18 DxD: Recruitment Week 07

Deep in its inner sanctum, the Lich waited. His skeletal fingers gripped tight around the blackened bone staff he held. The Interloper was currently carving his way through the Lich's final line of defense, far more powerful than before.

The Lich called back his forces, teleporting them all to himself. There was no point in having them fight there, they could not touch the Interloper now. But with enough bodies packed into the inner sanctum, with less room for the Interloper to maneuver in, it might be possible.

The Lich's gaze was drawn to the gem that was nested atop the staff he held. He had hoped to avoid using it, but with this new development, it seemed he had no other choice. It was the only trump card left to him, and he could only hope his undead army would provide him the chance to use it.

-x-

I stood in front of the door to the boss room, wary. I've only been in the dungeon for twenty minutes, and it's been weird.

The first thing I did was finally try out one of my new Void Mage skills, [Void Cloak], and try to go through the dungeon wall. I was able to put my hand a couple of inches into the wall, but I couldn't phase through the indestructible part of the dungeon that I noticed in one of my previous runs.

I then ran out of mana and learned that thankfully, dropping the skill when inside of something doesn't try to overlap the two, and it instead just pushed my hand out of the wall. Well, I say pushed, but it felt more like one second my hand was inside the wall, and then my hand was pressed up against the wall with no sense of movement attached to it.

I didn't experiment with [Void Travel] after that, deciding it would be better to get a sense for it in a non-dungeon space first, since the rules might be different here.

Instead, I used another Ultimate XP Potion and started clearing rooms using only [Void Beam] in an attempt to level it up some. Boosted by [Void Blood], it did massive damage and I was able to clear the first room in seconds. However, in the second room, things went wrong.

As it turns out, [Void Blood] had another risk to it that the skill didn't make clear until after it happened. With [Void Blood] active, any other Void skill ran the risk of causing [Void Blood] to lose control, resulting in void energies tearing me apart from the inside, dealing massive damage, and applying the Void Ravaged debuff to me again for 50%.

Thankfully it only happened as the last enemy in the room died, but it could have been so much worse. I used my only Cure Status Potion and decided to continue without [Void Blood] active.

I did note that [Void Detect] didn't seem to be at risk for use with [Void Blood], and I'm not sure if that's because of what kind of skill it is, or the fact that it was originally [Void Sense] and it was mixed with [Detect] to create a new skill. Maybe it was stabilized? Or maybe I had just gotten lucky. It's impossible to tell right now, I'll have to experiment later.

After deactivating [Void Blood] and deciding to continue trying to level [Void Beam], I entered the next room and found nothing. No enemies at all. It wasn't a safe room, nor were they hiding, they just weren't there. And they continued to be absent from all the remaining rooms.

This made them easy to loot, and I got lucky with the things I found. One had a CHA Crystal that increased my CHA by 10, and in another, I found a skill gem that taught me a new skill.

<[Speak with Dead] - Level 1(0%)>

Potentially useful, but not as important as the other loot I found. 4 Gacha tokens.

I don't want to waste too much time before starting the boss fight, I only have 45 minutes left with my Ultimate XP Potion, and I'm not sure how long the fight will take. But it's worth it to use these Gacha tokens first, they could give me something that would give me an advantage.

The first three items I roll are neat, but nothing amazing.

The last item gives me pause though.

A Devil Fruit is an impressive power, but more than that, this specific one has a lot of potential. No Devil Fruit is bad, and it's more up to their users and how creatively they use their abilities, but some are very good even if you aren't very creative.

And being able to turn into a Phoenix with control over extremely potent healing flames is one of them.

The inability to swim and weakness to materials like Seastone isn't insignificant, but outside of the world of One Piece, it's not a very big risk. Especially when I have other ways of avoiding water.

I pull it out of my inventory and stare at it, tempted to take a bite out of it and gain its power. But there's a little voice in the back of my mind that tells me to stop and reconsider.

Every advantage the fruit could offer me is also something I can get with a different method. Flight, healing flames, increased regeneration...those are all things I can get with time and the right Classes. I can even get better versions of them.

But this Devil Fruit will work on anyone. I'm limited in how much of my strength and skills I can share with someone else. So should I really use this, when I can give it to someone else?

Someone else, someone I care about and want to keep safe, would benefit from this fruit far more than I can, especially in the long term. No one else has the same options for gaining strength I do, and a powerup like this can make a massive difference.

So, a little reluctantly, I put it back into my inventory. Eating it myself would satisfy me in the short term, but giving it to someone else is far too much better of an idea in the long term, and I would regret it down the line.

Besides, as good as the Fruit is, I can only eat one, so if I get another one that I like more later, then it would be too bad.

I'll figure out who to give to later. Atsuko and Asia are both good candidates, but I have another candidate in mind that feels more appropriate. After all, it's not just me that's restricted to a single Devil Fruit power. Everyone is, so I should use it on the most appropriate person.

I shake my head and look at the time. Five minutes wasted standing around thinking. I'm not eating the fruit myself, so it can wait. I double-check that I have all my skills prepared. With my new discovery of the limitation on [Void Blood], my strategy has to change a little.

Fortunately, the skill is maxed out, which means I can activate it and deactivate it as much as I want. Unfortunately, this process takes time. Not a lot, a little less than a second either way, but that meant casting any Void spells would require the extra delay if I had it active. But it was too good not to have active.

Thankfully, I can scope out the situation with [Void Detect] before heading it and- holy shit. Well, I've discovered where all the enemies went. The small room is packed nearly to bursting with undead. All of them are facing the door, and in their center is one that stands out.

It floats a few feet above the floor, a skeleton wrapped in robes and holding a staff. It gives off a powerful magical aura, though it's dwarfed by the staff it holds, and the locked box in the back of the room. Thankfully, that's no barrier to [Void Detect], and inside is a small metal jar. I use [Void Sight] inside of the safe, and despite the dark, I'm able to use [Observe] on the jar.

Bingo. I turn my attention to the safe itself. It's made of something called 'Necrotic Iron' which makes it both physically strong and resistant to magic, and the locking mechanism requires very precise necromancy, with the lock itself being some sort of undead golem.

It's actually a fascinating lock design, and unfortunately, it's also unpickable by me, especially in the extremely limited time frame I'm likely to have. Brute force is my only option, and even that will be tricky.

The most efficient method would be to take out the lich, which would probably take out the rest of the undead, or at least make them far easier to deal with. But to do that, I have to take out his phylactery, and he's done a good enough job securing it that I can't do it easily.

Or so I presume. I haven't tested it against anything with magic resistance yet, but I suspect Void damage cuts through that a bit better than most spells. But that's a dangerous assumption to make here.

So the safest option will probably be to clear the room of the low-level enemies, dodge the lich, and hammer on the safe until it's destroyed.

Plan ready, I take a deep breath to ready myself and then fling open the doors.

