Chapter 108: I'll Rise Like the Break of Dawn
"So, remember," he said, turning to look at the class after finishing writing some things on the blackboard. "Sometimes, it's necessary to make changes to your design that might carry over further work through the entire thing. It's frustrating and you'll want to avoid it, but doing so will only delay you and get you nowhere. If you find a simple solution that doesn't imply changes anywhere else, then chances are that it's wrong. If it's not, good for you, but don't let that tempt you into believing a flawed design is good. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Professor Davis," the class replied, noting down what he was saying and what he'd written for them along with the graphics.
Normally, he'd be sort of frustrated to have to cut into his spell crafting time for a class at House of Water. Especially after he'd had a breakthrough and was making some great progress on the Phoenix Spell like he hadn't at any other point in all the time he'd poured into that project. However, this time, it was sort of necessary to take a break.
This was more or less part of the process, after all. Not the class per se, but showing up to it. Besides, it was a nice moment to take a break, considering he could afford to relax a bit now that there was light at the end of the tunnel. On top of that there was the fact that Joshua learned about as much as he taught his students in class, just by picking at their circles, their attempts at magic and such. All of it was a well of information that he fully intended to take advantage of.
"With all that in mind," Joshua continued, reaching the end of his lecture. "I want you all to bring an example of a very simple spell that is turned into a really complicated one due to modification," he said, causing mutterings to start sounding through the classroom. "From your main magics," he added, drawing a few groans from the crowd. He knew nobody shared a main magic with another student, so that would work to stop them from cheating and picking the same spell, like the Magic Signal Spell.
He really wouldn't put it past some of his students. They could be little shits like that, even if they'd slowly stopped being as obnoxious as they once were. It might have slowly been pounded into their heads that he wouldn't hesitate to kick them out or otherwise affect their lives, Joshua supposed. It had been hard, but he seemed to have finally managed, thankfully.
"I'm sure you'll have lots of fun," he commented, drawing a few angry glares that simply made him smile. "That's all, you can go," he said then, simply waving towards the exit. Immediately, the students started gathering their things and leaving. "Miss Ordinton, stay behind, please," he said, making the star group look towards the girl for a moment. Likely because this was the second time that he did that seemingly without reason.
Maybe it was good that he'd gone through something similar with George when he'd been gathering information regarding Recovery Magic. He'd actually done something similar with Levi too, and the whole star group at least once. That was probably why him having Meredith stay back only really drew some curious looks and nothing else.
Well, there was some annoyance from the rest of the normal students, but if one of them so much as thought about causing trouble…. Joshua was fairly sure that they knew what would happen and that was deterrent enough. If it wasn't, he wouldn't hesitate to do something about it. He was way beyond caring about any of them. He had much more scary people to deal with than them or their families and he was fairly sure that magician associations didn't want to mess with him, judging by some of the things he'd picked up through his time working for House of Water.
He stood in front of his desk, leaning on it as he looked at Meredith and waited. There was really no need for him to even ask. The girl had to know what he was getting at. So, he just tilted his head and raised an eyebrow at her.
"W-… Did you need something, sir?" she asked him, making him sigh.
"Miss Ordinton, is there some way I can help?" he shot back instead of answering. He could tell that the bluntness caught her off guard, even without the extra information of his wards and senses. "Please, do tell me if I can, because I'd like to. You are a great student, and I guess I've grown fond of you, just like I have the rest of your group."
"I…" she started, and he was sure that she was going to try and deny everything or at least avoid talking about it. However, Meredith seemed to pause for a moment and close her mouth. Eventually, after a long few seconds, she spoke again. "... My family got in contact with me."
"Ok," he replied, making it very obvious that he expected a little more than that. Wasn't like he could do much with just that, right? He wasn't going to press her on it though. She seemed to be struggling a lot to talk, so he didn't want to make things worse.
"They… They didn't want anything to do with me," Meredith told him, looking down and gripping her skirt tightly. "They'd been denying that I existed for this long and then… Then they heard about your classes and that I was one of your best students and… And they heard that you had a lot of political power, presence."
'I think I know where this is going,' Joshua thought, holding back a grimace as he looked at the clearly upset girl. 'What do I do about this though?'
"There's rumors about you, some more real than others, I'm sure but… Well, if half of them are true, like my… familythinks, then they wanted me to… get close to you, see if I could sway you to their side," Meredith admitted, keeping her eyes firmly on the ground.
"Well, I can tell you that I won't do that," he told her simply, watching her deflate as he walked towards her. He stood next to her, eventually, feeling her eyes darting towards him. Crossing his arms, and tilting his head to look at her, he continued. "You weren't really trying though. You've been participating less in my classes than before."
"You've helped me a lot. You making me stand out from the rest of the students has been great for me," Meredith told him softly. "You are a great teacher. I didn't… I'd have felt bad, if I tried to manipulate you like that. And… And my family doesn't care. I want them to, but… I know they don't care and it hurts and… And I don't know what to do."
"My sister had a terrible family before I adopted her," Joshua told her, for the first time drawing her gaze towards him. "Family can be terrible and trying to ignore that isn't going to help you at all. I can't make decisions for you, Miss Ordinton, but I think you should ignore them. You've built your life. If they wanted to ignore a talented girl like you, that's their problem. You don't owe them anything… Of course, this is just my opinion," he added in the end, shrugging a little.
"Golden Dawn is… they want me to follow through with what my family wants. Both could benefit from… Well, from you," she told him and Joshua felt like she was talking more to finally let things out more than because she thought it was a good idea.
"If they cause you trouble, any of those, just tell me, and I'll deal with it. This is sort of my fault, after all, and like I said, I've grown fond of you," Joshua reassured her. He was sure he could get Agnes to poach the girl. He probably wouldn't even need to phrase it like a deal. "You know what, I'll talk to Director Agnes. I'm sure she can do me a favor and keep an eye out for you. Let Golden Dawn and whoever give me half a reason and I'll pull a few strings. I have plenty anyway," he commented casually.
It'd be nice to have something to actually use some of the favors he'd earned. He was sure Agnes would appreciate the chance to do something other than attacking Hexennacht. Maybe he could go further and involve other magician associations. Or maybe Azazel? He did have a bunch of different Sacred Gear related spells he could trade for, really.
One might think it was exaggerated, to do so much for who was just one more student in his class but… Meredith and his "group of stars" were different. They didn't just make him feel good about himself as a teacher, but they also helped keep things moving, keep things active. That helped the class, but it also helped Joshua. If people asked questions, participated and all, it allowed him to think more, maybe look at something from a new perspective, give ideas.
The classes at House of Water were useful for him and half the reason for that was his group of stars. It was why he felt like sending them in Yasaka's direction. It was why he tried to be good with them. It was his way of repaying them.
'Maybe Yasaka was right and there is something about the Supernatural and favors,' he considered idly.
