Dxd VRMMO: Chapter 21

"Tenth, every angelic child is a true miracle. Not many angels can resist the temptations and pleasures of the flesh while in the act of making one." Gabriel smiles as she looks between us. "But... with you... it appears that won't be an issue! You inherited your sin from your father, did you not? And yet, despite a sin of lust weighing on you... you still managed to repent and rise!" 

"Ahh..." Mittelt blushes, shyly touching her fingers together. "Y-Yeah." 

It's kind of funny one of her reasons was that she wanted to be a part of our child's life as the cool grandmotherly figure. 

"Why don't you just artificially create more angels? Like you do with the clones of Sigurd?" 

"Ah..." The woman mutters. "T-That..." 

She slightly cringes, halo dimming briefly. "It... was not my decision to allow that to happen... but you seem to have a misconception. It's less... artificial... humans and more... 'enhanced' humans. We angels would never allow the artificial creation of human life. Such an act would be as if directly spitting on our father. Nearly a century ago, a direct descendant of Sigurd joined the church, and some of the angels might have... convinced... him to pass on his bloodline for the protection of humanity. His descendants are then trained and go through a process to draw out more of Sigurd's innate physical characteristics and talents. All of whom also are encouraged to have as many children as possible and the cycle repeats." 

"Oh... well, I mean, we sort of just assumed." Mittelt sighs with a small shrug. "I don't really have the best perception of the church. Nor does Suzutsu." 

"They're kinda hypocritical, honestly." I nod along. "Valper should have been executed for his crimes instead of merely being excommunicated." 

"Yes. I have noticed some..." She tilts her head to the left and then to the right, seemingly trying to find a word that seems fitting for a seraph to say about her own subordinate faction. "Unsavoriness here and there. It is understandable how you may be cautious." 

"Anyways, back on the angel thing. I've got a question... if the whole 'lust over love' thing is such an issue... why don't you just create like... a room that severs your feeling of pleasure from your body while you are there?" I ask slowly as my eyes flash blue as I activate my 'sub-balance breaker', merely a lower powered balance breaker state like the gears of a car. Less energy intensive. Far less noticeable and detectable. 

A floating three-d model of a room appears above my hand as I continue. "I mean. It's really easy frankly. Some basic runic magic. Norse runes would be helpful. But considering there isn't really a Norse rune for 'pleasure', you'd need to combine a string of runes which would make the runic sequence lengthy and overly complex. It'd be more compact if you simply created a new runic word like this, taking the traits of the original and combining them into one." 

I take a breath for a brief pause then continue. "Now that the hard part's done, you'd also probably need to instill some illusionary factors into it, so you'll need to learn how to perfectly combine spells and runes into a single magic. That'd require at least a mastery of illusion magic and probably take a couple of years... or it might be simpler to create a few sub-runic sequences that plug into the original 'displacement' effect. Though that requires tossing out most of the original progress we have made." 

The small palm-sized room grows more complex lettering appearing on the walls, floor and ceilings. 

Mittelt points to a small bit. "You should add a dissipating effect around here-ish. It's currently storing the feelings. They'd probably be hit by the afterglow and fall the second they left the room." 

"Good point. I was leaving that open for more of a 'bleeding' rune that slowly gave them back the feelings. It was my hope that the angel could grow used to the feeling and grow resistant to its allure. That way they might not even need the room in the future... but you're right. It might become slightly addictive and could have negative consequences. Let me just... done!" 

I look up to Gabriel, holding the small room in the palm of my hand. "Something like this. Wouldn't this work?" 

Her mouth opens, then closes, then opens again. Her eyes are wide and she looks like she's about to pass out. 

"U-Uh..." The Seraph eventually means to stutter out. "M-Maybe?" 

"How... did you do this?" Gabriel slowly whispers, eyes watching the slowly spinning box. "Something like this... it would take years- no decades of research and development... and... you did it in two minutes. How? What-" 

"I'm quite experienced in making new magics, Gabriel~" I grin. 

Also, I kind of worked on this a few nights ago. It wasn't two minutes. More so three hours of work. I just wanted to show off a bit for the future in-laws. 

