Fabricator v2 - Chapter 36

Junichiro hummed to himself while a smoldering cigarette dangled from his lips, his hands busily working on the newest prosthetic arm for himself. It was something that was very necessary since he'd made the last model. While the one covered in doppelganger flesh had been designed to grow, it hadn't been capable of matching the growth he'd undergone over the last two years. In all honesty, his physical growth was rather surprising but he expected it had to do with the self image malleability of being a devil.

Devils, as a species, have a very minor self actualization shape shifting ability. It's not so powerful that it can be actively and deliberately used. Rather, it takes time and it only seems to work on a subconscious level to slowly sculpt the devil's body into their ideal. It was what allowed all devils to look so attractive yet also allow unique features, like pointed ears. Pointy ears were not a genetic trait of devils and yet quite a few had them while others did not. Those with them had them because they thought they were attractive. There could be other factors such as a parent having them so a child thinks of it as normal, but it was all the same self actualization.

All of that is to say, Junichiro had changed a lot in the last two years. He'd shot up in height topping out at one hundred and eighty centimeters (five foot eleven inches), grown well defined muscles, and had some minor changes to his looks to make him look more handsome. Things like well defined cheekbones, a slightly sharper chin, wider more expressive eyes, and even the rather plain brown color of his eyes had become a more amber-ish hue. His hair had taken on a more feathered, almost spikey, look and become soft as satin.

With all of his the changes combined, Junichiro now looked like he was an exceptionally handsome twenty year old man rather than the average seventeen year old he should have been. He had zero complaints about the changes to his looks. Though the girls eyeballing him every time he visited the Kuoh Campus could be a tad annoying. There was also that one time a girl had actually swooned when he ran his hand through his hair to get it out of his eyes. No lie, he'd been smug as hell for a day or so after that.

Back to the main point though, all that growth and change had led to him needing to make a new arm since the old one could no longer match his physical changes. Not to mention the changes to his physical and magical might. Junichiro couldn't be sure, but he figured he was either an exceptionally strong High-Class Devil, or he had stepped onto the level of Ultimate Class. If he was Ultimate Class, there was no telling where he ranked among its members. He'd avoided meeting any of them, preferring to do his work and focus on just getting stronger.

At least that was his class power wise. Officially, he was still registered as a Middle-Class Devil with a missing arm and Sword Birth for a Sacred Gear. The whole of devil society was in for a shock when he, and the rest of Rias' peerage, stepped into the spotlight. He was the strongest of the peerage, but not by as much as he had expected.

It surprised him, deeply, how much work and effort Rias and the others would put into getting stronger when they realized their was hope. Junichiro meant Riser couldn't win, period end of story. That was true when he was first recruited and even more true now. That meant that Rias could do whatever she wished and she would end up free at the end regardless. Yet, rather than it leading to her becoming more slothful, she trained her ass off. She no longer felt it was hopeless, that Riser would always be stronger than her. Instead, he was now a stepping stone, a mild inconvenience in her path, not an unimpeachable mountain.

With Rias taking training seriously, everyone else followed. Rias and Akeno were only slightly weaker than he was, so firmly within the top tiers of High-Class or somewhere in Ultimate Class. He was more inclined to believe they were all Ultimate Class to one degree or another. He just couldn't prove it and it was up to others to determine if they were.

Kiba and Koneko were a fair bit weaker than he was so he was certain they were in the higher tiers of High-Class. That still represented a massive amount of growth for them. Kiba now had a vast array of different swords, and sword trinkets, at his disposal which really increased his threat level. He was also still way better with a sword than Junichiro was. Though he hadn't unlocked his Balance Breaker yet, and Junichiro believed he knew why. Despite his change in attitude regarding Excalibur, he was still stuck with his past trauma and would need to deal with that priest guy, Viper or whatever. Then he'd get his Balance Breaker.

Koneko had the least amount of growth among them. While her combat skills had evolved to take advantage of her Nekoshou speed, reflexes, and flexability, she still refused to use her most powerful tool. She was utterly terrified of even the thought of using her Senjutsu. Which pretty much blocked her off from using anything else along those lines like Touki. Her trauma was just too strong and couldn't be overcome with just a few well placed words. He needed to get his hands on Kuroka and strangle the truth out of her where Koneko could hear.

He didn't leave Koneko hanging though. He'd given her, Kiba, Rias, and Akeno each a Twice Critical, because why not? He had six and that only took four of them so two more were still sitting in his vault. On top of that, he'd given the kitten some enchanted gear such as boots that let her form platforms midair to bounce off of. That gave her crazy three-d maneuverability and let her attack from almost any angle. He'd also given her gloves that delivered a double impact so every punch she landed would hit twice with the same force. They hurt like a mother when she landed a blow.

Everyone got toys like that. It was one of the major benefits of him being a member of the peerage and something he didn't mind doing for them. Especially not with some of the crap he'd pulled on Rias over the last two years. Every time he thought about his introduction of Valarie Tepes to Rias made him snicker.

-----Line Break-----

Junichiro looked up from his work in excitement as a particular device went off to alert him. He quickly finished his work and moved over to the device to look it over. The device was a screen and one of the small probes he'd sent to Romania was transmitting a live video to him. The video showed a girl, maybe a year or two older than himself, with short blond hair and blood red eyes. She was laying in a bed that looked like it was ready to fall apart with torn blankets and sheets.

She did not look well. She seemed to be awake but was just laying on her back staring blankly at the ceiling. If he didn't know better, he'd think she was high as a kite. Were they already abusing her Sacred Gear? He had no way of knowing, but now that he'd found her he had a plan to follow through on.

He channeled a bit of magic into the view screen and took control of the probe to fly it closer to her, “Hey, you Valarie Tepes?”

Junichiro was almost certain this was her, but better safe than sorry. After she doesn't answer for a bit, he tries a few more times until he gets through to her. Her eyes finally blink as she looks around her, supposedly, empty room, “Who?”

