Becoming the Strongest Through (Draconic) Racism
Hey.
Hey you.
Reader. Potential isekai candidate. I wanna ask you a something.
Technically I'm not speaking to anyone, and these are just my thoughts, but I really need to point this question outwards at someone. So, imaginary friend!
See, currently as a present isekai experiencer, I really have to ask:
On a scale of one to ten, how fucking PISSED OFF would you be if you were spawn camped?
Because really, going from a feeble body with sore, tiredness, ache and weakness as my whole experience—you know due to old age—to suddenly being energized with strength in my limbs again, yet with the accompaniment of a head splitting pain of my skull slamming into the stone ground, and the flood of memories that came immediately afterwards.
Well...
Whomever is responsible for my rebirth into this world, I just wanna say, I'm not gonna even play the card of going: 'I wAnT tO sPeAk To ThE mAnAger.'
No, no.
Nothing so mundane.
I just wanna punch you in the face!
Spoiler: Our MC - Caleb Gunnar
My name is Caleb Gunnar. 17 years old.
And I'm currently tied up (with rope. Seriously) on the floor of an abandoned building, on the edge of a shore, on a deserted island, formally used a prison.
I'm trapped on fucking Alcatraz Island.
Yes. Seriously. I'm not joking or making this shit up.
Why?
A grunt followed by a pained scream came from a few dozen meters to my left.
There were six other people tied up as I am. Wait, one wasn't. Another guy on the football team. Friend of the asshole that brought me here, another douche.
Standing with us were five Capital E Evil people. The four in front of me were a big fallen angel, a smaller fallen angel, a mad scientist looking devil, and an evil opportunist that I really want to die. That last one's just human by the way.
The current victim of all of us, the one currently screaming just had an Evil Piece inserted into his chest. Guess there's some resistance if you don't want the transformation, but it's still inevitable.
Thin leather-like bat wings exploded out of the guy's back, somehow not shreading his clothes.
After he was turned into a reincarnated devil, the scientist devil that did so, stabbed him in the neck with metal syringe gun filled with weird mix of glowing liquids.
The guy began to scream and transform again, gaining scales and growing in size, looking more serpentine by the moment.
"You see that, Shittar? That's gonna be you in a few minutes." A hand reached out, grabbing me by the hair, forcing me to raise my head. "Shouldn't have been a noisy bitch asshole. Guess what your whore mouth gets you? You get to be Lord Naberius' slave forever." He said as the victim finished transforming into some kinda giant snake with a draconic head.
This here is the last person of the Evil group, the other human, a teen closer to my age, and the other person that I really want to die.
Chad Richardson. A rich, douchbag jock bully. A walking, talking cliché.
No, I shit you not, this whole thing happening to me is basically a bully arc storyline.
I'm going to kill him of course. As soon as I find a way, he's dead.
This is so far beyond beating, verbal abuse, or whatever teenage drama bullshit and is just straight up a murder attempt.
So it's only right that I kill him back.
Man, fucking hell, if only I awakened properly three month ago rather than now, I could have been so much more prepared.
Or better yet have made better decisions.
Three Months Ago
Looking at the bathroom mirror of the hospital room I was in, I couldn't believe the absurdity of my situation.
I almost died. I looked at all the bandages that covered... hide the bruises on my body.
Jumping from the roof of the school building into the pool, and slamming into the water. The official story is that I was with "friend" and did it on a "dare".
The actual truth was that, Chad, the fucking psychopath managed to sneak his father's gun to school to show it off to his friends.
They 'oooed' and 'aaah'd' like the fucking sycophants that they are.
And then Chad and his ring of followers, forced me to the rooftop, and the fucker threatened me to jump into the pool from there or he'd shoot me.
I ran and jumped. Like a coward.
Chad and his group laughed about it, and before I was taken into the ambulance, he told me that the gun was empty. He wasn't stupid enough to being loaded gun to school. He just 'wanted to see if I was much as a scaredy bitch to do what he said'.
I didn't believe him.
About the gun not being loaded. That sounded like a crock of shit. Something he came up with afterwards to either make me feel like an idiot, or to cover his ass.
TRAIN.
But there was one thought in my head since I woke up. That I should physically train or shit like that would stop. Eight years of this shit. It was never going to end. It would just keep escalating, won't it. No more.
