energy into his body.

He held the vial for a bit and smiled at it. It'd been years since he first arrived and went through all of his ups and downs. Yet, despite a terrible loss, he still felt he was a far cry from where he'd begun and he couldn't wait to see just how far he could go in the future.

With a flex of his thumb, the cork of the vial popped out and he quickly downed it. It had a mildly minty taste to it that was surprising. Though not as surprising at what he felt next. The Essence near instantly modified his being and greatly effected the changes he'd already undergone.

He hunched over, groaning in discomfort, as his demonic power began growing in leaps and bounds. The Essence of the Blank removed all limiters and roadblocks that could slow his growth, including the limiters built into the Evil Piece that was now a part of his very soul. He was no longer limited by the power of a Pawn. The limits that were in place on a Pawn that could only be removed by Promotion, were now permanently disabled. All of them.

Junichiro's body was taking in the powers of a Knight, Rook, Bishop, and Queen all at the same time. He wouldn't ever be able to use Promotion in a rating game, but he technically didn't need to now. He wondered if this was anything like the power of a King piece.

After the changes calmed down and stabilized, he stopped feeling so bloated. He stretched a bit and felt his magical reserves. When he'd become a devil his core had expanded but the density of magical power, or Demonic Power now, had dropped. It was now back and even more dense than before. If his Demonic Power before drinking the Essence had been a light fog that would barely be noticed, now it was a thick fog that would make it impossible to see his hand in front of his face.

He looked at the Boosted Gear, but was leaving it for the time being. He was expecting Rias to join him around lunch time, that was when he would bond with it. She wanted to watch the process and see him when he first activated it. Which was fine by him, he had other things to do first.

The next thing he picked up were the Seven Stars. Each sphere, the size of a golf ball, had to be placed against a specific region of his body. He selected the first two and placed them against each of his thighs. With a small burst of Demonic Power, the spheres began to glow and gently sink into his body without causing any damage. The feeling was a little weird, like his leg was mostly numb, but not numb enough to stop him from feeling something move through it.

Once the first pair were gone, he grabbed two more. He crossed his arms and placed them against each other so the sphere's were touching his upper arms, just below his shoulders. This was a slight modification as they were originally meant to be placed against the biceps. Seeing as how he didn't have two biceps, this was impossible for him. He'd had to modify them to work with what was left of his right arm.

The next two spheres were collected and gently placed against his chest over his lungs. Once they were within him, he picked up the last one and held it against his heart. The final sphere sank beneath his skin and the Seven Stars were complete.

Sadly, they didn't bond completely with his body or soul so they weren't drastically effected by the Essence of the Blank as the Evil Piece had been. They were more akin to metaphysical objects placed within his body than a part of it. This meant they didn't get supercharged and would take a little while to fully gear up to a noticeable degree.

Still, he picked up one of his many wands and scanned himself to check the integration of the Seven Stars. He carefully checked and smiled when he noted that the runes were charging up quickly in the thick atmosphere of his workshop and the denser power of his personal reserves. The drain being taken from him would only last until the runes fully charged and the enchantments fully kicked in, then the Seven Stars would provide him with magical power instead of taking it.

Once he was certain everything was working as designed, he picked up the last item on the table that he planned to use right then, a small charm bracelet. He plucked one of the charms off and immediately his workshop was flooded with a powerful holy aura. He tilted his head curiously as the power washed over him. He was experiencing a strange dichotomy of sensations.

There was the reaction from his newly gained devil attributes. He had new instincts that were screaming at him that the transformed Avalon was deadly to him and would destroy him at the slightest touch. He felt the urge to flee as far as he could and never look back in fear of dying to something that was his antithesis and wanted him dead.

On the other hand, he knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Avalon not only wouldn't hurt him, but couldn't. His nature as an Artificer made him immune to such things, for the most part. Being cut by a holy weapon would still hurt him as the sword would be serving a master. On the flip side, a Master-less holy sword would happily allow him to wield it, despite his new nature.

It was a very strange feeling and he couldn't help but wonder how it would feel when he forged his own holy weapons and items in the future. He'd spent a fair amount of time studying Excalibur Ruler and was fairly certain he could replicate most of the process and make a decent holy sword in the style of the DxD world.

None of that mattered as he willed Avalon to change it shape using its Mimic powers. The charm bracelet turned into a needle-thin metallic worm construct and easily burrowed into the palm of his hand. He felt a small sting, but it near instantly faded as Avalon healed the wound. It quickly retook his preferred form within his body. Avalon was now threads through his flesh and prosthetic, from head to toe. At his hands Avalon shifted into five individual threads that went down to the tips of his fingers. From there the threads could be slipped out of his fingertips allowing him to produce just about anything he desired.

Seriously, Mimic was probably his favorite ability among all those contained within Avalon.

The holy aura of the sword was hidden by a small item hidden within the quick connect port built into his right arm. The remainder of his arm would essentially have to be removed to unleash the full strength of the aura. He couldn't have it leaking all over the place and letting every supernatural being know he had one of the most powerful artifacts on the planet in his possession.

