"Hi" Regular Speech
'Hi' Thought
"(Hi)" Marcus's mechanically synthesised voice
[Hi] Aurora's notification
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Wait-Wait-Wait! Don't kill him! Please!!!"
A blonde girl came out from the debris and when saw the rifle pointed at the blond man, she immediately panicked.
"(What now? And you are? Hmm, right, Le Fay Pendragon? A witch… you don't have anything useful to offer…)"
The blonde's eyes widened and when she heard that, she was instantly horrified! She quickly started to think. She looked at the other blonde, the Joan of Arc spirit holder…
"I am a genius at magic! I was part of the Golden Dawn! I can teach magic if you want!" She quickly said what was on top of her head.
"(Hmm, are you? Very well… I will spare this guy, in turn, your life belongs to me. You will be signing a contract that will bind your magic. If you break it you will lose your magic or in the worst case, you will die. Is that clear?)"
She sighed in relief after hearing that. This was not perfect but it was the only good way to get out of this extremely bad situation.
"Y-Yes! I accept!"
"(Good. Still, though, I will be taking these swords. Terrorists should not be holding any of them in the first place.)" Marcus said happily, most likely using the best pretext to do so. Even though some people could already call him a renegade and a danger to most Pantheons…
Well, not that it matters now anyway…
Le Fay could only sigh after seeing Excalibur Ruler and Caliburn getting snatched just like that…
They only just found Excalibur Ruler! And Caliburn? There was no need to even think about what kind of repercussion this will cause!
It will cause a shockwave big enough to go through the whole supernatural world when the factions eventually hear that the strongest holy sword was lost!
Still, her brother is alive, that's all that matters!
Le Fay joined Jeanne as they watched their new Boss? Master? finished off the rest of the Hero Faction…
And all they could do was stand by his side and be in fear, even awe at how, regardless of the original strength of the heroes like Georg, they were just slaughtered!
After it was all done. Both of them were encased in magic circles, of which Le Fay found extremely fascinating as they looked Devil in origin but they were not devil magic? It was extremely weird… It was like he emulated the devil magic factors and made them work with human hands…
'Whoever this guy is, he is good. Very good. I shouldn't be excited about the prospect of new magic in this situation but this is just too hard to resist!' The younger blonde of the pair had a very hard time trying to not get excited by this.
After all, she had just been kidnapped by some super scary dude who single-handedly made the whole hero group of theirs just disappear!
~~~~~~Back in the Garage~~~~~~
Jeanne was baffled and confused on why they were in Eastern Europe. She was able to make some sense of where they were flying.
She saw Istanbul, it was not hard with the landmarks like the Hagia Sophia or the bridge connecting Europe to Asia Minor. Then of course there was the Black Sea and she also saw the city of Kyiv...well, she assumed that it was the Ukrainian capital since the city was big and there was a large river flowing through the middle.
And in all, she could guess that they were somewhere close to the Baltic Sea which is also quite close to the Norse Pantheon territory.
The confusion only increased when they landed in some residential area of a small town in God knows where…
Then her eyes widened when she saw parts of the driveway just going down into the ground. This looked like the type of supervillain secret base that you would see in the Bond movies…
'Holy shit… this guy is totally like those supervillains from the movies with absurd tech and some big goals of world domination! I am kind of excited and terrified!' Jeanne thought to herself as she followed the guy who quite honestly kidnapped her…
Her eyes slightly widened when she saw the inside, there was another armour similar to the one he was currently wearing. Well identical except for the colours and the wings…
Or not… since she just saw the energy wings retract… there was only a colour difference. The stationed armour was simply grey, while the one he was wearing was golden and white…
Moments later her kidnapper raised his hands and mechanical arms came out from the ground and started removing the armour, piece by piece.
"That's so cool…" Jeanne said with barely hidden awe. This was like one of those sci-fi movies…
"They are magical too… I can sense magic...I can sense magic everywhere… This man… he is terrifying…" Le Fay said with wide eyes as she scanned the surroundings.
"Yeah? I guess he truly is a TV supervillain-type…" Jeanne replied after hearing what Le Fay just said.
"Most likely… we still need to know what he does and what his goals are…" The younger blond said with a nod. She kind of, sort of, can see what Jeanne means.