"And- And you kept up with him?!" Gabriel questions, turning to look at Mittelt. 

"Well... I mean, the bits with the runes were a little complex for a bit there but I figured it out pretty quickly." The girl bashfully scratches the back of her head. "Besides... I saw him designing this a couple nights ago and read a bunch of books on runic magic to keep up." 

"Dang it, Mittelt! Ruin my fun why don't you!" 

She just grins impishly. "Oh, like making that in an afternoon is any less impressive than two minutes. Now they'll think of you as an intellectual monster instead of a genuine affront to their creator. Oh woe is you." 

I huff good-naturedly as I turn back to Gabriel. 

"Let's see here." I snap my fingers, a blueprint appearing that I roll up and hand to the blonde woman. "Here you go." 

"This- wh- you're giving me this for- for nothing?!" The seraph whispers. 

"Well, sure. It sucks that angels are falling just because they want to have a son or daughter, right?" I ask. "Besides. Like I said before. If you had the power to stop something you dislike... with very little effort, why wouldn't you?" 

The seraph sniffles, wrapping me into a tight hug. "You- You- Thank you!" 

"U-Uh." I blink, caught off guard by her tears. "You're welcome?" 

She holds me for another thirty seconds or so, crying her eyes out. She eventually pulls back, wiping an eye. "Sorry... it's just been a while since I saw someone so genuine... so kind... it moved me to tears. You do know what you could have asked us for these plans, right?" 

"Of course." I snort. "But. I'm probably the wealthiest man- or at the very least human- in the world. I have no wants. No needs. I just want to live my life with her and play my games... maybe make another MMO." 

"Nooooo." Mittelt whines. "The past half a decade of sleepless nights was more than enough for me, thanks." 

"It was only that bad because we were perfecting the system. Not the game. That was genuinely a walk in the park in comparison. Are you telling me that you don't want a Pokemon or legend of Zelda vr game?" 

"Well, first we'll need to pry the copywrite from Nintendo's cold unfeeling hands. That's like walking up to Tiamat, locking eyes with her, and scooping her hoard into a garbage bag! Actually, no. That's EXACTLY what it's like because Tiamat OWNS Nintendo!" 

"Tiamat owns Nintendo?!" I gasp, eyes widening. "Oh WOW. That's... huh... I sort of thought it was just a boring ordinary human with supernatural connections." 

"Meh." I wave off. "I need to deal with her anyways for personal reasons. I'll make her something. It should be reasonably easy to craft up a magic item that she likes more than the Ips for Legend of Zelda and Pokemon... or at the very least will let us license the games." 

Gabriel looks between us, a look on her face like she deeply wants to know something but is unsure if it'll ruin the mood. She seems to cave. 

"Suzutsu... I'm curious... how powerful are you?" Gabriel asks. "You walked into the middle of church territory without a worry. At first I thought that was faith in me, but..." 

"Hm?" I hum, turning to face the woman. "Oh. I'm quite powerful. as for how powerful exactly... well..." 

I look to Mittelt. "Should we tell her about the thing that Azazel and Mephisto figured out?" 

The girl looks to the seraph, a slightly conflicted look on her face. "I... don't know." 

She looks down at the table we are sat at, deep in thought. 

She looks up, pinching her fingers together. "Maybe just a smidgen?" 

I look to Gabriel. "I created a magic system." 

"What?!" She gasps. 

"That's... a little more than a smidgen, Suzutsu..." Mittelt deadpans. 

"I looked at Merlin's overly complex nonsense math-based magic system that tried to mimic a fraction of devil's power... and decided to make my own." 

"That- but- how?!" 

"For fun." I smile.  

"You... you made an entirely new magic system for- for fun?!" The woman whispers. 

"Mhm." I hum, giving the woman a half-lidded smug smile. 

"You truly are incredible..." Gabriel whispers. "I'm truly glad Mittelt has found someone like you." 

"I'm glad to have found her too." I smile, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into a one-armed hug. "She makes such cute sounds when she's embarrassed." 

