Game of Monsters - 171

Hello, Monster

“Please… Please, stop.”

“Hm, I wonder how many people said that to you,” Joshua replied, face clear of emotions as he continued analyzing the data he was getting. It was so very interesting, to see the effects of whatever Ophis was handing Khaos Brigade elites to boost themselves up. That little sliver of infinity was fascinating.

Not only for the baffling pool of energy that it was and gave, but also for what it did to its hosts. All of the samples Joshua had to test and analyze were being twisted, consumed, by the thing. Their souls were fraying at the seams, only held together by his spells and their admittedly superior physiques. If Cao Cao were one such case, then he’d surely have died already, despite Joshua’s best efforts, just because of the relative frailty of his human body.

Although, he liked to think it’d be different if he got his hands on humans affected by the thing then and there. After all, with some time to study Ophis’ curse, Joshua had a better understanding of it and its effects. At the very least, he thought he was getting better at dealing with the thing and what it did. Nowhere near where he wanted to be, but few of the things that interested him were things he could understand quickly.

He was picky that way, he supposed.

“Please,” Katerea whimpered, but he ignored her. He was way past giving a fuck about Khaos Brigade. If the Ophis Curse – which was what he was calling the thing, whatever it might actually be – could be the key, the tool, that could help him deal with the organization once and for all, he’d happily torture her and the others to death slowly. Alas, he wasn’t sure, so there was no glee, just disgust and reluctance.

Not enough of either to stop him though.

“You should give up,” Kokabiel commented from his cell. He’d been the target of his studying just a few minutes ago – or had it been an hour already? –, but he seemed to be a lot more… composed every single time. If Joshua had to guess, it was because he’d been a front line fighter in the Great War. He’d probably suffered a lot and very varied kinds of pain through his life. Or maybe he was just built different – in a way that had nothing to do with him being a different species – and that was that. Both seemed just as likely to Joshua, to be honest.

“Really should, because I’m not going to stop,” he added onto the Fallen’s statement. “At least, not until I’ve wrung every little bit of data that I can from you. That boost in power is my focus right now, but you’re perfect for me to study devil bloodlines and devils as a whole. Much better than random devils, at least, considering I don’t have to care what happens to you.”

“Sitri… Sitri needs me alive,” Katerea breathed out, crawling on the floor towards the bars of her cell. “She needs me.”

“Hm, true, but you’re useful even if you’re dead. Your head on a spike is good enough for her, to hear her say it. The info I’m getting from you is much more useful than whatever she’d get politically from you being kept alive,” Joshua explained flatly. He wasn’t even bluffing or anything. Serafall herself had told him to go wild if he thought he might get something useful from the bunch, same as Yasaka had and later Gabriel. Sure, getting Katerea alive would be a bonus, but not enough of one to hinder his research. Not only that… “Besides, this way Serafall gets to make nice with the Youkai and some other powers, which is always nice,” he commented  with a slight grin.

“You… You…” she struggled to start, either not finding the words to say what she wanted, not finding something to say at all or with her mind too addled by the pain to string a thought together.

“Me,” Joshua said with a shrug. He was becoming more and more detached to the horrors he was unleashing on his subjects, he realized. He didn’t see it as a bad thing though. After all, he’d had to do it anyway, so he’d rather not have to feel horrible about it. It wasn’t like he didn’t think it was wrong and messed up. He was just less burdened by those facts, able to look at it more pragmatically…

Or maybe he was becoming a monster.

Either way, that was what he needed to be to survive in the world he was in, he supposed. If he was soft, not only would he be eaten alive, but so would the people he cared for. So, if he needed to be one more monster that messed up world, he’d be just that.

He remembered very well what it was like to lose everything and he’d rather do what he was doing, go down the path he was going, than to let that happen again. He’d barely survived that. Hadn’t survived that, depending on how one looked at it, considering he was pretty sure DxD Joshua had been basically the same as him. If it happened again…

It couldn’t happen again.

“Don’t worry too much,” he commented indifferently, looking at Katerea. “It’s Shalba’s turn now. You can wait for the next visit now,” he added, aware that the woman probably could barely count that as a good thing. He didn’t much care though. He wasn’t really trying to reassure her.

Then he turned towards the male devil on the next cell over.

The man was clearly hearing their conversation and was remaining silent even at that point. Joshua looked into those terrified eyes and wondered if he was hoping remaining quiet would buy him more time. He probably did deeply appreciate the fact that Joshua had spent some of his time down there just talking with Katerea and getting a little lost in thought.

