First Bullet Aleph: Accelerates external time on its target. Kurumi frequently uses this bullet to increase her own speed in battle.
Second Bullet Bet: Slows down the external time on its target. Used to stall an approaching enemy, this bullet is an alternative to the Seventh Bullet in case Kurumi wants to save time.
Third Bullet Gimmel: Speeds up internal time to cause the subject to age. )
[Reupload]
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- 1 Day Ago, Before Kurumi Completing 'The Hunt' quest and meets with Kuroka. -
It was any normal day for Grayfia. Today, she came to Kuoh Town because a stray devil had been spotted there, one that Rias and Sona couldn't handle. As a result, Sirzechs let his Queen handle it, a classic sis-con action in Grayfia's sense.
'Hahh... If he didn't bother with her, everything would be better...' Grayfia said inwardly as she arrived at the location where the stray devil was last seen.
It was a forest, not so big but not so small at the same time. It was also devoid of any human places nearby, making it the perfect base for the stray devil.
Grayfia slowly started to look around as she once again read the report in her mind.
'The stray devil was a bishop before turning into a stray devil. It's medium-tier Ultimate-Class and has Ice affinity like me...' The report Grayfia read was simple but effective. This was also one of the reasons why she accepted this request, because the stray devil was medium-tier Ultimate-Class and had Ice affinity like her.
Even if this wouldn't help her when she tried to understand concepts, it would give her battle experience, even if it's just a little.
BANG! BANG!
At that moment, two pairs of gunshots caught Grayfia's attention, and she quickly dashed towards the sound. Her speed was astonishing as she quickly arrived at the scene. Truth be told, she was quite surprised when she saw the scene that unfolded.
There was a girl in a red and black gothic dress. Her hair was as dark as night, while her left eye shone with a red color, like deep blood. But the most interesting thing about this girl was her right eye. It was golden and had an ancient clock design in it, but it was not a simple design. It was moving in her eyes, showing that she had some kind of eye power.
This was Kurumi.
'She... She is not a devil nor an angel. But why do I feel holy power in her? And this feeling in her right eye... It's as if time itself is moving in it...' Grayfia quickly concealed her presence as she looked at the girl who killed the stray devil she was searching for. It was the same person as in the report image, after all.
THUD!
"Ara~? I didn't sense you there at first, Miss~" Kurumi's voice echoed in the silent forest after the stray devil fell to the floor, clearly dead now.
"!!" Grayfia was now shocked instead of surprised. This girl was clearly only ultimate-tier High-Class but sensed her, who was Ultimate-Tier Ultimate-Class. The gap between them was immense, to say the least.
Grayfia now didn't have any choice except to talk or fight with this mysterious girl. So she got out of her concealed state and walked towards the girl, but she didn't get too close. It was their first meeting, after all; it was normal to be cautious.
"Who are you?" Grayfia didn't waste any time and quickly got to the topic, her tone carrying the classic maid demeanor but with a coldness behind it.
"No need to be so cold, Miss~ Shouldn't you introduce yourself first before asking me?" Kurumi didn't even flinch when Grayfia gave her a cold stare. Normally, even a normal glance from an Ultimate-Tier Ultimate-Class being was enough to scare most of the High and Ultimate Tier High-Class beings.
This reaction only made Grayfia more cautious about this particular person.
"Ah... Pardon me, my name is Grayfia Lucifgue, the Queen of Sirzechs Lucifer." Grayfia introduced herself as she gave a small bow of respect towards Kurumi, showing how professional she was.
"Hehe~ Grayfia-Chan, huh~? My name is Kurumi Tokisaki. You can call me Kurumi though~" Kurumi also introduced herself and gave a bow towards Grayfia, just like Grayfia had done to her.
Grayfia frowned her brows at this. Not because of Kurumi's name or something else, but because Kurumi's bow was more professional than hers. Someone who had learned this from a very young age for Devils. But now, someone else had done it better than her?
Unacceptable! If there was something that Grayfia couldn't accept truly, it would be her Maid side. It had to be perfect and overshadow anyone who tried it.
Now the fight was surely between them. If she couldn't talk about it, then she would have to kill this Kurumi person.
"How did you do it?" Grayfia's voice was now softer, but still carried a hint of coldness underneath.
"Ara~ What did I do~?" Kurumi responded like an innocent, clueless kid, even though she clearly knew what Grayfia was talking about.
