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Game of Monsters - 156
🕑 Added 2024-09-03 17:55:07 +0000 UTCFall to Rise
“Interesting,” Joshua mused distractedly, ignoring the annoyed, exasperated and downright angry feelings his familiars were projecting at him. Instead, he focused his attention on the back of his forearm. There, he could see a cut, bleeding the smallest bit and slightly burnt. His spells were quick at work already, so he didn’t get their attitude.
“What is?” Raynare asked, standing almost at attention with a light spear in her hand.
“Nothing important,” he answered dismissively. She understood that as the “I won’t tell you” that it was and let the matter go without hesitation. She was quickly getting on his good side, Joshua found. It was nice to have someone that listened without questioning and who he didn’t need to worry about in any way. “How’s your control going?” he shot back.
“I’m still practicing. Incinerate Anthem is… odd,” Raynare replied, extending one of her hands and trying to make a purple flame version of Margalo, flying and all. It was pretty good, as far as Joshua could see.
“Keep going,” he told her and she nodded, doing just that. Joshua was only half paying attention though, more preoccupied with something else. The wound he’d just been inflicted by the fallen, to be specific.
Why had he ordered Raynare to do that? To test his Light Resistance skill. It had over one hundred percent light effectiveness reduction, which didn’t really make sense to him. Even then, Raynare had been able to hurt him with a pure light attack, which only left him with more questions.
He had a few theories though and most of them were fairly weird. But then again, the system by itself was all sorts of incomprehensible no matter how one looked at it. There were flaws and oddities all over the place, nevermind the glitches. It was helpful, there was no denying that, but that didn’t stop Joshua from wishing it’d make a little more sense.
That wasn’t going to happen though, so he imagined it was better to just let go.
‘Hmm, other people have buffs too?’ he wondered with a tilt of his head, looking at Raynare’s fire constructs even though his mind was on his now already healed arm. ‘It’d make sense. Raynare might be able to go over 100% because she’s a Fallen, probably has at least a Perk for that, like I have Human. Might have something else, some title or some… Actually, Appraisal.’
[Raynare
Title: Pillar of #########
Race: Fallen Angel
Gender: Female
Rank: A+
Strength: -S
Speed: A+
Dexterity: A+
Vitality: -S
Perception: A+
Magic: S
Life: B+]
‘I’m not even surprised anymore,’ he thought, looking at the blocked – ‘or censored?’ – text. After a moment though, he called for another screen, this time of his “partially revealed perk” and sure enough, it was the same number of characters. ‘Interesting that,’ he mused curiously.
There was no way that was a coincidence, was there?
Ultimately, titles were a thing for other people. He’d confirmed as much several times. So, those had to give them something, right? He didn’t know how much of that the game took into account though, because it was obvious that the only one greatly affected by the game was himself, with the way the system pushed his skills and his self. For others though, it was more of… gamifying them for his perception only, like with appraisal turning their capabilities into stats.
Light Resistance was part of the game though and something that affected him, so he wouldn’t be surprised if it assigned others titles and perks and maybe even skills that’d push their damage “over one hundred percent” so they could bypass the resistance. That was a little shitty, but it made some sense, he supposed.
‘This reminds me though…’ he thought, almost grimacing.
[######### of God]
‘Of fucking God? The guy’s dead though, pretty sure,’ he thought, frowning. Was it just a god and not the god? Was it just a generalization of a deity instead of meaning one in particular? Joshua would have been much more confident in those theories if not for the odd censorship. There was also the fact that both revelations had come from things related to the Bible faction. Increasing Raynare’s wings and finding a new wielder for Incinerate Anthem… No, there was no way it was someone else, right?
What was going on then? God should have been long dead way before he died and got dropped in the DxD world. ‘Why can’t things make sense when it comes to you, System? Why?’ he asked in his mind and got no answer.
Fortunately, he got a nice distraction in the shape of Raynare.
He’d run out of energy to deal with his System as it was.
“It starts acting up at the weirdest times,” Raynare commented when the flames started doing just that. She’d been doing great, but the more time passed, the more the fire went out of control, licking away from her objective shape until the structure fell apart and it turned into a vague shape made of purple flames. “I’m not tired and I’m doing exactly what I was doing before, but the Gear just won’t do things as it did before.”
Sure enough, her energy was fine and there hadn’t been a significant shift in anything that he could see or sense. However, there was something that Raynare wasn’t taking into account. Not that he could blame her, it was a unique little detail to her specific situation.
