Khaos Brigade, an alliance made up of rebels of each faction of mythologies and groups, each with their own agenda. But their common goal is to overthrow the current status quo and rebuild the world to their own designs.
While still in a heated meeting, their leader returned.
"Welcome back, Your Excellency." A god greeted Ophis with respect but hidden under the mask is only contempt, a puppet leader that didn't know she was only a tool for their agendas.
"Welcome back, Your Excellency." Everyone greeted after noticing her.
Ophis only gave them a nod before walking away. Only then they noticed a human following her. But they didn't really care since the human barely had even a trickle of Mana in his body. They think Ophis maybe just bored and pick up a human for fun.
They return to their meeting while Leo and Ophis left the large and grand hall.
He followed behind Ophis as they navigated through this place which honestly felt too large. He can't even see the end of each hallway that stretches infinitely. He also passed by numerous people of various races, all giving him an odd glance but when they saw Ophis, they immediately straightened up and quickly went their way without daring to take another look.
"Uhm… Ophis. Where are we going?" Leo asked after he felt like they had been walking for ten minutes straight.
"Vali." She said without a pause.
"Vali?" Leo parroted and hoped she would explain further.
"The black cat has food… Usually." Ophis tried to explain but couldn't find the words to say and kept Leo hanging.
Feeling that asking her to explain more is futile, Leo changes the topic.
"Can't you just teleport us there?"
Ophis paused her steps to a standstill for a few seconds, as if thinking for an answer.
"I can't. They told me to use my power to seal the base from Teleportation. I can only teleport into the hall." She answered, looking a little frustrated.
"Can't you just change the rule? I mean, you are the leader right?" Leo asked with suspicion combined from the reaction of the people earlier.
"Rizevim said the protection is important or the enemies can enter the base." She said.
Leo noted from earlier. All she gave was 'it's someone's order'. Isn't she the leader of the Khaos Brigade? Why does others need to tell her what to do? Leo can already smell something fishy about it. But he needs more evidence before he acts.
Since Ophis is his own now, those that tried to use her have to go through him first!
———
"Nya! Lady Ophis?" Kuroka jumps up in surprise when someone enters the room without a knock or warning.
"Oh, Is Lady Ophis looking for food again? Le Fay baked some cookies this morning for Arthur and made extras for you, Nya." Kuroka the black Nekoshou jumped off her seat and went into the kitchen before returning with a sizable glass jar almost the size of Ophis' own torso.
Ophis nods approvingly before giving Leo a stare that probably saying others are more generous than him a cheapskate.
Following Ophis' gaze, Kuroka found out there's another person in this room. She didn't notice it earlier because she couldn't notice his scent and she relied on her nose a lot to detect people. Not a normal scent, mind you, but a special scent of their power. His footsteps are also quite silent that it's barely perceivable.
Kuroka quickly checks the man but finds nothing remarkable about him other than his body is almost covered by Ophis scent. She has a crazy idea who Leo might be. But she simply found the notion to be impossible. Other than snacks, powerful people and Great Red, nothing can stir up her feelings. So, a lover would be impossible.
"Hello, my name is Kuroka from Team Vali, Nya." She greeted Leo.
"I am Leo, Leonis Ashford." Leo accepted the gesture and introduced himself..
After that, there's an awkward pause. Neither know what to talk about. Kuroka obviously is not interested in a normal human but because Leo is someone with Ophis, she cannot simply ignore him either.
Meanwhile Leo used his ability to pop up Kuroka's profile.
[Name: Kuroka Toujou
Conquest Rating: - (Invalid Target)
Race: Nekoshou
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Archetype: Playful, Lustful, Older Sister
Affection: - (Invalid Target)
Likes: ???
Dislike: ???
Current thoughts: She only has interest in you who are weak. But she is being polite because you are with her boss, Ophis.]
'Invalid target?' Leo asks his System.
[Exactly as stated. The Lolimancer System only accepts characters that fit the Loli archetype.]
Leo nods and returns back to reality by the voice of Kuroka.
"So… who are you and why are you with, Lady Ophis, Nya?" Kuroka asked after Ophis went to the couch, sat there watching TV while munching on sweets Kuroka gave her. Leo and Kuroka were the remaining ones sitting on the table as Kuroka was interested to find out who he was.