"You… You would do that?" Meredith asked, looking up at him with wide, hopeful blue eyes.
"Sure would," he replied, planting his hand on top of her auburn hair and messing it up a little like he would have Kunou or Asia. Poor girl looked even younger than she already was with the way she was drawing into herself. "So, if you need help in any way, let me know. You are under my wing now, so, do take advantage of that, yeah? But not too much. I think you are smart. I'd hate to be proven wrong."
"I… I won't let you down, sir," Meredith said, a sort of steel appeared in her eyes. It made him smile to see it. That was more the student that he'd come to know. "I… I have a Sacred Gear," she admitted, making a golden crown appear on her head, a band with several jewels embedded on it. "Alpheca Tyrant, it lets me attack with holy nails and… and I can rewrite beings that I hit with them, change them."
"Sounds powerful… and dangerous," Joshua pointed out, looking at the thing and feeling it out with his wards. He'd known she had a Sacred Gear and could even pick up several facts about it, but he hadn't known exactly what it was. It was good to know that his spells were good though, since his information had been pretty good.
"It is… Nobody knows I have it though, or if they do, they don't know what it does," Meredith told him. "I wanted… I wanted you to know… for trusting me."
"There was no need for that, but I appreciated it nonetheless," he told her softly. "Do be responsible with that though, will you? I think I've taught you enough that you will, but it's never too many warnings with that kind of stuff."
"I know, Professor Davis," Meredith said, a smile forming on her face. "I… think I should go now. Sorry for taking your time, sir."
"I'm sure you do and don't worry about it. You are a star student, after all," he told her with a grin in return. "Margalo, do you mind keeping Miss Ordinton company for a bit? She's great, I'm sure you'll see why in a bit," he asked over his shoulder before turning to regard his student once more.
Expectedly, the bird was all to happy to comply.
"Do take care, Miss Ordinton."
"I will. Thank you, Professor Davis," the girl told him, smiling and waving as she moved out of the classroom. A moment later, he turned to look at a previously unoccupied seat in his classroom.
"That was cute," a voice said, and Joshua's hand snapped to the side to catch the object that materialized by his side. Idly, he opened the can of beer as a half smile formed on his face.
"Nephthys, sorry for the wait."
[}-o-{]
"Things are going well, then?" Yasaka asked as they ate at a restaurant, sitting across from each other with Kunou to their side. They were under illusions, obviously, and with some heavy warding over the place since they'd gone there a bunch of times. Repeating the same place meant that he could work on the already existing defenses instead of having to set up new ones somewhere else. Besides, there were only so many places they could go to in Kyoto.
"Things are going great," he replied enthusiastically, grinning widely. "I had a great breakthrough and it's been going really well with every little change I've applied to the spell design from then on. I think I might be done with the entire thing instead of having a fake finished product. I can't believe I didn't see it before, honestly. Why was I so intent on copying the original thing when I'd already taken bits and pieces from a bunch of different sources?"
"You know what they say about hindsight," the youkai leader pointed out and he laughed, nodding to acknowledge the point. "You are looking much more relaxed now, I noticed."
"I feel like the weight of the world was taken off my shoulders," he commented, leaning back for a moment and running his fingers through his hair. "I was really stressed out because of that wall I kept hitting my head against. Now I'm feeling great. I'll feel even better once the thing is at least mostly done, but I think I have time."
"It's good to see you feeling better," Yasaka commented, smiling in a way that really wasn't fair at all.
"Well, I could say the same about you, really," he shot back, making her blink as if he'd caught her off guard. "Things are going better on your side too, I'm guessing? Because if I need to call more favors-"
"That won't be necessary," she interrupted quickly. If he hadn't known better, he'd have said she sounded flustered. "Really. I have been doing my job for a while, Joshua, in case you didn't notice."
"Doesn't mean I can't help," he replied with a grin. "Nor does it mean you can't ask for help, you know? It doesn't mean you aren't capable or anything. There's no need to take the hard road if there's an easier option."
"I know that, but I like doing things on my own. It's what I'm used to doing," the woman replied to which he shook his head.
"Please don't be this stubborn when you grow up, ok?" Joshua asked Kunou, turning towards her and giving her an exaggerated pleading look.
"I won't, dad," she replied happily. For some reason, she looked even happier than usual, but Joshua wasn't complaining. "Does this mean you'll have more time to visit and go out like this?"
"I haven't been visiting less, as far as I know," he commented, blinking and tilting his head.
"I mean, yeah," Kunou mumbled, suddenly drawing into herself. "But you always had to work and we didn't get to play or tinker or anything like that," she said, finishing with a pout that had him smiling apologetically.
"I'm sorry about that. Yes, we can continue adding cards to Project Duel, I promise. And I'll come up with a few stories I can show you too," he told her. And by that last one he meant ripping off more stories from back in his world. They'd worked well for him so far, even if sometimes he liked to change a few or a lot of things. He'd had to heavily alter the Naruto version he'd shown her, after all, so that he could make the Nine-Tails a little more… friendly for her, as it were. "And yeah, we can go on more outings like this, sure. At least, once I'm actually done working, but I should be a lot more free now."
"That's great," she commented, going back to looking like a happy camper. "I can't wait."
"Have I told you that you spoil her too much?" Yasaka asked, giving him an amused look.
"Mom!"
"Only like a hundred times," Joshua replied with a chuckle. "I can't help it. She's too adorable to tell her no."
"I'm not adorable," Kunou protested, pouting again in a totally adorable way.
"Way too adorable."
"Dad!" she whined. "You are supposed to be on my side!"
"I am," he agreed with a nod. "Doesn't mean I will lie though."
To that, the little girl gave up, huffed and turned back to her meal.
"Hm, she's not talking to me anymore," Joshua noted, looking at the girl and then turning to look at Yasaka. If anything, the woman looked even more amused than before. "I guess she won't want to help us pick a place to go next, such a shame, right?"
"Wait, what?"
"Truly, a tragedy," Yasaka said, shaking her head. Contradicting her words though, the smile stayed on her face. "But I guess we can pick up a few good places to visit by ourselves. Something she'd think is boring. Might be our only chance."
"Mom!"
"I think you are right, now, where to go, where to go?" he wondered out loud, making a show of looking thoughtful. "Tough one, I gotta say, but I do have some ideas."
"Dad, come on!" Kunou whined loudly and he'd have been worried because of the volume… if it weren't for the illusions he'd weaved around them that he kept adapting. "You both suck," she grumbled.
"What did you just say, young lady?" Yasaka asked sharply, her tone shifting.
"Uh, er, um… Sorry?"
"Oh, you'll be. No card games tonight."
"Mom!"
[}-o-{]
"Levi, I swear, if you smacked me with your staff again," Joshua said, inflicting an exasperated tinge to his voice as he turned and saw Serafall and her villain of the moment. A woman, with a dark dress and just as dark hair and accessories on her person. "Well, who's the pretty lady?"
