"Hmn?"
Leo woke up feeling groggy. The last thing he remembers was cooking food pancakes for Ophis but he somehow woke up on the couch.
Leo noticed something was holding his left arm which caused him to lift his head to check and saw Ophis was snugly asleep next to him while hugging his arm.
Leo yawned and looked around but the room was empty and the sky outside was dark.
'I remember it was dark since I arrived in this place.' Leo recalled the window on the hallway he passed through.
[This place is called Dimensional Gap, Host. Concept of day and night didn't exist as the sun and moon were absent from this realm.] The System answered Leo's question.
'Right…'
Leo remembered Kuroka explained a little about the Dimensional Gap, a gap between Earth and other hidden worlds that exist around it, not to be confused with outer space. It's two different locations.
Leo tried to wake up but Ophis reacted to his movements and hugged his arm tightly. He cannot even pull his arm free from her.
'I guess waiting a little is fine.' Leo decided not to disturb his golden egg and let her sleep more.
As for why Leo calls Ophis a golden egg? It's because from what Kuroka explained about the dynamics of power in this world, Ophis ranked second after Great Red. If he can gain her trust and favor, she will be his ticket to a carefree and easy life.
Leo learned a lesson during his life in the gang and underworld. Power is the law. The power didn't necessarily mean brute strength. It could be influential to the masses, it could be political power, it could be monetary power. With power, the impossible becomes possible.
He saw with his eyes, the most heinous and wretched human being doing a deed worse than a mass murder. Yet they walk under the sun without restraint while he and many others that are simply not blessed with luck in life and have to resort to petty means like stealing and robbing were locked up in jail. It's because they have power that not even the law can do anything to them.
With power, Leo didn't need to fear law binding his every action and Ophis will be his key. Of course, this may count as exploiting. But good and evil is a very poorly defined term. Yes, he would be using Ophis on his own agenda. But at least he is doing so while actually helping with her goal.
Leo wanted to usurp the Khaos Brigade from those that exploited Ophis for their own personal agenda that disregarded Ophis' goal. By doing so, he will gain influence, resources and subordinates. Ophis' goal just happens to align with his own.
But before he can put the plan into motion, as the System said, Leo is still not close enough with Ophis to have influence over her with his words. He needs to raise her Affection first.
'Hey, System. Are there ways for me to raise affection faster?' Leo asked after seeing his hardwork feeding Ophis is only measles +20 Affection.
[There is no shortcut to success, Host. However, I do have advice to help Host raise affection.]
[Beside Affection raising items is the most obvious item which may sound like a shortcut to raising Affection. However they only raise a very small amount of affection unless the Item is a favorite of the girl. The item also loses effectiveness once the girl reaches a certain affection level.]
[The advised method is to spend time and bonding with the girls. Each girl will have troubles which the Host must discover on his own and help them resolve the trouble to gain a massive amount of affection and a boost in power.]
'Hold on a second. Ophis' trouble is her home taken by Great Red. How am I supposed to achieve such an impossible task?'
[It's not impossible. A mere dragon of a lesser world can hardly be a problem for the Host if you achieved your true potential.]
[Remember, Host is using a System created by the most powerful being in the Omniverse. Even if Host is weak in comparison to Host with other System, Host still will be a powerful existence that can place his name in the omniverse, much less a backwater world. But to reach that height, Host must work hard.]
'Obviously. Nothing is free after all.' Leo nods as he remembers how hard he worked to finally be recognised as a human and crawled his way out from the street.
[However, the Host is indeed correct that resolving Ophis' trouble is difficult. The Conquest Rating is a rating of difficulty for Host to fully conquer the girl's route.]
'Route?' Leo noted the odd term. 'You make it sound like this is a dating game or something.' Leo jokingly said.
[Host is not wrong. I am one of the 108 versions of System inspired by a dating game which my creator played in his leisure moment.]
'...' Leo didn't know how to react to that.
'*Cough* So, what am I supposed to do now to raise my power?' Leo mentally coughed due to discomfort and returns back to the previous derailed conversation.
[Host is advised to seek out targets with lower Conquest Rating. Completing routes and resolving the girls' trouble will provide Host with rewards and there are quests and achievements that will also provide extra rewards.]
'But… How exactly am I going to do that? I can't even leave this place because I cannot use Teleportation magic.' Leo argued as he is currently in the Dimensional Gap girls that fit the conquest criteria will not sprout out of nowhere over here.
[Considering Host's special situation. I will make an exception.]
[Conquest Ticket(Rare) had been purchased from the shop and added to inventory.]
[Conquest Ticket is a summoning item. But instead of summoning the girls to Host, it works in reverse by summoning Host to their vicinity and revealing their basic information.]
