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Chapter 400: To the Devil Realm?
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Irina and Xenovia both worked for the church, as far as Neji could remember.
Due to the Fallen Angel, Kokabiel, coming to Kuoh City earlier than cannon, these two were here early too. They were here to hunt down Kokabiel, planning to claim the three pieces of Excalibur that Kokabiel reportedly possessed.
Asia never reaching the Church probably also played a role in their early arrival. Even if it didn't, Neji was sure that they at least knew about her missing status.
"Who are these two, Saintess?"
As the two girls approached, they looked at Neji and Sisty; Irina spoke with a frown. Like what usually happened, she assumed Neji was a normal human, along with Sisty.
"How bothersome. We were thinking that you got killed or kidnapped by one of the enemy factions, but what is this? You are hiding with humans?"
Xenovia sounded irritated, the bustier girl with blue hair that had a green steak amidst them. Asia kept hiding behind Neji, meek as she hesitated to say anything, and Neji didn't like her tone.
"Can I help you two with anything?"
Neji spoke for the first time, deciding to end this fast. The two girls looked at him, away from Asia, as Xenovia went to speak. Irina stopped her, sighing, and spoke in a tone much gentler than what her friend would have used.
"I doubt you know her identity, mister. She is a… nun. A Saintess, someone with magical powers. She was supposed to reach a nearby church run by Fallen Angels, but the Holy Church learned about her since she never reached her destination. It's a coincidence we met her like this, and we are here to take her away."
So that's how it was? Asia was with the Fallen Angel faction until recently, and these two were from the Holy faction. If this was the cannon timeline, it would have been wonderful for Asia to go with them, albeit hypocritical on their side since they were the ones who banished Asia, to begin with.
Whatever the case, it didn't matter. In this world where God was him, Asia was better off by his side than with these two.
"Irina… you do realize, he would think we are crazy, right? As a normal person, the concepts of magic and angels are foreign to him."
While Xenovia whispered words to Irina, making the girl flinch in stupid, the two of them began to have a conversation that made Neji scowl. Amateurs?
He looked at them once more, but this time with Jōgan. The two girls flinched as they noticed the change in his sclera, putting their guards up.
"Ah…"
"Are you sure he's a civilian?"
Neji looked them over and was speechless. What was that empty box they were carrying under their robes? From the few coins and cash in there… they were begging? No, seriously, they looked to have been begging until recently
For once, Neji decided to use one of the abilities he had gained when he had released Gilgamesh's seal. [Sha Naqba Imuru], The Omniscient Omnipotent Star, that allowed him to peek at the past, present, and future. It could also help in chess, but he hadn't used it against Sona.
With it, he targeted Xenovia – since he could only target one person – and looked at her recent past. As it turns out, indeed she had been begging on the streets of Japan because she and her partner didn't have money, and they were starving.
Neji didn't notice any other money on them, and unless they had a spatial pouch, the two of them had a total of 150¥. So even their begging hadn't helped much, understandable given their beautiful forms. Who would donate money to beggars who looked like supermodels undercover?
When he was thinking that, a System Prompt appeared.
[Ding! Sha Naqba Imuru can be merged with Jōgan. It would make the Noble Phantasm's abilities stronger and easily usable; for example, you'd be able to look far back into a person's past than previously possible. Proceed with the merge?]
[Y/N]
There was no reason not to, it was better this way anyway, to keep all the eye powers compact. He clicked yes mentally, and the Noble Phantasm merged with his Genome.
He didn't plan to use the Future Sight of this, as it was very unpredictable even for Gilgamesh, and he didn't really have good experience with future sights, but its other benefits seemed fun.
In the end, Neji was happy with the outcome. His slight irritation at the two silly girls acting tough, vanished as he shrugged. They were little girls who didn't yet understand the world, trained by the church from a young age at fighting, yet had no basic survival skills. There was no need to overwhelm their little souls.
"Sisty,"
"Yes?"
His conjectural soulmate tilted her head to look at him, still sucking on a lollipop with the Switch in her hand.
"Take care of them. They have Faith, so just convert them. I'll return to the mansion with Asia in the meantime. Don't hurt them, but be quick."
"Huh? Hell yeah!"
Sisty threw the Switch away, and it fell into a golden portal that closed right away as she looked at the two weary girls with a grin. She didn't get to have action often, that wasn't her job anyway, so she felt happy to get this chance.
Neji patted Asia's head, teleporting away with her, as Sisty grinned and cracked her knuckles at the startled girls who failed to stop Asia from fleeing.
"Good luck, girls. [Dome of Light]!"
With a flash of light, a sphere turned the neighborhood into a separate space, another dimension of its own with no living soul inside it.
None, other than Sisty and the two lambs.
* * *
About half an hour later, Neji was eating ordered chicken nuggets while talking to the system hologram floating before him. He was smiling as he talked, sitting in a tea house in his garden – inspired by the church he went to in Romania.
"So it's completed? It took a bit longer than I thought it would. A week for a Tower, and since time is 10x faster there – did you spend two months there?"
["Yeah, what's so funny?"]
Neji wasn't laughing, yet the black-furred kitten on the other side of the screen scowled at him. She purred in annoyance and shrugged, taking a look at the destruction around her – it was a sight of destruction as if the apocalypse had hit the Mesopotamian-themed area around her.
The Tower Dungeon back in Fate Grand Order had been cleared by Kurai, as Neji had told her to. She had taken more time than he expected, but honestly he had expected wrong.