Doesn't matter that I can't join a gym, I'll run around or carry heavy things. I'll do cardio till I drop. Whatever it is, I must get stronger so this won't happen anymore.
I... I need to learn to fight! Somehow.
TRAIN.
That impulse seem to stay with me the next day. It was a relief. It wasn't just some momentary burst of motivation. I can do this. I will do this!
From then on, thankfully, my Unawake Self keep up with physical training, doing what he can with what he had to build muscle. Food became an issue, but the matron of the orphanage tended to give leftovers to the kids who helped her out the most.
And I became her number one favorite for the past three months.
Things went fine for the first month. They could have continued to be fine for the time afterwards, if not for my Unawake Self's discovery.
Or at least, if his reaction wasn't literally the dumbest one that could be.
Two Months Ago
I don't believe it.
I can't believe it.
No way, no way, no way.
The Devil is real? And Chad summons him? Or rather they're a race, so Devils plural?
This is it. This is why he gets away with everything. Why the school never does anything, or why the cops didn't bother investigating further?
Or why just, no one fucking stepped forward talk about all the shit Chad put me through when the police was fucking right there.
MEDITATE.
The image of meditating and unlocking some inner power came to mind. Since if devils were real, then maybe some magic system existed as well. I pushed the thought aside for later.
It wasn't as important as gathering evidence of Chad's literal devil worshiping shit and exposing him.
MEDITATE.
The thought repeated and I kept trying to ignore it. I might add it to my training routine, but can I really afford to just be idle, sit on my ass and do nothing?
MEDITATE.
I have to expose Chad. I'll use everything to accomplish that. Although maybe learning magic somehow would be important, just in case he can do some evil voodoo shit.
Thank fuck I got my Unawake Self to follow through on meditating. I got the feeling of some kind of buzz under my skin. Not fully feeling some hidden energy within my body, but something tangentially related to that.
I should have focused more on that, but my Unawake Self was a stubborn fuck. And an idiot.
My Unawake Self would use whatever free time to trail Chad and record him when doing 'shady' shit. The amount of times Chad met that Devil were less than a dozen.
Now that my Unawake Self got his evidence, guess what he decided to do to 'expose' Chad.
No, really, guess.
If you guessed dump it on the internet in a Utube video, then you're right! And you win a beating.
Because that's what that idiot got.
Last Week
AWAKEN.
I hit the fence at school again. I push against it, but I get another punch to the face.
My nose is bleeding and I'm pretty sure I have more bruises than I ever had in my life.
And I didn't care, even if it hurt my body and my heart that even with all my training it wasn't enough to beat him.
"You fucking creepy little bitch ass fucker!" Chad shouted as he threw a kick.
I guarded with one arm, and punched at his crotch with the other. Sadly he anticipated the cheap shot, and guard with his arm, and punched me in the face again.
I fell to the ground but nothing he did could remove the smile from my face.
AWAKEN.
"It doesn't matter!" I laughed and coughed as he kicked me repeatedly in the stomch. "Nothing you do matters!"
"The fuck you say!" He reached down and grabbed me by my shirt to pull me up, and held my collar with one hand, and one pulled back threateningly.
Spoiler: Pick a finger, it's a bird
I grinned and flipped him the bird. I could feel my lips bleeding from the action, but I still didn't care, riding the high of my 'victory'.
AWAKEN.
"Video's been up for hours, bitch. Everyone at school must have seen what a creepy devil worshiping loser bitch you are by now." I spat out. I could actually feel blood mix with my saliva and had to actually spit it out. It hit Chad's shirt rather than his face like I was aiming.
"Gross fucker!" His punch fast. I guard my head, only for him to have aimed at my stomach. I coughed and hugged my torso, as he let me fall.
Fuck why do I suck at fighting so much? Right, because I never actively learned to fight before.
"The... p-p-police!" I said out loud, forcing the words out from my breathless lungs.
He stilled at that. I thought he was surprised and scared. Well, it made sense in my head. I could only see his frozen legs, not his expression, with my eyes looking at the ground.
"What?" There was an odd note in his tone that didn't click in my head.
AWAKEN.
"I called them. There's gonna come here and arrest you, asshole. The video had you when you kidnapped those people. You're fucking done, Chad!" I shouted and pushed myself to stand, holding onto the fence to steady myself.