"The one that smacked you with her staff," Serafall answered, sounding just as exasperated and adding annoyance to the mix. "In a manner of speaking, at least."
"The thief wakes up… If you think that he will change anything, Levi, you are mistaken," the villain said, her voice filled with smugness that would surely inspire many Underworld children to smack her if they ever got the chance.
"Ex-cuse me?" Joshua asked then, frowning and placing a hand on his chest. "I'm the only one that gets to call her Levi, lady. And it's not very nice to smack people, I'll have you know?"
"And what will you do about it, thief?" the villain asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Your friend here is on her last legs. You've been unconscious for long too. You were weak and are now even weaker. Meanwhile, here I am, at my best, stronger than I've ever been."
Wow, she was good. She'd definitely have a return arc, Joshua could bet. Serafall must love her. Who knows? He wasn't quite updated in public opinion, but he could see it if she'd managed to make up for the loss of his character for a while… If Domino not being there had been as much of a loss as Serafall said, that is, which he doubted.
"Well, Lady Ebony Dark'ness," Joshua started, running his hand through his hair and pulling out the mask that gave his character his name and placing it in front of his eyes.
"My name is-"
"I'll do what I do best," he interrupted, extending a hand towards the side. "And you know what that is?"
"Being a nuisance and a waste of space?" the woman asked, looking thoroughly unimpressed.
"That'd be-"
"-stealing," Serafall finished before him, grinning even in her "tired" state.
"Stealing," Joshua agreed with a nod and a smirk.
"And what will you be stealing, young man? My time with your stupidity?"
"I mean, that too," Joshua replied with a nod and a chuckle. "But, Lady Dementia-"
"That's not my-" the woman started saying, clearly very "annoyed" and "angry".
"-you can't leave fancy stuff near a thief, you know?" he finished as a rock fell on his extended hand. "And this looks plenty fancy," he said, looking at the apple-sized item.
"When did you-?"
"Have you met my lil' friend? Her name's Luna," he introduced with a grin as Margalo landed on his shoulder and gave the villain a very smug look, puffed chest and all. "And I do believe this is one of the Eternity Orbs. I'd almost say this is the Space Orb even," he commented, before teleporting next to Serafall. "Wouldn't you? Levi?"
"I've never been happier that you are a crafty piece of work, Domino."
"Why, I can almost feel the love," he said with a grin. "I do believe we have somewhere else to be. Preferably far away from Miss Raven Way."
"When did you-?" Miss Villain didn't finish that question, with her eyes wide and her face pale. Instead, he teleported both himself, Margalo and Serafall away from the set.
"And cut!" the director called, and Joshua ran his fingers through his hair.
"I liked that. Man, did I miss that. How did you make me likethis?" he asked Serafall and saw her beaming at him. "How, you crafty devil?"
"You say the sweetest things, Joshua, truly," she replied, exaggeratedly batting her eyes at him. "And isn't it great?!" she added, switching back to excited child mode. "I'm so happy you like it, and that you are back! You sure you don't need more time?"
"No, this is great. And I'm doing great with the spell so I honestly can afford a few breaks now without feeling like everything will crumble to pieces if I don't," he said, cracking his neck. "I really ought to do something nice for Kiba, honestly."
"And maybe I'll have to too," Serafall commented. "For now though, that was the last scene to work on, at least, if the director is happy, which I think he'll be."
"And you gotta approve of it too," he pointed out. "But after that we are free."
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Serafall asked him, grinning.
"Cafe?"
"Cafe," she confirmed with a nod. "Now, come on, we have to check that the scene is perfect and then we are free. Free as a bird, ain't we, Margalo?" the woman commented, receiving a cheerful chirp from the bird on his shoulder. That is, before said bird jumped off, batted her wings and landed on the Satan's shoulder.
"Ah, I see how it is. I'm not your favorite person anymore, huh?" Joshua asked, following them with a smile that contradicted his words. "I see, I see."
His words didn't have the desired result, considering Margalo only let out her version of a giggle. Disappointingly, he followed after them and he was definitely not pouting. He'd show the little meanie. See how she likes it when he doesn't let her play with him.
Now that got a reaction from Margalo, as the bird read him through their bond and turned to give him a look.
"So, feel like trying out anything new or are you going for that drink that looks like it'd melt teeth again?" Joshua asked as he caught up and started walking besides Serafall. In response, the woman just turned to look at him and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I figured."
"If anything, you are the weird one, Joshua. Who goes to a cafe and orders tea, honestly."
"There's nothing wrong with that!" he protested, receiving only a sarcastic hum in response. "There's not!"
Chapter 109: Take Your Shot-
It was done…
After so long, the Healing Spell was done. He'd tested it a bunch of times with a handful of different people. Hell, he'd even tested it on different people from different races with some help from Yasaka and Serafall. Keeping things quiet might have been a problem, but the number of people involved was low and he trusted the two women's judgment.
Besides, the spell's existence would get out soon anyway.
Sure, it was a very complex spell that worked much better as an array than it did as a single spell, but he kind of needed it to be a single spell. It'd be much more meaningful that way when presented to people. And yet, despite that added difficulty, he'd done it. He'd cracked a devil bloodline and made something that worked just as well as the original thing did. Maybe even better depending on how the process of making Phoenix Tears went.
'I can't believe it's finally done,' he thought, leaning back and chuckling disbelievingly. How long had he spent tinkering, studying, researching, testing, brainstorming and so many other things? Sure, he'd done other things in the meantime, but it felt like this one project had been his main project for an eternity even if it hadn't even been close to a whole year. 'I did it,' thought, grinning widely.
He felt, through his bonds, his familiars congratulating him. Through the Charm, he felt the Egyptian gods doing something in that vein too. He even felt other presences besides the usual three, even if they were… less clear.
It wasn't unexpected though, considering what Nephthys had told him during their last talk.
"It's fine. More than fine, actually," she had confirmed, looking positively delighted with his question. "If only you knew, Joshua Davis. Don't you worry, young wizard. We are watching, more than you think, less than you fear. If anything you did bothered us, we'd tell you. As it is… you silly man, what you are doing works in our favor too, in case you hadn't noticed."
It had been an interesting conversation. A little concerning too, he supposed, but Joshua was growing more and more sure that the Egyptians didn't mean him any harm. He'd checked several times with Yasaka and Serafall for their opinions and they hadn't had much to say, but at least that meant they hadn't had anything bad to say either, so he'd take that.
It just made him incredibly nervous that he didn't know what they wanted. They'd been helping him, however indirectly, for a while already. The more time passed, the more he felt like they were stacking the deck in their favor for something that they wanted from him. The fact that the supernatural world seemed to work that way a lot didn't really help. If you gave something, you got something back. If you received something, you were expected to give something back.
