(A bit of Romonus' back story will be revealed in this chapter. Part of it slipped into the last chapter.)
Once Romonus got off the call with Serafall he put his phone in his pocket and got up. Since Itsuki and Akeno were sleeping already and his Mother had already left he was left with plenty of free time.
This was the issue when sleep became unnecessary as you were left with plenty of free time. Suddenly he remembered a material he would need for when he created his armor. He pulled his phone out again and called up MacGregor.
The mage as usual picked up instantly as Romonus never called to waste time.
"Yes?"
This was why Romonus liked his teacher, he never spoke in riddles and got to the point. Anything was fair game as long as it progressed his understanding of magic.
"I will be frank then Master. I wanted to ask about Soul Stones. What do you need to make more?"
MacGregor leaned back in his chair as he asked the questions.
"I need living beings with souls of course. I could make them from animals, but those are trash. Humans or sentient beings are better. Tell me, do you need human souls, Devil Souls, or something else."
Romonus thought about it as if they were going to be material to fuse soul energy into his gear. He had been thinking of adding human souls, but since his soul was neither Devil nor Human he might need both.
"I will be needing both types, I am not even sure how many I will need. As for what I want them for, I plan to craft a legendary set of armor as my Father is getting me my materials. But I wanted to add Soul Stones as materials to fuse Soul Energy to the mix."
MacGregor pondered on this for a while as he had been impressed with Romonu's progress on Souls. He already had some Soul Techniques which he was still working on. An advantage that Romonus' Combion soul granted him.
"Let me guess, you plan to bind it to your soul. You are wondering if human souls or devil souls are the preferred material."
"I am Master. While this may be total bullshit, I want to make sure of both to even out the type of soul energy fused into the gear. Devil and Human if at all possible as this will be the first time this has been attempted.
MacGregor could barely keep a smile on his face.
"I have a working theory, tell me if this is true. This gear you want to create, rather than making a 'Sacred' Gear, you want a Profane Gear or whatever you will call it."
Romonus liked the sound of it.
"I like it, a Profane Gear. Will you help me?"
MacGregor agreed.
"Kid, this is quality information. I will get you a deal, get me around 100 criminals and I will refine them into pure Soul Stones. As for Devil Souls I already got a supply so don't worry about them."
Romonus grinned.
"I will deliver. You pick them up, or do I drop them off?"
MacGregor went back to his grimoire as the call went on.
"I will pick them up. Just collect them from a human prison, and take them to an isolated place. Send me the location and then I will do the rest."
"Alright then, see you soon."
Once the call was finished, and he was dressed already Romonus created a teleport circle under his feet and in a flash of light he was gone. Specifically, he appeared in the United States at the sight of the only Supermax Prison in the country.
It housed Serial Killers, Drug Lords, Terrorists, and Gang Leaders essentially less than human garbage. Once he arrived at the location of the prison he did not delay a second and instantly created a Bounded Field over the whole prison.
The guards who were outside barely had time to react before the night sky became shimmering purple and red. They had even less time as Romonus instantly clasped his hands together and caused every being in the prison to begin to pass out out unconscious.
At his level of power, he could knock out the entire population of a city without fail. Unless one of the guards or inmates had magic or a Sacred Gear which he might as well check while he was here.
'That deals with the humans.'
Once the population of the prison was dealt with he had free reign to pick out his materials. In the end, he chooses 100 inmates with severe crimes including serial killers, murders, gangsters, terrorists, and even a few drug dealers for the heck of it.
Once he had his 100 inmates, he bound them in threads of POD to ensure they did not struggle even if they woke up. He waved his hand and piled them high in front of him and a nod.
'That takes care of them, now then.'
Romonus closed his eyes as he held his hands together as he began to release another one of his Soul Techniques. By using soul energy along with his 'Spiritual Sense' he could see more than without it.
The population of the SuperMax was quite small only 300 including the ones he was taking. However, none of the inmates or the guards had any Sacred Gears which was expected. They would not be kept locked up in a mundane prison that had no wards.
'No luck.'
He released his technique, Bounded Field included and teleported away to the top of Mount Elbert in Colorado. He looked behind him seeing that the 100 inmates were all still intact. Just when he pulled out his phone he saw he had a few texts from Serafall.
'What did she send me now?'
He checked them out and instantly he was smiling. She had sent him a few photos of her scantily dressed.
(Image here.)
"Jackpot."
He cleared his voice and exited out of the texts as there was a time and place for that.
"Damn, I love that woman."
He instantly texted MacGregor the location.
'Peak of Mount Elbert, I got the 100.'
MacGregor did not even bother to text back as he teleported to Romonus' location. When he appeared he was still dressed in his fancy mage robe and seemed to be taking this easy.
"You work quick. I take you did not delay."
Romonus turned to face his teacher as this was the expected outcome.
"Of course not. I open a Bounded Field to knock everyone out and I got to collect at my leisure. Why would I take the unneeded risk when this was so much easier."
MacGregor nodded as he looked at the mixed batch of inmates.
"Good work. What did you get me?"
Romonus explained what he chose.
"A mix of serial killers, terrorists, murderers, gangsters, and psychopaths."
MacGregor walked over and poked one big tattooed guy with his leg.
"They will do. Shouldn't take me long to render them down since I already have the process to do it. You want pure souls or something."
Romonus thought about it.
"Yes, as pure as possible. Devil Souls and Human Souls are quite different and each piece of gear will need a few of each. Since a full set of armor has 14 different parts I guess each one will need 7 of each to work."
MacGregor rubbed his beardless chin.