Her voice is soft, barely there, as if she's afraid to speak. Junichiro turns off the chameleon mode of his probe, letting her see the small ball floating in the air nearby. She looks at it in confusion, “Wha'?”

He pushes a button that causes his face to appear as a hologram in front of the probe, “Hi! Are you Valarie Tepes? I'm asking for a friend of mine, Gasper Vladi.”

“Gaspi?”

It's clear her mind isn't quite all there, but she's not as bad as he'd heard she would become. He could work with it, though he was going to feel a little bad about taking advantage of her compromised mental state, “That's right. Would you like to see him again?”

When she nods, he moves the probe closer to her, “Then just hold the floating ball in your hands.”

She reaches out like a child and wraps her slender fingers around the ball. As soon as she does, Junichiro triggers the last function of the probe. In a muted flash of blue light Valarie is teleported from where he found her to a comfortably appointed room in his house.

He began to move the moment the teleport command was given. It only took him a few moments to get to the room where he found Valarie reclining on the large comfortable bed that was the destination for the teleporter. When he walks in he see's her looking around in confusion before she spots him, “Is Gaspi here?”

“No, but he's really close by. We'll go see him in just a moment. I need to do something to help you out really quick.”

Valarie just watches him in mild curiosity as he walks closer to her. It's a little sad to him to see her acting like a clueless child. He almost feels like a pervert who lured her into his panel van with promises of candy. Only it was a promise to meet a trap dhampir instead. Did that mean he was pimping out Gasper?

Weird thoughts aside, he stepped up to her and, with a simple spell, put her into a deep sleep. He might have been alright putting Issei through a bit of pain to steal Ddraig from him, but he had no intention of doing that to a young woman with mental issues. He wasn't anywhere near that kind of monster. With her asleep, he collected and wore the ring that would allow him to take her Sacred Gear just like he had from Issei. This was only his second time using it, but it was actually for a much nicer reason this time. Even if he was still super greedy and wanted Sephiroth Graal for himself.

The process was the same as before, only this time he pulled out three golden cups instead of a single gauntlet. Once they were removed, he double checked that she was alright after the ordeal. With her health confirmed, he left her asleep on the bed to deposit the Sephiroth Graal cups inside of his vault. He'd find a more secure place for them in the near future.

He awoke Valarie as soon as he returned and the change was instant. The moment her blood red eyes opened from her sleep, they opened wide and she sat bolt upright. She looked around in shock and confusion until he gaze landed on Junichiro, “They're gone!”

“What're gone?”

“The voices! I don't hear the voices tormenting me anymore!” she looks a little pensive, almost scared as she continues, “It's so... quiet.”

“That's wonderful. Do you still want to visit Gasper?”

She didn't say anything, but he was willing to bet that the rapid nodding of her head was all the confirmation anyone would need. He helped her out of the bed and got his first good look at her outfit which consisted of a long thick jacket with a fur lined hood and fur cuffs, and a short skirt. Weird combo, in his opinion, but at least she was dressed properly. The clothing looked worn but servicable, not nearly as terrible as her bedding had.

He gently takes her hand and leads her toward the teleportation circle in another room. Her lack of shoes wont be a problem since they're just going to the main room of the ORC. A red flash of light deposits them in the room, currently only occupied by Rias and Akeno. Both of whom look up as Junichiro and a complete stranger appear in the room.

Junichiro gently nudges Valarie toward Rias and, coincidentally, out of the teleportation circle, “Hey Rias! Found someone super interesting. I'd like you to meet Valarie Tepes, Gasper's long lost childhood friend! I promised her she could visit with her best buddy if she let me kidnap her. Enjoy!”

“Wait! What?!”

Was all Rias managed to shout as Junichiro teleported right back home while snickering.

-----Line Break-----

Of course, the final joke was on him. Rias didn't recruit Valarie because Valarie didn't want to join her peerage. No. Valarie wanted to join his peerage. Which he couldn't start yet. She'd become a lot better over the course of a month after Sephiroth Graal was removed from her. Without the voices of the dead pounding on her mind constantly, she'd made a swift recovery. She still wasn't in perfect condition and had a flashbacks that put her out of it for some time, but otherwise she was almost acting her age.

Almost because she liked acting like a spoiled child around him whenever she could. He didn't mind though and she'd been living with him ever since. It was really nice to have someone living with him again.

He finished looking over the final section of runes on his new arm and smiled to himself, “Looks like it's ready. You ready Ddraig?”

With a flash of red light, a metallic red gauntlet with golden spikes and an assortment of green gems appeared on his left hand. The biggest gem on the back of his hand flashed as a deep voice answered, “Always partner.”

[BOOST!]

While waiting for the cooldown between boosts, the door to his shop opened and Valarie walked in. Today she'd chosen to wear a thin white summer dress... and apparently nothing else. For the last few months Valarie had been making it very clear that she was interested in him romantically, something he didn't mind at all. However, he wasn't quite ready to step into a new relationship just yet.

He wasn't still hung up on Mittelt or anything like that. Nor was he gun shy about a more 'adult' relationship. Sex was not something new to him... well not new mentally anyway so it held no unknowns. Though it did give him a laugh every time he realized that he was still a virgin in his new life.

No, he held back for her sake. Aside from Gasper, he was the closest person to her and she'd clung to him ever since he'd rescued her. He'd made a big impression on her life and he didn't want to take advantage. It probably sounds corny, he's pretty sure it is, but it didn't change how he felt. He'd give it a little more time, let some of the coming chaos into their lives, and see if she still felt the same way. He was pretty sure she would, but he'd still wait.

“Boss! Something weird happened.”

She waved a piece of parchment in the air as she walked deeper into the workshop. As she got close, she glanced down at the arm on the bench, looking much like a severed human arm with no blood leaking from it. After shaking her head she chuckles, “Man, that is never not weird! Anyway.” She holds the parchment out to him, “I was in the office when this started glowing.”

