Game of Monsters - 197

-No Mistakes, No Pressure

Meeting Vasco Strada had actually been something Joshua had been interested in. He’d never given it much thought, true, but he had pondered how that’d go every so often. For one, he knew of the man, even without his canon knowledge. It was difficult not to. Every single human seemed to know of him, he’d lived long enough and, more importantly, done enough that everyone had heard of him.

He was the Sirzechs Lucifer of humanity, the Zeus or the Odin. He was the top of the top, the cream of the crop. He’d reached the very limits of their species and it showed. Just standing in front of him had Joshua confirm that it had all been true.

Just feeling his aura washing over him had Joshua solidify the mental image he’d already had of the man.

Even improve it.

‘What a monster of a man,’ he noted to himself, barely keeping his awe in check as he gazed at the man. Or, more specifically, at the man’s character sheet.

[Vasco Strada

Title: Violence of Heaven

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Rank: S

Strength: SS

Speed: S

Dexterity: S

Vitality: S

Perception: S

Magic: B

Life: B]

‘Higher general ranking than me,’ he noted idly. He wasn’t at all insulted by that. If anything, the fact that he was so close made him feel very proud. The only stats he had on Vasco were Magic and Life, which made sense. Magic was his main stat and Life he’d raised through Senjutsu, as opposed to… Did the Church even have anything to help Vasco with that or did the man just completely break the system and brute force his Life stat all the way up to what it was?

Because that B stat might be the most impressive one if that was the case.

There was also a very important fact that made that character sheet all the more impressive.

Vasco Strada was old.

Joshua would bet anything that his stats would look even higher if he were younger, if he were in his prime, and that was thoroughly humbling. ‘I couldn’t take him without preparation time,’ he noted to himself, although that was expected too. If he could take down someone without prep, then they clearly weren’t strong enough to bother considering, at least in terms of a fight.

God knew his stats were higher than Penemue, but he’d never underestimate the power of a politician.

He was in a relationship with three of those and that had only made them that much scarier.

“Do you think you can make way for us, Joshua?” Griselda said, bringing him back to the present and he raised an eyebrow at the woman. Was that a serious question or was she just lying down facts? All the same, he took a deep breath in and then answered.

“Unless the information you gave me was incorrect, it shouldn’t be a problem,” he replied, drawing a very much not inconspicuous angry response from someone down the table. The one that had provided said information, he would bet. “Even then, I’m accounting for the fact that it’ll be incomplete anyway. If their defenses pose a problem, then it’s a different matter entirely.”

As he said that, however, he grinned.

“I’ll pay you for this job if that happens,” he added, and he found the wide-eyed look from Griselda very amusing. He meant what he said though. If someone had that kind of protection, then he wanted to study it, take it apart to see what they’d done. It would be a great learning experience.

“Then we’ll leave that to you,” Gabriel said, a smile on her face that showed almost nothing. Joshua could be reading too much into it, but he thought he saw a hint of fond amusement somewhere there. All the same, she continued then, turning towards the rest of the people gathered. “As for everyone else, we’ll be going in to deal with the base itself. Once again, I implore you to keep the bloodshed to a minimum, but not at the expense of your own health,” the angel said, an uncharacteristically grim expression on her face. She looked like it pained her to say so, but she meant every word.

If she was this torn about this, Joshua wondered how awful the Great War must have been for her. Although, it could just as well be because these were her people she was fighting against. It was just that they were… so twisted they were fighting against their own pantheon.

He made a mental note to do something nice to try and cheer her up at least a little.

Most of the rest of the planning, Joshua wasn’t very interested in. He had one job, the rest would be handled by everyone else. So, he’d mostly been invited because he was a key component of breaking through into the base, but other than that, it had been all a formality. He did have to answer some questions here and there though. Would his spells get in the way of their raid? Not unless they cast something that would keep his spells out or attack them for whatever reason, and even then it’d depend. How fast would he be able to break through? He’d know once he’d gotten a look himself, but he gave an estimate all the same.