"S-Suzu." The blonde blushes. "N-Not right now!" 

"See." I smirk. 

"Anyways, Yeah. I was confident because I could probably fight at least a couple of the Seraph at once." I nod slowly. "Maybe all of you. But that's probably just my classic human hubris speaking... of course I wouldn't be able to pull my punches and that'd be... disastrous..." 

"But let's not think about 'what if's." I shake my head. "So! Gabriel, how's the whole... Diodora situation coming along?" 

"Ah... I can't really tell you exactly what is happening with it, the finer details at least... but what I can tell you is that Diodora attempted something. We caught him. And now our talks with hell have become a little more... intense." 

"Oh, well as long as he doesn't weasel his way out of it." I shrug.  

"Let's not talk about something so... Infuriating..." Gabriel begins. "Oh! Why don't you tell me something about your game! What's it about? What do you do?" 

"Ah... well... have you ever played an RPG before?" I begin quietly. 

"Noooo?" The woman smiles innocently. 

"..." 

"Alright, so basically in this world, everything has a 'level' more or less determining its strength. You start at level one, and through killing enemies or completing 'quests' you gain experience, which fills a bar. Once that bar is filled, you 'level up' increasing your characters capabilities. Then you-" 

[Split] 

A red haired girl lets out a yawn as she crawls out of bed. A low hum leaves her lips, gazing over to the large egg-like device in her room. 

Another day... another wonderful excursion into another world- 

She pauses, a frown slowly crossing her lips. She crosses her arms over her chest, letting out a quiet "hmph". 

She has no more beta time in Domain of Magic. 

Truly the fates are both cruel and out to ruin her day. 

And to think... there's still one ENTIRE week left before she can get on and play for real! 

She crawls out of bed, gazing down at her nude body, a yawn leaving her lips. 

Her eyes flick back to the bed where Koneko is laying, equally as nude. 

She always needs something to cuddle while she is asleep, after all. 

she quietly slips on a pair of panties, following that with a bra.  

the past couple of weeks she's been researching Hellfire magic... 

Well. That kind of makes it sound like she's doing occult stuff in real life. 

No. She's just been reading over the book on magic that she and Sona copied from Domain of Magic. 

It's kind of interesting! Clearly a lot of time and effort went into each and every aspect of that book to make it look plausible. 

Like... they could have done something like 'you have the book so now you know hellfire magic. It just works.' But they instead added symbols and math, and mana paths and it just makes it seem so real! 

That attention to detail when creating a game is honestly astounding. 

She's in love. 

It's like an entirely new world has opened up to her! 

She gathers the rest of her Kuoh Academy uniform and steps outside, school's out for the winter so it's quite lonely. Just herself, her peerage, and Sona who drops by every now and then to check up on things. 

She silently wanders the schoolyard, eyes trailing the barren trees and stone brick pathways. 

A gentle snow has fallen upon Kuoh Academy... it's quite beautiful. 

As she wanders the school, she spies a poster attached to one of the pillars at the front gate. 

She slowly makes her way over, blinking owlishly. 

"Rent-a-Eden!" 

"Eden Interactive has come to a town near you! Scan this code for up 50% off up your first four hours!" 

Below that is the location of the rental place. 

She stares for a long moment... then a bright grin slowly crosses her face. 

A clue! 

A clue as to who made Eden Interactive! 

Well, maybe that's a bit much. But maybe if she pesters whoever's in charge there she might just get a clue as to the inner workings of the company! 

either that... or she just bothers some dude who was hired to work there and knows nothing. 

Meh. It's fifty-fifty and she has nothing to do today! So she might as well! 

She exits the school with a pep in her step, quickly making her way towards the location of the rental place in question. 

It takes a little time, but eventually she does locate it. It's a fairly large store with glass windows, a small little neon open sign sitting by the door. 

It's currently green, the words 'Opened' beckoning her inside. 

She gently shoves the glass doors open, creating a small ring from a bell above the door. Her grin is bright and lively as she spies a brown haired teen sitting behind the countertop. 

