(DxD x Tony Stark) Iron & Myth: Chapter 7 - Deal with a devil

Chapter 7 - Deal with a devil

Summary: Tony confronts devils, strikes a deal, and rewrites the rules.

Tony typed away on his holographic keyboard down at his underground lab. Had he already mentioned how much he fucking loved the lab in their new house? Because it was so damn much.

It was about four times the size of the one back in the US. It had a fabrication room, a testing area, and so on instead of just the few stations he had to compromise with back in his homeland.

Tony would have loved to say he was working on the teleportation sequence JARVIS managed to scan while Gremory used it to leave the park last night, but there were more important things to worry about.

After all, while he was still unsure about where he was standing with the devils, he was also sure there were a hell of a lot more of them around—pun intended. Raynare wouldn't refer to Kuoh as devil territory just because it just so happened that two of them were already living here.

But on the other hand he just killed a fallen angel, and he wasn't sure what Raynare said to that Zakariel to get him off her back. If she told him how a human killed his second in command Tony expected that the leader fallen wouldn't take it too kindly and would look to attack him.

Tony didn't mind much if they would attack only him in the middle of the street—he was wearing the housing unit on his chest and could just blow them away. If they came after him inside this house though, that would be a problem.

Tony needed to protect his parents—the unintended result of it ensuring his secret was kept was just a bonus in his mind.

That's why since he came back last night Tony locked himself inside the lab and began looking through all the data he got from scanning the fallen's magical signature, Raynare's light spear and transformation. Adding to those the information he already managed to gather from the feathers and blood he took led Tony to something interesting.

Magic was coding.

Basically casting spells was coding the energy and elements around you. People like Gremory were just able to subconsciously create the code of the spell they wanted and cast it by running the code in their mind.

In other words, the magical caster was like the computer and power that generated the code and energy for it, while the world around them was the screen that executed the actions of the code.

Tony was giddy. He was after all the master of coding. Who else could say they designed and coded the most advanced AIs when he was still a teenager? Tony felt a little bitter he couldn't use this kind of new coding as well.

But one should never count Tony Stark out just after the first miss. If he couldn't cast magic the natural method, all he would have to do was use his knowledge to create an artificial magic.

He already noticed the magic language had a lot in common with many of the coding styles he was already familiar with, like defining variables, arrays and so on. On the other hand there was also a lot of difference he just couldn't figure out without any additional data.

Shame. But he had just enough data to extract the base code of all fallen angels' magic, and after that all he had to do was create a sort of electromagnetic field, that was designed to act as a sort of virus to the fallen angels, basically meaning that they couldn't cast magic in its radius and their superhuman abilities while not completely gone were heavily lowered. Rendering them powerless and easy prey.

Tony called the net of devices that would create the house perimeter 'Ward.'

Tony was startled when his alarm clock began to go off. Before he could even let the sound sink in JARVIS was already on the attack "Sir, I believe you will be late to school at this pace."

Tony sighed—he was right. For a moment he considered skipping classes today, but then he remembered his promise to Gremory and with another agonized sigh he stood up and began preparing for school while calling over his shoulder "JARVIS begin installing the Ward project."

"Of course, Sir." Came the quick reply of his AI.

Another school day was ending much to Tony's relief—he didn't have a lot of classes with the two devils today, and should have had them in this last one, but for some reason they weren't there.

Tony shrugged mentally—if they didn't want to talk with him it was on them. He offered his hand in peace, if they preferred to be considered enemies Tony would teach them when the time came what it meant to...

His train of thoughts was cut off when JARVIS warned him "An individual with demonic magical signature is approaching you Sir, but it's neither Ms. Gremory nor Ms. Himejima."

Tony did love the fact that with references in his memory JARVIS was now able to tell the signatures apart and provide Tony with a little bit of advance warning.

He heard the girls around him gasp and begin to mutter as a boy with short blond hair, about the same height as him and a beauty mark under his eye walked inside the classroom with an easy going smile.

He waved toward the girls and headed toward him. Tony stood up holding his bag in his right hand and put the left one inside his pocket.

"Hello there Stark-senpai. I'm Yuuto Kiba, and..." He began introducing himself.

Tony didn't like the fact that the devils tried to get the upper hand by catching him off guard so he decided to return the favor "You were sent by Ms. Gremory to escort me to the meeting's location. Making you do the devil's work, is she?"

Kiba was caught off guard indeed—he practically jerked backwards and his eyes flashed with something a little hostile, before he forcibly calmed himself and the smile stretched back on his face, though Tony noticed it was far more strained now.

Kiba let out a tight chuckle before saying in false cheerfulness "You seem to be as smart as the rumors suggested."

Tony threw his bag over his shoulder and with his most vicious smirk replied "The smartest in the world. Now will you lead the way?"

Kiba gave Tony a tight nod and turned to walk away, Tony snorted and followed him.

The blonde devil led him out of the main building and toward the old school building, the other boy kept looking at him warily while Tony kept his smirk in place.

Tony was a little insulted when he saw the building. Did they really want to have their talk in a place that could drop on top of their heads at any moment?

Tony was glad he knew how to hide his surprise well, because he certainly was surprised once they passed the threshold inside, where everything looked much fancier and polished. Huh, that's magic for you he supposed.

