NOVEL NEXT 70. Schemes and Akatsuki.
Ryomen(sama?)'s POV
Yo! Ryomen-sama's back!
Can't remember me? I'm the legendary fighter who bravely faced off against the Yakuza boss two years ago.
I've always idolized the Yakuza lifestyle, and my dream finally came true when I joined the top group in town.
But those guys are something else. Just because I nearly beat the boss doesn't mean they should demote me! They've been making me do nothing but grunt work as punishment!
I've got more guts than a lot of them and have been in every gang fight since. Yet, those shameless pricks refuse to promote me. Even my underlings at school agree with me. And when I shared my boss-fight story with them, I got demoted again.
*sigh*
They didn't even help with my medical bills. I had to borrow money from that rich kid at school to fix my teeth.
Despite us being Japan's top gang, crime rates are down because we only target the corrupt.
Maybe it's time I challenged Yama-san for leadership. I can run this gang better than he ever could.
Today I was summoned, and I had a good feeling that I might finally be promoted. They must have realized my greatness, likely due to my conversation with Ino-san yesterday. Ino-san is my direct superior, and I plan to help him rise up the ranks once I make it big.
As I entered the building, I greeted all the grunt members outside and quickly made my way inside to meet the branch head of our town. He was seated in a chair, so I greeted him promptly.
"Aniki! Thanks for meeting with me today!" I exclaimed, making a 90-degree bow to show respect, despite most of them being incompetent mobs.
"Yeah, I've heard about you. You're quite the troublemaker. But I didn't call you here to punish you again. Do you remember that crystal ball that lit up when you were... begging Ino-kun by grabbing his legs?" the mob asked.
His words made me as red as a tomato in shame. I wasn't really begging. I was just looking at something down there.
I had only heard about those devices, and some gang members carried them around, but I had never seen one before. Somehow, that thing was glowing last night.
He didn't wait for me to speak and continued, "Ino-kun said you've been annoyingly begging him every day for a promotion. But you've never done anything significant or won a single fight outside your own pretend school gang. On the contrary, you pick fights without thinking and end up losing. So we're kicking you out of the gang as of now," he declared.
I was momentarily stunned by his words. I quickly fell to his feet and begged for a second chance, but it didn't seem like he would change his decision. Anger clouded my mind, and for a moment, I had the desire to burn everything around me.
Then, fire manifested around my body. Instinctively, I created a condensed ball of fire in my palm and aimed it at himself. Even though it was sudden, I felt like I had been blessed with an amazing gift from God.
I felt like an anime protagonist, ready to burn all those who had turned a blind eye to my efforts. I expected the mob to panic and get burned, but to my surprise, he remained totally calm, and something like a barrier stopped the fire.
Then suddenly, someone struck me on the head from behind like a coward, and my consciousness started fading.
"Call the guys from Akatsuki. They won't even need a mental test to determine his nature. This guy's an irredeemable prick. Just ask them to extract his sacred gear and wipe his memories," I heard vaguely before blacking out completely.
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Omniscient POV
Underworld
In a dimly lit room within the Bael Domain of the Underworld, a covert operation was underway.
Seated around an opulent table were men of significant influence, including Zekram Bael, the esteemed founder and inaugural Head of the House of Great King, the most politically potent figure in the Underworld.
Accompanying him were figures of high authority, among them the current head of the House of Bael.
As the deliberation began, the current head of the House of Bael addressed the pressing matter. "She is perilously close... If left unchecked, it's highly likely she will expose its existence."
One of the men inquired, "But how did she come to know of it?"
Frustration evident in his tone, another man interjected, "Satan only knows how she stumbled upon it!"
Seeking resolution, another participant focused on the eldest devil present. "Instead of dwelling on her discovery, we must strategize how to neutralize her before any potential repercussions manifest. My Lord, what is your directive?"
Remaining silent until now, the charismatic middle-aged man tapped his fingers against the table as he pondered the predicament involving the young girl from the House of Belial branch family.
After a prolonged moment of contemplation, he turned his gaze towards the individual who had presented the intelligence and inquired, "Is there anything else you would like to report concerning this girl?"
