AdrianKing
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Game of Monsters - 155
🕑 Added 2024-08-27 17:55:57 +0000 UTCA Degradation I Cannot Forget
“Thanks, Fuyuko,” he said as a tray with snacks and three cups of tea was set beside him.
The yuki-onna had started working at his home at Kyoto ever since the incident, more because he kind of needed a hand more than anything and Yasaka – and everyone else, really – had insisted. Well, not everyone, but he also didn’t want to dump all the things he usually did himself on others. He had spells to help him out most of the time, but Jeanne and Asia, the most stubborn of the bunch, didn’t have that benefit.
So, it felt wrong to ask them to take care of that.
He’d actually wanted to do it himself. He wasn’t crippled and his magic set ups made most things very trivial. Like the difference in effort between actually cooking a meal and preparing instant noodles, more or less. Alas, nobody had taken his side on that argument.
‘I need to work on Project Intelligence,’ he thought to himself, idly writing down some things in a notebook. That one project would likely push his already pretty good quality of life arrays to the next level, which would basically be automated. Then again, he didn’t need an actual AI sort of thing to do chores. That felt like overkill. Maybe he could do a step down from that.
Were those called VI? He wasn’t too sure, really.
“Thank you,” Koneko mumbled from behind him.
“Thanks~” Kuroka offered too, further behind, on the other side of the “board” that the sisters were using to play Project Duel on.
“Don’t mention it, Joshua-sama, Toujou-san, Kuroka-san,” the servant said, bowing and then moving away. He’d long since resigned himself to the honorifics and the formality with Yasaka’s servants, but he didn’t think he’d ever be completely fine. However, it was by then just one of those smallest of annoyances that one barely reacted to, which was the most he could hope for, Joshua supposed.
“... They are not as good as yours,” Koneko mumbled a moment after Fuyuko closed the door behind her. Amusingly, she said that before even trying any of the snacks. As if to prove her point though, after she took one from the tray and bit it, she made a sound that very much didn’t mean she had enjoyed it.
“Don’t be mean,” he told her calmly, because he knew she wasn’t trying to insult Fuyuko. She was just expressing that his cooking was better. Probably largely due to system assistance, of course, but it was still nice to hear.
“Sorry,” the white-haired reincarnated devil said, leaning her back against his, as if to emphasize how sorry she was. To be honest though, the fact that she kept eating the snacks was more telling, at least in regards to her opinion on the snacks.
“Shirone’s been naughty~ She should be punished~” Kuroka joined in playfully. Joshua was more exasperated than annoyed by her words and tone though. Mostly because he was foreseeing something and- “Like having to discard one of her cards~”
“I’m not going to help you cheat, Kuroka,” he replied flatly, rolling his eyes even if neither of the sisters could see him. Then again, maybe they could sense it, if they were paying attention.
“But those cards are broken~” the older sister whined.
“They are not. I tested them,” Joshua argued just as flatly. Boy, had he tested those. He had nothing but free time those days, so he’d spent plenty of it just playing card games against everyone that wanted to humor him, like Kunou, Koneko and several other people, if less than with those first two.
Granted, playing wasn’t the only thing he did through his days, but it was a very big part. His schedule was considerably more free, considering the strict “don’t strain yourself” limitation that had been put on him. It was a wonder that he was even allowed to go teach at House of Water. He suspected the only reason people let him do that was because it wasn’t really a demanding job and he actually kind of liked it.
“They are more or less even, from what I could see. You shouldn’t be losing so consistently, at the very least,” he added with a shrug.
“Sore loser,” Koneko said and Joshua thought he picked up some smugness bleeding through there. He was fairly sure that she only wanted to say the last word, really. He’d have laughed if he wouldn’t rather not get in trouble.
“You are really corrupting my sister, Joshua. I thought you were good~” Kuroka exclaimed dramatically and he imagined she was posing and all. A smile tugged at his lips as he shook his head.
“I know right? I’m so proud of her,” he said, just as exaggeratedly. Behind him, he heard Koneko join in with what he thought was a positive hum. The girl was difficult to read on a good day, nevermind with his back turned to her and with something as vague as a hum.
“You are so mean,” Kuroka grumbled.
Taking a deep breath in, Joshua focused on the notebook on his lap. He was going over Project Awakening again. He was fairly sure that he was getting to the end of it. Or, at least, the end of the next attempt at curing the Sleep Disease. He could only hope it’d be the end for real this time. It’d be really nice to be able to scratch that from his to-do list.
Or, at least, he was going to do that, but he found himself a little too weary.