“Incinerate Anthem has a will of its own,” he told the fallen and he could see her immediately understanding. It was an understandable thing to forget. It was, after all, one thing for one to be told that the Sacred Gear was a little odd and could get out of wielders and choose new ones, but it was another to try and fathom all the implications behind such a thing. “So, I imagine maybe it gets bored or doesn’t want to bother with pointless exercise.”
“But it’s not pointless,” Raynare half-hissed and half-growled. Alas, she was taking it too personal, as if the Sacred Gear had insulted her honor or something.
“It’s a Sacred Gear, not a person. And everyone has different priorities,” he explained calmly. “You’ll have to get used to working with Incinerate Anthem, not just treating it like an inanimate tool.”
“... I see,” the fallen replied, pursing her lips.
“Don’t worry too much about it. You’ve been doing well so far. No pressure,” he reassured her with a wave of his hand. Maybe it was careless of him, but now that the “divinity poisoning” was almost completely out of his system, the danger was over and the hit Khaos Brigade had taken started sinking in, he found himself much more relaxed.
Somehow, the determined look on Raynare’s face made him think his words had flown over her head.
Oh well.
[}-o-{]
“What are you working on?” Kunou asked, draped on his back with her head peeking over his shoulder and her arms wrapped around his neck. “Which project is it?”
“New one,” he answered with absently, noting some things down. He needed to be quick. He was running out of time. “Project Soul.”
“Oh… That’s a straightforward name, for once,” she commented curiously and a little incredulously. “That’s new.”
“Is it?”
“Yeah-Wait,” Kunou started before interrupting herself, eyes narrowing. “It’s a deceiving name, right? I bet it’s something that’s got nothing to do with souls.”
“Is it?”
“Yes, I’m sure. You always give your projects vague names that can mean a dozen things!” she exclaimed, as if accusing him of a crime or something. It was kind of very adorable and amusing, but Joshua held back his laughter and grin. “What is it? Something to do with spirits? maybe youkai? The devils?”
“Hmmm, I wonder,” he said in the most bland voice he could muster.
“You are so mean!” she whined in his ear, which just made him want to be more “mean”, as it were. There was something very entertaining about annoying brats. “Come on, tell me!”
“You said it was straightforward, didn’t you?” he commented, voice just as flat as before.
“You are mean!”
“Am I?”
“Very,” she mumbled, and he didn’t need to look at her to know that she was pouting. “Stupid dad,” she grumbled, poking his cheek as he continued writing. “Is it important?” she asked then, seemingly stopping sulking rather quickly. “You are very focused.”
“I’m writing down all that I can about this before the opportunity slips away. I’m not sure I’ll be able to get much information after this,” he answered. His soul was healing and soon it’d be back to normal, which was great, but it kind of shot his idea to try and learn more for the next time in the foot.
“Am I bothering you?” Kunou asked, her voice changing once more, this time to soft and unsure.
“Not at all,” he answered instantly and firmly. “Never,” he added, his lips pulling into a smile. “Are you bored?”
“A little,” she admitted, her arms hugging him a little tighter. “But I wanna stay here.”
“Why? You can go play with Cheshire and the others if you want. Asia’s always down to spend time with you too,” Joshua told her, ready to tell her that no, he wasn’t telling her that for her to go away. She was a child though. She got bored easily and sitting there doing nothing while he worked was probably worse than usual.
“You are here,” was all that Kunou answered with and his pencil stopped moving over the page. He felt her small hands grip the front of his shirt as she buried her face on his back. “So… Can I stay here?”
“Of course you can,” Joshua reassured her. It seemed that she was still getting over the attack. “You can do whatever you want, Kunou.”
“I’ll stay… here,” she muttered, her voice muffled by his clothes. Even then, he heard the knot in her throat. He sensed the spikes in her magic and the turmoil in her essence.
The pencil in his hand cracked, but he swapped it for a new one with but a thought.
‘This can’t happen again,’ Joshua thought, taking a deep breath in and running through Senjutsu exercises just to hide and keep himself a calm presence for Kunou. ‘It just can’t.’
Project Soul.
Project Everchanging.
Project Intelligence.
Those and many, many others. He’d work on all of them, for as long and as hard as he needed to. Because if Khaos ever became a concern for Kunou like they had twice already, then he’d have failed. And he’d be damned if he failed. He’d rather burn his soul with divinity until there wasn’t even a speck left.
He’d lost too much already. He’d lost too many family members. He’d lost too much joy and wasted too much time. Joshua refused to lose any more.
“I love you.”
“I’m proud of you.”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in.