Once the armour was taken off they could finally see who it was.
"No way! You are like, totally my age!!!" Jeanne said with disbelief.
"Indeed. Which means you have wasted your whole life…" He said with a shrug.
This was quite a jab to her as she quickly realised soon enough… that, yeah...she should not be acting like they are friends with someone who was about to kill her and take her Sacred Gear…
"I suppose, I deserve that one. My apologies." The older blonde from the pair apologised with a quick bow.
"So, you can learn etiquette after all. Not bad. Still you will be having a teacher soon enough to teach you all that you need to become a proper maid." He said in quite a smug tone, which quickly made the reincarnation of Joan of Arc feel cold shivers going down her spine.
Who will be teaching her!?
Soon enough the pair of blondes saw two women approaching...one of them was dressed in a maid outfit.
"No way… those are… Serafall Leviathan and Grayfia Lucifuge!" Le Fay exclaimed in disbelief, and Jeanne quickly joined her when she heard those names.
What are the pair of extremely powerful devils doing here!?
"Indeed they are my pillars… I suppose I should introduce myself since the two of you don't even know my name."
Le Fay had a shocking feeling in her gut when she heard him call these devils his pillars…
She only ever knew one human who called the devils his pillars…
"My name is Marcus Goldman and I am what these devil ladies call the second coming of Solomon. The King of Magic. Well, more like the King of Inventions and Engineering...but whatever, I can stick with magic." He said the last part with a shrug.
"...But...how? He died ages ago! And no remnants of his were left! I have been reading up on him for years! His work...his magic… all known human cabals and organisations wanted to replicate it!" Le Fay said with disbelief and awe, and many other emotions that were rolling out from her. Here she was, talking to someone who has all of Solomon's magic and legacy!
"Hmm? Who was he?" Jeanne asked with a look that said that she had no clue who they were talking about…
"Solomon was the only guy in history to enslave the 72 devils pillars from right under the original Lucifer's nose. He walked to the Underworld and left with 72 devils who listened to him till his death." Marcus explained as simply as possible to Jeanne.
"What our Lord just said is an extremely abridged version! But, yes, what he just said is the truth." Le Fay added her own two bits.
Marcus slightly raised his eyebrow hearing how Le Fay was already addressing him as Lord…
'I guess the old man has such an influence on human mages…'
"Wait… seriously? Someone did that?" Jeanne questioned with a shock and baffled look.
"Indeed. Someone did that about three thousand years ago…" The only black-haired devil lady in the room answered as she stepped forward.
"Master~~~ you didn't say you will be bringing any... living souvenirs…"
Both Le Fay and Jeanne gulped down instinctively. How can someone be this 'cute' and terrifying at the same time?
'So, this is Satan Leviathan… I guess the rumours don't do much unless you see her yourself…' Jeanne thought to herself as she remembered rumours about Serafall Leviathan cosplaying as a Magic girl and acting all cute…
"Jeanne over there holds the soul of the Saint Joan of Arc… she will be going directly under you, Grayfia. You will teach her how to be a maid. If it's not to my satisfaction I can always remove the gear and dispose of her."
Jeanne turned pale white after hearing how casually he had just mentioned that.
"I won't disappoint! S-Should I call you Master or... Lord!?" The older looking blonde quickly remembered how Le Fay called the guy who is the same age as her but had already slaughtered the whole of the Hero Band!
Once again she quickly shook her head not wanting to think about how someone who is the same age as her can accomplish that!
"Both… doesn't matter which one. Anyways, this witch looking girl is Le Fay Pendragon. Assuming she inherited the magical side of the Arthurian Legends." Marcus pointed at the girl. Who quickly and respectfully bowed towards the two devil powerhouses.
"She will be a maid, and will also be assisting me with human-related magic." Le Fay once again nodded. She was nearly on cloud nine when she heard that she will be helping the second coming of Solomon! The original King of Magic was like God to the magical cabals and certain associations. And now she will be serving under his successor!
"I understand. I won't disappoint you." Grayfia looked at the pair, her red eyes practically digging into them. Trying to dig up anything she dislikes, her gaze quickly made the both of them uncomfortable. This was the Strongest Queen! How are they going to serve under her!? If this woman's gaze could kill, they would be dead by now!