He was getting better though, admittedly. He tired less quickly. His mind was starting to work appropriately. His energies were going back to normal recovery rates. Everything was getting back into place. A few more days to a week and Joshua expected he’d be in top shape.
Which was great, because the break was nice, but he’d rather go back to his routine and feeling healthy.
The weightless feeling of his self was something he could do without.
It was very unnerving.
[}-o-{]
“You weren’t kidding when you said this world is dangerous.”
“I wasn’t,” Joshua confirmed with a solemn nod, bringing his can of beer to his lips and not taking his eyes off the TV screen hung on the wall. The bitter drink went surprisingly well with his underdog team being on the losing side of the match and his generally fairly tired body, as it turned out. “I’m a little insulted that you thought I was though.”
“Can’t blame me for that. You have a very skewed vision of the world, be it mundane or supernatural,” Aika all but accused. Joshua almost felt more insulted with that, but… she did have somewhat of a point, he supposed. It wasn’t like he was completely unaware of his fairly odd views.
It was just that he didn’t see them as odd, he supposed.
“I don’t know, Aika,” he said either way, because he refused to just give up without a fight. “Issei seems to have understood. Maybe you just aren’t as smart as you thought you were.”
“Excuse me?!”
“I feel like that’s a backhanded compliment at best, Joshua,” the aforementioned teenage boy commented dryly, to which Joshua shot him with an amused half-smile. This didn’t seem to be nearly as funny for Issei as it was for him though.
“Stop going on tangents,” Aika hissed and he turned towards her as he took another gulp from his beer. “Was that kind of thing… normal?” she asked and he didn’t need special skills to know that she was worried. It was written all over her face and posture. “Because from what Issei told me… and what I got out of him through a lot of questions, it was…”
“Yeah…” he said bitterly, idly moving the can in his hand in circling motions. “Not quite as bad, usually, but Issei’s the kind of guy that’ll get dragged into those situations a whole lot. It’s the fate of the Red One,” he explained, turning to look at the two teenagers. “It’s fine if you want to blame me for that mess, but the truth is that all Red Dragon Emperors I’ve researched have led… interesting lives. They just can’t avoid it, it seems.”
He had confirmed that more or less since the very moment he took Issei under his wing, back when he’d just been a pervert working at his cafe. It didn’t really help him feel less guilty about dragging him into that fight with Khaos Brigade, admittedly. What it did was make him wonder how that worked. Maybe it was one of those strange “dragon” things?
“We don’t blame you,” Aika said, looking surprisingly honest, while Issei nodded firmly. The girl looked a little more unsure about her statement, even if it didn’t look like she thought it was a lie. The boy though? He looked hundred percent sure.
The crazy bastard.
“I guess I’ll just be grateful for that,” Joshua replied with a weary smile.
“I want to study more,” Aika declared, catching him a little off guard. “And I want to take classes at House of Water, if you can arrange that,” she added, making his eyebrows rise. “I’m sorry if it’s asking too much, but I want to… No, I need to be more if I want to be part of this world. Especially so if I want to stick with this idiot,” she explained, jabbing her thumb towards her boyfriend.
Said idiot grinned in a way that very much fit that way of addressing him.
“It’s not much at all,” he told her, waving off her seriousness and doubts. “I can get you in a class with a call,” he added, taking another gulp from his drink. ‘Hm, almost done. I’ll have to look for another,’ he mused idly before blinking as the can seemingly refilled itself. ‘Thanks, Neph,’ he projected distractedly.
The goddess didn’t seem to appreciate the nickname, but the rest of the Egyptian deities found it positively hilarious.
“Anything I can do?” Issei asked, to which Joshua smirked. “That’s not getting my ass kicked?”
“No such luck for you, buddy,” he answered, making the boy deflate. “Now, don’t you two love birds have somewhere to be? I’m sure you have better things to do with your time than keeping me company. Go on a date or something. Don’t be cheap, Issei. I know I pay you well.”
Aika snorted as Issei gasped as if he’d insulted his entire family line.
“No can do. Your adorable daughter asked us to keep you company and that’s what we’ll do,” the girl argued and he clicked his tongue. He knew it’d been a mistake to bring Kunou there for the afternoon. The little one had needed to go do some stuff with her mother, politics stuff that Joshua wasn’t really all that interested in, but not before saying a bunch of unnecessary things.
He was sure Aika and Issei wouldn’t shut up about it for quite a while.
“Stubborn,” he scoffed, drawing amused reactions from both of them. “I’m sure you just want to rub it in our face that you chose the winning team.”
“That’s what you get for picking the “underdog”. Information should be used appropriately, not on whims,” Aika told him and he chuckled.