So on and so forth.

He almost wished he could do as he did during Anti-KB meetings and just pull out his notebook to work on something. Alas, he couldn’t do that without very much insulting everyone in the room and making Gabriel and Griselda look bad for vouching for him. Not only would that suck, but the Church wasn’t really… informed of his relationship with the angel, so he wanted to be in their good books as much as possible before those news became more widespread than a few people here and there in the faction.

‘I’m so bored though,’ he lamented to himself, but at least the appreciative smile he saw Gabriel sneaking his way was worth it.

[}-o-{]

[Jeanne Davis]

“You ready?” Joshua asked her and she grinned.

Normally, she’d be a lot less confident about sparring with her brother, especially in a one on one situation. However, that day was a special case. Not only were they fighting exclusively with swords, which was her specialty, but they were also fighting in front of her friends from the kendo club. Jeanne knew that Joshua liked to be seen as a normal guy whenever possible, even if he was anything but. So, he was unlikely to go all out, or maybe he’d handicap himself to let her win.

“Humbling,” some voices whispered, grim and respectful.

“Galling, but understandable,” was what others had to say.

“I should be asking you that,” Jeanne asked out loud, a grin on her face as she gripped her shinai. The next second, she was already on him, with Joshua barely reacting fast enough to block her sword. He was definitely weighting himself down with spells, maybe even adding other stuff to make himself weaker. Jeanne was under no delusions that her brother could kick her ass even with a direct, straightforward sword.

He was too fast, too strong and too durable. Her technique wouldn’t be enough if he were going all out. As such, Jeanne was determined to milk that moment for all it was worth. It’d be nice to be the one to win a spar for once. Was it petty of her? Unfair? It was probably both, but that wouldn’t stop her.

She heard the voices sigh, disappointed, but there were some that seemed to find her thoughts amusing. There were even one or two that agreed with her. That was fine. She didn’t need to always listen to them, nor did she need to agree with them.

She appreciated their insight, their help, of course. How could she not, when they’d led her towards being the happiest she’d ever been? All the same, she’d also learned to be herself, faults and all. Joshua had taught her that, being the mess that he was. Her brother had a lot of flaws. He was an absentminded workaholic, for one, but he was also a gentle caretaker and he was also, most importantly, happy.

Jeanne wanted to be happy above all things, so she’d follow his example and let her flaws be.

“Living your own life is important, listen to yourself,” the voices agreed, even if some did so begrudgingly.

“Come on, Josh, is that all?” she taunted, making her brother’s eyes narrow. She was almost positive that he was just following along though. Jeanne appreciated it, especially because her friends seemed to be having fun watching them spar.

She wasn’t sure herself how they’d ended up in that situation, but she wasn’t complaining. She didn’t get to spend a lot of time with Joshua those days, if it wasn’t training back at home or during meals. She understood that he did important things, but she’d nevertheless be grateful for the moment to just spend time with her brother in a setting that was more her life than his, such as the kendo club at Kuoh.

“Kick her ass, Mr. Davis!”

“You’re supposed to be on my side!” she exclaimed, turning to glare at her friend, who burst into giggles. Giggles that turned into laughter when she got poked with Joshua’s shinai. He’d let up his handicap for that, she was sure. She wasn’t so bad that she could be so easily distracted into letting a hit in.

“A family of petty people,” the voices sighed.

Which, fair enough.

“You’ll regret that,” she hissed, earning herself a grin from Joshua.

They sparred for a bit after that, and she did win. She’d treasure that memory for quite some time, even if it wasn't a fully earned victory. After that, they still stayed around, watching the club activities happen, with Jeanne joining in here and there. She was part of the club, even if she didn’t always stay at school for that. She worked at the cafe too, after all, and she was more serious about that than sport-fighting.