Which had worked well for Joshua so far, but with the Egyptians…
Yeah.
The reassuring feelings the deities sent him were appreciated too, but not quite as good at improving his suddenly somewhat ruined mood. It was a good thing that his mood was through the fucking roof due to the Healing Spell. Not even his paranoia – Or healthy concerns, as he liked to call them – would ruin that for him anytime soon.
'Amazing,' he thought, dispelling the magic before placing the focus for the spell inside a storage spell. Absently, he patted Cheshire with a grin on his face. He was feeling giddy. This was just great. He felt like he was on top of the world. Nothing could stop him, nothing could bring him down. 'Gotta set this down for good with the rest of the home array,' he decided, standing up and starting to make his way down to the ward room.
At the rate he was going, he might need Serafall to do another tune up to the house just so he'd have more space there. Everywhere else was more than fine, but obviously both of them had severely underestimated how much his array would occupy. As it was, and with some of the plans he had in mind, doubling the space might not cut it.
On his way there, he saw the fallen training. Idly, he checked with his wards, his senses and Cheshire. Little had changed, apparently. Mittelt was still calm and playing it safe. Kalawarna was properly terrified but clearly nowhere near good. And Raynare…
Raynare was getting a little confusing, he'd admit. He got a lot of hate, annoyance and anger from her, which was expected, but she always seemed mostly fine. She listened to commands, and even just listened in general. She worked hard on anything he set her to do too, especially training. She even seemed to go out of her way to do stuff sometimes. Granted, most of that was just training in her free time, but still…
'She wants to get stronger that badly, huh?' he mused, tilting his head as he considered something for a moment and paused on his trip to the ward room. 'I guess I'll have a volunteer for the Ascension Project,' he thought idly. That was a very good thing, since Joshua wasn't eager to experiment on unwilling test subjects that couldn't even defend themselves.
Testing aggressive ideas in a combat situation was one thing, but doing so with someone that was basically helpless was different… Or so he reasoned that in his head, at least. Maybe he was just trying to make excuses for the things he did, but he didn't think that was the case. It wasn't like the excuses made up for much.
'So, Awakening takes priority after this, then Ascension, then Everchanging and then Intelligence… Am I forgetting something?' he mused idly as he started moving again. He did leave Cheshire to keep an eye on the Fallen together with Nagini. Or, more accurately, left Cheshire to keep an eye on Nagini with the Fallen, because the snake had ideasregarding the angels that… He was sure they wouldn't be fans of… at all.
Leaving aside his familiar's dietary wishes, he continued on his way.
Joshua could have teleported, of course, but that felt… lazy. Besides, it wasn't like he was doing nothing else while walking, really. He had checked on the Fallen, of course, but he also checked on Asia, who was once more tending to her plants, with Kuroka nearby but staying away from her. Joshua wondered how long his order to keep it like that would last though, because he really didn't trust the Nekoshou, honestly. He checked on Jeanne, who was on a date at the cafe once more. He checked on Issei, who seemed to be working there again. He even checked on Aika, who was reading through one of the beginner astrology books he'd given her while enjoying a drink at the cafe too.
He'd skimmed through the book some himself and it seemed to detail some very mild, very inaccurate reading of present circumstances. Like a vague prediction of the future chinese-cookie style, but for stuff or people or places during the very moment when the reading was taken. Like, super mega discount clairvoyance, he supposed. As good a place to get started as any, and she had all the time in the world, as far as Joshua was concerned.
Someone with that kind of skill could be very useful. Maybe more useful than Issei himself, depending on the situation and considering the kind of things Joshua could do with the right information. Not that he liked thinking like that, but that didn't make it any less true.
'Speaking of, maybe I should help Issei get better too. He has a Longinus and at the very least Vali will come looking for him once the word gets out,' Joshua mused. Yeah, maybe he could get him roped in with the training sessions Rias and her group were being put through. Maybe Sona would want to join in too. That way, Issei would be able to better get a read on them… or Aika would, since the boy was clearly not the brains there.
Joshua had no problem with Issei deciding to become a devil, honestly. There were pros and cons to it, same as with being a human. He was lucky in that regard, considering that his game system allowed him to push past most of those cons. The short lifespan, for example, was likely to not be a problem as he progressed with Senjutsu. Magic came so naturally to him that maybe he'd even have a worse time working with another system. And… sure, he was likely on the weak side if one looked at him in terms of raw power.
But he wasn't a raw power type of guy, so he was fine with that.
'Ok, now to set this up,' he thought, walking inside the ward room and making his way to one of the empty spots. There, he started placing down the spells for the Healing Spell. 'I can probably make this even better,' he mused, tilting his head once he was done. 'Could probably cut corners here and there for certain situations, less draining to recharge slower would be a way. That's a drawback and a half, but a smaller spell can have its uses. Maybe targeting a single person instead of a bunch of them would work too.'
For the moment, he felt the addition of the Healing Array to his already present ones and grinned widely. No need to add the less efficient spell to his place when he could use an array. Besides, a whole array instead of a single spell meant that he could tweak things more easily. That was something that others wouldn't be able to take advantage of anyway.
'Time to get in contact with Serafall and Sirzechs,' he thought. It was time to wrap things up on that front, finally.
[}-o-{]
[Serafall Leviathan]
"You are sure that's what Nephthys said, right?" she asked for the fourth time as she sat in a meeting room with Joshua and Sirzechs. It was pretty much useless to ask again by then. Things had been set in motion already. If they had to backtrack, then things would be bad regardless. Still…
"Yes, that's what she said," Joshua answered, looking entirely too calm. 'He's been meeting too many important people. We could use the nervous thing that he was when we first met right now,' she lamented to herself. Still, she couldn't deny that it was kind of ho- "And you are the one that always tells me not to worry about them?" the man in question asked her, giving her an unimpressed look.
"This is different," she replied lamely. To recover some face, she did the mature thing… and stuck her tongue out. Being mature was overrated anyway. "We have one shot at this," she reminded him, even though she knew that Joshua was very much aware of that. He'd been a mess for a good while, after all, pushing himself to worrying levels.
Then he'd had his breakthrough, which had flipped everything around. Serafall would admit that she was a bit worried that maybe he'd gotten carried away for something that was a lot less meaningful than he thought. She hadseen his newest spell in action though and it had looked like it did exactly what it said on the tin.
However…
This was a devil bloodline. Nobody had ever managed to crack one before. At most, people had managed cheap knockoff versions of them, and those were already pretty damn impressive. The closest thing to what Joshua was doing was what Merlin had done to give humans magic by cracking the devil magic system.
"I'm aware," Joshua replied calmly. Serafall would go as far as saying he was too calm for what was going to happen shortly. He looked towards the door as if he were waiting for one of Yasaka's servants to bring him tea and not for the entrance of one of the major houses of the underworld. "This will go well, one way or another."