"Good. Now come in, I am going to prepare the contracts for you two." Marcus motioned for them to follow him.
~~~
'This place truly looks like a supervillain base! Well more like the garage of one… my new boss truly likes his techy stuff!' The older blond thought to herself as she was looking around at everything.
She saw something akin to a holographic display, a futuristic-looking computer, a table with robotic hands which looks like the futuristic version of a grinding stone...
"I suppose I should tell you some things before Master comes back." Serafall started talking as she is the most diplomatic one of them all.
"Umm? Like what? I suppose I should know his schedule and such, yes?" The older blond asked with an uncertain look. While she was never a maid, she saw some in action.
"That is, well… our Master is very… pragmatic I suppose?" Serafall said with uncertainty, she was trying to find an appropriate word.
"We...experienced it… he dealt with our group in less than five minutes… the only survivor is my brother… since I offered myself for his life…"
"Arthur Pendragon?" Serafall asked with a raised eyebrow, she remembered something about the Ancient British family.
"Yes… I left a note which is basically a short summary of what happened before I was taken away." Le Fay said while fiddling with her robes. She was feeling very uncomfortable when the pair of the most powerful devil females were staring at her like that.
"Did you tell Master that you left a note?" Grayfia asked her with a piercing gaze.
'This woman… she is extreme… How can a Lucifuge serve a human to such an extreme?' Jeanne thought to herself. She never expected to see a devil serve a human with such heat.
"Umm...yes, I told him, and he even watched when I left the note… he approved of it…" Le Fay quickly clarified under such an extreme gaze.
"Good. Our Master was with Serafall for over 4 years now. She tested his patience enough. I suggest not to hide anything from him. It's pointless, especially in this place.
We are in the heart of his control here. This workshop holds a pantheon level of security. You can't escape this house or even this nation without him knowing. He will find you. It will either be me or Serafall who will be hunting you two down. And believe me...we can't say no to him. Even if we want to." Grayfia simply explained to the pair of blondes who could only gulp down hearing that.
In the end, they realised that they were in a nationwide prison.
"It was a Pantheon level security Grayfia. Master tripled the output of the Diamond Core Heart. Now the whole nation can enter into lockdown mode." Serafall added with a smug look.
"Truly? I guess I was outdated then. I didn't know Master is increasing security this much…" The Silver Haired maid said without much care. While the two blondes sitting opposite to them, tried to process what they just heard!
Triple the power of a Pantheon level security? Aren't Pantheons usually located in a different dimension? So, how can this place be that secure? Barriers? There are barriers here? But where?
Le Fay tried to sense anything but all she could tell was that there is a lot of magic in the air.
'Can he turn the ambient magic into barriers? Just how good are these Diamond Cores?'
"Indeed, after the whole incident with Artemis and her hunt, he decided to increase the radius of the third layer… Anyway, since you now know it is pointless to run, I can assume that Master will be giving you some devil-like contracts…" Serafall said as her gaze returned to the pair.
The pair didn't want to know what their new Lord did to Artemis that he needed to increase the security. They will most likely learn it anyway…
Still though, a man-hating Goddess is man hunting him? Well, this will be interesting. At least that was what Jeanne was thinking, while Le Fay already knew that the second coming of Solomon used his magic on the Moon Goddess and made her feel useless…
"Right… I am done! Here are the contracts. Read it up." Marcus walked over and handed over the papers to the pair.
The pair quickly stiffed and made sure they were sitting straight as Grayfia's gaze was on them. It was somewhat like an instinctual thing towards a threat, that's just how scary her gaze is.
Quickly though the pair started reading…
…
…
…
"Umm...this is… like a job… you're even going to pay me…" Jeanne said with a confused look. She was expecting a bonafide slave contract where she is selling her life to a human who can enslave devils…
"It is… you will be working for me your whole life and you are going to get paid for it," Marcus said with a shrug. He might kidnap them but he will be offering things for the work. He might be a self-proclaimed bad guy but even bad guys pay their subordinates...well...except Frieza...
"I see… this...is not bad actually… " Jeanne continued to read until she stumbled upon something...cool!
"Whoa… you are going to allow me to test things!?" She asked with a shell shocked expression. She already saw the armours and the rifles!