With all of that done, all that was left was binding the Boosted Gear to himself. He glanced at the clock and saw he still had a few hours before Rias was due to show up. With that being the case... He moved over to the area where he was still working on building Ddraig a new body to pilot. It was nearly done and, if he pushed, he could finish it before nightfall.

-----Line Break-----

Junichiro looked up from his work as the door to his workshop opened and Rias walked inside. She spotted him and smiled brightly, but then froze and stared at him in surprise. The silence dragged out for a few moments before she recovered and practically shouted, “Holy crap! What in the hell happened?! I know turning you into a devil is supposed to boost your strength some, but it should be minimal for a Pawn piece! Why the hell did you jump up to a High Class Devil in power?!”

Junichiro blinked a bit and took a moment to make a rough comparison between his current power and Rias's own. He was a bit surprised to note that they felt about the same. He'd need to use a magical item to get a better reading, but he was definitely roughly the same magical strength. Of course, that wasn't much of a surprise, he did have the amplified magical power of a Bishop and a Queen combined.

His answer to Rias's question? He just shrugged, “I'm just built different.” He lifted up his right arm for emphasis and gave her a cheeky smirk, “Literally.”

Rias blinked at the off color joke then chuckled, “I see. Or. The Mutation Piece I had to use did this.”

Junichiro hadn't thought of what using a Mutation Piece might mean. They were all different and 'bugs' in the system. Unfortunately, while his Essence of the Blank would unleash those differences and make it easy for him to use them, he had to know what the hell they were first. Only time would let him figure out what the bugs he could exploit were.

“Eh. I'm not going to complain about being stronger. Frankly, more strength is something I would really like since it will make my work a lot easier and I can start experimenting with more magically intensive projects.”

Rias smiled brightly at that and made her way over to the table where he was working, “So, other than a great big boos in power, how are you feeling?”

“Well, the wings feel weird, but I can live with them. The power is nice, but I really really like how much easier it is to use Demonic Power to cast spells than trying to cast a spell as a human.” He slouched and groaned in mock pleasure, “It's soooooo much easier.”

Rias looked slightly impressed, “You've already figured out spellcasting? I was thinking of having Akeno teach you the basics.”

Junichiro held his left hand up and conjured a floating flame in response to her question, “I could sue a few spells using the human system. I just pictured what I wanted to accomplish and there is was.”

Rias nodded in understanding, “Well just remember, while it is called 'imagination magic' it does have limits. For example, no matter how hard you try, you'll never be able to replicate my Power of Destruction with it.”

Junichro looked at Rias and gave her a playful grin, “Wanna bet?”

She arched an eyebrow in reply, “You think you can replicate a Clan Trait with magic?”

He gave her a bland look, “Tell me Rias, what powers the Clan Traits? Is it... Demonic Power?! Gasp! So if all the Clan Traits are powered by the same source of energy, why couldn't they be replicated?”

She blinked in surprise at the question and then frowned as she mulled it over, “I don't know... What I do know is that people have tried to replicate Clan Traits in the past and always failed.”

His reply was to scoff derisively, “Puh-lease, I'm certain that if someone did succeed, they were summarily disposed of preventing them from telling about their success on a wider scale.”

Rias grimaced, he might be right about that, but she didn't know either way and immediately wanted to changethe subject, “So, when are you going to bond with the Boosted Gear?” she gave him a cheeky grin, “I'm looking forward to having the most powerful Pawn in my peerage.”

Junichiro chuckled and led her over to the table where the gauntlet that represented the Boosted Gear was laying, “Ddraig, you awake?”

There was a moment of silence before the green gem on the back of the hand flashed accompanied by the deep voice of the dragon, “I am. Are you finally going to use me?”

Junichiro collected the gauntlet and held it against his chest, “That's the plan.”

“If nothing else, this should be a new experience. I've never been stolen from my partner and fused with someone else before.”

Junichiro grinned and then fed a thread of Demonic Power into the gauntlet to get the fusion process going. It was the exact same way he'd fused with the Sword Birth amulet. It didn't take more than a handful of seconds for the gauntlet to vanish inside of his body and begin fusing with his soul. He turned to Rias and grinned, “It's just going to take a little while to stabilize and then I can call it out.”

Rias nodded in understanding and the pair made their way back to his workbench where he continued to work on the body for Ddraig. Rias paid close attention to what he was doing, though she didn't understand it at all. At the moment, he was assembling the pieces together to finish the project. When it was finished, Ddraig would have a body modeled after a western dragon the size of a large dog, such as a German Shepard or a Rottweiler.

As she watched Junichiro work, Rias couldn't help commenting, “I don't understand why watching you work like this is so interesting. I don't even know or understand what you're really doing. Yet, I just want to keep watching.”

-----Line Break-----

It was about two hours later, the body for Ddraig was almost finished being assembled, when Junichiro felt a sudden rush of energy flood through his entire being. He grinned brightly at the familiar feeling. He'd felt the same sensation once before, when Sword Birth had bonded to his soul. He looked toward Rias who'd been happily watching him work, “It's done.”

Her eyes widened in surprise and quickly began to sparkle, “Ohhhhh! Show me show me!”