Well, wasn't that ominous?
"It works," Joshua said, firmly and without even the smallest of doubts. "So, they'll have to do something about it."
"You know that they could decide to get you killed and your research and work dealt with, right?" Sirzechs pointed out and Serafall rolled her eyes. They'd covered that already.
"I left failsafes everywhere. If I die," he replied with a slight smile on his face, going over the plan. Serafall wondered if talking about this was as soothing as it was for her. It certainly helped with her nerves to remember that there was a plan in place. Especially since this was Joshua's life on the line here. "Then a number of people will learn about the spell. Even if they deal with the work and all the information regarding it, the world will know that they deprived it of another source of healing… Which is a whole lot of trouble that they won't want to unleash on themselves and devil society."
"Are you sure you are safe-"
"I live in Kyoto," Joshua reassured Sirzechs, who was showing some actual concern there for a second. "Even if Yasaka's presence and defenses aren't enough, I'm confident in mine. They'd have to throw some crazy shit at me to pass through that… And they are not the ones with enough power to just punch through my spells."
Serafall sometimes wondered how big the number of people that could do that was. It couldn't be that big, she knew, but sometimes the line was blurry. Kuroka's capture had driven the point home that Joshua, while not the strongest himself, held plenty of strength when he was in his own home field. Serafall herself would sometimes be a little wary of his defenses, if she were honest with herself.
Especially when he set up new ones and they weren't fine tuned not to eye her like she was a particularly disrespectful trespasser. She wasn't nervous, or afraid, but they weren't irrelevant, which was more than she could say about a lot of other defenses she'd felt in her life. 'And Joshua's only been at this for less than two years,' she reminded herself, because she had to.
It was something that was easy to forget, considering how far he'd gotten in the short time he'd been part of the supernatural. It was both impressive and a little scary. If Joshua had reached the level he had in that time, what could he do in another five? In a decade? In a few decades?
People liked saying that Ajuka and Sirzechs were monsters. Serafall had found herself meeting plenty more of those while being in charge of Foreign Affairs. She knew, then, that she was likely in the presence of another rising monster.
Even if sometimes it was difficult to acknowledge that.
Like at that moment, with Cheshire jumping on his lap and Joshua simply starting to pet her as if he were a normal man with a normal cat. It was hard to remember that he wasn't just an affable man and that his cat wasn't just an adorable pet. It was so easy to forget that he was likely to be one of the authorities on defense in the near future, if he wasn't already, and that his cat was a holy creature likely to be a nightmare for many a devil.
"It's going to be fine," Joshua said, with confidence that surprised her. He was usually confident in his magic skills, if nothing else, but this seemed… different. "If they are smart, they'll take my deal and be happy with it. If they are not…" he trailed off and then shrugged.
Serafall could acknowledge that. They'd planned for a lot of possible events in regards to this. They'd had the time for it, Sirzechs and her. Joshua had mostly left them to their devices, since he was too busy doing something that seemed to be basically an impossibility. That is, until he'd come to them with a piece of information that had thrown many of their plans out the window.
Not that either of them was complaining, really. Firstly, Joshua had already delivered the news that he'd had a breakthrough in his project. Secondly, the news basically trivialized a bunch of worries they had and overall simplified the whole process. Since it was so new though, it didn't leave them a lot of time to prepare things.
Sirzechs wanted things to get done as soon as possible though, since things were becoming more and more unpredictable in regards to the Phenex. He wanted to deal with the whole arrangement as quickly and discreetly as possible, else something happened to make things more… complicated. Knowing how devil politics went, Serafall didn't blame him, at all.
Still, this could potentially cause a lot of problems. Not only for them but for Joshua, especially for Joshua. They were more or less untouchable, even if people could still cause them a lot of indirect trouble. Joshua could end up dead if they weren't careful with something like this.
Then the door opened and all three of them straightened ever so slightly.
It was show time.
"Lord Lucifer, Lady Leviathan," Grayfia said with her usual impassive expression. "Mister Davis," she added, a shift obvious in her voice. Serafall wondered, to herself, if that was for show or if that was a real thing. It was always difficult to read that woman. Fortunately, Joshua didn't seem to care about the offense.
"Lord and Lady Phenex are here to meet you," Grayfia finished as the two blondes walked into the room. Serafall glanced towards Joshua to see how he was doing and she was somewhat surprised to see him sitting there with a calm smile on his face, as if he were spell tinkering at home and not in the middle of a very important meeting. She wondered how he managed. She'd worried – and he'd shared similar fears – that his less than optimal people skills might be a problem.
Regardless, she certainly wasn't complaining.
"Lord Lucifer, Lady Leviathan," Lord Phenex greeted with a nod, followed by his wife. Serafall and Sirzechs replied in kind a second later. It irked her a little, that everyone was dismissing Joshua as if he were barely there but… it was how things were supposed to go. "We were told this was important?" the Head of House Phenex asked then, giving the human in the room a passing glance one might give a particularly ugly rat on the street.
"That'd be me," Joshua answered, softly and kindly, his smile growing the smallest bit as he regarded the two devils. "I'm Joshua Davis and I think your house and I have a lot to talk about. Lord Lucifer and Lady Leviathan seem to agree with me," Joshua added, turning towards both of them when he spoke their names. Serafall didn't much like him referring to her as "Lady Leviathan", if she were honest, but it'd have to do for the meeting.
She was a little busy regarding this new, somewhat confident Joshua though. It was unexpected, but certainly not bad. 'This might just go better than expected,' she thought, pleased.
"You see… I can make Phoenix Tears a lot less important," Joshua said then, bluntly and to the point. Sirzechs and her had agreed that it was a good way to get to it quickly. It also would have the added effect of shocking both devils. Although…
"... Excuse me?" Lady Phenex asked, blinking and seemingly trying to decide if she'd heard well. Further trying to confirm, she looked at the other people in the room. Seeing her husband with just as baffled an expression seemed to tell her that yes, the human had said that.
"I meant to say that your Phoenix Tears, the famous Phoenix Healing, I made a spell that does basically the same thing," Joshua started explaining, casually, as if he were commenting a new spell idea with her and not the leader of a House that was neutral at best and hostile at worst towards him. "So, I thought I would try to save myself some problems by contacting the people that would be the most affected by this. Which is why we are here."
There it was, Serafall noticed, the dismissal in both of the Phenex's expressions.
"... So, what is it?" Lord Phenex asked, a somewhat shocked expression shifting to almost bored. "Alchemy potion? Some kind of Healing Spell? A Sacred Gear? We've seen it all, young man. Everyone has. You think you are the first one that thinks they've found a way to compete with Phoenix Tears?"