Junichiro took the parchment from her, a contract, and rolled it open to see which one of the hundred he had that is was. He frowned as he read the name of the person that just tried to violate the terms of the contract. He rolled it back up and gave Valarie a genial smile, “Thanks for bringing this to my attention.”

Valarie placed her hands behind her back and leaned forward while bouncing in place lightly. A very deliberate attempt to get him to look down the front of her dress. The dress that was gossamer thin and that she was wearing nothing beneath. He was only a devil so his eyes did flicker down to take a peek. He could plainly see the entirety of her breasts topped with beautiful, and surprisingly dark, nipples. His gaze only lasted a moment, but when he looked up Valarie had a smug smile that let him know she'd caught him looking.

[RESET!]

She didn't say anything as she straightened up, her thin dress clearly showing that her nipples had hardened, spun on her heel and flounced out of his workshop. At the door, she turned around to give him a playful wink before finally leaving.

“You know, when a female shows that much interest even I would have trouble resisting.”

Junichiro groaned as Ddraig spoke from his automaton, which had received a few upgrades over the years. Junichiro chose to ignore the comment and set the contract aside. He was in no rush to deal with that bit of trouble and wanted to finish the work on his new arm.

[BOOST!]

At least he wasn't a dozen boosts in before he'd been distracted and had the reset happen. Two and a half minutes, or fifteen boosts, later, Junichiro was over thirty-two thousand times stronger than in his base state. Fuck a Super Saiyan transformation, Boosted Gear won hands down.

Magic circles snapped into existence in front of his hand as he began to finish the enchantments in the arm. If it wasn't for the huge number of improvements he'd made to the wards around his workshop and the entire estate, he would have been easily detectable by anyone with even a hint of skill at sensing magic. Weaker beings would flee from the feeling while stronger ones would likely challenge him.

He didn't want to deal with either.

His new arm, like the previous one, was covered in Doppelganger Flesh, but that was the last thing they shared in common. The primary material this arm had been made of was the scales from Albion. If he could have gotten his hands on some scales from Ddraig he would have preferred to use those, but it wasn't like the scales of the two Heavenly Dragon's were widely available. The stash of Albion's scales was likely the biggest cashe of such potent dragon scales left on earth.

He'd have to remember to take his loot compass to the underworld sometime.

The next huge change was what he'd chosen to use for the internal muscles. It was kind of gruesome, but would make it so that his new arm could grow stronger. He'd taken the corpse of Lucifer's son, scrounged it for usable material, and alchemically cloned the dead devil's muscles. Being an alchemical creation meant that the muscles were not exactly the same as living flesh, but were the same kind of material as a homonculous. Only significantly stronger and with the ability to grow even stronger.

The muscles he'd made had the same 'veins' of magic within them as his own body which would allow him to properly connect his magical network to the arm. Once connected it would be as close to a real living arm as he could get without just cloning one and slapping it on. Which was something he was tempted to do, except.... rocket punch.

That's right, he'd finally included a fully functional rocket punch into his newest arm! He couldn't wait to break it out on someone's face!

More importantly though. The full connection of his magic to the arm would make the arm grow with his own power. The stronger he got, the stronger the arm would grow. He would have the best of both worlds. The power to grow in strength granted by flesh and bone, and the awesomeness of a rocket punch.

He snickered to himself as he continued to empower and expand the enchantments on the arm. He felt like he said this a lot, but this was seriously, by far, the most magic he'd ever used on an enchantment, ever. Of course, he said that so often due to getting better and better at using the Boosted Gear. He could boost up to twenty times before feeling any real strain and could permanently maintain ten boosts, if he wanted. Which he didn't because that would mean walking around with Boosted Gear out all the time. That's not exactly the inconspicuous look he was going for.

[RESET!]

Eventually the glow of magic faded leaving just the arm sitting on the workbench looking completely unchanged from before the light show. Of course, a single glance was nowhere near enough to tell what the spells and enchantments he'd weaved into the arm had done. He picked the arm up and examined it once more from every angle. As he did, Ddraig's grumpy voice called from the gauntlet, “You done yet?”

Junichiro rolled his eyes but replied in a happy tone, “Yes Ddraig, I'm done.”

As soon as the words left his mouth the gauntlet vanished and the dragon automaton came back to life, “Good. I'm going to go relax in the sun.”

That was something Ddraig had taken to doing ever since he'd figured out how to give the automaton the same kind of feeling that his arms enjoyed. Now Ddraig could feel when he was inside of it and spent every moment that he wasn't working with Junichiro inside of the Boosted Gear inside of the dragon body. Naturally, Junichiro didn't blame him in the least. If he was in Ddraig's situation he'd take every moment of pleasure he could get too.

It was a matter of moments for him to detach his current arm and set it down. He quickly grabbed the new arm and practically jammed it onto the specially designed socket. There was a surprising shock of pain as the connection was made. It faded quickly as he focused inward and felt his magic flowing into the newly attached appendage.

Flexing the fingers felt amazing as he continued to focus on the feelings he was getting and watching the constant flow of magic within the arm. He lifted his new arm and flexed it in different directions, watching as the Homonculous muscle flexed beneath the Doppelganger Flesh, which was all attached to bones made from Albion's scales. There was also a thin layer of Albion's scales, alchemically treated, between the flesh and muscles to give his arm even more defense. Making the scales flexible cost some of their strength, but it was still worth it.

With his new arm in place and looking good, he put his shirt on and grabbed he contract off of the table. A minute later he was in his living room, sitting on his couch while his cell phone rang. It was picked up after ringing a few times, “Yeah?”

“Azazel, buddy, got a small problem.”

There was a groan on the line as the leader of the fallen immediately imagined the worst case scenarios, “Oh god, please don't tell me it's Odin's order! He'll never let me live it down if you fail to make what he wants. Especially after I bragged about you so much!”

“No Azazel, it's not that. Odin's request is going just fine. But I still say it's a horrible idea and he's going to get his ass beat. I also refuse to take any responsibility for what happens to him if he actually uses it.”