She hopped off of her seat and walked over to his side where she bounded in excitement. It took a supreme act of willpower for Junichiro to pull his eyes away from her bouncing... assets and focus on himself.

His body had been through many changes recently, yet it was still a simple matter for him to find the htread that led to the Boosted Gear. Once he found it, all it took was a flex of willpower and the iconic gauntlet appeared on his left hand. It even completely skipped over the Twice Critical phase and straight into the true Boosted Gear.

Once manifested, the green gem flashed, “This is... unique. Partner, when we're alone we need to have a serious discussion.”

Rias looked surprised, “You can't talk around me?”

Junichiro smiled, “A guy has to have his secrets. How else am I supposed to maintain my air of 'mystery' around all of you?”

Rias pouted cutely but let it go. She assumed it was just some secrets related to the Boosted Gear that Ddraig wanted to impart to his new wielder. None of that matter though andshe was quickly excited once again. She grasped her hands together in front of her chest and unleashed the dreaded puppy dog eyes on Junichiro as she plaintively asked, “Do the thing, please.”

Junichiro laughed light and nodded in acceptance. He wanted to 'do the thing' himself. He lifted his left arm up and curled his fingers into a tight fist, “Let's do it Ddraig.”

[BOOST!]

Both Junichiro and Rias gasped as his power, already about equal to Rias's own, doubled and suddenly dwarfed her power. Unable to resist, Junichiro ran over to his collection of wands and began scanning himself to see how it all worked.

The simple answer was, all the power came from the Boosted Gear and belonged to Ddraig. In exchange for being given the power, the Boosted Gear consumed his physical stamina. Judging by how much stamina he was currently losing... He could maintain one Boost pretty much indefinitely. Of course, doing so would require he always keep the gauntlet out so while possible, it wasn't practical.

Rias looked at Junichiro, or more specifically at his left arm, with a look of wonder and tears in the corners of her eyes, “I can finally be free.”

Junichiro looked over at Rias after she spoke, “What do you mean?”

Of course, he knew exactly what she meant, but since she'd never personally told him about her problem, he wasn't supposed to know. Rias gently wiped the corner of her eyes to prevent herself from actually crying, “I'm engaged to a man named Riser Phenex and I despise him. I don't want to marry him, I hate him. It's an arranged marriage and I have never wanted anything to do with it. I want to be able to find someone to love on my own, to choose who I will love for the rest of my life.”

She approached Junichiro and place her hand against his chest, “I came to Earth in the hopes of finding strong people to join my peerage because the only way I can think of to break the contract is to defeat Riser, and his entire peerage, in a Rating Game.”

She curled his hand into a fist, scrunching up his shirt in her grip, “Now I have you, I have hope.”

Junichiro dismissed the Boosted Gear so he could gently grip Rias's hand between both of his, “Rias, no. I'm not going to beat up this Riser guy for you.”

Rias instantly looked shocked and heartbroken but he calmly continued, “I'll make you and the rest of your peerage strong enough to crush him beneath your heel without me needing to lift a finger. It will be up to you to get stronger and earn your own freedom.”

He stared deeply into her beautiful blue-green eyes, “What's worth more to you, me simply crushing this loser who dares to try and take your freedom, or crushing him yourself and showing him that you, alone, are more than strong enough to stand on your own above him?”

Rias's breath caught in her throat as the reality of his offer dawned on her. While he hadn't trained Akeno, his words to her Queen had gotten Akeno thinking and had some effect. She expected more would change over time. However, she had seen the difference just one training session had made for Kiba and his use of his Sacred Gear. If he trained her up to her deadline of graduation college... He would be able to train her for six full years.

Her countenance firmed up as she grinned almost viciously, “You're right. I would much prefer to crush him myself.”

Junichiro smiled, “Good.”

Originally, he had planned to destroy Riser on Rias's behalf and earn some brownie points for it. He did like Rias, after all. Yet, the moment he saw her looking at him like he was the solution to all of her problems... It didn't sit right with him. No. Rias needed to crush Riser herself. She needed to have her own strength, her own power, to stand over Riser's broken body and declare her own freedom from him.

He didn't care if he lost those brownie points. Rias would win her freedom and become a more powerful and more confidant woman because of it.

With her decision made, she released her grip on Junichiro and stepped back, blushing a little bit as she did. Junichiro smiled at her and turned to walk over to his main vault. Curious, Rias followed him and looked over the giant door, “You know, I was really curious about what you have in there. But it seemed rude to ask.”

Junichiro smiled, “This is my vault. I keep all my wealth and personal creations. Well, anything I want to keep locked up really.”

Rias chuckled and watched as he went through the process of unlocking the massive door. When the door opened, she jumped back in surprise and shivered in horror, “What the hell is that?!”

Junichiro blinked at her reaction, and looked confused for a moment. At least, until he registered the sensation of a powerful holy aura. He looked inside of the vault at where Excalibur Ruler was calmly sitting, “Oh! I forgot that was in here.”

“What? What's in there?! I've never felt a holy aura this strong!”

“Oh, nothing. It's just Excalibur Ruler.”

In the future, Rias would swear that she maintained her composure in this moment and that her voice most assuredly did not become a screech, “JUST EXCALIBU RULER?!”