Snort.
The sound didn't register to me. It didn't make sense.
I looked up feeling glee at the red eye Chad had. The one good hit I gave him by surprise, but it was his amused grin that stopped me dead.
Why is he smiling? Something doesn't add up. Why the fuck is he acting fine?
"You think that's why I'm angry?" He laughed. I hated the cold dread that filled me.
This isn't right. Why is he acting like he's winning?
AWAKEN.
"Yeah?" I hated how I didn't sound confident.
"Nah, I'm pissed that you dared act like you're hot shit. That you can ever be on the same level as me, or think you can be worth shit."
"Fuck you." I said back and grinned at hearing the police sirens. "Time's up. Whatever bullshit you think you can do, it's dead in the water." I pushed away the cringe at that last phrase. Damn, I need friends to talk to for social stuff. A chance I'll get after today. "It's over, asshole."
Chad started laughing.
"Stop laughing!" I hated how whiny I sounded. "This isn't something you can talk your way out of, or ask daddy to fix for you!"
"Except he can you orphan loser."
"Fuck you!"
AWAKEN.
"My dad's the Chief of Police, you dumbass."
The words didn't sound right. I didn't want to believe them. Yet the moment they entered my mind, lots of things clicked into place.
Like how Chad could bring a gun to school without a problem. Or how no matter who complained about him, nothing happened.
I was so anti-social that I never bothered finding out anything about people because I didn't want to care or put any effort.
And now it's biting me in the ass.
"The video you took? It would have been deleted by now. Devils own the internet, you stupid fuck." Chad said with a smug smirk. I wanted to punch him, but the horror of what he said settled in my chest.
"S-School, everyone..."
"Nothing some hypnosis spell won't fix. Anyone who saw the video would either forget, or think it's just some CGI bullshit. You managed to do jack and shit." He said with vindictive glee. "And you think you managed to do anything you bother Lord Naberius? I wouldn't be the one here collecting you if that was the case."
"...Collect?"
"Yeah. Turns out you also fit Lord Naberius' experiments. Lucky you, you get to live. For now."
And as the lights of the police cars shined on us, I realized I was the one who was fucked.
I had the distant hope that maybe Chad's father was something of a decent person, or just a normal one, who would be appalled by his son working with a devil.
Turns out the old fucker was the one who introduced Chad to that devil.
For a week I was imprisoned in a basement under the police station, then today I was taken here to Alcatraz Island.
I shouted and wailed about being kidnapped, about Chad and his dad being devil worshippers while I was dragged out of the station to a truck, but it's like no one could hear me.
Or maybe I just sounded like a regular crazy person and was dismissed. Not everything has a magic explanation.
Honestly throughout the last month I wasn't sure whether to try and focus on making sure my Unawake Self meditate or try to wake myself up.
I guess I focused on awakening too late that it didn't happen sooner. Or maybe it would have happened eventually if I had more time.
Either way, the result is the current situation I'm in, and only fully waking up as myself right now, in this worst possible situation.
And now back to this shitty situation of a devil forcibly reincarnating people into devils, then turning those devils into snakes.
"My hypothesis was correct." The Naberius Devil smiled upon seeing his experiment was a success. "As you can see, upon Reincarnation, those with Dragon Aura from their linage of mixed draconic ancestry are able to accept and incorporate the Bune Trait Factor into their body to great results." He explained to his fallen angel audience.
Well, at least someone's monologue so I know what the fuck is going on.
"Will all of them result in Wryms though?" Asked the older Fallen, with curiosity and a hint of disappointment as he looked at the transformed victim who was docile now for some reason. He whined and twitched but stopped thrashing around.
Guess the evil dragon turning juice had a mind control drugs added to it.
"That was the subject with the weakest Dragon Aura, Satanael. We will see the results as we move on to stronger Dragon Auras before heading to the subjects with a Dragon-Type Sacred Gear." Explained the Naberius Devil.
"It is no effort. Seeing how this research mixes with the evolution of these specific Sacred Gears, is valuable to me as well." Replied Satanael with an empty business smile.
Thank you for the exposition guys, also what the fuck? Isn't that the main antagonist Slash/Dog?! I mean the later volumes at least. Fuck!
How am I gonna get away from a Last Boss when I'm a Level 1 scrub?!