Immediately there are a dozen spells and arrows sent towards me, but I'm already ducking low and rushing in. I immediately use most of my MP to use [Void Collapse] twice, one in the middle of the mass of enemies on the left, and another one on the right side.

<[Void Collapse] - Level 21(34%)>

[Void Collapse] isn't a skill I use often. It roots itself in a specific location and its range is small enough that it's not that hard to just go around it, so for the cost, it's usually not worth it. However, in a room so tightly packed, when the enemies can't avoid it? That's a different story.

Undead groaned as they were torn to pieces, consumed by the two swirling nexuses of Void. As the undead and some fired spells were absorbed into it, it only grew larger, and more undead are sucked into it. But not all of them.

Which is why, immediately after casting the two spells, I activate [Void Blood] and start throwing more undead into the vortexes. I don't bother trying to throw the heavy tanks or incorporeal banshees in there, but ghouls, skeletons, and witches all are fed to the hungry Void as I use [Void Detect] to dodge and weave between the attacks. It's no challenge at all with an effective STR and DEX of over 2,500 thanks to [Void Blood].

Making sure to stab all the Tanks I come across, [Void Edge] having been applied to my Hestia Knife before coming into the room, it's not long before I'm left with just one panicking lich and a dozen or so banshees. Enough time for my MP to have regenerated to about 50%. But seeing the [Void Collapse] skills still active, I decide to try something.

I rush for the safe, which I had previously ignored, and confirm that it's not mounted to the ground or to anything at all. As I approach the safe, the lich levels its staff at me, but I ignore it, scooping up the safe. I turn towards the nearest [Void Collapse] and-

I nearly trip as the weight of it disappears from my hands, and I scream in pain as I feel like I've been dipped in acid. The world has gone dark to my eyes, and [Void Detect] was confusing me. How did the lich get there so quickly?

Before I can gather my senses, I'm rocked by the dozen banshees arranged in a circle around me all hitting me with their sonic attacks. I panic, and without even dropping [Void Blood], I use [Void Travel] to escape to the other side of the room.

It works, but as I arrive I feel the misfire happen again. Void energies tear into my body from the inside, [Void Blood] deactivates, and I feel my world slow down as my base stats drop by half. My only lifeline is that [Void Detect] remains active, and I'm able to finally get a grasp of the situation.

Somehow, in one instant, everything changed. The safe containing the phylactery is now floating behind the lich. The banshees are surrounding the spot I was just in, which is covered in a dark fog. They haven't noticed my disappearance yet.

I immediately activate [Fade] and down a Major Health Potion. The attacks plus the misfire had reduced my health to dangerous levels, less than ten percent. I watch the remaining enemies as I consider my options. With reduced stats and [Void Blood] no longer available to me, they are limited, but not non-existent.

Going after the lich directly is pointless. But I can immobilize him, and in the same move take out the banshees. I pull the three Black Keys from my inventory and push mana into them to create their blades. Then, I use [Void Edge] to increase their damage, and I move.

The first Black Key goes into the Shadow of the lich, who starts to turn as soon as it leaves my hand but is too late to stop it. As the blade sinks into the ground the lich freezes, suspended in midair. Good, I wasn't sure if that would work if they weren't on the ground.

The other two Black Keys in hand like they're normal swords, I rush the banshees, twirling as I cut them to pieces. The Holy damage they do plus the extra damage from [Void Edge] does the trick and soon all the banshees are dead, leaving just me and the lich.

Earlier I might have bantered, maybe gloated a little. But right now, having almost fucking died? Fuck that, I'm finishing this and then I'm going back home to get some sleep. I use [Void Call] on the safe, and it's visibly damaged, but still holds strong.

[Void Beam] also damages it, but not enough. Either void skills aren't effective against magic resistant materials, or it's just far tougher than I expected. I can feel the rage and fear coming off the lich with [Empathy] as I experiment on ways to destroy the safe, and he sits there helplessly.

Or not so helplessly, when he lashes out and the blade of the Black Key snaps, freeing him. I curse and dodge the wave of black ice shards he throws at me. Fine, if Void magic won't do it, how about holy?

I take out a Light Gun, stolen from the Fallen Angels so long ago, and shoot the safe while I dodge his attacks. It seems to be working, the damage done to the safe is considering. The lich protests, throwing its body in front of the safe even as it levitates it out of my reach, but I don't let it.

Even with my stats halved I'm fast enough to rush around the lich, dodging the waves of ice and darkness it sends at me, peppering the safe. It's rotating too much for me to focus on a single spot, or else I would have punched through it by now, but even so it's barely held together, in fact, I suspect that it's the lich that's keeping it from falling apart more than anything.

The lich was angry and scared before, but now all I feel from it is fear. It can't hit me with its attacks, and whatever it did earlier it doesn't seem to be able to do again. But I need to finish this before he gets a chance to try again.

Putting away my Hestia Knife, I pull out my Sanctified Whip. I've never used a whip as a weapon before, but it's my best weapon against undead.

It takes a few swings for me to figure it out, but soon I'm comfortable with it. At least, comfortable enough to use it to wrap it around the safe and yank it towards me, disrupting the lich's control over it.

Sure enough, once it's yanked from his telekinetic grasp, and potentially due to the extra damage done by the whip, it crumbles to pieces, spilling the metal urn out onto the floor. The lich panics, but before he can recover it, a shot from my Light Gun bores through the unholy phylactery.

The lich shrieks, but the sound trails off as its bones crumble to dust and it dies. The ragged robe it wore falls to the ground along with the staff it used.

I take a deep sigh of relief and turn my attention to the Game windows suddenly popping up.

<[Void Rebirth] - Level 1(0%)>

--<Please choose a new Class>--

[Warrior][Saber][Archer][Lancer][Berserker][Gunner]

[Assassin][Ninja][Spy][Thief][Shadow]

[Mage][Summoner][Elementalist][Illusionist][Healer]

[Hollow Knight][Blue Mage]

--<>--

Before I can even begin to process all of that, I hear a voice behind me. "That was quite the fight, Champ. I was worried there for a second."

I spin to face the voice and see...myself? Oh. That explains why [Void Detect] didn't pick anything up.

"I see you've finally decided to come out and say hello," I address the Man in the Wall. He looks exactly like me, though instead of armor he's dressed in the casual clothes I usually wear. The only difference is his eyes. There are no irises or pupils there, only the swirling gold of his Void.

"I decided you were interesting enough to warrant a discussion," he replies. His voice is like mine, but there's another layer to it. I can hear the Void clearly in his voice. It's hard to describe what Void sounds like, but the best way I can put it is 'incomprehensible musical static'. Not staticky music, musical static.

"I'm glad I entertain you," I say a little sarcastically as I make a show of relaxing, though I'm still tense. I don't believe he'll attack me, but I don't believe it's possible to predict what he'll do either. I start gathering the few scraps of loot on the ground, picking up the remains of the safe, the hilt of the Black Key, the lich's robe, and finally the staff. The staff itself is putting off a lot of magical power, so I use [Observe] on it.