He's quite handsome, the corner of his lips quirking upwards as he turns. "Hi. Welcome to Eve's Indignation, what can I help you with today?" 

"Is this- Is this the rent-a-eden place?" The redhead questions, hands shaking with excitement. 

"Yes." The teen behind the counter nods once. "It is. Can I get you an hour or two? We're currently running a special for half off your first purchase of up to four hours." 

"O-Oh! No." Rias shakes her head, taking her time to look around the place for the first time. It's kind of like an internet cafe. There's a few vending machines, some with some quite tasty looking pre-packaged meals, others with drinks ranging from sodas to water to sugary and caffeinated energy drinks. "I actually won the contest, I was just surprised that Eden Interacted would open a rental store in such a... small town." 

"It's not really that surprising." The teen shrugs. "I lived here, so I thought that I might as well." 

"..." Rias is silent for a moment, pondering this... off... feeling she gets from the brown haired teen in front of her. 

He lacks magic. 

Completely. 

A small chill runs down her back as the teen smiles kindly. 

Even non-supernatural humans produce a magical aura. To be able to suppress it so... completely... 

He'd have to be a grandmaster mage in his own right. Comparable to some of the top wizards in a mages association. 

Mr. Mathers, her brother's bishop- and one of the original founders of the Golden Dawn mages association- has spoken about human magic to her before... she's in no way skilled, talented, or even slightly knowledgeable of it... but what she does remember is his lessons on magical aura. 

"A-Ah..." She whispers. "I see you're... quite... ah... skilled." 

"Hm?" He hums before shrugging and taking a sip of an open soft drink. "Oh. Yeah. Sure. Whatever. More of a means to an end, really." 

"May I know... why you didn't announce your presence to either myself or Sona? Why are you here exactly in Kuoh town? I imagine that you are... quite high rank in the Grigori..." 

"Oh. No. My girlfriend and I are pretty much retired now." He waves off. "As for announcing myself... I was born and raised here. I've been able to balance break since age six, annnnnd I killed the stray devils who came here in that roughly six year gap between when the church killed the last owner and since you and Sitri girl arrived." 

Balance breaker since age SIX?! 

"Oh." Rias squeaks out only to pause as she notices something. 

On the wall behind the counter... is another sign. 

Is- is that Serafall?! 

There's a large red circle around her image with a line through it. 

"No annoying magical girls allowed on the premises." 

"You've met Serafall Leviathan?" 

"Ugh. What a pain in the ass that woman is. She terrifies my girlfriend." He grumbles. "I had to start quoting bible verses until she finally left. Oh. Did you know that if you make fun of bald people two bears will come out of the nearest woods and maul you and forty one other boys?" 

"I- What?" 

"Two Kings Two. Twenty three through twenty five." 

"..." 

"..." 

"P-Please don't." The girl whispers. 

"Oh, don't worry." The brown haired teen waves off. "You haven't bothered me so there's no reason to get religious in here." 

He offers her a hand. "Suzutsu Hyoudou at your servive." 

"Hyoudou?" She echoes. "As in... Issei... Hyoudou?" 

"Ah... I see you've met my brother." He sighs, shoulders slumping. "I swear, that boy... ugh... If I ever find Odin I'm going to go full Ragnarok on his ass for making him a boob fiend. I mean, really why was he even HERE to begin with?!" 

"Oh. And before you ask. No. My brother knows nothing about the supernatural." He shakes his head. "I've purposefully kept him away from that life... allowing him to live his childhood freely." 

"Oop- one second." The teen begins as he looks past her.  

Suddenly sound returns to the world, she wasn't even aware that they were under a spell. 

The door jingles as it opens. 

"Hi, welcome to Eve's Indignation, we're running a special for our grand opening. Domain of Magic might not be out, but there's still games you can play!" 

A girl enters the store, one she knows from school, she's quite pretty with chin-length light pinkish-brown hair, eyes that are slightly reddish. She's from the Kendo club, isn't she?" 

"A-Ah..." The girl blushes slightly, looking between Rias and the teen behind the countertop. "I-I heard you were h-having a special?" 