Azazel scoffed, “Yeah, I know. Why do you think I didn't request a copy for myself? Alright, if it's not that. What's the problem?”

Junichiro's voice dropped an octave as he became more serious, “Mittelt's secrecy contract activated a short time ago. She's lost all her memories of me because of it.”

There was silence on the line until Azazel's own, much more serious, voice replied, “I'll look into it.”

Junichiro nodded even though Azazel couldn't see it, “Good. Hopefully nothing has happened to her. Let me know what you find out, if you can.”

“I will, if I can. I'll look into this now. Thank you for letting me know.”

The line went dead as Azazel hung up and went to find out what happened. Junichiro had grown to respect Azazel over the last few years and had stopped fearing him once he was strong enough to know he could kill Azazel if necessary. The governor General liked to live his life as laid back as possible, but became the man that fought the host of heaven and the devils at the same time when it was necessary.

Junichiro turned his head to look in the direction of the abandoned church. He'd learned where it was long ago and knew where it was relative to his home. It was getting to be about that time and he just hoped Mittelt wasn't stupid enough to fall for Kokobiels tricks and come to Kuoh. He'd already been stronger than her the last time they'd seen each other and he knew she hadn't gotten any stronger since then. She would have had to become strong enough to have eight wings to even have a hope of surviving him and at least ten to have a prayer of fighting back. Anything less was simply fodder to him.

And that was just his base state.

He grumbled to himself while pulling out a cigarette to smoke. He took a deep drag on the calming mixture and exhaled a cloud of neon green smoke. He'd been introduced to a few herbs that made colorful smoke and added whatever color he felt like into different mixes. It was mildly entertaining and got him odd looks from mundane folks.

After relaxing a bit, he made his way to his workshop. Odin's X-Ray monocle wasn't going to finish itself.

-----Line Break-----

Junichiro stepped off of the teleportation circle and looked around the ORC's main room. The expected people were there with some unexpected guests, Sona and Tsubaki. Seeing Sona brought a bit of joy to his heart. Why? Well, because she'd listen to some sage advice he'd given her at the beginning of her second year when she became student council president.

What advice?

To make sure she was intimately familiar with Japan's strict decency laws. Well, technically, he suggested she get familiar with all the laws, but he might have hinted at paying closer attention to that specific subset due to the incoming male students.

His plan had worked flawlessly. Within a month Issei, Matsuda, and Motohama had all been expelled and had charges of sexual assault pressed against them. All three were now socially radioactive. No other school would admit them and they had serious black marks on their criminal records. They hadn't gotten any jail time due to their age, but the consequences of peeking on the kendo club would haunt them forever.

Kiryuu Aika had learned to keep herself in check after a single detention and had been a model student since. Which was good because he kind of liked the little freak. He didn't even consider it hypocritical because for all her perversion in the story, she'd never been anywhere near as bad as the boys had been.

Sensing the serious atmosphere in the room, he took a seat next to Koneko on a love seat and immediately began giving her headpats. Why? Because he fuckin' could! Her snow white cat ears immediately popped out and were given the scritches they so obviously deserved. Sona gave him a somewhat disapproving look but didn't say anything about his actions, rather she spoke to the room, “Now that everyone is here, I wish to report that four fallen angels have taken up residence at the abandoned church near the edge of town. So far they have done nothing to warrant a response from us. However, you should all keep an eye out and be on your guard. There is no telling what they are after.”

Junichiro sighed, loudly, and pulled out his phone, “Just great. First, Mittelt breaks her contract and mind wipes herself, and now this.” He pauses just before pushing the call button on his phone, “Sona, do you have descriptions or images of the Fallen in the church?”

Junichiro was only being so open because Sona and Tsubaki had both signed confidentiality contracts. Rias couldn't bring herself to keep too many secrets from her best friend and Junichiro had understood. So, he'd had the pair sign contracts within weeks of joining Rias's peerage. However, he didn't treat Sona and her peerage nearly as well as he did Rias and the others. Sona was alright, but her attitude was a serious downside.

The one and only time she'd challenged him to a chess match he'd secretly thrown the game as fast as he could without drawing suspicion. Interestingly she'd only challenged him after she found out who he was. He suspected that she would have been happy to lose to him and pull him into a marriage contract. It was only her pride that prevented her from going easy on him during the match. He lost so bad that she seemed to have given up.

Sure, some folks might have gone for Sona because she's pretty in her own right and is the path to Serafall. Except, he didn't want either of them. Serafall was fun, in small doses, but dealing with her all the time? Fuck no. He didn't care how beautiful a woman was, if he couldn't enjoy all his time around them then he wasn't the least bit interested in them as anything more than friends. Maybe. If their personality was too annoying then he'd avoid them no matter how hot they were.

Sona pulled out a few photos and handed them over to Junichiro, this is why she'd asked for him to be present. He tended to avoid a lot of their group meetings. He clearly preferred to spend his time with fellow members of his peerage, which was fair she supposed. It didn't stop the jealousy she felt over Rias snagging the damned Artificer for herself. Though she also felt happy knowing Rias would be free of her own unwanted engagement in a few years.

Junichiro took the photos and looked them over. Spotting a familiar figure caused him to sigh, “Damnit Mittelt.”

Thanks to his potions Mittelt had gone from looking like a preteen to looking like a buxom beautiful woman in her early twenties. Despite that, she still dressed in the same style of clothing and had her hair in twin tails. It wasn't hard to recognize her at all. The others in the photos also looked familiar, though it had been many years since he'd seen them as anime characters, he could still recognize Raynare, Kala... Kala-something, and Dog-dude. Fuck, he forgot their names. Then again, Raynare's three minions all died like chumps so how many people would even recognize them at all after so long?

He pushed the call button and lifted his phone to his ear. It rang a few times before a mildly annoyed sounding voice answered with a blunt, “What? You just called me yesterday, why are you calling me again? Did you miss me or something? Sorry but no boobs no love.”

Junichiro couldn't help himself, “Oh! So the next gift I send your way should be a transvestite stripper, gotchya.”