"I know that you know what I'm talking about. If you tell me, I can forgive you for killing that Stray Devil." Grayfia didn't lose her cool. She had already seen how this girl behaved; she had a personality like Serafall but more flirty and mischievous.
"Mouu~ You are no fun, Grayfia-Chan~ How about this, if you fight me and win, I will explain how I did it. How is it?" Kurumi suddenly said, her flirty tone vanishing and being replaced with a more serious one. She had never fought someone like Grayfia in this world, and this would help her understand how much stronger this world was compared to her old one. Plus, Kurumi needed a maid for herself, so this beginning was quite good for her.
"Hahh... Okay. I have no problem," Grayfia said with a sigh. Her tone and demeanor didn't change even when Kurumi mentioned the fight. For Grayfia, this was an easy victory, not because of pride but because of confidence in her abilities. The gap between High-Class and Ultimate-Class was as vast as heaven and earth. This confidence stemmed from both her abilities and her extensive battle experience from the Great War.
(A/N: [ ] This means they shouted the skill. [' '] This means they called the skill in their mind.)
Before starting the fight, Grayfia cast [Instant Dungeon]. Feeling the surroundings change, Kurumi was quite surprised, but she quickly regained her composure and looked toward Grayfia, as if asking 'what was that?'
Grayfia understood Kurumi's unspoken question and explained the skill to her.
[Instant Dungeon]
[Description: A Skill that comes from the World Will itself. This skill allows the user to create a separate dimension for fighting. Apart from combat, this skill cannot be used, as the World Will does not permit it. The skill does not provide any defense or attack capabilities. Its purpose is to facilitate a safe fight without causing damage to the real world. Any being with mana stronger than the caster can enter this separate dimension.]
After explaining what [Instant Dungeon] does, Kurumi thanked Grayfia. This information was important for her, as it would make everything easier.
Once the explanation was done, they didn't exchange any further words and began the fight.
CREAK! BANG! BANG!
Ice expanded and gunshots rang out in the forest where Grayfia and Kurumi were fighting. It had only been a few minutes, but they had already destroyed most of the forest, leaving behind deep holes and ice blocks.
"[Aleph]," Kurumi said as she shot herself in the head and then suddenly vanished from Grayfia's sight with a small blur.
After losing track of Kurumi, Grayfia didn't panic. She had already seen this move from Kurumi a few times during their exchange. So she quickly focused on her senses and tried to find Kurumi in this dark, half-destroyed forest.
"!!" Suddenly, Grayfia felt danger. Her senses, refined with years of experience, screamed at her. Her body moved instinctively, shifting to the right, narrowly avoiding a bullet that passed with a 'WHIZZ!'
'How?' This question echoed in Grayfia's mind, but she quickly dismissed it. She knew she couldn't afford to think about anything except the current fight. Then, she looked toward where the bullet came from and saw it.
Multiple Kurumis. Essentially clones.
Each one wore different types of clothes: some in Kurumi's gothic dress, some in school uniforms, and others in casual attire. However, despite these differences, all of them held guns similar to Kurumi's musket.
"Hehehe~ How cute~"
"Is this our new prey~?"
"She is dangerous, but cute~"
"I like her cold gaze~"
After the clones appeared on the fighting scene, some of them started to speak among themselves. Their voices were the same as Kurumi's, but the differences in experience and age were evident.
"No. She is not our prey~ Only a bit of fun~" At this moment, Kurumi appeared in front of the clones with a black and red blur. Her tone was serious yet flirty, making the situation more intense for the clones as they sensed the seriousness in Kurumi's tone.
Before the clone could finish her sentence, Grayfia acted.
CREAK! CREAK!
Grayfia quickly conjured more than 10 ice blocks to throw towards Kurumi's clones. She was not stupid and knew that she couldn't wait for her enemy to prepare properly. Some may call her a coward, but if she emerged as the victor, who would care?
"Grayfia-chan~ It's bad to interrupt a conversation, you know~?" Suddenly, Kurumi's voice was heard behind Grayfia. She was shocked but didn't respond and quickly threw her left leg to hurt Kurumi. However, when she threw it, she was only met with empty space.
'Shadows...' Grayfia quickly understood why Kurumi was always disappearing with a blur and appearing in dark places.
The forest was normally dark, but because of their fight, most of the trees were destroyed. This allowed the moonlight to penetrate this region of the forest more easily, making Kurumi's shadow manipulation more difficult as the shadows here were further away from the fight.
