Game of Monsters - 217

Whatever Makes You Smile

“Are you sure you’re okay to come here?” Serafall asked, for the third time at that. Not that Joshua blamed her, but still. “Going with Gabriel is one thing, but here…”

“I’m fine, Sera. I promise,” he said, even though he was lying. He did, in fact, feel a little off still. He couldn’t put his life on pause forever though. He didn’t want to either. He wanted to get back to how things had once been, even if Ophis would still come back again to check on his projects. Even if he was so filled with magic it was almost painful, every single day, every single second.

Joshua needed to try, because he had a feeling that, at least in the latter case, it would never go away.

“Honestly, the magic thing is almost welcome. Distracts me from all… this,” he commented, gesturing vaguely at their surroundings. He was, after all, making good on his promise to go out with her to one of the devil gatherings. Formal – stuffy, more like – events that they were, Serafall couldn’t escape them and that meant that neither could Joshua, if he didn’t want to just leave her to deal with those on her own.

She could do that, sure, she was even fine with that, but he felt guilty all the same every time she had to. They were a part of her life and he didn’t want to avoid it all the time. Furthermore, his presence in that kind of event helped her. They were, after all, publicly together, the same as Yasaka and Gabriel. That meant that his influence was added to their own in their respective positions… but that only went so far by knowledge alone. He needed to be seen with them; it solidified the whole thing.

Or so he was told.

Joshua was no political connoisseur, so he was kind of trusting their – and Ravel’s – opinions on the matter.

“If you say so…” Serafall replied slowly, narrowing her eyes full of doubt. Hurtful, but understandable. She was right, after all. “Thank you for coming, by the way,” she added, and that was the fifth time, he was pretty sure. She was repeating herself a lot that day, but he got it. “I never minded coming here and doing my thing, but… I guess having more real relationships makes all this… this all the more bothersome,” she commented, her expression and tone somewhere between sad and childishly pouty boredom.

Sometimes, Joshua would admit to being surprised by the range she had to express herself… and to keep her childish/magical girl persona going. If nothing else, she was committed, even though it was less pronounced those days. Sometimes she’d even drop it altogether, if mostly in private.

“It’s what partners are for, isn’t it?” he replied wryly. “We help make things better… and failing that, we’ll just suffer together,” he said, drawing a giggle from the woman. “Besides, at least the food is always good.”

“Have to make the Gula devils happy somehow,” Serafall explained, by then back to being upbeat. “And make sure the Pride devils don’t feel insulted… and attract the Envy devils.”

“Sounds complicated,” he mused out loud. And that was without even considering the other four Sins. Devil gatherings were more of a pain than he’d first imagined. Good thing he was never going to have to bother hosting a… Actually… “We’re never hosting one of these ourselves, right?” he asked.

The few seconds of silence that followed made him gulp and turn away from the party and towards Serafall.

“Right?” Joshua asked, more urgently this time.

The devil just gave him a sad, apologetic smile.

“Fuck,” he hissed under his breath. He was not looking forward to that. He was definitely setting up spells all over the place when it happened though. They would also all be very much not hidden. See if anyone dared think they were funny and could do something stupid at his place. He knew that much was allowed, since every single gathering he went to was full of defenses.

Joshua could and would make those look harmless if it got him a somewhat less painful night.

He didn’t have a Title such as Domain Authority just for show, after all. If they were going to come to his place, then they were going to behave. Because he’d seen by then how much of a pain in the ass devil guests could be and he was not going to be dealing with that bullshit himself. No way.

“You know someone’s gonna die if we have to host, right?” Joshua pointed out, getting a giggle from Serafall. Hopefully, she didn’t think it was a joke. Because he was most definitely not joking. “Anyway, what should we do while we’re here, other than eating?” he asked, just like he did every time he was dragged to such an event.

Usually, Serafall had a plan or three. Sometimes she wanted to discuss something with some politically important figure. Sometimes she needed a distraction to not talk about something with some other important figure. Sometimes she just needed to show him off in some way to someone or several someones.