Fortunately, her friends didn’t seem to mind, but that might have been because she was one of the best even with her lackluster determination.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Sona told them, crossing their path “coincidentally” when they were on their way out of the school. If the devils – both groups – hadn’t known Joshua was there ever since he arrived, then Jeanne would eat one of her swords. “This is a space for students.”

“Are you gonna kick me out?” Joshua asked, raising an eyebrow and smiling at the devil. Jeanne had to contain her giggles when she saw a hint of pink color the girl’s cheeks. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t stand a chance. Jeanne was sure Sona would get the same treatment Rias did if she tried. The devil was likely aware of that herself, but that didn’t help her much, apparently.

“I won’t,” Sona acknowledged, almost huffing the words.

“Thanks,” Joshua replied with a chuckle. “If you want, you can take these from your supposed debt,” he added, but the devil just narrowed her eyes at him. She likely saw that as an insult of some sort, since it was so minor. “Or not,” her brother added. “Did you need anything, Sona?” he added, his voice and his smile softening. Now the Sitri devil was definitely blushing.

Jeanne wondered if Joshua was actually that dense.

Then she remembered that yes, he definitely was.

“Not really,” the girl admitted, but she did seem to think of something. “I’ve been considering asking you about your apprentices though, and if they might be interested in making a contract with me or my peerage members.”

“Hm, I imagine you’ll like Levi and I might have some in mind that’d like the idea,” Joshua replied, taking a moment to think that over. “Jeanne and I were going to the cafe, you want to come with us and we can talk about over there?”

“I wouldn't want to impose,” Sona said, glancing towards Jeanne. For her part, she just grinned, knowing full well what was coming. Sure enough, her brother chuckled and reached with an arm around the girl’s shoulders and pulled her along, reassuring her that it was fine.

“Not imposing at all, I could use distractions today,” her brother said casually, unaware of the predicament he put Sona in.

Oblivious Joshua was hilarious, as always.

[}-o-{]

[Griselda Quarta]

“Do you need anything, Joshua?” she asked, standing straight and feeling the nervous energy coursing through her. She might have been in the business for a while, but she had never gotten used to major battles. They just had a way of having her bring her guard up all the way.

One never knew what could happen, or when, or where, or how.

There were a lot of unknowns and every single one of them could get people killed. She’d had friends and colleagues and rivals die in battles that were supposed to be easy and missions that were supposed to be simple, never mind when the stakes were higher and the odds harsher. Thus, she’d promised herself long before that point that she’d never let her guard down before a mission or a battle.

“No, I just need a minute to check the defenses,” the man in front of her said, eyes locked in the direction of their objective. The base couldn’t even be seen, actually. It was only their detailed information that let them know where they had to go, really.

Off to the side, Griselda heard someone scoff under their breath, and that meant the magician had heard it just as clearly. He didn’t show it though, not even so much as twitching. There would always be those that reacted negatively to outsiders and Joshua Davis was an outsider, no doubt about that. He wasn’t part of their faction. Furthermore, he was in a very public relationship with a Satan and a Youkai leader. The second was much less offensive than the first, but both worked against him all the same, nevermind both facts put together.

As the cherry on top of that cake, magicians were generally not very well regarded by the Church.

Basically, Joshua had a lot of things stacked against him, so it was no wonder that many people in Griselda’s faction had no love lost for the man, no matter how strong he was. If anything, the fact that his legend was growing to match Vasco’s was considered an insult of its own.

It was only her and, more importantly, Gabriel that had convinced people to even let his involvement happen. And she was glad they’d managed, because there were few things more reassuring than having two of the strongest humans participating in the same mission on the same side. The only way she’d have felt even more confident would have been if Heaven got more involved.

Alas, angels could only do so much without drawing unwanted attention. The Civil War as a whole had managed to stay relatively under the radar as far as other factions were concerned, for one. There was a reason why major powers tended to keep to their own domains and it was that too much movement made people nervous. If the Olympians decided to all visit a beach in South America, it was sure to cause an inter-faction incident, for example.

The same could be said about any spot in the mortal realm, even if it’d be less impactful in their own territory.