Rias was panting after shouting in a screeching voice of shock and not a little bit of fear. Junichiro just chuckled, “Sorry. I found it in the same place I found Albion's scales that I'm using to make a body for Ddraig from. It's the same place I found most of the gold in here.”

Rias, cautiously, approached the door to the vault and looked inside of it. She ignored the massive piles of gold and zeroed in directly onto the sword sitting off to the side. She was rather surprised at how... plain Excalibur Ruler was. She didn't know what she expected, but she did expect that the most powerful fragment of Excalibur would look more... majestic.

She cautiously approached it and took a careful peek at it, though she made no move to touch it at all. She could feelhow it would try to destroy her in a single touch. Just being this close to it, she felt threatened. So, she calmly stepped away from it and began to examine the rest of the vault. She let out a low whistle of appreciation.

For a boy around her age to have such vast wealth was very impressive. Granted, it was nowhere near the amount of wealth her family had, but it was still very impressive. Then there was the array of items she couldn't identify. All kinds of artifacts in all shapes and sizes. She had no idea what any of them did. She just looked over them and then focused on what Junichiro was doing.

While Rias had been looking, Junichiro had gone over to one of the chests he had and opened one. When he turned around to face Rias, he was holding a small box in his hand, “This, is for you.”

Rias blinked in surprise, “For me? What is it?”

He walked over to her and casually flipped open the box to reveal seven small spheres covered in runes, “These are the first form of the Seven Stars of Magic that I made, before I got some upgraded equipment. They're not as good as the ones I made for myself, less efficient and not quite as powerful, but they're still pretty amazing.”

Rias gently reached out toward the box and the items within it, “You're just... giving them to me? But, what do they do? I know what you said your better version did. Are these the same?”

Junichiro tilted his head slightly, “Not exactly the same. Rather than the full seven times recovery speed that mine have, these are closer to three point five, about half as effective. The same can be said about the other things it can do. All the functions are the same, recovery, strengthening, core expansion, just at about fifty percent efficiency.”

Rias was rather surprised by that. While three point five wasn't nearly as good as seven, it was still a huge boost when compared to nothing. She traced a finger over one of the sphere's then looked into his eyes, “So, how do I use them?”

Junichiro pulled the box back and closed it, “Follow me.”

He led her out of the vault and to a table where he pulled up a second chair. They sat together with the box set on the nearby table, “The process is easy and painless, if a little uncomfortable.”

He took the time to carefully explain the process to her. It was the exact same as the process he went through earlier that day so it wasn't complex or difficult. Once he made sure she knew where each item was meant to go, he held the box out toward her, “Go for it.”

Rias nodded and collected two of the spheres. Just as Junichiro had, she started with her thighs, then her upper arms, followed by her lungs, and lastly her heart. She made a cute face as the sphere sank into her body, “You were right. It doesn't hurt but it feels very weird.”

“That'll go away pretty quick. Now that you have them, they'll begin their work. I'm sure you'll notice a difference in your Demonic Power recovery rate more than the other benefits. Since those are smaller more passive ones they're harder to notice in a short time.”

Rias nodded in acceptance of that, “I guess that makes sense. Still, I wonder what effect this extra growth will have on my power. Devils automatically grow stronger over time, and given our lifespans we can become rather powerful even if we do nothing. Add in training and that growth increases. Now I can add in even more passive growth. It makes me wonder just how strong I am going to become.”

Juncihiro shrugged his shoulders, “No idea. All I know is we'll be sure to get you to the point that you can stand up to Riser on your own and crush him beneath your heel.”

Rias showed a rather vicious smile at the thought of crushing Riser, “I'm looking forward to that.”

The pair spoke for a little longer before Rias took her leave. She had other things to do and couldn't spend the entire day hanging out with Junichiro, no matter how much she would like to. Once Rias had left via the teleportation circle, Junichiro turned to reenter his workshop. Just as he stepped way, the teleportation circle lit up once again.

Junichiro stopped and wondered if Rias had forgotten something. When the light cleared he was slightly surprised to see a pair of people he hadn't seen in a while, “Azazel, Mittelt, it's been a while.”

Azazel had a bright smile on his face, while Mittelt was glaring at him from behind her boss, “Arai-san! Good to see you again!” Azazel peered closely at him, “So, how's being a devil treating you?”

Junichiro waved his hand dismissively, “It's not that big of a difference. Having wings is weird, but other than that I don't really feel any different. I also don't plan to make any changes to our current arrangements.” He eyed Azazel closely, “Unless you want to change them for some reason?” He smirked, “It's not like me becoming a Devil changes how I feel about you automatically or anything.”

“Oh? Well, I wouldn't mind if nothing changed. But are you sure your new 'King' will approve?”

Junichiro waved his hand dismissively, “C'mon, you know I'd think of that.” He led Azazel to his office where he retrieved his copy of the contract he signed with Rias, “Take a look. I covered my bases well. The only difference is that I will, occasionally, have to participate in official functions. Big friggin' deal.”

Azazel quickly read over the contract, nodding to himself, “Not bad, kid. You're right. With this contract, you're basically still an independent.” He put the contract down and studied Junichiro, “She knows who you are?”