"And now for the second subject, who hold higher Dragon Aura." The Naberius Devil said excitingly.
"N-No—" The innocent confused teen protested, but it fell on deaf ears.
He was Evil Piece'd and Dragon Juiced, beginning to shout and writhe before he transformed into a dragon-lamia thing. Top half was a draonic body, with two arms and a dragon head, with bottom half being a snake's tail. No wings though.
"Hmm, a Lindwurm." Satanael nodded, as if assessing a high school science fair project, rather than a living human being transfigurated to something horrific.
After a while, like the first kid, the second kid quietened down with a docile air in his posture.
Then the third victim was Piece'd. Same crying and screaming.
"Hoh ho!" The Naberius Devil said excitedly. "This one had the strongest Dragon Aura without a Sacred Gear. To think he'd turn into a Drake. Wonderful!"
The third guy turned into a draconic komodo dragon the size of a truck. So a dragon without wings.
"Hmm, all the recorded human with a Dragon Aura ungifted with a Scared Gear, matched this subjects' level. Odds are, a Drake is the most you can expect from this transformation." Satanael observed.
"And that's why, we now move onto the Sacred Gear holders!" Said the Naberius Devil, literally vibrating with excitement. "To think you could manage to collect so many specimen. It is truly great work, Satanael."
"It wasn't an easy task, specially to get quite a variety. Two Twice Criticals, a Tempest Monarch, and a Sovereign Ascendant." Satanael said, expositing more. "Of course we can't forget the aid your Rage Reaver had offered, which eased the search for these Dragon-Type Sacred Gears."
Then Satanael turn to—FUCKING EXCUSE ME!?
The Fallen Angel Last Boss turned toward Chad and gave him a nod of acknowledgement.
"I was happy to aid on this great endeavor, Lord Satanael, Lord Naberius." Chad said as he went forward to stand by his father's side, who nodded with a proud smile at him.
Oh you have got to be fucking shitting me! So this evil psychotic little shit not only was making my Unawake Self's a living hell, who's daddy is the San Francisco Chief of Police and was also lucky enough to be born with a Sacred Gear?!
I mean, I know God is dead but COME ON!!
"Yes, great indeed." Satanael gave another empty smile.
"Let us begin!" The Naberius Devil exclaimed with a wide smile and continued. "Who of the Sacred Gears should we go with first?"
The Naberius Devil began to look at those of us normal humans left like we're a loot box. I'm going to aspire to give you a 1-star pull you creep. No, wait, if I'm a 1-star won't that mean I would be weak as shit, and won't be able to run away.
"Shouldn't we start with the Twice Critical? You said they're the weakest, Lord Naberius." Chad said with a grin while looking at me.
Given that comment, guess I'm one of the ones with Twice Critical. Dammit.
I grimace, but noticed another kid, one kid over, flinching. Okay, that's other Twice Critical user. Noted.
Also, fuck you, Chad.
"Chad." His father said to him in a warning tone, as it seems he talked out of place. Chad grimaced and looked down. Yeah, stop acting cocky, bitch!
The Naberius hummed and was about to head toward me. FUC—
"I believe it would be more interesting to test the Bune Factor on one of the other Dragon-Type Sacred Gears." Satanael spoke up. Naberius paused and looked at the Fallen in intrigue. "I believe the results would be predictable if we go with a simple Twice Critical, why not try one of the other more unique Dragon Types first?"
"Hmm, I do admit, I would like to see the more exciting results first." Naberius Devil said, before grinning. "Oh, why not? Tempest Monarch, the Wings of the Eternal Gale, a Dragon-Type Sacred Gear that grants the user footwear that increases speed and minor elemental wind control." He exposited and moved to another teen.
I didn't focus on that however, or feel relieved. Rather my eyes were glued on the Fallen who intervened to help me, and felt dread. Was that luck, my plot armor finally kicking in to give me a break or was that...
Satanael met my gaze.
And smiled.
I instantly looked away, focusing on anything else in the room.
Shit, shit, shit! Why? What did I do to get his interest?! Why is he looking at me like he expected something more? Fuck! I don't have time to be in some Fallen's experimental plot, or for whatever bullshit he'd planned, or felt to do on a whim.
I focused back on the other Twice Critical kid, as he was the one more fidgety among the group.
But then the guy next to him got my interest. He was big, calm and focused.