Joshua would have to put him first next visit, to make up for the lost time, he supposed.

If he was to become a monster, at least he could try to be a fair one.

[}-o-{]

“Ok, so we are in a bit of a pickle,” Joshua commented flippantly, leaning back and balancing his chair on two legs as he looked up at the ceiling. Idly, he moved his right index fingers in circles pointing up, following Margalo’s flight above him. “I think there’s an easy solution to this though. We just have to-”

“If you say something about stealing, Domino, I swear I’ll smack you,” Serafall hissed at him, pointing at him with her magic staff. They were once more on the set of her show and having fun. It was interesting how her secondary job that she’d dragged him into had turned into a pseudo-date arrangement for them. Neither of them was complaining though. Serafall loved it and Joshua found it very relaxing, so they were fine with that.

“Well, way to unnecessarily complicate the situation for us, Levi,” Joshua replied, dramatically lamenting his idea being rejected. “How do you propose we help the damsel in distress of the day then?” he asked then, gesturing towards Ravel, who was having a cameo in the show and acting like his words were some personal insult. It was the payment for working exceedingly well that she’d chosen. He found it a little odd and it didn’t sound like enough, but if that’s what she wanted… “By the way, is it weird when it’s not you, or is it just me?”

“I’m not a damsel in distress,” Serafall hissed at him.

“You sure? My track record of saving your pretty little a-” he started, stopping as Serafall’s glare intensified. “-self-,” he corrected quickly, faking slight nerves. “-says differently. I’ve had to help you out of a situation more than anyone else,” he commented, going back to grinning and then doing so even wider when Serafall’s character was unable to come up with a response. He was right, after all. “I think that’s the real reason you keep me around, but it’s fine. I’ll keep saving you anyway,” he joked, winking at Serafall.

“If you could shut up for once,” Serafall all but growled. “We have a girl to help.”

“Right… How do we do that though? Because you left me out of ideas,” he commented with a shrug.

“Well, I have an idea, but we’ll have to ask for help, I think,” Serafall replied, acting her part like the pro she was and visibly seeming hesitant. “It’ll be troublesome though.”

“Who do you even know that can help with this, because the only person remotely related to this kind of bullsh-...” he started saying before stopping and trailing off. “No way,” he said incredulously, snapping forward and sitting properly and straight while Margalo landed on his shoulder and squawked to emphasize his acted disbelief.

“Do you have a better idea?”

“Yeah, we could not go to one of your enemies that kidnapped me and almost killed you a bunch of times?” he asked, eyebrows raised and gesturing like he was stating the obvious. “How in the world do you expect this to go well?”

“The Eternal Orbs are far away from her reach?” Serafall asked, an unsure smile on her face. “She also doesn’t want the end of the world anymore… probably?” she tried then and he just raised an eyebrow. “I have a good feeling about this idea?”

“... You’re so lucky I’m involved in this,” he said towards Ravel, who’d been following the conversation like one would a tennis match. “Now, off we go to visit Miss Raven Way.”

“You’re gonna have to call her by her name if we want her to work with us, you know?”

“Make me,” Joshua replied flatly while Margalo trilled a laugh.

“And cut!” the director said and Joshua leaned back on his chair, once more balancing it on two legs.

“That felt good, but Ravel didn’t get to say much after the start,” he commented, frowning. He resolutely ignored the little girl’s protests that it was fine. This was payment for her, after all. He didn’t want to half-ass it. “Can we shoot that again with more lines for her?”

“Sure can!” Serafall replied instantly, almost excited. “I think she’s less of an improviser though, so we’ll have to have things ready beforehand. Never you worry though!” she added, that last part interrupting the Phenex before she could get started on an argument. “Some people improvise well, some work better with a script. You might just be the latter. I’ve worked with both and had no problems. I’m a pro, after all!”

“Let her do her thing,” Joshua told Ravel with a smile. “She’ll have her fun and you’ll get what you want. Everyone wins.”

“... If you say so…” she mumbled, to which he rolled his eyes. “Thank you, Mr. Davis.”

“Don’t mention it. You earned it,” he dismissed, rolling his eyes. “Now, how do we add a few lines of dialogue for you? Ideas?” He almost laughed at the excited looks on both Serafall and Ravel. Yeah, he wasn’t going to do a lot of talking in that conversation, he could already tell. Still though, it was nice to just look at both of them having fun.