The man paused, recalling an important detail. "I've discreetly monitored her activities and observed a rapid increase in her and her peerage members' strength. Cleria, Rangiku, and Hiroshi have ascended to intermediate high-class power levels, with some possibly nearing peak high-class. The other members have all reached the pinnacle of mid-class strength."
"Oh, that's impressive for such young devils. It's unfortunate we have to eliminate her. If only..." Zekram mused, his expression pensive as he considered the matter.
After a moment, he continued, "Given their strength, we must ensure their demise by sending an ultimate-class devil. Additionally, gather some strays and offer them freedom if they can eliminate Cleria. Even if they fail, we can attribute her death to a powerful Cluster. After all, she has encountered one before, hasn't she?" Zekram directed his gaze at the informant, who nodded in confirmation. "It would be no issue if she were to encounter them again."
"What about the Protestant Church Exorcists stationed in that town?" one of the members interjected.
"Just bribe some of the Church higher-ups to temporarily relocate those exorcists elsewhere. We will fabricate a story claiming that Cleria and her peerage fell victim to the Cluster. When the Church members arrive to find injured strays preying on innocents, they will take action. Ensure to block any communication with her household and erect barriers to prevent their escape before the exorcists arrive," Zekram instructed, closing his eyes with a deep sense of sorrow at the necessity of severing such promising buds of the Underworld.
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Kouske's POV
During these two years, many things have happened. Most notable among them are the new skills I purchased from the Shop: Memory Partition (D), Thought Acceleration (D), Blood Manipulation (C), and Deft Touch (C).
The first two are the same ones from the Nasuverse. The D rank Memory Partition allows me four partitions, meaning 256 different thoughts at once. I had to purchase it to keep pace with all the research and studying I was doing while working alongside Azazel.
My blacksmithing skills have improved a bit due to Serafall providing some books on Sabnock's blacksmithing from the Underworld Library. And the last skill is only for *cough* *cough* experimental purposes.
My strength has improved to a C rank over these two years, but the rate of increase has slowed down. The difference between a high rank and an ultimate rank is immense—it's like they belong to different realms. The power disparity grows even larger at later stages.
Hundreds of high-rank individuals would still be considered weak compared to a veteran ultimate-class powerhouse. However, somehow, the pervert had managed to overcome this difference with his plot armor in the story. The power dynamic in DxD is all over the place.
Because of my increase in strength, I've also unlocked Vritra's Darkness Manipulation, which is pretty neat. I already had this from Noctis, so it just made my skill affinity and proficiency stronger.
During this time, I've also collaborated with Vrita to enhance the efficiencies of the magical circles. We managed to improve the summoning circle of the system, increasing its efficiency from 68% to 70%. However, we couldn't achieve the same for the other two circles since they are already quite efficient.
Thanks to my new passive skills, learning and analyzing things have become far easier. I can comprehend more about magic circles and magic overall. I've been studying medicine, blacksmithing, alchemy, engineering, and magical books all at once. It's quite challenging to process and understand all this information in my head, even though the time required for studying has decreased and my efficiency has improved due to the skills. It's still quite a painful task.
My side business is also thriving. The agency has gained popularity, and many pirated mangas are being sold en masse. Not surprisingly, Serafall took a keen interest in the agency after discovering so many different and SUPERIOR mangas on the market. Soon anime and other merchandise will also be available.
So she delved into the agency's background and learned that the Miyamura Conglomerates was behind its establishment, although it was owned by Akatsuki. From then on, Serafall started pestering me every few days to arrange a meeting with the authors.
How could I set up a meeting for her with non-existent people? After many rejections, she decided to help popularize the agency and its works. In exchange, she requested that mangas centered around magical girls, especially ones depicting her TV program with her as the heroine, Magical Girl Levia-tan, be published.
So, I found the laziest available illustrator, someone always trying to skip work, and connected him with Serafall to collaborate on her project. I readily accepted her offer. I mean, why would I refuse when the authors and illustrators have to deal with her instead of me? I am getting free publicity in the process.
Should I publish some DARKER magical girl mangas through the agency? Her reaction would be priceless! He he he!
Lavinia and I have been alternating between visiting Dia and Esri's place. Dia has been steadily improving and growing stronger. She's naturally gifted and always eager to learn more about magic.