Spluttering came from the other end of the line while everyone in the ORC room paled. They all knew who he'd called and they did not think the leader of the Grigori should be talked to like that. Though they calmed down when laughter came through loud enough for them to hear in the silent room.

“Good one kid. Alright, why are you calling me, again.”

“I found Mittelt, along with three other fallen I don't know. Two other women and a dude in a trench coat that looks like he enjoys flashing kids. They're here, crashing at the abandoned church.”

Azazel hummed in interest, “Are they now? And Mittelt has no recollection of you. That would explain why she'd be stupid enough to try and be sneaky in Kuoh. I don't know why they're there, but I will find out. If they start to cause trouble, try to capture them for me, please. I know that if they make a nuisance of themselves the girls there will have every right to take them out. I would appreciate it if they didn't.”

Junichiro nodded in acceptance, “No problem. You know I wouldn't want to do anything to hurt Mittelt, even if I am just a stranger to her now. I'll do my best to capture them if they step out of line.”

“You have my thanks.”

The line went dead so junichiro put his phone away, “So, they're not here on Azazel's say-so. He's digging into it. We have his permission to engage if they step out of line, though he would prefer live capture to corpses. Which I don't believe will be an issue.” He held up the photos which showed the fallen with their wings out, “Any of us in this room should be able to take out four two winged angels with ease. Even going for capture over kill.”

He might not have shown the same level of favoritism to Sona as he had to Rias, but he'd still helped her out. Sona was peak High-Class with a good push being enough to bump her up to low Ultimate Class. Tsubaki wasn't too far behind her either. He'd helped them train but hadn't given them things like the Seven Stars that he'd given to ever member of Rias's peerage, including upgrading her to a full powered set.

Rias had a peerage of monsters thanks to his interference. Not that they couldn't have become monsters on their own, just now they would be even bigger monsters.

It felt good to give canon the middle finger.

Sona sighed but nodded, “So, for now, we watch and wait. At least we have a green light to act if they step out of line.”

With that, the meeting was over and turned to friendly chatter until Sona left to deal with paperwork. Junichiro couldn't help wondering if there was a word to describe someone sexually attracted to paperwork. There probably was, there was a word for sexual attraction to anything. Well ,whatever it was, he wouldn't be surprised if it applied to Sona. Maybe he'd look it up and use it in a conversation with her sometime just to mess with her.

-----Line Break-----

Junichiro looked up from the book on human magic he'd been reading with a frown. Ddraig's metallic dragon head also lifted up, almost like a dog hearing a strange noise, not that he would ever say something like that to Ddraig's face.

Someone had just crossed his ward lines with hostile intent and was, even now, breaking though one of the more physically restrictive wards. Without a serious source of power most wards were meant to either be informative or just slow intruders down. Junichiro didn't have the resources to power truly forcefield-like wards so anyone with a descent amount of power could break through them, eventually.

Whoever was attacking his home had a fair bit of power as they'd already broken the first defensive ward and were working on the second. He climbed to his feet with a sigh and started walking toward the front entrance of his home. He might as well greet his exceptionally rude guest. As he walked, Ddraig abandoned his automaton and slipped his mind back into the Boosted Gear to be on hand, if needed.

The bound pair stepped out of the front door and stared at the intruder. Junichiro was kind of surprised to see a six winged fallen angel hammering on the ward with a light spear. He didn't recognize the fallen, why would he when he'd only met a couple? The only one he saw often was Mittelts replacement, Naya. The fallen stopped hammering on the ward when he spotted Junichiro watching him from the front door.

The fallen looked like a handsome young man, no older than his mid twenties, with bright blue eyes and raven black hair. He wore clothing that looked like a more modern take on black robes. His eyes narrowed as he sneered at Junichiro, “Let me in devil so I may retrieve what I have come for and I will make your death quick and painless. If I must force my way in I will spend the next day torturing you and get what I came for regardless.”

Junichiro gave the fallen a bland look, “Does that ever work?”

The fallen gave Junichiro a twisted mockery of a smile, “No.”

“Fair.”

With a flick of his will all of the protective wards around his home came down. He tried not to smirk at the look of shock on the fallen's face. He explained, “You would have gotten through the wards anyway. I don't feel like having to go through the annoyance of repairing all of them after I kill you. So, come on in.”

As he spoke, a flash of golden light filled his hand with a simple looking sword. The fallen looked surprised for a moment before he scowled and seethed, “You think you can defeat me little devil?!” A sickly green spear of light formed in his hand, “I will enjoy putting you in your place. But first. Where is Excalibur Ruler? Tell me and I will only torture you for six hours instead of twelve.”

Junichiro groaned, rolled his eyes, and slumped his shoulders, “Maoudammit Azazel. You couldn't keep that secret?!” He turned to the startled looking fallen, didn't look like he knew where the information on Excalibur Ruler originated from, “Congrats, you get to live for an extra few minutes so I can find out who gave you that information.”

The fallen immediately bristled at that. The spear in his hand was launched with a significant amount of force at Junichiro, though it was clearly aiming to main and not to kill. Junichiro casually backhanded the spear with his right arm, slapping it away with ease. The fallen stared in shock as his spear hit the ground and detonated in a small explosion of light magic.

Junichiro ignored the fallen for a moment to examine his hand. Between Avalon, which had been a part of his body for ears at this point, and the materials making up his newest arm, there wasn't even a smudge on the skin. He focused back on the fallen who was summoning another light spear. The fallen mocked, “Congrats, you stopped my weakest attack. But don't think something as weak as your Sword Birth will give you a chance against me!”

“I... I'm sorry. Do you think that talking like that makes you seem more dangerous or something? You do know it's the smallest dogs that yap the most right?” He stepped to the side to dodge the light spear that came barreling toward himself, “Guess I touched a nerve. But, whatever. You're right.” He dismissed the sword he'd summoned with Sword Birth, “It really wasn't going to help me much.”