Junichiro nodded, “Yup, but as you saw that information is protected. She wont be telling anyone outside of the peerage without my permission and they're all required to remain silent as well. My identity will be protected, I can continue my work, and I can continue working with you as long as you don't make a big deal about the personal changes.”

Azazel waved his hand dismissively, “You know me kid. I don't give a fuck what race you are. Still though...” He smirked a wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, “Rias Gremory huh? If she's anything like her mom, she'll be a bombshell when she's mature enough.”

Junichiro smirked, “What? No comments on her Queen?”

Azazel raised his hands defensively, “No way in hell am I saying anything about Barakiel's kid. I prefer my testicles to not be smoking.”

Junichiro snorted, “Right. So aside from functions and Ratings Games, I'm free to do whatever I like. Which means I plan to keep working on stuff. In fact, since you're here, you can collect the items that have been piling up since Mittlet hasn't bothered to come by in quite some time to collect them.”

He was serious. He had a dozen or so orders just sitting there waiting for Mittlet to pick them up and deliver them to Azazel so they could get to their new owners and he could get his payments. Speaking of Mittlet, he turned to look at her and grimaced a little at the hateful glare she was giving him. He decided to just rip the bandage off, at this point there was no reason to even try and salvage their relationship, “Mittlet, we're over.”

His comment broke her glare as she blinked in confusion, “You thought we were still dating?”

He saw she was about to laugh at him but cut her off, “Not at all. I'm just enough of a gentleman to actually say something instead of being a little shit and doing over a phone call, voice mail, or text message. I'd like to think I have a good amount of integrity and planned to keep it by doing this in person.”

His focus switched from Mittlet to Azazel, “I might need a different liaison to the Grigori.”

Azazel looked between Mittelt and Junichiro then slowly nodded, “I think you might be right. I'll look through my files and see who might be appropriate.”

“Make sure its someone who doesn't have too much of a grudge against Devils. Other members of the peerage might spend time here and I don't want my other job causing issues between us, Azazel.”

The leader of the Grigori nodded in understanding. At least Junichiro had the foresight not to ask for someone who didn't hate Devils at all. Almost all the members of hte Grigori hate some sort of grudge against Devils in one form or another. Azazel didn't say it out loud, but Junichiro's choice to become a Devil was a real pain in his ass.

On the bright side, it would probably help with bringing their current ceasefire up to the level of a true peace where the factions could finally relax and work together. So, he'd put up with the inconvenience for now in the hopes it would pay off in the future.

Azazel felt a little better about that and was very glad that he wouldn't be losing his connection to Junichiro. Having to evict the kid from the house would have been awkward, “Well, forget all that. I'm here to take a look at Excalibur Ruler and Excalibur's Scabbard.”

Junichiro eyed Azazel, “Took you long enough. I thought you wanted to examine them right away.”

Azazel pouted, actually literally pouted, “I wanted to! But damn Shemhazai kept too close an eye on me and I couldn't escape!”

Junichiro snickered at that and led Azazel and Mittelt toward his workshop, “I see. Well, you wont get to see all of Avalon, the name I've given Excalibur's Scabbard, it's in use by me. But Ruler is just inside my vault.”

Azazel nodded, “Yeah, I can feel it from here. I'd almost forgotten how powerful the fragments were. Just goes to show that sword wasn't something to be trifled with before it broke.” He focused on Junichiro, “Though I don't see, Avalon was it? On you.”

A laugh was the reply Azazel received from Junichiro, “Of course you don't. I'm sure you're aware that Avalon has all the same abilities that Excalibur did, and then some, correct?”

Azazel nodded so Junichiro continued, “Well, the most convenient one is the power that resides in Excalibur Mimic, the ability for it to take any shape the user can imagine, within reason.” He stopped at the door to his vault and looked at Azazel with a smirk, “So I shifted Avalon into a shape that could be stored inside of my body.”

The look of shock on Azazel's face was entirely worth telling the leader of the Grigori that little secret. Azazel was already aware that he had the scabbard, there was no point in denying that. He also didn't see much point in hiding where Avalon was currently stored. If Azazel wanted to kidnap him and force him to give it over, there was nothing Junichiro could do to stop him. However, letting Azazel know just how hard it would be to get Avalon from him was totally worthwhile.

“How the hell are you not dead?! That scabbard is one of the holiest relics in existence! As a freshly turned devil, tt should practically vaporize you!”

Junichiro scoffed, “Please. How could I do my work properly if I could work with holy items? It's best if you consider me the greatest natural holy sword user on the planet. Same with Demonic and Cursed swords. I can examine and use them all without disadvantage or succumbing to their negative effects.”

“How is that possible?”

“I wouldn't be able to do my job if it wasn't possible. Given the right materials, personal power, and some practice, I could make a perfect replica of Avalon, recreate Excalibur in full, and more. How could my abilities possibly be allowed to be limited by something as insignificant as race?!”

Azazel and Mittelt both just stared blankly at Junichiro. Eventually Azazel managed to as kthe question the both of them were thinking, “What?”