“For now? Not much. Target hasn’t arrived yet,” she said, sounding fairly happy about that. Which made him think she was not looking forward to that conversation. He’d have to do his best when the time came then, if only to make things better for her. “Although… could you let your magic just… show?” she asked, but she seemed hesitant to ask that. “I wasn’t sure if to ask or not,” she admitted then. “I don’t know if that makes things more difficult for you.”

“On the contrary,” Joshua replied with a grin as he let go of the magic inside him. He’d taken to holding it in as best he could. Everyone had at least some sensing capability, for the most part. The ones with no skill might have a difficult time figuring out what they were even feeling if something was obvious enough that they picked up on it, but they’d still feel something.

And it was difficult to miss infinite magic. So, in order not to disturb people and such – or at least do so as little as possible –, he’d taken to at least trying to camouflage it a little. If Serafall wanted him to show off though, he’d do it.

Thus, he found himself mimicking the pleased smile on Serafall’s expression when everything seemed to pause and everyone turned towards him.

It was always nice to be able to help someone he loved.

[}-o-{]

Much as he’d like to not even think about it, the fact of the matter was that Ophis was going to come back to check on his progress again.

Joshua was confident that he’d earned some amount of wiggle room with his previous progress, at least. It was difficult to tell, sure, but he thought Ophis had been borderline pleased with what he’d done. Touched by Infinity gave him that idea, at least, since it was nothing like the straight out dangerous blessing of sorts she’d dropped on Khaos Brigade.

Then again, maybe she’d just learned how to not fuck people up with her “touch”.

Still, he needed to work on things anyway, if only to make sure and silence the part of his mind that worried. Thus, once he got some things out of the way and he got used to – a little bit, but something was better than nothing – the infinite amount of magic coursing through his body, he went back to working on things. There was a lot to do, from the data that he’d collected together with applying the blessing he’d been given.

Because an infinite source of magic was crazy. Energy to power things up was no longer a concern, basically. Joshua could set everything up in a way that his spell arrays would only take magic from him to feed their spells, no longer needing to depend on everyone inside the arrays to give an insignificant portion of their magic or on his powerful partners helping him set things up or even on leylines although those latter ones were still helpful in their own way. He could just syphon his own magic for everything and it was crazy.

Hell, he didn’t need to slowly power things up anymore. Despite the limit of how much he could use at once without burning himself up with his own magic output, the amount he had at his disposal at all times was crazy. His magic had grown considerably before, to a point in which he had nothing to envy Yasaka, for example. After Ophis though, he was above Serafall and Gabriel, maybe even Sirzechs and Ajuka, or at least on their level.

EX Magic stat was no joke. No joke at all.

‘Crazy,’ Joshua thought with a grin as he cast a spell straight to maximum power and felt no drain other than the moment in which he was casting. His magic was still full, obviously, and his body would be ready for another round in no time at all, since he hadn’t even gone to his own limit. ‘Oh, this will make things much simpler going forward,’ he thought to himself.

Had Ophis given him Touched by Infinity for that express purpose? Was it more of a tool for him to work better rather than an actual blessing? Like an employer giving him a better work computer, rather than gifting a computer for him to use however he wished. Or maybe it was a middle ground. Not like he could decide not to use the infinite magic for stuff other than the development of Ophis’ Silence.

“Sir,” a voice called and he blinked. He was at the Silence Projects’ location. Nobody should be dropping by unless they were his partners. Everyone else either didn’t know where they were, wouldn’t go after him if he wasn’t available or both. ‘What’s Georg doing here…?’ he thought, before noticing the tray balanced on the man’s hand. “A servant was looking for you with this,” the magician explained and there was a touch of… detachedness to the way he spoke, to his expression. Like he was some kind of human robot of sorts. “I wasn’t sure if you’d asked for it, so I decided to bring it to you.”

That almost sounded reasonable, but he knew for a fact that Fuyuko had done similar things before. She knew to leave things if he wasn’t around. It was not rare for him to have to leave unexpectedly. Furthermore, Georg knew all this.

So, that meant the guy had decided to do this for a reason, Joshua just didn’t know the reason.

