"Kaito, I have to admit that Multiversal Conqueror and Lord of the Territory are titles that suit you quite well" Akeno said after hearing the story.
"And that sound quite fake as well" Sona added.
"You think it's a lie? I can take you to the real and completely destroyed version of this universe right now if you want" Kaito said, taking out the dimensional scissors.
"That's not necessary" Sona immediately refused.
"Then you believe me?"
"It's too crazy a story to be made up. Even so, I see no reason to help you"
"In the end, this world is already dead. I'm the opportunity to resurrect it.
And even if you didn't help me, someone else would eventually conquer this world, you know? At least you know me"
"Even if you say that. If everything you said is true, couldn't you be telling this to thousands of other versions of me right now? Even if you say I don't know the others, I actually do, just not 'this' me.
I'm sure that if I decide to support someone, then even if 'this' me doesn't know them, they are someone trustworthy" Sona analyzed.
"You like to think, huh? Where was all that intelligence when you decided to bet your entire future on whoever beat you at chess?" Kaito complained.
"H-how do you know that? And it wasn't a random decision, okay?" Sona said embarrassedly before making a decision and becoming serious. "Fine, I'll help you"
"Really? That easily?" Kaito raised an eyebrow, doubting the truthfulness of her words.
"Seriously" Sona nodded. "Putting aside that, just as you say, it's not like there is really another option, it simply depends on whether we believe you or not. If I support you, I can have a duel against the smartest person I know"
"The smartest person you know?"
Sona smiled confidently. "Myself"
'I see, she wants to choose others and compete against herself over who chose the best one' Kaito realized. 'That's an incredible mixture of arrogance, confidence, and competitiveness'
"Then it will be a pleasure to work with you" Kaito said with a smile, extending his right hand.
Sona smiled and did the same.
"It will be a pleasure, Lucifer. I hope I remember you after you leave"
"Then" Kaito turned toward the others. "What about you?"
"I'm in" Akeno said immediately.
"I imagined you'd give that answer, but even so, why?" Kaito asked.
"Like Sona said, we don't have another option, right? Instead of thinking so much, I'll simply choose to trust Kaito and go with the flow" Akeno said, smiling as always.
"You're just going to recover her memories and skip the part where she matures on her own" Koneko said, easily realizing her intentions.
"W-what? Koneko, I don't know what you're talking about. Although if my future version has already overcome her past, it would be unexpected but a welcome extra" Akeno pretended ignorance.
"Unexpected" Koneko repeated sarcastically.
And Akeno glared at her, pretending to be offended, but still did not say anything aloud.
Kiba observed this and frowned.
"I feel like you're not taking this with the seriousness it deserves" Although he normally let everyone's peculiar behavior pass, since they were more oriented toward having fun than being serious, as a serious person Kiba could not take something like the destruction of all worlds as a joke. Just minutes ago, he did not even know there were other worlds, and now it turned out they were all dying?
"As expected of you, Kiba, the serious and responsible part of this eccentric group" Kaito nodded with satisfaction at his words. Since he would be his ally, obviously he would want someone reliable like him. "But I also know where that seriousness comes from, so I have a gift for you"
A portal, opened horizontally in the ceiling by Kaito, was crossed by something that crashed into the club's low table and broke it before hitting the floor.
Upon recognizing it, Kiba's eyes widened. He froze, clenching his fists tightly, unable to contain his murderous intentions. At that moment, Kiba vividly remembered his entire childhood and the smiling faces of his friends before all those memories were stained red.
"That's..." he said with a trembling voice.
"Valper Galilei, Director of the Holy Sword Project" Kaito nodded with a meaningful smile. "He worked under Kokabiel. When I dealt with him, I found him.
Unfortunately, in exchange for certain information, I made him a promise, so I can't kill him... myself."
Kiba knelt down. "Kaito, give him to me and you will have my complete loyalty. The only purpose of my life has always been to take revenge on Valper Galilei. After that, the purpose of my life will be to follow you."
'I feel like this is the third knight I've obtained' Kaito suddenly realized.
"Go ahead"
Meanwhile, Valper, gagged, saw the situation and growled desperately, trying to refuse.
Kiba watched him with a sadistic smile before summoning a long sword, using it to pierce his leg, and using this to throw him outside.
"Keep discussing. I'll make sure he can't make any more noise"
With three on his side, Kaito continued to the next target.
"Ravel"
"I-I... Are you going to kill my brother?"
"No. Although I'll cripple him for thinking about Koneko" Kaito said. He had restrained himself quite a bit to avoid killing him the moment he dared to look at his girlfriend lustfully.
"C-cripple him how?"
"I'll make it so he can't use any kind of magic"
"...I see" Ravel sighed in relief. It was at least better than the scenarios she had imagined in her head. "I'll help you. It's not like there's another option. With Sitri on your side, you already have an advantage.
And besides, you're not that worried despite your plan being ruined, right? I think that even if we don't accept, you have other methods to force it. It's better to do it the easy way."
"Oh, she's intelligent. I like her" Sona murmured, seeing someone similar to herself.