'This is going to be so cool!'
She skipped a bunch of warning signs, something about the possibility of losing a limb and things like that. She was looking at the bright side…
"Yeah. Sacred Gears and things like that, you will be testing and using them. It will be for future data gathering." Marcus explained simply.
Jeanne nodded happily hearing that. She has no idea what the data gathering in specific was. But, she assumes her usage of it will be recorded to make even better gear. So it's like a double win for her.
"That's great! Much better than I expected!"
Serafall just looked at the girl, another happy test subject… She thought that those would be rare. But somehow her sister ended up as one and now these two from the looks of it.
Although the younger blonde didn't say anything, she was deep in reading her contract…
Eventually, Jeanne signed it up with a grin and so did Le Fay with a satisfying smile.
At that moment the pair got reminded that they just sealed the deal with their magic as they felt a pull from their magic flowing into the contracts.
Serafall sweat dropped for a bit. Now, more than ever, was her Master like Lucifer himself. He just made a pair of girls with a considerable background and legacy sign away their lives…
"Good. Now why don't you two go with Grayfia who will start showing you around. At the moment it's not much, but my base is rapidly expanding." Marcus said as he remembered that the tunnel works is rapidly increasing as the assembly line is producing more labour bots every two hours...
"I knew it! This is like a garage right? And you are building up your real base!" Jeanne said with quite a happy and smug look. Even Le Fay had a realising look.
It would seem that their wild guesses about their new Lord being like a supervillain building up his base...was right on spot.
"True, this place is going to be a garage for my cars in future. While my real base will be build-up away from the city and more towards the centre of the nation."
Serafall eyes slightly widened hearing that! That was new! She didn't hear anything about this! Marcus is building a new base somewhere? And he is not just calling it a garage anymore!?
That's big! It is hard to call the current place a 'garage' in the first place… since it has a bunch of things like a ritual room, testing room, kitchen, bathroom, and a fully automated assembly line that produces things from thin air! Well, it is using perpetual energy to create raw materials through transmutation… nonetheless, he still called this place a garage after having so many things build-up to this point!
So, it begs the question. How much bigger is the official base going to be?
"Oh, I see… is it going to be pretty big then?" Jeanne asked and the rest were also waiting for him to answer.
"More or less a few times bigger." He shrugged back casually.
"Don't worry. There will be enough things for you to do." Marcus said with a wide smile. For some reason, the blonde had a cold sweat going down her spine. It was out of nowhere so she was slightly confused on why she was feeling nervous.
He only said a few times bigger… so, it shouldn't be that big...right?
~~~~~~After~~~~~~
"Rubbish…"
"This one's rubbish too…"
"Uhh… this one garbage…"
"Looks different but still, garbage…"
"Well, this one is below average but just above garbage…"
I looked through the five demonic swords I got from that silver-haired dude. They all look ugly and have below-average powers.
Demonic energy is quite dangerous to humans, even to devils themselves when it's not their demonic energy.
Since these five demonic swords are useless they will be stored in the showcase vault.
Although for safety sake, they will be properly vaulted and holographic displays will be shown in their place. It will be done for all the Sacred Gears and the swords. Meaning that no one will be able to just grab it and bond with it.
But, whereas the Demonic Swords are useless, the pair of Holy Swords were not. Caliburn has space controlling powers and Excalibur Ruler has mind control ones.
The best part from this raid though, is the Sacred Gears… True Longinus, Dimension Lost and Annihilation Maker. And of course some common ones like Twice Critical several times over and something used by Hercules…
Anyway…
Dimension Lost is a wonderful piece of gear that could help me improve the Diamond Core Heart. Who knew that a mist could do such things.
As it stands. The lockdown mode can be improved, instead of damaging the barrier, it could send the attack to the Dimension Gap.
Annihilation Maker is quite an interesting piece of Gear that allows the creation of monsters from one's shadow.
Further data implies that it's something extremely close to the creation of living and breathing beings. Only a few steps away from creating true life.
The core itself is that of a concept instead of a creature, similar to the lesser gears from the likes of Sword birth, only instead of swords it creates monsters with abilities. Although it is just a concept, the gear itself still holds quite a bit of programming and processing worthy of the Longinus' name.