“Thank you,” he said with a nod, channeling gods and goddesses for a short moment at the same time that he asked Cheshire for her opinion on the tea. A little paranoid of him, he supposed, but he was taking no chances, really. As a magician, his distaste for surprises had grown even further, considering surprises were basically lack of information and he needed information to feel safe. “You didn’t have to,” he added, as gentle a prod as he could manage, really.

He didn’t expect Georg to fold immediately though.

“I didn’t, but I wanted to,” the man said immediately, with no hesitation. Joshua realized a second later that he probably was looking to be questioned and be able to explain himself. “Your need for me has lessened, and that’s prompted me to try and make myself useful, sir,” Georg said and Joshua was left blinking.

That was… true to an extent. With the boost he’d gotten from Ophis, getting to the Dimensional Gap on his own merit and back out was a real possibility, not something that he could do if he pulled all the stops. He no longer needed Issei to be around to manage, for one. He could do it on his own power, and repeatedly, if not infinitely.

He’d tested that, and maybe that was what prompted Georg to do… whatever it was that he was doing. Not that the man was entirely correct either. Because yes, Joshua could do it, but Dimension Lost was still way more efficient at it than he was.

“And bringing me tea was what you thought of?” he asked, more curious and amused than judgemental.

“It was what was at hand,” Georg answered and Joshua could almost see the mental shrug, but the man remained steadfast, standing straight and with his expression clear. “I don’t mind acting as a servant if it means I’m considered to be on your side rather than an enemy. I’ve realized that there’s no point in antagonizing you, sir. So, if there’s anything I can do to prove myself, say the word.”

Well, that was… something.

“For now, go back. We’ll talk about this another time,” Joshua replied. “And thanks for the tea.”

With a bow, Georg disappeared and he was left alone… to massage his forehead tiredly.

‘I’m not dealing with that. Nope, fuck that,’ he thought to himself, taking a sip from his cup. ‘Ravel will know what to do,’ he decided with a nod, happily pushing the issue aside and focusing back on his tinkering.

[}-o-{]

“It’s best not to try and make smaller changes if that’s not what you are aiming for or need,” Joshua explained, running his fingers through his hair idly. “Chances are, even if you keep it small, you’ll need to change most of the circle in question, so why not just do everything you need to instead of trying to make work simpler when it’s never going to be that simple? Sometimes, bigger chances might even need less work than smaller ones,” he said, once more thoroughly enjoying how dedicated and serious the valkyries were.

He had kind of neglected his classes with them – even if he hadn’t dropped them altogether like he had the other ones –, especially leading to the last week before Ophis’ visit and then afterwards with all the mess he’d been left with. However, Göndul hadn’t seemed to have a problem with that and neither had the other valkyries nor the Norse Pantheon, fortunately. He wasn’t quite sure why they were so… lax, but he wasn’t complaining.

Joshua would have to check with Ravel to do something for them.

Maybe he could help them improve their defenses somewhere? Surely he could do something in that vein and even things out. First, he’d have to check with his partners and Ravel, but he did feel like he needed to do something. Better be safe than sorry, especially if he didn’t want to mess up relations with a faction.

Joshua had a feeling the Egyptians wouldn’t be as nice if he messed up that, and he wasn’t eager to get on their bad side. Not after so long enjoying having a great relationship with them. He kind of had grown fond of them… for the most part. Not like he personally knew many of them, but those he knew were nice enough and they were always eager to help him out when he needed it. So he wanted to be a good Pharaoh for them…

Even if he sometimes forgot he was supposed to be one.

“I get that it’s tempting to keep things as simple as possible, that’s the deceptive nature of spell modification,” Joshua continued, explaining when the valkyries finished taking notes. “Making bigger changes makes one think it’ll need a comparable amount of work, but that’s not the case. Whatever change you want to make, the amount of work it’ll need will be arbitrary, since any change can need more or less work to be done on the circle. It’s a matter of seeing what the change involves in regards to every other part of the circle and how much adaptation you need to make up for it. More often than not, you’ll need to change everything, or next to everything. So, don’t bother trying to hold back on that account. There’s a decent chance that you’ll need the same amount of work you’d need for what you actually need instead of what you’re settling for, and there’s even a chance that you might need more work. Now, as an example, I have these spells I worked on a while ago, the first one…”

It felt like it’d been a while since he’d given a proper lecture instead of just letting them do their thing and supervising. That had been easier on him when he needed to stay focused, but he kind of liked teaching properly. So, it was nice to have the opportunity again. Furthermore, it’d help Levi learn. He was sitting in for the class, not for the actual class, since it was all stuff that he knew already from having taken his Spell Modification class and having finished it already, but in order to learn how to teach from him.