Too calm.
His eyes shifted to the exit and to what everyone else was doing.
Okay, yeah, he's the one who's planning on bailing out ASAP. I'm gonna need to time my escape with him. They can't get us both.
Shitty thought to have, but escape and survive first, then worry about other people. And it's not like anyone here, or honestly, nor do I have anyone I care about in this life thus far.
So escape then live, I guess should be my motto.
The fourth guy—Wait, not that's a chick with short hair. Guess the hammer of tragedy is unisex. Anyways, she was Evil Piece'd and Dragon Juiced. Normal struggle and scream happened during and after the process.
Her body began to become more draconic and kept becoming longer, and longer... and longer?
"Eh, it's like the first one but with wings? Does that mean she's weaker even though she had a Sacred Gear, Lord Satanael?" The minion fallen chick—No, wait. Adam's apple. That's a trap—femboy as his boss.
"She didn't transform into a Wrym, Elyndra" Satanael replied. "That's an Amphiptere. Focus on her energy, it has grew to encompass both that of the Wyrm and Lindwurm subjects."
"Oh! You're right my lord." Said the wide-eyed Elyndra.
I could kinda feel what they're talking about. The fourth victim's energy was more heavy and present right now. Or that might be the dread of seeing a dragon-like snake, except unlike the first one, this one was as long as those giant trees in national park documentaries. Captain Sherman or something. Or as long as three anacondas and as wide as a bus. Her wings were big and as long together as her serpentine body.
I shuddered looking at it. This snake-dragon can swallow ten of me whole.
Pushing my fear aside as much as I can, and looking back to the calm big guy, I remind myself of focusing on my chance to escape.
"As you can see Tempest Monarch was incorporated into the subject's transformation, giving it full access to elemental wind control. You can see the wind circling along its body. The gear itself seems to have been transformed into her scales—" While the Naberius Devil was expositing, I noticed movement from the calm big guy from my peripheral vision.
I ran forward without any thought. There was no time for hesitation or checking.
Somehow as if we're in-sync, the big guy and me raced at the same time toward the door out of the decrepit building.
"Hey! Stop right there!" The Naberius Devil behind us shouted in shock.
I heard scrambling movement. In a moment of panic I looked back to see the other kid with Twice Critical had pushed himself to get up and run following us. Yet it wasn't meant to be for him.
Scumbag Chad jumped on the kid to hold him down. The kid in a panic shouted and a light exploded from his arm to show his Sacred Gear.
It looked just like Issei's Boosted Gear in its first form, so I guess the misunderstanding was warranted, in thinking it was a Twice Critical. The teen's version was black though. Pretty cool.
Yet I then noticed this orange flame aura around the evil asshole Chad, making him able to easily push the Twice Critical guy down.
I didn't have time to form more thoughts as I saw a ray of light shot right at us.
"ARRGH!"
My head snapped to the side to see it hit the big guy in my back and through his chest. It wasn't a light ray, but a Light Spear.
My mind flashed back to Issei dying in the same way.
Fuck, they're gonna kill us?!
No, wait, they can resurrect us later as convenient for them. FUCK!
"FUCK, No! ....why me...and not him...first? ...That's not fair!" The stabbed big guy on the ground shouted.
Dude, what the fuck?
I ignored the asshole big guy, and I looked back at where the attack came from.
The femboy Fallen had been the one who threw the spear. He met my eyes and smirked as he pointed his hand at me, which gathered light in his palm.
I'm going to die and be forcibly enslaved.
NO.
I refuse this shitty fucking plot.
"Do not damage the subjects too much!" The horrified Naberius warned crying out.
"Dying shouldn't be too much of an issue, right, Ignatius Naberius?" Satanael's voice distantly reached my ears but I wasn't focusing on it.
"The effects of resurrection could be an uncontrolled variable in this experiment!"
I focused on the buzzing feeling under my skin. I felt like I should grab it and increase it. The buzzing vibrated harder until it felt like liquid heat moving through my veins and nerves. I gathered it and focused it on his core in me that started from somewhere deep in my chest, and extended to my right arm.
I didn't paused to think.
I jumped and spun around holding my right arm in front of me as a shield with my left arm behind it to reinforce it from the oncoming impact.