“Dad?” Kunou asked, bringing him back to the present. He had a lot of work to do. He had preparations to make. Yet… Kunou was scared. She didn’t need him to work. She needed him.
“I think this can wait,” he decided, relaxing his shoulders and pushing the notebook away. “How about you and I go save your mother from the boring paperwork and people?” he asked, turning and smiling at his daughter.
“You sounded like Auntie Serafall,” the girl mumbled, but there was no denying the way her lips quirked up.
Maybe he was letting a chance pass him by, but he could just test divinity’s effect on his soul at a later time. Work could be done later, when his daughter wasn’t dealing with something that she definitely shouldn’t be. Maybe he was making the wrong call, maybe he wasn’t. Ultimately, he couldn’t just not do something when she was like she was.
He just couldn’t.
“She must be rubbing off on me,” he replied, grinning at her and standing up. “So, what do you say?”
“She’ll be mad,” Kunou pointed out, not answering. He just chuckled and picked her up in his arms. She didn’t resist. Instead, she hugged his neck and her expression brightened even more.
“She’ll probably act mad and maybe she’ll pout, but she looks rather pretty when she does, I think,” he replied, grinning widely himself. “Don’t tell her I said that though.”
Kunou giggled at his words.
And Joshua didn’t feel like he was making a mistake at all.
[}-o-{]
“Will this cause trouble?” Asia asked, wringing her hands and unable to meet any of their eyes. Joshua just looked at her with a sad smile before turning to the other person at the table. Unfortunately, he knew they’d give an honest answer and that most likely would be-
“Some,” Gabriel admitted, looking like she wanted to do anything but that. “But you shouldn’t worry. We have done wrong by you enough. It’s about time we evened the scales, Ms. Argento. Or should I say Ms. Davis now?”
Despite the fact that Joshua knew she wanted to argue, especially about the part about the “doing wrong by her” part, he saw her lips pulling into a smile at the last part. It made him smile in turn, but he knew it wouldn’t end there. So, he had to step in before the negativity won the battle going on in Asia’s head.
“Either way,” he started before she could reply. “I’m sure anyone that would take issue with this isn’t worth listening to,” he said, glancing at Gabriel, who all but beamed at him.
“Indeed. Some people are too… stuck in their unbending beliefs. We are working on that still,” the angel joined in, helping Asia relax, if not by much. The allusion to the Church’s civil war probably both helped and didn’t. It helped assuage her worries, but she didn’t like hearing about stuff like that.
Alas, such was the world they lived in.
“Thank you,” Asia said in the end, bowing her head to the angel. “And, um… Asia is fine… Or Ms. Davis, if you must,” she mumbled, still looking down. Joshua grinned widely at that. He had a feeling that last part wasn’t really necessary to say, but he liked to think she wanted to say that.
“Of course, Ms. Davis,” Gabriel – observant angel that she was – said, maybe having picked up on the same thing as he did.
“I… I should go,” Asia mumbled then, eyes still fixed downwards. However, instead of looking at her lap, she was looking at the document laid before her on the table. She moved to take it with shaky hands.
“It was good seeing you, Ms. Davis,” Gabriel told her, watching the girl move gingerly with soft eyes.
“It was an honor,” the young nun said, bowing once more before moving towards the door.
“Welcome to the family, Asia,” Joshua told her and the girl stopped by the door. She didn’t move for a long few seconds before giving a stiff nod and leaving. He didn’t miss the way her shoulders had been shaking though.
“You are a very kind and giving man, Joshua,” Gabriel praised, which made him smile. It was actually kind of awkward to be complimented by an angel like that, to be honest. How kind and giving could he really look like to a being of pure goodness like her?
“I just find joy in being able to make others happy,” he replied, still looking at the door where his new sister had disappeared. “I actually feel a little selfish about that. Is it really all that good when it’s done to feel good about myself?”
“I believe you are wrong. There’s nothing wrong with taking pleasure doing what’s right, doing good,” Gabriel answered him with. “You don’t believe yourself entitled to things because of what you do. You don’t flaunt the good you’ve done or are doing, nor do you take pride in either. You simply do good for the sake of others and maybe, as you say, for yourself. Nobody is disadvantaged with what you do. I do believe you are being too hard on yourself.”
“Well…” he went to reply, finding no words to do so. What was he supposed to say in response to such a speech? “... if you say so,” he finished lamely.
“I do,” Gabriel told him, looking fairly pleased with herself. “It’s good to see you in better health, Joshua,” she added then, bringing up her cup of tea for a sip.