["The enemy levels are organized to suit your level, not mine. Obviously, I'd have a harder time clearing it – more so since there were so many Gods here. Some dead Gods who took the form of ghosts or echoes, and some living Gods. There were Egyptian, Babylonian, even Aztec, and Greek Gods. It took some time to kill them since I had to level up slowly on the side before I could match them."]
So it wasn't her fault that it took some time, rather it was remarkable she hadn't called before to complain – to ask for help – and only called after she was finished.
"What's your level now?"
After thinking for a moment, Neji asked. She gave him a toothy grin on that.
["It's high enough. You'll see. Anyway, I wanna come to you. Can I?"]
She could. Neji was missing her, and having her by his side would be fun. She must have missed the modern world a lot too, all the convenience this place had couldn't be found in other places. Neji found it amusing that she didn't want to tell him her level, though. He could ask Sisty and know, but he decided to let Kurai keep her secret.
Instead, he had another idea. "How about you clear the Tower in Naruto world too? It's in the Forest of Death, it has a desert-type terrain, and probably has an Arabic theme on the higher floors. Maybe."
Kurai scowled further. She didn't say anything for a bit, and Neji reconsidered his words before she purred and groaned.
["Fine. I am high-leveled enough to finish this fast, and then-"]
"After that, can you go help Chaldea? It seems Goetia hasn't been dealt with yet, and I can't contact them with the System Interface since they aren't in my domain." Neji interrupted Kurai and added.
He could talk with the Naruto girls anytime because they were in a Heaven created by him, where the System could access Heaven's Will. However, Rumi and Ryukyu were in Chaldea, a science lab existing on dead earth. He couldn't contact them from here.
Kurai frowned at him, her cat face looking sour. ["Are you trying to keep me out of that world for some reason? Also, you're eating chicken nuggets, I miss them. Not a good request to make when you're eating them in front of me."]
"Chaldea probably has them, and if they don't-" Neji activated Jogan. His eyes locked on the nearby KFC as a portal opened near a bag of just-cooked nuggets. The customer reached out to grab the bag, but it fell down the portal and it closed, falling into Neji's hands. "I can send you one right now."
[You have offered an item to your Familiar, Kurai. She can choose to accept or reject the package.]
A system prompt appeared, and Neji noticed Kurai looking at a similar panel. Sighing, she quickly pressed [Y] as the bag teleported from Neji's hand to hers. Now that he wasn't sealed nerfed, he could do such dimensional trading, more so with Kurai, moreover when she was inside the Tower.
["Alright then, bribing Papa. I will finish in Naruto and then go to Chaldea. How do I go to Chaldea though?"] Kurai asked, frowning on the last part.
"Adventure, adventure. Ah, how fast kids grow up, leading their own lives now…" Neji made a silly face while Kurai gave him a dry look, proceeding to cut the call when she realized he wasn't going to provide any help.
When the call vanished, Neji continued smiling at the air for a bit and then sighed. He finished his food and got up, walking back to the mansion that looked much better than before with all the renovation going on.
* * *
When Neji made his way inside, he found two near-naked girls leaping at his feet. Xenovia and Irina seemed to be saying something, but it was annoying to pay attention between their sobs and apologies.
"Looks like you dealt with them nicely. Why're they naked though?" Neji asked Sisty, even as the two girls continued crying.
Sisty provided a very helpful shrug. "I was curious what it felt like. To touch. Living in your head for 16 years, and more, made me ponder. You don't mind right?"
Neji found that amusing. Then again, she had a point – she had been living in his head. Perhaps some curiosity was inevitable. All that mattered was that these two's faith made his progress grow by a whooping… 0.34%. He couldn't complain.
"Sisty, take care of their stay here. Create some rooms if necessary. I will be taking a trip."
Asia and Raynare chose that time to enter the room, and it was a sight of pleasant growth to see the blonde little girl getting along with the former Fallen Angel. Raynare frowned, recognizing the two girls on the floor, while Asia looked up at Neji.
"Where are you going? To visit the churches? But it's not nighttime yet." Said Asia, looking out to find the sun in the western sky, but now quite down yet.
However, Neji wasn't going to go to claim a church today. He was going down to the underworld, in the land of the devils. To begin with, he was here to find his girls, the God game was a secondary concern. He had posted pictures online, to look for them, and also filed anonymous police reports, and even told the churches he claimed until now to look for them, but there wasn't any development.
So, he was going down to the underworld. In the hope to get some signs about them, even if he couldn't find them. He had learned from one of the more magically active churches that the devil realm had a sort of "Information Center" where he could buy information, or even hire devils to search for things.
"It's something else," Neji walked to Asia and ruffled her hair. "I can't say what, though. See you tomorrow."
Xenovia and Irina got up, trying to say something, but Raynare shot them a glare, telling them to shut up, as Neji used Tenseigan's passive ability to fly, going through the roof. He used Kamui, so the building wasn't destroyed, and he appeared in the clear sky.
"Right. Now…"
Looking down at the city of Kuoh, as the night slowly crept up and the digital lights of Japan began to light up the place, Neji paused. With his current plan, there was a tiny issue.
"How do I find my way to the Underworld?"
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Master4thWall: We have crossed 400 CHAPTERS! YAY! Though sad news is we won't cross 500, most likely. Oh and, this chapter was supposed to be an Interlude, exploring Nejire's current situation, but I pushed it back. Again.
Anyway, along with Neji's venture to the underworld, we are slowly entering the more interesting side of DxD Arc. Also going through some exams right now, that's why updates are slow.
Q- Devil Maid vs Cat Maid?