"That's quite the artifact," I hear the Man in the Wall say. "It almost managed to turn the tide on you, though much of that was your own foolishness."

I grit my teeth at the reminder of how I fucked up. The damage that was being done to me by the banshees and fog was bad, but in hindsight, if I had used [Shadow Step] or even just ran out of the area it would have cost me far less health than the misfire, even considering how much slower the techniques were. "I wasn't exactly thinking very clearly at the time," I defend myself.

Wait, this staff is what caused the weird jump? I don't see how. Unless...my eyes travel up to the gem nestled on top of the staff, and I use [Observe] on that.

<Kronika's Gem>

Holy shit, that's what that was, a time stop. No wonder that fight suddenly went so poorly, the god damned boss used a time stop on me. But it wasn't enough, and now I have it.

Mood improved, I turn back to the Man in the Wall. "Anyways, aren't you a little far from home? Don't you have some immortal kids to spy on?"

"I'm quite capable of multitasking," the Man in the Wall responds easily. "Besides, you are far more interesting. The Tenno I understand, having been transformed by the Void. You, however, are something else." He makes a small humming noise. "This 'Game' is interesting. Never before have I seen anything like it."

"So you can see that too, huh?" I ask. "You've been rummaging around in my head then?"

He smiles maliciously. "I did not need to." I wait for him to expand on that, but he doesn't.

I sigh. "Well, you have my attention. What is it you want?"

"Oh not much," he answers. "I just thought congratulations were in order. You've reached a major milestone after all."

"That's it?" I ask, not believing him.

"For now," he grins. "We'll talk again later, okay Champ?" And before I can respond, he vanishes.

"Fucking creepy god damn stalker," I grumble, though I'm relieved. It seems that the Man in the Wall is at least acting friendly, and while that doesn't make me trust him the slightest, it does take some of the edge off. For now. I quickly go through the rest of the loot I got from the fight. Nothing special, mostly ingredients.

The boss's loot is much more interesting. I remove Kronika's Gem from the Blackened Bone Staff and store them into my inventory separately. I have a plan in mind for the staff, but the time stop stays with me.

Besides those, he also dropped three Gatcha tokens, which I store to use later, and his robe.

I don't have a use for it, but maybe fixing it will level up my [Tailoring] skill? Not sure what material it's actually made of. Maybe it's actual death magic turned into cloth? I'll have to figure it out later.

Now onto the far more important things. First, maxing out Void Mage. I was close and knew it would happen soon, but I wasn't prepared for the final skill. A get out of jail free card for dying, though one with a massive cool down. A difficult skill to level up too, and I'm not sure what benefit there is to doing so. Does it reduce the cooldown? Or maybe it just increases the amount of MP that overflows?

Either way, it's not something I'm going to try to train on purpose. 100 days without it is a high cost. Hell, training it properly would take years. No, it's safer to just continue like I don't have it, and know that I have a small safety net in case the worst happens.

Next, I look back over my class options. The options look the same as last time, except the two additional ones at the bottom, which I assume are the unique classes I unlocked. They certainly look unique.

<[Hollow Knight][Blue Mage]>

Hollow Knight, a game about a bug who wielded the power of soul, void, and dreams to contain or slay a god, depending on the ending. And Blue Mage, which I assume will let me learn any skills I'm hit by.

Honestly, they're both very tempting. Hollow Knight because of the synergy with my existing combat style and ties to the Void, and Blue Mage because of all the skills it can get me, especially once I start combining skills.

I mull over the decision for a bit, but ultimately I decide to go with Hollow Knight. I believe it'll keep me safer in the short term. I can always pick up Blue Mage afterward, assuming something better doesn't come up.

<[Empowering Soul]>

<[Vicious Wounds] - Critical hits deal 100% more damage>

<[Mana Lake] - Increases maximum mana>

I blink, waiting for a skill or two to be added, but nothing happens. Wait, is that it? Just a Trait? Is this because the class is Unique? Still, the Trait itself is pretty good. I pick a spot on the wall and attempt to add the strength of my soul to a [Void Beam], but I don't notice a difference. Frowning, I check my stats screen. There's no new bar or anything, and no way to measure my 'soul'.

Whatever. I'll meditate on it later and figure it out. I'd do it now but...well a creepy dungeon where I just talked to the Man in the Wall was not the place for me to do some literal soul searching.

So instead I turn my attention to the last thing of interest.

That was both a lot of information and basically none at all. It made it very clear that this was a one time challenge but offered absolutely nothing about the dungeon itself or its rewards. The last bit, about it being a random difficulty, is also worrying. Going into one is a gamble since leaving is impossible.

I'll hold onto it for now, and save it for when I'm more prepared. I need better armor, better potions, and I need to experiment more with my skills, especially my new soul stuff. I take a quick look at my new stats.

<------>

Axton

Level: 218

Class: Hollow Knight(18/100)[0%]

HP: 9,900 (198 per second)

MP: 40,320 (806 per second)

SP: 9,040 (181 per second)

CON: 495

STR: 427(452)

DEX: 632

INT: 1008

WIS: 884

CHA: 331

LUK: 423(433)

<------>

My MP shot up again, which I appreciate, but I'm starting to get a little annoyed. For a Rogue, I sure do have a lot of magic power. Still, from what I saw of the stats, STR and DEX are the main focuses of the Hollow Knight class, so hopefully my SP will get the same treatment soon.

I do a quick sweep of the room with [Void Detect] to make sure I haven't missed anything. I don't think I have, considering I got the notice that I cleared the Dungeon, and [Void Detect] backs that up. With a nod, I use [Dungeon Traversal] and go back home to my room.

Things are exactly how I left them. I use [Void Detect] to make sure. I don't sense any sources of magic that I don't expect to see, and all of the people in my range are the neighbors I expected. Most of them are asleep at this time of night, though I note that the girl in the room next to me is still up at her computer, but that isn't unusual for her from what I remember from the couple of times I've used [Void Detect].

Satisfied that everything is as it should be, I relax. I look at Asia, sleeping comfortably in the bed, Yua curled up next to her. After my close call in the dungeon, I'm tempted to crawl back in bed and join them. But I shake my head and free myself of those thoughts.

First, there is something important I need to talk to Kyu about that I should have talked to her about already. The Man in the Wall. I had forgotten about the way he had edited the Game by the time I saw Kyu again yesterday, but after my last run-in with him, there's no way I'm going to forget again.

I head over to a slightly hidden spot on top of my dresser behind some books and find Kyu in her smaller form curled up in what appears to be a nest made out of panties. So that's where they went. I had noticed they weren't in my inventory but wasn't sure where she had stashed them.

Ignoring this new information, I gently poke her awake. "Hey Kyu, wake up real quick," I tell her while using [Sound Domain] to make sure Asia doesn't hear and wake up. "I need to talk to you about something important."