The fallen smiled smugly and went to open his mouth again, likely to say something inane, which was quickly cut off as Junichiro vanished from where he'd been standing to appear in front of the flying fallen, “Shut up.”

Junichiro's fist impacted the fallen's jaw in the next instant shattering it and taking away the idiots ability to speak. Yeah, he'd have to heal it to get the guy to talk, but that was ten-minutes-from-now Junichiro's problem. And you know what? Fuck that guy. What had his future self ever done for him? His past self though? Now that guy was an asshole.

The fallen fell to the ground, stunned by the blow to his head that so easily shattered bones. Junichiro flipped through the air and propelled himself with a bit of wind magic to gain some extra speed to his fall. The fallen had just started to recover when Junichiro's feet slammed into the middle of his back and drove him into the ground.

Junichiro calmly stepped off of the groaning fallen and observed his work. If he wanted to kill the little birdy he would have done so in a single blow. But, he wanted to know which of Azazel's butt buddies had spilled the beans on him owning that particular sword. So, he grabbed the fallen by his hair and lifted him off of the ground until he was hanging from his hair. His right fist slammed hard into the fallen's stomach bending him over his arm until he vomited blood and bile onto the ground.

Junichiro continued to hold him up as he held his right hand in front of the fallen's face. A green magic circle swirled into focus and a gentle glow surrounded the fallen's jaw. With sickening clicks and cracks, the mans jaw was pulled back together. That was all Junichiro healed, the glow stopping and the circle fading once it was enough to allow the fallen to speak, “So. Here's how this is going to go little crow. Hey! That rhymed! Nice. Back on topic. I'm going to ask you questions and you're going to answer them. If you refuse or I feel like you're lying to me...”

He leaned forward to whisper into the fallen's ear, his voice dropping several octaves and turning into a growl, “I will slowly rip your wings off one by one.”

That sent a shiver of deep seated fear down the fallen's spine. If there was one thing all Angels feared, it was the removal of their wings. It was something no outsider could ever understand about them. It was the absolute worst thing that could be done to their physical bodies and something that they all secretly feared.

“W-what do you want to know?”

Junichiro smirked coldly as he leaned back to look into the fallen's eyes, “Who told you about my Excalibur shard?”

I-I can't. He'll kill me.”

He could hear the fear in the fallen's voice and smirked cruelly, “I won't kill you. I'll happily leave you as this crippled little thing writing on the ground in agony though.”

His right hand shot out and grasped the fallen's upper left wing right where the base of it met his back. The fingers on his nigh indestructible right hand tightened into a painful grip, “Last chance. Who sent you here for my Excalibur shard?”

The fallen whimpered in fear but didn't seem ready to cave. Junichiro's grip tightened as he slowly began to pull. The fallen screamed in agony and shouted, “KOKOBIEL!”

Junichiro let go of the fallen's wing and groaned. He'd suspected, of course, but to have it confirmed? That was... annoying. Azazel hadn't been contracted to keep quiet for very long and it wasn't retroactive so anything he spilled before then could have spread to who knows how many people. Though he expected Azazel to not have told anyone other than his higher ranking people. Shemhaizai, Barakiel, and Kokobiel all sprang to mind as people he'd inform of some things.

And, of course, Kokobiel would be the one among them who wouldn't care about killing a devil. Even if said devil belong to the peerage of the little sister of Satan. In fact, he'd see that as a positive! He wanted a war because he was under the delusion that the Grigori would somehow win the war if it restarted. Nevermind that a monster like Sirzechs is on the side of the Devils. It's not like he was believed to be even stronger than Lucifer himself had been... oh... wait.

Fallen could have kids, but as far as he could see they were about as fertile as devils. So not very. Angels couldn't reproduce at all. 'Go forth and prosper' only applied to humans. If an Angel couple tried, they would fall. Devil's though? Yes, low natural fertility, huge recruitment drive via evil pieces. Which they had been doing for hundreds of years now. If a war happened, the Devils would have the advantage and it would not end well for the two angel factions.

In short. Kokobiel was delusional and denying reality.

Only Junichiro was allowed to deny reality and substitute his own.

Junichiro lifted his right hand right in front of the fallen's face. A white magic circle formed and flashed causing the fallen to collapse into a deep sleep. After dropping him, another spell was cast to levitate his body while Junichiro pulled his phone from his pocket and hit a number he'd called a lot more than usual recently.

After a few rings Azazel's annoyed voice practically shouted, “What?! What now?! Did a dozen fallen attack Kuoh and kidnap the Gremory girl or something?!”

Junichiro snickered, “Nah, it's not that bad.”

“Oh thank Father.”

“Yeah, just some six winged chump coming to my home, attacking my wards, and threatening to slowly torture and kill me if I didn't hand over Excalibur Ruler to him. Of course, all that got him was a beating which I used to loosen his tongue a bit. So, mind telling me why Kokobiel is sending assassins to kill me and take my toys?”

The groan of agony coming from Azazel was music to his ears. Azazel let out a long drawn out sigh, “So who's the chump you beat up?”

Junichiro shrugged, not that Azazel could see but he was sure Azazel would hear it in his tone, “Who knows. He never introduced himself and I never asked. You going to pick him up or should I turn him into materials?”

“You can do that? No. Wait. Of course you can do that. Just... Lock him up and I'll come get him as soon as I can.” His voice turned serious, “This is not good. After you told me about Mittelt, I started digging. I don't have all the details but Kokobiel is up to something, something big. He's drawing a lot of the more violent warmonger types from the Grigori. Whatever his plan is, I'm afraid it includes you now so you need to be on your guard. I know you're tough kid, but don't push your luck. If Kokobiel shows up, call me immediately.”

“I understand. I still think you're underestimating me though. I'll call you first chance I get after seeing Kokobiel, or if any other dumbasses try to break into my home.”

“Good. I'll be by soon to pick up the trash.”