The only place where there was a shadow was behind Grayfia. Knowing this, Grayfia made sure to protect her behind.
'Tch... I can't devour her "time"... She is above the rank of what I can absorb right now.' Kurumi too was in a dilemma. Her situation was unlike Grayfia's, who had already figured out some of her abilities.
This was the first time Kurumi fought someone with ice attributes. But when compared to the Spirit of Origin, Grayfia felt like a plaything.
'Let's try something new...' Kurumi didn't worry about dying. If she could be killed that easily, she wouldn't be here.
BANG! BANG!
"[Gimmel] [Bet]," Kurumi quickly said as she shot two more bullets from the musket.
Grayfia was prepared for this but couldn't dodge both of them as they were shot from different angles. If she dodged one of them, then the other one would surely hit.
CREAK!
Grayfia dodged [Bet] and tried to stop [Gimmel] with a wall of ice. However, to her surprise, [Gimmel] completely destroyed the wall of ice and successfully hit Grayfia's left shoulder.
[Vitality: 5000 --> 4950 --> 4900] (A/N: Average Ultimate-Tier Ultimate-Class vitality is 4500. Every 1 Vitality point equals 1 year.)
Grayfia felt it, her vitality decreasing at an alarming rate. Her life force, which was 5000 years, now dropped to 4900 years. But luckily for her, it stopped at 4900. If it didn't, Grayfia didn't know what she would do. This was her first time fighting an opponent that used time in her attacks.
"Hehe~ What's with that look, Grayfia-Chan~? You didn't expect me to go easy on you, did you~?" Kurumi too appeared not far away from Grayfia's spot. She also had injuries on her body, with small drops of blood dripping from her mouth.
After [Gimmel] destroyed the [Ice Wall] that Grayfia created, the shards of ice that were destroyed changed direction and attacked towards Kurumi and her clones.
Receiving this unexpected offensive attack, some of Kurumi's clones died, and Kurumi got away with some injuries. Even so, the ice that attacked her froze everything it touched on the spot.
"[Dalet]," Kurumi said as she once again shot herself, this time, instead of getting stronger, her injuries healed—or rather, reversed at a visible rate. This made Grayfia more serious than ever. If it was as Grayfia was thinking, then the longer this fight continued, the more she would be at a disadvantage.
So she didn't wait any longer and quickly used one of her ultimate moves.
"[Domain: Ice World]." After Grayfia's words, the temperature around 1.5 km suddenly dropped, as if the air itself had become ice. Countless ice formations started to appear around Kurumi and Grayfia, forming a domain.
This was one of Grayfia's ultimate moves, [Domain: Ice World]. In this domain, Grayfia's ice attacks became stronger and more durable. Opponents in this domain became weaker the longer they spent inside, and they became vulnerable to ice attacks.
At the sight of the domain, Kurumi couldn't help but widen her eyes in shock. This was completely unexpected for her, so she couldn't evade Grayfia's attacks. Once again, she was injured.
"Ugh... This is surprising, Grayfia-Chan," Kurumi said, maintaining her facade even while evading Grayfia's attacks. Kurumi was someone who enjoyed battle so much that when an opponent became stronger suddenly, of course, she would be excited.
'I can't beat her with my current powers...' Even though Kurumi was overwhelmed with her battle maniac side, she could still think properly. She realized that she couldn't beat Grayfia with her current abilities. She was only holding back currently because of her battle experience.
'Should I use that card? Tch... I didn't want to get powers from the system...' Kurumi mused inwardly while evading and attacking Grayfia.
Kurumi still had the card that the System gave her when she came to this world. Even so, Kurumi still did not trust the System. Even when it offered her an Ultimate Skill, she had been observing the System's actions for a while. For now, she did not have any option besides going with the System.
'System, I will use the card,' Kurumi said inwardly towards the System.
[The card named 'Ultimate Skill - Card' has been used. What skill does the host want?]
'Lord of Patience - Gabriel,' Kurumi said hurriedly as Grayfia started to put more magic into her ice, making it more powerful, durable, and cold.
[Ultimate Skill - Lord of Patience Gabriel obtained.]
[Skill Rank: Ultimate
Name: Lord of Patience - Gabriel.
Description: A skill that comes from one of the seven virtues. Its essence is the fixation of states and responding to unforeseen situations. Simply, it is patience.
Sub-Skills:
Fixation: Allows the user to fix something into its current state, effectively locking it inside temporal stasis.