Junichiro snickered, “I can use anything. It's part of what makes me so good at what I do. As long as it's not used to attack me, it won't harm me. Items with living spirits that can choose who can use them are the only real exception. While I can pick them up and use them, they can choose to restrict how much of their power I can use to the minimum, if they wanted. I need to be able to use them in order to understand them, their functions, and how to repair them if such a thing is needed.”

Mittelt looked confused while Azazel looked nonplussed, “I... guess that makes sense... sort of?”

Junichiro just shrugged his shoulders and moved into the vault to collect Excalibur Ruler. He casually tossed the blade to Azazel. The Governor General was forced to react quickly to catch it by the handle. Ruler's blade was more than capable of slicing through his supernaturally durable flesh, “Careful with it!”

Junichiro just chuckled and walked out of the vault. He honestly didn't mind Azazel seeing what was in there. The only things inside of it that he'd not be willing to sell to Azazel, or more accurately trade for materials, were the scales from Albion. The gold? Meaningless. While he did use some gold in his works, he didn't need mountains of it. The objects he'd made? None of them were things he really had any strong reasons to keep and he could always remake them if he wanted.

The stuff he really wanted to keep hidden was hidden somewhere else. Much like how he'd never gone back for his Essence of the Blank to keep it hidden, the stuff he wanted safe was kept hidden in different spots. Things like the genetic materials he'd collected from the corpses near Albion's cave. He still wanted to see what he could do with the corpse of one of Lucifer's kids he'd taken. He was pretty certain he could make something with it to enhance his own devil physiology, but that would need to wait.

The point was, things like that corpse, the feathers from both Angels and Fallen Angels, and other extremely rare stuff was hidden somewhere he knew Azazel would never find them.

Azazel, unaware of Junichiro's thoughts, had taken a gander at the stuff in the vault and ignored it all. Instead, he focused on the sword in his hands. It was in good condition and didn't seem like it had lost any power in the intervening years. Eventually he put it down and shook his head, “You know, handling this thing just reminds me of how powerful the Original Excalibur was.”

They all left the vault, which Junichiro immediately locked up, before he continued, “It was quite the sight to be seen on the battlefield. Arthur was a hell of a fighter for a human without a Sacred Gear. Granted, Excalibur itself was essentially a Longinus class item all on its own.”

His gaze turned to Junichiro, “And that didn't even include the Scabbard...”

Hearing the leading hint, Junichiro just sighed and held his left hand up. Threads of metal pushed out of the tips of his fingers and transformed into small blades similar to scalpel blades. At the same time, he disabled the suppressor built into his body and unleashed the entirety of Avalon's aura.

Mittelt actually staggered a bit. Though she'd been with him when he found it, it'd been a while since she felt its aura. She'd forgotten just how powerful it was. Azazel was more composed but even he looked a little surprised, “I'd forgotten just what that felt like.”

Azazel looked closely at the small blades at the tip of Junichiro's fingers, “You said you had it throughout your entire body?”

Junichiro nodded, “I used the Mimic ability to essentially turn it into wires that are spread throughout my entire body with the majority focused on my head and heart. I figure that way, even if someone can get though the durability it grants me, they would then have to overcome Avalon itself, and hope they did it before Avalon regenerated the damage I took. Basically, as long as it's not someone that can instantly crush my head and heart, I should survive just about anything.”

Azazel nodded in understanding, “I can see the appeal. With that setup and the power of... Avalon, I'd place you in the top ten toughest beings. But only by your defensive strength. Even with the abilities of Avalon enhancing you, I doubt you could beat a six winged angel.”

Junichiro shrugged, “That's fine. I only wanted it for the defensive power. The extra abilities are awesome, but I'd be thrilled even if it just had the defensive abilities.”

The small blades sank back into his fingertip and the aura vanished as he reactivated the suppression, “Anything else while you're here?”

Azazel flashed Junichiro a pout, “Kicking me out already?”

Junichiro just rolled his eyes and walked away from the pair of fallen angels. He collected a small box and set it on one of his tables, “By the way, this is for you Mittelt.”

He opened the lid so she could see the collection of vials inside that held the potion that fueled her aging. She hadn't come by and had to have run out some time ago, meaning she'd stopped aging. Granted, she now looked around sixteen to seventeen so she looked far more mature than she had previously.

When she looked at the vials with some surprise, he added, “It should be enough to get you looking like you're in your mid twenties.”

Mittelt carefully collected the box and held it close. She looked a little conflicted before she muttered, “Thank you.”

“Awww isn't that sweet. Anyway! I had another reason for my visit, kid. I've got another customer that wants to meet you in person to talk about their order. Naturally, she's not the first person to ask such a thing but I thought you might be interested this time.”

Junichiro turned to look at Azazel with curiosity, “Oh?”

“Oh yeah.”

As if to emphasize the point he was not so subtly trying to make, Azazel held his hands out over his chest, a good distance from his chest in fact, and made the universal sign for boob honking, “Two massive reasons.”

Junichiro and Mittelt simultaneously rolled their eyes. Junichiro was the one to speak, “Yeah, because I care about that.”

“Oh come one kid! You should appreciate the fine things in life!”