Thus, angels were keeping their involvement relatively indirect.

“Ok, I think I’ve got it,” Joshua commented, tilting his head. “And the base is that way,” he added, pointing slightly to the left of where they thought their target was from where they stood. “I’m gonna make an illusion map for all the teams to adjust positions and aims,” he added, waving his hand.

Immediately, a small three dimensional projection appeared in front of Griselda and she took it in as best she could in such short notice. She saw several of the exorcists around shift in place. The nervous energy had spiked even more and Griselda was far from the only one in that regard. Starting off by being told they had the wrong information was… worrying.

Very worrying.

“Other than that though, not that hard,” Joshua commented, and circles started appearing around them, spells being cast and magic flooding the area. “A little better than the Tepes defenses,” the man added, further adding to the roller coaster of emotions that Griselda was dealing with.

Although she wasn’t complaining this time, she’d take whiplash-inducing relief any day.

Not even a full minute after that, she saw the base appear. A moment later, enemy agents started coming out, casting their response to Joshua’s one-man siege. If what they did made any difference though, she didn’t know, because the magician by her side seemed to have no issue whatsoever, continuing to cast like nothing was going on.

Actually, his spell came to be with the same ease he’d cast the illusion map from before. There was no fear and no nerves, only confidence that bordered on boredom. By the looks of it, Griselda was impressed in a way that had nothing to do with the man’s magical prowess. He was attacking the base defenses like it was nothing special, a routine occurrence that didn’t even require effort.

“Path’s open for you, Vasco,” she heard him say and not even a moment later there was a loud boom in the distance and a chunk of the base – part of which was hidden from their view – seemed to blow up. “What a scary guy,” Joshua commented idly, before turning his head to the side. Griselda only just barely managed to follow his gaze to see someone had shot themselves up in the air in a flash of light…

Only to crash against an invisible wall and fall pitifully to the ground.

“Nobody’s going anywhere,” the magician said, his voice detached and cold. “I’m sick of people breaking through my spells.”

In the privacy of her mind, Griselda repeated the man’s words, just with a different target.

‘What a scary guy.’

[}-o-{]

[Joshua Davis]

It was always nice to be part of a fight that went as planned.

Or, at least, to be part of a fight that went well and smoothly. It was especially nice after his fight in vampire territory. After being driven to a point in which he had to tear apart his own soul to win – again –, it was nice to just… cast spells, defeat people and win. It was like going to a buffet after a long week of dieting, or something along those lines, he guessed.

He wouldn’t actually know; he’d never gone on a diet.

That odd tangent was nice on its own, because it meant he didn’t have to focus on the battle, because it was under control. Vasco had already made a huge hole in the defenses he’d weakened, nevermind how effective a distraction he was. Joshua had basically closed the place around the base and finished breaking down whatever protection was left. Now, Church agents were moving in to deal with whatever Strada wasn’t wrecking.

All was going smoothly and Joshua was all the more happy for it.

‘If this were a story, something unexpected would happen and some enemy would appear, like one of those strays pulling an unexpected power up out their ass or Khaos Brigade making an appearance,’ Joshua mused to himself, moving to take a seat on a nearby rock that oversaw the castle turned base. Cheshire, the only familiar that had come with him other than Friday – on account of her being the least likely to cause issues with the less reasonable Church members –, moved to curl up beside him and he petted her absentmindedly.

Feeling a little cautious after that thought – or a little paranoid, depending on how one saw it – he doubled down a little, throwing some more spells and asking Friday to not look at other things. If something unexpected did happen, he didn’t want to be caught off guard. No ass pulls would ruin his good mood and the easy victory, he swore. Because if he had to go through another stressful fight after the vampire skirmish, then he’d be very annoyed and it would be everyone’s problem.

‘All’s well that ends well though,’ he thought, sensing as the opposing forces dwindled little by little. Sometimes not so little, whenever there was a Vasco appearance somewhere. ‘He should be able to take care of anything over there,’ he mused, tilting his head.