"Yes indeed!" Suzutsu beams. "Half off for your first four hours of rental!" 

"How much for... two hours?" 

"Twelve hundred yen per hour... or, that's the case without the discount." He gestures upwards to the board where she can see forty rooms, more than half of them already in use. 

"Oh! Uh- here." She lays a few coins down on the table which the mage takes, rising from his seat with a charming smile. 

"Please follow me." He smiles gesturing to the side. 

He returns quickly, seemingly after showing Katase what to do and how to turn on the Eden. 

"Now." He clasps his hands together as he takes a seat behind the countertop yet again, eyes looking over the redhead. "May I ask why you've come here, Gremory Girl?" 

"A-Ah... well... I wanted to see... if uh... you knew anything about the creator of Eden Interactive?" 

"Oh, for sure. I've seen him a few times." I nod slowly. 

"YOU HAVE?!" The girl shrieks. 

"Also. You should be aware, Eden interactive was originally created by two people. Not just one. A group effort. It's highly disrespectful to that second person to just acknowledge the CEO." I gently chastise. 

"O-Oh... I'm sorry." She whispers, looking down at the floor. "U-Uh... do you mind telling me about the CEO? And his partner?" 

"Hm..." I lowly hum. "On one hand he likes his privacy and I'd imagine that he'd appreciate you not sticking your nose into his business. On the other, he found you and your niece's bickering hilarious and said I could tell you if I wanted. What do you want to know?" 

"U-Uh... who is he?" 

"Nope. Won't tell you that. I'll give hints but I won't just flat out tell you. That's no fun." I shake my head. 

A small pout comes to the lips of the red haired girl. "What does he look like?" 

"He's got brown hair, about an inch or two taller than you." He shrugs blandly. "Human. Through and through." 

"Okay!" She grins. 

That's more than she expected. 

"What about the other person? Who are they, what are they like?" 

"Blonde. Blue eyes. Fallen angel." He takes a sip of his drink. "I'm pretty sure they're married or something." 

Alright. So all she needs to do is look out for a brown haired man and his blonde fallen angel wife. That's more information than Milim has! She's ahead of the game! 

"Thank you so much!" The girl beams as she turns and rushes out of the rental place. 

[Split] 

I watch a redhead disappear down the street, taking another sip of my sprite. 

"She gone?" A voice behind me asks. 

"Yep." I hum blandly as the door up to our shared apartment creaks open. Mittelt comes and sits on my lap, gazing out the window.  

"How pissed do you think she'll be when she figures it out?" She slowly asks. 

"Heh. No clue. I just wish I could see her face when she pieces it together" I smirk. "Best part is... I didn't lie at all. Just didn't specify." 

"I'm not exactly a fallen anymore." 

"Ooooh damn. Tooootally slipped my mind, it did." I roll my eyes. "You were at the time of the game system's creation. That's all that matters." 

"We're... not married either." She points out after a moment. 

"You do realize that Gabriel is a marriage officiant as a high-ranking member of the church, right?" I ask slowly.  

"..." 

"She didn't..." The girl whispers. 

"She did. She just slipped it in under her breath while we were talking and got us to answer a yes or no question. She REALLY didn't want us to have pre-marital sex as a pure angel, might have thought it would have made you fall again." 

"..." 

"So that's why she kept asking me if the sky was blue..." She mutters quietly before a weary sigh leaves her mouth. "I want a divorce." 

"No you don't~" I grin, flicking the back of her head with a finger. 

"Fine. I want to be cuddled and my needs tended to, then" She whines.  

"I can do that. Besides. Gabriel clearly is expecting us to have a second more public wedding... considering how much she asked to be the wedding officiant for it. But for now~" 

An illusion settles over us as I lean forwards, gently kissing the girl's neck. 

"Mhhhn." The girl moans, squirming in my lap slightly as the corners of my mouth turn upwards. My hand finds its way to her chest, slipping up under her loose hoodie. 

"S-Suzutsu." She whispers out, voice breathy. "I-I love you!" 

"I love you too, Mittelt." I reply.