“I think you said that when you arrived,” he replied with a grin, grabbing his own. “But thank you. I’m not quite there, but it’s nice to not be a burden anymore.”
Somehow, the angel got an expression very similar to what he’d have expected from a lot of other people. Like Jeanne, or Yasaka, or Serafall. She looked at him with this… fond exasperation mixed with some resignation.
“You wouldn’t say your family are burdens if the roles were reversed, would you?” Gabriel asked him mercilessly, making him grimace. He usually didn’t get called out quite like that. Wasn’t she supposed to be nice?
‘Pure goodness my ass.’
“Also, now that I’m feeling better,” he started saying, completely ignoring what she’d said. Judging by her expression, the angel seemed to find this fact extremely amusing. “I’ll probably be able to start working once more. I’ll try and make up for lost time too.”
“You don’t have to do that, Joshua,” she told him and there was an odd firm edge to her voice. “You haven’t been recovering for that long and you’ve done plenty for us. Worry about your health and not our problems, please.”
“Your problems are my problems, if you recall,” he argued simply with a smile. They’d had this conversation already. If the Church and Heaven could get their house in order, then that was a more solid enemy for Khaos Brigade to face together with everyone else. “Besides, I have something to request from you and I might need more goodwill than I have.”
“Oh?” That statement certainly seemed to catch her attention. “I find that hard to believe.”
“That’s what you say now,” he replied, grinning. “I want whatever information your faction has on souls.”
[}-o-{]
[Penemue]
The atmosphere in the room was… tense.
Not that she was particularly surprised, but she had to point it out all the same because it wasn’t what one could call inconsequent. The animosity permeating the place was almost palpable and Penemue felt so very small, being one of the targets of such. Beside her, Azazel seemed just as at ease as he normally was, but he was Azazel.
Even a Cadre like her had to admit that for anyone else below his level, this was… a lot.
Once more though, she wasn’t surprised. They’d come to the meeting expecting things to go South and to do so quickly. Vali Lucifer had, after all, done something that reflected horribly on Grigori. Saying it like that didn’t even do justice to what the Divine Dividing wielder had done.
He’d been part of the attack on Kyoto, turning the Youkai faction instantly into an enemy.
The Youkai, in turn, had been building an alliance of sorts with the Devils and Heaven, weirdly enough, which turned them into their enemies too.
There they were then, at the receiving end of Yasaka’s and Serafall’s glares. Gabriel wasn’t openly showing much, but the indifferent expression and split second side-eye she gave them before actually looking at them every time spoke more than even the other two’s expressions and auras. From a pure angel, that might as well have been foaming at the mouth. She didn’t know what Azazel had in mind to explain themselves, but she hoped it was good.
She didn’t fancy dying, quite honestly.
Fortunately – or unfortunately, depending – things hadn’t gotten started yet. There was one person missing from the meeting and the three women across from her had insisted on waiting. Which was odd, because Joshua Davis might have been part of those gatherings, but he hardly participated other than throwing some comments or correcting Leviathan’s worst tangents.
Yet they had still wanted to wait for him. They’d even delayed the meeting until that day because of him, she was sure. No way they hadn’t held the event before for something other than that. It was the only thing that made any amount of sense and not even that much.
She expected Davis had just recovered from the whole ordeal enough to go there. He’d been affected by the attack, after all, she knew. Word had spread like wildfire through the Magician community about how Joshua Davis had absolutely decimated Kokabiel and a bunch of high level devils at House of Water. There was even proof, through some shaky and less than idea recordings, magical and mundane both.
Furthermore, he’d gone on to Kyoto right afterwards, which couldn’t have been easy.
Surely he was out for the count until the-
The door opened and, as if to prove her thoughts wrong, in came Joshua Davis.
Penemue could hardly believe her eyes.
He was fine.
He walked in with his loose dark jeans, black sneakers, white undershirt and open red flannel shirt. There was no weakness, no lasting injuries nor… anything that stood out. He walked in like he would have any other meeting.
‘No… Not quite,’ she noticed, feeling her already tense and straight back try to become even more so. Usually, the man would arrive with a half-bored expression that said he’d have rather been elsewhere studying and working on his spells. Before, he’d gone to them out of a sense of responsibility and as the person that had basically caused the whole thing.
Then and there though, he walked with his head high, expression firm and eyes that locked on Azazel and Penemue. She gulped, feeling like those blue irises might as well have been spell circles pointed at her. From a man that had defeated Kokabiel – someone stronger than her – and his group – devils that seemed to be at least as strong as her –, it was a very, very worrying sight.