“No wonder you chose Divination Magic,” he commented idly, looking towards the TV once more. Well, at least the team Issei and him had picked was putting up a fight. That was more than they could say for the first half of the match.
“Damn straight,” the girl agreed proudly, making him smile a little wider. Idly, he glanced around at the two teens sitting with him, the board full of pictures of his family he’d set up some time ago and the match going on in the screen. It was a nice atmosphere, he mused to himself.
‘Very nice,’ he thought, bringing his beer to his lips.
[}-o-{]
“You just can’t help yourself, can you?” Jeanne asked and he gave her a guilty smile. “Would it kill you to not tinker for a day or two?”
“At this point?” he asked, rubbing the back of his head. “Probably,” he admitted with a chuckle while she sighed. “I like doing this,” he defended, even though he knew it was a very weak defense. After all, there was a very easy, very quick way to shut it down.
“It’s still effort, Joshua, and you are supposed to be resting,” his sister replied, giving him a flat stare. “But I guess it doesn’t matter anymore. If Yasaka, Serafall and Kunou weren’t able to do anything, I won’t either.”
“I’m feeling a lot better already,” he mumbled, looking at the notebook he held in one hand, even if he didn’t get back to work. His mind was kind of distracted at the moment, what with Jeanne nagging.
He wasn’t even lying. He felt pretty great. There was some occasional lingering issue from his overuse of divinity, but nowhere near what it had been the day after the attacks. Joshua was making great progress in his recovery.
Besides, there was something he could do only while he recovered and that was trying to find ways to heal better from divinity use. The system didn’t seem to agree much with that, considering he hadn’t been given any sort of resistance to the stuff, so he’d have to find something to do about it on his own. That was why he was trying to pick up on as much as he could and come up with a spell array that’d help if he needed to recover from such a thing in the future.
He hadn’t delved too much in soul stuff, but it had been necessary for Project Ascension and some other things, so he wasn’t completely clueless either. Unfortunately, that wasn’t quite enough, but he was getting places. There was some irony in the fact that he might recover too quickly for him to get a good look at things with his spells and senses so that he could tinker a spell array for that.
‘Might need to do some controlled experiments with this at some point,’ he thought with a frown. Wasn’t quite all that different from his regular resistance training, he supposed, but it felt more… dangerous. Alas, it was the only thing he could do if he wanted to get anything done on that front.
“Still, you’d probably recover faster if you relaxed, don’t you think?” Jeanne asked him and he didn’t necessarily disagree with her. However, there was something she wasn’t quite getting.
“I’d bore to death,” Joshua replied with a wry smile. He was already spending a lot of time playing and just chatting with people, but still. There was only so much he could do that. He wasn’t a very people person to begin with, for one. He was also used to a much more… productive routine and one that he enjoyed, so sitting around and doing nothing just didn’t work for him.
“... I give up,” Jeanne sighed, deflating. “I’m gonna get some snacks, do you want some?”
“Sure. Just don’t try to cook, please,” he commented, getting a sound that was somewhere between a groan and a huff from his sister before she left. He followed her with his eyes until she stepped out of the living room. After that, Joshua relaxed on his couch, letting some of the exhaustion that he didn’t want others to see show. “I know, I know,” he mumbled, glancing at the accusing gaze of Nagini, who was curled up outside the window to his side.
Focusing on his body and his breathing, Joshua tried to calm his mind, which was no easy feat. He usually needed something to occupy his thoughts. It was why he always had a project or something else to work on. He didn’t do well with idle time. With how tired he was though, it was somewhat easier… and also harder, with his scattered mind.
At that moment though, he found that he was fairly relaxed. Maybe he could take a moment to-
[Quest Complete: Fend off Khaos Brigade’s Attack
Delayed Rewards:
+ Perk Update: Territorial Imperative
+ New Perk: Retribution
+ Perk Update: Minor Blessing of Egypt
+ New Perk: Blessing of Egypt
+ Title Update: Ward Authority
+ New Title: Domain Authority
+ Title Update: Great Column]
Joshua blinked, but before he could even begin to process the contents of that screen, a new one appeared. This second one was much brighter than the other. That was to be expected. After all…
[Quest Complete: Find a new wielder for Incinerate Anthem
Rewards:
+ 20 levels to Heat Resistance
+ 20 levels to Light Resistance
+ Perk Updated: Holy Element
+ New Perk: Greater Holy Element
+ Perk Partially Revealed: ######### of God]
‘Oh… kay,’ he thought, blinking at the two screens as he looked at them side to side. ‘Territorial Imperative?’ he called first, decidedly deciding to leave that very last thing for some other day because… He didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to deal with that at that moment.