Meanwhile, Esri seems to have forgotten about that incident. After chatting with Esri and Dia for a bit, Sakuya also granted Falna to both of them.
There's also a new member in our household, not Tarte. Tarte has been more cheerful and the most dedicated among the girls in her training. She has started practicing with the spear and developing her lightning magic. And for some reason, she's taking after Sakuya and learning how to be a maid from her.
However, she still hasn't opened up to tell us about her difficult situation with her bitch of a mother. So, we haven't taken any action against her bitchy mother yet. We'll wait a bit longer. Otherwise, I might make things difficult for that bitch in a year or two.
The new member at home is actually the innocent Asia. I was able to kidna... persuade... her to leave the church quite easily. She was in an orphanage under the church's ownership, and it didn't take much convincing to take her with us.
She still hasn't awakened her sacred gear, so they weren't really against leaving her with us. It's ironic to think they were treating her well until now, but everything would have changed drastically once she awakened her so-called "god-given gift" and was hailed as a saint.
They would have viewed her like a monster, isolated her, given her lesser food, and pocketed every single penny she made. Human nature can be quite rotten and ungrateful.
At least in my household, she will grow up happily in a loving and caring family. I brought her six months ago. She's quite timid but extremely pure and good-natured. Sakuya also granted her Falna.
All the girls might level up soon. Aiz managed to reach level two in around one year, which was the fastest. But this world has a different power system. People can easily get stronger here with hard work, unlike in Danmachi where just hard work alone doesn't cut it for everyone.
So, many of the girls have already leveled up, and the others will hopefully level up soon too. The Falna system is quite beneficial for the humans in this world, allowing them to match the supernatural even in brute strength and power.
I also formed a contract with Asia, granting my fires the ability to heal through the Synthesis Skill. Additionally, my Taming skill has been upgraded, allowing me to share two skills simultaneously now.
Recruiting members for Akatsuki has been quite successful. Over the past two years, we've brought in approximately 150 members, many of whom are sacred gear holders, half-humans (like half-fallen or half-devils or half-humans from various mythologies), skilled mages, craftsmen (such as blacksmiths, alchemists, doctors, and engineers, etc), and researchers.
To aid in this process, I purchased specialized devices capable of detecting people's affinities, talents, or half-human lineage, allowing for extensive searches.
Each member has entered into a 50-50 taming contract with me. And I provide them with a home, salary, safety, and training in exchange for their work. Those who declined our offer had their memories wiped and were sent back home. For those who agreed to join, I granted Falna to enhance their abilities.
I've established a fully functional facility within the Demiplane to accommodate our members. While it's been costly, the investment is justified by the prospect of having a formidable army of demi-gods in the making at my disposal.
I've equipped them with the blue summoning circle of the system, which allows them to create portals connecting to the Demiplane for easy access and magic. However, their access is limited to a specific area within a barrier, separating it from other important sections of the Demiplane.
These members have also been instrumental in supporting my business on the DeviNet website, serving as valuable labor for our operations.
The business website is thriving despite various disturbances, with many customers purchasing products regularly. Among the most popular items are Gourmet Strawberries, Rainbow Fruit, Mystery Soup, Dragon Apples, Vanilove Fruit, LuminaPom Apples, and VerdeSalad Grass.
Rainbow Fruit and Vanilove Fruit stand out as the top sellers, even though Rainbow Fruit was sold only once through an auction that generated substantial revenue—I think Freyja purchased that fruit. I doubt she'll be able to appreciate any other fruits of lesser quality for quite some time, so I just pray for the Norse Gods who have to endure the annoyance of an unsatisfied petty Goddess.
I faced several assassination attempts due to my business website, which led to hired assassins targeting me in public. However, I quickly adapted by concealing my movements and evading further attacks. Naturally, I retaliated against these assassins and eliminated them.
These attacks were orchestrated by prominent supernatural figures within the food industry, notably the Amy and Shax noble houses of the Underworld. These houses control the devil faction's food industry and likely saw my potential mass food distribution as a threat.
Surprisingly, the Phenex house has remained inactive, possibly because I'm currently only selling low-grade healing potions. While these potions aren't common, some people have been able to make them previously, but the costs were usually very high and kept secret within their own factions.