"An ally I think? She invited me to join her to defeat Great Red or something. Whatever Great Red is." Leo reveals while sounding depressed because even if Leo held the higher position on the contract, he is still bound by the vow to help Ophis.
"Huh?! Defeat Great Red?" Kuroka made a double take and looked at Leo from top to bottom before bursting out laughing as if she just heard the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard.
"Nyahahaha! Defeat Great Red? Is that supposed to be a joke, Nya?" Kuroka wipes off the tears from laughing too hard and looks at Leo's deadpanned face.
"I-I supposed it's not…" Kuroka immediately stopped laughing and even forgot her 'Nya' tick at the end of the sentence.
"Then, Leo. How did you end up like this, Nya?" Kuroka became curious like a cat, wanting to know Leo's story which is why she asked.
Leo didn't mind explaining, he wanted an outlet for his frustration and Kuroka just happened to be the one. He reveals everything that happened minus the part he brought to a new world after he died and his System.
Kuroka was dying of laughter, especially the part about how Leo was killed and woke up in a lair of Outer Gods worshipers. Yeah, Leo previously figured those were Satanist worshipers but Kuroka corrected him and said those are in fact Outer Gods worshipers instead.
"How can you be so sure? I mean, Max can be accurately depicted as a creature that would crawl out of hell." Leo debated with the knowledge of hell he has from his previous world.
"Nya! Believe me, there isn't any creature like that in Hell. I lived in Hell… or rather, the Underworld for some time after all." Kuroka said with a trace of guilt and sadness in her face when mentioning Underworld.
However, sensed that Leo noticed her change in expression and Kuroka quickly hid her sadness and stood up.
"In fact! I am a Devil, Nya!" Kuroka reveals a pair of leathery bat-like wings. "Specifically, a Reincarnated Devil." She spun around and showed Leo her wings but she sensed Leo's gaze was on her pair of tails rather than her pair of wings.
"Reincarnated Devil?" Leo asked. "Is there supposed to be any difference between that and a real Devil?"
He has no clue what a Reincarnated Devil is or what this world is yet. Which is why he was clueless but Kuroka sees it as normal and dismisses it as Leo not being uneducated about the supernatural side of the world since he is a normal human until he was chased down by a crazy killer.
Kuroka then gives Leo a quick and abridged lesson about the supernatural world. Leo found it interesting until he felt like he heard or seen this before.
'Isn't this Highschool DxD?' Leo mutters in shock in his mind he remembers reading a fanfiction of it before that happens to be in a crossover with Fate Stay Night. The MC is Shirou Emiya who died at the end of Heaven's Feel route but was saved by a bored Zelretch and thrown into the DxD world.
Now Leo regrets not reading more. His knowledge is very limited since the fic is more slice of life than involved deep in the plot. But it is what it is. Not that he could ever predict he would be Transmigrated.
"Say, Kuroka… we are in Khaos Brigade right? The rebel organization." Leo said with a bitter face after realizing where and with who he was standing with.
"Nya! Did you not know when you accepted Lady Ophis' offer?"
'What offer?' Leo asked because he was forced to join or die in Ophis' hand. There is really no offer or choice at all.
"No." Leo answered with a light grumble of dissatisfaction.
"You really are an odd one, Nya." Kuroka was laughing and smiling as she thoroughly enjoyed talking with Leo.
"Well, yes. Khaos Brigade is a rebel organization. However, we in the Vali Team aren't. Our goal is only one, which is to defeat Great Red. Well, not really our goal but it's Vali's goal but it's an interesting goal that we want to be part of." Kuroka said with a genuine smile.
When Leo was about to continue talking, he felt a light tug on his shirt which prompted him to turn his head to the direction and saw Ophis holding an empty jar.
"Still hungry?" Leo asked the already obvious question and Ophis nodded her head.