The moment they walked in JARVIS also updated him "Sir, I detect four more signatures of the demonic kind in a room further ahead. Two of those are identified as Ms. Gremory and Ms. Himejima. One of those is the weakest signature we ever detected, and the last one is equal to Mr. Kiba's, though that one reminds me of Ms. Himejima's mixed signature, though hers has its own unique aspect."

Hmmm, another mixed signal and a different mix as well—that was interesting. But it didn't really matter right now.

"Well your four friends are waiting for us so we should pick up the pace." Tony shot Kiba his ever-present smirk.

Kiba stiffened again and began to look afraid of Tony. Well for now this was for the best.

The moment they entered the room Kiba began speaking "President, like you..."

Choosing to act like the asshole everyone in his last life saw him as he cut right in "Nice place you have here Ms. Gremory." And then he pulled the chair across from the red-hair, sat down while putting his feet on the table.

What no one saw because of the position he was in, was how his hands were crossed with his finger a breath away from his watch. Just in case.

Gremory frowned at his rudeness, as did Kiba and a little girl with white hair. Himejima seemed to find the entire scene amusing. And then he noticed the last person sitting on the couch behind him.

Tony frowned, genuinely disappointed at the teen "Really Hyoudou, you sold your humanity just like that? Pathetic."

Gremory slammed her palms on the table between them and said firmly and with an angry voice "I will not sit here while you insult my beloved servants!"

Tony frowned even further at Hyoudou not even turning to acknowledge the red-hair "You agreed to become a slave?"

Hyoudou smiled widely and said excitedly "Of course. Did you see the President's boobs? I'm going to be the harem king one day!"

Tony looked around the room to see their reaction to the statement. The white haired girl scowled at the boy, Kiba looked indifferent, Himejima kept smiling though it looked more forced now, and Gremory looked a little uncomfortable. And still none of them spoke up.

Tony shot the boy a look of disgust "I really regret the trouble I went through yesterday. I will ignore you from now on."

Gremory went back to frowning, it was Himejima that tried to break the ice a little bit "You know Stark-kun, devils are not so bad."

Tony shot her a smirk and retorted "Never said they were Ms. Himejima."

Kiba seemed to want to take a cheap shot at him and asked rhetorically "Didn't you just insult Issei for being one?"

Tony snorted "No. I insulted him for selling himself, and his humanity off for a concept I hardly think he knows anything about. After all he just found out about devils in the last twelve hours."

Gremory sighed and relented "I guess that's fair. Now how about we talk about you Stark-san."

Tony rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair "Don't waste my time Ms. Gremory, I'm sure you looked into me by now."

Himejima giggled before speaking from her position next to her friend "Ara, ara, it looks like you earned your reputation Futurist."

Tony smirked "You know it. Just don't wear it out honey." He finished with a wink.

Himejima actually blushed and covered her face with her hands, which caused Hyoudou to jump from his seat and scream "Hey man, keep your hands off my women."

Tony as promised ignored him, but his smirk did turn a little strained—he really wanted to blast this guy in his nuts.

Gremory shot Hyoudou an annoyed look but said softly "Issei please try to stay quiet for now." She then turned back to Tony and spoke calmly "Now let's talk about yesterday. What happened to the fallen angel and where was the girl that tricked Issei?"

Tony scanned her stoic face for a moment before shrugging "I was coming back from work, saw Hyoudou with his date and was about to leave when suddenly a voice from the sky ordered her to kill the fool. I jumped in and pushed the pervert out of the spear's way, defeated Raynare and then Belmorth intervened and left me with no other choice but to end him."

Gremory frowned "That doesn't explain anything. How did you defeat two fallen angels? Where is Raynare now? And how can you detect supernatural presences?"

Tony chose instead of staying on the defense to go for the attack "What about you? Why are there so many devils in this town? Why did you turn Hyoudou into a devil? How did you do it?"

Gremory looked dissatisfied with his response, which he couldn't honestly blame her for. "It looks like we reached an impasse. Can I ask why you decided to have this chat if you had no intention of answering my questions?"

Tony smirked "Now that's a woman with a good head on her shoulders, I like it." Gremory blushed a little under the praise "Devils are all about deals right?"

Gremory suddenly looked very intrigued, and she smiled a little "Oh, indeed we are. Are you interested in joining us? Someone with your skills will be..."

Her voice trailed off when he shook his head "Sorry, I have no interest in changing my race."

Gremory looked disappointed, very much so—odd—before schooling her features again and asking, "So what deal did you have in mind?"

Tony looked around at the few different books around the room while he spoke "I'm looking for information. I would like to borrow some books about the factions, magic and so on. I will be even more grateful if you let me watch you train with some spells a little."

Gremory looked deep in thought for a long moment before finally speaking in a calm manner "It's a reasonable request for someone who is already familiar with the supernatural world I suppose. But what will I get in return?"

Tony smirked "Well if it's money you want I am more than good for it. If it's my soul you want then I'm afraid that's a deal breaker, otherwise I have an offer."

Gremory's eye twitched when he mentioned soul exchange, but looked intrigued by the last part "We don't exchange souls. Honestly, I have no idea where that started to be a whole thing. What's your offer?"

Tony felt safe to relax a little and he raised one finger with a smirk on his face "I offer my services."