Grumbling, she sits up and rubs at her eyes. "I just got to sleep," she grumbles. "What do you want? I swear if you're here to ask me about unimportant dungeon-"

"There's a Void being stalking me that can access the game," I interrupt her.

"He can do what?!" she exclaims. "What do you mean he can access the game? This shit is like airtight, the only way he could do that would be…oh." She looks at me. "You said a Void being? Like something that lives in the Void or what?"

"Like he's a manifestation of the Void or is the Void or something, that wasn't ever made clear," I answer. "Why? What did you figure out?"

"Well," she starts, expression complicated. "The System is hooked up directly to your soul, through me. It feeds from the System, through me, and then to you, and that's where all your powers and your window and all that shit comes from. So if something had access to your soul, it could theoretically tweak things a little, but only on your end. What exactly did it do?"

"Well at first all it did was add a message to one of my skills that disappeared a couple moments later," I say. "But now he's here, probably watching me. We had a chat just now after I maxed out Void Mage."

"When that happened, were you in the dungeon?" she asks, looking unusually serious.

"Yeah. Both times I was. Does it matter?"

"Of course it fucking matters you dingus," she shoots back. "The Dungeon is in the Void. Sorta. They're like little pocket spaces, but more malleable." She shakes her head. "The point is, if this dude is a manifestation of the Void, he's going to have it a lot easier when you're in the Dungeon."

"So he might not be watching right now?" I ask.

Kyu takes a moment, closing her eyes. "I don't sense anything wrong, but my ability to parse your soul is pretty limited, I mostly just plug shit in."

"Shit," I curse. "Should I just not go to the dungeons anymore?"

"I don't know," she sighs. "Is this thing after you? Is it a threat?"

"I honestly don't know," I answer. "I don't think so? If I had to describe him it would be 'enigmatic and creepy'. He's potentially a threat, but he also might just be a voyeur."

"Then you do whatever you're most comfortable with," Kyu says, tired. "You're the one that knows him. I can shift the game into 'no dungeon' mode, that basically just gives you more quests and XP for those quests, but locks the dungeon."

I sigh. "No, keep it the way it is now. If he's just going to creep, then it's fine. I'll let you know if that changes. Besides, I just got a new class that's based on soul stuff. That should help. Or it'll hurt."

She frowns. "Did you?" Her eyes unfocus slightly. "Oh you did, one of the Unique classes. Huh. That's a weird one. Yeah, it could go either way, though I think it'll help more than hurt."

"I guess I'll get to work on figuring it out then," I say. "Sorry to wake you up." She waves me off, already lying back down and settling back down into her nest. Without a further word, she falls back asleep, leaving me alone.

With another sigh and a glance at the inviting bed where Asia slept, I sit down on the floor across the room from the bed, my back against the wall.

I remove all my armor and equip only a pair of soft pants and my Omni-Ring. Here, in the comfort of my own home, is a good place to figure out this soul business.

Since the game doesn't seem to be willing to help me, I have to do it the old fashioned way. I get into a comfortable position, close my eyes, disable [Void Detect], and turn my senses inwards.

The first thing I notice is all the Void damage, which reminds me of my state. I sigh, cut off the meditation, and quickly throw together the ingredients for a Cure Status Potion. It's actually extremely cheap to make, as it's a Minor grade potion. I'm tempted to take a quick minute to experiment and see what the higher tier versions are, but I only have the ingredients to make the next tier up, and only a few at that, so I leave it for later.

Status effect gone and stats back to normal, I once again make myself comfortable and turn my attention inwards. My senses are good enough that I can feel magic and life force running through my body. I've never really paid attention to how my body has changed since becoming a Gamer and powering up, so I decide not to rush it and I lose myself in feeling those forces flow through me.

Mana flows through my body like it's electricity, following pathways along veins and bones and whatever bit of tissue it finds. It's centered on my mind, the mana flowing to and from it like it's a heart.

Stamina, or what would probably be called ki by others, is more like heat. It spreads evenly throughout me, and changes in it happen in waves and ripples. It's focused on my heart, which is the point where it's the 'hottest'.

Both are difficult to pick up on. They're subtle and they're 'dark' for lack of a better descriptor. This must be the result of the Void Touched trait. Which means it's the influence of my soul, which is the thing I need to get a sense of.

So I pay attention to both my mana and my ki, getting a feel for the Void-ness that affected both of them. Once I feel like I understand it and recognize it, I search for it elsewhere.

It's difficult because my mana and ki run through my entire body, and so I find it everywhere in my body.

I pause as I consider something. I'm assuming that my soul influences my mana and my ki at their central locations and that those two energies then carry the touch of void throughout my body. But what if that's not the case? What if my soul is already present everywhere in my body, and it's visible where it overlaps with the ki and mana, because of the void?

I turn [Void Detect] back on, but I limit its range to just me and I use it to look inside myself for the first time. Despite how I normally use it, technically what the skill does is look for Void, which is usually absent where physical things are, though the nature of it still gives me an accurate approximation of the objects within my range. But that's not what it's meant for.

I find the Void in my body, and I push down and search 'deeper', and all I found is more void. But that makes sense, doesn't it? After all, [Void Detect] senses Void, not souls. It could pick up on magic, but a soul isn't magic. But combined with my new class and my new trait, now that I have a vague sense for it, maybe I can…

I cut off [Void Detect], but keep my attention inwards. With a deep breath, I pull at what I believe is my soul and direct it towards my mana as I use [Void Detect] again.

Instantly, I can tell it works. There's a slight stretching sensation, and as [Void Detect] comes into effect, I can feel how it's different. The biggest difference is the new presence I feel inside myself. And as that presence slowly fades, I realize that it must be my soul.

At which point I panic and cut off the skill. I come back to reality breathing heavily and tired, broken out of my trance. For the first time in ages, I feel out of breath. I check my stats screen, but nothing on it reflects anything wrong with me. My HP, MP, and SP, are all full, and I don't have any status effects applied to me. But I feel winded.

The feeling doesn't last for too long though, and within a couple moments, I feel slightly tired but otherwise fine. I decide to try again, and this time it's a lot easier. I allow [Void Detect] to spread out to its maximum range, and I marvel at all the souls of the people I can feel. Three of them stand out, mostly because there's a connecting line between me and those three. Kyu, Yua, and Asia.

The connection for each of them is different. Kyu feels like a power source, and her connection feeds from her and into my soul. From what Kyu just said, I assume that's the Game. The other two flow from me to them, though the flow from me to Yua is both thicker and of a higher quality than the one to Asia.

Feeling deep fatigue creep over me, I drop the skill. My stat screen still doesn't show anything. For whatever reason, it doesn't seem to want to quantify my soul. I doubt it's incapable of it, but whatever the reason is, this will have to be something I train manually.

I look at the time. Somehow I lost three hours in that meditation. Yeah, I think that's enough training for tonight. I'm no longer winded, but for the first time I feel tired and spent, and sleep sounds so inviting. So I slowly crawl my way back into bed and back into position to spoon Asia. I fall asleep nearly instantly.