Eternal World [aka Frozen World]: A World-type Skill that brings everything in the user's domain to an absolute halt, locking them in place and nullifying all kinds of attacks.
Temporal Manipulation: It allows the user to manipulate and utilize the Element of Time.
(A/N: For those who don't know the term, [World-Type] means a whole unique world. Also, I wanted to add this: Ultimate skills, as the name implies, grant their wielder the ultimate power to control the very laws of nature. The only ways to counter an ultimate skill are with another ultimate skill, Administrative Authority, ultimate-level magic, God Grade equipment, or divinity, although it all boils down to willpower.)]
After obtaining the new skill, a lot of information suddenly flooded Kurumi's mind. But this was no issue for Kurumi, as she was already accustomed to sudden influxes of information.
Everything that had just happened took only a few seconds, yet Grayfia didn't pause in her attacks. They only became more fierce and powerful.
'Should we test my new powers?' Kurumi said inwardly as her grin slowly became more sinister.
"[Fixation]," Kurumi muttered under her breath as suddenly Grayfia froze.
Grayfia didn't even sense what had happened to her; it was instantaneous.
[Vitality: 10,000 -> 9,500]
Kurumi winced when she felt how much 'time' [Fixation] had consumed. This was the price she paid for using the skill without any proficiency.
Kurumi also didn't want to continue this fight anymore; it had already forced her to use so many abilities. But on the bright side, she had obtained what she wanted.
After using [Fixation] on Grayfia, Kurumi appeared behind her and pointed her musket towards Grayfia's head from behind. At that moment, the [Fixation] Kurumi had used on Grayfia wore off, and Grayfia felt a cold musket pointed towards her head from behind.
"You lost, Grayfia-Chan," Kurumi said with her usual tone while still pointing the musket. Grayfia couldn't respond for a while as she was still processing what had just happened.
A moment ago, she had the upper hand while Kurumi dodged her attacks, but then she 'felt' something, and after that, everything was blank for her.
Grayfia wanted to ask 'How?' but knew that she would not get any answer, so she could only sigh and converse with this mysterious but powerful girl.
"I see... It's a shame... But I will come back for that." Even though Grayfia had lost the battle, her determination for mastering that bowing technique hadn't waned at all. This fight had also been a lesson for her, so she couldn't say that she had gained nothing from it. In a way, she was also happy but didn't want to acknowledge it.
"So, see you later then, Grayfia-Chan," Kurumi said as she didn't want to stay there any longer. She still didn't trust Grayfia; who knew if she wanted to attack her suddenly? Kurumi couldn't afford to use another [Fixation] for now, so she quickly melded into the shadows and ran away.
It was okay to run away, after all.
Grayfia looked at where Kurumi had been standing just moments ago; everywhere in the forest was destroyed, but Grayfia was not bothered by it, as she had already created an [Instant Dungeon] before the fight.
'What an interesting person... Kurumi, was it? I will remember her,' Grayfia mused inwardly. She was actually happy instead of disappointed; she had found new ways to improve her power and had met a truly interesting person. So for Grayfia, this visit from this supposedly boring stray devil had actually been worthwhile. This was also why she had let Kurumi go.
'We will meet again, I'm sure of it,' Grayfia thought, a small smile forming on her cold face, though she seemed not to sense it, as she activated the Lucifigue Clan Teleportation Circle and vanished from sight.
CRACK! CRACK!
After she left, the [Instant Dungeon], like glass breaking, disintegrated, sensing that no one remained inside.
...
..
.
'Truly, it was fun,' Kurumi thought as she arrived home.
"You are finally back," Kuroka's voice interrupted Kurumi's train of thought. Kurumi looked at her.
'I forgot about her...' Kurumi thought inwardly, realizing that Kuroka had slipped her mind during the fight with Grayfia. Quickly regaining her composure, she responded.
"Sorry... I fought with someone, so I came back a little later."
"...It's okay, it's not like I'm the owner here..." Kuroka said, glancing at the collar on her neck. She was just a 'little' angry because she hadn't received any head pats today, but it wasn't something she would admit aloud.
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[1]: Time is known as the strongest element in the Tensura world, So I will go with that flow too.
[2]: The Administrative Authority doesn't exist on Dxd World, ultimate-level magic means ultimate-level magic lol. God Grade equipment in dxd doesn't exist, they are quite overpowered. And Divinity in dxd is not powerful enough to resist an Ultimate Skill. Maybe beings like Shiva and YHWH can resist it as their Divinity is Quite Developed.