"B-but..." Ravel added, gathering her courage. "I want an important position in the future, I mean an important position outside this world. If this becomes your world, it will become a secondary branch of the hierarchy. At the very least, I want to be in the main hierarchy"
Kaito narrowed his eyes in her direction before smiling and nodding. "Deal"
"Eh? That easily?" Ravel was surprised.
"Do you think I simply brought all the people I know here and tried to convince them? I have abilities that let me know who I can trust" Kaito explained.
"And also because you're cute" Koneko added in a whisper, knowing Kaito.
"Eh? Cu..."
"Ignore her" Kaito said. "Then, finally, Rias."
"Before deciding, I have a question"
"Ask it."
"In the original timeline, what happened to my engagement?"
"If what scares you is recovering your memories and seeing your life with Riser, you don't have to worry about that.
In the original timeline, they had a Rating Game and Issei beat him up"
"Incredible. Is that the level of one of the Longinus?" Rias said, impressed.
"Actually, no" Kaito disappointed her. "Although he used the Boosted Gear, he still lost.
It's just that in the original timeline Asia joined your peerage, so Issei obtained some vials of holy water and... well."
"I-I see. I suppose that even if it's a Longinus, it's impossible to grow that quickly" Rias sighed in disappointment. "And no one would expect my peerage to have a saint still devoted to God capable of creating holy water.
Alright, I'll join you and help you"
"Good, this went better than I thought. Now we just have to wait for Grayfia to wake up and..."
"Wait! Kaito, aren't you forgetting someone?" Issei interrupted, making himself noticed.
Kaito looked at Issei with pity for a second and sighed.
"Issei, I was clearly ignoring you, you know? Why don't you read the atmosphere? That way you would have spared yourself the pain for a little longer, at least"
"W-what? Pain?"
"W-wait. Kaito? Even if I promised to help you, I won't if you hurt Issei" Rias interrupted fearfully.
"I won't hurt Issei, Rias, don't worry" Kaito reassured her. "Actually, the reason I did the whole thing with searching for Kokabiel was to obtain a method of stealing Sacred Gears"
"S-stealing Sacred Gears" Rias repeated incredulously. She had considered the possibility of doing this before, but it had only been a fleeting thought. She had never imagined something like this would be possible. You could not blame her, Sacred Gears were a mechanism created by God, and in DxD, God was one of the beings at the absolute peak of power.
"No! Impossible! You won't take my Sacred Gear! It's my path to the ultimate harem!" Issei immediately refused.
"And that's exactly the problem" Kaito nodded.
Using the dimensional scissors, he opened a portal to the main room of his base. On the other side was Mashiro calmly sitting and drawing a Flash comic, Kaguya watching television while seeming to think about something, Ai cleaning what was already clean as if she only did it out of habit, and Chika and Bocchi sitting together while a red energy surrounded both of them.
"What do you see here?"
"G-girls!" Issei said excitedly. "They're beautiful, who are they?! Do you think I can add them to..."
Issei stopped when he saw Rias, Akeno, Sona, and Ravel looking at him like a lost cause they could not defend. Although he did not understand why, he knew that he had definitely ruined it.
"Each of them is my girlfriend, Issei, except Bocchi" Kaito said calmly.
"What?! You have your own harem?!"
"That's not the point. The point is that it's not just them, my territory is full of girls that I won't let you approach. Your personality is a problem"
"N-no way. Just because of that?"
"It's not 'just because of that'. Different worlds have different rules. The limit for perverseness in this world is much higher than in a normal one. Something you say here would probably be sexual harassment in another world.
Even so, even here, you've been warned many times by Sona or reprimanded for your actions, right? Even in this world, you would probably go to prison for sexual harassment.
I'm not going to arrest you or anything like that, Issei. I'm not going to personally punish you as if I were some kind of vigilante either, but I'm also not going to take you with me"
"B-but..."
"Your actions have consequences, Issei. You had plenty of time and opportunities to change. Maybe others don't care, but I do, and I'm the one who has the decision-making power here"
"So... that's the reason..." Issei's world seemed to collapse in an instant as his dreams were destroyed.
"Not entirely. There's another reason" Kaito added, making Issei raise his head. "I simply don't like you. And I won't take someone I don't like with me."
"N-no way. President..."
"You don't understand, Issei" Rias denied, explaining. "He is the one in the higher position here. At first, everything depends on whether we believe him or not, but once we believe him, we are the ones who need him, not the other way around.
We aren't obligated to do what he wants, but if he doesn't want something, then it won't happen"
"...Boost!" After a few seconds, Issei murmured.
Kaito sighed. "I knew this would happen"
Without even letting him move, Kaito was already behind Issei, piercing through his body with his vibrating arm.
As soon as he activated soul manipulation, a golden version of Issei appeared in front of his vision in an empty black space.
Following his orders, the golden Issei removed the gauntlet from his wrist and personally handed it to him.
In the real world, Issei fell unconscious upon feeling his soul being manipulated.
When he woke up, he would discover that he was perfectly fine, without any visible or otherwise injuries, but no matter how hard he tried to summon the scarlet-scaled gauntlet he was so proud of, it would not appear.
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)