Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD.
I Bring You Hell
"This isn't what I had expected the Underworld to look like," Joshua mumbled as he walked through the state Sairaorg had said was his. The place looked… exactly like Earth, really. Buildings had a more antique appearance, but they didn't look like something in another world at all. There was, however, a single detail that stood out like a sore thumb.
The sky was purple.
Joshua seemed unable to look away from it for more than a few seconds a time. If not for Cheshire's company, he was sure he might have walked right into a wall or something. It was just so mesmerizing and disturbing at the same time…
The feline, for what felt like the hundredth time, pressed against his leg. It was her way of reminding him that he needed to look where he was going. 'God bless her,' He thought as he adjusted his path to not walk into a lamppost.
Sairaorg and Kuisha seemed mostly amused by his reaction, really. They smiled but otherwise remained silent. Although, if he didn't know better, Joshua would have sworn that the man was excited at the prospect of the wards he'd promised them. 'Then again, didn't he seem a little too eager when asking about that?' Joshua mused to himself.
He remained mostly silent as he was guided through the place though. According to the Devils, they were giving him the scenic route, which he didn't know how to feel about. For one, it was kind of impressive and amazing. For another, he had to spend more time in the Underworld.
He hadn't refused their offer though, mostly because he didn't want to offend them somehow. Part of him was curious anyway. He couldn't deny that, if he was honest.
Joshua noted that Sairaorg seemed to be crazy rich though. First they walked him through a city that apparently was inside Bael's territory. Contrary to how he simply looked over certain cities in the human world, he actually owned that one, and a bunch more if Kuisha was to be believed. Furthermore, the place they were taking him to was a huge mansion, so there was more proof that he was loaded right there.
'Maybe I could get money if I run out of books to ask for?' Joshua wondered as he eyed what seemed to be genuine gold pieces all around. It wasn't like the place shone yellow, but there were gold details everywhere. A quick Appraisal or two told him that they were indeed made of the precious metal.
Granted, he wasn't going to run out of books to ask for in a while. He was done asking for magic books, once he got covered the categories for which he had skills already. However, after that he was going to ask for all and every book he could think of regarding the supernatural world. Information was key, especially for someone that focused so much on wards like he did.
Cheshire rubbed against his leg once more, bringing him to the present.
Joshua wished he could have brought all of them, truly. That would have been a risky move though. Instead, he'd left Nagini and Morag with Jeanne back in the human world. If he didn't come back in 12 hours, they had a plan for what she needed to do and how. The good thing was that they knew which cities were under Sairaorg's territory, so they knew she would have to avoid them.
The girl had been very vocal about how against the plan she was. His new sister wanted nothing to do with leaving him to his fate. Jeanne had wanted to go with him, but he'd shot that idea down immediately. If the Devils wished to do something to them, there'd be little that they could do to stop them.
It was frustrating and scary, but it was what it was.
Jeanne had suggested just not involving themselves with the Devils if they couldn't accept that they wanted to keep some distance. That was a weak argument and she knew it though. They needed a contact on that side of the world. Without it, they'd be stumbling around blindly, waiting for a mistake that would cost them their lives.
Besides, they had built some trust with the Devils, bad as it sounded when said out loud. The voices were hesitant to admit it, but they approved. Cheshire had never found anything to warn them about. They didn't have reasons to doubt, besides the fact that they were Devils. A good enough argument, if anyone asked Joshua, but it started losing its strength against everything else.
That and nothing had happened so far, so he thought he could say he was somewhat safe so far.
'So, this is Sairaorg's peerage, huh?' The human amongst Devils thought as he looked at the group gathering in the middle of a massive training place. There were weights off to the side, obstacle courses and much more, all with an empty space in the middle that he guessed was used for spars.
Joshua had received a crash course of what a peerage was and how it worked. It was simple enough, he supposed, even if it was a little unbelievable, even by supernatural standards. He'd decided to roll with it though, something that he was learning would be a useful skill in the world he lived in now.
Devils and other races could be reincarnated as Devils with magical chess pieces. Each piece having a particular effect related to it that was given to anyone in which it was used. Everyone answered to the King and if they didn't, they were labeled Strays. In turn, the King provided for them, although that was a loose thing. Apparently, it could just as well end up with a slavery kind of setting.
Disturbing, but at least for once the Devils fit his mental image of them.
Fortunately, neither Sairaorg nor Kuisha had asked him to join their peerages. As a matter of fact, he didn't know if the latter had one at all. There had been no mentions of that so far. 'Maybe if you are in a peerage you can't have one yourself?' He mused.
"Let's get this over with, yeah?" Joshua asked after he was introduced to everyone. With how weird their names were, he would be hard pressed to remember one of them by the time he was back in the human world.