-x-

I wake up to the feeling of movement within my arms and a slightly pleasant feeling at my dick. I slowly blink my eyes open to see Asia in my arms, but she's turned around now and is facing me, her arms wrapped around me as she pulls herself closer to me. This includes pressing her lower stomach against my morning wood.

It seems like, despite her movement, she's still asleep, so I don't move around and simply enjoy the feeling. And I make sure she enjoys it as well by activating [Touch of Pleasure] and [Erotic Pierrot], both on very low levels.

We stay like this for a good five minutes before she wakes up. Like yesterday, she seems slow to wake up, not realizing for several moments what position she's in. But as her eyes clear up, she surprises me by hugging me tighter.

"Hehe, looks like I'm the one that got grabby during the night," she laughs softly.

"You sure did," I reply, amused. "Not that I mind at all though."

"Can we stay like this for a bit longer?" she asks. "You're warm and you feel nice."

"Sure, I'm in no rush to get up," I answer.

She blushes slightly but smiles as she buries her face into my bare chest. I sense a mess of emotions from her with [Empathy]. None of them are very strong, but I can detect embarrassment, pleasure, shame, arousal, and uncertainty from her.

Altogether, they paint a pretty clear picture. Her intentions are a little less pure than even she thinks they are, and she's still working on coming to terms with her crush and the arousal she feels. But she also likes feeling good and wants to indulge in it.

Well, I'm happy to indulge her, especially if it gets her a little more comfortable with this sort of thing. We fall into a comfortable silence, just relaxing and cuddling for a while. I can feel her slowly get more aroused as my skills work away at her. I'm not sure how long we would have stayed like that if it weren't for her stomach growling a few minutes later.

I laugh. "Come on, let's get some food. I've still got fresh pancakes from yesterday."

Her eyes light up, and she untangles herself from me, getting out of the bed. Her nightgown rides up slightly as she does so, revealing some of her creamy white thighs for a moment. She doesn't seem to notice in her excitement though.

I equip some pants as I get up after her, and once again leave the room to let her get changed. Unlike yesterday, the food is already cooked, so I'm already sitting down eating when she arrives at the kitchen, a plate of pancakes waiting for her.

"So today is going to be a lot like yesterday," I say to her after we've both eaten. "We'll spend the morning here. I'll be working on some of my potions again, I need to figure out some logistical stuff so I can start making them in bulk. We won't be going to the dungeon though, so you can do whatever you please around here. You can go back to gardening, or reading the grimoire, or just relax and watch some TV.

"Probably around lunch, maybe a little after, we'll go out. We'll meet with Atsuko, who you met yesterday, and another friend of ours Aika. Atsuko was only told about the three factions yesterday, and she wants to tell Aika about everything. And honestly, so do I. So we'll talk about that, we'll show you around town, and we'll do some shopping for stuff. After that, we'll see where the day takes us. Sound good to you?"

She nods, and after I clean up the dishes we both go to the living room. She immediately goes to the pots and starts gardening, a smile on her face as she hums and encourages their growth with her magic.

I once again sit on the couch, the most comfortable spot for my planning and thinking. Before I start on potions, there are two things I have to do first. Contact Aika and Atsuko, and use my gacha tokens.

I pull out my phone and send a group text to the two of them, asking if they want to get lunch to talk and then show Asia around town. Aika responds pretty quickly, agreeing and curious about Asia, while Atsuko responds a few minutes later with a half garbled text. That's right, getting up in the daytime is probably difficult for her right now. We set a time and a place to meet and I put my phone away.

Now onto the gacha. I feel like I've been using a lot more gacha tokens than usual lately. But then again, I've been in the dungeon a lot, so it makes sense. Either way, I don't hesitate to use them.

<[Iron Body] - Level 1(0%)>

The ring is nice. I leave it alone for now though. It's just a little too valuable to feed to my Omni-Ring, and it's damn risky to use. The pale ore I make a note of, but I can't currently do anything with it. Though I wonder how much of the timing on that is a coincidence, getting some Pale Ore right after picking up the Hollow Knight class.

The skill though, I'm very excited about. Not because of the actual skill itself, but because that means I can potentially get the other skills in the set, and all of them are extremely good in their own right. Not that this one is bad. In fact, I lack a good method of defense outside of the extremely expensive [Void Cloak]. Especially since the skill itself apparently doesn't have a cost.

I decide to test it out and activate it right away. I feel my muscles tense and lock up, and sure enough, there isn't a noticeable change to my SP. It's possible it only uses SP when it blocks damage, or that the amount it uses is lower than how much I regenerate a second. I also note that the skill level didn't go up just from me using it. Maybe it has to block damage?

I set it aside for now. I'll get someone to help me train it later. I'd ask Asia, but the thought of asking Asia to hit me with a crowbar or something doesn't sit right with me. Instead, I start figuring out potions. My goal for right now is to make a full list of all the potions I can potentially make and the best recipes for them using ingredients I can get in bulk.

It takes a couple hours of writing things down, taking out ingredients, using [Alchemy] to get a sense of what they might make, and figuring out which ones I can get in bulk and which ones I can easily grind for in the dungeons.

I'm pleased by how easy some of the ingredients turn out to be. I even discover some new kinds of potions to make, including a beauty potion and a fertility potion. Neither are directly useful to me, but I can sell them for top dollar.

I only have enough ingredients for a Minor Beauty Potion, so I don't bother, but I can and do make an Ultimate Fertility Potion.

Guaranteed baby-making sex. Considering how many races in this setting struggle with low conception rates, I can charge a premium for these. And since they are mostly made of different kinds of common herbs, they're super cheap to make.

I look at the time. There's still an hour until I'm going to meet with Aika and Atsuko. That's enough time to train some of my new Void skills, especially [Void Travel]. I give Asia a heads up that I might disappear and reappear as I train a skill, and then get to work.

The first thing I discover is that targeting the skill is a lot like targeting [Void Sight]. In fact, it's exactly the same, except that when I use the skill I appear in the targeted location instead of just seeing it. The first thing I do is a few short hops across the room.

The movement is strange. I have to physically take a step in order to teleport, though hops and even falling over works as well, so long as I'm moving in some fashion. And the teleportations themselves are smooth. Far smoother than what the Devils use. With the Devil's teleportation, there's always that sense of movement, a yanking feeling in your gut.

But [Void Travel] really does feel just like stepping. There's a vague flash of darkness, so fast you barely notice it, but otherwise nothing of note.

I start increasing the distances of my jumps. I jump to the school and back. Doing that barely takes any of my MP, making it much more efficient than [Shadow Step]. Next, I go a little further, to the room in the airport where Sona teleported me to and then back. It cost me barely any more MP than the last one. Good, that means I don't have to worry about the MP cost for travel in Kuoh at least.

I spend the next hour jumping around town and back, just leveling up the skill. Each jump didn't seem to offer much XP, but since the MP cost was negligible, I made up for it in quantity. I always jump back to the apartment though, so Asia can see me. She seems a little surprised at first, but after a few jumps, she seems to just ignore my antics.