A burst of light exploded from my right arm as a red Twice Critical appeared. The red gem in the front of the gauntlet over the back of my hand shined, and I felt invigorated, like I got a shot of expresso and got out of the shower after a long workout.
Also red? Why was my Twice Critical red? That's so fucking cliché. I look like a bargain bin version of Issei Hyoudou. I'm the Knock Off Issei, what the shit, God? (No wait, He's dead).
Couldn't it have been a cool color, like silver? No, wait, silver is Siegfried's Twice Critical's color, that automatically made it lame—
SLAM!
I saw flash and felt the spear impacted into my Sacred Gear covered arm. I cried out in shock and pain at the sudden force slamming into me.
But also making my plan work as all that force helped throw me further away, and right out the building's doorless exit.
"What!?" I distantly heard the fallen femboy's cry of surprise.
I ignored it, adrenaline and my Sacred Gear's temporary boost kept me going. I quickly went with the momentum to roll and then jumped to my feet to continue running away.
FREEDOM, BABY!
No, wait I'm still on a fucking abandoned island. FUCK!
Okay, okay, okay. Lie low then think of a way to get off the island. Fuck, I'll swim off if I have to!
Cadre Satanael POV:
The Adversary of God.
That wasn't just what his name meant, it was also his role. His purpose. His being.
What many confuse about Satanael wasn't just his identity with the First Devil, Lucifer. Rather it was that he was an enemy of God at all.
God wasn't Satanael's enemy, nor was he and enemy to Him. Satanael's role was cement God's place as the sole ruler of the world's mythology.
Mythology wasn't the records of ancient stories. Rather it was how Pantheons battled one another.
There was physical combat sure when one or more Pantheon clashed over territory in the ancient past.
But the true battle was in which stories prevailed. Which stories did the humans took as their own and made into their traditions, which became their culture and history.
True victory was in which traditions and customs and societal behaviors became most prominent in the world.
In that manner the dead God of the Bible was the most assured victor in Satanael's eyes. Because above every other Pantheon Head, only Yahweh had dared to make his own enemy as part of His own Pantheon, His own Mythology, His own Story.
And what did His Works brought?
A Pantheon that wasn't labeled a Pantheon for only He was the only God.
A Mythology that wasn't labeled a Mythology for most of the world doesn't view His Works, the Chronicle and Actions of His Son as mere myth.
A Story that wasn't label as story, but history of civilization and culture that now is the most widespread across the world, that the habits and customs of humans don't even register to them as belonging to the God of the Bible.
And how was that accomplished?
Through Satanael's role, or even just the existence of him.
Because Satanael's role lead credence to the idea that all good was brought by God, and all evil was allowed to test humans so they may grow, and find their way closer to Him. If both Good and Evil brought one to God, then obviously Everything belongs to Him.
That was Satanael's role. That's why he existed. To test humans, to help them and force them to grow.
Of course, Lucifer in his temper tantrum theatrics ruined that careful design by not only taking the Name and the Role away from Satanael, but making it so that his other three sycophants shared that Name as well.
Yet even with all that, what many would be surprised to know was that Satanael didn't Fall due to Lucifer's actions. Nor did he Fall during the Great War.
Rather he Fell due to the loss of his purpose. For God was dead.
How could he be an "Adversary" when there was no one to oppose?
How could he test humans, when there was no God to bring them closer to?
And yet he still wanted to carry on his role. He wanted to fulfill it. He wanted the humans to face struggle, his challenges and overcome them and become more.
That paradox lead to his wings blackening.
He had no role to fulfill. He didn't really have a connection to Heaven since even if his existence and role was understood by the other angels, that didn't mean they were comfortable with it, or liked it. Those who remembered him anyways.
Azazel took him in, and in that time Satanael also grew fascinated with God's Artifacts. For a while he had another way to appreciate God's Work.
And then the fucking devils had to ruin even that.
Evil Pieces. Aptly named abominations that stole God's Artifacts from humanity.
It disgusted him. It infuriated him. It enraged him.
He could understand why Kokabiel wished to restart the Great War, rather than sit in this wicked farce of a cold truce they lived in. Although Satanael knows, Kokabiel lost the reason for why he fought so much long ago, making the fighting itself his purpose. Such a sad fate his brother fell into.
But that brought him to now, the current times, where he schemed and planned to force humanity to evolve. Not all of them, such endeavors sadly was a lost cause with God now dead.