[}-o-{]
"How was it?" Jeanne asked once he returned, wringing her hands as she looked him over. Apparently, she didn't find anything wrong with him, because a second later she had engulfed him in a hug. "I was so worried."
"So was I," Joshua replied, awkwardly patting her back. He'd never been one to hug or be hugged much and Jeanne had never done that, now that he thought about it. It wasn't bad though, just… odd, he supposed. "But I'm fine, and everything went smoothly. Too smoothly, I would say, but maybe that's just me being paranoid."
"Hm," The girl hummed, although he was pretty sure she was only half listening. Maybe the hug was to make sure he was real, really him and he was really fine. That would make sense, he supposed.
Meanwhile, Nagini and Morag were also following Jeanne's example. The serpent slithered up his leg and torso onto her rightful place on his shoulders. The spider, meanwhile, got to ride the snake's head until she finally jumped to his hair when Nagini reached her stop.
"So," Jeanne spoke after a long minute. "How did it go?" She asked, trying and failing to sound casual. 'Maybe she's embarrassed?' Joshua wondered before just shrugging that off.
"It went fine. They showed me around, I set up the wards and then I left. It was kind of nice," He summarized. He also meant that last part. The job didn't really require him to interact with anyone besides Sairaorg and Kuisha while they were giving him a tour through their territory and it was kind of easy too, so he'd almost enjoyed himself.
"Sounds like it," She said, although her face and the way she continued looking him up and down expressed something completely different. 'I'm glad you are ok,' they told him. He smiled softly at her as he put a hand on her head and ruffled her hair. She grumbled, but did not otherwise react besides trying to repair the 'damage'.
"Come on," Joshua said, putting an arm around her shoulder and pulling her along. "Let's do something fun, yeah? I don't feel like training right now."
That was a lie, but also not. He really thought he could use a moment to relax. After all, his body still felt tense after his visit to the underworld.
[}-o-{]
[Sairaorg Bael]
'He just… did it,' He thought, surprised, still staring at the spot where Joshua Davis had disappeared from. He'd not been surprised when the magician had said he didn't want a long term contract.
After all, magicians weren't fond of Devils and they would never agree to a contract unless there was something they could get from it. Something substantial, that is. The fact that Joshua wasn't from any association, and thus wasn't learned on how other races worked was something in favor but also against Sairaorg on that front. After all, normal humans knew one thing about Devils, that they were evil.
Accurate, in some cases, but he liked to think it wasn't his case.
Regardless, Sairaorg was happy. Joshua seemed to actually have been telling the truth. They would, as far as the Devil was concerned, have the same benefits of a contract but without signing anything. Sairaorg would make sure that the human never found a reason to decide to step out of that arrangement. His training arrays were that good and that wasn't even taking into account what other wards and arrays he could already set and what others he might come up with in the future.
As he felt the weight on him slowly increase, Sairaorg looked off to the side, where his peerage was training.
'He said he's planning to improve the array in the future,' The Devil thought, a grin spreading on his face. 'Yes, this arrangement is good.'
Not perfect, but good.
Just this one array would help Sairaorg's peerage reach new heights, but if Joshua could improve it? Come up with some new arrays? Then the Devil was sure he had found gold. Furthermore, Joshua was a magician himself, so he was likely to find a way to train himself and thus, giving Sairaorg's more magic oriented servants a way to improve themselves. That was something that the Bael couldn't help his peerage much with, since he wasn't well versed in magic. It was something that had never come easy to him, despite his species' innate advantages.
"So," Kuisha started from beside him, a sly grin on her face. "What are you going to give him for this?"
That was a good question. Joshua obviously didn't realize what he had given him. Or he did, but he still thought Devils were evil and didn't expect much for this service he'd done for them. Regardless, Sairaorg had no intentions of underpaying. He would make sure that Joshua had good reason to provide his services as he'd been doing so far, which was splendidly.
Now what to give him for this. Joshua seemed to want for nothing but knowledge. However, books were something that he would have no small supply of if he continued working with Sairaorg. Thus, it felt a bit lackluster to use more books as payment for the training arrays.
Maybe he could find something to help him in more physical fights. Joshua seemed to be in shape, so that meant he could fight without his magic. An interesting fact, but right then it meant that Sairaorg could approach things from another side regarding things.
"I'll think of something," Sairaorg replied to his Queen, with several ideas already running through his mind.
[}-o-{]
Excitedly, Joshua used the Storage Spell without a circle for the first time. It was a tiring thing, but nothing he wasn't used to already. With the bright magic construct shining in front of him, the man proceeded to throw a knife straight into it.