They were kind of killing two birds with one stone, as it were.

Maybe three, if the way some of the Valkyries and Göndul were looking at him. Joshua had a feeling the guy might get recruited for a job or three regarding the Norse Pantheon… That or a girlfriend. Maybe both. ‘Godspeed to you either way, buddy,’ he thought to himself, holding back a smile.

“Now, we can do one of two things,” Joshua announced by the time he was done with that particular lecture. “I can do a demonstration of two modifications, one barely changing anything and another changing a lot of a spell, to show you guys how it can go. Or we can leave this aside and discuss your group projects.”

Apparently, for as good students as valkyries could be, they could be just as messy under the right circumstances. At the back of the classroom, Joshua saw Göndul grinning as the students started getting louder and louder, arguing amongst themselves in favor of one or the other option. He got it, it was very amusing to see the otherwise fairly composed and calm women just absolutely lose their cool at a frankly amazing speed.

“Ok!” he called, clapping his hands. He’d half expected to have to silence the classroom magically, but that was not necessary. Valkyries just really were built differently compared to how his usual students were. “Third option. We can do both if you guys don’t mind the class going long. You’ve been very patient with me for the last few weeks and this can be my way to repay you all a bit if you want,” he offered, because that was a safer way to approach his debt to them rather than risking something more drastic.

On that, the valkyries seemed to unanimously agree, which was great.

Joshua really had missed teaching properly.

[}-o-{]

He should have been working on Ophis’ Silence, he really should have been.

Instead, Joshua laid on his back, whistling along with one of Margalo’s songs and looking up at the ceiling, where Morag was doing one of her web pieces. The jorogumo was having a great time at that, humming and giggling all the while. It was adorable and he wouldn’t be told otherwise.

As for the rest of his familiars… Well, Cheshire and Nagini were having a different kind of fun sparring with Raynare, Kuroka and the newly added Georg in a battle royale of sorts. Joshua wasn’t sure he trusted the guy, not really, but after their little chat… Well, he thought he could try and see if there was something that could be done there.

Wouldn’t be the first time he recruited someone unconventional… in a just as unconventional way.

“Look, dad!” Morag called, turning and beaming at him in a way that was entirely unfair, really. What was a man to do faced with such cuteness? An eight-eyed face had no business being so adorable, yet there the jorogumo was. Living proof if there ever was one.

“I’m looking,” he told her with a grin. “It already seems great, you know?”

“Really?!” she asked excitedly. He wasn’t lying, but he definitely would have lied if he had to, so he guessed the question was sort of valid. “Can you guess what it is?”

“Nagini?” Joshua asked, because he thought he could recognize the flowing lines of the snake from previous pieces of Morag’s. “I’m not sure what’s there in the corner though, but I’m looking forward to seeing more,” he added and the giggle he got in response further encouraged him to procrastinate and pay attention to her. “Hey, Friday,” he greeted, feeling the presence of the living spell draw closer, paying attention to them, to him. “Had fun distracting Kunou?” he asked.

Because that’s what the spell had been doing. He would not be deceived, even if her attempts at doing so weren’t pitifully adorable. Friday couldn’t lie to save her life, apparently, especially to him. Not that he was complaining, of course, but still.

“Did she at least do well in her classes?” Joshua asked, getting a dubious, hesitant answer to that. He wondered if that meant no, or just that Friday wasn’t really perceptive enough to know the answer. It could go either way, really. He’d have to ask Kunou whenever she dropped by. “Either way, you should let her do her stuff. She needs to,” he commented, getting a slightly apologetic feeling from the spell.