“Sorry for the delay,” he said, his voice even, but so very different from his usual low and unassuming voice. After her long life as Chief Secretary, Penemue had no doubt in her mind as to what kind of presence Joshua Davis was at that moment, in that meeting and taking the seat across from Azazel. “Azazel, Penemue,” he greeted, eyes narrowing the smallest bit.
He singled them out from the very beginning.
Of course he did.
“Joshua-”
“That’s Mr. Davis to you,” the human interrupted her leader, expression unchanged. Penemue didn’t need to be a genius to know what that meant, coming from that particular man.
“Mr. Davis, of course,” Azazel corrected seamlessly, as if nothing had happened. As if it were all business as usual for him. Even after so long working for him, Penemue had to admit that he could still shock her, like he did at that moment. “I’m very sorry to hear about what happened. I had no idea-”
“Don’t lie to me, Azazel,” Davis interrupted again, firmly this time. “I don’t know what kind of fool you think I- No, we are, but I don’t recommend doing that,” he said.
Then, as if someone had flicked a switch, the man’s presence changed. Suddenly, he wasn’t just an impressive human in a room with leaders. He was a leader in a room with leaders. Penemue felt smaller than she ever had in that room with those people, realizing that she was the tiniest of them all, and with a humongous difference.
“There’s four factions that your pet Longinus pissed off, Azazel. And I don’t know how much, but I know you knew something. You won’t fool me into thinking that kid got the better of you,” Davis continued speaking then, leaning forward and staring even more intently at them. It made Penemue want to inch away. “I hope you have good explanations, because if you don’t…”
He didn’t say anything after trailing off, but there was a very well implied threat there. It showed not only in his presence being joined by bloodlust, but also in his body. His blonde hair started shifting into golden feathers and his eyes turned into ember falcon eyes.
“I think I got it,” Azazel said, keeping some casualness there, but much more serious than he would usually be. It was a rare sight, to be sure, but that didn’t improve the atmosphere any.
“I hope you do,” Davis replied with a nod. “I have one more thing to tell you before we start this though.”
“And that’d be?” her leader asked, eyebrow raised.
“Vali Lucifer will die,” Davis declared with the authority of a leader that left no room for arguments and dared others to try and make them anyway. “Every single one of the people directly involved in the attack at Kyoto will die.”
[} Chapter End {]
Hey guys! How’s it going?
A chill recovery chapter once more and…
I feel like I shouldn’t be surprised with that end of chapter after the last one, but here I am. Maybe I’m just dumb and can’t predict something to save my life? Is that what’s going on? Am I just stupid?
Sad thing to learn on a Monday of all days, but here I am. (I’m editing this on Monday, if it wasn’t clear).
Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.
Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ
Random Question: What do you think Project Soul is?
See you.
Comments
desropter
That might just be "Successor of God" considering just how his abilities play into the whole System of Heaven and how Gabriel compaired Joshua multiple times to Jesus. Considering that right now he is basicaly playing the role of "Jesus" for another faction it is not a realy far streched theory.
Simon Anoma
Joshua at the end there was chilling. I love how he didn’t even mention the attack on House of Water because he personally made sure everyone there is either dead or under wraps. He knows, for fact, that everyone that attacked his family is going to die. He was simply sharing with the class As for Project Soul, I would say it’s probably finding a way for his soul to handle more divinity. Or perhaps change the nature of his Soul. I think it has a lot of tie ins, to Ascension and even Intelligence because his forays into the soul can give him the information on what component changes when an Angel Falls, and might allow the ‘simple commands’ that his Wards, Boons and Hexes (Machine, Guardian and Beast) already follow to expand into an adapting, living breathing Conductor of Orchestra. Or sumn. And finally, I think it’ll really lead into him being a [######### of God], because his Soul probably has the secrets that the System is keeping from him I’ve been toying with 9 character words that could reliably be a title when placed in front of ‘of God’. Reincarnate is too long, Disciple is too short
desropter
Great idea with the connection! And yes i think this was a very important topic that needed to be adressed. In canon so many characters just received no punishment despite a huge ammount of criminal activity. Vali for example outright betrayed a multi-factional meeting and was party of an organisation that ultimately released the 666. That he did not know of that particular goal does not change that.
NinjaJackel 400
I love the lethally serious Joshua at the end it really shows that no matter how he presents himself to friends and family the second your not one of those ya need to treat real carful for the foreseeable future. And I have a feel the blocked text regarding or fallens title has something to do with the egypin factions resurgence and her subordination to Josh.