Then… of course, there is the True Longinus… the spear. While the gear is basic. Like any other gears, the core itself is quite fascinating and very powerful. The amount of holy energy it emits made Serafall stay metres away, even in a sealed state like this.
The spear originally was just a simple steel weapon. But after stabbing Jesus himself and upon recovering the relic it has been reworked by the big man, Big G. Not only that, but it also holds some of his power.
While the readings only show a mixture of Holy and Divine energy at its very core it also reads one's mind, ambition, ideology and judges if it's worthy to receive extra help against the opponent.
'Hmm, while I won't be able to recreate the miracle of the Big G's will, I could recreate the spear…and with this much data I could… crystalline concepts of my desire...and make something similar to… Rhongomyniad…
Though it wouldn't be the same as Fate's one. There are no layers of reality being tower-anchored here. But, the world's end concept... now that should be possible
Again different interpretations…'
Only after scanning all the gears and swords and then having stored them away did Serafall properly approach me.
"Phew… Finally, they are gone! But, seriously… True Longinus and those two Holy Swords! How on earth did they have those! This kind of looks bad for Heaven, which is quite a good rub at them from my point of view." The black-haired devil said with a smug tone.
"None of them were with Heaven to begin with, so it's kind of half-assed but, you are right. The Holy relics should have been secured as soon as possible, but they weren't. So, now they are mine." I said with a shrug. I don't care much but this is my win and my loot so it stays with me.
"So? What are you planning to do with THREE Longinus gears and SEVEN swords?" The beauty curiously asked me. I used this moment to pull her onto my lap.
I kind of noticed how her dressing habits have changed quite a bit. She now prefers to dress in beautiful dresses regardless of whether it is needed or not. They make her look quite hot.
She instantly snuggled and moved herself into a comfortable position.
"Dimension Lost will help to improve Diamond Core Heart, Annihilation Maker will improve my understanding in genetics…"
"Truly? But how? Isn't it just monster creation from imagination?"
"Normally yes, but we are talking about adding magic to the mix…"
"Oh...OH… are you trying to make an army of creatures or something?" Serafall asked in a joking tone, then quickly stopped as she realised that I might not be joking.
"Wait...you aren't serious, are you?"
"Not really, but in a sense, yes. As I said before, since I am expanding the processing capacities of Aurora, I will be able to simulate a lot more things. That includes Annihilation Maker and its capacity… for example, if I were to create a creature of fire, I would be able to understand how fire abilities will affect the being up to the genetic level. If this works, I can alter any being to any abilities and standards."
Her eyes bulged out, taking a few minutes to grasp what I just said.
"If...this is true, what you just said, then you can basically make any being of any power… the level of True Gods like Great Red or Ophis…" Serafall said with wide eyes.
"It's not as easy as it sounds though. For example, the human genetic code is... let's say a seven-story building. We can work with what the seven-floor building has. But… if we were to remove, for example, the third floor then the whole building would collapse. So when we are genetically altering something we have to stick with what we have. If we add the eighth floor, which is too big, then it can collapse again." I explained to her as simply as I could.
"That's why genetically altering someone is an extremely difficult and long process. The process which with new expansion I will be able to cut down by many many years."
"So...what can you do once you finish it? You will add some abilities to yourself?" She asked curious, as this was a new plateau for her. Since I could technically have any ability…
"Eternal life, eternal youth, superhuman regeneration, better magic control, At least Ultimate Class level strength at base… haven't checked everything yet. So, these are just the basics among basics…" I said from the top of my head. I haven't checked everything but this was surface information… almost like a recon over genetics.
Her eyes widened to a comical level as I said all that.
"B-B-But isn't this like building extra floors and all that? Isn't it dangerous!?" She asked with a squeaky tone.
"Not at all. This is working with the pieces already there. Humans have regeneration. The power of it is set in our DNA. All I am going to do is alter that. But, it's not as easy as just changing a number in an options menu. As the moment you alter it you send a chain reaction to the rest of the 'floors'. Thus the need of processing power for Aurora."
"...I see… to figure out where the reaction is happening…" She said while nodding. From the looks of it, Serafall understood.
"This means that if you want something like, complete fire manipulation then you need to build an extra 'floor' as you had just said."