So, with a content smile, he waved one of the helpers around that already knew to bring him a cup of tea. And another for a snack for Margalo, after the bird pecked his ear. Both of them would take a break and continue to have fun after the discussion between the excited children was over.

He had no doubt that Margalo would have been excited child number three if she could actually talk to the other two though. Then again, she seemed just as happy just sitting there and spending some time with him. Besides, she’d get to participate at least a little through their bond – meaning through him voicing her opinions – whenever she actually wanted to say something.

All in all though, it was shaping up to be a nice afternoon, Joshua decided.

Not very productive, but a nice afternoon all the same.

Not everything needed to be work, after all.

[}-o-{]

“Daaad! Koneko’s cheating!” Kunou whined, only a meager pair of cards in her hands and her side of the board almost empty. She was losing really badly, worse than she had the last few matches. She was getting more and more frustrated and that clearly wasn’t helping.

“Am not,” the white-haired nekoshou denied, a frown on her usually impassive face and there was even a hint of a pout there. It was adorable, but she was also upset. One of them being upset was one thing, but both? That couldn’t happen. The fact that Kunou was the reason Koneko was upset was that little bit more unacceptable too.

“Kunou. Apologize to Koneko,” he said, raising an unimpressed eyebrow at his daughter. Sure, he spoiled her a lot with a lot of things, but when she got actually problematic, he didn’t hesitate. He didn’t want to push her onto the worst side of the spoiled scale, after all.

“But-!…” she almost started before seeing the almost glare that the nekoshou was directing at her. It was less angry and more hurt. Apparently, Koneko was feeling emotional that day, since she didn’t usually get affected that much. Maybe he should talk to her? “... I’m sorry.”

“... It’s fine,” the white-haired girl mumbled, looking down at her cards, the board and absolutely avoiding their gazes. Joshua looked at Kuroka, who was sitting across from him. He could definitely notice that she wanted to tell him something with her gaze.

A little nudging from Cheshire helped him along.

“Kunou,” he said and he immediately had to give his daughter a soft smile, just to let her know that no, he wasn’t angry or anything. Apparently, she realized that things had gotten serious all of a sudden and she didn’t want to mess up. “Can you go with Kuroka to get some ice cream for everyone? I want to talk with Koneko for a bit.”

“Sure,” Kunou all but whispered, setting down her cards and standing up. “... I’m really sorry.”

“She knows, don’t worry,” Joshua told her when the nekoshou didn’t look inclined to speak. Then he watched the two of them go, not before Kuroka directed a smile and a thumbs up his way though. “Now, I said that, but do you want to talk?”

“... I’m fine,” Koneko told him in that tone that anyone not feeling fine would use. He’d know, he used that a lot throughout his life. Thus, he just stared at her and raised an eyebrow while Cheshire jumped on top of the table beside him to stare at her too. “Really, I’m fine.”

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Joshua told her softly with a sad smile. “But don’t lie to me, okay?”

“... Sorry,” she mumbled, looking down even more, as if trying to make herself look smaller than she already was. “I just… I got jealous, and that’s stupid.”

“Why is it stupid?” he asked, mostly trying to keep the conversation going now that it seemed like it was happening at all. And also to buy himself some time, because that was certainly a statement. He’d talked about adopting her once or twice, sure. She’d asked herself once, he kind of remembered. However, it had never sounded like an actual possibility for either of them.

It was all hypotheticals and such, and he’d even checked with Cheshire to make sure he wasn’t being dumb.

He hadn’t been, but maybe Koneko had changed her mind?

“It’s stupid because I didn’t really mind, you being her dad, her being your daughter,” Koneko said, her frown growing more pronounced and her grip on her cards bending them. Slowly, he reached for her hands and pushed them down a little, making her set the cards down. “I don’t know why it got to me today.”

“Everyone has their ups and downs, days when small things feel bigger or when big things feel smaller,” Joshua commented to her with a reassuring smile. “It’s fine to feel a little more or a little less from time to time,” he added.

“Hm… I just…” Koneko hummed, visibly struggling to pick the words to communicate what was in her mind. “It’s not like I want you to adopt me or anything. I just… wish I had something like that.”

“You’ll get there, Kuroka and you,” he reassured her as best he could and grabbed her hand and squeezed it a little when he saw her choking up a little. “It’ll take time, but you both obviously care for one another. It’ll be fine.”

“You sure?” she mumbled, so low he almost missed it.