“Oh, I do. But I don't give a shit about the size of a woman's tits. It's all about her personality.” Here he gave Azazel a bit of a smirk, “Just because many of the bitches in the world are small chested is just a coincidence, I'm sure.”

Honestly, he wondered if it was part of the logic the world ran on. In his experience, women with a decent sized bust were pretty nice, mostly. Meanwhile, women with smaller breasts were bitches far more often. There were outliers, but, in general, it was a decent measure of guessing a woman's attitude in this world.

Azazel smirked, “Well, as it happens, she's a very nice woman. A wonderful mother even.”

Junichiro sighed, “Just, tell me who she is and why you think I should reveal myself to her? I'm still trying to keep my alternate ID a bit of a secret, you know?”

“Yeah yeah. Look kid, she's trustworthy. As long as you don't do anything to really piss her off or betray her, she'll treat you just fine. Her name is Yasaka, and she's the leader of the Western Yokai Faction.”

Junichiro paused as that information sunk in. Another Yokai wanting to meet him in person. His first impulse was to agree. He wanted to make a connection with Yasaka, which had nothing to do with her looks. As the leader of the Yokai, she would be the perfect person to talk to about finding a teacher so he could learn Senjutsu and Touki.

It would also be good to have a connection with her for when the so-called 'Hero' Faction showed up. Those dipsticks had a bunch of powerful Sacred Gears he would enjoy stealing from them. Even if he wouldn't use them himself, he would be able to give them to friends. He couldn't help wondering how happy Rias would be if he gave her a Longinus-class Sacred Gear like Annihilation Maker...

Actually, he might keep that one for himself. The guy using it was a dumbass with no imagination.

“Why does she want to meet me in person?”

“You remember Miridia?”

“Who?”

“The lady that gave you Sword Birth.”

“OH! I guess.”

Azazel rolled his eyes, “Right. Well, she is part of Yasaka's faction. When she was able to show she could control her feeding habit, it got Yasaka's attention. She stuck to the contract, but Yasaka was still intrigued and now she wants something made by you for herself.”

“What's the catch?”

Azazel sighed, “The catch is, Yasaka cannot come to you, you have to go to her. I'm also not sure how she's going to react to you being a Devil. Especially after I assured her you were a human. Way to make a liar out of me kid. I'll need to talk to her and explain the changes now and see if she's still interested. If she is, are you willing to meet her?”

Junichiro shrugged, “As long as we can come to an agreement on me taking measures to protect my identity. A simple mask wont cut it around Yokai. Anyone she wants to be in the meeting between us needs to sign the confidentiality papers as well.”

“Yeah, yeah. I'm not an amateur kid. I'll talk to her and see what we can come up with to protect your identity. Once it's all set up I'll let you know so you can tell your new Master.”

“Boss. She's my boss, and only in certain situations. Don't go twisting it into something it isn't.”

“Whatever you say kid. C'mon Milly, it's time to head out.”

Mittelt collected her box of potions and followed Azazel to the teleportation circle. Junichiro followed behind them and watched as they left without another word. As the light of the teleportation faded, the back of his left hand flashed green, “It's about time you were alone. We need to have a serious talk, partner.”

Junichiro smiled and walked back toward his workshop, “I take it you've gained full access to my memories.”

“I have.”

“Yeah, I can see why you have questions. Out of curiosity, how much of my memories can you see?”

“I can see the last fifteen years of your life, but then there's a barrier that stops me from seeing beyond that. The thing is, THERE SHOULDN'T BE ANYTHING BEYONG THAT!”

Junichiro blinked at the shouting and looked at his hand, calling out the Boosted Gear so it was slightly less psychotic looking than just talking to his hand, “What's the big deal? I can tell you what that's all about.”

“It's not just that impossible before you were born memories, there's also things in here that don't make sense. Such as, what the fuck are these Essences and how the hell did you get them?!”

He could hear that there was a bit of stress in Ddraig's booming voice. Clearly the weirdness was a lot more stressful to an outside observer than it was to himself. He sat down and took a breath. After slowly letting it out, he explained everything he could to Ddraig. The dragon remained silent as Junichiro unloaded everything he could think of to mention.

When he finished talking, there was a few minutes of silence before Ddraig spoke once more, “So, you're living our second life after being given special abilities. These 'Essences' that you've taken. That explains the massive amount of knowledge that no fifteen year old child could ever accumulate. Even if you spent every second of every day reading since you were conceived, you couldn't have read this much information.”

Junichiro chuckled, “Yeah. At least now you know any information I give you on Vali and Albion should be correct, or at least very close to correct. What I know is just one universe in this particular multiverse, but so far things seem pretty accurate to what I know. So, take whatever information I have with a grain of salt. After all, Vali could be Valarie for all I know.”

“I see. Still. The amount of information I've been able to go through points to some disturbing things. Worse, you never finished the material available in your first life, did you?”

Junichiro sighed and shook his head, “No, I didn't. I have some vague ideas of what to expect in the future. Things like the Beast, Trihexia. Though I don't actually know jack-shit about the beast itself or how it was beaten. Just some vague info like a lot of the higher ups of various factions working to seal it... I think?”

“Not helpful, not really.”