"I'm guessing I'm not, but I'm not lying," Joshua commented with a chuckle that seemed to confuse Lord Phenex more than anything. Evidently, the man expected Joshua to be insulted or angry or confused or anything other than keep his calm and confident demeanor. "You want proof and that can be easily arranged. I trust nobody will blast me for casting a few spells. Not like I could do something to anyone here if I tried anyway," Joshua reassured with a wave of his hand before summoning a piece of paper and a small artifact.
"So, you thought to waste our time with a charlatan?" Lord Phenex asked, turning towards Sirzechs. "I know you don't like our family right now, but this is silly and petty to a level I didn't think you'd reach, Lord Lucifer. Our families made a deal, and that's all there is to it. To do this kind of thing-"
The man continued speaking but Joshua ignored him, casting his magic as if he weren't talking at all. Serafall noticed that while the man was looking at Sirzechs as he spoke, his wife did look at Joshua, her eyes darting between the magician and the two Satans. She likely realized that her husband was right. This was too much for Sirzechs to do out of pettiness… Probably.
"Young man, there's no need to embarrass yourself," Lord Phenex said "kindly", giving Joshua a condescending expression that made Serafall want to smack him. However, it wasn't her place to act then and there. She was there to add some authenticity and for later. This was Joshua's moment.
And so he proceeded, finishing casting the spell and turning towards Lord Phenex.
"Embarrass myself? I don't think I will, sir," Joshua replied with an easy grin that seemed to say he was more amused than anything at the accusation. Serafall had to admit, she was kind of impressed that he hadn't hesitated a single time yet. He was doing it all very smoothly, actually.
"Are you trying to insult us, young man? Is that it? Whoever you are, I assure you that you are not nearly as-" the man started. His patience was clearly wearing thin now. Joshua let him talk though, summoning a knife from a storage spell with a lazy smirk. "-funny as you think you are, nor as important as we are. Do yourself a favor and-" Then Joshua cut into his arm. "-Stop… already…"
The Phenex trailed off, staring at the human's arm as the frankly quite deep cut started regenerating instantly, dust gathering from around the room and flying towards the wound. Serafall could see what Joshua had done there, very easily at that. She imagined there were some gods out there that were ecstatic about it too.
In a second, maybe less, the wound was gone.
"So, that enough or do you require more proof?" Joshua asked like someone would ask a guest if they wanted something to drink or a snack. It was honestly a little funny to think about like that. "Because, if you think it's not competition, that's fine. I'll just go and sell others my spell. If you think it's not good enough, then surely it's fine, right?"
Serafall saw it in both Phenex, the moment they realized that Joshua was, indeed, a threat. If the expression on the human was any indication, he realized that just as fast too. When the two devils turned to regard him once more, this time more seriously, he simply answered with the same expression as he had through the whole meeting so far.
A kind smile, as if he were in a friendly meeting and there was nothing to worry about.
Chapter 110: -Don't Act the Fool
[Rosar Phenex]
He'd seen a great deal of things in his long, long life as Lord of House Phenex.
And yet, this human, a child by all accounts was… He'd shown them…
… How?
He looked at the human, the magician, for what felt like the first time in the whole meeting. He'd barely given the man a passing glance out of respect for the Satans, even if he wasn't on great terms with Lucifer and House Gremory. The two were still powerful, if eccentric at times, and the leaders of their society, so they were treated in a way deserving of both things.
That courtesy was all that Rosar had extended towards the human though, because honestly, what could he have that would interest them? At least in the level that it was presented as when they were called for the meeting. Now he knew and he didn't know what to do with that information.
Was it mockery on the part of the man or destiny having a rotten sense of humor that had the man have blond hair and blue eyes, Rosar wondered. Beyond that, he was dressed… well, he supposed. Formal, if a little too mundane, but there was something to the simplicity, he supposed. What caught his attention was the demeanor though. He looked at ease, as if everything was expected and anything that happened could only be good for him.
After witnessing the spell, Rosar knew that there was power behind that confidence and that was worrying.
His first thought was that the man needed to die, but that plan went out the window quickly. He could try, he supposed, but he'd have to be careful. He'd underestimated the human once and he refused to make the same mistake again.
Which put him in an awkward position, unfortunately.
Trying to keep this spell under wraps was likely to be impossible anyway. The man would have to be an idiot to not have back ups in case of assassination, so that wasn't likely to work out even if Rosar could still try. The human had mentioned that during his little speech, after all, so he was aware that it was a possibility.
There was a chance of overconfidence that couldn't be ignored, but also couldn't be depended on.
Besides, Lucifer, Leviathan and Lucifuge were right there too and they obviously knew of the spell now. Rosar wondered if they knew about this beforehand or if they were also learning about it at that moment. He wasn't sure he could accurately read them even if either was the case, unfortunately, but he could ponder on it.
Regardless, with them knowing, the biggest of problems was already right in front of Rosar. That problem being that others now knew there was an alternative to Phoenix Tears. That, in turn, meant that if something were to happen to this human now, everyone would turn towards House Phenex, since they were the ones with the most to win from that. If they took away such a resource from the market altogether…
Things could get messy, very much so.
There were a number of other approaches to be considered to take care of this but the main concern at that very moment was… Rosar looked towards his wife, who glanced back. That single look told him all he needed to know. He sighed internally.
"You said something about talking?" he asked, keeping his voice confident despite his inner turmoil. One couldn't show weakness in negotiations, ever, unless it was part of the strategy. Somehow, by the way the human's smile seemed to become just the smallest bit more pronounced, Rosar felt like he was doing exactly what the man wanted.
He couldn't have read him though, could he?
"Something like that," the man agreed with a slight nod. "You see, I'd rather not have to deal with politics or hostilities with anyone, if I can help it. I'm a magician, a researcher and a teacher, that's all," he said, and Rosar had to blink at that. It was… certainly a way to approach life, he supposed, although not one that was seen often.
Everyone wanted to raise up in the world, after all. On top of that, who in their right minds thought they could avoid politics and enemies? Anything you did could get someone to hate you. Anything you did could have political implications. It was especially so in the case of someone like this man, who had seemed to find a way to create a method of healing that seemed to rival the Phoenix Tears.
Granted, there was still a possibility of this spell not being as good as it was presented. The wound had healed just as quick, that much was true, but what of a more serious injury? What of sickness? What of exhaustion, both physical and magical? All that would have to be tested, but Rosar couldn't afford to bet his House's future on hopes.
He needed to be careful with this now.
"And I'm assuming you had something in mind?"
"I did," the man answered with a wider smile, looking very pleased with the question. "I can tweak the spell so it works even more similarly to Phoenix Tears, with fire instead of the dust and sand gathering, for example. It might affect the effect a bit, but it shouldn't even be noticeable."
If that was supposed to be reassuring, then it failed spectacularly.
Who was this human?
Joshua Davis. Rosar was pretty sure he'd heard that name somewhere, but for the life of him, he couldn't place where. That was bad, because that meant he had no information on who this person was, and that meant he was at a disadvantage.