“Yep. Mostly because I’ll be here to stop your sister from messing up again,” he told her with a grin that she returned with the smallest of smiles. It might as well have been a giggle, considering this Koneko of all people.

“You promise?” she asked shyly.

“Pinky promise,” he answered with a wider grin as he offered the aforementioned finger to her.

“I’m not a child,” Koneko grumbled then, her smile vanishing and being replaced with a pout. In response though, he wiggled his finger at her, making her huff. She did take him up on it though, which was all that he needed to consider the whole thing a win. “Idiot.”

“Yep, that’s me,” he replied, not bothered at all. “If it helps though,” he continued, drawing her yellow eyes towards him. “You’re already unofficially part of the Davis family. You’re stuck with us now.”

“Hm… I guess I can live with that,” she said, but her expression betrayed her, what with the smile on her face. He’d seen a bunch of those on her by that point, despite how impassive she was most of the time. At that moment though, it was easily one of the widest ones, if not outright the widest.

Yeah, he’d done well.

“Good. Welcome to the family. We have lots of idiots and blondes, sometimes both in one,” he told her, drawing a giggle.

Wow, he was on a roll.

“Most of the time, you mean?”

“Et tu?”

[}-o-{]

To say he was nervous would have been wrong.

To say he was not would have been… also wrong, somewhat.

If Joshua had to put it into words, he’d say that he was some strange mix between nervous and expectant. A lot could go wrong, but he was confident that he’d given it the proper thought and that the solution he’d come up with was the right one. He couldn’t think of a single thing that could go wrong. At least, not irreparably so. Furthermore, the only bad scenarios that came to mind were ones where his aim failed and he’d just have to start over.

The worst case scenario had been neutralized and all that remained were minor inconveniences, as far as he was aware.

“Ended up being simpler than I thought,” he commented out loud as he continued setting up the new spell room he’d needed to prepare for this one experiment/project. Not to say that he didn’t sometimes speak to himself – the least of his oddities, really, he was pretty sure –, but at that moment he was speaking out loud because he had an audience, really. Serafall, Yasaka, Gabriel and his familiars, all had gathered around, in the spaces that weren’t covered in circles and foci.

“So you say,” Gabriel mused, not necessarily doubting him, but he didn’t fault her for not being absolutely sure like he was. “Your theory is sound at the very least, and despite the many risks of failure, nothing bad should happen.”

“That’s kind of what I’m going for, really,” Joshua said with a shrug. “Trial and error is the way to progress. I needed to make sure nothing terrible would happen if things went wrong though.”

“And we appreciate it, Josh~” Serafall told him, waving at him before taking one of the snacks on the table they were sitting at. It all looked fairly laid back, really, considering what Joshua was about to attempt, but that was Serafall for you. “So, you done?” she added then, noticing that he wasn’t casting anymore.

“Yep,” Joshua replied, taking a few deep breaths in and going through the process that’d follow in his head. It wouldn’t be long, but it’d be complex, so he needed to have it very clear in his head.

“We’re ready when you are,” Yasaka told him calmly, taking a sip from her cup of tea before setting it back on the table and standing up. Serafall and Gabriel weren’t too far behind themselves. It would be nice to have back up just in case, but Joshua was almost positive that it wouldn’t be necessary.

“Okay then. Let’s get started.”

And with that said, he started pulling the strings on his spells. First, it was a matter of gathering magic and shaping it. Nothing new nor complex, at least for him at that point. Magic manipulation through spells had been a staple of his spellcasting since almost the very beginning, after all.

The network of spells was fed, everything was powered and then came the amalgam that’d help with the next step. It was a new concept for Joshua – probably for human magic too, if not magic in general –, but he was walking into uncharted territory, as far as he was concerned. There might be a few people that’d touched on it before, but he didn’t have any info on the matter, so the point stood.

‘Step One: Foundation. Done,’ he thought, taking a deep breath in. Then he reached into himself, through the bond with the egyptians and pulled on them. He didn’t go for any specific deity though. Instead, he called and let the deities most fitting answer. He needed life deities, all of them, if he could get away with that.

As it turned out, he could.

Osiris, Amun, Anuket and many more reached through the bond, giving him the power he was asking for. He’d been practicing with this new channeling approach just for this and he had to say that it was effective. Maybe he could try to apply it to other things in the future. For the moment though, he needed to get to the next phase.

‘Step Two, Blood,’ Joshua thought, taking a portion of his own life energy, through spells and senjutsu usage both, and feeding it into the amalgam of spellwork and magic. Once that was done, he sent that mix through the array, this time with both magic and life. 