"You're asking a lot of me these days my student, what will you offer me?"
Romonus rolled his eyes at this British mage. He knew this was just a farce as he was just curious and a curious mage would do anything to sate it.
"Let you help me in the creation of the gear. I am getting my fiance Latia to help me out, but someone like you would make things easier. You have no forging experience from my knoledge but your experience in magic is legendary.
I'd ask Ajuka, but you know that I much rather work with someone I trust."
MacGregor raised an eyebrow.
"You don't trust your Uncle-in-law?"
Romonus shook his head.
"Not really, he knows The Harvestor was used to kill Diodora and I rather not be involved with him much. I have no idea what he will do if he knows we did it and even worse I have no clue what my brother will do. Will he choose me, his brother, or the friend he considers a brother?
He has known me for 11 years, he has known Ajuka for nearly 600. Pretty easy to see who he should pick no?"
MacGregor shook his head with a sigh.
"Kid, don't be so cynical. I get your position, but he is still your big brother. Sirzechs will go to war for you and Rias against anyone. Did something happen for you to start doubting him?"
Romonus opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
"No, he hasn't."
MacGregor smiled.
"In that case trust him. I haven't told him what we did, but maybe we should."
"Let's hold off on anything like that for a time Master."
MacGregor did not push the issue.
"Fine then, this is our crime, but your idea so you should pick when it gets revealed. You also seem to be dealing with some shit, but that is your can of worms to go through. I am just a mad mage who teaches you stuff I probably shouldn't be."
Romonus snorted.
"Hasn't it created me into a powerful being?"
MacGregor gave him that.
"And you proved me wrong. I thought focusing on the path of the Mage, Fighter, and Swordman was wrong, but you have not crumbled under the pressure. You have grown under it and become someone of renown.
You already have a nickname in the Noble Circle you know. If your Mother won her youth and was called the Flaxen-haired Madame of Ruin, you are being called The Knight of Ruin."
Romonus tilted his head.
"Why? I am more than just a Knight."
MacGregor pointed at his side at Blood Drinker.
"You are the one always carrying a sword around Kid. The nickname is just sticking and even Rias has her nickname now that she is growing stronger. Not as fast as you did, but fast. Though she is just training under me and Souji as she has no interest in getting up close like you."
Romonus felt that was a shame. If you focused on just one of the paths to power you would be defeated by an all-rounder.
"Well, that is her choice I guess. I should check up on her training one of these days."
MacGregor felt that was a good idea, and before he forgot he remembered something.
"Hey, you interested in learning under an old friend of mine? Well, more of my old mentor, but he is a friend."
Romonus frowned.
"You have friends?"
MacGregor snorted.
"More than you that is for sure. He is a Lich as in life he had been a power Death Mage who discarded his humanity. He mentored me when I was young and helped me start the Golden Dawn. When I told him about you he was interested in mentoring you.
So, want to learn under a Lich?"
Romonus had nothing against learning under one.
"Sure, what's his name?"
"Dormuteth. Long ago they called him the Abyss King. He is Ancient and on top of his Death Magic, he is skilled in more magic types than me. Including Spirt Magic as he was human during the time of the Persian Empire."
Romonus was impressed as that was over 2,000 years ago.
"And he mentored you why? Why didn't he just turn you into an Undead slave."
MacGregor scoffed.
"You are cynical. Just because he is a Lich doesn't mean he is evil or desires to have a world of undead. He just didn't want to die and he saw potentiol within me. We at the Golden Dawn do not shame any magic except if it affects the order or gets too dark.
Now that I think about it, I really should take you over to learn from my fellow mages one day."
Romonus nodded.
"It would be my honor."
MacGregor walked over to Romonus and patted him on the shoulder.
"You're going to be taller than me any day now. I remember when you were barely at my knees and you are almost 6 feet at age 11. I wonder what is causing it."
Romonus wondered if this was caused by his stronger soul because he had been 6'3 in his past life. Maybe the fact that his human side had been older that was causing it. Thinking back to those days was tricky. He remembered all of it, but they were not all good memories.
He had no Father in his life as his Mother got pregnant from a one-night stand in college. According to her words, it was a football player forcing her to drop out because her parents disowned her.
Throughout his childhood, he always saw her with a new man to the house nearly every week. Some of them were worse than others, but one of the better memories was of his aunt. When she took his virginity he felt it was a great day.
That might have been why he was interested in older women, but then when his aunt told his Mother instead of getting mad she decided to give him a test run. When she found out how gifted he was at sex she used him when she was left unsatisfied by her boyfriends.
He shook his head thinking back to those times as they were a sore subject with him.
"I guess all my training."
MacGregor did not believe that was true as Sirzechs trained just as much as him and he is only 5'11.
"Whatever you say. I will be going. Good luck kid."
MacGregor waved his hand and weaved a giant teleport circle under the inmates. With a burst of light he and the prisoners were gone. Now alone Romonus sat down on a rock as he thought back to his Mother.
Not Venelana, but his mother Carla. While she was not the best Mother, she really was a good sex friend which probably was why he was so warped in the head. That made him wonder if he was already Insane to begin with.
'Was that why the God of Insanity chose me? Because I was insane. Maybe this whole second life is just a mad delusion? I seriously hope not.'
He shook his head and teleported back to his room. Tomorrow was not going to be a fun day for his Father as divorce in Devil terms was simple. She would challenge him to a fight and she would be free to leave him if she won.
It was almost funny as his Father was only a High Class Devil because of his Noble heritage while Venelana was an Ultimate Class Devil. He stood no chance.
(It's not a delusion.)