"I say that, because I'm here to offer you a chance to attach your name to this spell," Davis continued then and Rosar blinked once more. Had he heard right? "I have no interest in making an enemy of House Phenex and I honestly care little for money to actually sell it for that. I admit, the fact that this could be a good trading chip for favors is tempting though."
And Rosar had no doubt about that. Maybe it was a little bizarre that the man didn't want the money, but he could understand that. When one had a lot of money, what did it matter if you could make more? There came a point when money was just money, having a little more or a little less made no difference, really.
Power though, that one could never have enough of. Even the most powerful of people had to go to others for something at some point, and it was always good to have more cards to play in that game. It was why the Phenex family was in such a high standing compared to some of the other Pillars. The Phoenix Tears were just that important to the supernatural world at large.
And now that, one of the key parts to the power of Rosar's House, was about to take a hit.
"So, I thought you'd like to put your name on my spell, we share the benefits of these and everyone comes out winning," Davis told him simply and Rosar didn't know what to say for a long moment. The "proposal" sounded simple and, honestly, too good to be true.
And he knew, when something gave that impression, then it was usually the case.
"And the catch is?" he asked, deciding that if he was going to be on the back foot, then he might as well get things over with as quickly as possible. He had no cards and the human had all he could possibly want at the moment. If he delayed things, it was more likely that he'd make things worse than better.
"The catch is that you and I become partners in this "business", as it were," the human told him and Rosar almost bristled at the idea. House Phenex, in equal terms with a human of all things, the most mundane of races in the supernatural world. How… humiliating. But at least it was a magician, he told himself. A strong, capable one if he could make a spell like the one he said he had, and Rosar was inclined to give him at least the benefit of the doubt, if only so he wouldn't be caught flat-footed once more.
A spell that rivaled a devil bloodline, of all things. And a strong one at that, if Rosar did say so himself. Davis was no normal human, he realized then and there, and that meant he needed to be careful. It didn't make the whole thing sting his pride less, but it made it bearable.
"On top of that, I want you to terminate the marriage contract between your son, Riser, and Rias Gremory," Davis said, and suddenly everything made sense. Rosar could only turn his eyes towards Sirzechs Lucifer, a baleful expression on his face.
The Satan for his part, remained impassive, as he had through most of the meeting. Rosar had to admit that he wondered about that and, most of all, about Leviathan'spassivity. Lucifer might have been a calmer Satan, but Leviathan? Her personality was well known.
And yet, they'd barely said anything through the meeting so far.
"You'd risk our culture, our society, our power for this?" Rosar asked.
"I wouldn't be that quick to throw accusations but go ahead if you want," the human commented calmly, drawing Rosar's attention back to him again. "I must say, I almost want to thank you, honestly. It was a perfect opportunity for me to get some more pull from your faction. My higher ups were very pleased."
"What?" Rosar asked, frowning in confusion.
"I mean, thanks to you, I can kill two birds with one stone… Ah, that might be in poor taste, I just realized," the human commented, his voice still casual and his expression relaxed despite everything. "Anyway, you see, you allowed me to get two things done at the same time. Earn favor from one of your Satans," Davis commented, nodding towards Sirzechs as if he weren't one of the strongest people in the world. "And also get a fair bit of power from your House. And I can do that while keeping things relatively friendly by offering you an out in the shape of this deal."
Rosar wasn't falling for it. What the man said made sense, and it also was possible, he supposed. However, he refused to believe this all had happened so coincidentally. No, this had Sirzechs written all over it. Did the man think he was getting the better of him with this… This travesty?
No, Rosar wasn't… Wait…
"You mentioned higher ups?" he asked, frowning the smallest bit.
To that, Davis simply nodded and his hand moved to his belt and then back up. The human then placed a crystal lotus on top of the table. Rosar felt it, but his wife did so even faster, stiffening next to him.
That was no trinket.
"I'm here on behalf of the Egyptian Pantheon," Davis said, a placid smile still in place as if he weren't saying anything too important. "My higher ups want to… come back to the game, as it were. So, this is one of their moves, you see. Getting a rather good in with your faction is a nice one, if I do say so myself."
The revelation gave Rosar pause once more.
This was too much, even for Sirzechs. The New Satans might have made choices that many of the Houses didn't agree with during their time, but this was way beyond any of that. Rosar glanced between the two leaders, considering them all the same. Leviathan seemed intent on being on good terms with everyone, but this kind of move wasn't like anything the woman had done, and the same went for Lucifer.
No, this was…
Was this real? Was it really just a convenient coincidence for someone else? Rosar didn't want to believe that, but the crystal flower… It was overflowing with divine energy. There were deities involved there and there was no faking that. Leviathan wouldn't pull a favor from some other faction's gods to do this, even if she probably would have liked to.
No, this was too drastic, too messy. There was no way the two had risked making a move like this for the Gremory girl… Suddenly, the presence of Satan Leviathan made a lot more sense in the meeting. This was just as much a matter of internal politics as it was external ones.
'This wasn't how I expected my day to go,' Rosar thought to himself wryly. 'Not at all.'
And it had been such a good day too.
Alas…
He traded another look with his wife. This time though, there was a lot more to try and communicate. Fortunately for them, they'd been a team for a long time already. The smallest of things could get their thoughts across to the other without giving the other party so much as a hint to what they were "talking" about.
Ultimately, they came to a decision.
"So… What do your… higher ups… have in mind?" he asked slowly, because he was cornered. If he wasn't careful, then his family's business and power would take a hit so huge they would be lucky if they didn't fall all the way to the middle of the list of Pillar Houses. So, there he was, the mighty Lord Phenex… reduced to listening to the demands of a human.
'How the mighty have fallen indeed,' he thought bitterly.
"I'm sure you'll find the terms we had in mind agreeable," Davis commented, visibly pleased with himself. Then again, it wasn't often that someone got the upper hand so readily in a negotiation. If nothing else, Rosar could respect that… That and the feat that the man had apparently accomplished to make this all possible. "As I said, neither me nor my higher ups want to be on bad terms with you or your faction."
Rosar could only hope that was true, because the future of his House depended on that.
[}-o-{]
[Joshua Davis]
He watched as the Phenex couple left the room and, as soon as the door closed, he sighed loudly, letting himself fall bonelessly on his chair.
"That went really well," Serafall commented happily, back to her normal self after the meeting. Sirzechs and her had participated on the thing a whole lot more after Lord Phenex had caved and decided to talk business. The heavy lifting of the whole thing had fallen on his shoulders though, because he was supposed to be there on behalf of the Egyptian Pantheon and not on Sirzechs'.