“... So… rry?” the spell said just as hesitantly as before. She was still trying to speak and learning little by little. There were stumbles, but she’d get there. Along the way though, he would gently correct all her mistakes, so that she could learn better. She was getting faster though, if not that much better. He was getting that she was impatient though, but once she got the speed down, she’d be able to work on the rest, he guessed.

Joshua made sure to send her plenty of encouragement and praise though, just to be safe.

“Don’t worry about it,” he reassured, closing his eyes momentarily to better enjoy Margalo’s music and Friday’s presence wrapped around him. “What do you feel like doing, girl? You wanna stick around with us?” he asked and the living spell immediately wrapped even more warmly-welcoming around his body. It was her version of a tight hug, he was pretty sure. “If you want, you can go join the mess over there,” he added, absently waving one of his hands towards the sparring group.

The spell was torn, Joshua could tell, which was why he decided to throw her a bone.

“You can go play with them and then come back. We’ll be here for a while,” he reassured. Sure enough, not even a full minute later, he heard the surprised exclamations coming from the sparring group. Not even Cheshire and Nagini had been spared from the ambush. Sucked to be them.

“Oh, is that Kuroka?” he asked Morag, when she added more detail to the part that he wasn’t sure about.

“No~!” the jorogumo replied, giggling some more. He had half a mind to throw more wrong guesses just to see how much amusement she could take from that. However, he was feeling a little lazy, he’d admit. Maybe he could just take a nap. He was sure someone would wake him up if he was needed for anything…

And if they didn’t, then even better. If it was urgent, he’d be called, and if it wasn’t, then he’d be fine if he could sleep for longer. Even after he was almost fully recovered from his sleepless days and with the infinite magic thing growing more and more… not really normal, it’d never be that, but certainly something that he could live with and not feel perpetually wrong. Even with all that, Joshua found himself mentally exhausted those days. It showed in how lazily he did things. Everything always involved some excuse to take it a little easier where he wouldn’t have before.

He didn’t think it was wrong of him to do so, he didn’t even procrastinate that much, but it worried him that he might do so if things continued. Joshua at least had the reassurance that someone would likely call him out on it if he did. He wasn’t surrounded by idiots, after all.

‘Maybe I can ask Fuyuko for some snacks…’ he mused… but before he could decide on that, he was snapped out of whatever relaxation he was feeling. A shot of panic ran through his body and he felt all his familiars stiffen through their bond. ‘Fuck, no! I still have like three weeks. What the hell?’ he exclaimed in his mind as he reached for the communication item and answered the call.

“Joshua Davis,” he heard Ophis say immediately and he gulped. His heart turned to ice and the world, previously warm and cozy suddenly felt cold and harsh. “I need to talk to you. Today.”

‘Fuck, fuckfuckfuck! Why?!’

“Of course,” he replied, gulping and feeling like pulling his hair out.

‘What the fuck happened?!’

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

Welp, sucks to be Joshua.

I’m sure he’ll be fine though, probably.

Me, for my part, I’m gonna be experiencing some of Joshua’s burn out soon, pretty sure. End of the year is close by and my family wants to go on a vacation sometime in January… Which means that, if I want to go, I’ll either need backlog, write during the vacation somehow or not update things during the vacation. In the spirit of not having to do the latter again after my break at the end of last year/start of this year and also not missing out on the vacation… Well, I’ll be trying to push myself in order to get some backlog.

What a time to have started a fourth story, huh? Genius move on my part there, obviously. Admittedly, I did that partly because I was afraid that if I put it off, I’d chicken out, but still.

Rambling aside, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: If you read Author Notes at all (you should, since you’re reading this), what do you prefer to see in them? I usually try to talk about the chapter itself for the most part – although, it’s usually just my insecurities showing, I’ll admit –, but this time I decided to do something a little different and talk about my life at the moment. I think I’ve done that a bit before, but never quite like this, although I could be wrong.

So, yeah, maybe I’ll talk about myself a little more if you guys care at all.

See you.

PS: I forgot to mention, but I'll be dropping a Character Sheet updated to chapter 215 in the Discord server.