With that final comment, Azazel hung up and got back to work. Junichiro looked at the sleeping fallen and snickered. Well, he wouldn't be killing him, but that didn't mean he couldn't be harvested, at least a little. He turned his defensive wards back on, all the other wards having still been live and hiding what had happened from the wider world. Otherwise nosy supernaturals would have shown up for the obvious fight.

He hummed to himself as he floated his new material farm into his workshop. Blood, bone marrow, feathers, some skin, yes, there was plenty of things he could strip from the idiot that attacked him and turn into materials for other projects.

Ddraig, back in his automaton, joined Junichiro in the workshop, “Sometimes I feel like there's something very wrong with you, partner.”

Junichiro nodded, “Fair. I never claimed to be perfectly sane though. I only claimed to not be a child obsessed with breasts. Besides, you've been in my head and you know the kinds of awesome things I can probably do with a little fresh Fallen Angel blood. Wanna chuck light spears at Vali while Albion screams about the unfairness of the world?”

That drew a chuckle out of Ddraig, “That might not be so bad. Still, it's not like one more tool in our belt will make Albion's eventual beating any worse than it already will be.”

An undignified snort and a comment of, “You're not wrong.” was Junichiro's contribution to that thought.

After that he was a bit busy collecting materials from the sleeping idiot. He had some fallen samples, but they were all from millenia old corpses found in a cave. He hadn't had a nice way to ask Azazel to send someone over for him to bleed them. An enemy combatant though? Kokobiel really did send over the nicest gifts!

-----Line Break-----

Junichiro stopped mid-yawn and looked around himself. He was half way home from a local convenience store with a bag of salty snacks he'd been craving and things had just gotten mystical. His head moved around looking over the completely abandoned area with no signs of human life anywhere. His head swiveled up to look at the now purple tinted moon hanging in the sky.

“A little devil all on his own, aren't I lucky?”

Junichiro's head robotically turned to the side to see the male fallen, Donner-something, standing on top of a street light and looking down at him like he was a trapped mouse. Junichiro groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose with his right hand, his left holding his salty treats, “Please tell me you aren't actually this stupid.”

Dohnaseek, the name of the fallen, bristled at the attitude and comment of Junichiro. Still, he tried not to let it get to him as he smirked down at the weak prey before him. Kokobiel had ordered him to stir things up if he could and killing one of the Gremory bitches little toys would definitely accomplish that goal. If anyone asked, he'd just say he thought it was a stray devil and no one would be able to prove otherwise. His plan was flawless! His smirk grew as he lifted his left hand up to hold his hat in place as he jumped off of the streetlight to the ground, “Big talk for a weakling stray devil. I'll be doing the devils here a favor by getting rid of you.”

All he got in reply was a long winded sigh and a bland look. It pissed him off. There was no more need for words. He lifted his hand and conjured a blue spear of light in his hand, “Good riddance.”

He launched the spear at the devil with all of his might, a wicked smile curling his lips. The spear flew through the air, the devil clearly too terrified to do anything, not even realizing that it was already dead! He loved killing weaklings... like... this?

Dohnaseek stared in abject shock as his spear was caught, caught by the devil. In his bare hand! How in the name of his father had he...?! Why was he falling backward? Why was it getting dark?

Junichiro dispassionately watched as the fallen that had attacked him fell to the ground dead, his own light spear having gouged out his heart. After catching it, Junichiro had thrown it back at him with some force, apparently enough force that the fallen couldn't even see the spear move through the air or notice when it had destroyed his heart.

Looking at the dead fallen, Junichiro's eyes widened and he swore, “Dammit! Why did I destroy his heart?! I bet I could have used that for all kinds of cool things! Fuck!”

Grumbling and cursing at himself for not thinking ahead, he walked over and grabbed the dead fallen by his hair and started dragging the corpse toward his home. No one walking the early evening streets paid any attention to him as his notice-me-not spell kept their attention off of him. His mood wasn't improved by the laughter he could hear from a certain red dragon in his head.

Hearts really were great for all kinds of things, especially alchemy, and he just casually destroys the first fallen angel heart he could have possibly gotten his hands on. Granted, he hadn't planned on actually killing the guy on sight or anything. But the dude had seriously thought way too much of himself talking like he could kill Junichiro with a single blow. Azazel would understand. Besides, it wasn't like he'd killed one of the hot female fallen.

-----Line Break-----

“Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me.”

Junichiro, once more outside of his home in the early evening, found himself in another warded area surrounded by three female fallen angels and a half dozen excommunicated exorcists. One of which happened to be Freed Sellzen holding his light gun in one hand and a freaking fragment of Excalibur in his other.

Raynare, in her BDSM Dominatrix outfit floated between Mittelt and another woman. Raynare was an attractive young woman with violet eyes, and a curvaceous, slender body. She had long, silky black hair that reached down to her hips and possessed two black feathered wings characteristic of her race. She wore and outfit consisting of black, strap-like leather around and under her breasts, a thong-like piece held around her hips by three thin straps, gloves that ran right up her arms with small lengths of chains hanging from them, shoulder guard-like objects on her shoulders with three large spikes sprouting from her right shoulder, and black thigh-high heeled boots.

The woman he couldn't remember much of at all was a tall and buxom woman with brown eyes and long, navy blue hair that obscured her right eye. Her attire consisted of a maroon, trenchcoat-like top with a wide collar, a matching miniskirt, and black heeled shoes. The trenchcoat top was open at her chest, giving view to her breasts and cleavage. She also wore a gold necklace around her neck. She appears to wear a white shirt underneath her top, but it can only be seen from the bottom.

Mittelt wore a Gothic outfit, though it could no longer really be called 'lolita' due to her older appearance. It was actually a little saddening for him that there was no recognition in her eyes as she stared down at him imperiously.

Raynare was the one to speak for the platoon of idiots arrayed against him, “I don't know why but Lord Azazel has demanded that you die. Blame God for giving you your Sacred Gear and yourself for being stupid enough to join the devils when you are so weak.”