Leo can't help but to see Ophis as nothing more than an innocent child. From what Kuroka describes to him about Ophis, she was born from the Dimensional Gap, a realm of nothingness. She spends all her time slumbering in her realm before being banished by Great Red, that's why she is obsessed with defeating Great Red. Because she spends her time sleeping, she has little awareness or understanding of the world just like a child. Even her obsession with sweets further highlights the point in Leo's mind. It also didn't take a genius to understand Ophis was actually exploited by those who claimed to join Khaos Brigade to fight Great Red when in actuality, they are only coveting her power and using her name for themselves.
Kuroka seems to purposely avoid talking about it too because Ophis is nearby and can listen to the conversation. But she is likely to also notice this problem but she also did nothing about it.
In Leo's eyes, it's blatant exploitation. Ophis is akin to a child with endless fortune. She didn't know what to do with the fortune but the people came to her, claiming they can help her but in reality only leech and gold digger aiming for her fortune for themselves rather than helping her to truly achieve her goal. It's a sad thing to watch and even harder to stay silent when seeing it with his own eyes.
'I need to put a stop to this.' Leo made this vow in his heart.
Since Ophis is now his own ally(Loli), he will not sit still and let this exploitation continue. He will definitely put a stop to this.
[Host admirable resolve had triggered a Quest!]
[A Responsible Lolimancer!
Description: After feeling sad and angered by the blatant exploitation of your pro- *cough* precious Loli, as a responsible Sla- *cough* Lolimancer, you cannot sit still and continue watching this tragedy unfold.
However! You are weak and helpless to do anything but to convince Ophis with your words. But her affection for you is too low for your words to have a sway on her.
Objective: Raise her affection to 400 and above to gain her trust.
Reward: Random Utility Skill Gem x1, Affection Item Box x3, Skill Upgrade Ticket x2]
Surprised by the sudden quest, Leo glanced over it and frowned that he was called weak which hurt him as a man who lived his whole life relying on his own strength he worked hard for. But this world is unique, they have supernatural power that even a deceiving looking child like Ophis is unimaginably stronger than him.
[-5 Affection]
"Huh?" Leo immediately alerted by the red text warning from his System.
Leo immediately turned to Ophis who stared at him impatiently.
'Fuck! She was totally expecting me to give out food whenever she wanted!' Leo laments his fate as food dispenser for this insatiable but adorable Dragon.
"Here you go. But this is the last one alright?" Leo took out another Macarons with a sigh and offered it to Ophis while unconsciously petting her head as he sees her as a cute but gluttonous little sister.
"!" Kuroka reacted with surprise seeing Leo casually treating Ophis like a little girl.
Meanwhile Ophis didn't really care about the 'rude' gesture from Leo and quickly opened up the packaging and devoured the Macarons with bliss. As she expected, the Macarons are way better than the cookies Le Fay baked.
[+50 Affection]
[+10 Affection]
[Affection: 210/1000 (Friend)]
When Leo retracted his hand, Ophis stopped nibbling the Macaron to make it last longer than inhaling them like before. She looks at Leo's hand with a weird feeling. It felt pleasant but she didn't know why and she pulled the hand back on her head.
Leo finds it funny and cute as she continues rubbing Ophis head while Kuroka almost went into a cardiac arrest on the side. Then a few minutes later, Leo retracted his hand again and again, stopped by Ophis.
"Uhm… Ophis, I still need to make you food. Can you let go of my hand?"
Ophis' first look conflicted. Headpat is good. But the food was also good. She cannot decide which one to let go. But the helpless Leo offered her another bag of Macarons despite doing so will not raise her affection anymore, not that raising her affection is the reason why he offers the Macarons.
"Sit here with Kuroka, alright? I will try to cook something for us." Leo put Ophis on the chair he previously sat on and asked Kuroka if he could borrow the kitchen.
Kuroka, still in shock and awe, nodded absentmindedly before Leo headed to the kitchen. Meanwhile she stares back at Ophis. People revere her like a God even by fellow gods. They fear her strength that even Rizevim and those who exploit her power still treat her respectfully precisely because they fear what will befall them if they manage to offend Ophis. Yet a human, a feeble without any power, treats Ophis like a normal little girl. It was as if the sun was rising from the west. A ridiculous notion that never crosses anyone's mind.
—————
If you readers feel generous or want to appreciate my work and effort, feel free to tip me here.
https://ko-fi.com/lazy_kat_aoi