“True, but that's why I'm working to get as strong as I possibly can. Thanks to my Artificing and the Essence of the Blank, I should be able to grow in leaps and bounds that make the growth of Issei look like a snails pace.”

“Speaking of this Essence of the Blank, it's had some... effects on the Boosted Gear.”

Junichiro instantly paid full attention to Ddraig, “What happened?”

“Nothing bad. Correct me if I am wrong, but the Essence of the Blank removes all limiters and gives you unlimited potential with no roadblocks in the path of your growth, yes?”

“That's right. But it only works on me and things fused with my body and... soul... oh.”

“Yes. Oh. Due to that, all limiters and restrictions placed upon the Boosted Gear to limit its power are no longer functioning. At this moment you could easily activate the Scale Mail or Juggernaught Drive.”

“Awesome!”

“No, not awesome! Those limiters were put there for your protection! If you tried to use the Scale Mail right now, it would kill you. You have no experience with my power and, even worse, are far too weak to handle the strain if would put on your body. I don't even need to mention just how quickly you would die if you even tried to use the Juggernaut Drive.”

Junichiro frowned as he thought about the first time Issei used the Scale Mail and wanted to argue, until he recalled that Issei had to physically become part dragon to use it.

“That seems about right. As weak as your memories portray that boy to be, turning part of his body into dragon flesh would give him enough of a boost in vitality to survive. If I hadn't, he would have died in those few seconds of using the Scale Mail.”

Junichiro sighed and nodded in understanding, “So I need a good amount of training to be able to use it without dying to it. That's fine. It's at least two years before anything interesting happens. I'm certain I can master the Scale Mail long before then. I also plan to master the Juggernaut Drive.”

“Those are decent goals to have. There's more, however. You've also unlocked two of my most potent abilities, Penetrate and my Blazing Inferno of Scorching Flames. While Penetrate is a useful ability, it is still dangerous. As for the flames... They should only be used in the most dire of circumstances. The devastation they can cause is unmatched and they are near impossible to control.”

Junichiro perked up and smiled a little, “Alright. I'm not going to rush headlong into a dangerous use of your abilities that ends up killing me. I'll stick with the basic Boost for the time being. I'll rely on you to tell me when I'm prepared for anything more.”

“Wise. I have also seen some of your plans. I must say, I am impressed. Though, I do worry about your plans involving me.”

“Are you referring to...” He moved over to his work bench and looked directly at the almost completely assembled body for Ddraig to possess and inhabit, “This?”

“No, but I do appreciate the thought. I am very much looking forward to giving that a try once it is finished. But no. I was referring to you wanting me to replace your heart and lungs. Replacing a limb isn't all that dangerous, but replacing internal organs, especially those two? Very dangerous.”

“I figured it wouldn't be a walk in the park. But even so, it's possible, right?”

“Yes, it is. But the pain will be immense and the process can never be reversed. On the bright side, doing so will greatly enhance your physical and magical might. It would even make you strong enough to withstand the Scale Mail. Are you sure that is something you wish to do?”

“Not right this second, but yeah, it's definitely something I want to do in the future. Maybe after I can use the Scale Mail all on my own.”

“A good plan. I'm still going through some of your memories to understand more. For now, I've said what I needed to say. Just remember to limit yourself in the use of the Boosted Gear.”

Junichiro nodded, “Alright. While you dig around in my skull, I'll get to finishing your puppet body.”

“I wanted to thank you for that. I'm looking forward to being able to move on my own once again. Though, I am not looking forward to being the size of a hatchling once more.”

Junichiro chuckled, “Don't worry about it Ddraig. I've already enchanted it to be able to expand in size, the problem is powering the enchantments. Since I made the body from Albion's scales, it will take a rather massive amount of power to expand its size.”

“Oh... Can we talk about the color then?”

Junichiro laughed while shaking his head, “We'll see buddy, we'll see.”

-----Line Break-----

AN

For those who forgot. Originally Rias was supposed to have until she finished College before she was supposed to marry Riser. That was supposed to be 7 years. Then, suspiciously, after Issei joined her peerage and was revealed as the Red Dragon Emperor, it was pushed up. My personal head canon for this is that Rias bragged loud and proud about snagging the Red Dragon Emperor into her peerage, they panicked, and the marriage got pushed forward so that Issei wouldn't have time to grow in strength. As we all know, Issei, with some growth time, could easily crush Riser and his entire peerage all on his own. If he'd had the full 4 ½ years or so that Rias expected to have, Issei would have beaten Riser and his peerage just by flexing on them.

With Juni making it impossible for Rias to brag about him, they have all the time they need to grow stronger and train. I think, technically, if he did do anything to trigger the event, Riser might not actually happen until after Kokobiel. Standing up to a Cadre level Fallen Angel and winning would be as panic inducing as Rias having the Sekiryutei in her peerage, not to mention The Artificer on top of that!

I might take the time to write a scene of Riser losing his shit when he finds out, that could be funny if I did it right.

Lastly, this chapter is only 9500 words, sorry. But I couldn't justify writing another 500 words when I had a good stopping point. Doing more would have just been stretching the chapter pointlessly.

I hope you all liked it!