Okay, so this might be partially his fault. After the attack by the fallen in the trench coat, Junichiro decided that nightly walks to try and bait the other fallen might be a bit fun. Apparently he'd really annoyed Kokobiel for him to send all of the people he'd gathered in Kuoh out at once. He'd even gone so far as to give Freed one of the Excalibur's he'd stolen! This was about as much as Kokobiel could do without coming in person.

His plan was to try and attract some attention so he could capture the women one by one and send them back to Azazel, who wasn't upset at all about the death of trench coat guy at all. It looked like he would need to catch them all at the same time. As for the exorcists and Freed? He doubted Azazel cared about them since he'd never mentioned them.

That brought a small frown to Junichiro's face. When had he become so blood thirsty? Sure he'd always planned to kick the crap out of some people and steal their Sacred Gears, but not to just murder them. In fact, why didn't he feel bad after he killed trench coat guy? Was it because of his change into a devil? That... seemed likely. He could remember what happened to Asia Argento after she was turned. She started as a pure maiden with full belief in the bible and shortly after becoming a devil was more than willing to climb into Issei's bed for some premarital sex. That was honestly a pretty big personality change.

It wasn't impossible something similar had happened to him. Had his morality gotten kicked to the curb? Well... he had been willing to harvest crafting materials from a living being and killed trench coat guy without a thought. Seemed to him that the answer was a big 'YES!' on changes.

Junichiro was dragged out of his thoughts as a spiky rose colored light spear hit his chest and shattered into motes of light. He blinked and looked up into the started face of Raynare who was in a throwing pose, “Rude.”

Everyone had varying looks of surprise but Freed was the one to speak out, “What the hell you shitty devil! That's not how it's supposed to work! FUCKING DIE! RAPIDLY!”

Freed turned into a white blur as Excalibur Rapidly greatly enhanced his speed. If Junichiro was really a Middle-Class Devil like his aura suggested, Freed would have been moving way faster than he would have been able to react to. However, he wasn't and Freed was just moving with a little speed in his vision. It gave him plenty of time to react.

Freed came out of his charge expecting the shitty devil to be shocked and unprepared. Instead, as the charge stopped with Rapidly already swinging for the devil's neck, he found himself staring down the barrel of a revolver. The last thing he saw was a flash of light as the gun fired.

Junichiro, even knowing it wasn't how he used to be, wanted to pump his fist in victory. Why? Because he'd kept Freed's heart intact! Freed wasn't much himself, nothing special really. However! His genetics were pretty special. He was one of dozens, maybe hundreds, of attempts by the church to clone the legendary hero Sigurd. He might make for some interesting materials.

The silence after the gunshot that killed Freed didn't last long as Raynare, the 'leader' of their group, shouted, “What are you?!”

Junichiro smiled at her as he tapped his foot on the ground causing a massive magic circle to spread out and take over the aversion ward that had been set up and turn it into a containment ward. As the fallen and exorcists looked around in a panic, he answered, “I'm the last mistake you'll ever make.”

Golden light flashed as Junichiro summoned a sword into his hand. It wasn't anything special, just made of magical metals to give it more durability, “My turn.”

As those words moved through the air, Junichiro himself began to move. If they thought Freed was a blur using Rapidly, then Junichiro was practically invisible as he moved at an even greater speed. Heads literally began to roll as he decapitated the exorcists. The three fallen, unable to follow his movement and seeing their minions dying rapidly, did the smart thing and tried to get away. All three fled in different directions in their panic to escape.

As the last exorcist fell, he could feel three impacts on his containment ward, each one taking a small bit of his demonic power to keep the ward from breaking. He'd designed the ward this way to help trap opponents and keep them from escaping as long as he had demonic power to fight with. He could feel every hit of their light spears on the ward so he knew where each of them was located.

With a playful smile, Junichiro got to work capturing the three fallen. They didn't stand a chance.

-----Line Break-----

“Oh dammit what happened now?!”

Junichiro chuckled at Azazel's 'I'm fucking done with this' tone, “Well, apparently you ordered the fallen here to kill me.”

There was silence for a moment before a dead sounding, “What?” came over the line.

“Yup. According to the one in charge you sent Mittelt, her, and the other chick along with all the exorcists they had, out to kill me tonight. OH! They even had one of those failure Sigurd's with Excalibur Rapidly.”

“... I hate you.”

“Oh come on! No you don't! You know you love me. And hey! I captured the fallen ladies and killed the rest of the trash. I even recovered Rapidly, which is going in my vault for now. If the church wants it back they can figure out where it is on their own then come begging for it.”

Azazel sighed, “You know they wont like that.”

“I know, but it can help bring them to the negotiation table.”

Azazel's desire for peace wasn't a secret and Junichiro had no problem working with him toward that goal. There were more important things to fight against then each other.

Azazel sighed again and Junichiro could hear the resignation in his voice, “I'll come pick them up soon. Just... don't treat them the way you did Raniel.”

Junichiro snickered at the mention of the six winged fallen he'd taken down being mentioned. He'd been kind of petty and had plucked literally all of his feathers. It was goddamn hilarious and gave him a huge supply of fallen feathers to work with.

Junichiro looked over at the three unconscious fallen women, Rapidly, Freed's corpse, and an absolute pile of light guns and a few light swords, “I'll treat them like the ladies they are, promise.”

-----Line Break-----

AN

10k words, nice!

And we're in canon with Junichiro already throwing things off the rails. Now, as far as I can tell, Kokobiel had been working in the background while the first two arcs of DxD were happening. It would take time for him to steal so many fragments of Excalibur after all.

Now, to be clear, only two people in all of the Grigori know Junichiro is the Artificer, Azazel and his new liaison Naya. So no, Kokobiel is NOT aware that he's just feeding fodder to a monster. If Kokobiel did know, I feel he would try to recruit Juni to his cause, or capture and exploit him if possible. Killing would be a last resort since Juni's abilities are just too useful to throw away. Especially if Kokobiel seriously wishes to win the war and his scheme isn't all an elaborate form of suicide.

Anyway, this chapter kind of wrote itself, so enjoy!