[Territorial Imperative
Increases all stats by 200% when inside an area heavily under the user’s spells.
Increases all skill effects by 200% when inside an area heavily under the user’s spells.]
‘Basically better than the previous one and counting anything, not just wards,’ he summarized to himself, tilting his head. ‘I have to find a way to stop Annihilation Maker, because this would have been great if he couldn’t just break my arrays whenever he feels like it. Anyway… Retribution.’
[Retribution
Increases all stats by 100% when acting against someone that slighted the user recently.
Increases all skill effects by 100% when acting against someone that slighted the user recently.]
‘This system is getting more and more vague by the day. What counts as recently? The same day? The same week? The same hour? The same month?...’ Obviously, he didn’t get an answer to any of his questions, but he didn’t expect one, really. ‘Blessing of Egypt, Great Column.’
[Blessing of Egypt
Increases the potential of the user.
Increases the ability of the user to learn.
The user can access the powers of the Egyptian Gods to an extent.]
[Great Column
The Egyptian Pantheon will back the user in matters they can agree to.
The Egyptian Pantheon might personally help.
The Egyptian Pantheon might not help if they don’t agree with what the user does.
#?]
‘... Huh?’ he thought, blinking repeatedly. He didn’t know what he’d expected, considering those were a very weird Perk and a just as weird Title, when it came to his system. However, the fact was that they remained the same, really. Just that Minor Blessing of Egypt had changed to just Blessing of Egypt. Great Column hadn’t even changed the name. ‘... Whatever, Domain Authority?’
[Domain Authority
Increases the growth speed of Magic and magic related Skills by 100%.
Increases the efficacy and efficiency of Spells by 75%.
Increases the efficacy and efficiency of Wards by 125%.
Increases the efficacy and efficiency of Hexes by 125%.
Increases the efficacy and efficiency of Boons by 125%.]
‘Well, I’m not complaining about this one, that’s for sure,’ he thought, eyes a little wider. Yeah, that was going to be a great title to have, no doubt about it. He couldn’t see himself changing it, really. What’d he even change it for? The only one that stood half a chance was Great Column whenever he might need to throw his weight around in a way that didn’t involve his main magics. ‘Now, Greater Holy Element?’
[Greater Holy Element
Allows the use of Holy Artifacts and their effects are enhanced.]
‘Pretty nice. Wonder what I’d have to do to get the Demonic equivalent. Not really fair on Setan Kober as it is,’ Joshua mused to himself. Something related to the devils, he was sure, but he’d have to check that at some other point, he supposed. ‘Now, what el… Wait a second, Light Resistance.’
[Light Resistance - Lvl 101/150
Determines the user’s ability to withstand light attacks.
Decreases the effectiveness of light attacks against the user by 101%.]
‘What the fuck?’
[}-o-{]
[Serafall Leviathan]
She walked calmly, making her magic staff spin with one hand as she hummed the theme song of her show.
It wasn’t often that she got some time to herself those days, but that wasn’t something she regretted, really. She was often with the people that mattered to her, after all… When she wasn’t working, that is. Still, it did make that moment a little special, she supposed. With nothing but her own thoughts to hear and nobody to look at her, Serafall felt the smallest bit freer, the smallest bit more calm.
Almost like how she felt when she was with her family, or Joshua, or maybe Yasaka and Kunou. Almost, but not quite. It was a different kind of freedom and peace. The one where her mind was quieter and she was able to relax in the silence.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t really enjoy that to its fullest. Instead, Serafall was a woman on a mission right then and there. She had places to be, things to do and time not to waste. Even with all that though, there was no real rush. She’d cleared her schedule as best she could and it had turned out that she’d gotten more time than she would need.
Good thing too, since she didn’t like to be in a hurry… and she wanted to take her time with this.
It’d be a different kind of enjoyment, she supposed. Nothing like being with her family, hanging out with her friends or going on a date with Joshua. No, instead, this would be more… cathartic, or so she hoped. She really did hope that, because if it wasn’t… then someone would have to deal with her annoyance.
Eventually, her feet stopped and she looked at the building in front of her. With her destination in sight, Serafall took a second to look at it. There was nothing that really stood out. Neither mundane nor supernatural people would have given it more than a passing glance. It was an old building, but not old enough to stand out for it. It looked abandoned, but not uncared for enough to catch attention.
Serafall supposed the appearance of the place mattered very little though. She was in the right place and that was what was important. She’d made absolutely sure that she’d get where she needed to, because otherwise people would feel her displeasure and nobody would like that.
Some people thought Serafall was nice and fun all the time.