Leo looks at the item in his inventory eagerly wanting to use it and earn his rewards. But he quickly stopped and looked at Ophis, still peacefully sleeping.
'She won't be angry if I suddenly left, right?' Leo asked himself.
He can feel Ophis is very clingy to him for some reason. Her hugging him tightly even in sleep was evidence of this assumption. But he is also very eager to gain power. Maybe even magic which he can only dream of in his past.
'I'm sorry, Ophis. I'll leave these as my compensation.' Leo apologized and took out his remaining Macarons from his inventory before placing them close to Ophis.
'How am I supposed to use this thing?' Leo looks at the Ticket sitting in his inventory.
[Just rip it to trigger the effect.]
Following the instruction, Leo takes out the tickets before holding it in his right hand and bites it before ripping the ticket which causes his body to be consumed by particles of light.
———
"A church?" Leo mutters after he was teleported and arrived in a rundown church.
Leo surveyed the surroundings and found smashed furniture as if a battle just happened over here. Below of the broken cross is a secret entrance of sort, supposed to be concealed by a pedestal but it was smashed in half on the side. He can hear faint sound of blade clashing and explosion from the secret entrance.
Leo continue to look a little further and found something interesting.
"A gun and two sword handles?" Leo pick up the weapon someone definitely dropped in a hurry.
"Well, it's mine now." Leo happily slid his loot into his inventory before he checked the profile of his Conquest Target.
[Name: Mittelt
Conquest Rating: ★★
Race: Fallen Angel
Gender: Female
Age: Ageless
Archetype: Bratty, Conceited, Cowardly
Affection: 0/1000 (Stranger)
Likes: ???
Dislike: ???
Current thoughts: She regrets following Raynare's order and messed with The Gremory. She didn't want to die as she prayed desperately to her Father.]
Leo's eyes stuck on the word 'Fallen Angel'. He didn't know his target would be such an interesting person.
[Target is 200M to your left. Host are suggested to hurry up because the Conquest Target is in mortal danger.]
Hearing the urging from his System, Leo quickly left the church into the woods surrounding the church.
[20m more ahead. Host is advised to be prepared for battle.]
"Huh!" The System informed Leo a bit too late when he felt his body phase through a barrier of sorts which strangely made him want to turn away the closer he got.
"Who is there! Show yourself!" A commanding and prideful tone reached his ears as he felt his skin crawl like his instinct is screaming at him that death is approaching.
Leo naturally developed this instinct and trust it very much because he relied on it a lot to survive though battles and assassination.
'Calm down, Leo. Panicking will not help.' Leo recites in his head as he continues his momentum without stopping until he reaches a clearing.
There Leo found two very gorgeous ladies that he had ever seen in his life. One with bright crimson hair and another with a black hair. The first thing he noticed is…
'Those boobs are too big! How can they even carry those…' Leo asked in his mind
"A normal human? That's impossible, we placed a barrier to repel any human from entering the area around the church." The redhead said in surprise but hadn't lowered her guard at all.
"Ara. We got an interesting interloper over here. I wonder why he is here?" The other one says in a manner as if hinting him to reveal his purpose without saying it directly.
"You are clearly not any normal human even if you didn't have one much mana. But to resist my barrier means you are not exactly a random person that accidentally got here." The redhead turned to a more relaxed pose when sensed Leo didn't have much mana to be a threat at all.
"Then, answer my question. Who and what are you doing in the territory belonging to the Gremory House."
The moment she said Gremory House, something clicked in Leo's mind and he realized who this girl is!
Leo felt his back start to sweat. They are Devils. The Devil that Kuroka also mentioned to be careful with. Pure Blooded Devils see normal humans as nothing but cattle or toys for their enjoyment unless they have something to interest them.
Leo's mind reels as quickly as possible, thinking of a way to deal with this situation until he gets an idea. Fake till you make it.
"Ah, pardon my rudeness, Lady Gremory." Leo made a polite bow to greet Rias while maintaining a professional smile that he constantly put on during his job.
Like a mask, this mask allows Leo to subtly change his personality. Like a self suggestion or self hypnosis to suppress his fear to perform his task.
"I apologized for not going through a proper procedure and etiquette when intruding upon your territory." Leo gave his apology with the most genuine sounding tone he could.
From being guarded to confusion, Rias' expression changed as she heard his apology and a theatrical performance of exaggerated show of etiquette. The lady on her side did find Leo amusing as she tried to hold back her laughter with success.
'Crap! Now what…' Leo keeps his head bowed to hide his panicked face as he thinks very hard for the next step.
'Hey, System. The contract between me and Ophis is made using her power right? Doesn't that mean her power linger in my body like a scent?' Leo got a brilliant idea.
[Yes.]
'Then how can I make her lingering power appear?' Leo asked with a confident grin that his plan would work.