But rather the select few. Those gifted with ordinary Sacred Gears. He will evolve the Artifacts of God, one and all, into Longinuses. Rather than aid humanity directly, he will evolve the Sacred Gears, as many of them as he could that when they circulate the Heaven System, eventually mankind would be armed with enough God Slayers to slay all the gods and devils that rule over them from the shadows, and complete God's Mythology by cementing his Works as they were victorious, why they were strong and free.
Helping a devil with his experiments was a detour that enraged him, but he hid it with practiced ease from a millennia of knowing how to control his emotions.
It was a small experiment to see if it was possible to use Devil Traits to evolve Dragon-Type Sacred Gears into Longinuses like Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing. It would be nice of the devils to give something back to humanity and be useful for once.
Even if this experiment proves true for evolving only Dragon-Type Sacred Gears, that would be a huge boon. Dragon-Types tended to be the most common of Sacred Gears, so that would be a huge number of gears if that worked.
So far though the results sadly weren't good enough. From what Satanael could see, Tempest Monarch rather than evolving due to introducing the Bune Trait Factor to the human, it simply could express greater power due to the body, the vessel, now being strong as a Dragonified Devil.
Although oddly enough, rather than focus on the disappointing result of this experiment—and yes, he knows the experiment isn't over yet, with other candidates for Sacred Gear Evolution, but Satanael was old enough to notice this pattern, and thus already decided not to get his hopes up—his attention was on something else.
Someone else.
And it wasn't the human hosting Sovereign Ascendant, that was quietly planning his escape (as if he couldn't be more obvious). Rather it was one of the hosts for Twice Critical of all things.
Satanael didn't understand why, but from time to time, his curiosity would be piqued, and his old role would settle onto his shoulders like a old friend.
This human, the Twice Critical holder, was nothing special when Satanael first saw him. A human who was weak, pathetic, sinful, scared, lost, hopeless, victimizing himself, hating and blaming everyone for his woes but never doing anything about them.
Satanael mentally went over the list of profiles about the Bune Trait Factor Candidate list, and remembered the name. Caleb Gunnar.
A minor change was noted about him three month ago, where he began to try and get physically fit, but simply managed to reach the normal baseline of a teen his age. Odds are some small routine change due to the extensive bullying he was suffering, but nothing truly substantial or expected to be permanent. He would have likely reverted back to how he was before the year's end.
But then when he woke up here on Alcatraz Island, Satanael couldn't help but note a peculiar... shift in Caleb. The boy was still fearful but the weak will within him was gone.
Unlike Sovereign Ascendant's holder (another mental check), Albert Sean's calm, calculating demeanor was the norm for him. Caleb's change was so minor, that on the surface he seemed the same as he always way.
Yet, Satanael's purpose and curiosity pinged in the back of his mind. It only occasionally, very rarely happened, where he'd meet a human that reminds him of his purpose. A human that Satanael knew, felt in his gut would grow if presented with a trial.
Thus Satanael did so. He nudged Ignatius Naberius' desire for grand results by having him use his concoction on humans with more impressive Sacred Gears. He allowed Caleb to be human for a little longer to see how he'd react, how he'd try and prevail over this ordeal.
As expected Albert ran with Caleb somehow synchronizing his own escape with the larger physiqued teen. The other Twice Critical holder was inconsequential to the whole event.
Elyndra, his current assistant—a minor Fallen of 100 years ago, born to two Pure Fallen Angels, thus had never known Heaven—reacted as expected. Elyndra launched an attack on the 'greater' threat, which was Albert, instantly taking him down. The hole in Albert's chest was a minor issue, since being Reincarnated into a blasphemous devil would heal all that.
Elyndra then aimed at the minor threat of Caleb and launch another Light Spear.
Caleb's reaction, his instincts of using the Fallen's attack to further facilitate his escape was a genuine surprise. It was an instinct that reminded Satanael of old Heroes.
But was it truly the start of a warrior's instinct that could lead to more, or just pure luck?
He couldn't get his hopes up, since he didn't expect much from this whole trip.
But, why not nudge things around and see what happens?
"I'm sorry for letting that boy escape, Lord Satanael, Lord Naberius. I'll go capture him right away." Elyndra quickly said.
"Please let me help go with him and hunt down that twerp, Lord Satanael!" Said Chad hastily, looking frustrated.