Partway through I call Yua to hop on my shoulder and take her with me on my trips, just to see if I can bring other people with me. It turns out, I can. It doesn't feel any different and it's only a slight increase in MP.

Shortly before we leave I remember that Asia won't be able to talk with Aika due to the language difference and quickly buy a Babel Fish that will translate everything she hears and says from the Hunie Store for 1,000 Hunie. The Mailman delivers it as quickly as usual, and Asia looks weirded out, but once I explain what it is, she agrees to let me put the small orange fish into her ear, where it disappears without a trace.

Instead of walking I take Asia's hand in mine and teleport us to an out of sight spot close by. Yua and Kyu come with us as well. Yua I instruct to continue leveling her [Fade], something I've been slacking on having her level up lately, and Kyu just doesn't want to miss any more sexy times.

It's a short walk to the family restaurant where we agreed to meet, and since Asia and I are the first ones there we go ahead and grab a table. We pass a couple minutes worth of time with Asia asking me what all the different foods on the menu are and me explaining each one so she can decide what she wants to eat.

Before she decides, Aika and Atsuko come walking in together. Aika is wearing a blue blouse, a black skirt, and black thigh high socks. Atsuko is wearing a red and white striped spaghetti strap top and a red skirt.

I stand up to greet them. "Hey you two," I call out to them as I pull them into a hug. I turn to Asia. "Asia, you and Atsuko met last night, but this is Aika. They're both my girlfriend. Aika, meet Asia. Due to some stuff I'll explain here in a minute, I'm taking care of her for now."

Aika smiles at Asia. "It's nice to meet you Asia." She turns to me. "Are you taking care of her because she's cute? Because really if that's all you explained that would be enough for me."

I chuckle. "No, I agreed before I saw her. Her cuteness is a bonus."

Asia, who started blushing a little when I introduced Atsuko and Aika as both being my lovers, is blushing even harder now. "C- cute?!" she stammers. "No wait, you're dating both of them?"

I motion for everyone to sit down and we pile into the booth, and I go to answer Asia but it's Aika who answers. "Axton has a big big heart and too much love for just one girl to handle," she says with a grin. "So we've all agreed to share Axton so he can spread his love between all of us."

Atsuko blushes a little at Aika's innuendo, but it goes straight over Asia's head. She turns to me, and I feel hope and uncertainty and longing from her with [Empathy]. "Really?"

"I give my love freely, openly, and frequently," I say, continuing Aika's innuendo with a grin. "I have a lot of love to give and enjoy giving it to girls who want it."

Atsuko's eyes widen, but it's not embarrassment that I feel from her, it's arousal. Asia herself is wide-eyed as well, but for a different reason, as that feeling of hope strengthens.

Unfortunately, the moment is interrupted by the arrival of a waitress. All four of us quickly order our food. When she leaves, Atsuko speaks up. "So uhh. Axton? Can you start explaining things? I only barely understand things and I don't think I could do a good job."

Aika frowns a little. "Explain what? Asia?"

"She's part of it," I say, "but it's more than just that. There's no point letting you wonder for long, so let me just say it. Magic and the supernatural are real. I've known this for a long time, Asia here has known it for most of her life, and Atsuko was clued in yesterday, and both of us really wanted to clue you in as well."

Aika looks uncertain. "Like...magic magic?"

Atsuko looks around. "Actually, Axton, is it okay to talk about here? With so many people around?" Her concerns aren't entirely unfounded. It's a Saturday at lunchtime, and the place is fairly crowded.

"Don't worry," I reassure her. "I'm making sure no one can hear us." And I am, with [Sound Domain]. I'm not erasing the sound coming from our table, but anything that's a voice is being garbled and muted. To demonstrate for them, I cut off the sound coming from the rest of the restaurant, leaving us in a sudden bubble of silence, with the only sound coming from us.

All three girls jump slightly in surprise and start looking around at all the people that should be making noise. "You're doing this?" Aika asks.

I nod and slowly let sound fade back into our bubble, though I keep it at a low murmur. Honestly, it's pretty good training with my [Sound Domain] skill. "All of the sound in an area around us is under my control."

"That's actual magic?" Aika asks again. "This isn't one of those TV magic things?"

"If you want to be sure, then here, this is probably the least flashy example I can give." I pull the Bloodhound Ring out of my inventory, making it seemingly appear from nowhere, and her eyes widen. I hand it to her. "Put this on, it should increase your sense of smell to be on par with a dog's."

She looks at it, curiosity in her eyes, and slips it onto her finger. I can tell it works because she immediately recoils and takes it off, but her expression is amazed instead of disgusted. "Magic is real," she says to herself. She hands me back the ring. "I don't like that though, there are too many smells."

"That's why I don't usually wear it myself," I say as the ring vanishes in my open palm. "But since I have a nifty little pocket space I can store things in I keep it on me anyway."

"That's so cool," she says. "So you're like a wizard or something?"

"My skill set is a little broader than most magicians, so I'm not sure the label fits," I say. "I'm just good at picking up a bunch of different tricks."

She looks at Asia. "Are you a magician too?"

Asia shakes her head. "I'm a nun with the Church." Her eyes look down. "Or at least, I was."

Aika frowns in confusion. "The Church?"

"You know the Bible? God, Heaven, Devils, Fallen Angels?" I ask. Aika nods, though I notice Atsuko flinch slightly when I say 'God'. "That's all more or less true. Some of the details are off, but those factions very much exist today. The Church is backed by Heaven. Asia is a healer, and she healed for them for a long time. Until one of the people she healed ended up being a Devil, and the Church, who had touted her healing power as something Holy, turned their backs on her rather than admit they had been lying for their own benefit."

Asia frowns, and I can tell with [Empathy] that she didn't like some aspect of my explanation, but she doesn't say anything. Aika and Atsuko are annoyed though. "Wait, they lied but they threw you out?" Atsuko says. "That's so fucked up!"

"Technically speaking, they didn't lie," I say. "Asia's power does come from the big man upstairs," I address him indirectly to avoid harming Atsuko. "But only in the sense that her healing power is from her Sacred Gear, and he was the one to create the system that allows for Sacred Gears to come into existence. But the fact that her powers can heal anything, including Devils, didn't fit the image they had created for her, so they put the blame on her instead."

"That's just as bad!" Atsuko says heatedly.

Aika tilts her head. "Sacred Gears?"

"Special powers that humans are born with sometimes," I explain briefly. "Asia's is Twilight Healing, and it is a powerful healing Sacred Gear. Atsuko has one as well, though we haven't discovered what it is yet."

"And you have one too," Atsuko reminds me.

"That's what the Devils think," I agree. "But I'm not so sure. Their evidence is mostly that they can't sense me or my magic, and that their best guess is that I have some sort of stealth related Sacred Gear." I shake my head. "My gut tells me that this isn't the case, but I don't have a better explanation to give them."