'Ok then, Project Gate is a go,' Joshua thought to himself with a wide grin as the circle disappeared with a dimming light. Sighing and cracking his neck, he turned towards the rest of his little family.
Jeanne was facing two of her training dummies on one side of the clearing near the Hunter's House. She'd started training dual wielding, which Joshua agreed was a pretty good idea. It let her have two swords to better utilize their different effects. Thus, every so often, the girl would let the swords on her hands break apart and create another.
'She's doing better and better,' Joshua thought with a wry smile. 'No wonder she's a rank over me,' He added in his mind with a shake of his head. The girl improved at a frightening pace. She'd leave him behind if he let his guard down, or even without that. Evidently, she was a very talented individual, something Joshua was not. If not for the Game System, he was sure she'd have already surpassed him.
He pushed that thought aside for the moment. He could use that if he needed motivation, but for the moment what he needed was to rest a bit. Joshua refocused on his familiars.
All of them had been progressing well enough. Their stats didn't grow much, but that was hardly a surprise. Letter ranks evidently encompassed a bigger difference than numbers did, he was sure. If that wasn't enough proof on its own, then the fact that their skills were developing well enough certainly was.
It didn't feel like it was enough, not to him, but it was progress.
'Why is this world so goddamn dangerous?' He wondered with a grimace as he went back to the house and sat on the steps, looking towards the training group. The more Joshua read, the more things that could kill him he found. It was both frightening and annoying.
The good thing was that he had time, for the moment. He could dedicate himself to training and eventually he'd get somewhere. He doubted he could get into the big leagues with Longinus Sacred Gears, gods and several equally as terrifyingly powerful beings, but at least he should be able to eventually reach a somewhat secure position for himself. That, coupled with his wards should be enough to get him a safe life.
He hoped, at least.
'For now though,' Joshua thought, shaking his head. 'Better to focus on my job as it were,' He told himself.
Said 'job' being the warding of Sairaorg's territory. That would not only get him more magic to make himself stronger, but it would also quite possibly give him access to even more information. Joshua dutifully pushed away the little voice in his head that told him the Devils could back on their side of the deal.
Interestingly though, his focus while preparing to do his part wasn't anything actually related to warding. Instead, it was on one of the latest additions to his library courtesy of Sairaorg. 'A World of Illusion,' He read as he looked at the cover of the book he'd been studying as of late.
[Illusion Magic – Lvl 2/100
Determines the user's ability to utilize Illusion Magic.
Increases magic efficiency while utilizing Illusion Magic by 3%.
Illusion Spells: 3]
The screen for his newest skill looked somewhat impressive, despite its low level. After all, he had three spells already, which was more than he could say about his Healing and Spatial magic. However, that was a big fat lie as far as he was aware.
After all, all three skills did basically the same thing and he only needed one of them really. Basic Mirage, Minor Mirage and Intermediate Mirage, those were the names of the spells he knew of that magic branch. Funnily enough, the ones he saw himself using the most were the first two, which were the weakest. They required a lot less magic to be cast, which was always a plus in his mind, and a little illusion here and there was enough to mess with anyone. No need for anything too grand, really.
It also helped that the Minor Mirage was the one that had been the whole reason for his delving into that magic. It was what he needed to add to the ward arrays for Sairaorg and his people so that they could have an easier time reading the information that said wards provided. His plan was, somewhat in honor to his best ability, to make an illusion appear in front of the one the arrays were linked to when they asked for it, showing them a map-like illusion with shapes and colors used to signal what the wards were perceiving.
The Devils had also communicated an interest in setting up a variant of it somewhere in their base of operation. Have a room in which they would all have access to such illusions so more than one person could keep an eye on how things were looking like on their territory. Joshua had some doubts about how feasible that was, but he'd try and that seemed to be enough for the Devils, thankfully.
'I'll need to run all this by Jeanne before I really go into this though,' He mused as he took some notes. 'She's the one that doesn't get the wards, so she'd be a nice beta tester for the design.'
Joshua sighed then, letting his shoulders drop a bit, pushing aside the books and notebooks around him. Then, he settled on just looking at everyone else doing their best. He'd found himself more and more tired as time passed, which he guessed made sense. No matter how much he enjoyed certain parts of his training, the fact was that it was still tiring.
'Ok, one last thing and then we can take a break, I think,' Joshua decided as he stood up. Somewhat rested, he felt ready to go through the part of Project Gate.
Raising his hand, he willed the magic in his body to move. The gray circle appeared in front of his fingers and then the dagger appeared… And fell to the ground. Joshua blinked at it for a moment before sighing.