‘Step Three,’ he thought, diving into what was probably the most complex part of the whole thing. ‘Conception,’ he finished, letting out a long sigh through his nose before he got to it. No matter how much research he made, after all, it wasn’t easy to do what he was trying to.

It wasn’t easy to create a soul.

Joshua had studied the souls of everything he could get his hands on, humans, devils, angels, youkai, fallen, Sacred Gears, animals and even plants, some more in depth than others. Everything had its own essence that gave them life, that made them different from every other member of their species. That’s what he was trying to replicate, to form and shape.

The circles and foci were the body.

The magic and life were the blood.

And now, he needed a soul.

So, that’s what he shaped as best he could. He’d touched souls when he’d burned his through deity channeling. He’d done so again – almost entirely unknowingly at first – when he increased angel’s wing number. He’d done so again to cure the Sleep Disease. He knew how to manipulate it to a certain extent, but this was new, very much so.

He was taking disconnected energy and life to shape an entirely new soul.

Despite all the preparation and the fact that it was the aim at all, Joshua was still shocked when he felt something stir in the spell array. ‘It worked?’ he thought, incredulously. That had been the step he was sure would fail, after all. ‘Holy shit, it actually worked,’ he exclaimed in his mind, eyes wide.

He wasn’t done though.

It was time for the fourth step already. Some amusement cut through the focus and the surprise at that very moment, drawing a smile from Joshua. Because that one had been named by Kunou, actually, with the full approval of the rest of the family.

He reached forward, touching the spell more gingerly when he’d usually just pull and make it do whatever he wanted. Spell arrays were always tools though, except this one time, because he’d given life to this one. So, he touched it, more of an attempt at a greeting than anything else.

It touched back to his consciousness through the connection he shared with all his spells. It was confused, but curious. It was disoriented, sort of, but also strangely focused. Not entirely an unexpected development though, but he needed to keep things going.

So, once he was there, he “spoke” to it through the connection and nudged it in a certain direction. He’d thought it was manipulative of him, to basically force a new being into what he planned, but it was the only way to keep things under control. However, at that moment, he felt more like he was helping it, because the thing felt so lost…

He took its metaphorical hand and guided it then, through every step of the way. Thus, the living spell array swore an Oath to him and him to it. Through it, both communicated their intent. Joshua would help it and the spell would help him in turn, simple, but effective, and considering Oaths were entirely based on intent, there wouldn’t be any loopholes nor plays on words to abuse. Both parties had to agree and both of them had to communicate all parts of the deal. He rather liked that straightforwardness.

Initially he’d thought about incorporating the Oath to the spellcasting, but that had been dumb, and overcomplicating things. Instead, why not just make the living being take the Oath and call it a day? That’s what he’d decided to go with in the end.

Although, he’d thought the entire thing would fail at a bunch of spots already by then… but he’d been wrong apparently.

‘And the name is more fitting than I thought,’ he mused, feeling the spell looking around and communicating many things through their connection, which felt so much deeper than with any other spell. It curiously looked around, prodding and looking at everything. Meanwhile, Joshua did his best to explain everything to it through their connection too. ‘Step Four: Adoption.’

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How’s it going?

The multifaceted nature of Joshua’s life is shown once more. Lots of very different things going on. From fluff to torture to spellcrafting and everything in between.

Now, I’m happy with most of this chapter – I know, a rarity –, but the thing that has me a little unsure is the end of the chapter. Now, I’m almost sure it’ll be a case like we’ve had many others before. There’ll be people that think it took way longer than necessary for this to get done and there’ll be some reassuring me that it’s fine and all that. For the former, I’ll remind you that I don’t care if this slowed down the story or whatever. I’m writing things as I think they should be and this feels like something that’d take a while.

As it is, I feel like I’ve unreasonably sped up many of Joshua’s projects for the sake of not taking years and years of in-story time.

For the people that think this is good, I wish I could see what you see. I guess it’s true that you’re your worst critic. Thanks for putting up with my self-deprecating ass, alright? I appreciate it.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.

And Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for you all, of course.

Important: I’m going on a vacation at the end of this week, as I announced some time ago in the place of patrons. Thus, I won’t be updating anything for a whole month. Wish me luck, guys, because pre-vacation times have not been kind to me.

Discord Link: discord.gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: What do you think Joshua, the serial adopter, will adopt next? Let’s be real, it’s only a matter of time before it happens again.

See you.