"Sort of. Since fire is already there, to a certain extent. The human body is warm. So in a sense, you already have some fire there."
"Still you need that extra floor no? There is no control of fire in natural human genetic make-up." This time she was certain of what she had said.
"Indeed. That's where you will need to be careful. It is like adding to the already existing construct. One can end up with extra limbs by accident." I said with a shrug.
"...Yeah… I can see this being a long term thing… or should be…"
I nodded at her. Internally I was somewhat sceptical about this myself. I'd only checked my DNA a couple of times. But… it should have been more difficult…
My talent was always with cars, electronics, and programming. But now… after reading up on genetics… it all just started to make sense… It was like a mystery that always fascinated me. But for some reason it is no longer that… mysterious. It is now like walking through a sort of familiar forest. While you may be going to get lost, you still will find a way to the exit.
It's either the extra genius I got in this world or the DxD universe is just that simple… I hope it's just my talent and not the reality I am in…
"Hmm?"
"You had that look just now…"
"What look?" I asked with raised eyebrows, glazing into her blue eyes.
"That you had just figured something out… it usually leads to some crazy stuff… last time you had that look you ended up making those rifles…"
I snorted after hearing that. This woman is reading far too much into my facial expression…
"Maybe...who knows…" I said that with a smirk.
~~~~~~Greece~~~~~~
"It was like a white star had descended into the building… it released lighting bolts and destroyed the whole building! It was like God himself descended!" A farmer explained with glassy eyes.
"Sleep."
The farmer nodded and collapsed onto the ground. A silver-haired woman put her hand on the farmer's head as a silver glow surrounded the downed man's body.
"It's the same… they all saw the same thing."
"Yes. He was here. From the looks of it, he attacked something. If my guess is right then he attacked someone who had Sacred gear or gears."
"Lady Artemis… for him to raid something in the heart of Greece…" The lion girl said with some disbelief in her tone. She can't believe someone had the balls to act so open!
The silver-haired Goddess snorted with a pissed look.
"He is not afraid if I am to bring my whole family to face him! He said that to my face! This is nothing!" She pointed towards the destroyed warehouse as she said the last words.
She knows he is not afraid to do raids like these. This might be her family's turf but Olympus is leagues away from here!
"What I wanted from this is any clues! I want to find out his location or destination!" Artemis exclaimed with a commanding tone.
Hippolyta and Atalanta nodded at their Goddess as they started searching the destroyed building for anything to lead her to him.
She could have asked Apollo for help. Her twin could have shown some visions to her. But, like hell was she going to ask him for anything! Especially with this!
No, she will find him herself! And once she is done grinding him through the ground. Then she will bring him back to Olympus so that he could slave away as their blacksmith!
In a sense this attack was good. She was skulking around in Eastern Europe without any clues. It was frustrating that he could so easily hide from her.
Thankfully her Father always goes to her for something like this. Especially when someone talks about lightning, thunder and god in the same sentence.
"My...lady… from the looks of it… he slaughtered at least 30 people… and there were also residues of holy energy… powerful holy energy… as well as... *Heracles*…spawn…"
Artemis slightly grimaced hearing that. Hippolyta tracking is peerless but sometimes she is far too good…
"I see… so, there were a lot of people with quite the special backgrounds…"
"More than a few, my Lady…" Atalanta said as she used her nose and tracking skills which she has sharpened for over a few thousand years.
"Quite a few extremely talented people were here," Atalanta said as she looked around the destroyed building. Thankfully the inside of it was in good condition.
"That man hit a jackpot. If my guess is right then he has quite a few Longinus gears now…" The blonde lion girl said with a frown.
"Like?" Artemis asked with wide eyes when she heard the word Longinus being mentioned.
"True Longinus and Dimension Lost." The catgirl said as she looked around, her senses were telling her that it was those gears. There is only one relic she knows of that can leave such a strong remnant of Holy Energy and those ripples in the air… it is similar to that of Dimension Lost.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My Discord server for advanced chapters:
https://discord.gg/hvzgBJg4ss
Along with the advanced chapters, there are also a lot of other fanfics I wrote and did not upload to Webnovel.
Chapters are coming out Monday, Wednesday and Friday around 9:00 AM British time.