Those people were wrong.
The cheerful smile of Levia-tan shifted into the sharp grin of Serafall Sitri and she brought her staff up. Then, in one swift motion, she slammed it down on the ground in front of her. It was all dramatics, of course, but she’d found that being dramatic helped channel emotions much better.
And oh did she have emotions to channel.
She stared ahead at the now completely frozen building. People thought something being frozen with magic needed to be covered in ice like it was a glacier. That was amateur work though. What she did though? It made the building look exactly the same, except for some details here and there like the foggy surface of the windows, previously clear if a little dirty.
With a giggle, Serafall walked forward and into the building. There were many people around, all of them stopped right where they were, like time itself had been frozen, their eyes clouded as they stared forward. Their expressions showed nothing, because none of them had had a moment to react to what had happened to them.
Serafall didn’t pay them much mind though, because she needed to get somewhere.
Pushing the last door open, she stepped into an office.
“Hello there,” she greeted, her voice cold as her magic and the smile on her face sharp like a blade made of ice. Her response was a muffled sound from the half-frozen person. “You are going to tell me everything I want to know and I won’t show you the worst possible death that ice magic can give you,” she explained simply, none of her cheerful and playfulness.
Because she wasn’t feeling very cheerful or playful at that moment.
During their attack, Khaos Brigade kept her out of the loop. They’d disconnected her and left her out of a situation that she very much needed to know about. They’d cut her off from people that she cared about when they’d needed her. Ultimately though, it was her that hadn’t been there, their fault or not. It was her that felt absolutely useless when she learned of the fact and had been unable to do anything other than some administrative and support work afterwards to help.
Yasaka had been in danger. Kunou had been in danger. Jeanne had been in danger. Joshua had been in danger and he’d almost strained his mortal soul to the limits to pull through. Many of her new friends and people that she almost considered family already, all of them had been in danger… And she hadn’t even known.
And it was all Khaos Brigade’s fault.
The terrorist organization had done something that few people had done since the war.
They’d annoyed her.
So, there she was, unleashing some of that annoyance, so that she could keep up her act and not worry people more than they already were. The people closest to her were entirely too perceptive, which was also annoying because those were precisely the people she didn’t want to know about her state. Alas, it was not to be, but at least she could do some little things to help herself and thus help them be fine.
One such thing was some therapy via the tried and true method of making annoying people suffer.
“Please, please tell me you aren’t going to talk,” she said, smiling a little wider. The person’s muffled groans and huffs were all the answer she got, considering the semi-frozen state of their being. “Thank you. So kind of you to grant my wish,” she told them.
Then she brought up her magical staff and tapped it against their forehead.
[} Chapter End {]
Hey guys! How’s it going?
Ladies and gentlemen, the strongest female devil. Turns out that annoying her isn’t a good idea. Who’d have thunk?
Granted, nobody ever accused Khaos Brigade of being smart.
Otherwise this turned out to be a pretty chill chapter in the same being as the last few ones. For some reason, it’s very easy and kind of nice to write these kind of recovery chapters. Maybe because I’ve been feeling a little burned out lately? Before any of you say anything though, I’m planning to take a break at the end of the year/start of 2025. I guess you could take this as an early announcement of sorts. I'll probably make a proper one at some point before then.
Long time coming, I’d say. I’ve not gone a week without posting in around 4 years. I’ve also been adding more and more writing to the initial amount through the years, which probably didn’t help.
Anyway, moving on. We finally got around seeing the rest of Joshua’s rewards, so I hope they felt worth the wait for you, guys. The balancing act of rewarding Joshua for the crazy shit he pulls off but not throwing him entirely into the OP category continues. I’m almost thankful for DxD’s absolutely insane power levels.
Notes on the long side this time, but that’s all for now.
Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.
Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ
Random Question: What do you think is up with that Light Resistance?
See you.
Comments
Simon Anoma
That Light Resistance definitely sounds fishy, and I think it plays into his [Blank] of God, but I certainly think that surpassing 100% lets him combat other character's 'perks', things that let THEIR light attacks do 'over damage' or act more efficiently or effectively. I certainly think that an attack from Michael would be a decent bit more powerful than a regular angel's, or have some degree or ability of bypassing resistance to light. Thus, surpassing 100% would help Joshua survive that. Not that Heaven is going to be attacking him any time soon~ Also, given a max level of 150 and it's only greater could even imply a Supreme Light Resistance or something. Perhaps folding into other perks as he steps into his more divine role. I'm glad the Egyptians are around to help him out with that
Noctis117
While healing from over resistance sounds nice he already has a way to heal. I think it'll restore his magic reserves.