"The Devils think that?" Aika asks. "What Devils?"

"Rias and the rest of the Occult Research Club," Atsuko answers.

"And the Student Council," I add.

"You're saying that they're Devils?" Aika asks with a frown. "Aren't Devils the bad guys?"

I shrug. "If you asked Heaven and the Fallen, then yes. But all three of those groups don't like each other. Devils are a little hedonistic and power-obsessed, but they're not inherently evil or anything."

"Hedonistic, huh?" Aika says with a grin. "Is that why you've been hanging out with them?"

I chuckle. "No," I deny. "Or at least, that's not the primary reason why. It's because they've been trying to recruit me."

Atsuko fidgets a little at the mention of recruitment but doesn't speak up. Aika does though. "How does a Devil recruit someone?"

"By turning them into a Devil as well," I answer. "They invented these things called Evil Pieces that can turn humans and other races into Devils as part of their Peerage. Then those Peerage members can grow, rise up in the ranks, and form their own Peerage."

I turn my gaze to Atsuko, silently asking if she wanted to tell Aika the rest, or if she wanted me to. Slightly nervous, she nods and turns to Aika. "Actually, Rias also invited me to her peerage too, and after hearing what being a Devil is like, I agreed. She used her Evil Pieces on me yesterday after school."

I sense a jumble of emotions I can't untangle from Aika. "Just like that? What is being a Devil like?"

"Well Devils live forever, and can do magic and stuff," Atsuko starts explaining. "And they're really tough and strong, and like Axton said you can get your own Peerage and if you want you can just make your Peerage full of beautiful girls," she smiles a little lustfully at that last one while her eyes unfocus as she daydreams.

"Aah," Aika makes a noise of understanding. She looks at me. "That actually sounds perfect for you Axton, why didn't you become one?"

I shrug. "Two reasons. First, I have other plans in mind that potentially conflict with joining a Peerage. Second, I don't think either Rias or Sona are strong enough. A young Devil can't add someone far stronger to them to their peerage. Not directly at least."

"So you're not against Devils then?" she asks.

"Not at all," I answer. "Of the three factions, I've gotten along with them the best. Heaven I've had no direct interaction with but the Church was mean to Asia. And my Fallen interaction…" I trail off. "Well, they've been pretty mixed. Azazel seemed like an alright guy, but all the other Fallen I've met, not so much."

"Didn't that one chick try to kill you?" Atsuko points out.

"Yeah that wasn't great," I mention. "Especially since she was hunting Sacred Gear users, which included you, and they had some sinister plans for Asia here, despite Asia going to the Fallen after being kicked out by the church. That's why I'm taking care of her. Apparently, it was just a rogue element inside the Fallen's organization, and the leader seems like an okay dude, but if it happens once, it could happen again, and so Asia and the Fallen's leader agreed it would be better if she stayed with a neutral party like myself." Asia nods and scoots slightly closer to me, and I smile and pat her on the head.

I turn my attention back to Atsuko. "But like I said. The Devil's I've met have all been great. I mean, I've only met one outside of the ones that go to our school. And she was scary strong, but she also dresses up as a magical girl."

Aika grins and Atsuko just looks flabbergasted. "She what? Who?" Atsuko asks.

"Sona's older sister," I say. "One of the four leaders of the Devils. Apparently, if you're one of the strongest Devils, you can do whatever you want."

"I can't believe the Student Council President has a magical girl for an older sister," Atsuko says softly, voice full of wonder.

"Should I become a Devil?" Aika asks, unsure.

"If you want to, I'll support it," I say. "Though why do you want to? If you're not sure about being a Devil, I can potentially provide alternatives."

"I don't know," she admits. "I think I'm still taking it all in. But you've just told me magic is real and I definitely want to know more about that."

"Do you want to learn magic?" I ask. "Because I have a book I picked up that can teach you a certain branch of magic. I can't use it, but with some study, some practice, and a little help from me you should be able to sling some spells in no time."

Her eyes widen. "Really?"

"Yep," I confirm. "I can teach you a few of my tricks as well, but you have potential as a magician." And she does, more than Atsuko at least.

<------>

Aika Kiryuu

Level: 1

Race: Human

HP: 90

MP: 120

SP: 80

CON: 9

STR: 8

DEX: 9

INT: 12

WIS: 12

CHA: 10

LUK: 10

<------>

"Then yes, I want to do that," she nods. "I'll think about the Devil and other stuff, but I definitely want to learn magic."

"I'll give you the book later today," I say. "Our food is about to arrive."

Sure enough, just as I finish saying that, our waitress comes around the corner carrying our food. Conversation sorta dies out as she gives us our food and we start eating, but after she leaves it picks back up, more lighthearted than before.

"So what are we doing after this?" Atsuko asks. "Showing Asia around town?"

I nod. "And I thought maybe you two could help her find some new outfits. She only came here with a single suitcase worth of clothes, and it's not a very big suitcase."

Asia's eyes light up. "You mean I can wear all the really pretty clothes that I see on TV?"

"You can wear whatever you want," I reassure her and pat her on the head again. It's just a reflex at this point. Atsuko looks on, looking slightly jealous, but Aika has a scheming glint in her eyes.

"Oh we can definitely do that," Aika says. "And then afterward, we should have a girl's night. Me, Asia, and Atsuko can sleepover at my place and have a slumber party. It would be a great new experience for Asia."

I lock eyes with Aika, and she grins at me. I know exactly what she wants to do. She wants to start corrupting Asia so I can seduce her. "Sure," I agree with a grin. "That sounds like a fun idea to me." You're the best Aika, I can always rely on you for this sort of thing. "How does that sound Asia?"

"I've never been to a slumber party before," she says, equal parts nervous and excited. "I'd love to go to one."

"Then that's settled," I say. "We'll show Asia around town, do some shopping, and then you three will have a girl's night. Oh, but I do ask that you bring Yua with you, so I know if anything happens and can get there immediately."

"Yua?" Aika asks. "Your cat?"

I grin, and telepathically ask her to make her way to us. "My familiar," I correct her.

Yua, partially invisible with the use of [Fade], dashes under the table, hops onto my lap, and then pokes her head above the table. "Hi!"

"She can talk?" Aika exclaims. "That's amazing! She's so cute."

"Ms. Kiyome used a spell on Yua to make it so Yua could talk with everyone and not just Papa and Mama!" Yua explains helpfully.

"Kiyome?" Atsuko says. "Isn't that the rich third-year girl?"

"Papa and Mama?" Aika asks.

"I'm Papa," I explain. "And Momo is Mama since it was the two of us that found her and adopted her. Kiyome is indeed a rich blonde girl who goes to our school. She's human, but her family tames and takes care of all sorts of magical creatures. She offered to use a spell on Yua to let her talk, which I'm very grateful for." I scratch Yua behind her ears as I feed her a bit of food off of my plate.