Right, this sinful human liked to victimize Caleb, didn't he? Satanael remembered. It was likely an negative interaction due to both of them having a Dragon Aura.
However even two people with Dragon-Type Sacred Gear could easily find common ground and be friends, or even neutral to each other after a while. For Chad Richardson to constantly focus on persecuting Caleb, it's more likely he'd just a human boy with a liking for sadism and nothing else beyond that. Just a human who liked feeling powerful by putting another down. An old tale, nothing special about it.
"If you wish it, my son alone can carry out this task, my lords. No need to trouble your subordinate with it, Lord Satanael." Brad Richardson, Chad's father offered in a sycophantic tone.
Satanael however felt nostalgic.
Why not make an appropriate trial for young Caleb? Either he'll genuinely show true virtue of the human spirit, or he'll predictably die and be turned into a Devil.
"I believe the Twice Critical holder is a minor issue, right, Ignatius? After all, another one is here." Satanael casually said, calming things down. Only Chad looked annoyed, but thankfully didn't act stupid, and held his tongue. "And it's not like the boy could escape this island, nor couldn't be easily retrieve him afterwards."
"Yes... yes, that's right." Ignatius Naberius said, calming down and taking deep breaths. "First, Rage Reaver. Chad, step forward to your destiny, and gain immortality and glory at my side."
"I'm honored, Lord Naberius!" Chad said with a grin.
"Rage Reaver, the Claws of Cataclysm, a Dragon-Type Sacred Gear that allowed the use to weaponize their Dragon Aura into an energy armor, that also strengthens the user's body. The more mastery one has of their Dragon Aura, the stronger the effect." Ignatius monologue as scientists like him tended to do.
Satanael understood the reason for it. Scientific minded individuals like Naberius tended to have too many thoughts running through their mind faster than the world around them. Explaining or repeating knowledge like the Sacred Gear's function was a way for the devil to center his mind on the important task before him.
In the background a growled could be heard.
"Oh, it seems Sovereign Ascendant is activating his Sacred Gear." Satanael casually noted.
Scales began to grow on Albert's body. The whole in his chest stopped bleeding, but it wasn't fully closed yet. The healing was slow.
"You'll... pay... all of you." Albert growled as he looked back at their group with slitted eyes. Draconic eyes.
"Right. Sovereign Ascendant, the Scales of the Primordial Beast. A Dragon-Type Sacred Gear that transforms the user's body, partially granting them draconic features. Transformation doesn't go past humanoid shape though." Ignatius said to himself, but Elyndra and the two devil worshippers seemed surprised by the explanation. "Satanael, could you and your minion subdue the boy while I grant Chad my gift."
Before Elyndra could speak up, offended at her boss being asked to carry out such a trivial task, Satanael replied.
"Sure. It is no effort on my part, and I'm truly interest to see the results of Sovereign Ascendant and Rage Reaver's Dragonification." Satanael easily lied.
He didn't expect anything from this experiment, as he already seen the results, and he knew the actual reasons for why Ignatius Naberius was pursuing this avenue of research.
Still, that doesn't mean one can't take the fruits of another's labor for their own good.
Let's hope something fruitful happens from this endeavor.
Dragon roars echoed across Alcatraz Island. The southern building was destroyed as a result of the last human subject was Reincarnated and injected with the Bune Trait Factor.
"How surprising." Satanael said with mild interest.
The Twice Critical holder became a Wyvern, a dragon with legs, wings and no arms. A lesser dragon basically.
As for Chad, he had a surprising transformation, but not as interesting as Albert's.
"Surprising? This is magnificent!" Ignatius exclaimed as they watched the newly born Dragon-Devil roared, feeling a wrath that was slowly simmering down from the brainwashing component of the transformation potion. "And all it cost was a mere two Pawn Pieces. This result is better than anything I could have anticipated."
"What about the last one? The other human with Twice Critical." Elyndra asked.
"Bah! He doesn't matter." Ignatius waved her off, far too elated with his experiment's results.
"Well, as they say, 'waste not, want not'." Satanael said with a smile. "Why not let your new dragonified Peerage members go out on a little hunt?" He suggested.
"Hmm," Ignatius held his jaw in thought. "Yesss," the Naberius Devil giggled. "Why not?"