I held Rias as she wept over the announcement that Gasper, her little tranny dhampir Bishop, would never wake again. Azazel officially blamed the matter on the process the Chaos Brigade used to activate his Balance Breaker, but we both know he only said that because he wasn't stupid enough to say that my sword strike had completely shattered his overstressed Sacred Gear.
Turning Gasper into a vegetable was unintentional, and I was kinda down about it. The kid would have eventually become quite the beast after shifting away from time manipulation and gaining his Ex Side Balance Breaker, turning him into a five meter tall shadow dragon man capable of laying hands on most of the setting.
But that was then and this is now, and it's not like I was some soul magic savant that could extract the Sacred Gear shrapnel that shredded his metaphysical being and put humpty dumpty back together again.
I probably missed out on a dope fight. Sad face.
On the plus side the rest of Rias's peerage had made it through to attack unscathed, and the 'death' of Gaspar seemed to have lit a fire in the Red Dragon Emperor. It was damn important that he gain an actual spine otherwise I was getting close to just murking him and fucking around with Ddraig for SCIENCE. The guy wasn't going to be getting tiddie powers anytime soon as all the best tiddies in the setting belong to me, so OG Vali was right in offering to kill his parents to make him an avenger.
Already the kid who yesterday couldn't even summon his sacred gear anymore was grimacing as he stared at the blood red gauntlet on his forearm as his power rose exponentially. Better yet, Azazel now had a lever to put him into direct conflict with me. When the retard asked the leader of the Fallen Angels to train him to best use his Sacred Gear I had to beat down the smile on my face.
Azazel was one hundred percent the right guy to work with Issei on his gear so long as they actually buckled down and got to work, and from the side eyed glances he'd been giving me I think that is exactly what they are going to do.
After all there was a non-zero chance that Heaven was going to send me Gabriel on a silver platter in return for some faction securing swords.
It'd be a bitch to neutralize the devil factor of anything I'd make so that angels and exorcists could use it, but I'd honestly be able to use all that undiluted evil to make some nasty shit so this was a win - win for me. Super hot angel chick to make fall hard on my dick and a top tier crafting mat, sign here, here, and here please.
Watching my enemies quietly team up to resist me tickled that old krogan part of my being. Betrayal, subterfuge, assassination. All these things were expected, and welcome. Where weaker species fear, we relish the respect being shown to us. If a thousand enemies dedicate themselves mind, body, and soul to destroying me, so be it. Let them plot, let them scurry, let them grow, so long as in the end… they don't disappoint.
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I looked down on my new set of peerage pieces and pondered. Getting a new set had been as easy as trading a young Pillar Family devil for his soon to be acquired pieces, both divesting my old worthless peerage and getting an unsynced set for myself. After thrusting my power upon them, the plank pieces bonded to me and predictably mutated, becoming a brilliant polished chrome that radiated warm power.
As one of the strongest beings in the setting, I didn't need the extra points to fill out my army with top tier badasses, but I wasn't going to complain about a peerage set that wouldn't in any way hold my picks down.
With my newfound freedom I'd be picking up Rossweisse and Ingvild as soon as possible, but I'd probably have to work to get Kuroka and Nyx. The latter especially. 'Hey girl, wanna stop being an emo primordial goddess and join my harem of devils?'
Yasaka would be another hard sell.
Her becoming a devil would end her time as the leader of the West Youkai Faction, but also mess with the ley lines under Kyoto. She'd gain power obviously from the link to me and no longer be bound to a single city, but she's the responsible duty bound sort.
Sounds like a lot of work just to lock down some pussies I'm going to smash anyways. It might just be easier to reestablish my link to the Grail and yoink Servants straight from the Throne of Heroes and reincarnating them as devils.
Decisions decisions.