'So, objects lose momentum when thrown inside the Storage Spell… No Gate of Babylon for me, I guess…' Disappointing, but not overly so. It would have been nice, of course, but it probably wouldn't have been a game changer.
Shrugging, he decided to push that project to the side.
'Maybe Jeanne and I can go and have some fun in the city again…' He mused before grimacing. 'Just gotta stay away from the clothes shops.'
[}-o-{]
"Well, I can guarantee you that this set of wards is better than the last," Joshua said as he finished setting up the new array. The Devils had said they were fine waiting for a new array to be set to test the illusion addition. They seemed to want to have as much of their territory covered in wards as possible which was… fair.
Back to his claim though. It was legitimate, actually, Joshua thought with a slight grin. After all, his skills around warding had all gone up already, so the wards should be better, that was for sure. He'd done some testing for the illusion with Jeanne and she'd seemed to take to it well enough.
The only problem was that the display he'd made for the Devils would be more complicated than those, since there were a lot of things to be detected. Still, he thought he'd done a pretty good job at making everything look different and not having too much overlap. In case there was overlap though, he'd made it so that the display would show only priority targets.
"Hm," Kuisha said as she looked at the illusion floating in front of her. Sairaorg, for his part, looked curiously over her shoulder. Eventually, the woman sighed. "It's a good thing that you gave us those notes detailing this. We'll have to see how comprehensive this is compared to just having it linked to me or anyone else and if we want to make any changes."
"For now, I'll have all my peerage look at it," Sairaorg said then with a nod. "If you can make a display that could be accessed by anyone at our place, that would be great. I don't want Kuisha to be overwhelmed with this over her other duties."
"It should be possible. I might need to use a wardstone to link everything together, but I think I can work that out," Joshua said, feeling slightly giddy. After all, it would be the first time he'd use a wardstone for something other than… well, wards.
That had been something he'd found early on. Despite their names, wardstones could be used for a variety of stuff. They were, after all, magical stones, and that was it. They could be used for lots of things, from, obviously, wards, to enchanting items if they were embedded in them. There were lots of options and Joshua was eager to try and see if he could make them work for something else.
Maybe he'd get a book about smithing and make some magical items of his own.
'Then again, that'd be a bit of a waste, with Jeanne here,' Joshua thought with a mental shake of his head. 'Maybe use them for something else. That's for later though, I still have lots to study with what I'm already using.'
"That would be ideal." Sairaorg nodded, unaware of the human's rambling thoughts. "With that out of the way though," The man continued, giving his Queen a nod.
The two humans watched curiously from the side as one of Kuisha's black portals opened and two books fell down. Picking them up after receiving confirmation that he could, Joshua looked at the titles. 'Interacting with Space', He read in the first book. The second, however, gave him pause. 'Corrupting Relics.'
"You might be interested in that one, I think," Sairaorg said simply, when he sent a questioning look his way. "I hope you aren't too put off by it."
Without saying anything, Joshua opened it and read the start of the introduction to the book.
'The truth is that, contrary to what the Church would say, Demonic Artifacts are stronger than Holy ones,' It started and Joshua could already see where this was going. 'It is equally true that they are also more dangerous to utilize, however. Demonic Artifacts can have a variety of side-effects associated with them, from eating at the user's life force to inducing madness and everything in between.'
He closed it then and met Sairaorgs curious gaze with an empty stare.
"I'll read it," Was all he said. He didn't know how to take this added payment. Was this supposed to mean anything? Was Sairaorg telling him that he could get him this… Demonic Artifacts? It was probably that, but what was that supposed to mean? Was there any ulterior motives to that? He sighed. He'd just have to read the book and see what he found, he supposed.
"Joshua," Kuisha called, her eyes still roaming over the illusion map. "A group of… well, something entered quite suddenly in our territory and nobody has informed us of such a thing, as far as I'm aware."
"We don't know about anyone coming in around now, let alone a group." Sairaorg confirmed, expression turning serious.
"If you could quickly tell me what white, shining dots mean?" The Queen asked then.
Joshua felt himself pale dramatically, something everyone obviously picked up on. Both Devils tensed while Jeanne looked suddenly wary. Cheshire was the only one unaffected, really, since Nagini had stiffened and Morag had stilled on her movements in his hair.
"That means Holy energies are involved," He explained in the end, cursing the timing of these people. Why couldn't they have come when he wasn't around? The last thing he wanted was to be involved between Devils and whoever these people were.
Both Sairaorg and Kuisha frowned at that. For a long moment, neither said anything and the humans kept their mouths shut. Eventually, the silence was broken.
"Joshua, I have a favor to ask of you," Sairaorg started and Joshua cursed internally.
'Of course, why the hell not, right?'
[} Chapter End {]