It was lucky that nobody seemed to have noticed or know that he was the guy that worked with Serafall on her show. That was taken into account in their plans too, of course. Even if someone tried to make things difficult for them, they had answers. First of all, Joshua had gone to Kyoto on behalf of the Egyptian Pantheon too, so there was precedent of him working for that faction before others. On top of that, when he'd talked with Nephthys, the goddess had reassured that they'd have his back, provided that he was actually going to let this benefit them.
Fortunately, they only wanted a fairly small cut, which was the payment for using their name, basically. Nephthys had remarked that it was a great deal for them regardless, because using their name could even be considered a favor, even if it'd likely direct some less than desired attention towards them too. Other than that, they acknowledged that they had been an almost non-existent part of the process of the whole thing and were fine letting him and the Satans get the lion's share.
Joshua would admit that he'd been a little surprised that it was so easy to get that agreement, but at that point he was starting to think that the Egyptian Pantheon was just nice like that.
Nothing else made much sense to him, really.
Back to the point, nobody could really point at Serafall and say that she'd been working on the whole thing without sounding like a conspiracy theorist. Just because he worked with her on something didn't mean that they were allies or something. Even if they were found out to be friends, accusing parties wouldn't have much to stand on.
The fact that the Egyptian Pantheon was backing him was just that powerful a card, basically.
On the unfortunate side of things, this would get Joshua's name out there even more. The events in Kyoto had been mostly kept under wraps, even if there were rumors about what happened with Georg and the Annihilation Maker wielder. Most of Joshua's reputation had to do with what he taught at House of Water and little else. Then there was the attack at the Church base he'd been part of, but that one had also mostly stayed within that faction's knowledge. There was his appearance in Serafall's show, but that wouldn't mean much by itself to most people. Several basically unknowns worked in that, after all.
Now, he'd be known. Known as a man that had created a spell that worked just as well as a devil bloodline. Known as a man that had the backing of an entire Pantheon almost entirely to himself. Known as the man that was an equal to a powerful Pillar House. Known as the man that had the ear of a Satan, maybe two.
It was a move that Joshua frankly wasn't a fan of, if he were honest.
It was necessary though. Not only because it'd free Rias, which… he wasn't particularly close to, but Sairaorg was and that was enough for him. He owed the man a lot, so helping his cousin was the least he could do.
There were other reasons for getting involved in such a situation though. For one, the healing spell by itself was worth it, in his opinion, and dealing with it like he was reduced the chances of it coming back to bite him in the ass whenever the Phenex or someone else took offense to it. Also, while being a more public figure sounded like a headache, Joshua knew that it would be helpful too. Annoying, but helpful.
"Joshua?" Serafall asked, making him blink and return to the present. That meeting had really taken a lot of him. He'd done his best though, his very best, to keep himself calm, relaxed, in control. He was sure that if he slipped even the smallest bit, things would go downhill and never stop. "Josh?"
"That's the first time you've called me Josh, I think," he pointed out wearily.
"That's what got you?" the woman asked, looking amused.
"I do believe our friend here is tired from the meeting. I have to say though, you did much better than I expected," Sirzechs told him, looking very pleased. No reason for him not to be though, Joshua supposed. Things had gone well. Extremely so. He'd have expected a battle, and maybe insults thrown all over the place. Hell, he wouldn't have been all that surprised if he was challenged to a duel or some shit… Fortunately, nothing of the sort happened…
For the moment, at least.
"I did better than I expected," Joshua admitted with a slight smile.
"Regardless, you did well, and you managed what most considered an impossible task in a timeframe that would be even more unbelievable," the Satan Lucifer continued, sounding very adamant. "I owe you a lot, for what you've done. What I gave you on magical creatures was only… a partial payment, if you will. If there's anything I can do for you, Mr. Davis, please let me know."
"I will," he accepted. He was too tired to bother denying that and besides… He kind of wanted to make the headache that this would bring be a little more worth it, he supposed. "Don't think too much of it though. I like Rias. She's a good kid."
"She is," Sirzechs replied with a wide smile, the very picture of a proud sibling. Joshua did notice that Serafall was beaming too, but he had no idea why that was. "Which is why I have to make sure you know how much I appreciate you doing this for her. For the moment, however… There's a lot of work to do. This is only the start of negotiations."
"Don't remind me," Joshua groaned. "I really, really don't wanna think about that, or what this means to me, politically. I wanna pretend everything is still as it was before."
"I do believe that's not gonna last much, Mr. Davis," Grayfia commented mercilessly, making him deflate. "So, enjoy it while it lasts."
"Thanks, I think," he mumbled. Shortly after, both Sirzechs and her left the room. Both had duties to attend to and things to prepare now that things were in motion. And they had to inform Rias and their family of how things had gone too, he supposed. As for Joshua, he just wanted to die already. Keeping his calm throughout the whole meeting had been hell.
"You did really well," Serafall told him softly and he gave her a grateful smile.
"I did have a lot of time to prepare and help from awesome people," he pointed out, his grin widening a little as he spoke. "Once this is done, I just have to try and go back to my normal life… sort of. It'll be nice to not have a deadline for a while."
"So, what do you want to do for now? You look tired," she pointed out, far calmer than she usually was. For some reason, she was acting quite out of character, really, but he couldn't quite place why that could be the case. "How about you go back home and get some tea?"
"You want to come too or are you busy?" he asked, not feeling like being alone. Sure, he was tired, but he felt like he needed to relax more than he needed to rest. It had been nerve wracking to go through that meeting without showing anything but calm and confidence.
"You know I can't say no, Joshua! Will there be snacks?" she asked, bouncing back to her more excited persona. It made him smile though, because that was the Serafall that he liked the most, the one that he just couldn't feel bad with.
"All the snacks. I think I can cook without feeling worse," he commented, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath in to gather strength. As he let the air out, he stood up. "Anything in particular that you want?"
And with that, off Serafall went, starting to ponder what snacks she wanted out loud. Joshua simply listened as he turned and picked up the Charm of Egypt from the table. When his fingers touched the crystal though, he paused and blinked. There were more presences there, which was not new but it was certainly unexpected.
Even more so, however, was the fact that they were a lot more clear, a lot closer, for lack of a better word. They weren't vague outlines somewhere in the background. They were now right besides Shed, Nephthys and Set. There were many too and all of them showered different emotions on him.
Then he saw the system screen pop up in front of him.
[Quest Complete: Replicate a Devil Bloodline an-]
That was the only legible part, because everything else seemed to be random symbols and corrupted text that he couldn't make out. Joshua was more than a little unnerved by this, because he knew that things had often seemingly influenced the system, but this was different. This looked like the thing had outright crashed.
Then the screen flickered and glitched for a moment before disappearing before his very eyes.
A second later, a new screen appeared. This time in a more familiar way, if not the usual light blue. Instead, he was greeted by the usual beige with the ankh in the background that symbolized the Egyptian influence in the system.
[Title Acquired: Great Column.
Do you accept?]