However, my potions are not only more efficient but also cost-effective. Hence, I've managed to sell them in bulk at reasonable prices. I've heard reports of people purchasing these potions even during ongoing combat situations, acknowledging their effectiveness compared to the overly expensive Phenex Tears.
For now, only Grigori and the Nakiris have access to the higher-ranking potions comparable to the Phenex Tears. I plan to introduce them to the market slowly in the upcoming years. Serafall also approached me to make a contract with her family to provide a set amount of these low-grade potions for use in their hospitals.
For now, I've sent a subtle warning to the Shax and Amy clan houses by orchestrating strategic disruptions. I pilfered money and goods from three of their warehouses and cast a widespread Chronos Lock (stops time) spell on some of their lands, rendering them unable to cultivate crops for several years. This was a calculated move to convey my message without causing widespread chaos within the devil faction, keeping the damage minimal.
To carry out these actions, I utilized Time Magic, which some people had already witnessed me using before. The purpose behind my actions was clear: to dissuade further interference. The Shax and Amy clans were taken aback when they realized that their warehouses were compromised overnight.
I mean, no one would have thought that something as simple as an army of ants could possess the ability to teleport items. I shared the skills with the ants and provided them with the necessary energy for teleportation. No one would have suspected ants to be capable of such feats. Those two clans are still trying to figure out exactly what happened.
Despite their discreet efforts to investigate the situation, they have refrained from disclosing the incident to the media, likely due to the embarrassment it would bring upon them. I hope that my message has been well received, and they maintain cautious silence for the foreseeable future, especially considering their inability to discern how I managed to steal from them. The fear should serve as an effective deterrent.
On a different topic, Azazel and the Nakiris have been incredibly supportive and helpful to me, particularly Azazel. I didn't expect him to go so far. We've shared conversations over drinks, and he has realized that I might share a pacifist inclination like him. We've hit it off, and he's genuinely fun to be around.
Speaking of Azazel, he's currently in seclusion, focusing on his... 'little brother'. Azazel has a penchant for suggesting visits to brothels, but I am not really keen on using their services. Sakuya got wind of one such suggestion and swiftly put a stop to Azazel's nightly activities for a good few months using her Time Magic. The result? His "little bro" is now quite intimidated by Sakuya, which I found hilarious and shared a laugh about with Penemue and Shemhazai. It was amusing to see even Shemhazai laugh, given his usual serious demeanor.
On another note, Shemhazai seems to be dating a commoner devil. From what I recall, they'll have a child during canon time, which solidifies the peace treaty due to the union between a Fallen Cadre and a commoner pure devil.
I've had conversations with various other Cadres and gotten to know them better. I also had the chance to meet Baraqiel, who's back after losing both his wife and daughter. He's focusing on work for now, and we're not close enough for me to offer any advice.
Regarding Kokabiel, I recently learned more about him and gained some semblance of respect, despite finding him annoying with a punchable face. Azazel made sure we never crossed paths.
Kokabiel fell from grace because he tried to aid humanity, which I found intriguing. He deeply loved humanity and sought to protect them. However, his faith was shattered when he witnessed a human village under attack by devils summoned by humans themselves.
Despite his best efforts to save as many as he could, both humans and devils callously took hostages, including the pregnant, children, and elderly, to escape from him. Witnessing such cruelty firsthand drove him into a rage, leading him to retaliate by killing every devil and the collaborating humans in a fit of fury. This act of vengeance caused him to fall from grace as an angel.
Embittered by his fall and feeling betrayed by his Father and Heaven, Kokabiel became twisted in his views, caring only for his fellow Fallen even if it meant sacrificing innocent Fallen lives to strengthen their faction. He gained many followers within the Grigori with this mindset.
Apart from this, in the past two years, I've faced off against four evil gods, liberated several human cities from their grasp, and seized their territories. Videos of these battles, especially showcasing my thousands of tamed monsters and Time Magic, have circulated widely. As a result, I believe people are beginning to take me more seriously.
On a separate note, I have kept those evil Gods and some of their stronger subordinates alive. They will be the first subjects of my experiments to create artificial sacred gears. I intend to fully extract their powers for this purpose. They are currently locked in a static state using my Time Magic within a prison in the Demiplane.
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