"Yua is adorable so she can come too," Aika agrees before looking sharply at me. "But not you, this is strictly a girl's night."

"That's fine," I reply with a chuckle. "I can find something to occupy myself with."

"Papa usually goes to the Dungeon at night," Yua comments.

"Ooh?" Aika says. "You have a secret sex dungeon?"

I roll my eyes. "No, not a sex dungeon," I deny. I wasn't planning on telling them yet, but maybe this works better. "I can enter a sort of miniature dimension filled with fake monsters and I use that to train. It reminds me of a dungeon from a roleplaying game, so I call it the Dungeon."

"That's so cool!" Atsuko says. "What do you mean by fake monsters? And what's the dungeon like?"

"I mean fake as in they act like real monsters, but their bodies fade away after I kill them, so I assume they're not real," I answer. "And I've discovered a few different types of dungeons. One's musty and filled with undead, and another one is like a forest filled with magical creatures. And bears.

"If you want, I can bring you girls with me to one of them tomorrow. You can get stronger by training there, and it'll really help. I brought Asia in one yesterday and her magic energy comes back a lot faster now. For Atsuko, we can start getting you stronger and maybe figure out your Sacred Gear and impress Rias. And for you Aika, it's a great place to practice magic and get better at it."

"I'm all for it!" Atsuko proclaims.

Aika looks less sure. "Could I even learn a spell by tomorrow?"

I shrug. "Maybe? We can always work on it tomorrow morning. You're smart, I'm sure we could make some progress."

"In that case, sure," Aika agrees. "Since Atsuko is all for it."

"Awesome," I say. This way I can train them and make them strong, which will make them safer. "How about you Asia?" I ask her.

She pauses. "I don't have to fight, do I?"

"Not if you don't want to," I say.

"Then I'll come too," she says.

"Great!" I say. "But for now, let's finish up lunch so we can show Asia around town and buy her some cute dresses." Asia blushes, but the other two girls smile and we turn our attention back to our meals. Yua curls up on my lap as I occasionally feed her a few pieces of food.

I'm glad that the discussion with Aika went so well. Hopefully I'll be able to train them up to a fighting force, so I won't have to worry about their safety as much.

-x-

A few hours later we've dragged Asia all around town and are now deep into clothes shopping. So far we've mostly gotten stuff for Asia. Stuff like casual dresses and more formal wear, and Asia was having a lot of fun trying on all the different clothes. The girls even roped me into trying out something new, and I had to admit, the jacket they picked out for me looks pretty good.

It's like if a zip-up hoodie and a pea coat had a child, with an off-center zipper and the coat overlapping in the front. It also has a wide collar and no actual hood. But it's pretty stylish and it feels comfortable, so I've taken to wearing it already. I bought a few in different colors. The one I'm currently wearing is a sort of mossy green.

While we're in a store that mostly sells women's clothing, Aika pulls Asia away saying something about "a woman's most important weapon", leaving just me and Atsuko. Not that Atsuko seems to mind, as she gleefully goes to pick out a few things and heads directly for a changing room.

I follow her into the changing room after making sure no one was watching and there aren't any cameras. She turns around in surprise. "Axton?" she asks.

"You know, we don't get a lot of one-on-one time," I say as I approach her and wrap my arms around her. "I mean, hot threesomes are great, but you know what sounds really appealing to me right now?" I kiss her neck as my hands reach under her skirt to grab her ass.

"Here?" she asks, panicking slightly even as I feel her arousal spike. "Now? I mean, we don't have the time, what if someone hears-"

"No one will hear us," I cut her off. "Remember, I can control that. And just one round, just me and you. Doesn't the idea of doing it here, in a changing room sound hot? Isn't this something you've fantasized about? I know I have."

She hesitates for just a moment, but then throws her arms around my neck and kisses me back, hard. "One round," she says after she pulls back, and I grin.

I lift her up, supporting her weight entirely with my grip on her ass and her arms around my neck before I push her against the wall, our lips locked and tongues dancing the entire time. I paw at her breasts before being annoyed at the cloth in my way and I stash it in my inventory before taking it back out and dropping it to the ground.

She gasps as the air suddenly touches her bare skin. "You-" she starts, but I cut her off by pinching one of her now exposed nipples. Apparently, she went without a bra today. She moans loudly, the sound being drawn out as I tweak her nipple. I'm using [Sound Domain] to make sure no one hears, but I can feel as she forgets that for a moment and freezes, her arousal spiking slightly before calming down.

She moans again as my lips find her other nipple. "Axtoooon," she says, half whining half moaning. "Just stick it in, we don't need foreplay."

"Oh?" I ask as I move my hand to discover that she's already soaked her panties. "I see someone's more into the dressing room than I thought," I tease with a grin. She opens her mouth to protest, but I interrupt her with a quick kiss before leaning in and whispering in her ear. "That's so hot."

Stashing my pants and underwear into my inventory, my manhood suddenly finds itself resting against her damp panties, which I'm quick to move to the side so I can push myself inside of her, making sure to use all of my lewd skills as I do so.

She moans loudly as I fill her up, both of us taking in the feeling of her new Devil body. She was tight before, and she is still, but it's different. Even before I use [Imbue Elasticity] it feels like she already has it active. Tight, but able to be split open easier than in the past, where I've had to gradually loosen her up.

Her arousal hits the roof and she pulls herself closer to me, catching my lips with a hungry kiss. I respond in kind, pulling her off the wall and using just my arms to lift her up and down, repeatedly impaling her. Her moans slip out between breaths and kisses and fill the changing room. [Sound Domain] makes sure none of them escape the room, but I do make sure to make them sound louder in her ears, and I can feel her tighten around me with every moan.

At this frantic rate, it doesn't take long for either of us to cum, and as I feel her clench and as she moans into my mouth with her own orgasm, I let my own climax wash over me and slam as deep into her as I can get. I can feel her inner walls convulsing around me as I pump my seed into her, filling her to the brim.

Finally, my orgasm ends, and I gently set Atsuko down on the ground. "Huh," she comments. "I don't feel as worn out as normal."

"I've been told that Devils have 'lewd bodies'," I explain. "I could certainly feel the difference."

She blushes. "Yeah, that was intense." She looks down with a frown. "Is that why I'm not leaking right now?"

I shrug, bending down to pick up her discarded shirt and handing it back to her. "Maybe?"

She takes it and starts putting it back on. "I feel like I could go for another round, but we probably don't have time for that."

"Nope," I confirm. "Asia and Aika are looking around for us right now." [Void Detect] and [Sound Domain] gave me a pretty clear idea of everything going on around me.

Atsuko freezes. "Aika's definitely going to realize."

"Probably," I agree. "But Asia won't."

She sighs. "I can live with that. Come on, get out of here, and let me actually try these clothes on."

I laugh and exit, making sure the coast is clear.

I might not be training right now, but it's fine. Sometimes you need to be reminded of why you train. I smile as Asia and Aika spot me and head in my direction. Worry about the future later, enjoy the present now.

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