As such, he turned his attention mostly outwards, adding more spells to keep forces away from the area. He didn’t think anyone would go there, but it didn’t hurt to be careful, as far as he was concerned. After that though, he took another moment to just contemplate the fight and also to go over the information Friday and he had gotten from the defenses of the place.

They hadn’t been anything to write home about, sure, but there’d been a few details here and there worth considering. Anything could be a learning experience if one was open-minded enough and Joshua liked nothing more than to learn more magic. Any little thing he could add to his repertoire could mean the difference between victory or defeat, life or death.

So, he’d take any chance to learn he was given, no matter how small.

‘Should be able to start my rune classes after this,’ he thought, absentmindedly summoning a snack for Cheshire when his feline familiar meowed at him. ‘That’ll be great, and if we have enough free time, maybe start looking into how to earn favor with the Norse. The rune magic system could be great.’

He almost wanted to take one of his books on rune magic to work on that while he waited, but he had a feeling that wasn’t a good idea, even if he was by himself at the moment.

Besides, as things were going, it was just a matter of time before.

[Quest Complete: Help End the Church’s Internal Conflict

Reward:

+ 15 levels to all stats

+ 10 levels to Light Magic

+ What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined.]

‘... Do I need to fill out a bug report or something?’ he wondered, unsure of how he should even feel regarding the last of the system’s eccentricities by that point. ‘Are you getting worse? What’s going on?’

Fortunately, Joshua was getting used to the system shenanigans. It also helped that he was way past the point when he’d pay all that much attention to it. At most he got a level up on something every so often. The most he’d seen of it those days were his attempts to raise his Sword Mastery skill to better use Ascalon. Other than that, he could go an entire week without a screen appearing in front of his face.

‘Might as well check if something happened,’ he decided, petting Cheshire and checking with Friday before starting to call screens. He didn’t notice anything new in his titles, his perks, his character sheet, nor his- ‘Oh, is this it?’ he thought, looking at the previously mysterious language skill he’d gotten from giving life to Friday.

[####e# ## #e##e# - Lvl [?]/[?]]

‘Thanks, System, very useful,’ he thought to himself. He wasn’t even annoyed really. It was more amusing than anything by that point. He could get by with what he had of the system, after all. Anything else was nice, of course, but he could manage with what he had. At least his own magic progress was something that he could trust not to break, unlike the system.

‘I should work on Light Magic too,’ he mused, looking back at the rewards. He’d gotten that one a while before and he had barely touched on that. In his defense, good as it was, he had a lot of things to focus on. Furthermore, he knew that if it ever got out that he could use Light Magic like angels could, it’d be a headache and a half. Still though, it might come in useful at some point…

Maybe he could use that to learn to mimic the magic with his own spells instead of directly using Light Magic?

‘Now, there’s an idea.’

“We’re wrapping things up,” Griselda said, coming to stand in front of him again and he nodded. “Thank you for your help, Joshua.”

“Happy to help,” he replied with a smile, even as his mind started drifting to what he’d be working on next.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

Sometimes it feels odd to have a fight go easily when the battle is supposed to be important. Like, sure, some random Khaos Brigade base getting obliterated is one thing, it’s another for the last bastion of a powerful force’s rebel resistance to be just… Done like it was in this chapter. However, I feel like sometimes that’s needed. Because if every fight is a struggle, then it becomes predictable and then it’s either annoying or tiresome to see the MC always struggling.

Admittedly, that’s just my opinion.

There’s also the fact that I tend to let my characters and stories write themselves and I didn’t think it made any sense for this to be a hard fight. Not only has Joshua faced tougher odds before and done well, but there’s also the fact that Vasco was there, so it’s like having two Joshuas in a single attack, one of them not even needing prep-time to be at his best. As if Joshua alone wasn’t scary enough, right?

With all that said, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: Gonna follow up the notes this time. What do you think about the characters having an easy fight in stories?

See you.