[Host only needs to think about the contract to make it appear.]
Leo's grin grew wider as he suddenly lifted up his head and faced Rias. Rias was also taken aback by his behavior and a little startled.
"Who are you and what is your affiliation?" Rias asks to uphold her duty as the governor of this neutral ground, Kuoh Town.
"Who am I?" Leo asked back after pretending to give the question a thought before answering. "I am afraid I cannot give my name but I am a personal servant of my mistress." Leo answered with a vague answer that purposely left out the important bit.
"Your mistress…?" Rias asked with a darkened face.
Rias is obviously seen through Leo's trick to lead them in a circle and she doesn't take it quite kindly as her anger starts to bubble.
"Yes. My mistress, Lady Ophis the Dragon God Ouroboros."
"Dragon God Ouroboros…" Both Rias and Akeno parroted in disbelief. Not because Leo wasn't actually trying to lead them in a circle and answered them. But the identity of the person he just mentioned.
Anyone in the supernatural world would have definitely heard of the being named Dragon God Ouroboros. It's the second strongest being in the world, second after Great Red the Apocalypse Dragon.
Their faces showed they didn't believe what Leo said which made him smirk wide like an evil mastermind seeing his plans all falling into place perfectly without error as he caused the contract to appear which carried a heavy scent and aura belonging to Ophis. Even if Rias and Akeno cannot discern whose scent is this, they can feel the overbearing aura belonging to Ophis that cannot be faked.
They were shocked and too afraid to make hasty action because Ophis isn't someone Rias could offend. Not even when her siscon brother can do anything if Ophis becomes angered by Rias' action.
Leo took the opportunity to nab the blond loli which was critically injured. He checked her condition and thankfully was still breathing although very labored. He tapped his hand over her face multiple times to wake her up.
"Fa-Father?" Mittelt mumbles as her dull eyes look at Leo with relief and guilt.
"I am not your Father. However, I heard your prayers and came to save you." Leo wraps one arm on her back and lifts her up slightly.
Mittelt dull eyes regained hope when hearing what Leo said to her. The dullness faded away slightly and regained some luster as she jolted slightly.
"Please, Father! I regret my action! I regret committing sin and abandoning your light and following the fallen angels. Please, I don't want to die!" Mittelt holds on to Leo with her life as she begs him, mistaking him for someone else.
Leo can clearly see Mittelt is in a state of confusion and delirium to mistaking him as God. Such occurrences are not rare especially on someone that is dying and losing too much blood.
Leo then continues.
"I can save you on one condition. Accept my contract."
Leo does have a skill as a Lolimancer that can heal. But he can only use them on the girls that he is contracted to.
"I accept! I accept it!" Mittelt accepted the contract that easily and the System went to work sealing the deal.
[Conquest Target 'Mittelt' had successfully been contracted.]
Leo sees the notification and immediately hovers his palm over Mittelt before muttering 'Heal'. A flash of warm and soothing light appeared on his palm and then the injury on Mittelt became slightly better but not fully healed yet. His 'Heal' skill can only recover a minor amount of HP since it's low leveled. But it's enough to keep her away from being in critical condition. Leo could also spam the skill until Mittelt is fully healed but unfortunately Leo didn't have the Mana for that. He can only cast once with the amount he had.
When he is done, he put Mittelt over his shoulder and turn to face Rias and Akeno.
"My objective is done here, if you may excuse me." Leo said and give a final bow like a performer bowing to the crowd at the end of their performance.
He made a gambit using Ophis name to deter Rias and it went quite smoothly without an hitch while he cheered in his heart for surviving the situation.
'Get us out of here quick!' Leo ordered his system and immediately his and Mittelt's figure covered by a blinding light before he vanished.
Rias and Akeno shielded their eyes and watched Leo disappered with a complicated feelings.
First, he declared himself personal servant of Ophis… Which isn't wrong since Leo might as well be considered a personal cook for Ophis.
But the second one is a little wilder. They didn't know Leo's identity. They could only make speculation but when they heard Mittelt call him father, there can only be one person that can possibly be called Father by the Angels and Fallen Angels, it's the Biblical God. But, isn't it ridiculous? Why would the strongest God appeared that weak and feeble? It sounded very ridiculous.
Regardless, she have a duty to report back to the Underworld.
"Ugh… wouldn't that mean I cannot keep the information about Fallen Angel a secret anymore?" Rias feel the gravity of the matter and become depressed. "Onii-Sama and the Maous would still be fine. But the Council of Elders will chew me into pieces!"
"Can't we just not tell anyone? No one would ever know anyway if we keep out mouth shut." Akeno suggested a solution to her troubled King.
Rias pondering over the suggestion thoughtfully and gave no definite answer to Akeno which keep her guessing.
—————
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